Reconstruction

12 years of Rebuilding

1865 - 1877

The Freedman’s Bureau

• Helping establish rights for freed slaves

California View

• Reconstruction

Is Slavery Dead?

Reconstruction

Reconstruction

• Rebuilding the South

3 Plans• President Lincoln’s = Mild & forgiving

Points

• Amnesty to all willing to take an oath of loyalty to U.S.

And

Southerners must support the Constitution

Southern States would be

• Recognized when 1/10 of voters took oath of allegiance.

II. Radical Republicans’ Plan

• Required a majority of voters to take loyalty oath.

Thaddeus Stevens

• Radical Republicans did not want to reconcile with the South.

3 Goals

1. Former Confederate Officials

• Are banned from voting for state legislatures

2. Republican Power in the

• South

3. African Americans Gain

• Political Power through Government Help by guaranteeing their right to vote.

Each State must outlaw

• Slavery

Punishment

• Mild or Severe?

Weak and Strong Govt

III. President Johnson’s Plan

• Grant Pardons to all Southerners willing to take loyalty oath

Except for

• People with property worth $20,000 or more.

Confederate States had to :

• Revoke their resolutions to secede from the Union & outlaw slavery.

Wade – Davis Bill

• Compromise of Moderates & Radical Republicans

Conditions

• Majority of men take oath of allegiance

• Make new state constitution

• Deprive all former Confederate members of voting rights & govt. office

Pocket Veto

• Not voting on a bill during a legislative session

“No Persecution,

• No Bloody work.” A. Lincoln

Conditions in the South

• Unemployed, homeless, starving

40 acres & a mule

• Idea to confiscate Southern farms and redistribute land to former slaves.

• Didn’t fly.

Freedmen’s Bureau

• Fed, clothed, educated, reunited families, negotiated contracts for workers, etc.

13th Amendment

• 1865

• Banned Slavery and involuntary servitude

Coretta Scott King dies

• On the anniversary of the passage of the 13th Amendment:

• January 31

14th Amendment = 1868

• Protected the rights of Citizens

14 th Amendment

• Citizenship to all people born or naturalized in the U.S.

15th Amendment = 1870

• Declared the right to vote cannot be denied because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude

Military Reconstruction Act

• Divided the South into 5 Districts

By 1868

• Tennessee, Florida, N.C. S.C. Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas are readmitted to the Union

Andrew Johnson

• Democrat from Tn.

• Poor, uneducated

• Not Elected

Black Codes

• Limited African Americans’ rights in the South.

• Conditions similar to slavery.

Black Codes

• Rights:

• Can be legally Married

• Can own property

• Can sue in court

• Can go to school

Restrictions of Black Codes

• Cannot marry whites

• Cannot serve on juries

• Cannot carry weapons

• Cannot testify against whites

By 1869 =

• About 600,000 African Americans of all ages are in school.

Radical Republicans realize

• That many former Confederate officers had been elected to Congress……

Civil Rights Act of 1866

• Citizenship to all persons born in the U.S. except Native Americans.

African Americans can

• Own property

• Be treated equally in Court

Tenure of Office Act

• Senate must approve the removal of any govt. official whose appointment had required the Senate’s consent.

Sec. of War : Stanton

• Would enforce the Radical Republicans plans.

• Johnson fired him

Impeachment for Johnson

• High Crimes and Misdemeanors

• Not Upholding the Tenure of Office Act

Senate voted to impeach

• One vote short of conviction

Johnson keeps his office

• But………..

• Little Power left

Radical Republicans

• Pass the 15th Amendment – African Americans the right to vote

• Men Only

U.S. Grant

• Unconditional Surrender Grant

Ulysses S. Grant

• Union Civil War General Ulysses S. GrantUlysses S. Grant wrote his Personal Memoirs as he was dying of throat cancer in order to secure his family's financial future

Finally, on April 9, 1865

• at Appomattox Court House, Lee surrendered. Grant wrote out magnanimous terms of surrender that would prevent treason trials.

President Grant

• Grant allowed Radical Reconstruction to run its course in the South, bolstering it at times with military force.

Corruption in Grant’s Term

• Dishonest Aides

• Graft =