Reconstruction

• The re-uniting of the Nation after the Civil War.

Key Questions

1. How do webring the Southback into the

Union?

2. How do we rebuild the

South after itsdestruction

during the war?

3. How do weprotect newly-emancipated

black freedmen?

4. What branchof governmentshould controlthe process of

Reconstruction?

President Lincoln’s Plan10% Plan

* Pardon to all but the highest ranking military and civilian Confederate officers.

* When 10% of the voting population in the 1860 election had taken an oath of loyalty and established a government, it would be recognized.

* “……with malice towards none……” Lincoln’s Second Inaugural

Address

13th Amendment Ratified in December, 1865. Outlaws slavery forever in the United

States

Freedmen’s Bureau (1865)

Designed to help freedmen (former slaves).

Called “carpetbaggers” by white southern Democrats.

Freedmen’s Bureau Seen Through Southern Eyes

Plenty to eat and

nothing to do.

Freedmen’s Bureau School

President Andrew JohnsonWanted to make it easy

for Southern states to rejoin the Union

President Johnson’s Plan (10%+) Offered amnesty upon simple oath to all except

Confederate civil and military officers and those with property over $20,000.

In new constitutions, they must accept minimumconditions against slavery, secession and state debts.

Appointed governors in Confederate states.

Growing Northern Alarm! Johnson’s plan was unpopular

with some Northerners because it didn’t punish the South.

Black CodesPurpose:

* Guarantee stable labor supply now that blacks were emancipated.

* Keep blacks poor and dependent on whites.

Forced many blacks to become sharecroppers [tenant farmers].

Congress Breaks with the President

February, 1866 Presidentvetoed the Freedmen’sBureau bill.

March, 1866 Johnsonvetoed the 1866 Civil Rights Act.

Congress passed both bills over Johnson’s vetoes 1st in U. S. history!!

14th AmendmentRatified in July, 1868.

* Provides citizenship to former slaves.* Extends rights to former slaves

Southern states would be punished for denying the rights to black citizens!

Radical Plan for Readmission Military would oversee Reconstruction.

Required new state constitutions, includingblack suffrage and ratification of the 13th and 14th Amendments.

Reconstruction Acts of 1867

Military Reconstruction Act* Restart Reconstruction in the 10 Southern

states that refused to ratify the 14th Amendment.

* Divide the 10 “unreconstructed states” into 5 military districts.

President Johnson’s Impeachment The House impeached Johnson by a

vote of 126 – 47!

The Senate Trial

11 week trial. Johnson acquitted

(not guilty)35 to 19 (one short of required 2/3s vote).

Black Senate & House Delegates

• Hiram Revels becomes the first African-American elected to the Senate.

• Revels waselected byvoters in MissReplaced J.Davis.

Black Senate & House Delegates

15th Amendment Ratified in 1870. Grants the right to vote to former slaves

(males only) over 21. Women’s rights groups were furious that

they were not granted the vote!

The Failure of Federal Enforcement Ku Klux Klan

Began to terrorize blacks in the South.

Looking for revenge for Radical Reconstruction

The “Invisible Empire of the South”

The 1868 Republican Ticket

1868 Presidential Election

Ulysses S. Grant becomes President

Grant Administration Problems Grant presided over an era of

unprecedented growth and corruption.

The Election of 1872 Rumors of corruption

during Grant’s first term discredit Republicans.

The Panic of 1873 Beginning of a 6 year

economic depression in the U.S.

Prices rose and value of money dropped

Marks the end of Reconstruction