Reconstruction

Plans for Reconstruction

RECONSTRUCTION

Reconstruction Overview

• Intro: American has been split apart by three major wars—The American Revolution, The Civil War, and the Vietnam War.

• All affected the participants and the generations engaged dramatically—we will look at the Civil War and How America North and South viewed Reconstruction.

Reconstruction – Overview

• The years after the Civil War, from 1865 – 1877, are known as Reconstruction.

• It was a time of reuniting and rebuilding the nation inflicted by the Civil War.

Reconstruction

• Three Important Questions:• 1) Can the U.S. truly be united?

• 2) Can Black and White Americans coexist peacefully?

• 3) Who runs this country—President or Congress, Supreme Court, or the American People?

South Devastated

• Physically—From Richmond to New Orleans lay in ruins.

• Transportation, communications, economically, financially and Socially.

South Devastated

• Legally—Biggest most immediate issue. Southern states had acted treasonous, left the Union, and now had to be reannexed;

• Reannexed with severe stipulations.

• Debates begin before war actually ends.

Phases of Reconstruction

• Presidential Reconstruction, 1863 – 1866

• Congressional Reconstruction, 1866 – 1873

• Redemption, 1873 – 1877

Presidential Leadership

• Lincoln and Johnson argued that they should lead Reconstruction because secession was an act against the government and only the President has the power to pardon that crime.

Congressional Leadership

• Congress argued that they should lead Reconstruction because the Confederate states had left the Union, and only Congress had the authority to re-admit states.

Presidential: Lincoln’s Plan

• In 1863 after the decisive battles at Vicksburg and Gettysburg Lincoln had a plan for Reconstruction.

• Lincoln won a second term as president in the 1864 election and in his second inaugural address he told the nation of his plans for Reconstruction.

Lincoln’s 2nd Inaugural

• Lincoln famously said, “with malice towards none,” and began what is known as Presidential Reconstruction.

• Lincoln’s plan would allow the southern states that had seceded back into the Union once they pledged their loyalty.

Lincoln’s Assassination

• Lincoln was unable to carry out his plan for Reconstruction, because on April 14, 1865, he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth.

• Lincoln’s vice-president, Andrew Johnson, took over as President.

Presidential: Johnson’s Plan

• Johnson’s plan for Reconstruction was very similar to Lincoln’s, but the main difference was that Johnson allowed former Confederates and the planter aristocracy to resume positions of power and authority.

Johnson’s Plan cont…

• The most offensive acts by these “new” Southern governments were to pass “black codes,” which restricted the newly gained rights of African Americans.

• Johnson readmitted all of the former Confederate states while Congress was out of session.

Activity

• Read and answer the worksheet.

• Complete and put in binder by the end of class.

• I will be circling around the room to monitor student activity.

Summary Statement

• In pairs, construct a thesis statement.

• Use your notes.

• Question: Whose Reconstruction plan was better? Johnson or Lincoln? Explain why.

Warm Up

• What was Johnson’s plan for Reconstruction?

• Turn to your table partners and discuss.

Congressional Plan

• From 1866 – 1873 Reconstruction was led by Congress.

• The Republican Party was in the majority and they wanted to punish the South for the Civil War.

• The sweeping changes that they made to the US led them to become known as the Radical Republicans.

Radical Republicans• Radical Republicans

were from the North and favored policies to force radical changes in Southern life and politics.

• They feared that

Southern whites intended to restore much the same sort of society that existed before the war.

Freedman’s Bureau• The Freedman’s

Bureau was a federal agency to aid distressed persons, primarily the freed slaves.

• The greatest accomplishment of the Freedman’s Bureau was establishing a public school system in the South.

Congressional Plan: Amendments• Additional accomplishments were three

constitutional amendments:

– 13th Amendment: abolished slavery – 14th Amendment: African American

citizenship. – 15th Amendment: African American males the

right to vote.

• The effect of these amendments was to legally give African Americans equality.

Military Reconstruction• In 1867 the Radical

Republicans began Military Reconstruction.

• The South was divided into 5 military districts and each state had a military governor.

• To be restored to the Union, each state had to write a new constitution and approve the 13th and 14th Amendments

Carpetbaggers

• It was the term for Northerners who came to the South after the Civil War. 

• Most took advantage of the situation after the war using the votes of black voters to get themselves elected, and figured out crooked ways to profit from holding public office. 

Compromise of 1877

• It said that the Republicans would gain the presidency if they agreed to end Military Reconstruction in the South.

• This allowed the white Southern Democrats to take back control of the states and return the South almost to its pre-Civil War society.

“Redeemers”

• These White Southern Democrats, called the “Redeemers,” defeated the Republicans and took control of each Southern state.

• The effect of the “Redeemers” was to restrict Black voting and remove those who had gained political office.

Sharecropping

• After the Civil War in the South most Blacks were relegated to sharecropping.

• A sharecropper owned no land with the "rent" in the form of a share of the crop at harvest time. 

• Often, the sharecropper ended up in constant debt, and in a situation not much better than slavery.

Ku Klux Klan• The Ku Klux Klan was an

organization of whites that terrorized blacks in the South after the Civil War. 

• The goal of the Klan, was to stop blacks from voting. 

• Many whites refused to accept any form of equality for blacks, and especially resented blacks who held political office.

Legacies of Reconstruction

• Constitutional Amendments: 13th, 14th, 15th

• FAILURE: worse than slavery– Sharecropping; Crop-Lien Cycle

• 2nd Reconstruction – modern Civil Rights Movement (1950s, 1960s)

Summary

• Reconstruction was a failure. Although African-Americans were given rights, the South managed to restrict those rights and it entered into a new period called the era of “Jim Crow.”