Reconstruction

Life after the Civil War

Reconstruction Plans

• Once the Civil War was over the federal government had to decide what to do about the southern states that seceded.

• Two plans:- Lincoln wanted to rebuild rather than punish the

South. Less harsh.- The Radical Republicans were leaders in

congress that felt the south should be punished for causing the Civil War. More harsh.

Radical Republicans

Abraham Lincoln

Reconstruction Plans

• April 14, 1865 Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth while attending a play at Ford’s Theatre.

• Andrew Johnson succeeded Lincoln as the seventeenth president of the United States.

• Andrew Johnson supported Lincolns less harsh views of rebuilding the South.

• Radical Republicans did not like President Johnson and attempted to have him removed from office by impeaching him.

• Radical Republicans were unsuccessful and Johnson remained in office due to one more vote in the Senate.

Lincoln Assassination

Lincolns Assasination

Lincolns Assasination

Andrew Johnson

Radical Republicans Plan

• Believed the majority of the southern states voting population should swear allegiance to the United States before they could be readmitted into the Union.

• Also felt that freed slaves and their civil rights should be protected.

• Felt that congress, NOT the president should be in charge of the reconstruction of the South.

Freedmen’s Bureau

• Created by Congress in 1865 as a relief agency to help freed slaves.

• Provided clothes, medical attention, food, education, and land for free slaves.

• Due to lack of support, Freedmen’s Bureau ended in 1869.

Freemen’s Bureau

Freedman’s Bureau

13th, 14th, 15th Amendments

• Under the Radical Republicans, Congress passed legislation that helped African Americans after the Civil War.

• 13th Amendment – ended slavery throughout the country.• Fourteenth Amendment – granted citizenship to African

Americans and guaranteed African Americans all the rights protected by the Bill of Rights.

• Fifteenth Amendment – guaranteed the right to vote for African American men.

(Women still not allowed to vote)

Reconstruction in Georgia

Sharecropping and Tenant Farming

• With no money, land, or property former slaves turned to sharecropping and tenant farming in order to survive.

• Sharecropping – agreeing to farm a portion of a white landowners land in return for housing and a share of the crop.

• Tenant Farming – rented a portion of the land from white landowners and owned the crops they grew.

• Both meant to keep the African Americans at the mercy of the white landowners.

Tenant Farming and Sharecropping

Georgia’s Reconstruction Government

• After the war, Georgia needed some form of government.

• For while, the federal government took over and appointed a provisional governor. (The military ran the government).

• Eventually Rufus Bullock, a Radical Republican, became governor of Georgia.

• Ratified the 14th Amendment in Georgia.

Rufus Bullock

Henry M. Turner

• One of 32 African Americans that was elected a legislator in Georgia.

• Doubted that blacks and whites could live peacefully together.

• Complained about the way blacks were being treated and encouraged them to move to Africa rather than stay in the United States.

Henry M Turner

Unrest in Georgia’s Reconstruction

• A faction of Southern Democrats plotted and caused the expulsion of 28 African American representatives for Georgia’s legislature.

• Other groups used violence to keep African Americans from exercising their rights.

• One of the most infamous white supremacist groups was the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).

• KKK would dress up in white sheets and lynch those they targeted.

KKK

KKK

Unrest in Georgia’s Reconstruction

• Governor Bullock was concerned about the unrest in Georgia, and expulsion of the black legislators in Georgia.

• Bullock asked the federal government to bring back military rule over Georgia.

• Once the military was back in charge the black legislators returned to office and ratified the 15th Amendment.

End of the Reconstruction

• In 1876 the Radical Republicans and the Southern Democrats both claimed their candidate won the presidential election.

• Both sides argued for months, until Republican Candidate Rutherford B. Hayes became president due to a compromise.

• Compromise was called the Compromise of 1877. • Compromise states that Hayes would become

president in exchange for the Republicans agreeing to end the Reconstruction in the South.

Rutherford B. Hoayes

End of the Reconstruction

• With the Compromise of 1877 the southern states now could run their own governments.

• Due to the resentment of the Republican party the south entered into a long period called the “Solid South”.

• “Solid South” for nearly 100 years the Democrats wont high elections in the south giving them a “solid” grip on southern political power.