RECONSTRUCTION UNIT 12. Reconstruction and the Changing South, 1863–1896

RECONSTRUCTION

UNIT 12

Reconstruction and the Changing South,

1863–1896

Postwar Problems

North

• Returning Union soldiers needed jobs.

• Yet, because the government was canceling war orders, factories were laying off workers.

Postwar Problems

SouthDestruction—Homes, barns, bridges and the railroad system were destroyed. The cities of Columbia, Richmond, and Atlanta had been leveled.Economic ruin —After the war, Confederate money was worthless. People who had loaned money to the Confederacy were never repaid. Many banks closed, and depositors lost their savings.A changed society —Almost overnight, there was a new class of freedmen—men and women who had been slaves. What would become of them

Early Steps Toward Reconstruction

Reconstruction —the rebuilding of the SouthLincoln’s Plan, called the Ten Percent Plan• A southern state could form a new government after 10

percent of its voters swore an oath of loyalty to the United States.

• The new government had to abolish slavery. Voters could then once again elect members of Congress.

• The plan offered amnesty, or a government pardon, to Confederates who swore loyalty to the Union. Former Confederate leaders could not be given amnesty, however.

Early Steps Toward Reconstruction

Wade-Davis Bill, a rival Republican plan. Lincoln refused to sign the bill.

• A majority of white men in each southern state had to swear loyalty to the Union.

• Anyone who had volunteered to fight for the Confederacy would be denied the right to vote or hold office.

The Freedmen’s BureauCongress and the President did agree on one plan. One

month before Lee surrendered, Congress passed a bill creating the Freedmen’s Bureau, a government agency to help former slaves. The agency helped poor whites as well.– Gave food and clothing to former slaves.– Tried to find jobs for freedmen.– Provided medical care.– Set up schools. Most of the teachers were volunteers from

the North.– The Bureau created colleges for African Americans,

including Howard, Morehouse, and Fisk.

Lincoln’s Assassination and Johnson’s Inauguration Lead to

Conflict• President Lincoln was assassinated on

April 14, 1865. Andrew Johnson became President. He proposed a Reconstruction plan: • A majority of voters in each southern state

had to pledge loyalty to the Union.• Each state had to ratify the Thirteenth

Amendment, which banned slavery throughout the nation.


Conflict• The southern states quickly met Johnson’s

conditions. The President approved their new state governments in late 1865.

• Southern voters elected representatives to the Senate and House.


Conflict• Republicans in Congress were outraged

that many of those elected had held office in the Confederacy. No southern state allowed African Americans to vote.

• Congress refused to let southern representatives take their seats. Instead, they set up a Joint Committee on Reconstruction to form a new Reconstruction plan.

Radical Reconstruction

• How did Congress react to the passage of black codes in the South?

• How did Radical Republicans gain power in Congress?

• Why was President Johnson impeached?

Congress Reacts to Black Codesblack codes— laws passed by southern states that

severely limited the rights of freedmen

How did black codes affect freedmen?– Black codes granted some rights. African Americans

could marry legally and own some property.

– Black codes kept freedmen from gaining political and economic power. They forbade freedmen to vote, own guns, or serve on juries.

– In some states, African Americans could work only as servants or farm laborers. In others, they had to sign contracts for a year’s work.

Congress Reacts to Black Codes

How did Congress react to black codes?– Angered by black codes, Republicans charged

that Johnson’s lenient Reconstruction plan had encouraged the codes.

– Republicans were also angered by southern white violence against freedmen.

Congress Reacts to Black Codes

How did Congress react to black codes?

• The Joint Committee on Reconstruction accused the South of trying to “preserve slavery . . . as long as possible.”

• When President Johnson ignored the report of the Joint Committee, members of Congress who were called Radical Republicans vowed to take control of Reconstruction.

Radical Republicans Gain Power

• Radical Republicans had two main goals.• Break the power of wealthy planters who had

long ruled the South.

• Ensure that freedmen received the right to vote.

• Radical Republicans needed the support of moderate Republicans. Most southerners were Democrats. Republicans could control both houses if southerners were barred from Congress.


• To combat the black codes, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act in April 1866. It gave citizenship to African Americans.

• Republicans proposed the Fourteenth Amendment, which granted citizenship to all persons born in the United States. It guaranteed citizens “equal protection of the laws” and said that no state could “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.”


• In the Election of 1866, President Johnson opposed the Fourteenth Amendment and urged voters to reject the Radicals. Southern violence convinced many northerners that strong measures were needed, so they backed the Republicans. Republicans won majorities in both houses of Congress.


• The period that followed the election is often called Radical Reconstruction. Congress passed the first Reconstruction Act in March 1867. It threw out state governments that had refused to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment.

Reconstruction PlansPlan Ten Percent Plan Wade-Davis Bill Johnson Plan Reconstruction

Act

Proposed by

Conditions for FormerConfederate States to Rejoin Union

President Abraham Lincoln (1863)

• 10 percent of voters must swear loyalty to Union

• Must abolish slavery

Republicans in Congress (1864)

• Majority of white men must swear loyalty

• Former Confederate volunteers cannot vote or hold office

President Andrew Johnson (1865)

• Majority of white men must swear loyalty

• Must ratify Thirteenth Amendment

• Former Confederate officials may vote and hold office

Radical Republicans (1867)

• Must disband state governments

• Must write new constitutions

• Must ratify Fourteenth Amendment

• African American men must be allowed to vote

Andrew Johnson Impeached

• Because Johnson tried to limit the effect of Radical Reconstruction, Congress tried to remove him from office.

• On February 24, 1868, the House of Representatives voted to impeach, or bring formal charges against, Johnson.

Andrew Johnson Impeached

• The President could be removed from office if two thirds of the Senate found him guilty of “high crimes and misdemeanors.” During Johnson’s trial, it became clear that he was not guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors.

• In the end, the Senate vote was 35 to 19 against Johnson—just one vote shy of the two thirds needed to convict him.

The Civil War Amendments

Thirteenth Amendment

Bans slavery throughout the United States.


Fourteenth Amendment

Grants citizenship to all persons born in the United States. Guarantees citizens equal protection of the laws. No state can deprive any person of life, liberty, or property with due process of law.


Fifteenth Amendment

Forbids any state to deny any citizens the right to vote because of race.

The South Under Reconstruction• What groups of people made up the new forces

in southern politics?

• How did southern Conservatives resist Reconstruction?

• What challenges did Reconstruction governments face?

• How did many southerners become locked into a cycle of poverty?

Southern Conservatives Resisted Reconstruction

• Conservatives—white southerners who had held power before the Civil War and who resisted Reconstruction; they wanted the South to change as little as possible.

• A few wealthy planters tried to force African Americans back onto plantations. Many small farmers and laborers wanted the government to take action against freedmen to stop them from competing for land and power.

Southern Conservatives Resisted Reconstruction

• Some white southerners formed secret societies to help them regain power. The most dangerous was the Klu Klux Klan, or KKK. They conducted a campaign of terror and violence to keep African Americans and white Republicans out of office.

• White southerners accused northerners who came to the South of hoping to get rich from the South’s misery. The southerners called these northerners carpetbaggers.

• Many white southerners felt that any southerner who helped the Republicans was a traitor. They called the white southern Republicans scalawags.

The Challenges Reconstruction Governments Faced

Despite their problems, Reconstruction governments tried to rebuild the South. They built public schools for both black and white children, gave women the right to own property, and rebuilt railroads, telegraph lines, bridges, and roads.

The Challenges Reconstruction Governments Faced

In rebuilding the South, Reconstruction governments met several challenges.– To pay for rebuilding, Reconstruction

governments raised taxes sharply. This created discontent among southern whites.

– Some Reconstruction officials were corrupt, which angered southerners.

A Cycle of Poverty

Some Radical Republicans talked about giving each freedman “40 acres and a mule” to help them get started, but that never happened.– A few freedmen were able to buy land.– Many freedmen and poor whites went to work

on large plantations. These sharecroppers rented and farmed a plot of land.

A Cycle of Poverty

– The planters provided seed, fertilizer, and tools in return for a share of the crop.

– Most sharecroppers and small landowners bought supplies on credit in the spring. In the fall, they had to repay what they had borrowed. If the harvest did not cover what they owed, they sank deeper into debt.

The End of Reconstruction

• What events led to the end of Reconstruction?

• How were the rights of African Americans restricted in the South after Reconstruction?

• What industries flourished in the “New South”?


• By 1870, Radical Republicans were losing power. Northerners were growing tired of trying to reform the South. In addition, disclosure of widespread corruption turned people against the Republican party.


• In 1872, Congress passed the Amnesty Act. It restored the right to vote to nearly all white southerners. They voted solidly Democratic and kept many African Americans from voting.


• The election of 1876 ended Reconstruction. After a dispute in the Electoral College, a special commission set up by Congress settled the election. The commission awarded the election to Rutherford B. Hayes. Although he was a Republican, he had privately agreed to end Reconstruction once in office.

Restricted Rights for African Americans in the South

Voting restrictions• Many southern states passed poll taxes, requiring

voters to pay a fee to vote. Poor freedmen could rarely afford to vote.

• States also passed literacy tests that required voters to read and explain part of the Constitution. Since most freedmen had little education, such tests kept them from voting.

• Many poor whites could not pass literacy tests, so states passed grandfather clauses. These laws stated that if a voter’s father or grandfather could vote on January 1, 1867, then the voter did not have to take a literacy test. (No African Americans could vote before 1868.)

Restricted Rights for African Americans in the South

Segregation, or legal separation of races

• In southern states, Jim Crow laws separated blacks and whites in schools, restaurants, theaters, trains, streetcars, playgrounds, hospitals, and even cemeteries.

• In the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation was legal so long as facilities for blacks and whites were equal. In fact, facilities were rarely equal.

Industry in the “New South”

“New South”—Atlanta journalist Henry Grady talked of a “New South”— a South that used its resources to build up its own industry and not depend on the North.

Agricultural resources– Southern communities started building textile mills

to turn cotton into cloth.– New machinery revolutionized the manufacture of

tobacco products.

Industry in the “New South”

New industries– Alabama made use of its large deposits of iron ore

and coal to become a center of the steel industry.– Oil refineries sprang up in Louisiana and Texas.– Other states produced copper, granite, and marble.– Southern factories turned out cypress shingles and

hardwood

Documents

RECONSTRUCTION UNIT 12. Reconstruction and the Changing South, 1863–1896