RECONSTRUCTION

• The Federal government’s plan to restore the South to the Union after the Civil war.

LINCOLN ASSASSINATED

• April 15, 1865• Shot by John Wilkes Booth

ANDREW JOHNSON

• Johnson becomes president– Southern State

Requirements• States had to end slavery• Their secession had been

illegal• Get back the right to vote,

adult white males had to pledge loyalty to the U.S.

CONSTITUTION OF 1866

• Changed much of it back to its Pre-Civil war wording– Exceptions –• Ended slavery in Texas

• Denied civil rights, including the right to vote, to African Americans

“Black Codes”– Made African Americans second-class

citizens– Could NOT serve on juries– Could NOT hold public office– Could not be idle – had to work;

forced if necessary– No interracial marriages

FREEDMAN’S BUREAU

• 1865 – Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands or “Freedman’s Bureau”

• Protect newly freed slaves from Black Codes and violence– Provided food and health care– Jobs– Schools for the children

• Closed in 1868 after reorganization of government in South

FREEDMAN’S BUREAU