Unit 6 Reconstruction 1864-1877 Rebuilding of the South after the Civil War

Unit 6Reconstruction

1864-1877

Rebuilding of the Southafter the Civil War

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Civil War → Reconstruction

• Pres. Abraham Lincoln inaugurated for second term on March 4, 1865

• General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865

2

First Steps Toward Reunion

• Wade-Davis Bill– Required majority of white men in each

southern state to swear loyalty to Union– Denied right to vote or hold office anyone who

had volunteered to fight for Confederacy– Lincoln refused to sign the bill

3

First Steps Toward Reunion

• 10% Plan– Southern state could form a new government

after 10% of voters swore an oath of loyalty to the U.S.

– State’s new government• Had to abolish slavery• Then elected members to Congress

4

John Wilkes Booth

• Pres. Lincoln shot by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865 while watching a play at Ford’s Theater in Washington, DC

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Andrew Johnson – 17th President of U.S.

• 1 term: 1865-1869• Republican Party

• 13th Amendment• 14th Amendment

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Reconstruction: 1864-1877

• 13th Amendment– Ended slavery

• Banned slavery in U.S.

• 14th Amendment– Made former slaves citizens

• Made discrimination illegal

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• Midterm election of 1866 disaster for Pres. Johnson

• Radical Republicans win majorities in Congress– Passed several acts

over Johnson’s veto

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• Radical Republicans2 main goals:– Break power of rich

southern planters– Ensure freed slaves

right to vote

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• Impeached by House of Representatives on Feb. 24, 1868

• Senate found him not guilty– One vote short of

2/3 majority

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Ulysses S. Grant – 18th President of U.S.

• 2 terms: 1869-1877• Republican Party

• 15th Amendment

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• 15th Amendment– Gave former slaves right to vote (men only)

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

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• Carpetbaggers– Northerners who moved to the South to work for

Reconstruction

• Scalawags– White southerners who supported Reconstruction

• Sharecroppers– Rent land to grow food & give owner share of crops

• Ku Klux Klan– Secret organization– White southerners use fear & violence to keep

African Americans from voting or entering politics

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• By 1872, most former Confederates were again allowed to vote

• By late 1870s, conservative whites had regained control of the South– Northerners grew weary of trying to change the South

• Time to let Southerners run their own government again, even if African Americans lose rights gained

– Government of the Southern states was once again in the hands of the Southerners

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End of Reconstruction

• Election of 1876

– Samuel Tilden – Democratic candidate• Won popular vote• One electoral vote short of number needed

to win election

– Rutherford B. Hayes – Republican candidate• Promised to end Reconstruction• Selected by Congress to be President

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Rutherford B. Hayes – 19th President of U.S.

• 1 term: 1877-1881• Republican Party

• Removed remaining Federal troops from the South

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• Southern white conservatives use violence to keep African Americans from voting

• Voting restrictions in Southern states– Poll taxes

• Voters pay tax each time they vote

– Literacy tests• Prove a voter could read & write

• Grandfather clauses– Excused voters from poll taxes or literacy tests if

voter’s father or grandfather had voted before 186717


• Segregation became law of the South

• Jim Crow laws– Laws separating whites and blacks

• schools, restaurants, theaters, trains, streetcars, playgrounds, hospitals, cemeteries

• 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson– Supreme Court said segregation was legal if

facilities were equal

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• Laws passed during Reconstruction (such as 14th Amendment) became basis of civil rights movement almost 100 years later

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Documents

Unit 6 Reconstruction 1864-1877 Rebuilding of the South after the Civil War