WHAT WERE THE GOALS?

RECONSTRUCTION

GOALS OF RECONSTRUCTION

• Rebuild the Southern economy

• Admit the Southern states into the Union

• Support former slaves in their new freedom – education, land, skills, etc.

RECONSTRUCTIONTHREE PLANS

Lincoln’s Plan

• Easy on South• Pardon Confederates if

they swear allegiance to the Union

• Ten Percent Plan

Radical RepublicansRep.Thaddeus StevensSenator Charles Sumner

Radical Republicans’ Plan• Destroy political power

of former slaveholders• Punish South• Give African Americans

full citizenship and right to vote

• Passed Wade-Davis Bill • Congress, not president,

responsible for Reconstruction

• Majority, not 10%, must pledge allegiance

• Pocket Veto – kills bill

ECONOMY

Problems Encountered:•Property values and wealth decreases•Population decreased•State spending increases/few resources•Labor shortage•Landlessness•Cotton prices drop

Solutions Offered:•Raise taxes•Confiscate plantations – redistribute•Sharecropping•Tenant farmer systems•Diversify economy

POLITICAL

Problems Encountered:•No $ to rebuild•Different goals of groups in government – Radicals, Moderates, President Johnson •Racist laws• Black codes

Solutions Offered:

•Increase taxes•Freedmen’s Bureau• Freed slaves take active role in politics•Civil Rights Act of 1866 •Amendments

SOCIAL

Problems Encountered:•Racism•Refusal to accept freeds slaves as equals•Acceptance of defeat•Separation of families•Illiteracy

Solutions Offered:•Emigration from plantations to cities•Reuniting families•Organizing educational, religious, social & political institutions

Andrew Johnson’s Plan

• Similar to Lincoln’s• Southern states must

also accept Thirteenth Amendment to abolish slavery

Radical Republicans• Feel plan does not address

needs of former slaves• Refused to seat Southern

members of Congress• Passed bill creating

Freedmen’s Bureau• Provides food and clothing to

former slaves• Sets up hospitals and schools

• Civil Rights Act of 1866 • states could not enact black

codes

JOHNSON VETOES BOTH BILLS

• Moderate & Radical Republicans join together• Override Johnson’s

veto

• Fourteenth Amendment• Equal protection under

the law

• Put Southern states under military control

• Southern states must approve Fourteenth Amendment• Congress tries to

impeach Johnson

WHAT WERE THE GOALS OF RECONSTRUCTION?

• Admit the Southern states into the Union

• Rebuild the Southern economy

• Support former slaves in their new freedom – education, land, skills, etc.

How successful was Reconstruction?????

COMPROMISE OF 1877

• An unwritten, informal deal between the Republican and Democrats of Congress to recognize the Republican president if the following actions took place:

• Removal of all federal troops from the southern states.

• Appointment of at least one southern Democrat into Hayes's Administration.

• Construction of a second transcontinental railroad in the South called the Texas and Pacific. 

• Legislation enacted to help industrialize the South.

“Compromise Indeed!" represents the perceived bullying on the part of the Democrats in their plight. The popular press was particularly critical of the

Democratic effort to get Tilden elected.