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.
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.