SSUSH10 A thru E Reconstruction
Reconstruction
Dec 1863: Lincoln’s Plan
• Establish a Moderate Policy to restore the
Southern States back into the Union:
Avoid Punishment for Treason
Offer a General Amnesty (Pardon)
Require an Oath of Loyalty
Acceptance of the 13th Amendment
• Radical Senator Thaddeus Stevens led the opposition.
Republican Resistance
Did not want to Reconcile with the South
Prevent Confederate Leaders from Returning to Power
Create a Powerful Republican Party in the South
Give African-Americans Political Equality with the Right to Vote
Reconstruction
Summer 1864: Moderate Republicans
• Lincoln was too Lenient
• Radicals were too Harsh
• Wade-Davis Bill was their Alternative Plan
Southern Men take an Oath of Allegiance to the U.S.
Constitutional Conventions create new State Governments
Abolishment of Slavery throughout the United States
Deprive Confederate Leaders from Holding Political Offices
African-Americans to be given Equality under the Law
• Document was amended with a Preamble by
Thaddeus Stevens: South is a “Public Enemy”
• President Lincoln refused to sign the Bill into
law prior to Congress’ end of Session (Pocket Veto).
Reconstruction
The Refugee Crisis
• Mar 1865: Congress Created the
“Freedmen’s Bureau.”
Tasked with feeding & Clothing
War Refugees from the South
Helping former Slaves find work
on Plantations.
Negotiating Labor Contracts
with Local Planters.
Establish Schools to Educate
freed African Americans.
• Rejected: “Forty Acres and a Mule”
Reconstruction
15 April 1865
• President Abraham Lincoln is Assassinated.
• V.P. Andrew Johnson becomes President
• New Proclamation of Amnesty:
May 1865: Johnson’s Restoration Policy Dec 1865: New Congressional Session
• Republicans angered by the South:
All former Citizens of the
Confederacy Except Military
Officers and Political Officials
• New Model to Restore the South:
New State Conventions
Revoke Ordinance of Secession
Ratify Thirteenth Amendment
Reject all Confederate Debts
Former Confederates were
elected to Congress
Confederate V.P.
A.H. Stephens (GA)
Establishment of Black Codes
Limiting the Rights of All
African-Americans in the South
Reconstruction
Dec 1865: Joint Committee on Reconstruction
• Congressional Committee to develop their own Rebuilding Program
Struggles between the President and
Congress began immediately over plans
for Reconstruction.
Feb 1866: Freedmen’s Bureau Act
• Plan to Extend the agencies existence for Two More Years
Mar 1866: Civil Rights Act
• Granting Citizenship to all persons Born in the U.S. (Except Native Americans)
June 1866: Fourteenth Amendment
• Granting Citizenship to all persons Born or Naturalized in the United States
• Equal Protection under the Law to all Citizens (Life, Liberty, and Property)
Reconstruction
• Divided Former Confederacy into
Five Military Districts .
• Each District had a Union General
with Military Control.
• Required Constitutional Conventions
to design New State Constitutions.
• Ensure the Right to Vote to all
Citizens within each state.
• Ratification of the Fourteenth
Amendment by each state.
• Compliance of all requirements
resulted in re-admittance to Union.
Mar 1867: Military Reconstruction Act
Reconstruction
Struggles between the President and
Congress continued over Reconstruction
since Republicans did not trust Johnson.
• Congress was concerned that the President would try to block their plans.
Mar 1867: Command of the Army Act
• Required all Presidential Orders to
go through the Army Commander.
Mar 1867: Tenure of Office Act
• Required Senate approval to
Remove any Government Official.
21 Feb 1868: President Johnson fired Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton
24 February 1868
• The House of Representatives voted
to Impeach Pres. Andrew Johnson.
16 May 1868
• The Senate Failed to Convict the
President of any crimes.
Reconstruction
1868 Presidential Election
• Pres. Andrew Johnson declined to rerun.
• Republicans nominated Ulysses S. Grant.
Fifteenth Amendment
(Ratified: 30 Mar 1870)
• Ulysses S. Grant was elected when Democrats were unable to unify.
• The Right to Vote “Shall Not be
Denied on Account of Race, Color,
or Previous Condition of
Servitude.
Reconstruction
Radical Reconstruction had a dramatic
impact on the Southern States.
Northern
Republicans who
went South to
help rebuild
were called:
Carpetbaggers
Southerners who
supported
Reconstruction &
help Northerners
were called:
Scalawags
Increased African-American
involvement in Southern Politics
became known in the South as:
Black Republicanism
This negative attitude was
drastically exaggerated by many
Southerners.
Reconstruction
Reconstruction efforts helped
establish African-American
Academies and Colleges.
Atlanta University
(founded in 1865)
was merged with
Clark College
(Founded in 1869)
Chartered in 1877
Augusta Institute
(Founded in 1867)
became Atlanta
Baptist College
(Renamed in 1897)
Renamed in 1913
Better educated and informed African-Americans began to
acquire political positions in the South
Race of delegates to 1867 state constitutional conventions
State White Black %
White
Statewide white
population (% in 1870)
Virginia 80 25 76 58
North Carolina
107 13 89 63
South Carolina
48 76 39 41
Georgia 133 33 80 54
Florida 28 18 61 51
Alabama 92 16 85 52
Mississippi 68 17 80 46
Louisiana 25 44 36 50
Texas 81 9 90 69
African Americans in Office 1870–1876
State Legislators Senators Congressmen
Alabama 69 0 4
Arkansas 8 0 0
Florida 30 0 1
Georgia 41 0 1
Louisiana 87 0 1
Mississippi 112 2 1
North Carolina
30 0 1
South Carolina
190 0 6
Tennessee 1 0 0
Texas 19 0 0
Virginia 46 0 0
Total 633 2 15
In 1867
No African-Americans
held political office in
the South
By 1870
15% of all men elected
were African-American
Reconstruction 24 Dec 1865
Six well-educated
Confederate
Veterans in
Tennessee formed:
Ku Klux Klan
In 1867 a
Confederate
Veteran in
Louisiana formed
the:
Rising Southern Resistance
Intense resentment by
some Southern whites
resulted in the formation
of Secret Societies. Knights of the White Camelia
Members often included
Confederate Veterans
Southern Vigilantes
Poor White Farmers
Displaced Politicians
Illegal Whiskey Makers
Members often included
Confederate Veterans
Physicians & Doctors
Newspaper Editors
Displaced Politicians
Southern Landowners
Primary Goals
• Drive out Union
Troops and
Carpetbaggers
• Regain Control
of the South
Reconstruction
Hooded, White-Robed
Groups of Klansmen
Terrorized Republican
Supporters
• Breaking up Political
Meetings
• Burning Homes,
Schools, & Churches
• Attacking Freedman’s
Bureau Officials
• Disrupting Voting
• Hanging Selected
Individuals & Officials
Many Republicans in
the South considered
the KKK to be worse
than Slavery ever was.
1870 – 1871 Three Enforcement Acts
• A Crime to interfere
with Citizen’s Voting.
• U.S. Marshals directed
to Supervise Elections.
• Outlawed Activities of
the Ku Klux Klan.
Southern Resistance
Ku Klux Klan
Collapse of Reconstruction
Presidential Election of 1876
• Republicans nominated former Ohio
Governor Rutherford B. Hayes.
Compromise of 1877
• Democrats nominated former
New York Governor Samuel Tilden.
• 7 Nov 1876: Tilden received 184 votes & Hayes received 165 votes
with 20 votes from four Southern States in dispute.
• 15 Member Congressional Committee was appointed to settle the dispute.
• 8 Republican members votes for Hayes against 7 Democrats for Tilden.
• Republicans promised to remove troops from the South to get votes.
• April 1877: President Hayes pulled Federal Troops out of the South.
Collapse of Reconstruction
Creating the New South
• Northern Financiers
helped the South:
Build Railroads Create Industries Textile Businesses
Return of the Old South
• Region Primarily Agricultural
• African-Americans lost their
Political Power
• African-Americans forced
back to work on Plantations
African-Americans
forced back to work
on the Plantations.
Those who worked
for wages and paid
rent to live on the
land were known as:
Tenant Farmers
Those who paid their
rent with part of
their crops became
known as:
Sharecroppers Many African-Americans
ended up trapped into
Debt Peonage (Bondage)
Collapse of Reconstruction
Merchants gave credit
Charged 40% Interest
Took payment in Crops
Confiscated Lands