RECONSTRUCTION AND THE NEW SOUTH

PROBLEMS AT THE END OF THE WARThere were many problems that

existed at the conclusion of the Civil War.

The South was in much worse shape than the North.

Much of the South had been destroyed by fighting and by total

war.

Newly freed slaves were unsure of their status and how to begin a new

life.

Many people, black and white, were homeless and starving after the war

destroyed their homes.

THE TEN PERCENT PLANPresident Lincoln was hoping that if the South rejoined the Union

quickly, wounds between North and South could begin to heal.

In December of 1863, Lincoln proposed the Ten Percent Plan.

As soon as 10% of a Confederate state’s voters (white men) swore an oath of loyalty to the U.S. government, that state could begin

to organize a new state government.

These new state governments had to agree to outlaw slavery as part of their Constitutions.

After these things were done, the new states could once again join the U.S. government and be represented in Washington D.C.

Lincoln also planned to give amnesty, or a group pardon to Confederates who took the oath.

High ranking members of the Confederate government or the Confederate military were not included in the pardon.

THE WADE-DAVIS BILLAfter Lincoln proposed his plan, Congress proposed their own plan called the Wade-

Davis Bill.

Congress’s proposal called for 50% of the voters (white men) of a former Confederate

state to sign an oath of loyalty to the U.S. government.

Anyone who had voluntarily (Some slaves were forced as were people who were

drafted) to fight for the Confederacy would not be allowed to choose the people who

would write their state’s constitution.

Lincoln disapproved of this bill (proposed law), so it never became law.

OPPOSING VIEWPOINTS

Lincoln hoped to build up the Republican Party in the New South by remaining “soft” and lenient with the South as it moved toward rejoining the country.

A group of Republicans known as the Radical Republicans did not want to let the South off so easy.

The Radicals wanted to be strict to the South, making sure those who led the South out of the country once could never get the power to do it again.

THE FREEDMEN’S BUREAUOne thing that had to be done quickly was reach out to all of the freedmen (freed slaves) and

other people suffering from the war.

The Freedmen’s Bureau was set up in March of 1865 to help those who were starving, homeless, and jobless because of the war.

PROVIDING EDUCATIONFreedmen were able to go to

schools that were set up by the Freedmen’s Bureau.

African American communities were so in need of schools that

they would raise money to pay a teacher themselves.

Most teachers were white women but some African American women

also taught.

Southern states did not have education systems so the schools of

the Freedmen’s Bureau educated as many whites as it did blacks.

President Lincoln had hoped that by 1865 most of the war and its ugliness was behind him.

Lincoln planned to see the country reunited when his life was cut short on April 14, 1865.

While watching a play in Ford’s Theater in Washington D.C. called “Our American Cousin,” Lincoln was shot in the

back of the head by John Wilkes Booth, an actor and a man who had supported the Confederacy.

Lincoln died a few hours after being shot.

Booth was hunted down until he was trapped in a barn while hiding and killed by police.

Lincoln’s body was taken back to Illinois by train for a funeral, attended by thousands of people.

Vice President Andrew Johnson became President upon Lincoln’s death, as ordered in the U.S. Constitution.

Lincoln is murdered

LINCOLN ASSASSINATION

LINCOLN ASSASSINATION

PRESIDENT JOHNSON

Andrew Johnson was a Democrat from Tennessee.

He was one of the few southern Democrats who had stayed loyal to the Union when the Civil War broke

out.

Many people thought Johnson was going to be much tougher on the

South than Lincoln had planned on being.

Reconstruction would now be in the hands of a new man who was just

days on the job.

THE 13TH AMENDMENTThe 13th Amendment to the Constitution abolished slavery throughout the United States.

It would now be against federal law to own someone as a slave, or to force them into labor.

The 13th Amendment also gave Congress the power to make laws to make sure the amendment was followed.

THE 13TH AMENDMENT

JOHNSON’S PLANLike President Lincoln, President Johnson proposed a more lenient Reconstruction

plan toward the South.

He wanted to issue amnesty to most of the ex-Confederates.

The South would be allowed to reorganize new state governments with only one

major condition.

Each ex-Confederate state would have to ratify the 13th Amendment to the U.S.

Constitution.

Most states had done what Johnson had asked by December of 1865, and when

Congress met many former Confederate leaders were part of the United States

government.ANDREW JOHNSON

CONGRESS BEGINS TO ACTCongress did not like the way Johnson had tried to bring the South back into

the Union.

Congress refused to seat the newly elected southern

representatives and senators who had just

recently been members of the Confederate

government and military.

It also decided to form a committee to look into

how the South should be handled.

THE BLACK CODESAfter the 13th Amendment was passed,

there would be no going back to slavery.

The South thought of ways however to try to bring back as much of slavery as they could without actually calling it slavery.

The Black Codes were used in the South to control the actions of African

Americans.

These codes forbid African Americans from things like voting, serving on juries, or to be forced to work for people if they

couldn’t pay their debts.

These codes would lead the Radical Republicans in Congress to begin to

propose taking a much harder line on the South.

THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1866The President and Congress disagreed over how

African Americans in the South should be treated.

The Civil Rights Act of 1866 was passed to give citizenship to African Americans, making sure everyone

except Native Americans were considered citizens.

President Johnson vetoed the bill, preventing it from becoming a law.

Congress overrode his veto, making the Civil Rights Act of 1866 a law without his consent.

THE 14TH AMENDMENTWith the Civil Rights Act of 1866 passed without the President signing it, only the Supreme Court could stop the Act from

remaining a law.

To make sure this did not happen, the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

was passed.

This amendment ensures that anyone born or naturalized in the U.S. (process

to become a citizen) are citizens.

It also said that states can do nothing to take away these rights.

This amendment would become important in helping African Americans

fight for civil rights in the 1960’s.RECONSTRUCTION AMENDMENTS

RADICAL RECONSTRUCTIONAfter the Black Codes and violence continued

in the South through 1866, the Radical Republicans convinced Congress to be strict

on the South.

By 1867, Reconstruction had been taken over by Congress and was called “Radical

Reconstruction.”

The Reconstruction Act of 1867 dissolved any southern state government who would not

approve of the 14th Amendment.

These states were divided into 5 military districts, each governed by a Union general.

Each of these states would have to write another new constitution that ratified

(approved) of the 14th Amendment and give African Americans the right to vote.

IMPEACHMENTThe Radical Republicans realized that

President Johnson was not going to help them be tough on the South.

The Radicals wanted to impeach, or remove from office, the President.

The President can be removed from office for treason, bribery, or other “high crimes or

misdemeanors.”

Johnson had ignored the Tenure of Office Act, which was set up to protect the

appointments of Abraham Lincoln from being fired.

Johnson fired Secretary of War Edwin Stanton without the permission of Senate, which

allowed Congress to try and impeach him for breaking the law.

THE FALL OF JOHNSON

THE 1868 ELECTIONRepublican candidate General Ulysses S. Grant was elected

President of the United States in 1868.

Grant won support in the North and the South where the military made sure that

African Americans could vote safely.

Most African Americans voted Republican.

Grant continued Reconstruction, taking control

back from the Radical Republicans.

THE 15TH AMENDMENTThe 15th Amendment to the Constitution made sure that the right to vote could not be denied

for reasons like “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

This made sure African Americans men would be able to vote.

This did not guarantee the right to vote for any women, black or white.

The South responded by adding property restrictions to voting, ensuring newly freed African Americans would still have a hard time voting.

ELECTION OF 1868Because African Americans were allowed to vote, more and more Republicans were elected in

the South.

These Republicans helped to write new constitutions for the southern states and Congress welcomed new southern Republicans to join them.

African Americans began to win elections at the local and state level.

Hiram Revels and Blanche Bruce were elected to the U.S. Senate.

REPUBLICANS IN THE SOUTHThree major groups of people helped to build up the Republican governments in the South:

1. Scalawags were the whites in the South who had opposed the South seceding from

the U.S. in the first place.

2. Freedmen (freed slaves) supported the Republicans who helped them win their

freedom.

3. Carpetbaggers were northern whites who moved south to start businesses or run for

political offices.

They were called this because of their cheap suitcases that they put their belongings in

because they rushed to the South.

THE KKKSouthern Whites who had supported the Confederacy and who

wanted to maintain slavery were slowly being denied political power.

To make sure they were able to show their unhappiness, these southerners formed secret societies in the South.

The most popular was the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) started by Nathan Bedford Forrest, an ex-Confederate general.

The KKK would try to terrorize African Americans to keep them from voting.

They burnt crosses, whipped, tortured, and killed African Americans.

Congress passed the Ku Klux Klan Acts to make sure violence couldn’t be used against voters.

While the KKK was forced to dissolve, fewer African Americans voted as a result.

THE KKK

EDUCATION AND FARMINGAfrican Americans built their own schools

during Reconstruction.

Academies, schools with special training, were set up and grew into African

American colleges in the South.

African Americans and whites went to different schools, very few were

integrated.

African Americans wanted land to farm, but couldn’t afford it.

Most became sharecroppers, who rented land and paid their rent with a

percentage of their crops each year.

Most sharecroppers had little left over to pay their debts or feed their families.

REASONS FOR THE END

There were several reasons why Reconstruction ended:

1. The Republican Party became less popular.

2. The Democrats began to “redeem” the South.

3. Rutherford B. Hayes was elected President in 1876.

REASONS FOR THE END

THE FALL OF THE REPUBLICANS

As the Civil War crept further into the past, people wanted to focus on their

own lives and cared less about Reconstruction.

President Grant’s administration was corrupt, and many of the men he put in

office were not trustworthy.

The Republicans became less popular as a result.

CHANGES IN THE SOUTHMany people in both the North and South wanted the federal

troops and military districts to end in the South.

Democrats began to run for election and started to win in the

South, taking back the state governments from the

Republicans.

African American rights were threatened with each Democrat

elected.

Societies like the KKK helped to make sure African Americans

didn’t feel safe voting.

THE ELECTION OF 1876After 8 years of Grant

being President, Rutherford B. Hayes was

elected President in 1876.

The election was disputed (winner was not agreed

on).

Republicans and Democrats made a deal that allowed Hayes to become President in

exchange for his promise to end Reconstruction.

Upon his inauguration, Hayes ordered all federal troops out of the South,

leaving African Americans to fend for themselves.

THE NEW SOUTHThe South began to grow again

during Reconstruction.

Cotton and tobacco production began to soar again.

The textile (cloth) industry grew quickly using southern cotton to

create new products.

Mills and factories sprung up to produce new materials the South

didn’t have in the past.

This “New South” was not just a cotton producer, but an

industrial center.

THE JIM CROW LAWSWith the Republicans out of power and the U.S. Army gone, the

South began to go back towards its former glory.

Laws known as Jim Crow Laws were passed to take away rights from African Americans.

Poll taxes were passed to keep poor African Americans from voting.

Literacy tests were used to keep African Americans who could not read from voting.

The grandfather clause allowed poor whites or whites that could not read to vote. It said anyone who had a grandfather eligible to

vote could vote without passing the poll or literacy test.

Laws were also passed that segregated (separated) whites and blacks. Each would have separate hospitals, schools, restaurants,

cemeteries, parks, etc.

Blacks also had to give up or take the back seats on trains and streetcars.

PLESSY V. FERGUSONIn 1869 the Supreme Court said

that segregation was legal.

In the court case Plessy v. Ferguson, Homer Plessy was

arrested for sitting in a train car that was for whites only.

When Plessy was arrested, he sued saying the 13th and 14th

Amendments were being violated.

Eventually the Supreme Court would say that segregation was

legal, but only if facilities for blacks and whites were

equivalent (separate but equal).

SEPARATE BUT EQUAL