Reconstruction of the South

American History

Chapter 17

The End Results

258,000 Confederates died in the war

Most were adult males

South’s economy & society needed rebuilding

Civil War in Pictures

Reconstruction

Everybody had a plan …

Lincoln’s 10% plan

10% of states voters vowed loyalty to Union Form a new government & constitution No slavery

Lincoln Was Soft on the South

Punishment served no useful purposeOffered amnesty/swear loyalty

Not to Confederate leaders

Right to vote to African Americans Educated or served in Union Army

Would force “equal rights” in Southern states

Some jumped in quick

Louisiana, Arkansas & Tennessee agreed in 1864

Lincoln’s congress refused to let it occur

Plan 2- Those Radical Republicans!

Thought Lincoln was too mild

Congress should decide the South’s fate

Refused to let the 10% plan work

The Wade-Davis Bill

July 186450% swear loyalty to UnionOnly males who never took arms

against the North could vote on new state congress & constitution

Former Confederates – no public officeNo slaveryLincoln refused to sign this into law

Freedmen’s Bureau-What was life like for African Americans

Helped African Americans freed from slaveryEstablished- March 1865 Food, clothes, medical servicesEstablished schoolsEstablished universities

Howard, Atlanta, Fisk

Helped them acquire landhttp://www.freedmensbureau.com/

Watch your back!

President Lincoln Assassinated 5 days after Civil War ended

Ford’s TheaterJohn Wilkes Booth“Your name is Mud”

Ford’s Theater

Lincoln Memorial

A New President

Vice President Andrew Johnson becomes President

Not quite as “gentle” as LincolnPunishment in orderNo desire to help African Americans

Johnson’s Plan

Restoration

Amnesty – swore an oath to the UnionHigh ranking officials had to do it

personallyAppointed governorsOnly pardoned, whites could voteNo equal rights for blacks, no votingLeft it up to individual states to “manage

their freed people”

No slaveryDenounce secessionRatify the 13th Amendment

Abolished slavery

End of 1865 most of the South was “restored”

Whose Plan Was Right?

There were 3 plans

10% PlanWade Davis PlanThe “Restoration”

Divide yourselves into 3 equal groupsWhat are the characteristics of each

plan?Defend your plan and the correct one

South “Restored” but not settled

Struggle in Washington D.C.Congress did not want to readmit southern

states on Johnson’s terms felt it robbed the Union of it’s victory treatment of African Americans not improving

Ku Klux Klan emerged terrorized African Americans in the South– burning

houses, churches, schools, rioting and murder

Black Codes

passed by southern states

aim to control freed men, women children

enable plantation owners to exploit them as workers

reincarnation of the “slave codes”

Examples of the Code– Slavery in Disguise

could be arrested for not having a jobforced to work for plantation owner to

pay off the finesome laws refused to let them own or

rent farmsorphaned babies were taken as unpaid

apprentices

Civil Rights Act of 1866-passed by Congress

full citizenship to African Americans

Federal government could intervene in state affairs

overturned black codes contradicted the Dred

Scott Case– African Americans were not citizens

President Johnson says no way!Vetoes both the

Freedmen’s Bureau Bill and Civil Rights Amendment

did not represent ALL states

Congress had enough votes to override

Rift between Congress and President grew

14th Amendment of 1866Congress passed to

ensure Civil Rights Act did not get overturned

Full citizenship to anyone born in the USA

No state could take away ones life, liberty or property without “due process”

all had “equal protection” of the laws

voting was granted only for men white men

Southern states had to ratify it to gain entry to the Union

Only Tennessee ratified itdelayed adoption of amendment until

1868

New Players in Congress

Election time for CongressJohnson rallied for rejection of

Amendment from North and Southcampaigned against the RepublicansRepublicans gained control of congresscreated their own “reconstruction plan”

Radical Reconstruction

Congress was in control could override any veto that

Johnson issued 10 remaining states that did not

accept 14th amendment divided into 5 districts under authority of a military

commander

African American males allowed to vote

former Confederate leaders could not hold office

How to get back in…ratify the 14th amendmentsubmit new constitutions for

approval

2nd Reconstruction Act– registered new voters and prepared states for new state constitutional conventions

Johnson and Congress Spar

Congress passed laws to limit the powers of the president Tenure of Office Act

• didn’t allow the President to remove government officials without Senate approval

Johnson tests the act• suspends the Secretary of War without

approval• Appointed commanders to southern

districts that congress opposed

Impeach, Impeach, Impeach

House of Representatives vote to impeach

accused him of misconduct trial lasted 3 months both sides argued back and

forth saying it was just politically motivated

35-19 to convict. 1 vote short of 2/3rds majority

New Election, New President

1868 Gen. Ulysses S. Grant– Republican

Horatio Seymour– Democrat

Grant won; also received 500,000 African American votes in the South

15th Amendment– 1869

prohibited state and federal governments from denying the right to vote to any MALE citizen because of race, color or previous condition of servitude

The South During Reconstruction

3 groups in the South African Americans white Southerners– supported Republicans white settlers from the North

Group 1– African Americans

important in politics population– helped with Republican victories held some positions in political office at state level national level had more

• Hiram Revels– senator• Blanche K Bruce

– former runaway slave

– established a school for African Americans

– became superintendent of schools in MS

– senator in US senate

Scalawags and Carpetbaggers

Not everyone got on the same page

Some southerners didn’t want to secede

agreed with Republicans of the North non-slave holding

farmers businessmen

Called Scalawags

Northerners moved South to make a new life called–

Carpetbaggers doctors, lawyers,

teachers, former Union soldiers

Resistance to Reconstruction

Some white Southerners could not let go of old ways wouldn’t let ex-slaves

leave refused to rent land to

ex-slaves stores refused to grant

credit employers would not hire

them used fear to keep them in

line

Ku Klux Klan

formed in 1866wore white sheets and hoods“midnight rides”Jackson county FL– 150 in 3 yearskeep from voting

Hate Crimes

Some Improvements

Education whites and African

Americans created their own schools Freedmen’s bureau

helped teachers from North

came South by 1870 50% white kids

and 40% African Americans in public school; segregated

Sharecropping rented land; crude

shack seeds, tools, mule % of crop back to

landowner not much left in the

end not much better than

slavery

End of Reconstruction

Both sides growing weary; ready to move on

wanted “reconciliation”Amnesty act– 1872 pardoned most

Confederates vote and hold office changed the political balance– Democrats

Democrats take control

easily took control in white statesKu Klux Klan helped gain democratic

control in heavily African American populated states

Republicans had their own problems

scandalstop government officials

unfair business deals accepting bribes threatening to withhold tax money vice-president; secretary of war democrats won control of the house

Getting out while the getting is good…

1876 electionGrant does not run for another termRutherford B. Hayes (R) vs. Samuel Tilden

(D) Tight election

1 electoral vote (20 disputed votes) commission– 7 from each party; 1 independent Hayes wins

Compromise of 1877

deal made to settle election dispute democrats wanted to

fight the verdict• more aid to the region• withdraw troops from

Southern states• Democrats will

maintain African/American rights

Hayes: no friend to the African American

“…your rights and interests would be safer if this great mass of intelligent white men were left alone by the general government”

states would deal with the “African American” issue alone.

Reconstruction was over

More changes in the South; not all good

Democrats in controlRedeemers

save the south from republican rule adopted conservative ways stopped many social programs

• schools lowered taxes less public spending

The South’s Economy

lags behind the nation industrialization slow

Rise of “New South” Henry Grady led the

cause coal, iron, tobacco,

cotton, lumber rise of textile mills;

Northern companies moved south

James Duke developed the tobacco manufacturing

industry grew (not as fast as North)workers worked hard, long hourscheap wageskids tooRR boom

A divided society

15th Amendment allowed African Americans the right to vote

Southern states looked for loop holes

poll tax– had to pay before you could vote

literacy test– read & explain constitution

grandfather clause– if father or grandfather voted before Reconstruction; didn’t have to pass literacy test

African American voting declined

Ending thoughts

Some good things occurred

Some not so good for the African American

“The slave went free, stood a brief moment in the sun then moved back again toward slavery.” W.E.B. Du Bois

Jim Crow Laws

1890’s– segregation was prominent

Laws required separation in most public places

Plessy vs. Ferguson separate section on train access to public facilities

= to whites kept segregation in south

for 50 years were really not equal