ReconstructioReconstructionnOf the South

The War’s Aftermath Human toll of the Civil War: The North lost 364,000

soldiers. The South lost 260,000 soldiers. Between 1865 and 1877, the federal government carried

out a program to repair the damage to the South and restore the southern states to the Union. This program was known as Reconstruction.

Black Southerners were starting out their new lives in a poor region with slow economic activity.

Plantation owners lost slave labor worth $3 billion. Poor white Southerners could not find work because of

new job competition from freedmen. The war had destroyed two thirds of the South’s shipping

industry and about 9,000 miles of railroad.

Chapter 12, Section 1

Lincoln’s Plan

Pardon and grant amnesty

When 10% of the 1860 voters took an oath and agree to abide by the government which abolishes slavery, then the state government will be recognized

States had never left the union; some citizens were in rebellion; we are all country men again

Johnson’s Plan

Follow Lincoln’s plan Generous with pardons

– Forgiving: He was a southerner Let states pass black codes For a state to hold a

constitutional convention they must– Void secession – Ratify the 13th amendment– Stop paying war debt

Problems for Johnson

Lincoln was popular / Johnson was not

Lincoln could get along with critics / Johnson could not

Northerners were blaming the south

Johnson is impeached for political reasons: Johnson is saved by one vote

His crime: use of “intemperate language” and bringing disgrace and ridicule on Congress.

Lincoln’s plan

Johnson’s plan

• Denied pardons to officers and anyone who had killed African American war prisoners.

• Permitted each state to create a new constitution after 10 percent of voters took an oath of allegiance.

• Offered pardons to Southerners who swore allegiance.

• States could then hold elections and rejoin the Union.

• Each state could create a new constitution without Lincoln’s 10 percent allegiance requirement.

• States had to void secession, abolish slavery, and repudiate the Confederate debt.

• Although it officially denied pardons to all Confederate leaders, Johnson often issued pardons to those who asked him personally.

Reconstruction PlansReconstruction Plans

Chapter 12, Section 1

Reaction to Lincoln’s Reconstruction PlanReaction to Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan

• A group called the Radical Republicans felt that the Civil War had been fought over the moral issue of slavery. The Radicals insisted that the main goal of Reconstruction should be a restructuring of society to guarantee black people true equality.

• The Radical Republicans viewed Lincoln’s plan as too lenient.

• In July, 1864, Congress passed a stricter Reconstruction plan, the Wade-Davis Act. Among its provisions, it required ex-Confederate men to take an oath of past and future loyalty and to swear that they had never willingly borne arms against the United States. Lincoln let the bill die in a pocket veto.

Chapter 12, Section 1

Wade-Davis Bill

Congress controls Reconstruction, not the President

South will be under a military government

Lincoln uses pocket vetoes

Radical Republicans’ Plan

South must be Punished Military Reconstruction Act

of 1867– Divides the South into 5

Military Districts• Each governed by a Union

General– Confederacy can’t pay war

debts or Southerners for the loss of their slaves.

– Punish states which do not allow African-American males to vote

RR Cont.

All qualified voters not including those who supported the Confederacy could vote for delegates to a Constitutional Convention when– The 14th amendment was ratified– Guaranteed the rights to all

citizens– Permit African American males

the right to vote

North

– Freedman’s Bureau: aid medical care to help newly freed blacks: built schools and hospitals

– 13th amendment: ends slavery

– 14th Amendment: everyone born in the U.S.A is a citizen; state can’t deny a citizen federal rights of life, liberty or property without due process

– 15th amendment: The right to vote for African American males

Black Codes As southern states were restored to the Union, they began to

enact black codes, laws that restricted freedmen’s rights. The black codes established virtual slavery with provisions such as these:– Curfews: Generally, black people could not gather after

sunset.– Vagrancy laws: Freedmen convicted of vagrancy– that is,

not working– could be fined, whipped, or sold for a year’s labor.

– Labor contracts: Freedmen had to sign agreements in January for a year of work. Those who quit in the middle of a contract often lost all the wages they had earned.

– Land restrictions: Freed people could rent land or homes only in rural areas. This restriction forced them to live on plantations.

Chapter 12, Section 2

South

– Black Codes: used to control the actions of ex-slaves examples are curfews, can’t serve on a jury, can’t marry whites, can’t carry a weapon

– Sharecropping: ties workers to land; like slavery

– Segregation: separate by race

– Solid South: south votes strongly democratic

Sharecropping and the Cycle of DebtSharecropping and the Cycle of Debt

1. Poor whites and freedmen have no jobs, no homes, and no money to buy land.

2. Poor whites and freedmen sign contracts to work a landlord’s acreage in exchange for a part of the crop.

3. Landlord keeps track of the money that sharecroppers owe him for housing and food.

4. At harvest time, the sharecropper owes more to the landlord than his share of the crop is worth.

5. Sharecropper cannot leave the farm as long as he is in debt to the landlord.

Chapter 12, Section 3

Voting Restrictions

South passed laws to keep African-Americans from voting or holding office.

Poll Taxes: pay a fee in order to vote

Grandfather clause: you may vote only if your grandfather had voted in the past

Literacy test: you must show you can read in order to vote

Attempts to profit from Reconstruction

Carpetbaggers: Northerner who moves to the south to exploit situations created by Reconstruction for their own advantage

Scalawag: Southerner who cooperates with Reconstruction and joins the Republican party. These individuals are considered traitors by white Southerners.

Jim Crow Laws

Laws passed that separated blacks and whites in– Trains– Theaters– Streetcars– Playgrounds– Hospitals– Beaches– Cemeteries

Post Civil War Agenda Caring for the needs of newly freed slaves– Employment

assistance– Housing assistance– Educational

provision– Granting full rights

as citizens

Mending the rift between North and south– Granting amnesty

to confederates– Restoring states

their full rights– Returning

confiscated land to former confederate owners

Grant as President

Elected in 1868 Radical Republicans want to divide the

plantation land among slaves. Not supported by the Republican moderates

Sharecropping and tenant farming developed

15th amendment passed: voting rights