Below: After the war, manynortherners came Southand established schools toteach the freedmen to readand write.

Lincoln andReconstructionThe Georgia to which the war-weary Confederate soldiers returned was notas they had left it. Fields lay in ruins. Most houses were badly run down orhad been destroyed. Railroad tracks lay twisted, bridges had been burned,cotton mills and factories were closed or burned. There was not enough food,and many people were starving. Many banks had closed their doors. The Con-federacy had a war debt of over $700 million, and Georgia faced a debt of$20 million.

Of the 125,000 Georgians who fought in the war, 25,000 did not returnhome due to battle deaths and diseases. Many others could not work becauseof their injuries. For most white Georgians, there were new struggles eachday just to eat. Life was no better for the men, women, and children freedfrom slavery.

The FreedmenThe thousands of freedmen (former slaves) faced great hardships. Home-

less, uneducated, and free for first time in their lives, the freedmen had littlemore than the clothes on their backs. Many went from place to place look-ing for food, shelter, and work. Some traveled just to demonstrate that they

As you read, look for:• the purpose of theFreedmen’s Bureau,• the presidential plans forReconstruction, and• vocabulary terms: freedmen,Freedmen’s Bureau,Reconstruction, disfranchise,Thirteenth Amendment, andnullify.

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298 Chapter 9: Reconstruction and the New South

By the Side of the RoadBy the Side of the RoadFounded in 1773, Springfield Baptist Church is the oldest African American church in the United States. It wasalso the only Baptist Church in Augusta until 1820 and the only black church until 1840. The church buildingitself, built in 1801, is the oldest surviving church building in Augusta and one of the oldest in Georgia. But SpringfieldBaptist Church is also significant for other reasons.

On January 10, 1866, thirty-eight African Americans from eleven Georgia counties met at the church and pre-pared a petition to the Georgia legislature asking for inclusion on juries, civil treatment on railroads, and the rightto vote. Before adjourning, the men established the Georgia Equal Rights Association, which later became theRepublican party in Georgia.

In 1867, the Augusta Baptist Institute opened at the church with thirty-seven students. In 1870, the Institute moved to Atlanta and wasrenamed Morehouse College.

could. Others searched for spouses, children, other family members, or friendswho had been sold away from them during slavery.

Because the Civil War destroyed the master-slave relationship, a new rela-tionship had to be developed between the two races. That would not be easy.Former slaves feared that their old masters would try to re-enslave them. Mostwhites found it difficult to accept former slaves as free persons, nor wouldthey accept them as equals.

The Freedman’s BureauIn an effort to help the struggling freedmen, the United States govern-

ment established the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands

Section 1: Lincoln and Reconstruction 299

?Some historians estimate thatGeorgia lost 75 percent of its

former material wealth.

Did You Know?Did You Know?

in March 1865. Its first commissioner wasUnion General Oliver O. Howard, who laterfounded Howard University in Washington,D.C. The original purpose of the agency, whichsoon became known as the Freedmen’s Bureau,was to help both former slaves and poor whitescope with their everyday problems by offeringthem clothing, food, and other necessities.

After a while, the bureau’s focus changed; itbecame concerned mainly with helping thefreedmen adjust to their new circumstances. Animportant focus was education. The bureau setup over 4,000 primary schools, 64 industrial

schools, and 74 teacher-training institutions for young Afri-can Americans in addition to spending over $400,000 to helpestablish teacher-training centers.

Northerners and missionary societies helped by sendingboth money and teachers. In 1867, the American MissionaryAssociation sponsored the chartering of Georgia’s Atlanta Uni-versity. The American Baptist Home Mission society organizedMorehouse College in Augusta. Morehouse, which moved toAtlanta in 1870, is still in operation today. A third GeorgiaReconstruction-era school was Clark College in Atlanta, whichfirst opened as a school for children. By 1877, it had becomea college.

Lincoln’s Plan for ReconstructionDuring the closing days of the war, President Lincoln de-

veloped a plan to rebuild the South and restore the southernstates to the Union as quickly and easily as possible. The pro-cess was known as Reconstruction. Lincoln’s plan had twosimple steps: (1) All southerners, except for high-ranking Con-federate civil and military leaders, would be pardoned aftertaking an oath of allegiance to the United States; and (2) when

10 percent of the voters in each state had taken the oath of loyalty, the statewould be permitted to form a legalgovernment and rejoin the Union.

It soon became apparent thatCongress and many northernersthought that the South should bepunished. They believed that thoseConfederate states that secededshould be treated like a conqueredcountry. In 1864, Congress passedthe Wade-Davis Bill, which Lincolnsaw as an attempt to punish theSouth for the actions of the seces-

Figure 30 Typical Loyalty Oath

I, _____________, of the County of _____________, State ofGeorgia, do solemnly swear or affirm, in the presence ofAlmighty God, that I will henceforth faithfully support anddefend the Constitution of the United States and the Unionfaithfully of the States thereunder, and that I will in likemanner, abide by and faithfully support all laws and proclama-tions which have been made during the existing rebellion withreference to the emancipation of slaves—So help me, God.

Above: It has been said thatthe presidency ages thepeople who hold that office.This photograph of PresidentAbraham Lincoln was taken in1865. Compare this photo-graph of Lincoln with thephotograph on page 245,taken just five years earlier.

300 Chapter 9: Reconstruction and the New South

?Jefferson Davis was

imprisoned at Fort Monroe,Virginia, for two years. Herefused to apply for the

federal pardon. It was notuntil 1978 that Davis’s

citizenship was returned.

Did You Know?Did You Know?

Figure 31 The Thirteenth Amendmentto the U.S. Constitution

Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, exceptas a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have beenduly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or anyplace subject to their jurisdiction.

sionists. Lincoln did not sign the bill into law; he let it die qui-etly. This action signaled that there would be a fight over Re-construction. Lincoln, however, was not part of that fight.

The Assassination of President LincolnOn Good Friday, April 14, 1865, Lincoln and his wife accom-

panied friends to Ford’s Theatre to see an English play, OurAmerican Cousin. The play was nearly over when John WilkesBooth, an actor who was a southern sympathizer, enteredLincoln’s theater box. At 10:15 p.m., timing his action with theplay’s biggest laugh, Booth shot the president in the back ofthe head. Booth leapt from the box and slipped out of Wash-ington without getting caught. He was cornered and shot twoweeks later.

The wounded president was taken to a boarding house acrossthe street from the theater. Lincoln died the next morning. Asit turned out, Booth probably did more harm to the South thangood. Lincoln was no longer around to keep the radical Repub-licans (those who wanted to punish the South) in check.

Johnson Tackles ReconstructionLincoln’s assassination took place before his plan for Reconstruction went

into effect. Upon Lincoln’s death, Vice President Andrew Johnson, a NorthCarolinian, became the nation’s seventeenth president. Soon after takingoffice, he took on the responsibility for returning the former Confederatestates to the Union.

Johnson’s Reconstruction plan was muchlike Lincoln’s plan except that Johnson ex-panded the groups of southerners not granteda general pardon. Those who had owned prop-erty worth more than $20,000 or those who hadheld high civil or military positions had to ap-ply directly to the president for a pardon.

At first, some of the radicals were willingto work with Johnson because they approvedof his plan to offer a reward for the arrest ofJefferson Davis. But after Davis was captured and imprisoned, the radicalsturned their attention back to the president’s plan and began to disagree withit. They were afraid that the freedmen would be disfranchised (have theirvoting rights taken away). They also thought that the South deserved a greaterpunishment than Johnson’s plan provided.

After some pressure, President Johnson added several more requirements.First, the southern states had to approve the Thirteenth Amendment, whichmade slavery illegal. Second, the southern states had to nullify (declare in-valid) their ordinances of secession. Third, the southern states had to prom-ise not to repay the individuals and institutions that had helped finance theConfederacy.

It’s Your TurnIt’s Your Turn

t1. What was President

Lincoln’s plan forReconstruction?

2. How did PresidentJohnson’s plan forReconstruction differfrom Lincoln’s plan?

Above: As president, AndrewJohnson decided to carryout Lincoln’s moderate planfor Reconstruction.

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