The Reconstruction Era

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Ruins seen from the capitol, Columbia, S.C., 1865. Photographed by George N. Barnard. 165-SC-53.

After the War• South lay in ruins (destroyed)• Nearly 4 million freedman (freed slaves) needed food,

clothing, & jobs

• President Lincoln planned for Reconstruction, the rebuilding of the South

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Ruins seen from the Circular Church, Charleston, S.C., 1865. 111-B-4667.

Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan• Reunite Union quickly• Southern state could

form a new government after 10 % of its voters swore loyalty to U.S.

• States also had to abolish slavery

• Many in Congress didn’t like Lincoln’s plan & wanted a stricter form of Reconstruction

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“Special Field Order 15”

• Black family settlements

• Sea Islands, South Carolina & Georgia

• 40 acres & a mule• 40,000 freed slaves

on “Sherman Land”• Economic

independence = freedom

General William T. Sherman

Acts of Congress• Freedman’s Bureau was created by

Congress – 1865-1870– food, clothing, & immediate assistance

• Schools, settle disputes, protect equal treatment

– Fewer than 1000 agents– Divide abandoned and confiscated land in 40

acre plots for rent & eventual sale to blacks

• Thirteenth Amendment – Passed by Congress in January, 1865– Ended slavery throughout the U.S.

Glimpses at the Freedmen - The Freedmen's Union Industrial School, Richmond, Va. / from a sketch by Jas E. Taylor (1866).

• Room of African American women sewing. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/aaodyssey:@field(NUMBER+@band(cph+3a33775))

• Lincoln is assassinated by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865

• Andrew Johnson became President

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• Republicans – “Party of Lincoln”• Freed Black

Andrew Johnson

• Republican• Champion of the

“honest yeoman”• Foe of the large

planter• Believed in State

Rights• Supported

Emancipation but still a racist.

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Andrew Johnson, Vice President & President

Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan

• In each southern states, a majority of voters must swear loyalty to the U.S.– Individual Pardons– Leaders/Plantation Owners

• Each state must approve the 13th Amendment• Then each state could rejoin the Union• Appointed provisional Governors

– White only– Prominent Confederate Ldrs & members of the old elite

• Land back to Southern Owners

Response to Johnson’s Plan• Southern States met Johnson’s demands

– 1870 – all Southern States readmitted• Republicans in Congress outraged because African

Americans were not allowed to vote & former Confederate Leaders were elected to Congress

• Johnson ordered Federal land to be returned to former owners – 1865

• S. Carolina & Georgia – “Sherman’s Land” settlers forcibly evicted by Army

Radical Reconstruction

• After the war, most southern states quickly ratified the 13th Amendment– Passed Black Codes

• Radical Republicans in Congress decide to take over Reconstruction– Break the power of the

southern planters– Dissolution of S. Gov’ts– African Americans - right

to vote.

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Black Codes• laws in Southern States limiting freedoms – varied by state• no voting• sign labor contract or arrested• barred access to certain jobs• judge order for children workers• could not testify against a white• barred land ownership

Land Conflict: Difficult for Americans to take land from one owner and give to another.

Radical Reconstruction (continued)

• Tenure of Office Act, 1867 – Barred Pres. from removing Cabinet Members w/o Senate consent

• 14th Amendment, 1868 – All people born in the U.S. are citizens. No state may take away rights of citizens.

• 15th Amendment, 1870 – The right to vote cannot be denied to citizens because of their race or color or because they were once enslaved. (1857 Dred Scott)

• Reconstruction Act, 1867-1877 – Southern states had to ratify the 14th Amendment, African American men must be allowed to vote,…– Johnson vetoed these acts & Congress overrode his veto;

Congress eventually tried to impeach him– Centralized Federal Powers – reduced State power– “high crimes & misdemeanors”/Acquitted by one vote

Changes in the South • Southern Republicans (scalawags), whites from the

North (carpetbaggers), & freed African Americans played important roles in southern governments.– South: ½ Democrate (whites/former Confederates) ½ Republicans– S. Carolina – Blacks 60% of population

• & Louisiana – wealthiest & most ed. Black communities– Over 2000 Blacks in public office during Reconstrution

• KKK & “Reign of Terror” – Politically motivated & more pervasive (pg. 577 – Cartoon)– Ku Klux Klan (1866) -- formed by white southerners to help them regain power

& to keep African Americans and White Republicans out of office.– 1870-1871 Congressional Acts

• Defined crimes against civil & political rights a Federal offense

– KKK disbanded by 1972

Southern Economy• Agricultural base/farming/Coastal Cities

– Cotton, rice, citrus, tobacco, sugar

– Industries moving West NOT South

• RR bypassing Coastal Cities• Landless black and white sharecroppers became locked in a

cycle of poverty.– Sharecroppers: person who farms land owned by another in exchange

for a share of the crops• Pg. 550 – Freed slaves home• Pg. 551 – The Barrow Plantation

– Sharecroppers Contract - Pg. 559• debt/collateral/”crop lein”• Interest rates high/prices low

Reconstruction Ends

• Reconstruction ended after presidential candidate Rutherford B. Hayes made a private deal with southern politicians.

• After Reconstruction, a new industrial economy began to emerge in the South.

• Southern whites pass new laws to deny African Americans equal rights.– Poll Taxes, Literacy Tests, & Grandfather Clauses– Segregation, Jim Crow Laws, Lynching – Civil Rights Movement (100 years later)

• Civil War Pictures from the National Archives http://www.archives.gov/research/civil-war/photos/

• Many Reconstruction

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