American History (CHA3U1)

IntroductionConfederate war veterans

returned to devastated land

African Americans quickly learned that freedom didn’t mean equality

Readmitting Southern states to the Union difficult because of white Southern bitterness & Radical Republicans in Congress

Frederick DouglassThe arm of the Federal

government is long, but it is far too short to protect the rights of individuals in the interior of distant States. They must have the power to protect themselves, or they will go unprotected, in spite of all the laws the Federal government can put upon the national statute-book. - Frederick Douglass, 1866

Where did it begin?Reconstruction Began as War MeasureFirst came the Emancipation ProclamationLincoln’s 10% Plan - Proclamation of Amnesty

and Reconstruction Goal was an easy peace to shorten war and to

absorb the South beck into the Union as quickly and painlessly as possible

Emancipation ProclamationLincoln issued it on

January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war.

The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free."

Emancipation Proclamation Con’t Although the Emancipation

Proclamation did not end slavery in the nation, it captured the hearts and imagination of millions of Americans and fundamentally transformed the character of the war. (they couldn’t enforce it in the southern states they did not control)

After January 1, 1863, every advance of federal troops expanded the domain of freedom.

The Proclamation announced the acceptance of black men into the Union Army and Navy

By the end of the war, almost 200,000 black soldiers and sailors had fought for the Union

Lincoln’s Second InaugeralWith malice toward

none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan--to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.

Lincoln’s 10% PlanLincoln offered a full pardon to any

Southerner, with the exception of certain leaders, who would take an oath to support “the Constitution of the United States and the Union of the States thereunder.”

Those who took the oath in each state could vote to form a new state government.

Lincoln promised to recognize the new government if two conditions were met: the new government accepted the elimination of slavery as required by the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1863; and the number of those voting for the new government was at least 10 percent of those who had voted in the 1860 presidential election.

Who’s in Charge of Reconstruction?Lincoln was convinced that Reconstruction, or

restoration, as he preferred to call it, was for the president to carry out.

Congressional leaders thought otherwise. They tabled the Wade-Davis bill in July 1864.

It was designed to punish the South and to make it subservient to the Republican Party in the North.

The bill limited voting on new state constitutions to those who had never joined the rebel cause, required a loyalty oath by the majority of a state's citizens, and permanently deprived former rebel leaders of the right to vote. Lincoln killed the bill by using his pocket veto, and as long as he lived this plan made little headway.

Wade-Davis Bill, July 1864The bill was designed to punish the

South and to make it subservient to the Republican Party in the North.

The bill limited voting on new state constitutions to those who had never joined the rebel cause

It required a loyalty oath by the majority of a state's citizens

It permanently deprived former rebel leaders of the right to vote.

Lincoln killed the bill by using his pocket veto, and as long as he lived this plan made little headway.

Benjamin F Wade

After Slavery New Ways of LifeThe Plight of Landowners some slaves agreed to

stay and work the land for housing, food and cash after crops harvested

Many lost land because Confederate money worthless therefore couldn’t pay taxes or debts

The Plight of Workers poor whites / African Americans tenant farmers / sharecroppers

The Freedman’s BureauThe Freedmen's Bureau was

established in the War Department on March 3, 1865.

The Bureau supervised all relief and educational activities relating to refugees and freedmen (ie. including issuing rations, clothing and medicine)

The Bureau assumed custody of confiscated lands or property in the former Confederate States, border states, District of Columbia, and Indian Territory.

They also built schools

Sec. 2: Reconstructing the SouthPresidential

ReconstructionLincoln’s Plan amnesty

/ pardon to all Southerners who pledged an oath of loyalty to the United States

African Americans could return to Africa or colonize Caribbean

The Radical Republicans’ Plan harsher than

Lincoln’s plan military rule

Abraham Lincoln’s Assassination

The Country Mourns

Lincoln’s Funeral Train

Sec. 2: Reconstructing the SouthJohnson’s Program

President after Lincoln assassinated tried to implement Lincoln’s generous plan but Radical Republicans refused to co-operate

White Men & Black Codes states allowed to create their own laws that denied African Americans many basic rights such as voting or gov’t education

Sec. 2: Reconstructing the SouthPresidential ReconstructionThe North Responds April

1866 Congress passed the Civil Rights Bill giving citizenship to African Americans and all the rights entailed

The Fourteenth Amendment defined citizenship to include African Americans who were guaranteed equal protection under the law

Sec. 2: Reconstructing the SouthRadical ReconstructionReconstruction Plans appreciative African

Americans would vote for Radical Republicans

Reconstruction Legislation March 1867 Reconstruction Act passed putting the South under five district military rule until the states gave African Americans the right to vote

Reconstructing the SouthScalawags (Union

sympathizers) and carpetbaggers (Northerners) despised

carpetbaggers was the term southerners gave to northerners who moved to the South during the Reconstruction era, between 1865 and 1877.

They formed a coalition with freedmen (freed slaves), and scalawags (southern whites who supported Reconstruction) in the Republican Party.

Together they politically controlled former Confederate states for varying periods, 1867–1877.

Reconstructing the SouthCarpetbag GovernmentThe Radicals in Power

reduce Presidential powerChallenging the Tenure Law

Pres. Johnson twice fired Edwin Stanton a supporter of Radicals

Johnson Impeached May 16, 1868 Senate voted 35 to 19 to convict Pres, one vote shy

The 1868 Election General Grant won as a Radical Republican to become new President

Andrew Johnson & Ulysses S Grant

Restoring Southern PowerOpponents of Reconstruction

set up secret societies (e.g. KKK) wore out Radicals

The Compromise of 1877Electoral Commission

disputed Pres vote in 1876 given to Republican candidate Hayes

Reaching an Agreement Democrats outraged so Republicans promised South power, funds and removal of federal troops

Restoring Southern PowerAfter ReconstructionSegregation separation

of races made legal by Supreme Court ruling Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional Jim Crow laws follow

The “New South” industrialization with Northern financing brought railroads, factories

Few Gains for African Americans temporary gains soon gone with economic slavery

ConclusionCivil War devastated the South but in the

long run the abolition of slavery helped the South to industrialize and diversify its economy

Unfortunately it would take another 100 years for African Americans to gain political and economic equality