ReconstructionReconstruction Plans:Chapter 14, Section 1

Political ideas and major events shape how people form governments. Northern politicians disagreed on how to bring the Southern states back into the Union.

Reconstruction Debate

● Main idea: Differences over how Reconstruction after the Civil War should be carried out divided the government.

● Tired, ragged Confederate soldiers returned home to ruined land and devastation...

Destruction in the South● Union was saved...but South was destroyed

○ Cities/plantations ruined○ Roads/bridges/railroads destroyed

■ (Thanks a lot, Sherman!)● 258,000+ dead Rebels, with thousands injured● South needed rebuilding, everyone knew it, but

how??○ RECONSTRUCTION (the period of rebuilding following the

Civil War, and the plans for it)

Lincoln’s Plan● Lincoln created the 1st plan for accepting South

back into Union: The Ten Percent Plan○ When 10% of voters of a state took a loyalty oath, that state

could be readmitted (created a new government, and accept the changes [banned slavery] to the Constitution)

○ Hoped to encourage pro-Union Southerners to run state governments, and offered amnesty to all but the Confederate leaders, who gave loyalty to Union■ 1864, LA, AK, TN accepted Lincoln’s plan■ Radical Republicans disliked, favored a more extreme

approach

The Radicals’ Plan● Led by Thaddeus Stevens, and declaring that

South “must be broken up and relaid”○ Congress voted to deny seats to representatives from any

state reconstructed under Lincoln’s plan (LA, AK, TN) and started a new, more harsh, plan■ Wade-Davis Bill: 1) MOST white males in a state had to

swear loyalty to Union, 2) only those who didn’t fight (as rebels) would be allowed to vote, 3) former Confederates barred from public office 4) all new state constitutions must end slavery● Lincoln REFUSED to sign bill into law● Must reach a compromise

The Freedmen’s Bureau

● 1865,Congress/president set up new government agency to help former slaves (freedmen)○ Helped them adjust to freedom

■ Distributed food/clothing■ Medical services■ Set up schools/universities■ Helped them to acquire land or paid work

○ Also helped pro-Union Southerners

Charlotte Forten● 1st African American schoolteacher (from the

North) to go south to teach former slaves○ Taught for two years as a part of The Port Royal

Experiment● Kept a journal of years teaching, expressing her

commitment and feelings as a young African American woman growing up in a mostly white country

● After teaching, lived in DC working to support civil rights

1. What difficulties would African Americans face in the South following the Civil War?

2. How did Northerners’ views differ about how to bring Southern states back into the Union?

3. What was Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan?

Lincoln is Assassinated● Main idea: After Lincoln was assassinated, Johnson

became presidents and announced his plan of “Restoration”.○ Shot by John Wilkes

Booth, a pro- Confederate actor, at Ford’s Theater on April 14, 1865

○ Booth fled, but was tracked down and shot when he refused to surrender

A Nation Mourns● News of Lincoln’s death shocked the nation

○ African Americans mourned their champion for freedom○ Northerners grieved for Union savior

● Thousands of people lined the route of his 1,700 mile funeral train, lit by candles/bonfires, and punctuated by cannon fire and bell tolls

● His 2nd Inaugural Address was read at the cemetery as a reminder of peace and forgiveness, but unfortunately a harsher tactic would be used in regards to the Confederacy as time progresses

A New President● VP Andrew Johnson took over

after Lincoln○ Southern (from TN), but pro-Union

■ As a candidate, he attacked southern leaders, calling them traitors

○ Radical Republicans were pleased with Johnson/ideas■ Expected him/his plan to be harsher than Lincoln/10%

● His Reconstruction plan: most Southerners would be granted amnesty

after swearing loyalty, Confederates could be pardoned after appeal to

president (wanted to humiliate the wealthy), allowed only

loyal/pardoned white to vote, and opposed African American equal voting rights

The Thirteenth Amendment

● Before reentering the Union, a state had to denounce secession and end slavery○ Had to ratify Thirteenth Amendment (abolished slavery in

ALL states)■ By end of 1865, all had...except Texas

1. What barriers did the freedmen face during the first stages of the Port Royal Experiment?

2. How did President Johnson’s plan for Reconstruction differ from that of the Radical Republicans?

3. What did the Thirteenth Amendment provide?4. What was the Freedmen’s Bureau and what was its goal?5. How did Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan compare to the Wade-

Davis Bill?