Chapter 9, Section 4

Reconstruction

Plans for Reconstruction

The Main IdeaNorthern leaders had different ideas for dealing with the

many issues and challenges of restoring the southern states to the Union.

Reading Focus (Put these in your interactive Notebook)

• What challenges faced the South after the Civil War? • What actions did Union leaders take during wartime to

reconstruct the nation after the war’s end?• How did Lincoln’s assassination affect the nation?

The South after the War

• Property losses– The value of farms and plantations declined steeply and

suffered from neglect and loss of workers.– The South’s transportation network was in very poor

shape.• Challenges for African Americans

– Had gained freedom, but had no money and little if any education. The poor economy made job prospects bleak.

– They wanted educational and economic opportunities. • How to treat the South

– Many legal and political questions regarding the South needed to be answered.

Wartime Reconstruction

The Freedmen’s Bureau was created in March 1865 to help southern refugees and freed slaves.Northerners disagreed over how to treat the South, but as he stated in his inaugural address, Lincoln hoped to treat the South “with malice toward none and charity toward all.”

New roles for African Americans were tested. In territories under Union control, freed slaves were hired to work on plantations for pay, or were allowed to rent and farm the land. 40-acre plots in South Carolina and Georgia coastal lands were given away. In Louisiana, freedmen signed contracts to work for a year for wages. Some planters deducted basic items from the wages, and little money was left over.

Reconstruction PlansLincoln’s Plan

• The Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, December 1863, gave forgiveness to those who pledged Union loyalty and support for emancipation.

• When 10 percent of voters had taken the oath, a new state government could be organized. The new government was required to ban slavery.

• This plan for readmission was known as the Ten Percent Plan.

Opposition• Lincoln’s plan sparked

debate in Congress.• Some thought only power

to re-admit belonged to Congress; others thought the South never officially left the Union.

• Thaddeus Stevens felt majority rule was being discarded.

• Congress refused to allow members from the states readmitted under Lincoln’s plan to be seated.

Watch the brief video about Lincoln’s Assassination

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qAeFjCscRY

Lincoln’s Assassination

• Lincoln was shot at Ford’s Theater on April 14, 1865, and died the next morning.

• John Wilkes Booth was part of a conspiracy, and others were supposed to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William Seward.

Popular president

• The president did not live long enough to test his wartime popularity against Congress for control of Reconstruction plans.

John Wilkes Booth

• A grief stricken nation mourned Lincoln’s death.• White southerners were concerned. Lincoln’s

death meant a change in Reconstruction plans and a new president. Some disliked Andrew Johnson and felt he was a traitor.

Concern and grief

Reconstruction under President Johnson

• Johnson’s attitude– Deep-rooted prejudice continued. African Americans had rights, but those

rights did not include a role in government. Johnson declared, “White men alone must manage the South.”

– Johnson pardoned nearly everyone who applied, and prewar leaders were restored to power. Congress refused to seat these former Confederates.

• The Black Codes– Designed to keep freedmen in slavelike conditions, Black Codes gave planters

a cheap labor supply. The laws varied by state, but they allowed freedmen certain rights, such as the right to marry and to own property. The series of laws kept freedmen dependent on the plantation for their existence.

• Keeping a way of life – Local sheriffs and Civil War veterans supported and enforced these laws. White

citizens formed private groups, supposedly to keep order in the South. The Ku Klux Klan formed in 1866 and soon began terrorizing African Americans and whites who were loyal to the Union. Violence against blacks was rarely prosecuted.

Congress Takes Control of Reconstruction

Radical Republicans wanted to reshape southern society and favored a more thorough program of Reconstruction. They wanted freed slaves to have economic opportunities and political equality. But moderate Republicans still controlled Congress.

Northern concerns

Northerners felt if southern states were allowed to abuse freedmen, the North’s victory would be diminished. A New Jersey paper warned, “The reptile spirit of secession is still alive.”

Congress fights back

Moderates did not want a social revolution, but wanted to help and protect freedmen. They passed two bills, including a Civil Rights Act. Johnson’s vetoes pushed the moderates to help the Radical Republicans to take control of Reconstruction.

Johnson versus

Congress

Radical Reconstruction

Congress passed the Fourteenth Amendment, writing the Civil Rights Act into the constitution and granting citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States.”

Republicans took control in the election of 1866 after riots in the South discredited Johnson’s views. Radicals now had the votes needed to pass the Reconstruction Acts.

These laws put the southern states under U.S. military control and required them to draft new constitutions. Congress also passed the Tenure of Office Act in March 1867 to keep Johnson from using his power as commander in chief to interfere with Reconstruction.

• Make the Amendments Foldable and glue into your interactive notebook

Republican Government Brings Change to the South

Scalawags• Scalawag was the name

given to southerners who supported the shift in power to Congress and the army.

• Many were farmers who had never owned slaves.

• Some joined the Republicans to prevent the planter class from returning to power; others were southerners ruined by the war; still others wanted to end the dependence on plantation agriculture.

Carpetbaggers• The scalawags allied with

carpetbaggers, northerners who came south to take part in the region’s political and economic rebirth.

• Scorned as low-class persons who could carry their belongings in a carpetbag, many were educated and came from a variety of backgrounds.

• Many bought abandoned land cheaply or formed partnerships with planters.

•Make your carpetbagger!

Republican Government Brings Change to the South

• African Americans in government– Forming the largest group of Republican voters in the South,

nearly 700 African Americans served in southern state legislatures during Reconstruction. They included Hiram Revels, who took the Senate seat held by Jefferson Davis before the war.

• New state governments – Brought many changes, including the region’s first public school

systems. The infrastructure was repaired, facilities built, and railroads added. Facilities were open to all southerners, but were usually segregated by race. The Black Codes were repealed in every state. The changes angered those formerly in control, and some freedmen felt more needed to be done to help them obtain land.

Life after Slavery for African Americans

Freedom meant a variety of things, including reuniting with family and the search for employment. Some moved west or north, but most stayed in the South.

Most eagerly sought education and began to establish their own institutions, including churches and schools. The churches became centers of community life.

A wide variety of other organizations were created, including debate clubs, drama societies, trade associations, fire companies, and mutual aid societies. Freedmen were taking the lead to improve themselves and gain control of their lives.

Reconstruction and Land Ownership

Under the new sharecropping system the employer provided the land, tools, seed—basically everything but the labor. If able, some switched to tenant farming, renting the land they farmed from the landowner. Independence was difficult.

Southern Homestead

Act

Giving away planters’ land to former slaves was considered too extreme. Instead, Congress passed a law setting aside 45 million acres of government-owned land to provide free farms.

New labor system

Southern cities grew rapidly. Atlanta and other cities became business centers, with textile mills and other manufacturing ventures being built. Workers still earned lower wages in the South, and many were locked in a cycle of debt.

Industrial growth

Reconstruction’s Legacy

The 14th and 15th Amendments began permanent changes across the United States. Former slaves were now citizens with voting rights.

The New South was becoming industrial, but in many ways it remained the same. White southerners deeply resented that the federal government controlled their states.

For a century after Reconstruction ended, the South was know as the Solid South, always voting Democratic. It was not until the 1970s that the Republican Party was able to gain ground in the South.

Reconstruction in North Carolina

- William Woods Holden was governor in North Carolina

- He tried to arrest KKK members without trial

- He was impeached as a result of his actions

- He was the first governor in US history to be impeached and removed from office.

Reconstruction in North Carolina

• Sharecropping was the major way that North Carolinians made a living

• Generals who fought at Bentonville were Johnston and Sherman

• The North Carolina Constitution changed during the reconstruction period to allow all men over the age of 21 to vote regardless of their race or economic status