In 1865, Congress created the Freedmen's Bureau to educate, feed, and clothe former slaves and white refugees. If you were in charge of the education of the freedmen in 1865, what would you teach them so that they would be well-equipped to succeed in the post-slavery South? Why?

Reconstruction

Reconstruction Politics

Conditions of the South at the end of the war

• Economic Chaos–Former Confederate farmhouses,

barns, mills had been burned.–Bridges, RR track destroyed.

Conditions of the South at the end of the war

• Economic Chaos cont.–Towns looted, inhabitants driven out.–Plantation owners lost slaves, could

not afford capital for equipment and replace slave labor–Businesses at a standstill

Conditions of the South at the end of the war

• Social Confusion–Aristocratic yielded to bankers,

merchants, small farmers–Changing status of blacks created

social tensions

Conditions of the South at the end of the war

• Political Uncertainty–State and local govt’s had to be

organized with relation to the Union–Political leaders of the North

differed sharply over what should be done

2 main ?’s of Reconstruction

1. How will the Southern states be readmitted to the union?

2. What will be the status of the Freedmen?

Lincoln’s Plan• Southern whites could

regain citizenship.–Except high ranking

officials• 10% plan–10% of the voters took

oath new state government could be set up–Must prohibit slavery

Was Lincoln’s Plan to mild?

A. YesB. No

Wade-Davis bill• Required at least 50% voters

loyalty and excluded from gov’t holding anyone who cooperated with the Confederacy• Lincoln pocket-vetoed it

Which plan do you support?

A. Lincoln PlanB. Wade-Davis Bill

Lincoln Assassination• John Wilkes

Booth• Conspiracy

plot

Lincoln Assassination

Andrew Johnson• Senator from

Tenn.• Carry on with

Lincoln’s Plan• 13,000 pardons

Help for former slaves

• Congress proposed the 13ht Amendment–Abolition of slavery

• Organized the Freedman’s Buereau

Freedman’s Bureau• Oversaw relief actions• Established schools for former

slaves and poor whites• Helped re-unite families broken

by slavery

Johnson’s Plan• Generally unconcerned with

former slaves rights–vetoed both Freedmen’s Bureau

continuation and the Civil Rights Act of 1866

• Punish planter class

Limit of freedoms• “Black Codes”: Keep blacks in same

position as slaves–Sign work contracts for a full year• Sharecropping• Tenant farming

–Limited travel–5,000 killed in the 2 years following

the War

• Nathan Bedford Forrest

KU Klux Klan• Maintain

supremacy through violence• Blacks were

beaten, tarred and feathered, burned out of their homes or lynched.