Presidential

Reconstruction

Lesson 7:

1863-1867

There were many problems that existed at the conclusion of the Civil

War.

The South was in much worse shape than the North.

Much of the South had been destroyed by fighting and by total

war.

Newly freed slaves were unsure of their status and how to begin a new

life.

Many people, black and white, were homeless and starving after the war

destroyed their homes.

The 13th Amendment to the Constitution abolished slavery throughout the United States.

It would now be against federal law to own someone as a slave, or to force them into labor.

The 13th Amendment also gave Congress the power to make laws to make sure the amendment was followed.

President Lincoln was hoping that if the South rejoined the Union quickly, wounds between North and South could begin to heal.

In December of 1863, Lincoln proposed the Ten Percent Plan.

As soon as 10% of a Confederate state’s voters (white men) swore an oath of loyalty to the U.S. government, that state could begin

to organize a new state government.

These new state governments had to agree to outlaw slavery as part of their Constitutions.

After these things were done, the new states could once again join the U.S. government and be represented in Washington D.C.

Lincoln also planned to give amnesty, or a group pardon to Confederates who took the oath.

High ranking members of the Confederate government or the Confederate military were not included in the pardon.

Lincoln hoped to build up the Republican Party in the New South by remaining “soft” and lenient with the South as it moved toward rejoining the country.

A group of Republicans known as the Radical Republicans did not want to let the South off so easy.

The Radicals wanted to be strict to the South, making sure those who led the South out of the country once could never get the power to do it again.

After Lincoln proposed his plan, Congress proposed their own plan called the Wade-

Davis Bill.

Congress’s proposal called for 50% of the voters (white men) of a former Confederate

state to sign an oath of loyalty to the U.S. government.

Anyone who had voluntarily (Some slaves were forced as were people who were

drafted) to fight for the Confederacy would not be allowed to choose the people who

would write their state’s constitution.

Lincoln disapproved of this bill (proposed law), so it never became law.

One thing that had to be done quickly was reach out to all of the freedmen (freed slaves) and other people suffering from the war.

The Freedmen’s Bureau was set up in March of 1865 to help those who were starving, homeless, and jobless because of the war.

Freedmen were able to go to schools that were set up by the

Freedmen’s Bureau.

African American communities were so in need of schools that

they would raise money to pay a teacher themselves.

Most teachers were white women but some African American women

also taught.

Southern states did not have education systems so the schools

of the Freedmen’s Bureau educated as many whites as it did

blacks.

President Lincoln had hoped that by 1865 most of the war and its ugliness was behind him.

Lincoln planned to see the country reunited when his life was cut short on April 14, 1865.

While watching a play in Ford’s Theater in Washington D.C. called “Our American Cousin,” Lincoln was shot in

the back of the head by John Wilkes Booth, an actor and a man who had supported the Confederacy.

Lincoln died a few hours after being shot.

Booth was hunted down until he was trapped in a barn while hiding and killed by police.

Lincoln’s body was taken back to Illinois by train for a funeral, attended by thousands of people.

Vice President Andrew Johnson became President upon Lincoln’s death, as ordered in the U.S. Constitution.

Lincoln is murdered

LINCOLN ASSASSINATION

Andrew Johnson was a Democrat from Tennessee.

He was one of the few southern Democrats who had stayed loyal to the Union when the Civil War broke

out.

Many people thought Johnson was going to be much tougher on the

South than Lincoln had planned on being.

Reconstruction would now be in the hands of a new man who was just

days on the job.

Like President Lincoln, President Johnson proposed a more lenient Reconstruction

plan toward the South.

He wanted to issue amnesty to most of the ex-Confederates.

The South would be allowed to reorganize new state governments with only one

major condition.

Each ex-Confederate state would have to ratify the 13th Amendment to the U.S.

Constitution.

Most states had done what Johnson had asked by December of 1865, and when

Congress met many former Confederate leaders were part of the United States

government.

Congress did not like the way Johnson had tried to bring the South back into

the Union.

Congress refused to seat the newly elected southern

representatives and senators who had just

recently been members of the Confederate

government and military.

It also decided to form a committee to look into

how the South should be handled.

After the 13th Amendment was passed, there would be no going back to slavery.

The South thought of ways however to try to bring back as much of slavery as they could without actually calling it slavery.

The Black Codes were used in the South to control the actions of African

Americans.

These codes forbid African Americans from things like voting, serving on juries, or to be forced to work for people if they

couldn’t pay their debts.

These codes would lead the Radical Republicans in Congress to begin to

propose taking a much harder line on the South.

The President and Congress disagreed over how African Americans in the South should be treated.

The Civil Rights Act of 1866 was passed to give citizenship to African Americans, making sure everyone

except Native Americans were considered citizens.

President Johnson vetoed the bill, preventing it from becoming a law.

Congress overrode his veto, making the Civil Rights Act of 1866 a law without his consent.

With the Civil Rights Act of 1866 passed without the President signing it, only the Supreme Court could stop the Act

from remaining a law.

To make sure this did not happen, the 14th Amendment to the U.S.

Constitution was passed.

This amendment ensures that anyone born or naturalized in the U.S. (process

to become a citizen) are citizens.

It also said that states can do nothing to take away these rights.

This amendment would become important in helping African Americans

fight for civil rights in the 1960’s.