Plans for Reconstruction

The Main Idea

Northern leaders had different ideas for dealing with the many issues and challenges of restoring the southern

states to the Union.

Reading Focus

• 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?

• Why did President Johnson and Congress differ over Reconstruction?

Bell Ringer

• In What Year did the Civil War End?• What was Reconstruction?• Who assassinated President Abraham

Lincoln?

Bell Ringer

Although only 100 miles apart physically, Richmond, Virginia, andWashington were separated by vast distances politically in 1865.Richmond had been under siege for months before falling to Uniontroops on April 3, 1865. The next day, President Lincoln visited theravaged city, taking in the burned-out buildings and ruin. As hepassed through the streets, the city’s whites kept silent. ButRichmond’s African American residents cheered for the president whohad freed them from slavery, some even falling to their knees at thesight of him.

1. Why do you think the white residents of Richmond did not cheer?

2. Why was Richmond in ruins when President Lincoln visited in April 1885?

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.

The South after the War

• What challenges faced the South after the Civil War?

• Why were job prospects so bleak in the South after the War?

• Why were the farms in the South so unproductive after the War?

• What type of life did freed female African Americans want after the War?

Wartime Reconstruction

The Freedmen’s Bureau was created in March 1865 to help southern refugees and freed slaves.

-gave out clothes and supplies

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 Plans

Lincoln’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.

Congress Makes a Plan

• Wade-Davis Bill

– In 1864, Congress passed its own plan for Reconstruction.

– A majority of white male citizens would be required to take a loyalty oath before elections could be held.

• Lincoln killed the bill using a pocket veto, ignoring it since it passed in the last 10 days of the legislative session.

Wartime Reconstruction Review

• What was the Ten Percent Plan?

• What were the major constitutional issues that plagued the Union as it created plans for Reconstruction?

• Why do you think that President Lincoln took a lenient position toward the states that had seceded?

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

Johnson and Congress Differ over Reconstruction

Republican leaders thought they could work with Johnson, but they did not understand his views. Born into poverty, Johnson despised the wealthy planter class, but he held no ill will toward southerners. He supported states’ rights and limits on government power.

Johnson’s plan added to Lincoln’s list of exceptions. Wealthy southerners would have to apply for pardons, but there was no set percentage of loyal voters. It required a convention to be called to repeal secession, an amended constitution banning slavery, and a refusal to pay Confederate debts.

Johnson pushed forward with his plan, and all but one state was restored when Congress met in December. Congress was not happy, and the battle for control would begin.