Presidential Reconstruction BeginsSSUSH10 The student will identify legal, political, and social dimensions of Reconstruction. a. Compare and contrast Presidential Reconstruction with Radical Republican Reconstruction.

The Cost of the Civil War• The South was destroyed: 9,000 miles of RR track, cities,

homes, ports, and machinery were completely destroyed, the value of Southern farms had lost 70% of its value before the war

• A generation of young men were dead: 364,000 in the North, 260,000 in the South (1 out of 3)

• The society of Southerners was turned upside down – slaves were homeless and jobless, Plantations were destroyed and had lost their laborers, poor whites faced job competition from freed slaves

Ending the war

Questions to be answered:• How and when should Southern states be allowed to rejoin

the Union?• Should the South be punished?• What should happen to freed slaves? What should their rights

be?• Who had the power to make these choices?

Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan

• Lincoln began his plan for Reconstruction in December 1863• Lincoln favored a lenient Reconstruction policy• He also believed that secession was Unconstitutional and

therefore the Confederate states had never left the Union• Because it was individuals that rebelled and not states, Lincoln

believed the Constitution gave the President the power to pardon individuals

• Lincoln favored making the South’s return to the Union as quick as possible

Lincoln’s plan (sometimes called the Ten-Percent Plan)1. it offered a pardon to pay any Confederate who would take an oath of allegiance to the Union and accept the federal policy on slavery2. it denied pardons all military or government officials or civilians who had killed African American war prisoners3. each state could hold a convention to create a new state constitution after 10 percent of the citizens had sworn allegiance4. states could then hold elections to resume full government participation• Radical Republicans in Lincoln’s party opposed this plan – they

viewed it as too lenient

Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan

• With Lincoln’s death, Andrew Johnson became President• Johnson was a former slave owner who grew up poor –

because of this he hated rich planters• Johnson did believe that the Southern states had seceded and

therefore needed to be readmitted to the Union

Johnson’s Plan:

1. pardoned southerners who swore allegiance to the Union2. permitted each state to hold a constitutional convention3. states were required to void secession, abolish slavery, and repudiate Confederate debt4. states could then hold elections and rejoin the Union• Johnson’s plan was more generous to the South but denied

pardons to all Confederate leaders unless they asked for forgiveness

Radical Republicans in Congress disagree with the Plan• Radical Republicans, a minority in Congress, were angered by

both plans• They viewed secession as legitimate and felt that the south could

not resume full participation in the government until they met all conditions Congress set forth

• They wanted to destroy all of the political power of former slaveholders

• They also wanted African Americans to be given full citizenship and the right to vote – this was a very radical idea in 1865

• They will quickly set their up their own terms for readmittance to the Union:• Ratify the 14th Amendment• Accept the Freedmen’s Bureau• Fulfill the requirements of the Reconstruction Act of 1867

The South Complies• Most southern states quickly complied with Johnson’s plan• In December 1865, newly elected southern Senators and

Representatives arrived in Washington to take their places – most had been Confederate Congressmen, cabinet members, and generals

• Northern Senators and Representatives refuse to allow to participate

• Johnson pardoned all the Southern delegates which infuriated the Radical Republicans and made African Americans feel betrayed

• Johnson declared Reconstruction complete – the Radical Republicans disagree