Rebuilding the SouthSection 1Chapter 17

Focus Questions•What effect did the end of the Civil War

have on African Americans in the South?•How did President Lincoln, Congress, and

President Johnson differ in their views on Reconstruction?

•After the war, the South lay in ruins•Harvesting was also well below normal

Planning Reconstruction•Many southerners faced starvation•Southern money was worthless•The U.S. government faced the question

of how to deal with the defeated states•Reconstruction was the process of

rebuilding the southern states without slavery (1865-1877)

Planning Reconstruction• Lincoln wanted to do this

as painlessly as possible• Lincoln wanted to offer

the southerners amnesty-- official pardon for all illegal acts supporting the rebellion

Planning Reconstruction• They had to swear an oath

of loyalty to the U.S. and accept a ban on slavery

• Once ten percent of the state’s population had given this pledge, then a new government could be formed (Ten Percent Plan) and then the state would be readmitted into the Union

• Louisiana was the first to re-enter the Union under this plan

Planning Reconstruction• Henry Davis and Benjamin Wade

did not agree with the plan and came up with Wade-Davis Bill– states had to meet two conditions before it could rejoin the Union▫ They had to ban slavery▫ A majority of adults in the state

had to take an oath of loyalty▫ Only those who swore that they

had never supported the Confederacy could vote or hold office

• Lincoln felt that very few southern states would agree to the Wade-Davis Bill and did not support it

The Thirteenth Amendment•Many worried that federal courts some

day could find the Emancipation Proclamation unconstitutional

•Congress proposed the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution that would make slavery illegal in the U.S.

•The amendment was ratified and took effect on December 18, 1865

The Thirteenth Amendment• Some people felt that blacks

should also be given the right to vote (Fredrick Douglass)

• Many people searched for relatives that had been sold away years earlier

• Many slaves took new last names and preferred to be called Mr. or Mrs.

• Many former slaves wanted land and did not know where they would live, what kind of work they would do and what rights they had

The Freedmen’s Bureau•In 1865, Congress created the

Freedmen’s Bureau and its purpose was to provide relief for all poor people in the South

•The Bureau gave food to the poor and supervised labor contracts between freed people and their employees

•The Bureau also established schools and provided books and teachers

The Freedmen’s Bureau• By 1869, 150,000 students

were attending schools established for this purpose

• The Freedmen’s Bureau also helped establish several colleges

A New President•Abraham Lincoln and his wife attended a

play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. on April 14, 1865

•John Wilkes Booth snuck into the president’s box and shot him

•He died at 7:30 the next morning at a boarding house across the street from the theatre

A New President• People across the north

were stunned with his death• Lincoln was laid to rest at

his home in Springfield, Illinois

• Vice President Andrew Johnson was sworn in the next morning and reconstruction became his responsibility

• Republicans like Johnson because he favored a tougher approach to Reconstruction

A New President• Johnson’s plan was similar

to Lincoln when it came to giving southerners amnesty if they took an oath of loyalty

• It was different in the fact that he only allowed wealthy southerners and former Confederate officials needed a presidential pardon to get amnesty

• While it seemed harsh he offered over 7,000 pardons

President Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan•Johnson focused on setting up new state

governments▫He first appointed a temporary governor▫Voters (only the ones who had taken an oath of

allegiance) of the state then had to elect delegates to set up a new state government

▫Each state government was required to declare that secession was illegal and had to stop paying off any Confederate war debts

▫The state could then elect new representatives to Congress

President Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan• By the end of 1865 all

southern states except for Texas had formed new governments

• Johnson declared that the United States was restored

President Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan

• Congress thought would not the new southern representatives sit in Senate and the House

• Congress felt that army officers and even the ex-Vice President of the Confederate States of America (Alexander Stephens) were not truly loyal to

Focus Questions•What effect did the end of the Civil War

have on African Americans in the South?•How did President Lincoln, Congress, and

President Johnson differ in their views on Reconstruction?