Reconstruction

1865-1877

Black Southerners

•Approx. 4 million freedmen roaming the South

•Free yet homeless, jobless and hungry•Some continued to work for their former masters

•Others moved to the cities of the South or looked for opportunities in the West

Plantation Owners

•Lost over $3 billion worth of slave labor

•Many had their lands seized by the Union

•Many would lose their voting rights during Reconstruction while former slaves gained voting rights

Poor White Southerners

•Forced to compete with freed slaves

•Many migrated to Mississippi and Texas

•Many forced to work as sharecroppers and tenant farmers

PRESIDENTIAL RECONSTRUCTION

Lincoln’s Plan Johnson’s Plan

PRESIDENTIAL RECONSTRUCTION

LINCOLN’s PLAN JOHNSON’s PLAN

Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan

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Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan

• Johnson was a Southerner / TN Democrat

• Offered Generous Pardons•

• States must void secession, abolish slavery and repudiate the Confederate debt

What Freedom Meant to African Americans

The Freedman’s Bureau•Established to help blacks southerners

adjust to freedom•1st major federal relief agency US History•Lacked strong, ‘real’ support from the

govt•Gave out clothing, medical supplies, and

meals to poor blacks and whites throughout the South

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The Southern Response to

Reconstruction

“I’m A Good Ol’ Rebel”– The Shiners

The Southern Response to Reconstruction

BLACK CODES

• _________________________________________• _________________________________________• Common Codes included:

• • • • • •

• Forced many blacks to become sharecroppers• Forced many into slavery by another name• Many in the North outraged

Birth of the Klan• Founded in TN; 1866

• Terrorist wing of Democratic party

• Goals:

• Consisted of whites from all classes

• Methods:

• Enemies:

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The Big IdeaPresidential

Reconstruction

Lincoln & Johnson

Southern Resistance

Black Codes & KKK

Congressional Reconstruction

“Radical Republicans”

Congressional “Radical” Reconstruction• Civil Rights Act of 1866

• The 14th Amendment

• Reconstruction Act of 1867

• The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

• Grant is Elected President (1868)

• The 15th Amendment

• Black Voting Rights / Elected Officials

The 14th Amendment

“All persons born or naturalized in the United States …are citizens of the United States and of the State in which they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law; nor deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws…”

The 14th Amendment

• One of our most important Amendments• Republicans wanted to place principles of

Civil Rights Bill into a constitutional amendment

• Key Elements• • •

• A response to Black Codes & Klan in the South

Voting Rights for Black Males

•Reconstruction Act of 1867 ¾ of a million blacks register to vote

•2 States (LA & SC) chose a majority of blacks representatives

•More than 600 blacks elected to public office during Reconstruction

The Republican South

• Carptetbaggers

• Scalawags

The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

• The Tenure of Office Act

• Johnson Fires Sec. of War Stanton

• Congress Brings Impeachment Charges against President Johnson

• By a single vote he is found not guilty in the US Senate Trial

Legacy

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The End of Reconstruction• By the 1870s, voters had grown tired of

Republicans & Reconstruction• Support for racial equality in the US had

diminished• North focused on Business / Economics• The US Supreme Court Limited the Scope of

the Reconstruction Amendments (14th and 15th)

• The Controversy surrounding the Election of 1876

• The Compromise of 1877

The Compromise of 1877

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• Consequences

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• The Solid South is Established• ______________________________________________________

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Voting Restrictions in the South

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Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

• Highlights the failure / limits of Reconstruction

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• Leads to 70+ years of legally sanctioned racial segregation in the US (Jim Crow)

• Ruling applied to all aspects of public life (Education, Transportation, Housing, etc.)

• Overturned by __________________________

Contrasting Views of Reconstruction:

President and Congress

Lynchings in the South

•Mob Murders•A form of intimidation•Averages 200+ per year in

the South following Reconstruction

•Role of Ida B. Wells

American Experience | Reconstruction: The Second Civil War

Faced with the growing threat of African American political, economic and social power, white Southerners put aside their differences to unite. With rough politics and terror they seek to restore their supremacy.

Southern Democratic members of Congress voted as a block on almost all issues, allowing them to maintain de jure segregation and discrimination for over 75 years

The Solid South

Successes & Failures of Reconstruction

• Union is Restored• Economy of South

grows / new wealth created in the North

• 14th & 15th Amendments

• Freedman’s Bureaus

• Improved Public Education in the South

• Legacy of Southern bitterness towards federal government & Republican party

• South is slow to Industrialize

• Black Codes / KKK Persist in the South

• Black & White Southerners caught in a cycle of poverty / debt

• Racism continues in both the North and the South

The Civil War & Reconstruction

The North Won the War, But the South Won the

Peace.

THE END!!