Reconstruction

Reconstruction?

• The reunification and rebuilding of the South in the years following the Civil War

Victorious North

• Faced economic problems

• 800,000 returning soldiers needed jobs

• Huge loss of lives• Farms and cities were

barely touched by war

Defeated South

• Houses, barns, and bridges destroyed

• War wrecked the South’s financial system

• 4 million “freedmen”

The Freedmen’s Bureau

• Government agency to help former slaves

• Offered food and clothing to former slaves

• Assisted them getting a job

• Set up schools and taught them important skills

Andrew Johnson

• Vice President under Lincoln

• Sworn in after Lincoln’s assassination

Johnson's Plan

• Majority of voters in Southern states had to pledge their loyalty

• 13th Amendment: Ended slavery in throughout the nation

Black Codes

• Laws severely limited the rights of freedmen

• Forbade freedmen to vote, own guns and property

• Radicals said Johnson was not doing enough for reconstruction

Rise of the Radicals

• Goals– 1. Break the power of

wealthy planters

– 2. Ensure freedmen received the right to vote

Resistance

• Wealthy, white southerners resisted reconstruction

• Ku Klux Klan- opposed giving power to blacks

• Klan members murdered hundreds of blacks and their white supporters

K K K

Cycle of Poverty

• “Nothing but freedom”

• Some former slaves were able to become landowners

• Many became sharecroppers and made just enough to feed themselves

• Still slavery???