Reconstruction

Chapter 12

Sections 1-2

Atlanta, GA

Norfolk, VA

Charleston, SC

Aftermath

• 9,000 miles of railroad

• 2/3 of Southern shipping industry

• 1 in 3 Southern men were either wounded or killed in the Civil War

• 260,000 dead in South alone

Living Conditions in the South

• Freedmen- 4 million freed people were sent out into the world w/o homes, jobs, or food

• Plantation owners- lost their laborers and most crops were seized by the federal government. Could not afford to hire workers and were forced to sell land

• Poor whites- could not find work

Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plans

1. Would be pardoned if Confederates would take an oath of allegiance to the Union and accept abolition

2. Allowed each state to rewrite their state constitutions after only 10 percent swore allegiance to the Union

Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan

1. Pardon southerners who swore allegiance to the Union

2. Allowed states to rewrite state constitutions w/o 10 percent allegiance

3. Before holding elections they must pay confederate debt, abolish slavery, and void secession

Radical Republicans React

• Argue that the Civil War was fought over the moral issue of slavery– For blacks to have

equal rights the whole society must be restructured

• Argued Lincoln and Johnson were too easy on the South

Freedoms for Blacks

• Freedom of Movement• Freedom to Own Land• Freedom to Worship• Freedom to Learn• The Freedmen’s

Bureau- attempted to protect these freedoms– Educated 250,000 African

American students – Also handed out medical

supplies and millions of meals

South Responds

• Black Codes- laws that restricted the freedmen’s rights– Curfew– Vagrancy laws– Labor contracts– Land restrictions

Radical Republicans Speak Out

• Riots occur throughout the South between freedmen and southerners– Northern Republicans

fought for the rights of blacks

– Johnson opposed the 14th Amendment

• First vetoed

• Gave speeches trying convince states not to ratify it

Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens

Fourteenth Amendment

• “all persons born or naturalized in the United States…are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or 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 to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws”

• Made black codes illegal

Reconstruction Act of 1867

• Congress then passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867

1. It put the South under military rule2. It ordered southern states to hold new elections for

delegates to create new state constitutions3. It required states to allow all qualified male voters,

including blacks, to vote 4. It temporarily barred those who had supported the

Confederacy from voting5. It required southern states to guarantee equal rights to

all citizens6. It required all states to ratify the Fourteenth

Amendment