Reconstruction

Lincoln’s Plan

Ten Percent Plan When 10% of the voters of a state took an oath of loyalty to

the Union, the state could form a new government

Had to adopt a new constitution that banned slavery

Lincoln believed that punishing the South would only delay healing the torn nation

Amnesty to white Southerners who swore loyalty oath Except Confederate leaders and officers

3 states set up gov’ts according to plan, but Congress refused to seat representatives (see Radical Reconstruction)

Radical Reconstruction

Saw Lincoln as too forgiving, wanted to punish South

Wade-Davis Bill In 1864, Congress passed a plan for Reconstruction

Req’d majority of white males to take loyalty oath before elections could be held (majority rule)

Also banned former Confeds from holding office

Lincoln used pocket veto to kill bill

Freedmen’s Bureau

March 1865- Lincoln and Congress set up the Freedmen’s Bureau The bureau helped African-Americans adjust to freedom

It provided food, clothing, and medical services

Also helped freed people acquire land or find work for fair wages

Also set up schools and gave aid to new African-American institutions of higher learning

Including Atlanta University, Howard University, and Fisk University

Assassination

Lincoln killed, Andrew Johnson becomes president Loyal Unionist from TN

Grew up poor, hated planter elite

Also hated blacks

Limited gov’t, state’s rights

Restoration (Johnson’s Plan) Amnesty to most Southerners who swore loyalty

High-ranking officers had to appeal to him directly for a pardon (humiliate leaders who “tricked” Southerners to support secession)

States must denounce secession and ban slavery

Had to ratify 13th Amendment

Pay off war debts

All states but Texas readmitted under Johnson’s Plan

Johnson vetoed many of the Radical Republican’s policies

1866 – A New Sheriff in Town

Radical Republicans won majority control of Congress Could now override vetoes, control Reconstruction

Civil Rights Act of 1866 – precursor to 14th Amendment

Military Control South divided into military districts, overseen by Union

Generals and troops

14th and 15th Amendments Citizenship and legal equality (14th - 1866) and right to vote (15th

- 1870)

For the first time, African Americans were elected to local, state, and federal office

Civil Rights Act of 1875 – “Force Act”, forbade discrimination in hotels, trains, and other public spaces

Military Zones

Same Old Song

Black Codes - Southern laws which limited African American rights Intended to keep them in a condition of inferiority

Generally economic in nature, limited employment and property ownership

Sharecropping – new agricultural system Tenant farmers paid rent with a share of their crops

System was rigged to ensure dominance of landowners through company stores and unfair practices

“Debt peonage”

Ku Klux Klan Goals: drive out carpetbaggers, regain control of South for

Democratic Party, punish scalawags, prevent African American equality

Compromise of 1877

Rutherford B. Hayes (R) v Samuel Tilden (D) Tight electoral race

3 Southern states had vote counts disputed

To win support of Southern Democrats in determining vote counts, Hayes agreed to pull troops from South, effectively ending Reconstruction

With troops gone, white Southerners were able to reinstate themselves into positions of political and social superiority

The era of Jim Crow and White Supremacy would follow