ReconstructionSS8H6 The student will analyze the impact of the Civil War and Reconstruction on Georgia. Analyze the impact of Reconstruction on Georgia and other southern states, emphasizing Freedmen’s Bureau; sharecropping and tenant farming; Reconstruction plans; 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the constitution; Henry McNeal Turner and black legislators; and the Ku Klux Klan.

What three questions did Georgians and other southerners have to deal with in the aftermath of the Civil War?

• What would be done with 4 million newly freed slaves?

• How could the sectional differences and emotional war wounds be healed so that the nations could be reunited?

• How could the South, which had suffered most of the war damage, resurrect itself and its economy?

Freedmen’s Bureau• The original purpose of the

Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands (which became known as the Freedmen’s Bureau) was to: help former slaves and poor whites cope with their everyday problems by offering them clothing, food and other necessities.

•The Freedmen’s Bureau focus changed to becoming concerned mainly with helping the freedmen adjust to their new circumstances. An important focus was education. What three schools were opened in Georgia as a result?

1.Atlanta University2.Morehouse College3.Clark College

Presidential Reconstruction (1865-1866)

• What were the two steps in Lincoln’s plan for Reconstruction?– All southerners, except for high-

ranking Confederate civil and military leaders, would be pardoned after taking an oath of allegiance to the United States.

– When 10% of the voters of a state had taken the oath, the state would be permitted to form a legal government and rejoin the Union

Typical Loyalty OathI, _____________, of the County of _____________, State ofGeorgia, do solemnly swear or affirm, in the presence ofAlmighty God, that I will henceforth faithfully support anddefend the Constitution of the United States and the Unionfaithfully of the States thereunder, and that I will in likemanner, abide by and faithfully support all laws and

proclamationswhich have been made during the existing rebellion withreference to the emancipation of slaves—So help me, God.

Lincoln’s Assignation• Lincoln was assassinated on Friday, April 14,

1865 at Ford’s Theater watching Our American Cousin. He was shot in the head by John Wilkes Booth.

Andrew Johnson’s plan for Reconstruction

1. Those who owned more than $20k in property or had held high civil or military positions had to apply directly to the president for a pardon.

2. The southern states had to approve the 13th amendment which made slavery illegal.

3. The southern states had to nullify their ordinances of secession.

4. The southern states had to promise not to repay the people or institutions that had helped finance the Confederacy.

13th AmendmentNeither slavery not

involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction

Black CodesBy 1865, most of the southern states, including

Georgia, had passed a number of laws known as Black Codes. What were they designed to do? To restrict the rights of the freedmen by disfranchisement and discrimination

What are some examples of Black Codes? • Controlled the type of employment that blacks

could have• Permitted whipping as punishment• Established labor periods, took away voting

rights, couldn’t serve on juries, couldn’t testify against whites

• Permitted imprisonment of jobless blacks

Congressional Reconstruction (1866-1867)

• Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 which gave citizenship to African Americans and gave the federal government authority to intervene in civil rights matters. It also passed the 14th Amendment which granted citizenship to freedmen and forbade any state from denying anyone the “equal protection of the law.”

• Radical republicans gained control of both houses and required all the southern states to ratify the 14th amendment before being readmitted to the union.

• Military Reconstruction - Congress established military rule in the southern states in March 1867.

Readmission into the Union

• Another Constitutional Convention was held in Atlanta to write a new constitution which did the following:– Gave civil rights to all citizens– Approved free education for all children– Allowed married women to control their own property (first

state to do so).

• A republican, Rufus Bullock , was elected governor, and Georgia had met the requirements for re-admission to the Union.

African Americans in Georgia Politics

• 1867 29 African Americans are elected to the House of Representatives and 3 to the Senate of the General Assembly

Henry McNeal Turner• One of the first African

Americans elected to the Georgia General Assembly.

• He and other black legislators were expelled by both the Democrats and the Republicans of the General Assembly.

• He was expelled because legislatures said The constitution did not explicitly give them the right to hold office.

• Carpetbaggers were northerners who came to the South to influence politics.

• Scalawags were southerners who supported the Republicans. They worked hard to make African Americans part of the political scene in Georgia.

Ku Klux Klan• It began as a social club for

returning Confederate soldiers.The main goal of the Klan • to suppress the African

American vote. • To intimidate African Americans

into not voting. • To return the state back to the

control of the Democrats. • They used beatings, whippings

and murders to frighten blacks.

Georgia Act of 1869

• As the activities of the Ku Klux Klan began to increase in the state, Governor Bullock asked the federal government for help. Congress passed the Georgia Act in 1869 which returned the state to military control and required the state to ratify the 15th Amendment before it could rejoin the Union.

15th Amendment• The right of citizens of

the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude.

Georgia Readmitted into the UnionJuly 15, 1870

• The democrats gained control of both houses of the Georgia General Assembly and Governor Bullock (a republican) resigned rather than face impeachment.

• From the election of James Smith in December of 1871 until the election of Sonny Perdue (a republican) in 2002, all of Georgia’s governors were democrats

Economic Reconstruction• Sharecropping –The landowners provided

land, a house, farming tools and animals, seed, and fertilizer. The workers agreed to give the owner a share of the harvest. Until the workers sold their crop, the owners often let them have food,medicine, clothing, and other supplies at high prices on credit.

• Tennant FarmingThe tenants usually owned

some of the agricultural equipment and farm animals, such as mules. They also bought their own seed and fertilizer. At the end of the year, the farmers paid the owners a set amount of cash or an agreed-upon share of the harvest.

• Rail Roadsexpanded during this time. Shipping companies also

took on new life. Savannah again became a

major port for exporting cotton, and Brunswick a close second.

Even with the growth of banks, rail lines and shipping companies, economic reconstruction was slow.