Section 1:The Problems of Peacemaking

4 Main Parts of Reconstruction

1. Physical – rebuilding the structures destroyed

2. Economic – helping to pull the poor, freed slaves and jobless out, rebuilding the economy3. Government – putting people in charge that are going to change, how should the US treat them since they left the union

4. Social – how to protect and give rights to freed slaves; should laws be passed on the national level

Amnesty – general pardon for past offenses against a government

1. Main goal was to find former slaves jobs and protect them from discrimination

Freedmen’s Bureau – An agency set up to feed and care for needy blacks and whites

2. Provided education, set up 4,000 elementary schools and colleges like Howard UniversityAnd Hampton Institute

Continue Section 1…Congressional Actions on the South

Radical Republicans

1. Republicans that believed that the South should be punished

2. Many in Congress didn’t want to give freed slaves equality or trusted the former confederates

3. Congress refused to accept President Lincoln’s ideas and instead passed the Wade-Davis bill – required that 50% of voters must take an oath of loyalty before forming a new government in the South; gave the federal courts the power to enforce emancipation

a. Lincoln used a pocket veto to let the bill die and it didn’t become law

Vice President Andrew Johnson takes over (he’s a democrat, Lincoln was a republican)

Lincoln assassinated soon afterward

Continue Section 1…President Johnson

1. Johnson had plans to bring southern states back into the union

a. Majority of voters had to take a loyalty oath

b. High Confederate offices and Army officers and people with more than $20,000 in property had to get a presidential pardon before they could vote or hold office

c. Wanted to keep wealthy planters from taking part in reconstructing their state governments

d. Each new government had to outlaw slavery by ratifying the 13th Amendment to the Constitution

Section 2 – Congress in ControlMany republicans become very upset with Johnson’s policies and his handling of Reconstruction

a. While the 13th Amendment freed the slaves, it didn’t make them citizens, give them the right to vote, or protect their rights or interests

Black Codes – Laws to govern the conduct of blacks

b. Former slaves could marry, hold property and sue in some courts

c. In many states, freedmen couldn’t testify against whites, serve on juries, vote in elections or join the militia

d. For many, the black codes were just another form of slavery

Radical Republicans wanted to make former salves full and equal citizens, especially giving them voting rights

Continue Section 2…President Johnson – VS – Congress

Disagreement over Reconstruction

1. Johnson wanted to go back to the union before the war; slavery would be illegal and states weren’t allowed to secede

2. Congress wanted to punish the South, make sure the ruling/elite not regain power or allowed to find a new way to enslave blacks

3. Johnson vetoes a couple of key Republican bills

a. Extending the life of the Freedmen’s Bureau and the Civil Rights Act of 1866

4. Congress overrides the veto of the Civil Rights Act

Civil Rights Act of 1866 would give blacks citizenship and full and equal benefits that whites got

5. Congress proposes the 14th Amendment – All persons born or naturalized in the US are citizens, gave equal protection of the law and states couldn’t deprive a person of life, libery or property without due process.

Continue Section 2…6. Johnson hates the 14th Amendment, because it didn’t let states manage their own affairs

7. Congress divides the South into 5 military district, each under control of an army general with federal troops under his command

8. Congress also establish steps for Southern states to reenter the Union

a. Constitution conventions with both black and white delegates; former confederate officials unable to hold office couldn’t vote for delegates or be delegates

b. State constitutions had to include giving blacks the right to vote

c. State legislatures had to ratify the 14th Amendment

a. Johnson is impeach for abusing his powers

9. Johnson continued to block Congress’ programs

b. Johnson is aquitted by 1 vote

Continue Section 2….

Civil War Hero Ulysses S. Grant is elected President

1. 15th Amendment – proposed by Congress, prohibited federal and state governments from denying the right to vote based upon race, color or previous condition of servitude

a. Ratified in 1870, last of the Reconstruction Amendments (13th, 14th and 15th)

Section 3: Governing the SouthReplacing Confederate Leaders

a. Thought they could get rich quick

b. Many teachers and ministers

2. Scalawags – southerners who participated in reconstruction governments

New Systems of Labor

1. Carpetbaggers – people from the north that went to the south after the war

a. Working for a specific time period for a specific wageb. Often abused system, some weren’t paid at the end of the contracted time

1. Contract system

2. Sharecropping – the right to work a piece of ground without white supervision for a share of the profits of the field (money or crops)

a. Led to abuses; sharecroppers ending up in debt becoming almost slaves againb. Landowners rented/sold the tools, seeds, etc to the sharecroppers, many times at

prices they couldn’t afford

Continue Section 3…White Resistance to freed blacks

1. Ku Klux Klan – used terror to oppose Reconstruction and return to white supremacy

a. Formed by Nathan Bedford Forrestb. Used beatings, tarring and feathering and lynching to instill fear in freed blacksc. Only a minority of whites joined the KKKd. Came to also hate Catholics and Jewish people

2. The US government passed to Force Acts to counter-act the terrorist activities of the Klan

a. Made it a federal crime to interfere with voting rightsb. Established ways for the federal government to supervise electionsc. Gave the president the right to use army troops to stop revoltsd. Gave the president the right to suspend the writ of habeas corpus

1. The Writ of Habeas Corpus – your rights when you are arrested1. The right to remain silent2. Have an attorney3. Know the charges4. Speedy trial

Section 4: The End of ReconstructionUlysses S. Grant Presidency

1. Scandals

Continue Section 4…Rutherford B. Hayes wins the election at the end of Grant’s 2nd term

1. Compromise of 1877a. Because of a dispute in the election between Hayes and Tilden, Congress had to

decide a winner of the election. b. Democrats agreed not to block the election of Hayes as long as the last federal

troops were withdrawn from the South and the southerners were allowed to govern their own affairs

1. Black voters at the time were associated with the Republican party while the Democratic party was the choice of Southern whites

2. Southern states became known as the Solid South – a 1 party system of Democratic rule for many years

2. Reconstruction Scarsa. While reconstruction left a bitter taste in many Southerner’s mouth, there

were some positives1. Provided free education and care for the needy2. Rebuilt roads, bridges and railroads3. Lowered taxes and cut spending

b. Still, blacks lost many freedoms and began a long struggle for equality

Section 5: Reunion and the New SouthNew Leaders in the South

1. Redeemers – leaders who came to power in the South at the end of Reconstruction2. 2 goals – white supremacy and economic progress

a. Control the black vote by stuffing ballot boxes, throwing away votes that went against their ideas, and reported totals that were liesb. Allowed for free development of industry without government interference

Stirrings of Industry1. Alabama – important iron and steel center2. Textile mills with up-to-date machinery elsewhere3. Railroad growth in Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas4. Northern investment in Southern industries (again, the hope to make money)5. For the workers, they received little pay and had a hard time staying out of debt

Continue Section 5…Southern Agriculture

1. Still a bit part of the Southern economy2. Crop-lien system – Merchants had a claim on a farmer’s crop before it was harvested

a. Because of poverty and debtsb. Farmers received loans at high rates for equipment, seed and supplies c. Because they couldn’t repay the loan, the merchant could take the crops as payment

3. Cash crops – crops that could be sold quickly and for lots of moneya. Relying on one crop could really hurt farmersb. Could be sharp price changes

4. Cotton was still king a. New farming methods and machinery increased productionb. More fields opened for cotton farmingc. Long growing season

Continue Section 5Loss of Black Rights

1. Political rightsa. Used to control black voters, and poor whitesb. Literacy tests – voter had to be able to read and explain a passage

a. Usually a difficult passageb. Anyone that failed couldn’t vote

c. Poll taxes – voters were charged to votea. Most blacks were poor and could pay, thus not voteb. Same for poor whites

d. Grandfather Clause – anyone could vote, without taking a test or paying to vote, if they could vote on or before January 1, 1867, or whose father or grandfather could vote

a. This applied to most whites but not blacks

Rise of Jim Crow1. Jim Crow Laws – laws passed in the south that targeted blacks

a. Segregated blacks from whites in: restaurants, hotels, theaters and public placesb. Also, applied to public transportation.

Continue Section 5 c. Detailed how blacks must live apart from whites

a. Children had to attend different schools and used different textbooks

d. Strictly enforced in the Southa. Fined many people, threw a lot in jail and sometimes even lynched themb. Though not often, this did happen in the North

e. Blacks tried to use the Federal Courts and the US Supreme Court to challenge the laws

a. The challenges failedb. Plessy v. Ferguson – the US Supreme Court ruled that segregation wasn’t necessarily discrimination as long as

separate accommodations were made. This is know as “separate but equal”

f. These would stay in place for another 50 years.