The Big Picture: Following the Civil War, Congress implemented a plan to reconstruct the South. After 12 years, and in response to fierce resistance from many white southerners, the federal government declared Reconstruction over.

CHAPTER 12: RECONSTRUCTION

Main Idea: Northern leaders had differing ideas for dealing with the many issues and challenges of restoring the southern states to the Union.

CHAPTER 12 SECTION 1: PLANS FOR RECONSTRUCTION

The South after the War

• Property values drop to half what they were before the war• Many plantations lost

workers (20% white male population died; slaves fled)• Transportation systems, esp. railroads were devastated

• 4 million newly freed slaves• No money, education, or job

prospects• Federal government still

needed to address what role African Americans would play in politics and what would happen to former Confederate states

Property Losses Challenges for African Americans and the South

Wartime Reconstruction

• March 1865: Congress creates the Freedmen’s Bureau: provided help to both black and white southerners• Northern army had seized

many plantations during the war and paid former slaves to stay and work• Some former slaves earned

enough to buy the land from the government

• 1862: Lincoln appointed military governors to run the South• Ten Percent Plan: when 10% of a

state’s voters to a loyalty oath, they could organize a new state government that banned slavery• Arkansas, Louisiana, and Tennessee

rejoined the Union under this plan• Congressional leaders opposed this

plan for two reasons: readmitting states should be a Congressional decision and it was too lenient• 1864: Wade-Davis Bill: required

51% of voters to pledge loyalty to rejoin the union• Lincoln killed this bill with a pocket

veto because he thought it was too harsh

Freedmen’s Bureau Lincoln’s Reconstruction and Opposition

Lincoln’s Assassination• Lincoln’s popularity and political skill probably would have made him ultimately victorious in his battle with Congress over Reconstruction if he had survived• April 14, 1865: John Wilkes Booth, a Southerner, shot and killed Lincoln while he was watching a play at Ford’s Theatre• The assassination was part of a larger plot to kill the vice-president and the cabinet, but the other assassins failed• He was later killed in a shoot-out with Union troops• Lincoln’s assassination meant that Southerner Andrew Johnson was now president of the United States and in charge of Reconstruction

Johnson and Congress Differ over Reconstruction

• Most Republicans thought they could work with Johnson because he believed the South should be punished for treason even though he was a Southerner• But Johnson really wanted to

harm the wealthy planter class (he grew up poor), not the entire South• Congress was in recess until

Dec. 1865, and Johnson felt he had the power to run Reconstruction while they were out of town

• Johnson’s Plan included a loyalty oath (no specific %) but added one condition: Southerners with property over $20,000 had to apply for a personal pardon from the President• Republican Congressional

leaders Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens were opposed to the plan because it didn’t help former slaves• By the time they came back

to DC, all states but Texas had met Johnson’s requirement

Early RelationsOpposition to Johnson’s Plan

Main Idea: Congress took control of Reconstruction as a new, radical branch of the Republican Party was emerging.

CHAPTER 12 SECTION 2: CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION

Reconstruction Under President Johnson

• South welcomed Johnson’s approach• Southerners wanted to

rebuild government under white control• Johnson also believed that African-Americans should not have a place in Southern government• Most Southerners elected to

Congress were former generals or government leaders in the Confederacy

• States were required to ratify the 13th Amendment but quickly passed black codes: laws that kept African Americans in slave-like conditions and dependent upon plantations (required to sign year-long contracts, couldn’t own property, couldn’t own guns)• Ku Klux Klan formed to

enforce laws and customs through terror

Johnson and Southern State Governments

Black Codes and Southern Defiance

Congress Takes Control of Reconstruction

• Northerners origionally supported Johnson’s plan but quickly became disturbed at what was happening to African Americans in the South• Radical Republicans under

Thaddeus Stevens favored tougher requirements for Southern states and wanted economic opportunity and political equality for freed slaves

• when they returned from recess, Congress passed a bill extending aid through the Freedmen’ Bureau• Civil Rights Act of 1866:

gave African Americans citizenship and equal rights• Johnson vetoes both bills

claiming they were unnecessary and unconstitutional• Both bills were passed over

his veto and Congress was determined to take control of Reconstruction

Northern Opposition; Congress fights Back Johnson versus Congress

Radical Reconstruction

• Worried that the Supreme Court would overturn the Civil Rights Act, Congress passed the 14th Amendment: granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the US and granted them equal protection under the law• After wins in the 1866 election,

Radical Republicans passed the Reconstruction Acts: divided the South into 5 military districts controlled by a general until the state ratified the 14th Amendment and gave A-A men the right to vote

• Tenure of Office Act required the president to ask Congress to be allowed to fire cabinet members• Johnson refused and fired Stanton,

a supporter of Congressional Republicans• Congress votes to impeach him

(formally accuse him of a crime)• After a 2 month trial, Johnson is

acquitted• 1868: Republicans choose U.S.

Grant as presidential candidate (wins)• 15th Amendment: grants African

American men the right to vote (most joined Republican Party)

Reconstruction Acts

Johnson’s Impeachment/15th Amendment

Main Idea: Republican Reconstruction had a significant impact on life in the South.

CHAPTER 12 SECTION 3: REPUBLICANS IN CHARGE

Republican Government Brings Change to the South

• Military Reconstruction changes Southern politics:• Scalawags: white Southerners

who join the Republican Party and cooperate; seen as traitors to fellow white Southerners

• Tended to be poor whites who opposed secession and the war and hoped to gain more political power

• Carpetbaggers: northern Republicans who moved south to reconstruct the South (also hated by most white Southerners)

• Scalawags, carpetbaggers, and freedmen joined together to run state governments• African Americans were

the largest group of Republican voters in the South; 700 served in state legislatures and 16 served in Congress• New state governments

provided social services (more schools; hospitals, railroads, and repealed black codes)

Scalawags and Carpetbaggers

African Americans and New State Government

Life after Slavery for African Americans

• African American families worked to reunite with loved ones• Some moved to urban areas

looking for jobs (pop. doubled in 10 cities)—small numbers moved North or West• Most remained on their

former plantations working for their former masters

• By 1877 600,000 African Americans were enrolled in school• The Freedmen’s Bureau

started over 4,000 schools• African Americans also

started their own churches, which often became the center of the community• Some of these churches

started schools (i.e. Morehouse College)• They also created clubs, fire

companies, and aid societies

Seeking Economic Opportunity

Education and Religion

Reconstruction and Land Ownership• Some Radical Republicans wanted to seize Southern land and give it to former slaves (Southern Homestead Act: gave gov’t owned land to slaves, but was repealed because former slaves lacked seed/tools only 4,000 families got land)many whites refused to sell land• Two farming systems emerged: sharecropping: owners provide land, tools, and seed, the resulting crop is shared with the farmers; OR tenant farming: owner rents land for a fixed price, farmer is responsible for all materials and ‘owns’ resulting crop and can choose what to plant• Most were sharecroppers; all ended up in poverty and in debt because they had to borrow money to meet needs before the harvest of the crops• Collapse of cotton prices and overproduction also hurt farmers• Industry grew in the South during Reconstruction, but African Americans were excluded from factory jobs and workers made lower wages than up North and were indebted to company stores

Main Idea: A variety of events and forces led to the end of Reconstruction, which left a mixed legacy for the nation.

CHAPTER 12 SECTION 4: RECONSTRUCTION COLLAPSES

Problems with Reconstruction

• Ku Klux Klan most active of several different terrorist organizations• They included planters, merchants,

and poor white farmers and laborers• Common goal: undo advances and

restore old political and social order• Main target: African American

leaders but they also attacked men and women working with the Freedmen’s Bureau • Enforcement Acts: (1870/1871)

heavy penalties including jail for preventing people from voting• KKK power and influence did

decline as a result of these laws

• White Southerners claim Enforcement Acts restrict individual rights• Northerners were frustrated

with the continued need to post troops in the South• Taxes increased and states

were deeply in debt• Democrats won control of

Congress in 1874• A 5-year depression

beginning in 1873 also weakened support for Reconstruction

Terrorist groups in the South

Support for Reconstruction Declines

The End of Reconstruction

• Supreme Court weakens Reconstruction: Slaughterhouse Cases: most civil rights are under state control, 14th Amendment doesn’t apply• Terror against Southern

Republicans became more brutal and bold; federal gov’t did little to help• Democrats, calling

themselves Redeemers, began to take control of Southern states

• (R) Rutherford B. Hayes vs. (D) Samuel Tilden• Tilden one vote shy of majority

in Electoral College (20 votes in dispute-19 from South)• Both sides made charges of

voter fraud; Tilden supporters threatened to go to war over the outcome• Compromise of 1877: Hayes

given the 20 disputed votes becomes president; in return all federal troops were withdrawn from the South ending Reconstruction

“Redeeming” the South The Election of 1876

Reconstruction’s Legacy• 14th and 15th Amendment have profound effects for African Americans in South and North• 15th Amendment increases calls for women to gain right to vote• Industrialization and economic change in the South leads to the rise of the New South• Supreme Court decisions weaken 14th & 15th Amendments and allow white Southern Democrats to control lives of African Americans• Southerners deeply resent federal intervention• South becomes so strongly Democratic, it becomes known as the Solid South, Republicans cannot make gains until the 1970s