The Reconstruction Era

http://www.archives.gov/research/civil-war/photos/images/civil-war-113.jpg

Ruins seen from the capitol, Columbia, S.C., 1865. Photographed by George N. Barnard. 165-SC-53.

After the War• South lay in ruins (destroyed)• Nearly 4 million freedman (freed slaves) needed food,

clothing, & jobs

• President Lincoln planned for Reconstruction, the rebuilding of the South

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Ruins seen from the Circular Church, Charleston, S.C., 1865. 111-B-4667.

Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan• Reunite Union quickly• Southern state could

form a new government after 10 % of its voters swore loyalty to U.S.

• States also had to abolish slavery

• Many in Congress didn’t like Lincoln’s plan & wanted a stricter form of Reconstruction

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Acts of Congress• Freedman’s Bureau was created by

Congress– It gave food, clothing, & other kinds of help to

the freedman.

• Thirteenth Amendment – Passed by Congress in January, 1865– Ended slavery throughout the U.S.

Glimpses at the Freedmen - The Freedmen's Union Industrial School, Richmond, Va. / from a sketch by Jas E. Taylor (1866).

• Room of African American women sewing. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/aaodyssey:@field(NUMBER+@band(cph+3a33775))

• Lincoln is assassinated by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865

• Andrew Johnson became President

http://www.archives.gov/research/civil-war/photos/images/civil-war-202.jpghttp://www.archives.gov/research/civil-war/photos/images/civil-war-198.jpgJohn Wilkes Booth

Reconstruction Plan of Andrew Johnson

• In each southern states, a majority of voters must swear loyalty to the U.S.

• Each state must approve the 13th Amendment

• Then each state could rejoin the Union

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Andrew Johnson, Vice President & President

Response to Johnson’s Plan

• Southern States met Johnson’s demands• Republicans in Congress outraged because African

Americans were not allowed to vote & former Confederate Leaders were elected to Congress

Radical Reconstruction

• After the war, most southern states quickly ratified the 13th Amendment (ended slavery)– Then passed Black Codes,

which limited the rights of African Americans.

• Radical Republicans in Congress decide to take over Reconstruction– They wanted to break the

power of the southern planters and to make sure African Americans had the right to vote.

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Radical Reconstruction (continued)

• 14th Amendment, 1868 – All people born in the U.S. are citizens. No state may take away rights of citizens.

• 15th Amendment, 1870 – The right to vote cannot be denied to citizens because of their race or color or because they were once enslaved.

• Reconstruction Act – Southern states had to ratify the 14th Amendment, African American men must be allowed to vote,…– Johnson vetoed these acts & Congress overrode his

veto; Congress eventually tried to impeach him

Changes in the South • Southern Republicans (scalawags), whites from

the North (carpetbaggers), & freed African Americans played important roles in southern governments.– Ku Klux Klan (KKK) -- formed by white southerners to

help them regain power & to keep African Americans and White Republicans out of office.

• Landless black and white sharecroppers became locked in a cycle of poverty.– Sharecroppers: person who farms land owned by

another in exchange for a share of the crops

Link to Pictures: http://www.grant.k12.ca.us/schools/rljr/students/resistance_to_reconstructi.htm

Reconstruction Ends

• Reconstruction ended after presidential candidate Rutherford B. Hayes made a private deal with southern politicians.

• After Reconstruction, a new industrial economy began to emerge in the South.

• Southern whites pass new laws to deny African Americans equal rights.– Poll Taxes, Literacy Tests, & Grandfather Clauses– Segregation, Jim Crow Laws, Lynching – Civil Rights Movement (100 years later)

• Civil War Pictures from the National Archives http://www.archives.gov/research/civil-war/photos/

• Many Reconstruction

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