Reconstruction

ReconstructionRefers to the post-

Civil War policies of the

U.S. government toward the

former Confederate states of the

South.

Two Phases of Reconstruction

1. Presidential Reconstruction:

Lincoln and Johnson tried to reunite the North and South in a lenient manner.

2. Congressional Reconstruction:

Congress takes power and

overrides vetoes to make sure that the former Confederates are punished and rights are given to former slaves.

13th Amendment• Amendment to the

Constitution that abolished slavery.(1865)

• Pushed through the Congress with the help of the many republicans who favored this bill

Slavery was abolished in all states and territories in the United States

Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated

in Washington, D.C. only five days after

Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered

his troops at Appomattox Court House, Virginia.

Assassination of Lincoln

• John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre

• Booth was killed as he fled. His conspirators were tried and hanged for the assassination.

President Andrew JohnsonBeing Lincoln’s Vice President,

Andrew Johnson becomes

President of the United States after

Lincoln dies

Reconstruction • Time period following the Civil War

which lasted from 1865-1877.

• Radical Republicans –representatives in congress that wanted to destroy the political power of former slaveholders. They wanted to give African Americans the citizenship and right to vote.

Thaddeus Stevens• Leader of the Radical Republicans

Johnson’s Reconstruction View

• Changed from Lincoln’s policy of letting the succeeded states vote to see if they would voluntarily rejoin the Union after the war. If 10% would agree, they could join again.

• 4 of the 11 states had done this under Lincoln.

• The remaining 7 states could join under Johnson’s conditions.

Johnson’s Reconstruction View

• Johnson’s Conditions:

–Each state had to declare that its secession was illegal

–Each state had to swear allegiance to the Union

–Each state had to ratify the thirteenth Amendment

Radical Republicans React • Johnson’s policies did not punish the

former Southern Confederates enough to satisfy the Radical Republicans.

• Radical Republicans passed legislation to strengthen the “Freedman’s Bureau”, which gave former slaves and poor whites (of the former confederacy) food, clothing, hospitals, and schools.

Black CodesRestrictive laws

that Southern states adopted after the Civil

War to regulate the freedom and

movement of former slaves.

Civil Rights Act of 1866Passed by Congress on 9th April 1866

over the veto of President Andrew Johnson. The act declared that all

persons born in the United States were now citizens, without regard to race,

color, or previous condition. This set the groundwork, and eventual ratification, of

the 14th Amendment.

14th Amendment• “all persons born or

naturalized in the U.S. are citizens of the country.”

• This amendment did not specify that African Americans could vote

• Not all Southern States ratified this.

Reconstruction Act of 1867• Divided all succeeded states (but

Tennessee) into 5 Military Districts• Each military district was headed by a

Union General• Each state had to ratify the

Fourteenth Amendment• Each state had to draw up new

constitutions with the addition of allowing African Americans the right to vote.

ImpeachedTo charge, or impeach, and

convict the president, the vice president,

or any other civil officers of misconduct in

office.

Johnson Impeached• Congress adopted the Tenure of Office

Act of 1867, which denied the president authority to fire key members of his administration without Senate approval.

• Johnson tested that act when he attempted to replace Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, a Radical Republican holdover from Lincoln's administration.

ImpeachmentThe House of

Representatives to adopt 11

impeachment charges against

him, most of which focused on the

firing of Stanton

Johnson cleared of charges

Senate fell one vote shy of

the two-thirds majority

needed for conviction

U.S. Grant Elected President, 1868

• Democrats did not nominate Johnson

for the next presidency. They

put in Horatio Seymour as their

candidate.

• Radical Republicans put in

war hero U.S. Grant.

Fifteenth Amendment• No one can be kept from voting because of “race, color, or previous

condition of servitude”

• Ratified by the states in 1870.

Amendment Review• 13th Amendment

–Freedom

• 14th Amendment–Citizenship

• 15th Amendment–Vote

Reconstruction Society

Blacks in Reconstruction

Hiram Revels• From 1865 to 1877

African Americans were involved in politics at all levels.

• Revels, was the first African American Senator. (Mississippi)

Carpetbagger Men from the North who traveled to the South after the Civil

War to take advantage of the

new political, social, and economic

conditions in the former states of the

defeated Confederacy.

ScalawagTerm that

Southerners applied to fellow

Southerners who joined the

Republican Party or associated with carpetbaggers

during Reconstruction. Rhett Butler from the movie Gone with the

Wind was considered a Scalawag by Some.

Sharecropping• Landowners divide

their land and gave each worker a few acres along with seed and tools.

• When crops are harvested each workers gave a share of his crop to the landowner.

• This is what the majority of poor whites and blacks did

Tenant Farming• Rent land for

cash • Had their own

tools and equipment

• Eventually moved up the ladder and became owners of land

The Collapse of ReconstructionKu Klux Klan- began

in December 1865, when a group of

former Confederate soldiers in

Tennessee joined together in an effort to keep newly freed and enfranchised African Americans

from voting.

Ku Klux Klan

• Vigilante group that whipped, tortured, and

murdered former slaves in

an attempt to restore white supremacy.

Scandals In U.S. Grant’s Second Term

• Several Fraud and Bribery Scandals and a economic Panic in 1873 negatively effected Grant’s second term in office.

• This also weakened the Republican Party’s hold on Congress

Democrats “Redeem” the South

Democrats gain control of the South as a result of the

changes in Government.

Election of 1876• Rutherford B. Hayes runs

as Republican candidate for President and wins in 1876 by a slim margin.

• Hayes made a compromise with Democrats in the Senate that he would remove Federal Troops from the south and build new railroads for sections of the South. Ultimately ending Reconstruction.

Home RuleThe ability to run state governments without federal intervention.

Morehouse College

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tumNO_lXovs

Brother Where Art Thou

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLvcrsbliOo

Black Codes of Thomas County

• http://freedmensbureau.com/georgia/gaoutragespt2.htm