Chapter 12

Reconstruction & the New South

p. 416-441At the end of the Civil War, Americans face the problem of

how to reunite the nation. Disagreements over Reconstruction lead to conflicts in government and in the South. With the end of Reconstruction, African Americans

in the South would lose many of the rights they had gained.

Chapter 12, Section 1

Rebuilding the Nationp. 420-423

As the Civil War ended, Americans face the problems of how to reunite

the nation.

Lincoln Wins Re-election• Victories in the battlefield

ensure Lincoln’s victory in the Election of 1864.

• Seems to be a diminished man• Personal Tragedies:

– Death of his son Willie– Wife’s mental illness

• Public Adversities:– Abuse in the press– Death threats– Burden of war

Guilt over high death rate

• New dilemma:

• RECONSTRUCTION Lincoln’s 2nd Inaugural AddressMarch 4, 1865

Can you spot John Wilkes Booth?

RECONSTRUCTION

How would you handle the reuniting of the states?Would you be lenient (“soft”) on the Confederates OR would you punish (be “hard”) them?

Table Question:Table Question:

Preparing for ReunionMain Idea: President Lincoln and Congress do not agree about how to bring the Union back together.

Lincoln contemplates the fate of the South.

• Lincoln’s 10% Plan (from 1863 - to make it easy for southern states to rejoin the Union)– To heal wounds quickly1. 10% voter loyalty oath to U.S.2. Form new State Governments3. Must declare an end to slavery

• Lincoln offers amnesty to former Confederates.– a government declares that will

officially overlook violations of existing laws

The Wade-Davis Bill• The “Radical Republicans” in

Congress disagree with Lincoln.– Think he’s too lenient

• Pass the Wade-Davis Bill1. 50% voter loyalty oath2. Anyone who voluntarily fought

for the Confederacy barred from voting (for life)

• Lincoln refuses to sign- Never becomes law

• The South lay in ruins.– Who needs help? see p. 424

BenjaminWADE

HenryDAVIS

Thaddeus Stevens- a leading Radical Republican

The Freedmen’s BureauMain Idea: The Freedmen’s Bureau provides education and economic help to freed slaves and poor whites – ALL people who had been displaced by the war.

Freedmen’s School House

• Provides assistance and emergency relief to freedmen– enslaved people who had been

freed by the Civil War

• Sets up schools to teach freedmen to read & write– Assists poor whites as well

• Helps freedmen find jobs & resolves disputes between whites & blacks– to decide; to solve

Lincoln is MurderedMain Idea: Abraham Lincoln’s assassination ends the chance of a lenient Reconstruction

• April 14, 1865 (Good Friday)– 5 days after Lee’s surrender

• Ford’s Theater - during the play “Our American Cousin”– Shot by John Wilkes Booth

• Lincoln had premonitions & dreams about his death.

• Dies the next day at 7:22 AM

“He now belongs to the ages.” -Edwin Stanton (Secretary of War)1st President to be assassinated

John Wilkes Booth

• Very popular actor of his day• Fanatical southern

sympathizer– Felt guilty about avoiding

military service

• Killed at a Virginia farmhouse, while resisting arrest.

• Newspapers of the time said, “Booth has killed the South’s greatest friend.”

John Wilkes Booth “The Handsomest Man in America”