Reconstruction and Redemption 1863-1877 “A splendid failure “A splendid failure…”

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Reconstruction and Redemption 1863-1877 “A splendid failure…”

Transcript of Reconstruction and Redemption 1863-1877 “A splendid failure “A splendid failure…”

Reconstruction and Redemption1863-1877

“A splendid failure…”

What Did the End of the War Mean?

Key QuestionsKey Questions

1. How do webring the Southback into the

Union?

2. How do we rebuild the

South after itsdestruction

during the war?

3. How do weintegrate andprotect newly-emancipated

black freedmen?

4. What branchof governmentshould controlthe process of

Reconstruction?

The South is destroyed

The Civil War ended April 9, 1865. Most of the land in the South was

destroyed by the Civil War. The South would need to be rebuilt.

This rebuilding of the South was called Reconstruction.

Reconstruction Plan President Lincoln wanted to reunite the

nation as quickly as possible. Any southern state with at least 10% of its

voters making a pledge to be loyal to the U.S. could be readmitted to the Union.

The South also had to accept a ban on slavery.

No Former Military or civilian leader of the Confederacy could play a role in the new state governments.

Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address

On March 4, 1865, President Lincoln laid out his approach to Reconstruction in his second inaugural address.

He hoped to reunite the nation and it’s people.

13TH Amendment passed ( no more slavery in United States)

13th Amendment13th Amendment Ratified in December, 1865.

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

“With malice [hatred] toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and for his orphans, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Speech

Lincoln is assassinated

Just six days after the war ended, on April 15, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated while watching a play.

Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, a Southerner who was angry at Lincoln.

Vice-President Andrew Johnson became president.

III. Johnson’s ReconstructionA. Andrew Johnson

was Lincoln’s Vice President, so he became president when Lincoln died.

B. He was the only high ranking southerner who had remained loyal to the Union

C. Members of Congress did not like Johnson because he did not support Republican efforts to improve the life of freedmen in the South.

D. Johnson also vetoed many measures Congress tried to pass to help give African Americans more rights in the south.

E. It even seemed as if Johnson were easing up on restrictions placed on the southern states.

Because it was believed that Johnson was to soft and intentionally helping the south Congress began impeachment proceedings on him

Congress

Failed to impeach him by 1

vote

What’s happening in the South at this very moment.

The Southern States refuse to take the loyalty oath

They are voting in office, former confederate military leaders and men who led the cause for seceding.

They are implementing laws to keep blacks from truly receiving their freedom

The Black Codes The Black Codes were laws passed by

Southern states that limited the new-found freedom of African Americans.

Black Codes forced African Americans to work on farms or as servants. They also prevented African Americans from owning guns, holding public meetings, or renting property in cities. They couldn’t even go over a mile away from their home without special permission

Voting Rights

Other laws were passed to keep blacks from voting.

One law said former slaves had to pay a tax to vote. It was called a poll tax.

Another law was passed that said a person could only vote if their grandfather had voted. These laws were called the Grandfather Clause.

THE SOUTH MUST BE PUNISHED

• Because Lincoln is dead • Andrew Johnson is no longer

trusted.• The RADICAL REPUBLICANS

will take over Reconstruction• AND THE SOUTH WILL PAY

Radical Republicans’ (the Return of the Cane [Sumner, Stevens])

Radical Republicans’ (the Return of the Cane [Sumner, Stevens]) Plan

• Congressional Reconstruction Act (1867): 1. South must accept 14th & 15th Amend. before

readmission, 2. 5 military governors would rule 5 districts

to enforce black vote and equality; all orders from the Pres. to army went through General Grant (supported radical recon.);

3. 50% loyalty oath (Confed. officers barred from office and vote);

The 14th Amendment

The 14th Amendment guaranteed citizenship to all people born or naturalized within the U.S. except for the Indians.

It said that state governments could not “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”

15th Amendment

In 1870 the 15th Amendment became law. The 15th Amendment gave African

American men the right to vote. Women’s rights activists were angry

because the amendment did not also grant women the right to vote.

The Radical Republicans set up The Freedmen’s Bureau in the South

The Freedmen’s Bureau The Freedmen’s Bureau was established

to help poor blacks and whites in the South. The Freedmen’s Bureau established

schools and worked to create jobs in the South.

Laws against educating slaves in the South meant that most ex-slaves did not know how to read and write.

Freedmen’s Bureau (1865)

Freedmen’s Bureau (1865)

Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands.

Abolitionist came South to help the freedmen.

Called “carpetbaggers” by white southerners

AFRICAN AMERICANS MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE SOUTH

• African Americans will play a major role in keeping the Republicans in power

• Their voting will give them unprecedented freedom

• Many blacks will achieve success in business and politics and education

• Black congressional representation ( 14 H.o.R. and 2 senators from 1868-1876)

The Balance of Power in Congress

The Balance of Power in Congress

State White Citizens Freedmen

SC 291,000 411,000

MS 353,000 436,000

LA 357,000 350,000

GA 591,000 465,000

AL 596,000 437,000

VA 719,000 533,000

NC 631,000 331,000

(Black Members of the 41st and 42nd Congress, Hiram Revels [MS]

included)

1868 Presidential Election

1868 Presidential Election

Establishment of Historically Black Colleges in the South

Establishment of Historically Black Colleges in the South

THE SLOW EROSION OF

EQUALITY

Sharecropping• Freedmen have no land of their own, and

plantation owners have lots of land but nobody

to work it now. Synergy• Freedmen work the land of the plantation

owners and the owners get a percentage of the profit.

Problem Owners front money to sharecroppers to buy seed and food or

clothes and put interest on it at 30 to 40 % in the end sharecroppers owe so much money

can never leave and become like slaves again

SharecroppingSharecropping

The “Invisible Empire of the South”

The “Invisible Empire of the South”

The rise of the Ku Klux Klan. This group uses fear and murder to keep African Americans from voting.

The Glorious (or not) End – 1877 

DEDICATED TO THE CHICAGO CONVENTION

1876 Presidential Election

1876 Presidential Election

A Political Crisis: The “Compromise” of 1877A Political Crisis: The “Compromise” of 1877

• Election of 1876 –

• Republican Hayes vs. Democrat Tilden; • Tilden won electoral and popular vote, • But Reps. charged South w/corrupt voting practices, • A commission formed to decide election; • Democrats concede election to Hayes on one

condition 1. pulling out of all federal troops from South, 2. All former confederates get to hold office again 3. South decides on enforcement of new Amendments and regulations.

What Does this mean for future of African Americans in South

• Without federal troops, South gradually reclaimed old power

• implements black codes and Jim Crow laws to economically and socially oppress blacks; grandfather clauses, poll taxes, and literacy tests implemented to disenfranchise blacks as well;

Segregation and Jim Crow Laws Segregation - the legal separation of

blacks and whites in public places Jim Crow Laws - laws that forced

segregation Starting in 1881, blacks had to stay in

separate hotels, sit in separate parts of theaters, ride in separate rail cars, and have separate schools, libraries, and parks. This is known as segregation.

What Does this mean for future of African Americans in South Politically

cont.

Phasing out of black congressmen and senators (after 1901, no blacks served in Congress for the next 28 years, and none represented any southern state

for the next 72 years);

SO WHO REALLY WON THE WAR AFTER ALL

THE FINAL PUSH FOR EQUALITY It will take 81 years to finally achieve a push for

equality. The beginning of the

CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT