reconstruction of the south chap17
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Reconstruction after the Civil WarMiddle School American History Grades 6-8TRANSCRIPT
Reconstruction of the South
American History
Chapter 17
The End Results
258,000 Confederates died in the war
Most were adult males
South’s economy & society needed rebuilding
Civil War in Pictures
Reconstruction
Everybody had a plan …
Lincoln’s 10% plan
10% of states voters vowed loyalty to Union Form a new government & constitution No slavery
Lincoln Was Soft on the South
Punishment served no useful purposeOffered amnesty/swear loyalty
Not to Confederate leaders
Right to vote to African Americans Educated or served in Union Army
Would force “equal rights” in Southern states
Some jumped in quick
Louisiana, Arkansas & Tennessee agreed in 1864
Lincoln’s congress refused to let it occur
Plan 2- Those Radical Republicans!
Thought Lincoln was too mild
Congress should decide the South’s fate
Refused to let the 10% plan work
The Wade-Davis Bill
July 186450% swear loyalty to UnionOnly males who never took arms
against the North could vote on new state congress & constitution
Former Confederates – no public officeNo slaveryLincoln refused to sign this into law
Freedmen’s Bureau-What was life like for African Americans
Helped African Americans freed from slaveryEstablished- March 1865 Food, clothes, medical servicesEstablished schoolsEstablished universities
Howard, Atlanta, Fisk
Helped them acquire landhttp://www.freedmensbureau.com/
Watch your back!
President Lincoln Assassinated 5 days after Civil War ended
Ford’s TheaterJohn Wilkes Booth“Your name is Mud”
Ford’s Theater
Lincoln Memorial
A New President
Vice President Andrew Johnson becomes President
Not quite as “gentle” as LincolnPunishment in orderNo desire to help African Americans
Johnson’s Plan
Restoration
Amnesty – swore an oath to the UnionHigh ranking officials had to do it
personallyAppointed governorsOnly pardoned, whites could voteNo equal rights for blacks, no votingLeft it up to individual states to “manage
their freed people”
No slaveryDenounce secessionRatify the 13th Amendment
Abolished slavery
End of 1865 most of the South was “restored”
Whose Plan Was Right?
There were 3 plans
10% PlanWade Davis PlanThe “Restoration”
Divide yourselves into 3 equal groupsWhat are the characteristics of each
plan?Defend your plan and the correct one
South “Restored” but not settled
Struggle in Washington D.C.Congress did not want to readmit southern
states on Johnson’s terms felt it robbed the Union of it’s victory treatment of African Americans not improving
Ku Klux Klan emerged terrorized African Americans in the South– burning
houses, churches, schools, rioting and murder
Black Codes
passed by southern states
aim to control freed men, women children
enable plantation owners to exploit them as workers
reincarnation of the “slave codes”
Examples of the Code– Slavery in Disguise
could be arrested for not having a jobforced to work for plantation owner to
pay off the finesome laws refused to let them own or
rent farmsorphaned babies were taken as unpaid
apprentices
Civil Rights Act of 1866-passed by Congress
full citizenship to African Americans
Federal government could intervene in state affairs
overturned black codes contradicted the Dred
Scott Case– African Americans were not citizens
President Johnson says no way!Vetoes both the
Freedmen’s Bureau Bill and Civil Rights Amendment
did not represent ALL states
Congress had enough votes to override
Rift between Congress and President grew
14th Amendment of 1866Congress passed to
ensure Civil Rights Act did not get overturned
Full citizenship to anyone born in the USA
No state could take away ones life, liberty or property without “due process”
all had “equal protection” of the laws
voting was granted only for men white men
Southern states had to ratify it to gain entry to the Union
Only Tennessee ratified itdelayed adoption of amendment until
1868
New Players in Congress
Election time for CongressJohnson rallied for rejection of
Amendment from North and Southcampaigned against the RepublicansRepublicans gained control of congresscreated their own “reconstruction plan”
Radical Reconstruction
Congress was in control could override any veto that
Johnson issued 10 remaining states that did not
accept 14th amendment divided into 5 districts under authority of a military
commander
African American males allowed to vote
former Confederate leaders could not hold office
How to get back in…ratify the 14th amendmentsubmit new constitutions for
approval
2nd Reconstruction Act– registered new voters and prepared states for new state constitutional conventions
Johnson and Congress Spar
Congress passed laws to limit the powers of the president Tenure of Office Act
• didn’t allow the President to remove government officials without Senate approval
Johnson tests the act• suspends the Secretary of War without
approval• Appointed commanders to southern
districts that congress opposed
Impeach, Impeach, Impeach
House of Representatives vote to impeach
accused him of misconduct trial lasted 3 months both sides argued back and
forth saying it was just politically motivated
35-19 to convict. 1 vote short of 2/3rds majority
New Election, New President
1868 Gen. Ulysses S. Grant– Republican
Horatio Seymour– Democrat
Grant won; also received 500,000 African American votes in the South
15th Amendment– 1869
prohibited state and federal governments from denying the right to vote to any MALE citizen because of race, color or previous condition of servitude
The South During Reconstruction
3 groups in the South African Americans white Southerners– supported Republicans white settlers from the North
Group 1– African Americans
important in politics population– helped with Republican victories held some positions in political office at state level national level had more
• Hiram Revels– senator• Blanche K Bruce
– former runaway slave
– established a school for African Americans
– became superintendent of schools in MS
– senator in US senate
Scalawags and Carpetbaggers
Not everyone got on the same page
Some southerners didn’t want to secede
agreed with Republicans of the North non-slave holding
farmers businessmen
Called Scalawags
Northerners moved South to make a new life called–
Carpetbaggers doctors, lawyers,
teachers, former Union soldiers
Resistance to Reconstruction
Some white Southerners could not let go of old ways wouldn’t let ex-slaves
leave refused to rent land to
ex-slaves stores refused to grant
credit employers would not hire
them used fear to keep them in
line
Ku Klux Klan
formed in 1866wore white sheets and hoods“midnight rides”Jackson county FL– 150 in 3 yearskeep from voting
Hate Crimes
Some Improvements
Education whites and African
Americans created their own schools Freedmen’s bureau
helped teachers from North
came South by 1870 50% white kids
and 40% African Americans in public school; segregated
Sharecropping rented land; crude
shack seeds, tools, mule % of crop back to
landowner not much left in the
end not much better than
slavery
End of Reconstruction
Both sides growing weary; ready to move on
wanted “reconciliation”Amnesty act– 1872 pardoned most
Confederates vote and hold office changed the political balance– Democrats
Democrats take control
easily took control in white statesKu Klux Klan helped gain democratic
control in heavily African American populated states
Republicans had their own problems
scandalstop government officials
unfair business deals accepting bribes threatening to withhold tax money vice-president; secretary of war democrats won control of the house
Getting out while the getting is good…
1876 electionGrant does not run for another termRutherford B. Hayes (R) vs. Samuel Tilden
(D) Tight election
1 electoral vote (20 disputed votes) commission– 7 from each party; 1 independent Hayes wins
Compromise of 1877
deal made to settle election dispute democrats wanted to
fight the verdict• more aid to the region• withdraw troops from
Southern states• Democrats will
maintain African/American rights
Hayes: no friend to the African American
“…your rights and interests would be safer if this great mass of intelligent white men were left alone by the general government”
states would deal with the “African American” issue alone.
Reconstruction was over
More changes in the South; not all good
Democrats in controlRedeemers
save the south from republican rule adopted conservative ways stopped many social programs
• schools lowered taxes less public spending
The South’s Economy
lags behind the nation industrialization slow
Rise of “New South” Henry Grady led the
cause coal, iron, tobacco,
cotton, lumber rise of textile mills;
Northern companies moved south
James Duke developed the tobacco manufacturing
industry grew (not as fast as North)workers worked hard, long hourscheap wageskids tooRR boom
A divided society
15th Amendment allowed African Americans the right to vote
Southern states looked for loop holes
poll tax– had to pay before you could vote
literacy test– read & explain constitution
grandfather clause– if father or grandfather voted before Reconstruction; didn’t have to pass literacy test
African American voting declined
Ending thoughts
Some good things occurred
Some not so good for the African American
“The slave went free, stood a brief moment in the sun then moved back again toward slavery.” W.E.B. Du Bois
Jim Crow Laws
1890’s– segregation was prominent
Laws required separation in most public places
Plessy vs. Ferguson separate section on train access to public facilities
= to whites kept segregation in south
for 50 years were really not equal