What were the Social & Economic Reconstruction Programs?

1. What were the Social & Economic Reconstruction Programs? U. S. History & Government 11th Grade Br. Siraj / December 20, 2019

2. Post War Economic Reconstruction • By 1870 all southern states reentered the union under congressional reconstruction plan. • Republican dominated southern governments were formed • Congress adopted economic programs.

3. Physical and economic reform • South was devastated • Roads, bridges, railways, buildings, etc. were destroyed. • Farms were abandoned • Property value plummeted • Per capita income dropped drastically • More than one fifth of the adult white males died • Tens of thousands of African-American men also died.

4. Public Works Programs of New Republican Governments • Government built: • Roads, bridges, and railroads • Established orphanages and institutions for the mentally ill and disabled • Created a public school system • Problems of the projects: • Government size was bigger • A large fund was required • Taxes were increased causing further problems.

5. Politics During Reconstruction • Different groups within Republican Party had conflicting interest • Scalawags: White southerners who joined the republican party were so called by the Democrats. • Used African-American support to gain offices and made personal gains after that. • Some thought Republican government will industrialize the South • Majority were small farmers who wanted to make their position better and prevent the former plantation owners from gaining political power.

6. Carpetbaggers: Northerners who arrived to the South after the war • Some were freedmen’s bureau’s agents, teachers and ministers who wanted to help the former slaves • Some wanted to buy land and start industries legally. • Others were dishonest business people • African American Voters • 15th Amendment gave voting rights to African Americans – Republican Supporters • 95 percent of them voted in elections • Hiram Revels became the first African American senator.

7. Politics During Reconstruction • Problems of Republican Party • Very few scalawags supported republican goal of civil rights and suffrage for African Americans; over time they rejoined Democratic Party • Some Governors started to appoint white Democrats to office to gain White support • Southern Whites resisted the idea of equality • Southerners also resented to dominance of the northerners in their midst.

8. Challenges faced by the African Americans • Testing Newly won freedom: • Venturing outside without jobs, tools, money and few skills was extremely difficult • They moved away wherever they liked. • Reunification of Families • Education • Forming religious institutions • Participating in Politics • Hiram Revels became the first African-American Senator • Segregation

9. Changes in Southern Economy • Blacks needed land and resources • Sherman promised a mule and 40 acres of land • Some African Americans demanded right to plantation land • Restoration of plantation became difficult • Sharecropping and tenant farming became common. • Cotton was no longer the “king”

10. Homework • Questions 1, 2, & 3 on page 392