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Reconstruction. What it was like in the South…. Civil War 1861-1865. Fought between the United States and the Confederate States of America Caused primarily by Sates ’ R ights and slavery in the Southern states and The United States defeated the Confederate States of America.
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Reconstruction What it was like in the South…
Fought between the United States and the Confederate States of America • Caused primarily by Sates’ Rights and slavery in the Southern states and • The United States defeated the Confederate States of America The Civil War, 1861-1865
How to rebuild the South? • How to bring Southern states back to the United States? • How to bring former slaves into the United States as free people? Major questions following the Civil War
Led by Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner • Abolitionists before the war • Critical of Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan • Determined to reform the country based on equal rights • Civil Rights Act of 1866 • “equal benefits of all laws enjoyed by white citizens” • Tried to extend the freedmen’s bureau Radical Republicans
In order to rejoin the Union What really happened Radical Republicans insisted Southern states must grant freedmen the right to vote Johnson denied this idea Would have an fierce battle for the election of 1866 Radical Republicans and congress would eventually take over Reconstruction • Southern state could rejoin the union once it had written a new state constitution. • Elected a new state Government • Repealed its act of secession • Canceled war debts • And ratified the 13th Amendment Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan
1867 Reconstruction Plan Election boards in each state would register male voters both black and white Only those who supported the Union Men who supported the confederacy where not allowed to vote Voters elected people to write new state constitution Voters elected state legislatures which were required to ratify the 14th Amendment • Reconstruction acts • Acts outline how the process for states to become part of union again • South is divided into 5 military districts • Each controlled by federal troops Congress and Reconstruction
13th Amendment • Abolished all forms slavery in the USA forever • 14th Amendment • Grants citizenship to all former slaves • Right to due process • Equal protection under the law • 15th Amendment • “The right of citizens … to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the US or by any state on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude” Three Big Amendments
Newly registered cast first ballots in 1868 • Freedmen and poor farmers 1st time voting • Most became Republicans • Scary time to be a voter • Threatened for voting • Grant vs. Seymour • White Southerners • Poor famers get the vote • Confederate supporters can’t vote • Southern Democrats • Loose badly, out numbered badly Voting and 1868
Voters choose delegates • ¼ of delegates are African Americans who are elected • Banned racial discrimination and guaranteed the vote for African Americans • 1/5 of elected officials Republicans and Freedmen • At first supported taxes on public schools • Most schools were segregated even though that was against the law Southern State Governments
New Government wanted to increase the economy • Unfortunately $ that was suppose to go to roads and rebuilding fell into corrupt hands • Industry and trade led to the rebirth of some southern cities most of the South still remained dependent on agriculture Rebuilding
Planters (owners of the land) divided their property into small plots that they rented to workers (tenant framers) who would grow crops on that land. • Some cases tenant farmers would pay a share of their crop as rent instead of cash Tenant Farmers
Looked promising to both blacks and whites • Hope was to work hard enough to earn enough money to eventually buy their own land • Led instead to a life of debt • Borrow money from land owner to buy the food, tools, and supplies they needed • Never made enough money to ever pay back their debt Share Cropping
Good Bad Black Codes Restricts blacks freedom opportunities Spell out rights Ensures a workforce Maintains social order End of Reconstruction Democrats regain the south Poll taxes, literacy tests Jim Crow Laws Segregated black from whites “Separate but equal” • Travel • Right to get married • Pursue what use to be denied to them • Education, reading, jobs, moving, land, politics • Freedmen’s Bureau • Assists former salves and poor whites living in the South • Food, clothing, education and medical care • Republicans and Politics • Tuskegee Institute -1st black College Life in the South for Blacks
Ku Klux Klan White Southern Democrats New Government illegal because so many confederate supporters couldn’t vote or run for office Raising taxes to pay for schools and other improvements Lost land because of taxes Didn’t accept the idea that slaves were free • Created by white supremacists • “opposed to negro equality, both social and political” • Terrorized blacks and white republicans • Included burning of school, attacks on the Freedmen’s Bureau, murder, lynching, etc. Resistance in the South
Southern states become more democratic • Gains that blacks made in years passed become limited • Northern states and people lose interest • Jim Crow laws • Segregation in the South • Tuskegee Institute • Amnesty- pardon of former Confederates • Lynching's KKK • Plessey v. Ferguson Reconstruction Ends 1877