Reconstruction (1865-1877)

1. Reconstruction (1865-1877)

2. Post- Civil War • Issues in America: • 4.5 mill newly freed blacks • Un-educated • No money • Without Property • Limited Opportunities • Southern economy destroyed • Railways, farms, industry lie in ruin

3. Key Questions 1. How do webring the Southback into the Union? 4. What branchof governmentshould controlthe process ofReconstruction? 2. How do we rebuild the South after itsdestruction during the war? 3. How do weintegrate andprotect newly-emancipatedblack freedmen?

4. President Lincoln’s Plan • 10% Plan • Wanted peaceful and lenient policy (forgiveness) • People rebelled not states- he can pardon people. • Would pardon anyone who declared oath to Union • When 10% of the voting population in the 1860 election had taken an Oath of Allegiance and established a government, it would be recognized. • He didn’t consult Congress regarding Reconstruction.

5. Republican Opposition • Radical Republicans • Thought the South should be punished • Blacks should have full citizenship • Led by Charles Sumner & Thaddeus Stevens

6. Wade-Davis Bill (1864) • Required 50% of the number of 1860 voters to take an “iron clad” oath of allegiance. • Required a state constitutional convention before the election of state officials. • Enacted specific safeguards of freedmen’s liberties. • Basically- CONGRESS controls reconstruction SenatorBenjaminWade(R-OH) CongressmanHenryW. Davis(R-MD)

7. Jeff Davis Under Arrest

8. Freedmen’s Bureau (1865) • Gave clothing and food to former slaves and poor southern whites. • Set up hospitals, schools, industry, etc. • Northern Abolitionists traveled south • Called “carpetbaggers” by white southern Democrats.

9. Freedmen’s Bureau Seen Through Southern Eyes Plenty to eat and nothing to do.

10. Freedmen’s Bureau School