The Reconstruction Era

1. The Reconstruction Era

2. 1. Reunite the former Confederate states with the Union 2. Redefine the rights and status of blacks 3. Literally rebuild the South’s economy Goals of Reconstruction

3. Lenient • 10% Plan – 10 % of 1860 voting pop. agreed • Don’t punish entire state for actions of a few leaders • Pardon high rank Confed. leaders • Form a new state gov. and constitution Lincoln’s Plan

4. Johnson • Southern Democrat • Former slave Owner • Pro – South • Anti civil rights • Empty promises President Andrew Johnson Why was he Lincoln’s V.P.?

5. Abolish slavery • 13th Amendment • Declare secession illegal • Swear allegiance to Union • Pardon all southerners • Punish Confed. leaders • Confed. leaders could hold office Johnson’s Plan • New state gov’t & const.

6. Passed by Radical Republicans Requirements • 50% of state voters agree • Divide South into Military districts • Ratify 14th & 15th amend. • Disenfranchisement for Confed. leaders • Freedmen’s Bureau • New state gov. & constitution Congressional Plan • MorePunishment • for the South

8. Amendments: • 13th - official abolished slavery > made emancipation legal • 14th - declared that all native born or naturalized persons were citizens and had the same rights as citizens > nullified the Supreme Courts decision on the Dred Scott case • 15th - no one could be denied the right to vote based on race, color, or previousservitude

9. “New” South Treatment & Progress for Blacks • Black codes passed in the South around 1865 > laws intended to stop the movement of equality for blacks > codes restored restrictions of slavery

10. Black Code Examples • Could not rent or lease farmland • Could not testify against whites • Could not start their own business • Could not carry a weapon • Could not serve on a jury • Could not marry a white Precursor to Jim Crow Laws -literacy test - poll tax - grandfather clause

11. Freedmen’s Bureau Act 1865 • Established by Congress • Assisted former slaves and poor whites in South • Distribute clothes, food set up hospitals, schools, and teacher-training centers * Greatest contribution - education

12. Sharecropping • Advantages - planters had land worked w/out paying workers - workers had a place to live • Drawbacks - No income until harvest - had to buy goods on credit - had to work out of poverty Endless Cycle

13. Civil Rights Act of 1866 • Forbid black codes tried to strengthen the Freedmen's Bureau • President Johnson vetoedthe bill > drove a wedge between himself and Congress • Congress overrode President Johnson's veto > 1st time Congress had done this

14. Johnson's Impeachment 1867: • Impeach - to charge Federal official with a crime • Radicals felt Johnson was always working against reconstruction & not carrying out constitutional duties. i.e. - removed military leaders who helped blacks - vetoed Freedmen Act & Civil Rights Act - violated the Tenure of Office Act

15. The Veto

16. Election of Grant 1868: • Southerners were very against • 15th amendment passed ~ due to fear of restrictions being placed on blacks for voting for Grant • KKK organized in reaction - southern democrats

17. African American Gains in Education • 80% over age 20 were illiterate • Public and private organizations set up education facilities • Hampton Institute (VA) - college for blacks • By 1877 - 600,000 enrolled in elementary schools

18. African American Gains in Politics • Held offices in local, state and federal positions • Many office holders were ministers and teachers • South had few blacks in office

19. End of Reconstruction: • Reconstruction ended after a close presidential race in 1876 > Democrat - Sam Tilden > Rep. - Rutherford Hayes • Close race was decided by 3 states > SC, LA, and FL - all still had military reconstruction gov'ts

20. Election Map, 1876

21. Compromise of 1877: • Southern Democrats would cast Republican electoral votes for Hayes IF…. Hayes would remove the last federal troops out of the South • Hayes agreed and removed military troops when he became President. • Officially ended Reconstruction

22. Jim Crow Laws • Enacted between 1876 and 1965 • State and local laws • Made segregation official • New generation in south more racist • Laws prevented equality for blacks i.e. Segregation in public places

23. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896): “Separate but Equal” • 30 yr old, Plessy (1/8th black jailed for sitting on a whites only railway car) - he sued claiming unconstitutional • Supreme Court ruled that segregation was legal as long as both races had access to equal facilities.

24. African American Response to Jim Crow • Booker T. Washington • Believed that African Americans should focus on economic independence • He believed that protesting against discrimination would just cause more hostilities • Founded Tuskegee Institute in 1861

25. Ida B. Wells • Focused on stopping lynching's • Used editorials to convince African Americans to move out of the South • W. E. B. DuBois - • Believed that African Americans should fight against discrimination • He strongly protested the Jim Crow laws • National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) – founded in 1909 by DuBois, Wells and other leaders