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Explore the 12-year period following the Civil War known as Reconstruction. Discover the challenges, political battles, and efforts to rebuild America after the abolition of slavery.
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Reconstruction refers to the 12 year period following the Civil War (1865-1877). • Congress passed the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery throughout the U.S. in January 1865. • It was not ratified by the states until December. • On January 16, 1865, General William T. Sherman issued Special Field Order No. 15. • Sherman’s army confiscated plantations outside of Charleston, South Carolina. http://www.travelhero.com/commonImages/destinations/appomattox1.jpg http://www.classbrain.com/artteenst/uploads/13th-amendment.jpg http://www.wildwestweb.net/cwleaders/William%20Tecumseh%20Sherman.jpg
Abraham Lincoln expected the president to control Reconstruction. • Lincoln suggested giving former Confederates amnesty, or a pardon, when they: 1) Promised their loyalty to the Union. 2) Pledged to support the Constitution. 3) Accepted the end of slavery. http://www.civil-war-token.com/images/President-Abraham-Lincoln.jpg http://extlab1.entnem.ufl.edu/olustee/pics/parole2.jpg http://www.american-partisan.com/images/various/constitution.gif
Under Lincoln’s plan, when 10 percent of a state’s voters promised loyalty, a new government could be elected. • Then state voters would have to approve the 13th Amendment. • Only then would the state be re-admitted to the Union. • Under this Ten Percent Plan, southern states were not forced to give equal rights to African-Americans. http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1865/capture-columbia-south-carolina.htm http://www.pbs.org/civilwar/war/map1.html# http://www.aaregistry.com/eimage/13thAmendmentStatue.gif
On April 14, 1865, Lincoln was shot while watching a play at Ford’s Theater in Washington. • His assassin, John Wilkes Booth, was an actor and a southern sympathizer. • Booth escaped, but was shot and killed several days later. • Following Lincoln’s death on April 15, Republicans in Congress moved to control Reconstruction. http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1865/April/booth-killing-lincoln.htm http://www.nps.gov/foth/fordthre.gif
Radical Republicans in Congress wanted to punish former Confederate leaders. • They wanted to make sure former slaves gained equal rights. • The Radicals’ plan to reunite the nation was the Wade-Davis Bill. • This plan required a majority of a state’s citizens (not just 10%) pledge to support the Constitution. • Citizens also had to swear they never voluntarily supported the Confederacy. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b8/Benjamin_f_wade_drawing.png http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/dtroy/project/art/metcalf2/images/upperleft.gif http://lfa.atu.edu/ssphil/people/ssjw/us2h/rads.gif
In March 1865, Congress established the Freedman’s Bureau, which helped former slaves find jobs that paid fair wages. • It also set up courts to ensure justice for African Americans. • Over 4,300 schools were created for 250,000 children and adults. • The first colleges for African Americans were established, including Howard University in Washington, DC. http://i.timeinc.net/TFK/media/specials/graphics/010201_bhm2/timeline/large3.jpg http://subvatican.com/tcc/reconstruction.html http://www.elon.edu/history/images/HowardU1900L.jp
President Andrew Johnson, a Democrat, angered congressional Republicans by adopting a plan closer to Lincoln’s. • Johnson restored property and political rights to most former Confederate leaders, allowing many to return to power. http://www.generalsandbrevets.com/ngj/johnsona.htm http://14thamendment.harpweek.com/asp/ViewEntryImage.asp?page=0&imageSize=m http://14thamendment.harpweek.com/asp/ViewEntryImage.asp?page=0&imageSize=m
Under Johnson, southern state governments found ways to limit the rights of former slaves. • Under laws known as black codes, African Americans were not allowed to: 1) Vote, 2) Hold certain jobs, 3) Carry weapons, 4) Serve on juries, or 5) Own or lease farms. http://www.andrewjohnson.com/ListOfCartoons/KickingFreedmensBureau.htm http://www.etsu.edu/cas/history/resources/StudentTo1877/SChapter15.htm http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/sespics/34004.jpg
After the war, former slaves and poor whites couldn’t afford their own land. • Instead, they worked land owned by white landowners and gave them a part of their harvest. • This arrangement was called sharecropping. • Former slaves soon found themselves in debt to their former masters. http://www.godelfineart.com/images/thumbs/Darley_Sharecroppers-Supper.jpg http://web.gc.cuny.edu/ashp/toer/images/toer-page10-2.jpg http://mshistory.k12.ms.us/features/feature50/images/mar4_L.jpg
Outraged by black codes, Republicans in Congress decided to take further control of Reconstruction. • The Civil Rights Act of 1866 granted citizenship to all people born in the United States (except Native Americans). • Anyone attempting to deny people their rights faced a $1,000 fine or a year in jail. • Johnson vetoed the bill. • Republicans in Congress overrode his veto. http://www.columbia.edu/itc/law/witt/raw_images/lect17/08_civil_rights_act_1866.jpg http://www.nd.edu/~learning/Irving/Main_graphics/man.gif http://www.landmarkcases.org/dredscott/images/dred_portrait.gif http://www.schoolhousevideo.org/media/MRcartoon.jpg
In June 1866, Congress passed the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. • It said that anyone born in the U.S. was a citizen. • States that tried to take away citizens’ rights would lose congressional representation. • It also banned former Confederate leaders from public office. • It would not be ratified by the states until July 1868. http://14thamendment.harpweek.com/
Congress said that any state wishing to rejoin the Union had to ratify the 14th Amendment. • Johnson discouraged states from ratifying the amendment. • Out of 11 former Confederate states, only Johnson’s home state of Tennessee ratified it in 1866. • Voters voted solidly for Republicans in the 1866 Congressional elections. http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/scripts/jimcrow/gallery.cgi?collection=crow http://www.andrewjohnson.com/ListOfCartoons/AndysTrip.htm
Under the Reconstruction Act (1867), states refusing to ratify the 14th Amendment were placed under military rule. • Pre-1867 Southern state governments were declared illegal. • Freed slaves and whites who supported Republicans were registered to vote. • Former Confederate leaders and their supporters were not allowed to vote. http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/sespics/71853.jpg http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/scripts/jimcrow/gallery.cgi?collection=crow http://www.christers.net/veeps/alexander-stephens.jpg
The Tenure of Office Act of 1867 further reduced President Johnson’s power. • This law made it illegal for him to fire Cabinet members without Senate approval. • When Johnson fired Secretary of War Edwin Stanton in February 1868, the House voted to impeach the president. • Johnson was tried in the Senate for breaking the Tenure of Office Act. http://www.andrewjohnson.com
The Senate fell one vote short of the two-third majority necessary to remove Johnson from office. • In 1868, Republicans nominated Ulysses S. Grant, who easily won the presidency. • Grant would be re-elected in 1872. • He used martial law to deal with severe disorder in the South. • It soon became clear that Reconstruction was losing support among the American people. http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/5600/5678/johnson_impeachment_1_lg.gif http://www.americaslibrary.gov/assets/jb/nation/jb_nation_grant_1_e.jpg
New state constitutions were written to support voting rights for African American men. • Then voters had to approve their new state constitution and the 14th Amendment. • By the end of 1870, all southern states had been readmitted to the Union. • Northerners who had moved to the South were soon in charge of most state governments. http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MAP/TERRITORY/1870map.html http://www.whoseflorida.com/wfl-images/ocarpeb001p1.jpg http://lsm.crt.state.la.us/cabildo/cab11.htm
Southerners disliked these carpetbaggers, who they felt were using government jobs to get rich. • White southerners who sided with Republicans were called scalawags – a term used to describe a worthless farm animal. • African Americans were elected to public office. • Hiram Revels of Mississippi became the first African American senator. http://lfa.atu.edu/ssphil/people/ssjw/us2h/bp.htm http://score.rims.k12.ca.us/score_lessons/reconstruction_of_the_south/media/carpetbagger.gif http://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bild:Jefferson_Davis.jpg
New state governments in the South made many changes. • New tax laws required wealthy plantation owners to pay a larger share. • Property qualifications for voting and holding office were eliminated. • Women were allowed to own property. • The black codes were eliminated. http://images.encarta.msn.com/xrefmedia/sharemed/targets/images/pho/00045/00045453.jpg http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/southern-belle-civil-war.jpg http://lsm.crt.state.la.us/mjohns/mj09.jpg
African Americans opened their own churches – which became centers of community life. • Black couples could also now be legally married. • The Ku Klux Klan was formed by Confederate veterans in 1866. • This secret society terrorized African Americans to discourage them from voting. • The KKK also targeted carpetbaggers. http://www.columbia.edu/itc/law/witt/raw_images/lect17/07_marriage.jpg http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/scripts/jimcrow/gallery.cgi?term=&collection=crow&index=6 http://battleofsac.com/images/forrest.jpg http://www.historyteacher.net/AHAP/images/KKK.JPG
Congress passed the 15th Amendment in February 1869; it was ratified by the states in 1870. • It stated that the right to vote could not be denied based on race or the fact that the person had been a slave. • As the popularity of Reconstruction faded, southern governments found ways around this guarantee. http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Workshop/4275/Organizing.jpg http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/ecp/45/00028/html/15thamd.jpg
Some southern states denied the right to vote to people who could not read or write. • In many places, people who wanted to vote were required to pay money, called a poll tax. • Few African Americans could meet either of these requirements. • Grandfather clauses allowed voters whose grandfather or father were eligible to vote in 1867 to be excluded from literacy tests. http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/speccoll/dspolitic/pm/1942/21012cs.jpg http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com
The goal of many southern states became segregation, the separation of the races. • Jim Crow laws enforced segregation in schools, restaurants, railroad cars and other public places. • The Supreme Court – in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) – ruled that segregation was legal so long as facilities for blacks and whites were equal. http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/1-segregated/images/jim-crow-songbook.jpg http://us.history.wisc.edu/hist102/weblect/lec02/plessy2.jpg http://conlaw.usatoday.findlaw.com/supreme_court/landmark/landmarkimages/plessy2.gif http://www.evergreen.edu/events/brownvboard/images/brown_ap.jpg
In the 1876 presidential election, Democrat Samuel Tilden easily won the popular vote. • However, he was one vote short of a majority over Republican Rutherford B. Hayes in the electoral college. • The 20 electoral votes from South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana were disputed. • Congress created a special group to review the election results. http://www.international.ucla.edu/cms/images/1876_election-web.jpg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_J._Tilden http://www.americaslibrary.gov/assets/jb/nation/jb_nation_hayes_1_e.jpg
Four months later, the commission awarded the disputed votes to Hayes, who won 185-184. • In what became known as the Compromise of 1877, remaining federal troops in the South would be removed. • White Democrats quickly regained control of their states and reintroduced the black codes. • Reconstruction was over. http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Image:ElectoralCollege1876_Large.png http://elections.harpweek.com/09Ver2Controversy/cartoons-list.asp?year=1876