The Reconstruction Period

1. The Reconstruction Period 1865-1877

2. Important Questions • If preserving the Union was Lincoln’s war aim, then what will be his approach be to the peace? • Why does the radical, or extreme, approach to reconstruction not lend itself very well to healing the wounds of the Civil War? • What is to be done with the freed slaves?

3. Three Reconstruction Questions

4. 3 Reconstruction Questions • What conditions should be placed on the Southern States before they could be readmitted into the Union? • Should the President or Congress determine the conditions for Southern return into the Union? • What conditions should be granted to newly freed blacks and how should these rights be enforced?

5. Restoring the Union • Reconstruction: • period in American History between 1865 and 1877 when the South was brought back into the Union

6. Moderates Lincoln

7. The Moderates • led by President Lincoln, who believed the following: • the Southern states had never left the Union, since no state could legally secede • Reconstruction was the task of the President who has the sole power to pardon • the South should be treated kindly and fairly so that southern loyalty could be regained

8. Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan • all Southerners should be pardoned on taking an oath of allegiance to the Union • a state would be readmitted into the Union when 10% of voters took the oath of allegiance and agreed to all laws against slavery (13th Amendment) • high ranking Confederate leaders could not vote or hold political office

9. Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address • “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations”

10. “The war being at an end, the Southern states having laid down their arms and the questions at issue between them and the Northern states having been decided…

11. Ibelieve it to be the duty of everyone to unite in the restoration of the country and the reestablishment of peace and harmony”. General Robert E. Lee

13. Radicals Charles Sumner Thaddeus Stevens Benjamin Butler

14. Radical Republican Plan • led by Radical Republicans in Congress who believed: • slavery was a moral evil • the defeated South should be treated harshly • the Southern states were conquered provinces that should be dictated to by Congress • newly freed blacks should be protected when the war ended

15. Radical Republican Plan • the Radical Republicans proposed the following plan, which was defined in the Wade – Davis Bill: • Congress should determine how the Southern states would be allowed back into the Union • Southern states would come under military rule • Northern generals would serve as governors of the Southern states

16. Wade-DavisBill Senator Benjamin Wade Congressman Henry Davis

17. Radical Republican Plan • 51% of white voters would have to take loyalty oaths • loyalty oaths would be given to anyone who had supported the Confederacy • slavery would be immediately abolished

18. “The future condition of the conquered power depends on the will of the conqueror”. Thaddeus Stevens Radical Republican

19. “There is no government in the rebel states save the authorityof Congress”. Henry Winter Davis Radical Republican

20. 13th Amendment • abolished slavery throughout the nation: • supported by Lincoln • felt Constitution did not give him legal power to end slavery in the border states

21. 13thAmendment

22. Regroup • What did Lincoln say in his 2nd Inaugural Address that hinted at what his plan for Reconstruction would be? • What was Lincoln’s 10% Plan? • What was the Radical Plan for Reconstruction? • What was the Wade-Davis Bill? • What was the 13th Amendment?

24. Appomattox 1865

26. The Lincoln Assassination

27. Lincoln Assassination • April 14, 1865- Lincoln assassinated • succeeded by Vice President Andrew Johnson • Johnson promised to follow Lincoln’s moderate reconstruction program • Johnson’s plan more lenient than Lincoln’s

28. Ford's Theater

29. John Wilkes Booth

32. "Sic Semper Tyrannis"

36. “Now he belongs to the ages”. Edwin Stanton Secretary of War

38. President Abraham Lincoln

39. Radical Republican Congress

41. Washington and Lincoln“Secular” Saints

42. President Andrew Johnson

43. Johnson and ModerateReconstruction

44. Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan • Johnson proposed that any southern state would be readmitted into the Union if it did the following: • declared secession illegal • swore allegiance to the Union • promised not to pay any Confederate debts • ratified the 13th Amendment

45. Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan • most Southern states accepted President Johnson’s easy terms: • Johnson pardoned most ex-Confederate leaders • many ex-Confederate leaders returned to political office • black codes– passed throughout the South to deny civil rights to freed blacks

46. “Traitors must be punished and impoverished. Their social power must be destroyed. I say, as to the leaders, punishment. I say leniency, conciliation, and amnesty to the thousands whom they have misled and deceived”. President Andrew Johnson

47. BlackCodes

48. Black Codes • the following codes were passed by Southern states to restrict the freedoms and movement of the blacks: • blacks could not bear arms, serve on juries, hold public office • blacks had to obey vagrancy and curfew laws • unemployed blacks sentenced to apprenticeship under white employers • blacks could not marry whites

49. Black Codes • special passes required for blacks to leave employment • blacks could not own businesses or drink alcohol • black preachers could not preach without a license • black codes made freed blacks 2nd class citizens throughout the entire South: • still slaves in all but name • Radical Republicans opposed black codes

50. “The men of the North will convert the State of Mississippi into a frog pond before they will allow such laws to disgrace one foot of soil in which the bones of our soldiers sleep and over which the flag of freedom waves”. Chicago Tribune