Reconstruction

1. Reconstruction

2. Reconstruction • In what ways did the nation need to be “reconstructed” following the Civil War?

3. Presidential Memo With your partners, prepare a memo for President Johnson that addresses: What issues remain? Attitudes, prejudices? What problems does the nation face in rebuilding? How would you ease tensions between the North and the South? How would you help freed African Americans?

4. Do Now • Take out Reconstruction hw from last Friday and turn in poem or essay • In watching the Halloween video: • What are the origins of Halloween? • How did Halloween become the holiday we know today? • No homework tonight, Happy Halloween • Debate on Thursday, Open note in-class essay on Friday on Reconstruction

5. Reconstruction • Physical: infrastructure (farms, factories, railroads, ports) • Psychological: wounds of war, regional hatred, individual loss • Racial: equal rights for African-Americans (men, suffrage) • Political: the Confederate states had left the United States, would need to be readmitted

6. Reconstruction • Process by which the federal government readmitted Confederate states to the Union • Lasted from 1865-77 • Following Lincoln’s assassination, Johnson became president, advocated moderate program for South

7. Freedman’s Bureau Federal agency established by President Johnson to assist African Americans Set up schools and hospitals Distributed clothes, food, and fuel throughout the South

8. Harper's Weekly demonstrates an idealized view of the role of Freedmen's Bureau in the South during the aftermath of the Civil War.

10. Black Codes As Southern states set up new governments, some refused to ratify the 13th Amendment Black codes limited freedom of former slaves written proof of employment, or could be put to work on plantation Forbidden to meet in unsupervised groups, carry guns Northerners feared return of “Old South”

12. Reconstruction • Johnson offered to pardon most white Southerners in return for a pledge of loyalty to the U.S. • New state governments required to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment prohibiting slavery • Many Southern states actively fought this, sought ways to limit African American rights • Some states refused to ratify amendment

13. Civil Rights • Radical Republicans wanted to force civil rights upon the South • Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 • Declared all persons born in the U.S. (except Native Americans) were citizens and entitled to equal rights • Johnson vetoed the bill, feared centralization of national gov’t, hurt “white race”; Congress overrode veto

14. This 1867 sketch by Alfred R. Waud depicts blacks voting freely in the first open elections in the South. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 had mandated these rights.

15. Civil Rights • Johnson refused to pass this constitutional amendment, approved by only one former Confederate state • Angered Republicans pass the Reconstruction Acts of 1867, begins Radical Reconstruction • South divided into 5 military districts, Confederate leaders could no longer vote

16. Fourteenth Amendment All people born in U.S. were citizens and had same rights, “equal protection of the laws” Did not establish black suffrage, states not granting blacks the vote would lose representation in Congress Johnson and every Confederate state except Tennessee refused Angered Radical Republicans

17. Radical Reconstruction • To reenter Union, states had to pass new state constitutions giving the vote to all adult men • Also had to ratify the amendment to extend citizenship to African Americans (remember Dred Scott) • Becomes Fourteenth Amendment (1868)

18. New State Conventions • Delegates chosen by Southern voters in 1867 • ¾ of delegates are Republicans, half of them poor white farmers (scalawags) • Other ¼ of Republicans carpetbaggers, white Northerners who came South after the war, despised by many in the South as opportunists • African Americans made up rest of Republican delegates

19. Johnson and Impeachment • President Johnson fought most of the Radical Republican reform efforts • Congress passes the Tenure of Office Act (1867), prohibited president from firing government officials without Senate approval • February 1868, Johnson fired his secretary of war without Senate approval • House of Representatives voted to impeach him (formally accuse of improper conduct) • Moved to Senate for trial, acquitted by one vote

21. Responding to Freedom Without need for passes, many African Americans travel Return to birthplaces, search for family Strengthens families: can marry legally, raise children without fear they would be sold Founded own independent churches, often branches of Baptist and Methodist; church leaders community leaders

22. Freedmen’s Schools Established to educate newly freed African Americans Started by Freedmen’s Bureau, Northern missionary groups, and African American organizations By 1869, more than 150,000 attending 3,000 schools Resisted by whites, some schools burned, teachers murdered

24. Black Colleges Howard University (1867) Black colleges offered courses from basic reading and writing to medicine and law Trained teachers

25. 40 Acres and a Mule Freed people wanted to own land At end of war, General Sherman suggested abandoned land in S.C. be given out in 40 acre lots Few ever received it, some had to return it Radical Republicans pushed to make land reform part of Reconstruction Acts of 1867, did not pass Congress

26. The Contract System Advantages: could choose where to work, more rights than slavery, families not split up Disadvantages: very low wages, could not leave plantation without permission, many cheated out of wages Laws punished workers for breaking contracts even if they were cheated or abused

27. Sharecropping & Debt Worker rented plot of land to farm Landowner provided tools, seed, housing Sharecropper gave landowner share of crop Sharecroppers wanted to grow food, owners forced cash crops; then had to buy food at store owned by whites debt

28. Do Now What were the goals of the Ku Klux Klan? What gains in education were made by African Americans during Reconstruction?

30. The Ku Klux Klan Targeted landowners, prosperous Horseback, white robes, hoods Beatings, burned homes Lynch: hung on spot without trial as punishment for supposed crime Victims without much protection, often ignored by military authorities (many appointed by President Johnson) Gun-toting Klansmen kept Republicans away from polls, increased Democratic power

34. President Grant • Elected 1868 • Fifteenth Amendment (1870) – citizens should not be stopped from voting “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude” • Grant won a second term, but support declined due to scandals in his administration • Depression of five years begins in 1873, takes focus away from Reconstruction

35. Grant Fights the Klan Urged Congress to pass tought anti-Klan bill Federal marshals arrested thousands of Klansmen, Klan attacks declined 1872 presidential election fair and peaceful in South, Grant wins second term

36. Scandal & Panic Weaken Republicans Many unqualified and corrupt officials appointed by Grant Some Republicans break away to form Liberal Democratic Party, party not unified Powerful Eastern banks fail, Panic of 1873 Stock market collapse, depression, unemployment, railroad industry suffered, farmers ruined Democrats win elections in 1874, Americans tired of Reconstruction

37. Supreme Court Reversals U.S. v. Cruikshank, Court ruled that federal government could not punish individuals who violated civil rights of African Americans, only states could Southern states would not punish, violence rose U.S. v. Reese, Court ruled in favor of white Southerners who barred African Americans from voting (15th Amendment to not ensure right to vote), poll taxes, literacy tests

38. Reconstruction Ends 1876 presidential election very close, commission decides Compromise of 1877, Hayes becomes president; Republicans compromise with Democrats Removal of federal troops from South Land grants & loans for construction of railroads from South to West Federal funds for construction & improvement Hayes would appoint a Democrat to his cabinet Democrats promised to respect African American rights

39. Legacy of Reconstruction Nation did rebuild and unite Did not achieve equality for African Americans Many still lived in poverty Legally, could vote and hold public office, but few do, facing prejudice and violence Protection of civil rights in Constitution, set stage for 20th c.; black schools and churches

40. Reconstruction: Second Civil War Sharecropping John Lynch War of Terror