Reconstruction

1. Reconstruction American Cultures

2. The Effect that the Civil War had on Southern Life • Farm Life Destroyed • Low crop harvests • farm animals killed • Thousands of farmers killed • City Life Destroyed • Cities in ruins • disabled railroads • banks failed • merchants were bankrupt

3. The Effect the Civil War had on Southern Life • The Southern People • Massive starvation • The currency was worthless • Slaves needed jobs and food • Poor white farmers lost their jobs to freed slaves • Plantation owners had to sell their land to cover their debt

4. Different Approaches to Reconstructing the south • Lincoln’s 10% plan • Jefferson’s Presidential Reconstruction Plan • Radical Republicans’ Wade Davis Bill

5. Lincoln’s 10% Plan • Any southerner who pledged loyalty to the Union and accepted slavery as evil was granted a pardon • Pardon = forgiveness (I beg your pardon) • No pardons were granted to Confederates who killed African American war prisoners or high ranking generals and government officials

6. Lincoln’s 10% Plan • After 10% of a southern state pledged their oath of loyalty • They create a new state constitution that includes the 13th Amendment (abolishment of slavery) • Hold elections • And join back into the Union • Lincoln did not require blacks the right to vote

7. Criticism of Lincoln’s Plan • The republicans thought it wasn’t harsh enough punishment • Why should only 10% of population be needed to swear an oath of loyalty? • Lincoln wanted a plan that would get the country back together the fastest

8. The South’s reaction to 13th Amendment • (13th Amendment allows for slavery in the case of punishment for breaking a law) • Black Codes • Ridiculous laws that are impossible to follow that allow whites to put freed slaves back into slavery • Ex: “No hanging out at night, but you can hang out together during the day if the cops allow” • Ex: “Aren’t aloud to sell anything without permission from the cops”

9. The South’s reaction to 13th Amendment • Sharecropping • You “share” your “crops” with the owner of the land • This way you have a place to stay and you can keep any extra money you make • The ex-slave would sign a contract to work the land of the owner • It was a perpetual cycle of debt for the ex-slave, and would be forced to work the land year after year to pay the debt off (slavery!)

10. Lincoln is killed at Ford’s Theater

11. President Johnson’s Presidential Reconstruction Plan • Considered by congress too forgiving, as well • Granted amnesty to any southerner who pledged an oath of loyalty to the Union • High ranking southern army and government officials had to beg for a pardon personally • He granted every single personal pardon

12. President Johnson’s Presidential Reconstruction Plan • No percentage requirement to begin forming a new government • New government had to include 13th Amendment • Returned all property (except slaves) to southern land owners who received amnesty • Amnesty = pardon which has been granted • Everyone but Texas joined the Union under this plan by 1865

13. A Drastic Change in Plans • Both Lincoln and Johnson repeatedly vetoed the radical republicans’ demands for harsher punishment • Lincoln and Johnson thought they were asking for too much • They demanded equal rights for African Americans • In 1866, radical republicans controlled both houses of Congress after the congressional elections

14. Radical Republicans’ Plan – Wade Davis Bill • Military occupation – Congress divided south into 5 military districts to oversee Reconstruction Plan

15. Radical Republicans’ Plan – Wade Davis Bill • Majority of citizens (50% +) had to swear past and present loyalty to Union • Must swear they never took arms against the Union • New state government must abolish slavery

16. Radical Republicans’ Plan • Within this bill contained the Civil Rights Act • Citizenship to African Americans and equal protection under the law • In response to black codes • Creation of the Freedmen’s Bureau • Provided public schools for African Americans • Medical assistance • Helped freed slaves find jobs • In response to sharecropping • This was vetoed by President Johnson, but the veto was overrode by Congress

17. Radical Republicans Ratify 14th Amendment • 14th Amendment – • If you were born in the US, you are a US citizen • Equal Protection under the law for all citizens • The southern “black codes” are now illegal • Must treat all citizens equally under the law

18. The South’s Answer to the 14th Amendment • Jim Crow Laws • They create Jim Crow Laws • Racial segregation in all public facilities • The whites have their schools, and restaurants, etc. • The African Americans have theirs • Fair right? • WRONG! – the accommodations for African Americans were inferior to those of the whites

20. Radical Republicans pass the 15th Amendment • No citizen can be denied the right to vote based on race or ethnicity • African Americans began to dominate the new state governments because the whites refused to participate • Therefore, southern states became republican • Republicans were pro African American rights

21. Southern Response to 15th Amendment • Poll Tax (have to pay money to vote) • Literacy Test (have to read to vote) • Grandfather Clause (if you could vote before the Civil War, but you can’t read or pay the tax, you can vote) • All of these did not deny the right to vote based on race • KKK • Voter intimidation (extremely effective)

22. The Ugly Side of Reconstruction

23. Definition and Belief • A secret Christian terrorist organization whose mission was to slow the progress of African Americans during Reconstruction • White supremacy • The belief that white people are superior to people of color

24. Clan Raly

25. Still Active Today Their goal was to scare African Americans from voting after the 15th Amendment was ratified Voting numbers amongst southern African Americans drastically decreased White southerners reclaimed political power

26. Radical Republicans’ Plan • 13th Amendment – abolishment of slavery • Sharecropping and black codes • 14th Amendment – equal rights for all citizens • Jim Crow Laws • 15th Amendment – cannot be denied the right to vote based on race • Poll tax, literacy test, grandfather clause • The south had an answer for everything!