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Reconstruction

Explore the era of America's Reconstruction after the Civil War, dynamics of power shifts, incorporation of freedmen, and implementation of empancipation policies. Delve into the challenges in the South, race relations, and the phases of reconstruction efforts.

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Reconstruction

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  1. Reconstruction America’s Second Civil War

  2. Themes of Reconstruction • Changing power allocation between Congress and the President • Changing relationship between the federal government and the states • Incorporation of freedmen into society

  3. Destruction of South • Problems in the South • Land in ruin • Labor shortage • 1/5 of white farmers dead • Freedman demanded shorter work days and demanded payment of wages • Children are now going to school • Women choose to stay home and domesticate • Sharecropping

  4. Implementation of Emancipation • “I believed that these people were content, happy, and attached to their masters….” – A.L. Taveau, S.C. rice planter • What did Freedmen do to establish their freedom and independence?

  5. Race Relations • Southerners were “virulently vindictive against a property that had escaped from their control” • The “breaking of the neck of the negro is nobody’s loss” • Southern belief that: • Slavery was a response to racial inferiority, not the cause • Slavery kept “primitive instincts” in check • Page 53 of Reconstruction

  6. Freedman’s Bureau

  7. How to Reconstruct? • Phase 1: Wartime Reconstruction • Lincoln’s 10 Percent Plan • Full pardons and restoration of rights once oath was taken. • 10% pledge allegiance and recognize abolition • Wartime strategy - not meant to be comprehensive • Special Field Order No. 15 or “40 Acres and a mule”

  8. President Johnson • Phase 2: Presidential Reconstruction • No Congressional approval • Governors appointed by Johnson • Only loyal whites could vote in new state governments • Pardons for high-ranking ex-Confederates and wealthy planters (with few exceptions) • Rescinds 40 acre policies • Ratification of 13th Amendment • Announces reunification in Dec. 1865

  9. Black Codes • Crimes of the “free negro”: • Mischief, insulting gestures, cruel treatment to animals, distributing alcohol, firearms, cohabitating with whites • Intermarriage = life term in state penitentiary • Prohibited from: • Testifying against a white person, voting, serving on juries or state militias • Vagrancy Act • Written proof of employment or fined $50 • Hired to any white man if fine not paid • Fine deducted from wages • Goal???

  10. Phase 3: Radical Reconstruction • Radical Republicans win 2/3 majority in both chambers (1866) • Civil Rights Bill of 1866 • Register black voters • The Reconstruction Act of 1867 • 5 military districts with martial law • No ex-Confederates in Congress • New state Constitutions • Universal male suffrage • State-wide public schools for both races • 14thAmendment • 15th Amendment

  11. Johnson fights back • Vetoes expansion of Freedman’s Bureau, Civil Rights Bill of 1866, Reconstruction Act • Instructs Southern whites to obstruct black voter registration • Impeachment • House impeaches 12 to 47, Senate could not convict • Grant elected in 1868

  12. Southern Backlash • Ku Klux Klan • “protect whites from radical ex-slaves” by destroying Republican Party (leaders and supporters) • KKK Acts and Enforcement Acts

  13. The Decline of Reconstruction cont. • The Midterm election in 1874 and Redeemer Movement • Northerners tire of “Southern problem” • The Election of 1876 • The Compromise of 1877

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