Post on 05-Apr-2018
7/31/2019 Chapter 11-Reconstruction Notes Part 1
1/22
Reconstruction Era
Four Major Post-War Questions
1) How would the South, physically devastated by
war and socially revolutionized by emancipation, be
rebuilt? 2) How would the liberated blacks fare as free men
and women?
3) How would the Southern states be reintegrated
into the Union?
4) Who would direct the process of Reconstruction-
the Southern states, the president, or Congress?
7/31/2019 Chapter 11-Reconstruction Notes Part 1
2/22
Southern Economic Issues
Financial Industry-
Banks and business houses had locked their
doors, ruined by runaway inflation
Worthless Confederate money
No credit was available
Returned to bartering system for goods
(Household Economy)
7/31/2019 Chapter 11-Reconstruction Notes Part 1
3/22
Southern Economic Issues Industry-
Factories were smokeless, silent, dismantled
Widespread destruction of farm buildings and
machinery
Transportation-
Network of railroads had broken down
completely
Widespread destruction of roads and bridges
7/31/2019 Chapter 11-Reconstruction Notes Part 1
4/22
Southern Economic Issues Agriculture-
The economic lifeblood of the South was almost
hopelessly crippled
Fields were weed-filled and unplanted
Slave-labor system had collapsed
Seed was scarce
Livestock had been killed or driven off byplundering Yankee soldiers
7/31/2019 Chapter 11-Reconstruction Notes Part 1
5/22
Southern Economic Issues Planter Aristocrats-
Charred and gutted mansions
Lost investments
$2 billion in slaves alone
Worthless land
7/31/2019 Chapter 11-Reconstruction Notes Part 1
6/22
The Freedmen
Emancipation of the slaves took effect haltinglyand unevenly in different parts of the conqueredConfederacy
Many blacks found themselves emancipated andthen re-enslaved
Slave owners resorted to violence as well aslegal means to keep blacks in a state of
involuntary servitude Slaves themselves resisted the liberating Union
soldiers because of their loyalty to their masters
7/31/2019 Chapter 11-Reconstruction Notes Part 1
7/22
The Freedmen Once emancipation became permanent,
Freedmen
Took on new last names and demanded that whites
use Mr. or Mrs. when addressing them Threw off the rags of slavery and sought silks, satins,
and other finery
Took to the roads to test their freedom and to search
for long-lost spouses, parents, and children
Formalized their slave marriages which helped to
strengthen African-American families
7/31/2019 Chapter 11-Reconstruction Notes Part 1
8/22
The Freedmen Once emancipation became permanent,
Freedmen
Left the plantations and migrated to large cities andcreated pockets of African-American settlement
10 largest Southern cities doubled in black population between1865 and 1870
Migrated as a group (25,000) to Kansas aka- Exodusters
Started their own churches with their own ministers Formed the bedrock of black community life
Gave rise to other benevolent, fraternal, and mutual aid societies
Learned to read and write (sought education)
7/31/2019 Chapter 11-Reconstruction Notes Part 1
9/22
The Freedmens Bureau
Emancipation unleashed millions of former
slaves who were overwhelmingly unskilled,
unlettered, without property or money, and
with little knowledge of how to survive asfree people
March, 1865- Congress created the
Freedmens Bureauto help cope with thisproblem
7/31/2019 Chapter 11-Reconstruction Notes Part 1
10/22
The Freedmens Bureau Purpose-To provide aid and support to
freedmen and dispossessed whites
Activities-
Distributed food and clothing
Helped freedmen who returned to theplantations to get pay and guaranteed rights
Provided education opportunities
7/31/2019 Chapter 11-Reconstruction Notes Part 1
11/22
The Freedmens Bureau Headed By-Oliver O. Howard
Greatest Success-Educating the freedmen Freedmen made this aspect successful because they wanted to close
the gap between themselves and the whites in the area of education
and for the purpose of reading the Bible
Freedmen saw education as their ticket to freedom
Northern church and charitable groups participated in aidingfreedmen to obtain an education
American Missionary Association played a role in helping establishblack colleges
Freedmens Bureau established Howard University as well as 4,000lower level schools
Southern states eventually established public school systems
7/31/2019 Chapter 11-Reconstruction Notes Part 1
12/22
The Freedmens Bureau Failures-
No Congressional support (funds)
Programs only lasted a year or two because they ran
out of money Forty-acre plots of land that belonged to
Confederates were promised to the Freedmen, butwere never received
Local admin and planters expelled blacks from towns Ended up back on the plantations as field laborers
President Johnson tried multiple times to destroythe Bureau and it expired in 1872
7/31/2019 Chapter 11-Reconstruction Notes Part 1
13/22
Andrew Johnson
1864-Lincolns Union Party needed to attract supportfrom the War Democrats and other pro-Southernelements, and Johnson, a Democrat, was their ideal man
Johnson was a staunch champion of states rights and theConstitution, but when he took the presidency he becamea misfit A Southerner who did not understand the North
A Tennessean who had earned the distrust of the South
A Democrat who had never been accepted by the Republicans
A president who had not been elected to the office The wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong
time!!!
7/31/2019 Chapter 11-Reconstruction Notes Part 1
14/22
Presidential Reconstruction
1863- Lincoln initiated his10% Plan aka-Proclamation of Amnesty and
Reconstruction
Lincoln sought to reunite the country in apeaceful way
Amnesty- a general pardon granted by a ruler orgovernment to a large group of persons guilty ofa political offense
10% of those Southerners who voted in theelection of 1860 pledge an oath of loyalty to theUnion
7/31/2019 Chapter 11-Reconstruction Notes Part 1
15/22
Congress Responds
1864- Congress initiates theWade-Davis Bill
Much harsher than Lincolns arrangement for
Reconstruction
50% of a states voters would take an oath of
allegiance
Demanded stronger safeguards for emancipation
than Lincolns as the price of readmission to theUnion
7/31/2019 Chapter 11-Reconstruction Notes Part 1
16/22
Presidential Reconstruction
Lincoln promptly pocket-vetoed the Wade-Davis bill by refusing to sign it after Congresshad adjourned for the year
Republicans in Congress were outraged Refused to readmit Louisiana in 1864 based upon
Lincolns 10% plan
Congress had taken a different tact than Lincolnby suggesting that the states who secededforfeited all their rights and could only bereadmitted as conquered provinces
7/31/2019 Chapter 11-Reconstruction Notes Part 1
17/22
Presidential Reconstruction Towards the end of the war the Republicans
became split over the issue of Reconstruction
Moderates-(majority) agreed with Lincoln that
the seceded states should be restored to theUnion as simply and swiftly as reasonableonCongresss terms, not the presidents
Radicals-believed that the South should atone
more painfully for its sins Wanted the Souths social structure to be uprooted,
the planters punished, and the newly emancipatedblacks protected by federal power
7/31/2019 Chapter 11-Reconstruction Notes Part 1
18/22
Presidential Reconstruction Radicals were secretly pleased with the
assassination of President Lincoln
Believed that Johnson shared their dislike for the
planter aristocrats in the South Johnson supported Lincolns 10% plan
Quickly recognized several Confederate states asbeing readmitted under such a plan
May, 1865- Johnson issued his ownreconstruction plan
7/31/2019 Chapter 11-Reconstruction Notes Part 1
19/22
Presidential Reconstruction
Johnsons Plan for Reconstruction
Disfranchised certain leading Confederates
Particularly those with taxable property worth more
than $20,000
Called for special state conventions which were
required to repeal the ordinances of secession,
repudiate all Confederate debts, and ratify the
slave-freeing 13th amendment
States that adhered to his plan would be swiftly
readmitted to the Union
7/31/2019 Chapter 11-Reconstruction Notes Part 1
20/22
The Black Codes
Newly readmitted states enacted a series of laws aimeddirectly at the Freedmen designed to regulate the affairsof the emancipated blacks Aimed to ensure a stable and subservient labor force
Exacted extreme penalties on blacks who jumped their laborcontracts
No voting rights / no jury duty
Orphaned children became apprentices to their former slaveowners
Freedmen signed one-year labor contracts that tied them to
particular plantations and owners Freedmen were only able to hold farming or servant jobs
Could only leave plantation with permission from theirmasters
7/31/2019 Chapter 11-Reconstruction Notes Part 1
21/22
Sharecroppers
Freedmen lacked capital, skills, and resourcesand thus ended up assharecroppers
White landowners broke up estates into
small units and set up a freed black family oneach unit
Families were provided with land, housing,seeds, tools, and animals
Families could keep part of what they grew astheir pay
Anywhere from 10% to 50% of the crops produced
7/31/2019 Chapter 11-Reconstruction Notes Part 1
22/22
Sharecroppers Freedmen liked this situation because it gave
them independence and motive to work hard
Thoughnatural disasters and drought caused
serious problems resulting in the freedmen not beingable to feed their families
White businessmen got wealthy off of freedmen
who borrowed against the next years crops
Resulted in a vicious cycle of debt that reduced
the sharecroppers to virtual peonage