Reconstruction in the South:1865-1877

SS8H6C• Analyze the impact of Reconstruction on Georgia

and other southern states emphasizing Freedmen’s Bureau, sharecropping and tenant farming, Reconstruction plans, 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the Constitution, Henry McNeal Turner and black legislators, and the Ku Klux Klan.

The Reconstruction time period involved:Conflict between US government and

the South on:

1. How ex-Confederate states will be re-admitted into the Union

2. How the Southern economy will recover from the war3. How the rights of Free Blacks will be protected4. How Whites and Blacks will relate to each other5. Whether the South will be transformed or back to the way

it was before the Civil War6. Who will influence the future of the South

Freedmen’s Bureau

**Thousands of freedmen (former slaves) faced great hardships.

**Homeless, uneducated, and free for the first time, the freedmen had little more than the clothes on their backs.

Freedmen’s Bureau• The U.S. government established the Freedmen’s

Bureau to help the struggling freedmen.

• Its first commissioner was Union General Oliver O. Howard, who later founded Howard University in Washington, D.C.

• Its purpose was to help former slaves and poor whites cope with everyday problems. It provided education and training and social services.

Sharecropping1. Landowners provided land, a house, farming

tools and animals, seed, and fertilizer2. Workers agree to give share of crops to owner3. During growing season, landowners let farmers

buy food, medicine, clothing, and other supplies on “credit”

4. Left sharecroppers deeper in debt year after year.

Tenant Farming1. Tenant farmers owned some agricultural

equipment and farm animals2. Tenant farmers paid a prearranged cash price or

a share of the crop3. Tenant farmers made “small” profit to live on

Similarities between Sharecropping and Tenant Farming

1. Workers were Black freedmen and poor Whites

2. Lives filled with hard work and hardships

3. Kept landowners farm in operations without paying for labor

4. Landowners also risk increased debt

5. Contributed to ruining soil by growing cotton or tobacco continuously

After the Civil War…..• The South is left in ruins.• Major cities and farms are destroyed.• The South’s labor force was gone (Slaves were

freed and ¼ of the white male population had been killed.)

• Transportation system is destroyed as well.

Time to rebuild the South• Reconstruction is the time period immediately

following the Civil War.• The South will be physically reconstructed• The South will be socially reconstructed

Reconstruction Plans

are next!!!

Reconstruction Plans• Northern leaders disagreed on how to treat the

South.• There were two major plans for reconstruction

•The Lincoln Plan•The Congressional Plan

The Lincoln Plan• Also called Presidential Reconstruction or Ten-

Percent Plan.• Lincoln wanted to restore the South on friendly

terms. He wanted it to be quick and easy• 1/10th of the state’s voters had to take an oath to obey the

U.S. constitution• Each southern state had to create a new state

government

The Congressional Plan• Congress and many northerners thought the

South should be punished• Congress passed the Wade-Davis Bill that required

southerners to denounce the Confederacy and pledge that they had never supported it.

• President Lincoln vetoed the Congressional Plan.

Lincoln is assassinated• On April 15, 1865, just days after the Civil War

ends, President Lincoln is assassinated.• Andrew Johnson becomes president and tries to

commit to Lincoln’s plan of treating the South with friendship.

• Johnson adds several requirements to his plan including the denial of a general pardon to those southerners who owned property worth more than $20,000 or who held high military positions.

Amendments added to the Constitution• Between 1865 and 1870, Congress passed three

amendments to the U.S. Constitution.• 13th Amendment: Abolished slavery in the United States• 14th Amendment: Gave citizenship to freed slaves• 15th Amendment: Guaranteed all citizen the right to vote,

regardless of race or previous condition of servitude ( slavery)

Things to remember….• Although the 13th Amendment abolishes slavery, it

did not abolish discrimination. Many southern states, including Georgia, pass a number of laws known as Black Codes.

• Black Codes were designed to restrict the rights of the freedmen.

Things to remember….• The 14th Amendment was a direct response to

Black codes.• Southern states were required to ratify (accept)

this amendment to rejoin the Union.

• The 15th Amendment granted all MALE citizens the right to vote.

Henry McNeal Turner and Black Legislators• In the 1868 election for Georgia’s General

Assembly, African Americans were elected for the first time.

• Henry McNeal Turner, an educated minister, who had worked for the Freedmen’s Bureau, was elected by the people.

• Soon after the election, Georgia’s Democrats succeeded in expelling the black members from office. Some businesses in Milledgeville, the state capital, refused to serve the black General Assembly members.

NOT THE END OF THAT STORY…..• General John Pope, the military commander in

Georgia said “ if you won’t do business with these African-American leaders, I am sure the people of Atlanta will.”

• The capital of Georgia was moved to Atlanta in 1868.

Ku Klux Klan• Because Henry McNeal Turner protested being denied his

office, he received many threats from the Ku Klux Klan.

• The Klan was a secret organization that tried to keep freedmen from exercising their new civil rights. It was started in Tennessee.

• It began as a social club for returning soldiers, but quickly changed into a force of terror.

• One of the main focuses of this group was to keep African-Americans from voting in elections.

The End of Reconstruction• In 1870 Georgia became the last Southern state to

be readmitted to the United States.

• With Reconstruction over, Georgia could now focus on regaining its prosperity.