RECONSTRUCTION

SUCCESS OR FAILURE?

What is Reconstruction?

• A period of rebuilding after the Civil War lasting from 1865 to 1877.

• America had lost over 600,000 men and the South was in ruins.

• How would the nation recover?

Lincoln’s Plan

• Wanted to be easy on the South.

• Pardoned Confederates if they swore allegiance to the Union.

• As soon as 10% of a state’s voters swore allegiance to the Union, the state would be readmitted. (10% Plan)

Who were the Radical Republicans?

• Group that thought Lincoln’s plan was too easy on the South.

• Wanted to punish the South and give African Americans the right to vote.

• Led by Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner.

What was the Wade Davis Bill?

• In 1864, The Radical Republicans passed the Wade Davis Bill.

• This bill put Congress in charge of Reconstruction.

• A Majority of a state’s voters had to swear allegiance to the Union.

• Lincoln vetoed the bill.

What was Johnson’s Plan?

• After Lincoln’s assassination, Johnson had a similar plan to Lincoln’s.

• Johnson felt that the South had re-entered the Union and his work was done.

• The Radical Republicans disagreed.

What was the Freedmen’s Bureau?

• The Radical Republicans felt that African Americans needed help after slavery.

• The Freedmen’s Bureau gave food, clothing, school, and hospitals to newly freed slaves.

• Johnson vetoed the Freedmen’s Bureau, but Congress made it law.

What was the Civil Rights Act of 1866?

• Passed by the Radical Republicans and vetoed by Johnson.

• Congress overrode Johnson’s veto.

• This act declared that states could not enact black codes.

What were Black Codes?

• These codes in Southern states discriminated against African Americans.

• Prevented African Americans from participating in American democracy.

What was the Congressional Plan of Reconstruction?

• Congress overrode many of Johnson’s vetoes.

• Their objective was to give full citizenship to African Americans.

• They also wanted put the Southern states under military control.

• Johnson felt they were much too harsh on the South.

What was the 14th Amendment?

• Gave citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States,” including former slaves.

• Forbids any states from denying any person “due process of law.”

What was the Reconstruction Act?

• Declared state governments created under Lincoln and Johnson to be invalid.

• Put Southern states under military control and called for new state constitutions.

• Nostate could reenter the Union without passing the 14th amendment and giving African American men the right to vote.

• Vetoed by Johnson and passed by Congress.

Why was President Johnson impeached?

• Impeachment means a legal process to formally charge a president with misconduct in office.

• Johnson removed Edwin Stanton from his cabinet post which violated the Tenure of Office Act.

• Congress voted to impeach Johnson and he was found not guilty by 1vote!

What was the 15th Amendment?

• Passed under Ulysses S. Grant’s presidency.

• Gave African American males the right to vote.

• Banned states from denying the vote to African American males.

What were the postwar conditions of the South?

• Plantations and farms destroyed.

• Population of South devastated.

• 1/5 of adult white men died in war.

• Women and children suffered from illness and malnutrition.

Who were the scalawags?

• White Southerners who joined the Republican Party.

• They were small farmers who did not want wealthy planters to regain power.

Who were the carpetbaggers?

• Northerners that moved to the South.

• Some came to profit from the conditions of the South.

• Others truly wanted to reform Southern society.

• Despised by many white Southerners.

How did former slaves improve their life?

• Reunited with families with help of the Freedmen’s Bureau.

• Established African American schools and colleges.

• Founded own churches and community organizations.

• Participated in government. Hiram Revels was the 1st African American Senator.

What was sharecropping?

• Landowners gave a few acres of land to farm workers.

• The farmer keeps a small portion of crops and gives the rest to the landowner.

• This kept former slaves under the control of Southern planters.

What was tenant farming?

• Farmers rented land from landowners in exchange for cash.

• Kept African Americans working in agriculture and under the control of white Southerners.

What was the Ku Klux Klan?

• Terrorist group created to oppose African Americans.

• Did not want African Americans to vote.

• Used violence and destroyed African American property.

• Intimidated African American from voting.

What was the Amnesty Act?

• In 1872, this act gave former Confederates the right to vote.

• White southerners had complained that Republicans had abused their power.

• Southern Democrats began to gain power.

What was the Panic of 1873?

• Scandals had tarnished Grant’s administration.

• The Panic of 1873 was a nationwide depression caused by people taking on more debt than they could afford and banks closed.

What was redemption?

• Southern Democrats’ term for their return to power in the South in the 1870’s.

• Their goal was to return the antebellum South. (Pre-Civil war days when African Americans were slaves)

What happened in the Election of 1876?

• Republicans ran Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrats ran Samuel J. Tilden

• Tilden won the popular vote and Hayes won the electoral vote.

What was the Compromise of 1877?

• Democrats allowed Hayes to be President and Republicans agreed to withdraw federal troops from the South.

• Reconstruction had officially ended.

What was home rule?

• Democrats called redeemers controlled every Southern state government.

• Ability to run state governments without federal interference.

• Restricted rights of African Americans, wiped out social programs, got rid of public schools.

Was Reconstruction a success or failure?

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