Chapter 19: ReconstructionSection 1: Presidential Reconstruction

Bellwork

What are some problems that Texas and the United States might

have faced at the end of the Civil War?

Emancipation• U.S. troops take

control of Texas at end of Civil War

• June 19, 1865: Gen. Gordon Granger issues proclamation freeing slaves

Gen. Gordon Granger

Emancipation

•Many freedpeople left plantations

•Formally married and searched for family

•Gathered at military posts & towns to seek work

The Freedmen’s Bureau

•Reconstruction—the process of reuniting the Southern states back into the Union

•13th Amendment—amendment to U.S. Constitution that abolished slavery

The Freedmen’s Bureau

•Freedman's Bureau—organization created by the U.S. Congress to give legal aid to former slaves

•Freedpeople had no land and few job opportunities

The Freedmen’s Bureau

•Bureau and churches established schools

•Illiteracy rate of African American dropped

The Freedmen’s Bureau

•Only a few dozen Freemen’s Bureau agents were sent to Texas

•Former Confederates used violence against freedpeople

President Johnson’s Plan

• Some wanted to punish the South

• Abraham Lincoln did not want to increase bitterness

President Lincoln & Mr. Taylor

President Johnson’s Plan

•April 1865: Lincoln assassinated

•Andrew Johnson becomes president

Andrew Johnson

President Johnson’s Plan

• Step 1: Voters in former Confederate states had to take an oath of loyalty to the United States

President Johnson’s Plan

• Step 2: High ranking Confederate officials and wealthy landowners had to apply for a pardon

President Johnson’s Plan

•Step 3: States had to form provisional governments

President Johnson’s Plan

• Step 4: States had to form new constitutions declaring secession illegal & abolishing slavery

President Johnson’s Plan

•Step 5: States had to agree not to pay any outstanding Confederate debts

President Johnson’s Plan

•Step 6: Ratify new constitutions & elect new government officials

President Johnson’s Plan

•Step 7: Ratify 13th Amendment

President Johnson’s Plan

• November 1865: Provisional Governor Andrew Hamilton calls for an election to select delegates to constitutional convention

Andrew J. Hamilton

President Johnson’s Plan

•African Americans could not vote for delegates to the constitutional convention of 1866

•Constitution completed in 2 months

President Johnson’s Plan

•African Americans did not receive equal rights:

–Suffrage—voting rights

–Could not testify in court cases involving whites

President Johnson’s Plan

• June 1866: voters approve new constitution

• James Throckmorton elected governor

James Throckmorton

President Johnson’s Plan

•Former secessionists elected to state legislature

•Legislature refused to ratify 13th amendment

The Black Codes

•Black Codes—laws passed after Reconstruction to deny African Americans’ civil rights

•Required to sign labor contracts

The Black Codes

•Arrested for not having jobs

•Violence: 1865-1868 468 freedpeople killed in Texas