Focus on One Group:

Freedmen’s Life During Reconstruction, cont.

Freedmen’s Bureau (1865)Agency (of the Federal Gov’t) developed

to help former slavesProvided food, schools, legal help, etc.

Students standing outside a freedmen’s school known as James’ Plantation School (North Carolina)

Freedmen’s Bureau (1865)Agency (of the Federal Gov’t) developed

to help former slavesProvided food, schools, legal help, etc.Unpopular

with manyWhite Southerners

Due to the unpopularity of the Freedmen’s Bureau, it . . .

Could not overcome Southern hostility,Lacked political support of North and

South, andEnded in 1872

Imagine you are a White Southerner . . .

Wouldn’t you be angry that the Freedmen are getting all this help?

What might you do?

You might become defiant!You might feel that you have lost power!

Limits to Freedmen’s Rights

Disenfranchisement (means to prevent from voting)

Black Codes/Jim Crow LawsHate Groups

Disenfranchisement

To prevent from voting (14th/15th Amendments were to prevent this)

Used various methods that included1. poll taxes (to be paid when vote)2. literacy tests3. threats

Sometimes the threat is deadly.

Black Codes/Jim Crow Laws

Limits rights and opportunitiesLimits jobs to only farm work and

unskilled laborSet curfewsSet punishments for vagrancy (not

working)

Black Code Sample andJim Crow Reading

Rise of KKK – violent response to Radical Reconstruction

Ku Klux Klan

Started in 1866 by 6 former Confederate soldiers

Members wore robes and masks to look like the ghosts of dead Confederate soldiers who returned for revenge against enemies of the South.

Nathan Bedford ForrestFirst National Leader of the KKK and Former Confederate Leader

Their Goal: deny African-Americans

their rights and keep them in the

role of submissive laborers.

It also included other groups such

as the White League

KKK Rally in Delmar, DE (1920)

Ku Klux Klan Gathering in Newark, DE (1965) Photo: Delaware Historical Society

A cartoon threatening that the KKK would lynch carpetbaggers, Tuscaloosa, AL, Independent Monitor (1868) 

Carpetbaggers

Northern Republicans who moved South to work in gov’t or make money.

Scalawags

a Southern white who joined the Republican Party in the ex-Confederate South during Reconstruction

Reintegrating the South

Problem #1

Determine the role of the freedmen

Problem #2

Define the role and acceptable power of former Confederates within their states and within the nation

Problem #3

Determine which branch of government would be

responsible for overseeing reconstruction

3 Plans for ReconstructionLincoln’s Plan (10%)

Johnson’s Plan

Congress’ Plan (Congressional Reconstruction or Radical Reconstruction)

Two Plans for Reconstruction

Lincoln’s Plan

…..Also called the

10% plan!

Lincoln’s Plan

1.Required 10% of white men to swear allegiance (loyalty) to the constitution and the Union.

2.Plan included the emancipation of slaves

Lincoln’s Plan, cont.

3. Former Confederates can run local governments

4. 10% agreement allowed full participation in the Union

Lincoln Plan problems…

Republicans in Congress felt this plan was way too kind!

HE DID NOT PUNISH THE REBELS!

FELT LINCOLN WAS TOO EASY ON SOUTH

Lincoln’s Plan - PROBLEMS

• No role for

freed men

identified

• No guarantee of rights or future

rights

Lincoln’s Plan is never implemented!

April 1865 -Lincoln assassinated

13th amendment officially ends slavery in all of the United States

Andrew Johnson, (southern democrat, former slave owner) administered his own new policy

The Johnson Plan

1.Granted amnesty (forgiveness) to former Confederates who signed loyalty oath

2.Restored all property, except slaves and confiscated lands

Johnson’s Plan

3. Voided secession laws and ratify the 13th amendment

4. Cancelled war debts

5. Vetoed est. of Freedmen’s Bureau

Johnson’s Plan - PROBLEMS

More generous to the south!

1. Amnesty awarded to “certain” southerners

2. Flawed election process (blacks excluded from voting)

Johnson’s Presidency

He lacked• Mandate to

govern• Support of

Congress• Also was anti-

civil rights Would not support 13th Amendment

Consider This . . . Who are not considered in the two

plans?

What will the freedmen do?

How did the freedmen’s lives change?

Descriptions of Plans

Radical = extreme in their beliefsModerates = mainstream views of the

political party, not extreme at all

We had moderate plans for reconstruction (Lincoln & Johnson), but now they change to the RADICAL version called . . .

Radical ReconstructionCongress bypasses President

Johnson and enacts theReconstruction Act of 1867

-passed by radical republicans-state governments declared illegal

1. south divided into 5 military districts

Radical Reconstruction cont…

To rejoin the Union:

2. Adopt a constitution guaranteeing all male citizens the right to vote

3. Elect a new government

4. Ratify the 14th amendment (no white southern who served as conf. soldier/official could vote on new constitution)

Radical Republicans in Congress see Black Codes as a way for White Southerners to

get around the efforts of Congress.

Impeachment!- Congressional power growing

- Johnson fires Sec. of War

-The House votes to “impeach” Johnson(to accuse of

wrongdoing and bring to trial)

-President escapes removal by only 1 vote

Civil War Amendments13th

Amendment

Unlike the Emancipation Proclamation, this change to the Constitution ends ALL slavery in the United States

Declared former slaves CITIZENSProvides equal rights for ALL CITIZENSCounted and represented as CITIZENSPrevents former Confederates from

holding office

15th Amendment

Election of 1870 – many angry white southerners refused to (or couldn’t) vote

More than 600 African Americans were elected to southern legislatures and 16 black men were elected to Congress

The End of ReconstructionWhy did Reconstruction

efforts finally end? Heavy taxes Corruption Lack of northern

support for racial equality

The Solid South – Southern Democrats reversed many of the reforms

The Compromise of 1877

Samuel Tilden wins popular vote; a dispute over electoral votes

The Democrats agree to give Rutherford B. Hayes the presidency in return for the removal of all federal troops from the Southern States

Hayes’ removal of troops from the south is regarded as

the end of reconstruction!

How successful

was Reconstruction?