Reconstruction1862-1877

ReviewCreated By:

Michael Crews

Lincoln’s Proclamations• Emancipation Proclamation– January 1, 1863– Only freed slaves in states at war with the Union

• Not any of the border states or those occupied by the Union

• Proclamation of Amnesty– Provided protection for lower ranking Confederate

officers– Returned land and political rights to Confederates– Prosecuted Confederate officials who left Federal

positions to join Confederacy or those who killed or tortured Union soldiers

Congressional Acts

• Republicans in Congress wanted to PUNISH the Confederates

• Wade-Davis Bill sought to protect freed blacks and not provide amnesty to Confederates

• Wanted to appoint military governors in Southern States

• Lincoln ‘Pocket-Vetoed’ the bill that passed congress in July 1864

President Johnson’s Plan• Believed in full amnesty for Confederate leaders– Returned white supremacists to power in state

governments• Vetoed all legislation to grant or protect African

American’s civil liberties• Tried to halt all attempts to restructure social

order in the South• Johnson’s vetoes (All of them were overturned)– Civil Rights Act of 1866– 14th Amendment– Freedman’s Bureau

Radical Reconstruction

• This was the plan proposed by Congress– Reconstruction Act of 1867

• Organized south into 5 military zones• Martial law was declared• All secessionist states forced to draft a new constitution

• 15th Amendment– All black males had the right to vote– Also helped poor white males

• Prior to this only landowners were allowed to vote

– Furthered the cause of Women’s Suffragists

Opportunists and Oppression

• Carpetbagger = A Northerner who moved to the south – Sought to find fortune, modernize the south or educate its

people• Scalawags = Southerners who supported the Union• Black Codes

– Existed to keep blacks under control• Blacks had to sign labor contracts• Blacks could not own land• Individuals could be assigned to chain gangs if they could not pay their

fines• Orphans could be forced into apprenticeships (resembled slavery)• Whites could physically abuse blacks without consequence

Oppressors Continued

• Ku Klux Klan– Created in Tennessee to terrorize blacks• Burned crossed, forced blacks to not vote, lynched

blacks and white Republicans

– Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 allowed them to act against terrorist groups

End of Reconstruction

• Civil Rights Act of 1875– Racial discrimination would be outlawed in all

public places• Theaters, hotels, and restaurants

– Blacks would have the same legal rights as whites– Blacks could sue violators in federal courts– This legislation was un-enforceable because blacks

had to file suit for themselves• No time, no money, required considerable knowledge

and effort

Election and Compromise

• Election of 1876 saw a virtual tie– Rutherford Hayes and Samuel Tilden

• Compromise of 1877 gave Presidency to Hayes– He was moderate– He ordered federal troops out of the South• Marked the end of Reconstruction