Reconstruction

1865-1877

Review of Lincoln

• http://vimeo.com/38541961

The Beginning of Reconstruction

• President Lincoln started his second term as president as the Civil War was ending.

• He said that a state could rejoin the union when 10% of the state voters took an oath to support the Union.

Lincoln’s 2nd inaugural address

• http://www.history.com/topics/reconstruction/videos#lincolns-most-pivotal-speech

Lincoln’s Assassination

• Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on April 14, 1865 by John Wilkes Booth

• Assassination means a murder of a public figure by surprise attack

Problems in the South

• The war left many people in the south with no money.

• The south also had few police, no judges and no courts. Some people tried to take the law into their own hands.

The Devastated South

Reconstruction video

• http://www.history.com/videos/the-failure-of-reconstruction#the-failure-of-reconstruction

Reconstruction • Reconstruction was the rebuilding of the south after

the Civil War

• During the beginning of reconstruction, Andrew Johnson became President.

• Andrew Johnson tried to follow Lincoln’s Reconstruction plan.

Thirteenth Amendment

• On December 6, 1865 the Thirteenth Amendment was passed

• This amendment abolished slavery.

Freedom! What does it mean?

• Free to – Travel– find opportunity – find family – marry – get an education – own land

Freedom??

• “We have turned, or are about to turn, loose 4 million slaves without a hut to shelter them or a cent in their pockets…..we had better left them in bondage.” ~Congressman Thaddeus Stevens

• Stevens proposed giving plantation land to the freed slaves, “forty acres and a mule.”

• Congress did not agree with this plan.

Think about it…..

• What if you were “emancipated” today, meaning that you were basically told to go take care of yourself – totally!

• Could you do it? • Would you need some help

from parents, friends, church or government?

• What would you do?

Should government help?

• 2 views of Freedman’s bureau – govt. aid to former slaves.

• What do you see here?

Freedman’s Bureau

• Union government sets up program to help former slaves (and poor whites) living in the South.

• Provided food, clothing, education and medical care.

• Also, gave legal assistance• No land in the south, however.

Remember…..

• Like science…..

• For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction!

• What do you suppose was the reaction to the Freedman’s Bureau?

Black Codes

• Black Codes prevented former African America slaves, now called “Freedmen” from owning certain kinds of land, voting, and working certain skilled jobs.

• These Codes were found in many Southern states, and many members of Congress felt that they proved that the southern states did not intend to end slavery.

Ku Klux Klan

Reconstruction Act

• Johnson announced that all states except for Texas have been re-admitted to the Union, but congress did not agree.

• Reconstruction was over.• Congressman Thaddeus Stevens

Radical Republicans

• In 1865, members of Congress who opposed President Johnson’s Reconstruction act were called Radical Republicans (Thaddeus Stevens, was one of these).

President and congress on collision course.

Radical Republicans cont.

• Radical Republicans wanted to punish the South for the trouble they caused the nation.

• These Radical Republicans wanted equal rights for all, where President Johnson believed the white citizens of the south should manage the South’s recovery.

• Explorepahistory.com

14th Amendment

• Overturns Dred Scott decision in order to define anyone born in the US as a citizen.

South under military rule

• South resents the government control of the reconstruction.

• Carpetbaggers (similar to overnight bag)– those who come to the south for short stays to make money.

The New Voters

• Former Confederates barred from voting.

• Left to Freedmen, poor farmers, and Northerners.

• These new voters elect Ulysses S. Grant (former Union General)

15th Amendment

• Voting rights to all regardless of “race, color or previous condition of servitude.”

Sharecropping – the new slavery?

• White plantation owners needed farm workers.

• Farm workers (former slaves) needed work.• Farm owners divided their land into small

plots and allowed “tenant farming” (farm workers rented the land to grow crops)

• Also known as “sharecropping,” never led to the equality and opportunity it promised.

Jim Crow Laws

Plessy vs Ferguson

• Supreme court case stating that “separate but equal” is constitutional.

Videos on Plessy

• http://goanimate.com/videos/0pRfUKHbFKQg

• http://vimeo.com/41216726

Reconstruction Ends

• 1877• With election of president

Rutherford B. Hayes

Essential Question

• Did the nation maintain American ideals during the Reconstruction era?