• What factories they had were destroyed
• Farms were destroyed
• What railroads and roads they had were
destroyed or unusable
• Many men’s lives were lost so there were
many families left with just a mother
What Was the Government’s Goal in
Reconstruction?
• The government believed it was each state’s
responsibility to rebuild itself
• They government’s goal was to reunite the country
and how they would bring the southern states back
in
• Problem was that the South didn’t accept the fact
that their slaves were now free….so the
government focused on protecting the rights of the
newly freed people against the southerners.
Lincoln’s 10% Plan
AKA Presidential Reconstruction
1.Presidential
Pardons
2.Oath of Loyalty
3.Acceptance of the
Emancipation
Proclamation
Andrew Johnson Takes Over
•Confederates must ask for personal
pardon
•10% needed to take loyalty Oath
•Johnson lacked appeal
Still North v South
• South determined to keep things the way they
were.
• Passed “Black Codes”- replaced the old slave
codes aimed at keeping newly freed blacks in
a condition similar to slavery.
• Reelected former Confederate officers to
Congress
• Formed white supremacy groups like the KKK
South Carolina Black Codes
• the codes did grant black persons a few more civil
rights than they possessed before the Civil War. South
Carolina’s code declared that “persons of color” now
had the right “to acquire, own and dispose of property;
to make contracts; to enjoy the fruits of their labor; to
sue and be sued; and to receive protection under the
law in their persons and property.” Also, for the first
time, the law recognized the marriages of black persons
and the legitimacy of their children. But the law went
on to state that, “Marriage between a white person
and a person of color shall be illegal and void.”
Vagrants could be arrested and
imprisoned at hard labor. But the
county sheriff could “hire out” black
vagrants to a white employer to
work off their punishment. The
courts customarily waived such
punishment for white vagrants,
allowing them to take an oath of
poverty instead.
Civil War
The South Carolina code
included a contract form for
black “servants” who agreed
to work for white “masters.”
The form required that the
wages and the term of service
be in writing.
BLACK CODES
laws passed on the state and local level
mainly in the rural Southern states in
the United States to limit the civil rights
and civil liberties of African Americans.
Codes controlled almost all aspects of
life and prohibited African Americans
from the freedom that had been won.
South Carolina’s Black Code established a racially separate
court system for all civil and criminal cases that involved a
black plaintiff or defendant. It allowed black witnesses to
testify in court, but only in cases affecting “the person or
property of a person of color.” Crimes that whites believed
freedmen might commit, such as rebellion, arson, burglary,
and assaulting a white woman, carried harsh penalties. Most
of these crimes carried the death penalty for blacks, but not
for whites. Punishments for minor offenses committed by
blacks could result in “hiring out” or whipping, penalties
rarely imposed on white lawbreakers.
The KKK was one violent group that tried
to prevent freedmen from exercising their
newly found freedom
The Mississippi and South Carolina Black Codes
of 1865 provoked a storm of protest among
many Northerners. They accused Southern
whites of trying to restore slavery. Congress
refused to seat Southerners elected under the
new state constitutions. A special congressional
committee investigated whether white
Southern Reconstruction should be allowed to
continue.
Military Reconstruction
Enacted in 1867 because the South was doing all they
could to keep from giving up their way of life
Military Reconstruction Districts
It was
backed by
the “Radical
Republicans”
because Andrew
Johnson was
blocking all
their legislation
to guarantee
African America
rights were
protected and
because the Sou
was trying to ke
control.
Radical Republicans
A group of Republicans who thought both Lincoln
and Johnson were taking it too easy on the South. In
reality the South brought it on themselves because
they tried to return to the way it had been before the
war and take control including trying to retain control
of the formerly enslaved people.
Thaddeus Stephens
Charles Sumner
Reconstruction Amendments
13th
Prohibition of slavery
1865
14th
Citizenship, due process, and equal
protection
1868
15th
No denial of vote because of race,
color, or previous condition of
servitude
1870
How did these amendments expand
democracy?
• Fourteenth Amendment overturned the Dred
Scott decision by recognizing African
American’s citizenship
• By giving them full citizenship they also gained
full protection of the law.
• Fifteenth Amendment fully guaranteed all
African American men the right to vote.
• The federal troops in the South protected
these rights.
Were All Southerners Against Reconstruction
Policies?
•Scalawags - white Southerners who
supported Reconstruction policies following
the American Civil War often for personal
gain. ( traitors)
•Most were poor farmers before the war who
saw this as their opportunity to improve their
situation.
Northerners Benefitted Too
Carpetbaggers - Northerners who
went to the South
during
Reconstruction to
make money
Freedman’s Bureau
The bureau’s chief focus was to provide
food, medical care, help with
resettlement, administer justice,
manage abandoned and confiscated
property, regulate labor, and establish
schools for African Americans. – One of
the main ways the African Americans
made some social progress.
Freedmen’s Bureau School
Freedmen’s Bureau
• In addition to the social services and basic
education provided, they also established
teacher training programs for African
Americans.
• The first all black colleges were formed. One
of the best known is Tuskegee Institute
founded by
Booker T. Washington.
African American Churches
Many African Americans who had been going to white
churches began to leave and establish their own churches.
These churches became increasingly important as the
Freedmen’s Bureau was only funded for a few years.
The churches took on the role of social service agencies
in addition to being a place to worship as they pleased
without worrying about their masters watching them.
African Americans participate in
government for the first time
The Right to Vote
Protected by federal troops during military
Reconstruction
Began to run for both state and national
offices
Hiram Revels from Mississippi was the first
African American senator in Washington.
What happened to the African
Americans who had nowhere to go?
Some went west – some became what is known as
“exodusters.” Others became “buffalo soldiers.”
Some went looking for relatives who had been “sold
Down the river.”
Some went North but did not receive the warm
welcome they thought they would get and still
faced discrimination
Some ended up sharecroppers or tenant farmers
Sharecropping
Rent on the land was
paid by giving a
portion of the
crops they
grew to the
land owner –
could be a
as much as 50%
Most
sharecroppers
depended on the
“crop lien” system
which left them in
a condition known
as debt peonage.
Many of them did
all they had ever
known to do and
that was grow
cotton. They
still remained
economically
dependent on the
white man.
Crop Lien System- Landowners and sharecroppers borrowed (at high interest rates) against the
future harvest. Lenders insisted that they produce cash crops like cotton. The system made
landowners and sharecroppers dependent on local merchants, and it prevented the
development of diversified farming in the South.
Forty Acres and a Mule
Many African Americans believed the US
government was going to assure they got the
40 acres and a mule
This was never said by the government but was
a comment made some say by General Sherman