The Reconstruction Era
Ruins seen from the capitol, Columbia, S.C., 1865. Photographed by George N. Barnard. 165-SC-53.
http://www.archives.gov/research/civil-war/photos/images/civil-war-113.jpg
After the War
• South lay in ruins (destroyed)
• Nearly 4 million freedman (freed slaves) needed food,
clothing, & jobs
• President Lincoln planned for Reconstruction, the
rebuilding of the South
Ruins seen from the
Circular Church,
Charleston, S.C., 1865.
111-B-4667.
http://www.archives.go
v/research/civilwar/photos/images/civ
il-war-112.jpg
Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan
• Reunite Union quickly
• Southern state could
form a new government
after 10 % of its voters
swore loyalty to U.S.
• States also had to
abolish slavery
• Many in Congress didn’t
like Lincoln’s plan &
wanted a stricter form of
Reconstruction
http://www.archives.gov/research/civil-war/photos/images/civil-war-188.jpg
“Special Field Order 15”
• Black family
settlements
• Sea Islands, South
Carolina & Georgia
• 40 acres & a mule
• 40,000 freed slaves
on “Sherman Land”
• Economic
independence =
freedom
General William T. Sherman
Acts of Congress
• Freedman’s Bureau was created by
Congress – 1865-1870
– food, clothing, & immediate assistance
• Schools, settle disputes, protect equal treatment
– Fewer than 1000 agents
– Divide abandoned and confiscated land in 40
acre plots for rent & eventual sale to blacks
• Thirteenth Amendment
– Passed by Congress in January, 1865
– Ended slavery throughout the U.S.
Glimpses at the Freedmen - The Freedmen's Union Industrial
School, Richmond, Va. / from a sketch by Jas E. Taylor (1866).
• Room of African American women sewing.
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/aaodyssey:@field(NUMBER+@band(cph+3a33775))
• Lincoln is
assassinated by John
Wilkes Booth on April
14, 1865
• Andrew Johnson
became President
• Republicans –
“Party of Lincoln”
• Freed Black
John Wilkes Booth
http://www.archives.gov/research/civil-war/photos/images/civil-war-198.jpg
http://www.archives.gov/research/civil-war/photos/images/civil-war-202.jpg
Andrew Johnson
• Republican
• Champion of the
“honest yeoman”
• Foe of the large
planter
• Believed in State
Rights
• Supported
Emancipation but still
a racist.
Andrew Johnson, Vice President & President
http://www.archives.gov/research/civil-war/photos/images/civil-war-187.jpg
Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan
• In each southern states, a majority of voters must
swear loyalty to the U.S.
– Individual Pardons
– Leaders/Plantation Owners
• Each state must approve the 13th Amendment
• Then each state could rejoin the Union
• Appointed provisional Governors
– White only
– Prominent Confederate Ldrs & members of the old elite
• Land back to Southern Owners
Response to Johnson’s Plan
• Southern States met Johnson’s demands
– 1870 – all Southern States readmitted
• Republicans in Congress outraged because African
Americans were not allowed to vote & former
Confederate Leaders were elected to Congress
• Johnson ordered Federal land to be returned to
former owners – 1865
• S. Carolina & Georgia – “Sherman’s Land” settlers
forcibly evicted by Army
• After the war, most
southern states quickly
ratified the 13th
Amendment
Radical
Reconstruction
– Passed Black Codes
• Radical Republicans in
Congress decide to take
over Reconstruction
– Break the power of the
southern planters
– Dissolution of S. Gov’ts
– African Americans - right
to vote.
Land Conflict: Difficult for Americans
to take land from one owner and give
to another.
http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/sespics/34004.jpg
Black Codes
• laws in Southern States limiting
freedoms – varied by state
• no voting
• sign labor contract or arrested
• barred access to certain jobs
• judge order for children workers
• could not testify against a white
• barred land ownership
Radical Reconstruction (continued)
• Tenure of Office Act, 1867 – Barred Pres. from removing
Cabinet Members w/o Senate consent
• 14th Amendment, 1868 – All people born in the U.S. are
citizens. No state may take away rights of citizens.
• 15th Amendment, 1870 – The right to vote cannot be
denied to citizens because of their race or color or
because they were once enslaved. (1857 Dred Scott)
• Reconstruction Act, 1867-1877 – Southern states had to
ratify the 14th Amendment, African American men must be
allowed to vote,…
– Johnson vetoed these acts & Congress overrode his
veto; Congress eventually tried to impeach him
– Centralized Federal Powers – reduced State power
– “high crimes & misdemeanors”/Acquitted by one vote
Changes in the South
• Southern Republicans (scalawags), whites from
the North (carpetbaggers), & freed African
Americans played important roles in southern
governments.
– South: ½ Democrate (whites/former Confederates) ½ Republicans
– S. Carolina – Blacks 60% of population
• & Louisiana – wealthiest & most ed. Black communities
– Over 2000 Blacks in public office during Reconstrution
• KKK & “Reign of Terror” – Politically motivated &
more pervasive (pg. 577 – Cartoon)
– Ku Klux Klan (1866) -- formed by white southerners to help them regain
power & to keep African Americans and White Republicans out of office.
– 1870-1871 Congressional Acts
• Defined crimes against civil & political rights a Federal offense
– KKK disbanded by 1972
Southern Economy
• Agricultural base/farming/Coastal Cities
– Cotton, rice, citrus, tobacco, sugar
– Industries moving West NOT South
• RR bypassing Coastal Cities
• Landless black and white sharecroppers
became locked in a cycle of poverty.
– Sharecroppers: person who farms land owned by
another in exchange for a share of the crops
• Pg. 550 – Freed slaves home
• Pg. 551 – The Barrow Plantation
– Sharecroppers Contract - Pg. 559
• debt/collateral/”crop lein”
• Interest rates high/prices low
Reconstruction Ends
• Reconstruction ended after presidential
candidate Rutherford B. Hayes made a private
deal with southern politicians.
• After Reconstruction, a new industrial economy
began to emerge in the South.
• Southern whites pass new laws to deny African
Americans equal rights.
– Poll Taxes, Literacy Tests, & Grandfather Clauses
– Segregation, Jim Crow Laws, Lynching
– Civil Rights Movement (100 years later)
• Civil War Pictures from the National
Archives
http://www.archives.gov/research/civilwar/photos/
• Many Reconstruction
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our.html