Reconstruction – The effort to
rebuild the Southern states and
restore the union.
Key Questions
1. How do we
bring the South
back into the
Union?
2. How do we
rebuild the
South after its
destruction
during the war?
4. What branch
of government
should control
the process of
Reconstruction?
3. How do we
integrate and
protect newlyemancipated
black freedmen?
President Lincoln’s Plan
Lincoln had begun planning for the
restoration of the South during the
war.
“With malice toward none, with charity
for all, ...let us strive on to finish
the work we are in, ...to do all which
may achieve and cherish a just and
lasting peace among ourselves and with
all nations.”
- A. Lincoln
* Lincoln’s Primary concern was to
restore the Union ASAP
President Lincoln’s Plan
 Would pardon any Southerner who
pledged an oath of Loyalty to the
United States.
 Would not Pardon any
Confederate officer or anyone
who had killed African-American
war prisoners.
 A state could resume full
participation in the Union if 10%
of its voters swore an oath of
allegiance to the United States.
 Lincoln would be assassinated
before he could carry out his plan
President Andrew Johnson
 Lincoln’s V.P.
 Anti-Aristocrat.
 White Supremacist.
 Agreed with Lincoln
that states had never
legally left the Union.
 He intended to follow
Lincoln’s Plan.
Radical Republicans
• Congress was controlled by “Radical
Republicans”
• The felt Lincoln & Johnson’s
Reconstruction plans were too easy on the
South.
• Johnson did not listen to their plans for
Reconstruction.
• This led to Congress impeaching Johnson
for “high crimes and misdemeanors”
The Senate Trial
 11 week trial.
 Johnson acquitted
35 to 19 (one short of
required 2/3s vote).
 Although Johnson was
acquitted he lost his political
power
Radical Reconstruction
• Divided the South into 5 Military districts
controlled by the Army while new state
governments were being set up.
Radical Reconstruction Continued…
• New state governments in the South had
to allow African American Males the right
to vote, and recognize all African
Americans as American citizens with full
rights.
• No former Confederate officer could hold a
political office.
• Many white Southerners deeply resented
the Federal government’s imposition of
Radical reconstruction and African
American’s new role in politics.
Reconstruction Amendments
• 13th Amendment – Abolished Slavery
in the United States.
• 14th Amendment – Granted
citizenship to all native-born or
naturalized persons.
• 15th Amendment – Declared states
could not deny the right to vote
because of race, color, or previous
servitude (Slavery)
 Purpose:
Black Codes
*
Aimed at keeping blacks in
conditions similar to slavery
*
These were enforced in the South
after the Military left
*
Meant to limit the impact of the
new constitutional amendments.
 Sharecropping - [tenant
farmers]. Blacks had to
grow crops and give them
to the land owner as
payment. Owner still
controlled them.
Black Codes continued
• Poll Taxes – voters had to pay a tax in
order to vote.
• Literacy Tests – Some states required
voters to prove they could read and
write before voting.
• Grandfather Clauses – The son or
Grandson of a man eligible to vote in
1866 could vote.
Black Codes continued
• Jim Crow Laws – Separated people on the
basis of race. Forbade blacks from sharing
facilities with whites such as:
–
–
–
–
Railroad cars
Water Fountains
Schools
Parks Public Buildings
Black Codes continued
• Secret Societies – Groups such as the KKK
rose up to take treatment of blacks into their
own hands.
Plessy v. Ferguson 1896
• Supreme Court Rules
that Segregation (the
legal separation of
races) was legal as
long as African
Americans had
access to facilities
that were equal to
those of the white
facilities. “Separate
but Equal.”