
Human toll of the Civil War: The North lost 364,000
soldiers. The South lost 260,000 soldiers.
Between 1865 and 1877, the federal government
carried out a program to repair the damage to the
South and restore the southern states to the Union.
This program was known as Reconstruction.


Freedmen (freed slaves) were starting out their new
lives in a poor region with slow economic activity.


Plantation owners lost slave labor worth $3 billion.
Poor white Southerners could not find work because of
new job competition from Freedmen.
The war had destroyed two thirds of the South’s
shipping industry and about 9,000 miles of railroad.

South after war 1
Lincoln’s speech
“With malice
toward none; with
charity for all; with
firmness in the
right, as God gives
us to see the right,
let us strive on to
finish the work we
are in; to bind up the nation’s
wounds….to do all which may achieve
and cherish a just and a lasting peace,
among ourselves, and with all nations.”
Lincoln speech
•Remained loyal to the
Union during the Civil War.
•Lincoln chose him as his VP
to help with the South’s
Reconstruction.
•Supported Lincoln’s Plan?
•Engaged in a power
struggle with Congress over
who would lead the country
through Reconstruction.
•Would be impeached but
not removed from office.
John Picture background info
Johnson’s plan to readmit the
South was considered too gentle.
Amnesty: Presidential pardon
•Rebels sign an oath of allegiance
•Even high ranking Confederate officials
•Granted pardons to 90% of those who applied
Write new state Constitutions
•approve the 13th Amendment
•reject secession and state’s rights
•submit to U.S. Government authority
No mention of
•Education for freedmen
•Citizenship and voting rights for freedmen
Presidential Reconstruction
“Neither slavery nor involuntary
servitude, except as a punishment for
crime, whereof the party shall have
been duly convicted, shall exist within
the United States, or any place subject
to their jurisdiction.”
The Congress shall have power to
enforce by appropriate legislation, the
provisions of this article.
13th: Slavery14th
Abolished
pardon
Plans compared
Reconstruction Act of 1867 (Harsh?)
•Radical Program
•Freedmen’s Bureau
•Civil Rights Act of 1866
•14th Amendment
•Write new state Constitutions
•Ratify: 13th and 14th Amendments
•Place guarantees on voting rights
•submit to U.S. Government authority
•Divide the South into 5 military districts
•Help for Freedmen (voting rights)
•Freedmen’s Bureau for education
•40 acres and a mule??
Charles Summner
Thaddeus Stevens
•Wanted to the see the South punished.
•Advocated political, social and economic equality
for the Freedmen.
•Would go after President Johnson through the
impeachment process after he vetoes the Civil
Rights Act of 1866.
Radical Republicans
Thaddeus Stevens, in Congress, 1866
“Strip a proud nobility of their bloated
estates, send them forth to labor and you
will thus humble the proud traitors.”
Thaddeus Steven, in Congress, 1867
“I am for Negro suffrage in every rebel
state. If it be just, it should not be denied:
if it be necessary, it should be adopted: if it
be a punishment of traitors, they deserve
it.”
Quotes of Radicals
As southern states were restored to the Union under
President Johnson’s plan, they began to enact Black
Codes, laws that restricted freedmen’s rights.
The Black Codes established virtual slavery with
provisions such as these:
Curfews: Generally, black people could not gather after
sunset.
Vagrancy laws: Freedmen convicted of vagrancy– that is,
not working– could be fined, whipped, or sold for a year’s
labor.
Labor contracts: Freedmen had to sign agreements in
January for a year of work. Those who quit in the middle of a
contract often lost all the wages they had earned.
Land restrictions: Freed people could rent land or homes
only in rural areas. This restriction forced them to live on
plantations.
Mississippi Governor, 1866:
“The Negro is free”
“Whether we like it or not; we must
realize that fact now and forever.
To be free, however, does not make
him a citizen or entitle him to
social or political equality with the
white man.”
Gov of Miss
St. Landry’s Parish,
Louisiana, 1865
Section 1: Be it ordained by the police
jury of parish of St. Landry, That no
negro shall be allowed to pass within
the limits of said parish without a
special permit in writing from his
employer. Whoever shall violate this
provision shall pay a fine of $2.50, or
in default thereof shall be forced to
work four days on the public road or
suffer corporeal punishment.
Black codes 2
St. Landry’s Parish,
Louisiana, 1865
Section 2: Be it ordained: That every
Negro who shall be found absent from
the residence of his employer after 10
o’clock at night, without a written
permit from him employer, shall pay a
fine of $5.00, or in default thereof,
shall be compelled to work 5 days on
the public road or suffer corporeal
punishment.
Black codes 2
St. Landry’s Parish,
Louisiana, 1865
Section 3: Be it further ordained, That
no Negro shall be be permitted to rent
or keep a house within said parish.
Any Negro violating this provision
shall be immediately ejected and
compelled to find an employer; and
any who shall rent, or give the use of
the any house to any Negro, in
violation of this section, shall pay a
fine of $5.00 for each offence.
Black codes 3
St. Landry’s Parish,
Louisiana, 1865
Section 4: Be it further ordained,
No Negroes shall be allowed to
congregate in public meetings
between the hours of sunset to sunrise
and by special permission of the police
chief may a public meeting of Negroes
occur. However, church services are
not included in this law. Pay a fine of
$5.00, work 5 days on the road crew
or receive corporeal punishment
Black codes 3
St. Landry’s Parish,
Louisiana, 1865
Section 5: Be it ordained, No Negro
who is not in the military service shall
be allowed to carry firearms, or any
kind of weapons, within said parish,
without the special written permission
of his employers. Subject to $5.00
fine, road work or corporeal
punishment.
St. Landry’s Parish,
Louisiana, 1865
Section 6: Be it ordained, That it shall
be the duty of every citizen to act as a
police officer for the detection of
offences and the apprehension of
offenders, who shall be immediately
handed over to the proper police
officer or captain.
•President Johnson
vetoed the Civil Rights
Act of 1866 which:
•Gave $$$$ to Freedmen’s Bureau
for schools and granted
citizenship to the Freedmen
•Congress believed
Johnson was working
against Reconstruction
and overrode his veto.
•Pres. Johnson
impeached
•Led to the 14th
Amendment
An inflexible President, 1866: Republican cartoon
shows Johnson knocking Blacks of the Freedmen’s
Bureau by his veto. Johnson’s Veto
Impeachment: Bringing charges against
the President. Two steps involved……
1st Step: U. S. House of Representatives hold
hearings to decide if there are crimes committed.
They then vote on the charges and if there is a
majority, then, charges are brought against the
President.
2nd Step: U.S. Senate becomes a courtroom.
The President is tried for the charges brought
against him. The Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court is the judge. Once trial is completed,
Senators must vote to remove President with a
2/3’s vote.
Impeachment process
Brought up on 11
charges of high crimes
and misdemeanors.
Tenure of Office Act:
Law Congress passed.
President can’t fire any
of his cabinet members
without consulting
Congress.
 Presidency would suffer as
fired Edwin Stanton
a result of this failed
Missed being removed
impeachment.
from office by 1 vote
 President would be more of
a figure-head.
 Saved the separation of
powers of 3 branches govt.
Once
Johnson is
impeached,
Congress passes
Reconstruction Act
of 1867.
The
South would
be reconstructed
under the Radical
Republicans plan.
Republicans
would elect Grant
as their President
and he would carry
out the Radical
Reconstruction.
“The Strong
Government”,
1869-1877. Grant
enforcing the
Reconstruction Act
of 1867 and
“forcing” the South
to change.
Civil
Rights: What Blacks want
•13th Amendment
Abolished slavery
(1865)
•14th Amendment
Provided citizenship &
equal protection under
the law. (1868)
•15th Amendment
Provided the right to
vote for all men which
included white and
black men. (1870)
Giving Voting
therights
Black man the right to vote was truly
revolutionary……..A victory for democracy!
The 14th and 15th Amendments
In 1867 and 1869 Congress passed the 14th and 15th
Amendments, granting African American males
citizenship, equality under the law and the right to vote.
In 1867 and 1868, voters in southern states chose
delegates to draft new state constitutions. One quarter of
the delegates elected were black.
The new state constitutions guaranteed civil rights,
allowed poor people to hold political office, and set up a
system of public schools and orphanages.
In 1870, southern black men voted in legislative elections
for the first time. More than 600 African Americans were
elected to state legislatures, Louisiana gained a black
governor, and Hiram Revels of Mississippi became the
first African American elected to the Senate.
•Women rights
supporters refused
to support the 14th
Amendment giving
African American
Men citizenship
unless women were
added to it.
•Abolitionists would
not support
women’s rights
Abolitionists vs Women’s rights
“All persons born in the U.S. are
citizens of this country and the state
they reside in. No state shall make or
enforce any law which deprives any
person of life, liberty, or property,
without due process of law, nor deny
to any person within its jurisdiction to
the equal protection of the laws.”
The Congress shall have power to
enforce by appropriate legislation, the
provisions of this article.
14th
14th: Rights of
Citizens
“The right of citizens of the United
States to vote shall not be denied or
abridged by the United States or by
any State on account of race, color, or
previous condition of servitude”.
The Congress shall have power to
enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
14th
15th: Voting Rights
First Black
Senators and
representatives
in the 42st and
42nd Congress.
Senator Hiram
Revels, on the
left was elected
in 1870 to
replace the seat
vacated by
Jefferson Davis.
Black Congressmen
The Taste of Freedom
Freedom of movement: Enslaved people often walked
away from plantations upon hearing that the Union
army was near.
 Exodusters: moved to Kansas and Texas
Freedom to own land: Proposals to give white-owned
land to freed people got little support from the
government. Unofficial land redistribution did take
place, however.
Freedom to worship: African Americans formed their
own churches and started mutual aid societies,
debating clubs, drama societies, and trade
associations.
Freedom to learn: Between 1865 and 1870, black
educators founded 30 African American colleges.
“I felt like a bird out of a cage.
Amen. Amen. Amen. I could
hardly ask to feel any better
than I did that day…….The
week passed off in a blaze of
glory “Men are taking their
emancipation
wives and children, families
which had been for a long time
broken up are united and oh!
Such happiness. I am glad I am
here.”
“The end of the war, it come just
like that---like you snap your
fingers….Soldiers, all of a sudden,
was everywhere---coming in
bunches, crossing and walking and
riding. Everyone was a-singing.
We was all walking on golden
clouds. Hallelujah! Everybody
emancipation
went wild. We all felt like heroes,
and nobody had made us that way
but ourselves. We was free. Just
like that, we was free.”
emancipation
“Right off colored folks
started on the move,
recalled a freedman.
“They seemed to want to
get closer to freedom, so
they’d know what it was--like it was a place or a
city.”
No more auction block for me…No more, No
more…No more auction block for me…Many
thousand gone..
No more auction block for me…No more, no
more…No more auction block, whiplash for
me…Many thousand gone….
An oh, the one thing…That we did wrong…No
more, no more…Staying in the wilderness…A day
too long…No more, no more…
And oh, the one thing..That we did right..Oh yes,
oh yes… Was the day….That we began to
fight…Oh yes, oh yes….. My Lord….
And it’s no more auction block for me….No more,
no more, no more…Auction block for me….Many,
many thousand gone…...
1865, Congress created the Freedman’s
Bureau to help former slaves get a new
start in life. This was the first major relief
agency in United States history.
Bureau’s Accomplishments
Built thousands of schools to educate Blacks.
Former slaves rushed to get an education for
themselves and their children.
Education was difficult and dangerous to gain.
Southerners hated the idea that Freedmen
would go to school.
Letter by a Teacher teaching freedmen
on the importance of education, 1869:
“It is surprising to me to see the amount of
suffering which many of the people endure
for the sake of sending their children to
school. Men get very low wages here---from
$2.50 to $8.00 month usually, while a first
rate hand may get $10.00, and a peck or two
of meal per week for rations-----and a great
many men cannot get work at all.
The women take in sewing and washing, go
out by day to sour, etc. There is one woman
who supports three children and keeps them
at school; she says, “ I don’t care how hard I
has to work, if I can only send Sallie and the
boys to school looking respectable.”
Importance of Educ to freedmen
Freedmen’s Bureau 3
Freedmen’s
Bureau 4
Freedmen’s Bureau 5
Letter to the Editor of the National Era
Creswell, Texas, November 29, 1867
W.V. Tunstall, School Board, Houston, Texas
Letter for teachers 1
To the Editor:
We need immediately 500 teachers for colored
schools in Texas. The colored people in this state
cannot supply the demand. There are but a few
white Republicans who can engage in the
profession of teaching and Rebels (Southern whites)
will not teach them.
Therefore, our only prospect is to get teachers
among the educated colored people of the North or
Christian white people who are willing to endure
privations among the heartless whites of the “sunny
South.” The late elections have opened the South, I
trust, for the introduction of civilization. Send us
teachers…….
Forsyth, Georgia, July 22, 1867
Dear Sir,
I write to inform you of a most cowardly outrage that
took place last Saturday night. Our teacher whom
we have employed here was shot down by a crowd
of Rebel Ruffians for no other cause than teaching
school. General, this is the second teacher that has
been assaulted.
The rebels make their brags to kill every Yankee
teacher that they find. We do not know what we may
do if the military does not assist us. The Freedmen
are much excited at such an outrage.
George H. Clower, William Wilkes, Freedmen
Military
Reconstructio
n
Each number indicates the
Military Districts
New
South
New South
•Becomes
industrialized
•Cities rebuilt
•Railroads
•Schools, over
a thousand
•Hospitals, 45
in 14 states
•Diversify
economy.
Funding Reconstruction
Rebuilding the South’s infrastructure, the public
property and services that a society uses, was one giant
business opportunity.
Roads, bridges, canals, railroads, and telegraph lines had
to be rebuilt.
Funds were also needed to expand services to southern
citizens. Following the North’s example, all southern
states created public school systems by 1872.
Congress, private investors, and heavy taxes paid for
Reconstruction. Spending by Reconstruction legislatures
added another $130 million to southern debt.