RECONSTRUCTION
12/15/14
THE DEFEATED SOUTH
 The south paid a high price, physically and psychologically
 Much of the south was in ruins
 Cotton and slaves were no longer their commodities
 It would take a generation to overcome these difficulties
 Overcoming emancipation was the hardest
LINCOLN’S PLAN
 Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction of December 1863
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Granted full pardon
Respected their land and property except for the slaves
Oath of allegiance to the United States
Following the Emancipation Proclamation
If 10% of the voting population in the election of 1860 fulfills these
requirements, then the state could be reinstated into the union
RADICAL REPUBLICANS
 Wade-Davis Bill
• Required 50% of the seceding state’s white male citizens to take a
loyalty oath before elections could be held for a convention to rewrite
their state constitutions
• Allowed equality for former slaves
• Saw this as an opportunity to transform the south
 Lincoln pocket-vetoed this bill by refusing to sign it within ten
days of the adjournment of Congress
PLANS INTO ACTION
 Union soldiers were occupying the south improvising on what to
do with the land
 General Sherman ordered the Special Field Order 15 that set aside
abandoned land for the freedmen
 Freedmen’s Bureau: agency established by Congress in March 1865
to provide social, educational, and economic services to former salves
and destitute whites
JOHNSON’S PLAN
 Johnson wanted to indict the Confederate officials for treason,
disfranchising them, and confiscating their property
 In 1865, Johnson granted amnesty and pardon including
restoration of property rights except for slaves, all confederates had
to pledge allegiance and support emancipation
CONGRESS’ ACTIONS
 Congress wanted to take matters into their own hands and passed
the Civil Rights Act which essentially allowed citizenship to former
slaves
 They also increased the funding and actions of the Freedmen’s
Bureau
 Johnson vetoed both laws
 Congress created the 14th amendment which allowed citizenship to
former slaves
FEDERAL CONFLICT
 Reconstruction Act: 1867 act that divided the south into five
military districts subject to martial law
 Tenure of Office Act: act stating that any officeholder appointed
by the president with the Senate's advice and consent could be
removed until the Senate approved a successor
 Johnson replaced secretary of defense with General Grant
 Congress moved to have him impeached
IMPEACHMENT
 formal process in which an official is accused of unlawful activity,
the outcome of which, depending on the country, may include the
removal of that official from office as well as criminal or civil
punishment.
 Johnson was one vote shy of having to be removed from office
 This established that they could no longer impeach a president
solely on his opinion on a political matter
ELECTION OF 1868
 Grant was nominated by Republicans, Seymour was nominated by
Democrats
 Ku Klux Klan was created to help the democrats win the election
 Grant won the electoral college by a lot but only slightly won the
popular vote
END OF RECONSTRUCTION
 Congress passed the 15th amendment in 1869 which gave African
Americans the right to vote
 The last three states: Texas, Virginia, and Mississippi had to accept
the fifteenth amendment as well and they were entered in to the union
making reconstruction complete