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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.

Three Major Issues/Problems that the Federal
Government Must Address
1.
Southern Leadership – Those that Rebelled
2.
Re-admission of Southern States
3.
Freedmen
EQ: What steps should the federal Government take to
ensure a fair and stable re-building of the Union?
South after war 1
•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
= Promise not
Punishment
•Engaged in a power
struggle with Congress
over who would lead the
country through
Reconstruction.
John Picture background info
Lincoln/Johnson’s plan to readmit the
South was considered too gentle.
Amnesty: Presidential pardon
•Rebels sign an oath of allegiance
•10% of the population
•Even high ranking Confederate officials
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
Presidential Reconstruction
pardon
Plans compared
Reconstruction Act of 1867--76 (Harsh)
•Amnesty : Presidential pardon
•oath of allegiance---50%
•high ranking Confederate officials
•loose voting rights if you don’t sign oath
•Write new state Constitutions
•Ratify: 13, 14 & 15 Amendments
•reject secession and state’s rights
•submit to U.S. Government authority
•Help for Freedmen
•Freedmen’s Bureau for education
•Divide the South into 5 military districts until the
above provisions were met.
Charles Sumner
Thaddeus Stevens
•Wanted to the see the South punished for the
Civil War.
•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
•President Johnson
vetoed the Civil Rights
Act of 1866
•first United States
federal law to define US
citizenship and affirmed
that all citizens were
equally protected by
the law. It was mainly
intended to protect the
civil rights of AfricanAmericans
•Congress believed
Johnson was working
against Reconstruction
and overrode his veto
assuming full power
over Reconstruction.
An inflexible President, 1866: Republican cartoon
shows Johnson knocking over Blacks of the
Freedmen’s Bureau by hisJohnson’s
veto. Veto
Brought up on 11
charges of high crimes
and misdemeanors.
Tenure in Office Act:
Law Congress passed.
President can’t fire any
of his cabinet members
without consulting
Congress.
With Congress and the
President not getting
along…Congress brought
Johnson up on charges for
impeachment
fired Edwin Stanton
Missed being removed
from office by 1 vote