In 1865 the South lay in Ruin
1/5 of the South’s male
population had been killed
Southern Cities were in Shambles
Businesses and Factories
Destroyed
Much of the South’s Transportation
System was Destroyed
Reconstruction
The United States Attempts to
Rebuild after the Civil War
The South in Ruin
• By May of 1865 the last Confederate
forces had surrendered to the Union army.
• One fifth of the Southern male population
dies during the war.
• Farms and plantations were in desperate
shape as a result of the “total war” and
from neglect
• The South’s transportation system was
almost entirely destroyed.
Many Questions to Answer
• How will the former slave transition into free
society?
• How will the South react to free African
Americans in their society?
• What is the status of the Confederate states?
• How will southern states be brought back into
the Union?
• Should the Confederate states be forgiven or
punished?
Johnson takes over as President
• Andrew Johnson was
a slave owning
Democratic Senator
from Tennessee who
sided with the Union.
• Chosen to be
Lincoln’s V.P. to get
democratic votes in
the 1864 election
Johnson is Lenient on the South
• Against the wishes of the Republican Congress,
Johnson pardoned almost every planter and
former Confederate leader who applied. Many
states just reelected prewar leaders including 9
Confederate generals, two cabinet members
and the vice president of the Confederacy (all
were rejected by Congress). By the time
Congress reconvenes in 1865, Johnson had
readmitted all Confederate states but Texas.
13th and 14th Amendments
• 13th: 1865- Slavery
(involuntary servitude) will
not be allowed in any
U.S. territory
• 14th: 1868- Citizenship
extended to African
Americans. No state
shall deny any citizen life,
liberty, or property w/out
due process
15th Amendment
• 1869- No one shall be
denied the right to
vote based on skin
color
• Of course southern
states found many
ways to get around
this amendment
Republican Reconstruction Plan
• Military commanders placed in charge
of Confederate states
• States had to write new constitutions,
which had to be approved by
Congress
. Republican Reconstruction Plan
• All states trying to get back into
the Union had to ratify 14th
Amendment
• States had to guarantee freedom
to vote to all adult males
Johnson’s Impeachment (1868)
• Republicans impeach Andrew
Johnson
• His conviction fails by one vote
Republican Governments in the
South
• Carpetbaggers: Northerners who moved to
the South and gained political
appointments
• Scalawags: Southerners who worked with
the Republicans and supported
Reconstruction
Democrats Regain Control
• Democrats incited white Southerners
against African Americans
• They also accused Republican
governments of corruption and greed
Democrats Regain Control
• Southerners rig elections to help
Democrats win, and set up “black
codes” to keep African Americans in a
slave-like condition.
Democrats Regain Control
• In the election of 1876, Rutherford B.
Hayes is given the presidency as part of a
deal:
• Reconstruction ends, and troops are
removed from the South
Life After Slavery
• The newly freed slaves or “Freedmen”
now had freedom, but no food, shelter, job
or other necessities of life.
• What do you think about the “Freedmen”?
Freedmen Assignment
The “New” South
• Investing helps the South develop some
infrastructure and industry
• The South remains agricultural
• Tennant farmers: have to pay rent on the
land they farm
The “New” South
• Sharecroppers: pay a large portion of their
crop as rent
• African Americans lose most rights that
they had gained
Sharecropping
Changes for African Americans
• Among challenges, African Americans
flocked to schools and colleges. Despite
poverty for many freedmen, some opened
businesses and farmed their own land.
Southern Resistance to
Reconstruction
• Many in the South did not want to see the
equality of blacks. Since individual laws
were up to the states, states were able to
pass laws that helped to discriminate
against freedman.
Black Codes
• Laws passed to preserve the unequal
relationship between whites and blacks in
the South.
• Designed to keep freedmen in a slavelike
condition, and give planters a supply of
cheap labor.
The Ku Klux Klan
• Group of White citizens that terrorized
African Americans and Whites loyal to the
U.S. Government or sympathetic to
Freedmen.
• Often local officials would not prosecute
their violent crimes.
Reconstruction’s Legacy
• If the Civil War was fought over State’s Rights,
Reconstruction showed that idea had failed.
• Southern states resented government control for
10 years after the war, and continued for much
of the next century.
• Intensified hostilities of White southerners
towards the government.
• Women and Native Americans were
disappointed in being left out of rights passed on
to freedmen.
Let’s Revisit:
• How is the former slave transitioning into free
society?
• How did the South react to free African
Americans in their society?
• What is the status of the Confederate states post
Reconstruction?
• Were the Confederate states be forgiven or
punished?