What efforts were made
by Congress to acclimate
former slaves into a free
society?
How was racial equality
challenged during the
period of Reconstruction?
•Similar to Slave
Codes.
•Restricted the
freedom of movement.
•Limited their rights as
free people.
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.
•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)
VOTING
RIGHTS
Giving
the
Black man the right to vote was truly
revolutionary……..A victory for democracy!
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.
FREEDMEN’S BUREAU 3
FREEDMEN’S
BUREAU 4
1. Rise of the Ku Klux Klan
2. Jim Crow Laws
3. Compromise of 1877
KKK
Ku Klux Klan refers to
a secret society or an
inner circle
Organized in 1867, in
Polaski, Tennessee by
Nathan Bedford Forrest.
Represented the ghosts
of dead Confederate
soldiers
Disrupted
Reconstruction as much
as they could.
Opposed Republicans,
Carpetbaggers,
Scalawags and
Freedmen.
KKK
The Ku Klux Klan
The Klan sought to eliminate the Republican
Party in the South by intimidating voters.
They wanted to keep African Americans as
submissive laborers and keep them from
voting.
Prosperous African Americans, carpetbaggers,
and scalawags became their victims.
SOCIAL REALITY
After Reconstruction, 1865 to 1876, there
were several ways that Southern states
kept Blacks from voting and segregated,
or separating people by the color of their
skin in public facilities.
Jim Crow laws, laws at the local and state
level which segregated whites from blacks
and kept African Americans as 2nd class
citizens and from voting.
poll taxes
literacy tests
grandfather clause
SOCIAL REALITY
Poll Taxes: Before you could vote, you had
to pay taxes to vote. Most poor Blacks
could not pay the tax so they didn’t vote.
Literacy Test: You had to prove you could
read and write before you could vote….
Once again, most poor Blacks were not
literate.
Grandfather clause: If your grandfather
voted in the 1864 election than you could
vote…..Most Blacks did not vote in 1864, so
you couldn’t vote….
social reality
Goal: Take away
political and constitutional
rights guaranteed by
Constitution: Voting and
equality of all citizens
under the law.
Rutherford B. Hayes
Samuel Tilden
Hayes-Republican
Tilden-Democrat
Why would 3 southern states vote Republican? Something is
askew…
ELECTION OF 1876
• Originally LA, SC, and FL voted Democratic (Tilden)
• Congress declared that since those states did not
allow blacks to vote, that Congress would allocate
the electoral votes for them.
• Congress gave those electoral votes to the
Republican Party.
• Democrats freaked out!
• This led to the Compromise of 1877
COMPROMISE OF 1877
• The Democrats and Republicans work out a deal to
recognize Hayes as President
• In return, President Hayes must end Reconstruction
and pull the Union troops out of the South.
• Once this happens, there is no protection for the
Freedmen and the South will regain their states and
go back to the way it was… LED TO THE END OF
RECONSTRUCTION
SUCCESSES AND FAILURES OF
RECONSTRUCTION
Successes
Failures
Union is restored.
Many white southerners bitter
towards US govt & Republicans.
South’s economy grows and new
wealth is created in the North.
14th and 15th amendments
guarantee Blacks the rights of
citizenship, equal protection
under the law, and suffrage.
The South is slow to
industrialize.
After US troops are withdrawn,
southern state governments and
terrorist organizations effectively
deny Blacks the right to vote.
Freedmen’s Bureau and other
organizations help many black
families obtain housing, jobs,
and schooling.
Many black and white
southerners remain caught in a
cycle of poverty.
Southern states adopt a system of
mandatory education.
Racist attitudes toward African
Americans continue, in both the
South and the North.