By Miss O.
 January 1, 1863
 Executive order by
President Lincoln
 Freed all the slaves in the
southern states that had
“rebelled”
 After the Civil War, 3
amendments were
added to the
Constitution.
 Amendment = changes
to the Constitution
 1865
 Made slavery illegal anywhere in the United States or
its territories.
 1868
 Granted US
citizenship to anyone
born or naturalized in
the United States and
grants them equal
protection under the
law.
 All former slaves were
now US citizens with
rights.
 1870
 Guarantees the right
to vote to any US
citizen, regardless of
race or color, even if
he was a former
slaves.
 Re + construction
 re-building
 The years directly
after the Civil War
are called
“Reconstruction,”
because the South
was slowly being
“rebuilt.”
 Needed: housing,
education,
clothing, food,
and jobs
 No money
 Destroyed farms,
towns, and
businesses
 Government agency that tried to
help freed slaves, or freedmen.
 Provided food and medicine
 Started schools and sent
teachers to Virginia for the
children
 No jobs
 No training except for farming
 Plantation owners need help to replant large, ruined
fields
 No money to pay
the former slaves
 Freedmen and poor farmers
rented land from a landowner.
 Instead of paying money for rent,
they promised to pay the owner
with a share of the crop.
 At first, sharecropping seemed
like a good idea.
 Plantation owner was able to get
his farm planted and working
again.
 The sharecropper had a place to
live and could earn money from
farming.
 Problems between how much
“rent” was and how much the
crops were sold for.
 Find jobs in the
cities repairing
railroads, towns,
and bridges.
 Confederate money had




no value
Banks in the South had
closed.
Economy no longer had
slaves to rely on
Virginia would have to
build factories and shops
in the cities to get their
economy going in other
ways rather than just
farms.
More people moved to the
cities.
 Southern states did
not have legal
governments any more
 Disorganized
 Congress’ plan to bring
the South back into
the Union.
 Ban (end) slavery
 Each state had to rewrite their state constitution
 Give newly-freed African American men the right to
vote
 Ask to be re-admitted to the Union
 Took almost 5 years