Reconstruction
CHAPTER 18
Radical Republican
Congressman who favored
using federal power to rebuild
the South and promote AfricanAmerican rights.
Reconstruction
Period from 1865 to 1877 in
which the U.S. government
attempted to rebuild Southern
society and governments.
Freedmen’s Bureau
Federal agency setup to help
former enslaved people.
Andrew Johnson
Democrat who became president after
Lincoln was assassinated.
Black Codes
Laws that limited the freedom of
former enslaved people.
Fourteenth Amendment
Constitutional amendment that made all
people born in the U.S. (including former
slaves) citizens.
Scalawag
White Southerner who supported Radical
Reconstruction
Carpetbagger
Northerner who went to the South
after the Civil War to participate in
Reconstruction
Amnesty
Official pardon
Impeach
To formally accuse the president of
misconduct in office.
Veto
To prevent from becoming law.
One American’s Story
1) Thaddeus Stevens was a Pennsylvania
congressman who became a leader of the
Radical Republicans.
2) This group wanted to use federal power to
promote full citizenship in the South for Freed
African Americans.
Reconstruction Begins
1) After the Civil War ended, the South faced the challenge of building a new
society not based on slavery.
2) Reconstruction lasted from 1865-1877
3) Lincoln promised to reunify the nation before he died and planned to quickly
reinstate the Southern states
4) The president established the Freedmen’s Bureau. This federal agency set up
schools and hospitals for African Americans and distributed clothes, food, and
fuel.
5) When Lincoln was killed, Andrew Johnson became president. Johnson was a
Democrat.
6) Johnson tried to take over where Lincoln left off, but his views were slightly
different.
Rebuilding Brings Conflict
1) Some Southern states set up governments exactly like
they were before the war. Others refused to ratify the
Thirteenth Amendment.
2) Southern states passed laws, known as black codes,
which limited the freedom of former slaves.
3) Congress refused to seat representatives from the South.
4) The Radical Republicans wanted the federal government
to play an active role in remaking Southern society.
The Civil Rights Act
1) Congress passed a bill promoting civil rights. They
declared that all persons born in the United States were
citizens. All citizens were entitled to equal rights regardless
of their race.
2) Republicans were shocked when President Johnson
vetoed the bill. Congress voted to override Johnson’s veto.
The Fourteenth Amendment
1) Republicans wanted equality to be protected by the Constitution so they
proposed the Fourteenth Amendment.
2) Johnson refused to support the amendment and so did every former
Confederate state except Tennessee.
3) From this point on Congress controlled Reconstruction because the South was
trying to stop everything that needed to be done to fix the Nation.
4) Before Southern states could reenter the Union they would have to do two
things:
1: They must allow African American men the right to vote.
2: They must ratify the Fourteenth Amendment.
The New Southern Governments
1) Southern voters chose delegates to draft their new state
constitutions.
2) Three-fourths were poor white southern farmers (scalawags).
They were angry at planters for starting the “rich man’s war”, they
went along with Radical Reconstruction.
3) Another one-fourth of the delegates were carpetbaggers-white
Northerners.
4) African Americans made up the rest of the delegates.
5) African Americans began to serve in state legislatures and
congress.
Johnson is Impeached
1) Johnson fought against many of Congress’s reform efforts
during Reconstruction.
2) Congress had passed an Act which prohibited the
president from firing government officials without the
Senate’s approval.
3) Johnson fired his secretary of war Edwin Stanton.
4) Because of this the House of Representatives voted to
impeach the president.
Freedmen’s School
School set up to educate newly freed
African Americans
Sharecropping
System under which landowners gave poor
farmers seed, tools, and land to cultivate in
exchange for part of their harvest.
Ku Klux Klan
Secret group that used violence to try
to restore Democratic control of the
South and keep African Americans
powerless.
One American’s Story
1) Mill and Jule saw a fleet of Union
gunboats going up the Mississippi river.
2) They got on the boats and cheered for
the soldiers and the government.
Responding to Freedom
1) Many African Americans began to travel once they became free.
Some went looking for their place of birth and others looked for
economic opportunities.
2) Some African Americans went looking for their families and the
Freemen’s Bureau helped them place advertisements in the
newspapers.
3) Freedom allowed African Americans to strengthen their family
ties.
Starting Schools
1) Children and adults flocked to freedmen’s schools
started by the Freemen’s Bureau
2) After the war, African-American groups raised
more than $1 million for education. Freedmen’s
Bureau spent $5 million for education.
3) White racists killed teachers and burned
freedmen’s schools in some parts of the South.
40 Acres and a Mule
1) Freed people wanted to own land
2) William T. Sherman suggested that South Carolina be split into 40acre parcels and given to freedmen. The rumor spread that all
freedmen would get 40 acres and a mule.
3) Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner proposed a plan that
would have taken land from plantation owners and given to freed
people.
4) There were people for it and against this plan but in the end it did
not get passed by Congress.
The Contract System
1) Without their own property, many African
Americans returned to work on plantations.
2) Planters still needed cotton to be picked and
desperately needed workers. African Americans
were able to choose the best contract offers.
3) Even the best contracts paid very low wages.
Sharecropping and Debt
1) Under the sharecropping system, a worker rented a plot
of land to farm. The land owner provided the tools, seed,
and housing.
2) Farmers wanted to grow crops to feed their families, but
landowners needed them to grow cash crops.
3) White farmers also became sharecroppers because they
had lost land in the war.
4) After the war the price of cotton went down.
The Ku Klux Klan
1) African Americans in the South also faced violent racism. Many
planters and former Confederate soldiers formed a secret group
called the Ku Klux Klan.
2) The Klan attacked African Americans. Often it targeted those who
owned land or became prosperous.
3) Victims had little protection because the authorities ignored the
violence.
4) The Klan’s terrorism helped the Democratic Part by keeping
Republicans away from voting.
Fifteenth Amendment
Constitutional amendment that stated that
citizens could not be stopped from voting “ on
account of race, color, or previous condition of
servitude”.
Panic of 1873
Financial panic in which banks closed
and the stock market crashed.
Compromise of 1877
Agreement that decided the 1876
presidential election.
Stock market
Place where shares of ownership in
companies are bought and sold.
Depression
Time of low business activity and high
unemployment.
One American’s Story
1) Robert E. Elliott made a speech in favor of a
civil rights bill that would outlaw racial
discrimination in public service.
2) In 1877 federal troops left the South. White
Southerners took back control of the region
and forced African Americans out of office.
The Election of Grant
1) The Republican party seemed
stronger than ever. General Ulysses S.
Grant won the presidency.
2) Grant would have had trouble
winning without the freedmen’s vote.
The Fifteenth Amendment
1) Citizens could not be stopped from
voting because of their race. (men only)
2) The Fifteenth Amendment did not
apply to women.
Grant Fights the Klan
1) Grant asked Congress to pass a tough
law against the Klan.
2) Congress passed the anti-Klan bill and
thousands of Klansmen were arrested.
Scandal and Panic Weaken Republicans
1) With Grant as president, Reconstruction began to weaken because
of scandals and financial panic.
2) Grant did not pick his advisers well. (cronyism)
3) Many Republicans broke away and formed a new party.
4) Panic swept the country after a few powerful banks ran out of
money
5) Many Americans blamed the crisis on the Republicans because
they were in power at the time.
6) Nation was losing interest in Reconstruction.
Supreme Court Reversals
1) The Supreme Court began to undo some of the
changes that had been made in the South.
2) Court ruled that the federal government could not
punish people who violated the civil rights of African
Americans
3) Court ruled that the Fifteenth Amendment did not
give everyone the right to vote, it just lists ways states
cannot deny the vote.
Reconstruction Ends
1) Compromise of 1877, Hayes became
president, but needed to give up certain things
mainly removal of troops from the South
2) Many doubted that the South would respect
black rights.
3) Democrats returned to power in the South
after Reconstruction governments collapsed.
The legacy of Reconstruction
1) The nation did rebuild and reunite, but did not achieve
equality for African Americans.
2) African Americans could now vote and hold public office,
but many did not take part in politics.
3) civil rights became part of the U.S. Constitution, the two
amendments paved way for civil rights laws in the 20th
century.
4) Reconstruction changed society.