Reconstruction in Texas
What critical event occurred on
April 14, 1865 that changed the
course on American history?
5 days after Lee surrendered to Grant at
Appomattox, a southerner, John Wilkes
Booth, shot and killed President
Abraham Lincoln
• Lincoln had wanted southern
states to be quickly readmitted
into the Union and had a simple
plan for accomplishing that
objective.
Constitutional Changes after the
Civil War
• 13th Amendment-abolished slavery
Constitutional Changes after the
Civil War
14th
Amendment - extended citizenship
rights to former slaves and established
due process under the law
Constitutional Changes after the
Civil War
15th
Amendment-extended voting
rights to all males, including former
slaves, of voting age
RECONSTRUCTION TIMELINE IN TEXAS
DATE EVENT(s)
1865:
• Civil War Ends Freedman's
Bureau is established.
• Lincoln is assassinated.
• Thirteenth Amendment is ratified.
• June 19, 1865 was the
official date for Emancipation
of the slaves in Texas
• Former slaves were freed but had no education, no
jobs, no money, no houses, and most had no job
skills except farming.
• The Emancipation order suggested that the
Freedmen stay where they were and work for wages.
• There were several problems with this solution, not
the least of which was that many of the former
“masters” also had no money because they had
converted their wealth to Confederate dollars which
were no longer good currency. They had land, but no
way to farm the land and no way to pay taxes or
wages.
• As a result of Emancipation there were now over
186,000 former slaves who were free but with no
place to go.
Before the Civil War Southern Society was organized in a pyramid
Slave Owners
20% of pop.
Other white Southerners
80% of the white pop.
Slaves
1865 – 1867
Time period for Conservative Reconstruction
when the Lincoln/Johnson plan was put into
place to rebuild the government and readmit
former Confederate states to the Union as
quickly and easily as possible.
The Radical Republicans opposed this plan
and although many states were readmitted to
the Union when the Radicals took over
beginning in 1867, they began the period
known as Radical Reconstruction, a plan
designed to “punish” the South.
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1866:
Civil Rights Act is passed over Johnson's veto.
1867:
First Reconstruction Act.
Radical Reconstruction began in Texas with the
division of the South into five Military
Districts.
• Texas was in the 5th Military District. Martial law
was declared. U.S. soldiers were moved into the
South to “keep order” and all civil rights were
temporarily suspended. This angered many
former Confederates and created lots of hatred.
1868:
• Fourteenth Amendment is ratified. Ku Klux
Klan begins.
• An election was held based on the passage of
the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments. It was
Democrats vs. Republicans. The Democrats
represented the “Old South” and the
Republicans represented the Radical
Republicans who were running the government.
Because of the Ironclad Oath anyone who had
fought for or in any way supported the
Confederacy could not vote. In Texas there were
92,000 white males of voting age and most were
excluded from voting.
• Newly freed slaves and Northerners who had
come to the South dominated the voting. This
angered the Democrats.
• To take the Ironclad Oath, a person had to swear he had
never borne arms against the Union or supported the
Confederacy — that is, he had "never voluntarily borne
arms against the United States," had "voluntarily" given
"no aid, countenance, counsel or encouragement" to
persons in rebellion and had exercised or attempted to
exercise the functions of no office under the
Confederacy. Its unpopularity among ex-Confederates
led them to nickname the oath "The Damnesty Oath."
RECONSTRUCTION TIMELINE IN TEXAS
1870
• 15th Amendment is ratified
1868 – 1874
• Radical Republicans
controlled state government.
They wrote a Constitution, ratified
the 13th, 14th and 15th
Amendments and passed
the School Act.
• Some Freedmen were elected to public offices,
but most of the government and the voting was
still dominated by Whites, now from the North.
• The social pyramid had not changed much
(except for the names of the groups).
1874
• The “Old South”
Democrats got control
of state government
through elections
(sometimes using the Ku Klux Klan to scare away
Black voters). The U.S. government lost interest in
enforcing the Reconstruction Acts (Radical
Reconstruction). The Democrats wrote the Texas
Constitution of 1876 (which we still use today) and
made sure that the power of the state government
was limited.
1876
• Texas writes a new Constitution and is
readmitted with full rights as a state in the
United States
1881:
• Tuskeegee Institute is founded to educate
freedmen
1890-1900:
• Blacks are effectively deprived of the vote in
the South
1896:
• Plessy vs. Ferguson
legalizes segregation
throughout the U.S.
Richard
Coke
Dolph
Briscoe
1874 – 1979
• Democrats controlled
state government
No Republican governor
for 105 years!
Reconstruction in Texas – How did
they react?
• Complete the How Did They React?
Activity. As you review each points of the
two Reconstruction plans, decide how the
identified groups would react to this
provision and indicate with a happy face
or sad face
Complete the Free At Last Group
Simulation
RECONSTRUCTION VOCABULARY
• Review the vocabulary for homework for a
possible quiz