The Basics of Reconstruction
United States after the Civil War
Journal
***Quiet for the music***
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What is “Reconstruction”? How did Lincoln
make readmission to the Union Easy?
Why didn’t Lincoln get to finish his plan?
Rewind Review
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Civil War ended
Emancipation of
slaves
Broke &
decimated south
Huge life loss on
both sides
Abraham Lincoln (4:46)
Lincoln Assassinated
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On April 14, 1865, five days after the war
ended Lincoln was assassinated while
attending a play at Ford’s Theater in
Washington D.C.
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John Wilkes Booth thought that killing
Lincoln would save the confederacy.
Fords Theater
John Wilkes Booth
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Gun that shot Lincoln
Reconstruction
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The time period after the Civil War is
known as Reconstruction.
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After the war the south needed to be
rebuilt due to total war.
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***Worksheet***
Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan
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In order for a Confederate state to rejoin
the Union they had to do the following:
Write a new state Constitution
Elect a new state government
Repeal the act of secession
Cancel all war debts against the Union
Ratify the 13th Amendment which
abolished slavery.
Freedmen’s Bureau
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A group that provided food & medical care
to blacks & whites living in the south.
The bureau was necessary b/c after the
war most slaves had no means to make a
living.
The Black Codes
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The black codes served three purposes.
1-To limit the rights of freedmen.
After the war former slaves were given the
right to marry, own property, work for
wages, & sue in court.
However they could not vote or serve on
juries in the South.
The Black Codes
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2-To help planters find workers to replace
their slaves.
These codes required freedmen to work.
If they did not have jobs they were
arrested and hired out to planters.
The Black Codes
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3-To keep freedmen at the bottom of the
social order in the South.
Segregation in public places
Civil Rights Act of 1866
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This act struck back at the Black Codes by
declaring all freedmen to be full citizens with the
same rights as whites.
To ensure this act was followed Congress
passed the 14th Amendment, which declared
former slaves to be citizens with full civil rights
“No state, shall…deny to any person…the equal
protection of the laws.”
15th Amendment
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This amendment stated that a citizen’s
right to vote “shall not be denied…on
account of race, color, or previous
condition of servitude.”
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Its purpose was to protect the right of
African American men to vote.
The Right to Vote?
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Southern states passed laws requiring
citizens who wanted to vote to pay a poll
tax.
The tax was set high enough so that many
African American living in the south could
not afford to pay.
The Right to Vote?
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Other Southern states required citizens to
pass literacy test to show they could read
before they could vote.
These test were set up to fail any African
America, regardless of his education.
The Right to Vote?
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Both of these laws applied to blacks and whites living in
the south.
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However, whites were excused for paying the poll tax or
taking literacy tests due to the “grandfather clause.”
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The clause stated taxes & tests did not apply to any man
whose father or grandfather could vote on January 1,
1867.
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Since no African Americans could vote on that date, the
clause only applied to whites.
Jim Crow Laws
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Laws enforcing segregation in public
places in the south after the civil war.