What is reconstruction?
Reconstruction is to rebuild something that was
damaged or torn apart.
The period following the Civil War from 1865 to
1877 is called Reconstruction.
What was Reconstruction like?
• Many policies during Reconstruction were
harsh for the South.
• Reconstruction
attempted to give
meaning to the
freedom that former
enslaved African
Americans had
achieved.
• One way this was
accomplished was to
give African Americans
the right to vote.
• African Americans
were not only given the
right to vote, they
were also allowed to be
elected to public
office.
• The former
Military leaders in
the South were
not allowed to
hold public office.
Civil Rights Act of 1866
• The Civil Rights Act of 1866 was a federal law
that was intended to provide the freed slaves
with the full range of civil rights, it was a
major policy during Reconstruction.
• The Civil Rights Act also gave the Union Army
the power to occupy the South and make sure
that the new rules were followed.
Freedman’s Bureau
• The Freedman’s Bureau was created by Congress
in 1866 to provide education and medical care to
former slaves and to protect their legal rights.
Carpetbaggers
• Carpetbaggers were Northerners who came to
the South during Reconstruction to take
advantage of the people in the South. They were
called Carpetbaggers because many of them
carried bags made from old carpet. Southerners
disliked & resented them.
The End of Reconstruction
• Reconstruction ended in 1877.
• The compromise of 1877 was made to settle the 1876
election, it ended Reconstruction.
• Under the compromise Southern Democrats agreed to
acknowledge Rutherford B. Hayes as president.
• In return all Federal troops would be removed from the
South.
• There would be at least one Southern Democrat in
Hayes’ cabinet.
• Legislation to help industrialize the South.