Chapter 8, Section 1
Identify the Terms:
-
the southern states returned to
political status as quickly as possible.
Reconstruction:
Era (1865-1877) after the Civil War
where the government struggled to
answer these questions:
1) how to return 11 states to the Union?
2) how to rebuild southern economy?
3) how to promote rights of former slaves?
o
-
-
o Put into place by Southerners to limit
the rights of African Americans and
keep them as landless workers.
o Certain occupations: servants or farm
laborers OR prohibition of owning
land OR jobless African Americans
could be thrown in jail.
o Enforced through violence and
intimidation.
Radical Republican:
o Congressmen who advocated full rights
for African Americans and harsh
punishment for the South.
-
Wade-Davis Bill:
o Passed by Radical Republicans in
Congress; majority of a state’s prewar
voters must swear loyalty to Union AND
guarantee of equality for African
Americans.
-
Freedmen’s Bureau:
o Lincoln DID support this RR ideal;
provided food, clothing, healthcare
and education for refugees of the
South.
o Also reunited families separated by the
war, and negotiated fair labor
contracts.
o Set a precedent that blacks had legal
rights.
-
Andrew Johnson:
o Lincoln’s vice-president who took over
after his assassination; wanted to see
Black codes:
-
Civil Rights Act of 1866:
o Federal guarantees of civil rights to
African Americans; meant to overturn
black codes. Vetoed by Johnson.
o First time Congress overturns a veto
w/two-thirds majority. Became a law.
-
Fourteenth Amendment:
o Passed by Radical Republican
Congress; guaranteed equality under
the law for all citizens.
-
Impeach:
o To charge a president with
wrongdoing whilst in office.
-
Fifteenth Amendment:
o Forbid states from denying suffrage on
the basis of race, color, or previous
servitude. Included northern states as
well.
Reconstruction Plans- whose idea? What did it propose? Evaluate the plan:
-
Ten Percent Plan:
o Lincoln felt sympathy for the South, even during the war.
o Plan required that 10% of a state’s voters took a loyalty oath to the Union in order to set up a new
government.
o Had to have a Constitution that abolished slavery and provided education for African Americans to be
represented in Congress.
o Possible compensation for lost property.
o Did not require political or social equality for African Americans.
-
Radical Republican Plan (although, not really a ‘plan’):
o Radical Republicans wanted full citizenship w/right to vote for African Americans.
o Punishment and harsh terms for the South.
o Confiscate Confederate land and give farms to freedmen.
 Actually turned out in the form of the Wade-Davis Bill
-
Johnson’s Plan:
o Each state ratify the 13th amendment and draft a Constitution that abolished slavery.
o Offered pardons and restoration of land to Confederates who swore allegiance.

Disliked the planter class though and wanted them to write him personally.
o Believed in a ‘government for white men’ (i.e. no equal rights for African Americans).
o Advocated states’ rights.
Concept Questions:
1) What were three major issues of Reconstruction?
a. How will southern states rejoin the Union?
b. How will the Southern economy be rebuilt?
c. What rights will African Americans have?
2) How did southern states try to re-establish conditions before the war?
-
Limited vote to white males, instituting black codes, ad launched a campaign of terror against African
Americans.
3) How did the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments extend the rights of African Americans?
-
Equal protection under the law (14th) and forbade the denial of suffrage based on race, color, and previous
servitude (15th)
4) Trace the major pieces of Reconstruction legislation that were put into place from 1865-1870.
-
Freedmen’s Bureau Acts (1865-1866) creation of the government agency that would help African
Americans.
-
Civil Rights Act of 1866
-
Reconstruction Act of 1867 divides Confederate states into 5 military districts
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Fourteenth Amendment (1868)
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Fifteenth Amendment (1870)
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Enforcement Act of 1870 prohibits voter intimidation- federal crime.