RECONSTRUCTION: Rebuilding America AFTER the Civil War
My Reconstruction Plan
In this section, pretend you are Vice President
Andrew Johnson. The Civil War had just ended and
the president before you, Abraham Lincoln, has just
been assassinated, or killed. Now YOU are the
President of the United States and YOU have to help
plan the Reconstruction of the United States. You are
the leader of the country, and the country needs
rebuilding and healing from 4 years of bloody war
and a bitter fight about the issue of slavery. One
million Americans have been killed or hurt in the war,
families have been separated and jobs have been
lost. The North is angry at the Confederate states,
but as the President you have to help them recover
and rejoin the Union. What is your Reconstruction
plan? Write at least 5 things you plan to do…
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
President Andrew John’s Plan
p. 517
Vocabulary:
- abolish= to end
- Union= the North states
- Confederate= the South states
- Amendment= a law added to the Constitution
- Constitution= the laws of the United States
- Congress= government leaders in D.C.
1. What was one of the first steps toward
Reconstruction after the end of the Civil War?
To end slavery
2. What did the 13th Amendment do?
Abolished, or ended, slavery in the United States
3. What was Johnson’s plan to readmit (or allow)
Confederate states to rejoin the Union?
Each state had to form a new government and
promise to treat African Americans fairly
4. Under Johnson’s plan though, Southern states
could pass laws called black codes.
The Black Codes said:
- African American men did not have the right
to vote
- African Americans could not own guns or land
- They could not take certain jobs
5. How did Congress feel about the black codes?
angry
6. What did Congress think about Johnson’s
Reconstruction plan?
That it was too easy on the South
7. So…members of Congress began to make a new
Reconstruction plan.
Congress’ Reconstruction Plan
p. 518-519
1. Under Congress’ Reconstruction Plan of 1867,
20,000 federal troops were sent to the South.
What were the troops responsible for?
Keeping law & order; preventing discrimination
against African Americans
2. What was the Freedmen’s Bureau?
An organization to help former slaves (find jobs,
homes…)
3. The Freedmen’s Bureau was important because it
helped build hospitals and schools for blacks in
the South.
4. For the first time in United States history, African
Americans became elected officials. Elected
officials are government leaders chosen by the
people to lead.
5. How did many white Southerners feel about
Congress’ Reconstruction plan?
They did not like it, they called Northerners
“carpetbaggers,” and they did not like the high
taxes
6. What did a group of white Southerners do after
the new state governments repealed, or ended,
the black codes?
They formed the Ku Klux Klan (KKK)
7. What did Klan members do to African Americans?
They burned African American homes & schools
8. (See p. 519) The Congress Reconstruction plan
said Confederate states had to accept two new
amendments in order to join the Union.
9. The Fourteenth Amendment said African
Americans…. are US citizens & have equal
protection under the law
10. The Fifteenth Amendment said African American
men….have the right to vote