• Southern voters choose delegates to draft new
state Constitutions; all delegates were Republican.
• New State Constitution = Readmitted into U.S.
• Most of South was Democratic.
• Southern delegates chosen to write Constitutions
emerge from 3 groups:
• Poor, white farmers
• Carpetbaggers
• African-Americans
• Group #1: Poor, white Southern farmers
• Were labeled by Southern elite as “scalawags”
(scoundrels).
• Reason for Confederate Hostility:
• Angry @ Southern Democrats for starting “Rich Man’s
War”.
• Agreed to Radical Reconstruction = turning back on
Confederacy.
• Group #2: Carpetbaggers
• Reason for Confederate Hostility:
• Northerners who rushed to Southern states to be elected.
• Accused of looking for quick wealth.
• Accused of seeking easy political power.
• Group #3: African-Americans
• Reason for Confederate Hostility:
• Racist views held against them.
• Half of these delegates were free prior to war.
• Most were teachers or skilled workers.
• By 1870, all southern states have newly ratified
Constitutions and are admitted back in U.S.
• During Reconstruction:
• 700 African-Americans serve in southern state gov’t.
• 14 African-Americans serve as U.S. Representatives.
• 2 African-Americans serve as U.S. Senators.
• President Johnson had many conflicts with Radical
Republican over Reconstruction (14th Amend., Civil
Rights, etc.)
• Congress passes Tenure of Office Act (1867) =
President can’t fire gov’t employee with Senate
approval.
• President Johnson fires Secretary of War in 1868;
impeached* for ‘improper conduct while in office”.
• Impeach – to accuse of wrongdoing.
• President Johnson’s impeachment goes before
Senate for vote.
• Johnson avoids being removed from office by 1 vote.
1. What section of the country was mostly Democratic?
2. What is a “scalawag”?
3. Which group of delegates labeled the Civil War a “Rich
Man’s War?
4. What were two accusations made against
carpetbaggers?
5. During the Reconstruction era, how many AfricanAmericans were elected to the Senate?
6. What was the reason for President Johnson being
impeached?
7. How many votes did Johnson miss being impeached by?
• With newfound freedom, former slaves need to find the
following:
• Family
• Job
• House
• Education
• For first time, former slaves can:
• Reunite with family members
• Work for pay/not owner
• Marry legally
• Have children without fear of them being sold
• Travel across country
• Freedmen’s school are created to help educate former
slaves how to read/write.
• Adults attended classes; those who couldn’t were taught by
children who did.
• By 1869, 20% of Southern African-Americans could
read/write.
• 150,000 formers slaves were attending school.
• White southerners who opposed educating former slaves
would:
• Attack/kill Freedmen’s school teachers
• Burn class rooms/buildings where classes were taught
• Besides education, former slaves needed land to start a
new life.
• Economic freedom just as important as actual freedom
• Gen. Sherman suggested splitting Southern farmland into
40 acre plots (40 acres & a mule).
• Assign a plot of land to former slaves as a settlement for slavery.
• Sherman’s idea spreads as rumor, but isn’t passed by
Congress because:
• Felt that civil rights & voting rights were enough.
• Believed that plantation owners had a right to keep own land.
• Because workers are still needed for farm fields, a new
system is created for former slaves: contract system.
• Former slaves could work for pay by choosing which
contract/owner they liked best.
• Owners still abused system – paid former slaves very little for
work.
• With contracts taking advantage of former slaves, farmers
(and workers) turn to new system: sharecropping.
• Sharecropping system required:
• Workers (sharecroppers) “rent” land from farmers.
• Farmers provide land, tools, & seed for sharecroppers to use.
• Sharecroppers harvested crops and “shared” a portion of profits
with land owner as payment.
• Sharecropping had its share of negatives:
• Sharecroppers wanted to grow food to feed family; owners
wanted cash crops planted (cotton).
• Sharecroppers had to buy following on credit (@ inflated prices):
• Food
• Clothing
• Other goods
• Because they lacked money, most sharecroppers were stuck
in debt and couldn’t recover – stuck in poverty indefinitely.
1. Give 2 examples of freedoms that slaves had for the first
time after the Civil War had ended.
2. What was created to help teach former slaves how to
read & write?
3. What happened to Freedmen teachers?
4. Why did Congress refuse to give former slaves 40 acres
of land (2 reasons)?
5. How did owners abuse the contract system?
6. Explain how the sharecropping system worked and what
some negative effects were (4-5 sentences).
• Following the end of the Civil War, the rise of racist
feelings spawned a terrorist club in 1866: Ku Klux Klan
• The Klan was created to:
• Prevent the progress of rights for African-Americans.
• Restore Democratic control to the Southern states.
• By 1868, every southern state had a various groups of
Klan members.
• The Klan used various scare tactics to terrorize their targets
(African-Americans, white Republicans):
• Beat/tortured victims
• Burning crosses in yards
• Burned churches, schools, homes, & crosses
• Lynching's
• Targets of the Klan had little protection in the South.
• Southern military governors ignored Klan violence.
• Republicans shy away from polls (KKK violence) allowing
Democrats power to increase in South.
• Presidential election of 1868 brought a change to the U.S.
leadership: Ulysses S. Grant.
• Grant wins the election with the help of the freedmen vote
• 500,000 votes cast for Grant by former slaves
• Freedmen voted despite threats/violence from Klan
• Congress scrambles to protect votes of freedmen.
• Feared that southern Democrats would try to limit future freedmen
votes.
• Following Civil War, southern states passed series of laws
aimed at stopping blacks from voting.
• They included:
• Literacy tests
• Poll Taxes
• Grandfather Clause
• 3/5 Clause
• Radical Republicans propose a constitutional amendment
protecting voting rights for freedmen.
• The 15th Amendment is ratified in 1870.
• States: Citizens can’t be denied to vote “on account of race, color,
or previous condition of servitude”.
• The new amendment did NOT include:
• Native Americans
• Women (White, African-American, etc.)
• After the ratification of the 15th Amendment, Pres. Grant
went after the KKK.
• The anti-Klan bill was passed allowing federal marshals to
arrest thousands of Klansmen.
• Klan attacks on African-American voters declined.
• 1872 Presidential election was peaceful with Grant
winning a 2nd term.
• Early in Grant’s 2nd term, the Supreme Court begins to
undo progress made for civil rights for African-Americans.
• 2 separate cases create more violence towards AfricanAmericans in the South:
• U.S. v. Cruikshank
• U.S. v. Reese
• In U.S. v. Cruikshank, Supreme Court rules following:
• Federal gov’t can’t punish people who violate civil rights of
African-Americans; only states can punish offenders.
• As a result of ruling, violence against African-Americans increased.
• In U.S. v. Reese, the Supreme Court ruled the following:
• Southerners COULD restrict voting rights of African-Americans
• Stated that 15th Amend. did not grant everyone the right to vote;
only listed reasons why states could NOT prevent people from
voting.
• As a result, southern states continue to impose literacy tests and
poll taxes.
• Reconstruction essentially ends with 1876 Presidential
election: Samuel Tilden (D) vs. Rutherford Hayes (R)
• The election results came down to votes from 3 southern
states: SC, LA, FL.
• Vote was so close, that both Rep. & Dem. claimed victories;
both parties agree to compromise to end argument.
• Compromise of 1877 states:
• Hayes (R) would become President
• Hayes would appoint a Democrat to his cabinet
• U.S. gov’t would remove all troops from southern states
• U.S. gov’t would promote railroad expansion from South to West
Coast through land grants/loans
• Democrats would respect African-American civil rights.
• Reconstruction had a lasting impact of differing results:
• Positives:
• A nation brought back together. (+)
• 3 new amendments to Constitution outlining freedoms for
African-Americans. (+)
• African-American men granted right to vote (+)
• Negatives:
• Voting rights given, but not enforced consistently (-)
• Some civil rights agreed on, but reversed by Supreme Court (-)
• Violence against former slaves spreads due to continued racist
attitudes and terrorist groups (-)
1. Why was the KKK created (2 reasons)?
2. Name the two groups of people that were targeted by the
KKK.
3. What freedom did the 15th Amendment grant? Who was
NOT granted that freedom (2 groups)?
4. Why did violence against African-Americans increase in the
south following the U.S. v. Cruikshank ruling?
5. Why were literacy tests and poll taxes allowed to continue
in Southern states following the U.S. v. Reese ruling?
6. List a positive and a negative from the Reconstruction era.