Reconstruction:
A Failed Revolution
Thesis Statement
During Reconstruction, the federal government
missed a unique opportunity to radically
restructure southern society along more
egalitarian lines. While conditions for AfricanAmericans began to improve during
Reconstruction, many of their gains were
quickly erased during the “Jim Crow” period
that followed.
Presidential Reconstruction
Johnson
Lincoln

10% Plan…
90% could
refuse loyalty
oath

No loyalty oath
required
Opposed helping
former slaves
Both

•Wanted to go easy on the South… heal the wounds of the war as
fast as possible.
•Supported the 13th Amendment… Ended slavery everywhere
•Liberally issued pardons to former Confederates
•Believed Southern states had NOT actually left the Union…
therefore Reconstruction was primarily a military endeavor, and
should be under the control of the executive branch.
Radical Reconstruction
•
•
•
•
Harsh, punishing philosophy toward the South
Wanted more help for former slaves
50% Loyalty Oath
Wanted to strictly exclude former Confederates
from political office
• Military Reconstruction Act of 1867 (5 Military
Districts)
• Believed that southern states had committed
“state suicide” and had to re-apply for statehood
(therefore Reconstruction should be in the hands
of the legislative branch).
Thaddeus Stevens
Charles Sumner
Help for Freedmen






Freedmen’s Bureau... Help w/ schools,
labor contracts, etc.
Civil Rights Act of 1866… Granted
African-Americans citizenship & all
rights of citizens
14th Amendment... Citizenship for
African-Americans, “Equal Treatment
under the Law
15th Amendment: Right to vote can't be
denied by race
Klan Acts (Force Acts) of 1870 &
1871… Gave military authority to
target the KKK… forced it to be more
secretive
BUT… No land redistribution
Republican Governments in the South




Freedmen: Freed slaves
“Carpetbaggers:” Northern
migrants who moved South
to help freedmen, or exploit
economic & political
opportunities
“Scalawags:” White
southern Republicans
How well did they do?...
Probably no better or worse
than Democratic
governments.
Racist Political Cartoon Depicted
Republican Governments in the South
Sharecropping



Sharecropping:
Landowner provided
land, seeds, tools, and
lent $ for expenses in
exchange for a portion
of the crop
Tenant Farming:
Renting land
Debt Peonage: Both
systems usually trapped
poor farmers (white &
black)
Race & Sharecropping
Percentage of Sharecropped Farms
Slavery vs. Sharecropping
The “New South”
•Some
industrialization
begins to take place in
southern cities like
Birmingham, AL
•Much of the
economic growth was
financed by investors
& entrepreneurs from
the North (a.k.a.
“carpetbaggers”)
A Steel Manufacturer in Birmingham, Alabama
Social Change in the South
Freedom Schools
Thousands of African-Americans (young and old) flocked to schools created by
the Freedmen’s Bureau and by Republican state governments.
Illiteracy by Race
The Ku Klux Klan
• Founded in Tennessee in
1866
• Terrorized southern
blacks, and whites who
sympathized with them
• Largely (but temporarily)
eradicated after the antiKlan Acts of 1870 &
1871
• It re-emerges after the
Union army pulls out in
1877
Lynching
The Jim Crow Laws


Jim Crow Laws:
Segregated Blacks
& Whites in Public
Places
Plessey v. Ferguson
(1896)... “Separate
but Equal” does not
violate the 14th
Amendment
Voting Restrictions
Redeemers & the
“Solid South”…
Wanted to replace
Republican state
governments w/
Democratcontrolled white
supremacist govs.