1863-1877
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/players/p1_01_qry.html
On what terms should the defeated
Confederacy be reunited with the Union?
Who should establish these terms, Congress
or the President?
What should be the place of the former slaves
in the political life of the South?
Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation
Proclamation of January 1863 making the
abolishment of slavery a war aim, allowing the
enlistment of black soldiers.
Two years later, Congress enacted and the states
ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, abolishing
slavery throughout the nation.
Without slavery, conflict erupted between blacks
seeking independence and whites wanting to hold
on to the old system of slavery
Blacks looked for separated family members,
established churches and schools, and demanded
equal civil and political rights
Some whites resorted to violence to suppress
blacks, while others concentrated rebuilding
Southern cities and honoring the Confederacy
Carpetbaggers: Northerners who carried their
possessions in a carpetbag, viewed the South
as the new frontier, provided support to
blacks.
Education improved greatly in the South for
both whites and blacks.
Teachers from the North traveled to teach in
schools built by the Freedmen’s Bureau.
--In 1865, Congress established the
Freedmen's Bureau to provide assistance
to former slaves.
Small percent of blacks received land because
--no land redistribution
--whites wouldn’t sell to blacks
While blacks still worked on land owned by whites,
they could now come and go as they pleased.
Women and children did not have to work in the
fields, which meant children could attend school.
Sharecropping arose where families rented portions
of a plantation
--blacks kept 1/3 to 1/2 of the crop for
themselves while the rest went to the
landowner
Urban population rose because cities provided
different opportunities for African Americans
--women worked as domestic servants
--men performed manual labors that whites did
not want to do
White southern planters were devastated
after the Civil War
-- The loss of slaves and investments in the
Confederacy forced many whites into poverty
 Widespread use of credit increased debt and
poverty among rural Southerners during the
Reconstruction era.
Lincoln's successor, Andrew Johnson, in 1865 put
into effect his own Reconstruction plan, which
gave the white South a free hand in establishing
new governments.
With Johnson’s policy,
legislatures passed the
Black Codes, severely
limiting the former slaves'
legal rights and economic
options.
Between 1866 and 1869, Congress enacted
new laws and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth
amendments, guaranteeing blacks' civil rights
and giving black men the right to vote.
In 1867, Congress enacted the Reconstruction
Act over Johnson's veto, placing the South
under temporary military rule, which brought
about Radical Reconstruction until 1877.
--This meant that states could no longer
restrict the right to vote because of race.
Former Confederate
states had to draft new
state constitutions that
granted former slaves
the rights of citizenship
In 1868, the election of
Ulysses S. Grant
guaranteed that
Reconstruction would
continue.
In the 1870s, violent protests from the South
and the retreat of Northern support marked
the ending of Reconstruction.
Secret societies sprang up in the South,
devoted to restoring white supremacy in
politics and social life. Most notorious was the
Ku Klux Klan, an organization of white men,
who assaulted and murdered African
Americans and their supporters.
The Klansmen would dress in
hooded robes to protect their
identity, and it represented the
ghosts of the Confederacy.
Northerners were growing tired
of Reconstruction. A depression
began in 1873, pushing
economic issues to the forefront
of politics.
Racism reasserted itself as an idealized view of
the South emerged, with industrious blacks
working under the supervision of benevolent
(kind) whites.
By 1876, Reconstruction had been
overthrown in all the Southern states except
South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida.
Republican Rutherford B. Hayes became
president, and he, in turn, recognized
Democratic control of the remaining Southern
states and promised to end federal
intervention in the South.
The Redeemers, Southern Democrats, now
ruled the entire South.
Reconstruction failed to resolve the issue of
race.
The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to
the Constitution served as the basis for a
“Second Reconstruction” That would renew
the drive to bring freedom and equality to all
Americans.