Topic 8.1-8.3
Reconstruction
1865-1877
“Reconstruction Plans”
1.1-1.4, 9.1
Atlanta Destruction (Present)
The Reconstruction Battle Begins:
Richmond in Ruin: (Below) T. Stephens: (Right)
 Reconstruction – The rebuilding
after the Civil War.
 Lincoln wanted a moderate
policy that would reconcile the
South with the Union instead of
punishing it for treason.
– Amnesty – pardon
 The South would gain 15 seats
in the House of
Representatives.
 Thaddeus Stevens – A radical
Republican who did not want to
reconcile with the South.
– “revolutionize Southern
institutions, habits, and
manners.”
The Reconstruction Battle Begins
 Radical Republicans – A
group of Republicans who

opposed Lincoln’s plan to
bring the South back into the 
Union. Wade-Davis Bill
– Wanted to prevent

Confederate leaders from
returning to power after 
the war.
– Wanted the Republican
Party to become powerful
in the South.
– Wanted the federal
government to help
African Americans gain
political equality by
guaranteeing their right
to vote in the South.
Moderate Republicans
Wanted to go “easy” on
south
Prevent future war
*Lincoln’s Ten Percent
Plan
– “Malice toward none”
The Reconstruction Battle Begins
 Freedmen - Freed
African Americans.
 Freedmen’s Bureau –
Bureau established by
Congress to help freed
African Americans
adjust to their new
freedom.

Some believed the freedmen
should be given confiscated
Confederate land, while others
felt it went against an individuals
property rights.
– Congress refused to support
land confiscation.
– Anti-freedmen cartoon
(below)
–
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/freed
mans-bureau.htm
Johnson Takes
Office
 Andrew Johnson: Did
 Black Codes – a series
of laws passed by
Southern legislatures,
which severely limited
African Americans’ rights
in the South.
 Civil Rights Act – 1866
law that granted
citizenship to all persons
born in the United States
except Native
Americans. Overturned
in 1875
 Fourteenth Amendment
– Amendment to the
Constitution that granted
citizenship to all persons
born or naturalized in the
United States.





not support 14th
Amendment
Radicals dislike him
Tenure of Office Act:
Radical Repub. Law to
“set-up” Johnson for
removal: Said that a
President could not fire
anyone w/o Congress
approval
Edwin Stanton: Sec. of
War fired by Johnson
Johnson impeached:
put on trial for crime of
breaking tenure of office
act
He avoided removal by
ONE vote!
Republicans Dominate Government
(Topic 8.2)
Anti-carpet bagger cartoon (Below): Which political party would have supported
this cartoon? Which symbol is a clue?
 Carpetbagger – Name
given to Northern
whites who moved to
the South after the war
and supported
Republicans.
– Many had moved to the
South to educate whites
and African Americans.
 Scalawag – Name
given by former
Confederates to
Southern whites who
supported Republican
Reconstruction of the
South.
Segregation and Integration
 SegregationSeparation of the
races
 Integration- Combining
the races
Republican Rule in the South
 Thousands of African
Americans took part in
governing the South.
 Most of the first elected
were educated in the
South.
 Joseph Rainey – First
African American
elected to the House of
Representatives. (Left)
 Hiram Revels – African
American elected to the
Senate.
 Even though African
Americans took part in
the government, they
did not control it.
Southern Resistance
 In 1870 and 1871 Congress passed three
Enforcement Acts.
– One act made it a federal crime to interfere with
a citizens right to vote. The second act placed
federal elections under the supervision of
federal marshals.
 Ku Klux Klan Act – Law that outlawed the
activities of the Ku Klux Klan.
Life During Reconstruction
 Tenant Farmers – Farmers who paid rent for
the land they farmed.
 Sharecroppers – Farmers who paid a share
of their crops to cover their rent and the
equipment they needed.
 Furnishing Merchant – Country stores and
local suppliers who provided sharecroppers
with their supplies.
Reconstruction’s Impact
Topic 8.3
 The Civil War
 The Return of
Amendments
Southern Political
Power
 13th- Abolished Slavery
 14th- Citizenship rights  Redeemers- Unite
white southerners to
for former slaves
regain political power
(anyone born or
naturalized in U.S.)
 Republicans- Lost
popularity in South
 15th- Voting Rights for
after a series of
African-American men
 Civil Rights Act of 1875- Africanscandals-Whisky
Americans could ride public transit
Scandal
Election of 1876
 Republican: Rutherford  Compromise of 1877
B. Hayes
 ***Hayes agreed to
 Democrat: Samuel
pull Union troops out of
Tilden
south if allowed to
serve as President
 ***Hayes lost popular
vote but won electoral
 Many early gains for
college
African-Americans
were lost over time
 De Jure SegregationUpheld by Law
 1896: Plessy v. Ferguson
 “Separate but Equal”
 #36. Popular votes?
 #37. Electoral votes?
Women’s Suffrage
• Susan B. Anthony: Felt
betrayed when 14th/15th
Amendments did not
include women- 1872:
Broke law by voting
illegally in New York
• Elizabeth Cady Stanton:
National Women’s
Suffrage Association
NWSA
Jim Crow Laws
• Jim Crow- Segregation Laws
• States’ Governments Limit Voting Rights
• Poll tax: people had to pay to register to vote (Georgia $12)
• Literacy tests: “Understanding” Tests
• Had to own property
• Grandfather clause: In Louisiana this clause allowed any
man to vote if he had an ancestor on the voting rolls in
1867, which made former slaves, and their decendants
ineligible to vote
• 1894: 130,000 Black Registered Voters in Louisiana
• 1904: 1,300 Black Registered Voters
Jim Crow and Limited Opportunity
African Americans Oppose Injustices
Ida B. Wells:
–Memphis Free Speech
–Anti-lynching
»Said it was greed not just racial
prejudice that led to the brutal acts
and violence
–Mob destroyed printing press of
Memphis Free Speech and drove Ida
from town
The “Early” Civil Rights
Movement
– A Call for Compromise
• Booker T. Washington: proposed that African Americans
concentrate on education and economic gains rather than
deal with politics
• Atlanta Compromise: Booker T. Washington wanted the
African American population to postpone the fight for
Civil Rights until they were prepared to full equality.
– A Voice of the Future
• W.E.B. Du Bois
– The Souls of Black Folk
– Promoting and protecting the voting rights of African
Americans was the only way to reach equality.
Booker T. Washington, W.E.B.
Dubois, Ida B. Wells