Reconstruction
Reconstruction followed the Civil War. To “reconstruct” means to
rebuild. Imagine you had to rebuild the Union after the war. How
would you handle these issues?
1) How should Southern states be re-admitted to the Union?
2) Was it the President or Congress that had the power to set
conditions for their re-admission?
3)Should former Confederate leaders be permitted to participate in
public life, or should they be excluded or punished?
4) What will the position of the millions of former slaves or
freedmen be?
5)How can you rebuild the Southern economy?
Learning Objectives
Students will…
◦Relate to the struggles of the Reconstruction-era
government and predict its actions.
◦Compare and contrast the different plans for
Reconstruction.
◦Analyze the effects of the Reconstruction amendments.
Challenges of Reconstruction
South destroyed – farms burned, railroads ruined
Confederate money no longer held value
ALL OF THE QUESTIONS FROM YOUR BELLRINGER
Plans for Reconstruction
1865 – Freedmen’s Bureau
established
◦ Meant to help former slaves
adjust to freedom
10% Plan
◦ Endorsed by Lincoln – “with
malice toward none, with
charity for all”
◦ 10% of a state’s voters must
pledge allegiance to the Union
and accept the Emancipation
Proclamation
◦ Rejected by Congress
th
13
Amendment, 1865
Banned slavery throughout
the US!!
(amendment = change to
the Constitution)
Black Codes
Under Johnson, white Southerners became more daring – voted for many former Confederate
leaders
◦ Began to withhold rights to freedmen
Prevented freedmen from…
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Voting
Serving on juries
Testifying in court against whites
Holding office
Serving in state militias
Traveling freely
Leaving their jobs
Regulated marriage of freedmen
Florida Black Code
Section 2. In all criminal proceedings founded upon injury to a colored person, and in all cases
affecting the rights and remedies of colored persons, no person shall be incompetent to testify
as a witness on account of color; in all other cases, the testimony of colored persons shall be
excluded, unless made competent by future legislation. The jury shall judge the credibility of the
testimony.
Section 3. The Jurors of this State shall be white men, possessed of such qualifications as may be
prescribed by law.
Black Codes
Freedmen simply stayed at their plantations because they weren’t allowed to leave
Could still be whipped for being disrespectful to plantation owners
Essentially preserved the pre-Civil War Southern society!
Congressional Reaction
People in the North were furious because of the Black Codes and the representatives
Southerners had elected
Congress refused to accept the new Southern reps
Radical Republicans
◦ Believed the South should be punished for their actions
◦ Wanted African Americans to have complete and total equality
Civil Rights Act
Radical Republicans and moderate Republicans in Congress succeeded in passing a Civil Rights
Act
◦ Prohibited discrimination based on race
◦ Overturned Black Codes
◦ Made all people born in US citizens, INCLUDING FREEDMEN
th
14
Amendment
Afraid that the Supreme Court would get rid of the Civil Rights Act, Congress made it into an
amendment
Prohibits states from denying African Americans and other minorities the rights and privileges of
citizens
◦ Includes a fair trial and equal protection under the laws
In order to be accepted back into the Union, ALL Southern states had to ratify it
◦ Effect – shifted balance of power in Southern governments
Radical Republicans
Johnson didn’t like Congress’ Reconstruction plan, but most Northerners voted for Radical
Republicans
Radical Republicans got more seats in Congress and got the majority
◦ Made easier because many Southern states were still not being represented
◦ Were able to pass their own legislation
Decided they were going to divide South into five districts, each occupied by the Union army and
placed under martial law
Bellringer 9/11
On your index card, write a one-paragraph letter to a friend or family
member. You are a freedman. Express your emotions. What do you
feel? What do you think will happen? Will your situation change?
What are your plans on how to live?
Unit 1 Test
Tuesday 9/22
Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
Radical Republicans also passed Tenure of Office Act – made
it so that Johnson wasn’t allowed to fire his cabinet members
(advisors)
But…then he did anyway
Johnson was impeached – put on trial for disobeying the law
◦ Successfully impeached in the House but Senate only kept him in
office by one vote
th
15
Amendment
Banned states from denying the right to vote to anyone based on race or previous situation
(slavery)
President vs. Republicans vs. Congress
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nowsS7pMApI (first two minutes)
President Johnson
Who should control the
readmission of Southern
states?
When should Southern states
be readmitted?
Should Southern leaders be
punished?
Should the freed slaves be
entitled to vote?
Southern states
Radical Republicans
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to
the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the
State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law
which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the
United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or
property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within
its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” – excerpt of 14th amendment
1.
What is meant by “due process of the law?”
2.
What is meant by the “equal protection of the laws?”
3.
How do these concepts differ?
4.
How did this amendment overturn the earlier Dred Scott Supreme Court decision?
Reconstruction South
New Southern governments were elected
Carpetbaggers – poor Northern whites able to put all of their belongings
in a single bag
◦ Southerners disliked this group and believed they came to take advantage of
the South
◦ In reality, most of them wanted to help the freedmen
Scalawags – Southern whites who support Reconstruction
New African American voters!
◦ Some even held office
Reconstruction South
Hiram Rhodes Revels – first African American Congressman
Greatest accomplishments – public schools, laws against racial discrimination, and investment in
railroads
Greatest difficulties – not a lot of money
◦ Corruption
◦ Most white Southerners never came around, resented Northern interference, didn’t see freedmen as
equals
◦ …could Reconstruction continue once the North withdrew?
Reconstruction South
Plantation system couldn’t be maintained without
slavery
◦ Some landowners even had to sell off their property
Mostly, landowners began following a system of
sharecropping
◦ Freedmen (newly freed slaves) had no resources to
live on their own
◦ So landowners offered them a cabin, tools, and a
plot of land
◦ In exchange, the sharecropper/freedmen would turn
over a lot of their crop to the landowner
◦ Most freedmen entered into this system
Reconstruction South
Other freedmen became tenant farmers
◦ Rented land from the landowner but provided their own tools and provisions
Hardly any freedmen actually owned land themselves
If a sharecropper or a tenant farmer owed any money to the landowner, they couldn’t leave until
it was paid off – debt peonage
◦ Effectively, the freedmen could never pay off their debt and became stuck there
“The New South”
Some Southerners began to think ending slavery was good because it would force their economy
to diversify
◦ More manufacturing – railroads, cotton mills
◦ Different crops grown – vegetables, fruits (not just cotton!)
End of Reconstruction
None of the state governments under Reconstruction
lasted more than ten years
New President Hayes withdraws Northern troops
from Southern states
◦ Former Confederate leaders could now vote
◦ States quickly banned African Americans from voting or
participating in politics
Exit Slip – 9/11
Rate yourself 0-4
Burning Questions
Define the following terms in your own words:
Reconstruction
Radical Republicans
Sharecropping
Why did Reconstruction fail?
Legacy of racism
◦ White people were not ready to recognize African Americans were their equals
◦ Centuries of prejudice both in the North and the South
Economic dependence of African Americans
◦ Sharecroppers and tenant farmers were dependent on their former masters because they weren’t given
their own land
Freedmen lacked education and political experience
White terrorism
◦ Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and other racist groups threatened African Americans who tried to get involved in
politics and scared most away
Loss of Northern interest in Southern Reconstruction
Aftermath
Racial segregation and white supremacy became usual
African Americans were deprived of their basic political and civil rights
Period of racism and prejudice called the Nadir, or the low point, in American race relations
Aftermath
15th amendment had guaranteed African Americans the right to vote…but the South slowly took
these rights away
Armed groups openly threated violence to African Americans who tried to vote
Freedmen were stuck in the sharecropping system
Lynching became common – public hanging by a local mob without trial
◦ All police, juries, and judges were white
Anti-African American Legislation
White Southern legislators began passing laws that blocked African American rights without
actually violating the 14th and 15th amendments
Literacy tests – tests determined if someone could read and people had to pass to vote
◦ Very few African Americans could read because they had had no education
◦ Many white Southerners didn’t have to take these tests even if they couldn’t read
Poll taxes – special registration fees for voting
◦ Freedmen never really had money to spare
Grandfather clauses – people who had been qualified to vote before 1867 and their descendents
were allowed to vote without passing literacy tests or paying poll taxes
◦ Targeted freedmen because they couldn’t vote then
◦ White Southerners regained control of state governments and Congress representatives – Solid South
Jim Crow laws
Segregation laws – separated African Americans from white people
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Attended different schools
Rode on separate railroads
Ate in different restaurants
Used different bathrooms and water fountains
Sat on different public benches
Facilities given to African Americans were usually worse
Reinforced white racism, denied black citizens their equal rights and opportunities
White Southerners liked these laws because they were afraid of competition from black workers
and believed these laws kept freedmen “in their place”
Plessy vs. Ferguson
Homer Plessy, a black man, sat in a railroad car for white people
Arrested and went to court
Supreme Court found segregation LEGAL
“We cannot say that a law which requires the separation of two races is unreasonable. We
consider the error of Plessy’s argument to consist in the assumption that the enforced
separation of the two races stamps the colored race with a badge of inferiority.”
African American Response
Almost 2 million migrated North where there was less segregation
Stronger ties to community and church
Florida and Reconstruction
Less emphasis on cotton after Civil War – more citrus, vegetables, cattle, and tourism
Population was about half African Americans
African Americans became very active in Florida government at first
…but then Jim Crow appeared
◦ Literacy tests, poll taxes, violence
◦ Debt peonage
ESP Chart
E – Economics
◦ Trade
◦ Industry
◦ Economic systems
S – Social
◦ Culture
◦ Race relations
P – Politics
◦ Legal system
◦ Laws
◦ government
E
S
P
Bellringer 9/17
On the index card passed out to you, define the term you are assigned.
Include:
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Date (if applicable)
Significant people/groups of people involved (if applicable)
Causes
Definition/important events involved
Effects
Take out your ESP graphic organizer to be collected.
Announcements
TEST NEXT CLASS
Remember – turn in proof that you studied for 5 extra credit points (flashcards, study guide, etc)
First Binder check will be Monday during your test
◦ You should have the following
◦ 6 bellringers (8/28, 9/1, 9/3, 9/8, 9/10, 9/15)
◦ T-chart on advantages and disadvantages of North and South
◦ Mind map on causes of the Civil War
◦ 2 pg notes on Civil War
◦ 3 pg notes on Reconstruction
◦ Graphic organizer on Reconstruction plans
◦ ESP graphic organizer on Reconstruction
◦ At least one map test
Living Timeline
Using the vocab word you were given, put yourselves in
CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER (in order of time – what happens first,
next, last, etc.)
After you are all in the correct order, you will explain your event to
the class.
Discussion Questions
Can use bullet points
1. What do you believe was the most influential case of the Civil War? Why?
Provide DETAILS that support your answer. Choose from one of the following:
sectionalism, westward expansion, breakdown of compromise, states’ rights
2. Compare and contrast the following plans for Reconstruction: presidential
plan, congressional plan.
Exit Slip 9/17
Based on today’s review, what grade do you think you will get on the
test on Monday?