RECONSTRUCTION
ENDS
SWBAT: Explain how many freed
blacks in the South fell into an
exploitative system after the Civil War
Do Now
• Using the readings from your homework
assignment, discuss and complete the following
questions with your partner(s):
• What were three policies that the Radical
Republicans proposed for Reconstruction?
• What were two reasons why Andrew Johnson
opposed giving African Americans the right to
vote?
• Why was the Radical Republican plan for
Reconstruction considered “radical”? Do you
think it was “radical”?
Changing Views on Government
• When did most Americans
begin to believe the federal
government posed a threat
to civil liberties?
• Since the adoption of the
Bill of Rights!
• After the Reconstruction
Amendments, the federal
government provided &
protected civil liberties
• The Constitution went
beyond protecting
property rights
[The federal
government
has become]
the custodian
of freedom
Civil Rights Act of 1866
• Congress sought to reverse the Black
Codes with the Civil Rights Act of 1866
- federal law guaranteeing civil rights to
African Americans
Johnson vetoed the law
1st time Congress overrode President’s
veto
Impeachment
• Johnson vetoed Congress’ Reconstruction
Acts of 1867, but is overridden by
Congress
• To limit Johnson’s influence over
Reconstruction, Congress passes
the Tenure of Office Act
• Tenure of Office Act  The president cannot
remove certain office holders (e.g. cabinet
members) without the approval of Congress
• Johnson defies the act & removes his
Secretary of War
• Johnson is impeached, but not convicted
(ONE vote short!)
Election of 1868
• Grant won the popular vote by 300,000
votes
• Votes of 500,000 blacks gave the
Republican ticket its margin of victory!
“Carpetbaggers” and “Scalawags”
• Carpetbagger = Northerners who moved to
the South after the Civil War, during
Reconstruction
• Many carpetbaggers were said to have
moved South for their own financial &
political gains
• Scalawags were white Southerners who
cooperated politically with black freedmen &
Northern newcomers
Black Freedom
• Blacks took part
in political
meetings &
grassroots
gatherings
• Blacks ran for
political office
Black Freedom
• Black Officeholders
• Roughly 2,000 blacks held
public office during
Reconstruction
• Fourteen congressional
representatives
• Two black senators (both
from Mississippi)
• Hiram Rhodes Revels was the
1st!
• Only 7 others have been elected
since 1875
• Blacks served on juries
• The First Vote, Harper’s
Weekly, November 16,
1867
• How does this image
depict African
Americans?
• The voters represent
sources of black
leadership that emerged
during Reconstruction:
an artisan carrying his
tools, a well-dressed city
man (probably free
before the war), & the
soldier
Black Freedom
• Public Schools
• Most schools
segregated (Only in
New Orleans were
schools integrated
during
Reconstruction)
• The South’s old leaders
would soon not stand
for black freedom
• Describe
what you
see in this
picture
• What is
this a
picture of?
Sharecropping & Tenant Farming
• Under this system, black
families would rent small
plots of land, or shares, to
work themselves; in return,
they would give a portion of
their crop to the landowner at
the end of the year
• Farmers often lived in
poverty & usually ended up
in debt to the landowner
• Limited blacks’ & poor
whites’ access to land in the
South
Sharecropping
The Barrow Plantation- illustrates the effects of emancipation.
1860- slaves lived in communal quarters near owner’s house
1881- former slaves working as sharecroppers lived scattered across the
plantation and had their own church and school
“My boy, we’ve
toiled and taken
care of you long
enough – now
you’ve got to
work”
Harper’s Weekly,
July 29, 1865
Wrap Up
• In groups, take turns reading portions of “A
Sharecropping Contract”, then complete the
Guiding Questions together.
• We’ll review as a class.
RECONSTRUCTION
ENDS II
SWBAT: Determine whether
Reconstruction was a success or a failure?
Do Now
• In your own words, explain how
sharecropping exploited blacks in the
South during Reconstruction.
• How did this happen?
Overthrow of Reconstruction
• Much of the South opposed
Reconstruction & the new
state governments
• Declared governments to be
• Corrupt
• Examples of “black
supremacy”
• Tax heavy
• In order to restore white
supremacy, southerners
turned to violence
Ku Klux Klan
• Terrorist organization
founded in Tennessee in 1866
• Served as military arm of the
Southern Democratic Party
• Committed acts of violence &
terror against
• Blacks
• White Republicans (judges,
teachers, politicians)
• In 1873, the Klan attacked
Colfax, LA with a small cannon
Ku Klux Klan
• Grant dispatched federal
marshals to arrest
members of the KKK
using the Enforcement
Acts
• Many were put on trial
• By 1872, the Klan ceased
to exist…but not for long
Northern Interest in Reconstruction
• Decreased for following Reasons:
• Media depictions of southern governments being
a mass of “black barbarianism” & corruption
• Panic of 1873- North too worried about
economic problems to care about the South
• Democratic gains in Congress
• Democrats took control of the House in 1874
• Supreme Court Rulings
• Slaughterhouse Cases (1873)
• Court ruled that most rights of citizens
remained under state jurisdiction
1865
1874
Compromise of 1877
• Election of 1876: Democrat
Samuel J Tilden won a clear
majority of popular votes
• However, Republican controlled
Florida, South Carolina, &
Louisiana claimed voter fraud &
voter intimidation
• Declared electoral votes of
these three states go to
Republican Rutherford B. Hayes
• Electoral Commission gave all
electoral votes in those states to
Hayes
Compromise of 1877
• The commission bargained a deal
in which Hayes would be
president under the following
conditions:
• A democrat would be appointed
to the cabinet
• Federal aid would be given to
Texas to build a railroad
• Republicans would not interfere
in the South’s local affairs
• Federal troops would withdraw
from the South
• END OF RECONSTRUCTION!
Solid South
• White southerners began a backlash
against Radical Reconstruction.
Southerners voted democratic (against the
Republicans) for the next 100 years
“Solid South”
Wrap Up
• Reconstruction is arguably the most
controversial period in U.S. history.
Generations of historians from the north and
south portray Reconstruction as a failure.
Others feel the legislation passed by Radical
Republicans played a significant role in which
later progress depended on, marking it with
success.
• What do you think? Was Reconstruction a
success or failure? Explain.
Historical Thinking Skills
• With your partner, complete the
historical analysis of periodization
from 1844-1877