Reconstruction
What were the Successes?
What were the Failures?
Chapter 12
Standards
• SSUSH10 The student will identify legal, political, and social
dimensions of Reconstruction.
• a. Compare and contrast Presidential Reconstruction with Radical
Republican Reconstruction.
• b. Explain efforts to redistribute land in the South among the former
slaves and provide advanced education (Morehouse College) and
describe the role of the Freedmen’s Bureau.
• c. Describe the significance of the 13th, 14th, and 15th
amendments.
• d. Explain Black Codes, the Ku Klux Klan, and other forms of
resistance to racial equality during Reconstruction.
• e. Explain the impeachment of Andrew Johnson in relationship to
Reconstruction.
• f. Analyze how the presidential election of 1876 and the subsequent
compromise of 1877 marked the end of Reconstruction
The Reconstruction Era
What lasting consequences
arose from the struggles over
Reconstruction?
Rival Plans for Reconstruction
Section 1
• How did the Radical Republicans’ plans for
Reconstruction differ from Lincoln’s and
Johnson’s?
• Vocabulary:
Reconstruction
black code
Radical Republican
impeach
Civil Rights Act of 1866 Wade-Davis Bill
Freedmen’s Bureau
Andrew Johnson
Fourteenth Amendment
Fifteenth Amendment
Rival Plans for Reconstruction
The Issues of Reconstruction
Main Idea: During the era of Reconstruction (1865–1877), the federal government struggled
with how to return the eleven southern states to the Union, rebuild the South’s ruined
economy, and promote the rights of former slaves.
Lincoln Sets a Moderate Course
Main Idea: Even while the war was in progress, Union politicians had debated programs for
repairing the nation’s political structure and economy. For President Lincoln, one of the first
major goals was to reunify the nation.
Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan
Main Idea: Lincoln’s death thrust his Vice President, Andrew Johnson, into the presidency.
Like Lincoln, Johnson wanted to restore the political status of the southern states as quickly
as possible. However, Johnson was against federal intervention to advance African American
political and civil rights. This caused significant tension with Congress.
Congressional Reconstruction
Main Idea: As violence against African Americans in the South increased, moderate and
Radical Republicans blamed the rising tide of lawlessness on Johnson’s lenient policies. For
the first time ever, with the required two-thirds majority, Congress passed major legislation
over a President’s veto. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 became law.
Think About It…
• Why did the implementation of truly
radical measures during Reconstruction fail
to truly help southern Blacks while
thoroughly angering and alienating
southern whites?
• So…
– Was Reconstruction a success or was
Reconstruction a failure??
Presidential Reconstruction
Section 1
• Reconstruction was the federal
government’s attempt to repair the
damage to the South after the Civil War
• Occurred from 1865 to 1877
• Controversial
– Had mixed results
Results of the Civil War
• The entire country was impacted by the
war
• The North
– Lost 364k Federal soldiers including 38k
African Americans
• The South
– Lost 260k Confederate soldiers
– 1/5 of all white men in region
Southerners’ Hardships
1.
Black Southerners
•
•
4 million freed slaves with little or no skills or
education
Homeless and jobless
2. Plantation owners
•
•
Lost slave labor that amounted to $3 billion
Lost seized plantation land- $100 million
3. Poor white southerners
•
•
Could not find new jobs
Moved North if possible
Federal Government’s Dilemma
What to do About the South??
• Lincoln's Plan
– Pardon any Southerner who pledged
allegiance to the United States
• But denied pardons to officials who had killed
African American war prisoners
– Permitted states to hold a new constitutional
convention AFTER 10% of voters had sworn
allegiance to the US
• After state constitutions were accepted, voting
rights would be reestablished
TRANSPARENCY
Rebuilding the Union
The Radical Republicans
• Most northerners in Congress were
Republicans and opposed to slavery
– They now wanted to punish the South
• Saw Lincoln’s plan as too forgiving
– Congress’ Plan was to totally reconstruct
southern society and guarantee southern blacks
equality
– Passed own plan- The Wade- Davis Act
• Lincoln used pocket-veto to kill bill
The Death of a President
• Did not live to see the
peace he helped to create
– Conspirators and southern
sympathizers plotted against
the president
– Died in office on April 14,
1865
Lincoln - Kennedy
Coincidences
9) The first name of Lincoln's private
secretary was John, the last
name of Kennedy's private secretary was
Lincoln.
10) John Wilkes Booth was born in 1839
1) Lincoln was elected in 1860, Kennedy in
[according to some sources] Lee Harvey
1960, 100 years apart
Oswald was born in 1939, one hundred
2) Both men were deeply involved in civil
rights for African Americans.
years later.
3) Both men were assassinated on a Friday, 11) Both assassins were Southerners who
in the presence of
held extremist views.
their wives.
12) Both assassins were murdered before
4) Each wife had lost a child while living at
they could be brought to trial.
the White House.
13) Booth shot Lincoln in a theater and fled
5) Both men were killed by a bullet that
to a warehouse. Oswald
entered the head from behind.
shot Kennedy from a warehouse and
6) Lincoln was killed in Ford's Theater.
fled to a theater.
Kennedy met his death while
14) Lincoln and KENNEDY each has 7
riding in a Lincoln convertible made by
the Ford Motor Company.
letters.
7) Both men were succeeded by vice15) ANDREW JOHNSON and LYNDON
presidents named Johnson who were
JOHNSON each has 13 letters.
southern Democrats and former senators. 16) JOHN Wilkes BOOTH and LEE HARVEY
8) Andrew Johnson was born in 1808.
OSWALD each has 15 letters.
Lyndon Johnson was born in 1908,
17) A Lincoln staffer Miss Kennedy told him
exactly one hundred years later.
not to go to the Theater. A Kennedy
staffer Miss Lincoln, told him not to go
to Dallas.
Strange….But True???
President Andrew Johnson
• Not well liked by either side
• Only Southern senator to remain in Congress
after Secession
• Created own plan for Reconstructing the South
Political Cartoon,
“Johnson
Antagonizes
Washington”
Johnson’s Plan
• Pardon all Southerner’s who swore
allegiance to US
• Permitted each southern state to hold a
constitutional convention without Lincoln’s
10% requirement
• Former Confederate states had to void
secession, abolish slavery, and ratify 13th
Amendment
– Then elections could be held and statehood
resumed
Like Adding Fuel to the Fire
• Johnson’s Plan vs. Lincoln's Plan
– Johnson’s was more generous to the South
– Created anger and resentment in Congress
• Congress decided to make own plan
• The Radical Republicans were born
Congress’ Plan
1. Put the South under military rule
2. Order southern states to hold new elections for
constitutional delegates
3. Required all states to allow African- Americans
the right to vote
4. Temporarily barred former Confederates from
voting
5. Required southern states to guarantee equal
rights for all citizens
6. Required all states ratify the 14th Amendment
NOTE TAKING
Reading Skill: Identify Main Ideas
A Showdown Between Two Branches
of Government!
• A constitutional crisis
occurred when the
Congress’ plan was
pitted against the
President’s plan
• Two powerful Senators
led the charge against
President Johnson
– Charles Sumner- MA
senator and abolitionist
– Thaddeus Stevens- PA
senator and power player
Executive versus Legislative
• President Johnson tried to fire Secretary of
War Edwin Stanton
• The Radical Republicans tried to block the
firing using the new Tenure of Office Act
• Provisions of the Act:
– Took power away from the President
– The hiring and firing of Cabinet secretaries had
to approved by Congress
– The title of Commander-in-Chief was also
removed!
DECISION POINT
Who Controls the Readmission of States?
Thank God Almighty
I’m Free At Last!
• Southern blacks celebrated their freedom as
the politicians decided how to proceed
with punishing the South
–
–
–
–
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom
Freedom
of Movement
to Own Land
to Worship
to Learn
QUICK STUDY
Freedmen’s Bureau Schools, 1865-1870
The Freedman’s Bureau
• Created in March 1865 as a relief agency
for newly freed slaves or “Freedmen”
• Was intended to offer assistance in
housing, education, and citizenship
– Was not completely successfully in any of
these areas (due to corruption and
mismanagement)
– Did issue twenty million rations of food,
established 50 hospitals, set up 4,330 schools
and helped establish the first Black colleges.
The 14th and 15th Amendments
• Congress was concerned about these
abuses and decided to add civil rights to
the US Constitution
– 14th Amendment- Granted citizenship and
“equal protection” to all African Americans
– 15th Amendment- Gave the right to vote to all
African American males over the age of 21
• Both amendments have had far reaching
effects in the 19th-20th and 21st centuries
Reconstruction in the South
Section 2
• What were the immediate effects of
Reconstruction?
• Vocabulary:
scalawag
carpetbagger
segregation
integration
sharecropping
share-tenancy
tenant farming
Ku Klux Klan
Enforcement Acts
Reconstruction in the South
Republican Governments Bring Change
Main Idea: The Republican Party dominated Confederate states’ newly
established governments and consisted of black men, men who previously
lacked access to politics, and northerners who moved to the south to make
their fortunes. The Republicans succeeded at helping to shape a public
school system but failed to support women’s suffrage.
Freed People Build New Communities
Main Idea: For the first time, many African American men and women
could legalize and celebrate their marriages, create homes for their
families, and make choices about where they would reside. However, their
choices were restricted by black codes that limited what work they might
do. Life presented new problems and opportunities.
Remaking the Southern Economy
Main Idea: Many of the South’s problems resulted from the uneven
distribution of land. After the war, the millions of landless southern white
people were competing with millions of landless black people for work as
farm laborers on the land of others.
NOTE TAKING
Reading Skill: Identify Main Ideas
The Life of a Freedman
• The South was desperate for workers
– Most former slaves who could leave did
• Most who stayed in South became
sharecroppers or tenant farmers
– Worked another person’s land
– Had free or reduced rent in exchange for
tending crops
– Received part of profit- if any was made
Economic Effects on South
• The labor force changed
– Cotton harvest changed from 90% slave labor to 40%
white tenant farmers
• Emphasis now on cash crops
– Cotton, tobacco, and sugar cane rather than food
– The South became dependent upon imports of food
• Cycle of debt was established
– Poverty in all classes and races
• Rise of merchant class in South
– New stores sold goods on credit
TRANSPARENCY
The Cycle of Sharecropping
Black Codes
• After Southern states met Johnson’s
requirements they one-by-one rolled back
civil rights laws
• Many southern states instituted Black
Codes as a way of getting around
requirements
– Set curfews, created vagrancy laws, set yearlong contract minimums, limited black
women’s right to work, restricted renting to
cities…
QUICK STUDY
Major Reconstruction Legislation, 1865-1870
Andrew Johnson
Cartoons
Johnson as Caesar: “Treason is a crime and must be punished"
The 1st Presidential
Impeachment
• The House of Representatives filed charges
of impeachment against Johnson
• The House voted ‘yes’
• The Senate held a trial and Johnson was
found ‘not guilty’ by one vote
– Was not convicted
– Kept his office
– Established the precedent that “high crimes
and misdemeanors” were needed to remove a
president
The Republican South
• Not everyone in the
South was a Democrat
• Northerners who
moved South to take
advantage of the
situation for profit
were called
“carpetbaggers”
• Even more hated
were the “Scalawags
– Southerners who
joined the Republican
party or who were
former Whigs
TRANSPARENCY
Analyzing Political Cartoons: The Burden of Reconstruction
CHART
Sharecropping Cycle of Poverty
MAP
Percentage of sharecropped farms by county
Terror Groups
• White Southerners unhappy with their new
way of life created “political clubs” to
complain about politics
• These soon evolved into terrorist groups
– KKK, The Knights of the White Camilla…
• Used tactics such as intimidation, threats,
and violence against freedmen,
carpetbaggers, and scalawags
• Effective at stopping progression in South
Stopping the Klan
• President Grant requested that Congress
pass a series of laws outlawing hate
groups and their tactics
– The Enforcement Act of 1870
• Used federal troops to stop the violence,
but once the troops withdrew the terror
started again
President Ulysses
S. Grant
The End of Reconstruction
Section 3
• How and why did Reconstruction end?
• Vocabulary:
Redeemer
Rutherford B. Hayes
Compromise of 1877
The End of Reconstruction
The Nation Considers Other Matters
Main Idea: Aside from the long-standing issue of regional strife, other
social, political, and economic issues cried out for attention.
Why Did Reconstruction End?
Main Idea: Ever since the Radical Republicans failed to convict
President Johnson, their power and crusading zeal had faded. By 1871,
a generation of white reformers, forged by abolitionist fervor and eager
to participate in the national politics of Reconstruction, had passed away.
Without such leaders to temper it, northern racial prejudice reemerged.
Evaluating Reconstruction’s Effects
Main Idea: Reconstruction failed to heal the bitterness between North
and South or to provide lasting protection for freed people. However, it
did raise African Americans’ expectations of their right to citizenship, and
it placed before Americans the meaning and value of the right to vote.
NOTE TAKING
Reading Skill: Identify Main Ideas
NOTE TAKING
Reading Skill: Identify Main Ideas
Birth of Industrial South
• Growth of southern cities
– Atlanta, Nashville, Memphis, Dallas,
Montgomery, Little Rock
• Some areas became industrial
– Birmingham AL- steel production
– However, the majority of Southerners
remained dependent upon agriculture for their
livelihood
The End of Reconstruction
• Most Americans had become tired of
Reconstruction by the mid-1870’s- Why?
– The country had gone into debt
– Reconstruction programs became known for greed
and corruption
– Southerners had gained back control in most
Southern states (it took longer in GA!)
– Southern states began to block legislation in Congress
again
– Many Northern voters’ did not support the Radical
Republican’s idea of full equality for blacks
– An economic recession turned public opinion away
from the movement for equal rights
The Solid South is Born
• When the Southern states all were
readmitted they began to vote in a
Democratic block
• White Southern Democrats were elected
who blocked new legislation
The Election of 1876
• Republican Rutherford B. Hayes lost the
popular vote to Democrat Samuel Tilden
• Congress was forced to settle the election
– The vote went to Hayes when he promised to
end Reconstruction
• The Compromise of 1877
– Gave the South control of own states
“Compromise, Indeed!”
Successes of Reconstruction
1. Union was rebuilt and South was rebuilt
2. Economic growth was established in the
South
3. The 14th and 15th Amendments granted
rights to freedmen
4. The Freedman’s Bureau helped many
newly freed slaves with a fresh start
5. Mandatory education was started in
South
Failures of Reconstruction
1. Most blacks remained poor and
uneducated
2. Terror groups were formed
3. Racist attitudes continued in both the
North and South
4. Southern infrastructure and economies
lagged far behind the North
5. Many problems remained unaddressed
• Women, labor unions, and farmers fearful of
the coming of the railroads
Think About It…Again!
• Why did the implementation of truly
radical measures during Reconstruction fail
to truly help southern Blacks while
thoroughly angering and alienating
southern whites?
• So…
– Was Reconstruction a success or was
Reconstruction a failure??
TRANSPARENCY
The Effects of Reconstruction
CHART
African Americans Elected to the U.S. Congress
QUICK STUDY
Effects of Reconstruction