Ch 12 Review: Reconstruction and Its Effects, based off of p. 376-382
Terms
Reconstruction
Lincoln Assassination
Johnson’s Plan
Radical Republicans
Notes
Reconstruction was the period during which the U.S. began to rebuild after the Civil War,
lasting from 1865-1877. It also refers to the process the federal government used to readmit
the Confederate states.
Lincoln is assassinated April 15, 1865 by John Wilkes Booth. VP Andrew Johnson, a Democrat
from Tennessee, becomes the 17th president of the U.S.
Each remaining Confederate state—Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, NC, SC, and
Texas—could be readmitted to the Union if it would 1) withdraw secession, 2) swear
allegiance to the Union, 3) annul Confederate war debts, 4) ratify the 13 th Amendment
(abolishing slavery).
Led by Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania, Radical Republicans sought a different path for
Reconstruction that addressed the needs of former slaves (e.g., land, voting rights, and
protection under the law).
Southern states agree
All states, except for Texas (all were back by 1870), agreed to Johnson’s terms and held
conventions to draw up new state constitutions. Mississippi did not officially ratify the 13th
Amendment. Johnson pardoned many former Confederate political and military leaders: Of
those returning to Washington, fifty-eight representatives sat in the Congress of the
Confederacy, six served in the Confederate cabinet, and four had fought against the United
States as Confederate generals.
Freedmen’s Bureau
The bureau, established by Congress in the last month of war, assisted former slaves and poor
whites in the South by distributing clothing and food. It helped set up more than 40 hospitals,
4,000 schools, 61 industrial institutes, and 74 teacher-training centers.
Black Codes
Passed in many Southern states beginning in 1865, black codes prohibited blacks from
carrying weapons, serving on juries, testifying against whites, marrying whites, and traveling
without permits. Some states forbid blacks from owning land. Johnson vetoed both the Civil
Rights Act of 1866 which forbade the passage of black codes and the Freedmen’s Bureau.
Johnson felt it was beyond the scope of the federal government to enact such measures.
Fourteenth Amendment
“all persons born or naturalized in the United States” were citizens of the country and all
were entitled to equal protection of the law, and no state could deprive any person of life,
liberty, or property without due process of law (ratified in 1868).
Impeachment of Johnson
The Tenure of Office Act, passed by Congress in March 1867, protected Secretary of War
Edwin Stanton’s position in the president’s cabinet. Johnson, having differing political views,
removed Edwin Stanton. Therefore, Congress pushed to remove President Johnson by
impeaching him. He was not convicted however, by a 35 to 19 vote; short of the 2/3rds
required for conviction
Grant elected as
President in 1868
War hero Ulysses S. Grant, Republican, won the 1868 election against New Yorker, Horatio
Seymour, though the popular vote was nearly 50/50. The African-American vote was likely
the deciding factor.
Fifteenth Amendment
As a push to ensure black suffrage moving forward, the Fifteenth Amendment, stating that no
one can be kept from voting because of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude”is
ratified in 1870.
Other Notes