Lesson 18.1: Rebuilding the
Union
Today’s Essential Question: How did
conflicts between the president and
Congress affect Reconstruction efforts?
Vocabulary
• Reconstruction – process the federal
government used to readmit the
Confederate states to the Union
• pardon – legal forgiveness for a crime
• carpetbagger – Northerner who
supported Reconstruction as an
opportunity for personal gain
• scalawag – Southerner who
supported Radical Reconstruction
Check for Understanding
• What is today’s Essential Question?
• What was supposed to be ‘rebuilt’
during Reconstruction?
• Who receives a pardon?
• What did carpetbaggers and
scalawags have in common?
What We Already Know
At Lincoln’s urging,
Congress had adopted
the Thirteenth
Amendment, banning
slavery in every state.
What We Already Know
Lincoln’s Second
Inaugural Address
called for “malice
toward none, with
charity for all,” in
hopes that
Northerners would
resist the desire to
punish the South.
What We Already Know
Lincoln’s assassination ended
all hope of an easy return of the
seceded states to the Union.
Reconstruction Begins
• The issue in 1865 – building a new Southern
society not based on slavery
• The process of readmitting the Confederate
states is known as Reconstruction.
• Reconstruction lasted from 1865 to 1877.
Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan
• Pardon for Confederate
officials
• Once 10% of a state’s
voters in the 1860
election took a pledge of
loyalty to the Union, that
state could hold
elections and send
representatives to
Congress.
• To assist former slaves,
the president established
the Freedmen’s Bureau.
The Freedmen’s Bureau Established
• Set up schools and hospitals for
African Americans
• Distributed clothes, food, and fuel
throughout the South
Get your whiteboards
and markers ready!
1. Why was Lincoln’s Reconstruction
plan called the ‘ten-percent plan’?
1. Why was Lincoln’s Reconstruction
plan called the ‘ten-percent plan’?
A. It allowed a state to return to the Union if
ten percent of its citizens took an oath of
loyalty to the United States.
B. Only ten percent of the population
supported it.
C. It required ten percent of Southern states to
guarantee civil rights for blacks.
D. It required the Confederacy to repay only
ten percent of its debts to Northern citizens.
2. How did the Freedmen’s
Bureau help former slaves?
Choose all that are true!
2. How did the Freedmen’s
Bureau help former slaves?
A. It arranged for each Negro family to
be given a mule and 40 acres of land.
B. It set up schools and hospitals for
former slaves.
C. It gave clothes, food, and fuel to
former slaves.
D. It protected former from scalawags
and carpetbaggers.
E. It helped blacks register to vote.
Choose all that are true!
Andrew Johnson succeeded
Lincoln as president.
• Andrew Johnson was a
Tennessee Democrat
who hated secession, a
former slaveholder, and
a stubborn, unyielding
man.
• Reconstruction was the
job of the president,
not Congress.
Johnson’s Plan
• Although he was not
concerned about what
happened to the
freedmen, Johnson
based his plan on
Lincoln’s.
• New state governments
must ratify the Thirteenth Amendment and
must recognize the
supreme power of the
federal government
over the states.
Johnson’s Plan
• Johnson offered amnesty to most white
Southerners if they pledged loyalty to
the United States.
• Large plantation owners, top military
officers, and ex-Confederate leaders
had to apply for amnesty to Johnson
personally.
Rebuilding Brings Conflict
New Southern
state
governments
seemed very
much like the
old ones.
Some states
flatly refused to
ratify the
Thirteenth
Amendment.
Rebuilding Brings Conflict
• The Southern states passed black codes,
which limited the freedom of former slaves.
• Examples: written proof of employment, no
guns, no meeting in unsupervised groups
• Such laws made many people in the North
suspect that white Southerners were trying
to bring back the “old South.”
• Radical Republicans were angry and
frustrated, and blamed Johnson’s lenient
Reconstruction plan for this situation.
Get your whiteboards
and markers ready!
Which of the following was NOT part
of Johnson's Reconstruction plan?
Which of the following was NOT part
of Johnson's Reconstruction plan?
A. Confederate states had to give up
slavery.
B. Plantation owners had to give part of
their land to former slaves.
C. Confederate states had to accept the
supreme power of the federal
government.
D. Influential white Southerners had to
pledge loyalty and personally ask
Johnson for pardon.
3. What group was angered and
frustrated by President Johnson’s
Reconstruction plan?
A.
B.
C.
D.
The Ku Klux Klan
The freedmen
Radical Republicans.
Southern upper classes
4. How did white Southerners
plan to restore the old South?
A. By getting a Southerner elected to
the presidency as soon as possible
B. By regaining control of Congress
and overturning Lincoln's
Reconstruction plan
C. By creating laws to return former
slaves to plantation labor
D. By seceding again and starting a
second Civil War
Rebuilding Brings Conflict
• When Congress met in December 1865, many of
the Southern representatives had been
Confederate leaders only months before.
• Congress refused to seat Southern representatives until a committee studied conditions in the
South state by state.
• This let the president know that Congress
planned to play a role in Reconstruction.
The Radical Republicans
• Republicans outnumbered Democrats
in both houses of Congress, and most
were moderates who believed in
limiting the federal government’s
involvement in the states’ affairs.
• The Radical Republicans, however,
wanted the federal government to
remake Southern politics and society.
The Radical Republicans
Pennsylvania congressman Thaddeus
Stevens and Massachusetts senator
Charles Sumner demanded full and equal
citizenship for African Americans.
The Radical Republicans
Radical Republicans
wanted to destroy the
South’s old ruling
class, . . .
The Radical Republicans
. . . and replace it
with small farms,
free schools,
respect for labor,
and political
equality for all
citizens.
The Radical Republicans
Urged on by the Radicals, Congress
passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866.
The Civil Rights Act of 1866
Declared that all persons born in the United
States (except Native Americans) were
citizens, and all citizens were entitled to
equal rights regardless of their race.
The Civil Rights Act of 1866
• Johnson vetoed the bill –
‘too much power to the
national government.’
• Johnson was opposed to
making African Americans
full citizens, because it
would “. . . operate against
the white race.”
• Congress voted to override
Johnson’s veto.
Get your whiteboards
and markers ready!
5. What changes did Radical
Republicans want to see in the South?
A. Congressional control of the
Reconstruction process
B. Full and equal citizenship for freed
African Americans
C. The transformation of the South into
a place of small farms, free schools,
and political equality
D. Former slaves coming north to buy
farms or to work in factories
Choose all that are true!
6. How did Congress hope the
Civil Rights Act of 1866 would
improve racial equality?
• By establishing the 'separate but equal'
doctrine
• By giving citizenship to all persons born in
the United States, including former slaves
and their descendants
• By banning discrimination in public
accommodations, such as hotels and
restaurants
• By granting all U.S. citizens the right to vote,
regardless of race
The Fourteenth Amendment
• Republicans were not satisfied with
passing laws that ensured equal rights,
because laws could be overturned.
• They wanted equality to be protected by
the Constitution itself.
• To achieve this goal, Congress proposed
the Fourteenth Amendment in 1866.
The Fourteenth Amendment
• All people born in
the United States
were citizens and all
citizens were to be
granted “equal
protection of the
laws.”
• Any state that kept
blacks from voting
would lose
representatives in
Congress.
The Fourteenth Amendment
Johnson refused to
support the
amendment, and all
former Confederate
states except
Tennessee rejected it.
The Fourteenth Amendment
• This rejection outraged
even moderate Republicans, who agreed to
join forces with
Thaddeus Stevens and
the Radicals.
• Together, they passed
the Reconstruction
Acts of 1867.
The Reconstruction Acts of 1867
• Divided the South into five military districts,
each run by an army commander.
• Members of the ruling class before the war
lost their voting rights.
• To reenter the Union, Southern states
would have to approve new state
constitutions that gave the vote to all adult
men, including African Americans.
• Each state would also have to ratify the
Fourteenth Amendment.
Get your whiteboards
and markers ready!
7. What did the Fourteenth
Amendment state?
A. All states must permit African
Americans to vote in statewide
elections.
B. Slavery was abolished in all states
forever.
C. All people born in the United States
were citizens and had equal rights.
D. The "separate but equal" doctrine
could no longer be applied in the
South.
8. What impact did the Reconstruction
Acts of 1867 have on the South?
A. The South was divided into five military
districts, each run by an army commander.
B. Members of the ruling class before the war
lost their voting rights.
C. The Southern Democratic Party was
abolished.
D. Southern states could reenter the Union
after they wrote new state constitutions that
allowed black men to vote.
E. Southern states must ratify the Fourteenth
Amendment.
Choose all that are true!
9. What did the Radical Republicans
require Southern states to do before
they could reenter the Union?
A. Allow all adult men to vote, including
former slaves.
B. Divide plantations up into family-sized
farms for freedmen to buy.
C. Ratify the Fourteenth Amendment.
D. Set up offices of the Freedmen's
Bureau.
Choose all that are true!
The New Southern Governments
In 1867, Southern
states began
drafting new state
constitutions.
About three-fourths
of the delegates to
the constitutional
conventions were
Republicans.
The New Southern Governments
Some were poor
whites called
scalawags, who
supported
Reconstruction as a
way to get revenge
against planters for
starting a ‘rich man’s
war.’
The New Southern Governments
• Others were called carpetbaggers, Northerners
who rushed to the South after the war.
• Some of these Northerners sincerely wanted to
contribute to Reconstruction, but others came to
take advantage of opportunities to enrich
themselves at the expense of former Confederates.
The New Southern Governments
• The rest of the delegates
were African Americans.
• Half of these had been
free blacks before the
war.
• Most of these delegates
were ministers, teachers,
or skilled workers.
The New Southern Governments
By 1870, the former
Confederate states
were back in the Union
and had
representatives in
Congress.
The New Southern Governments
During Reconstruction, more than 600
African Americans served in state
legislatures, and 14 Southern
congressmen were African Americans.
Johnson Is Impeached
President
Johnson opposed
many of the
reform efforts
during Radical
Reconstruction.
This opposition
made many
Radical Republicans hate
Johnson.
Johnson Is Impeached
Johnson fired
Secretary of
War, Edwin
Stanton, in
violation of the
Tenure of Office
Act.
Johnson Is Impeached
• The House of Representatives
voted to impeach the president,
and the case moved to the
Senate for trial.
• After several weeks of testimony,
President Johnson was acquitted
by a single vote.
• Still, Johnson was left powerless,
and the Radical Republicans
were in complete control of
Reconstruction.
Get your whiteboards
and markers ready!
10. To what THREE groups did the
Republican state constitutional
convention delegates belong?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Poor white farmers called scalawags
Carpetbaggers from the North
Free blacks
Former Confederate government
officials
Choose all that are true!
11. Why did most Southerners hate
carpetbaggers and scalawags?
A. Those groups often worked with the
Democrats.
B. Those groups often became rich and
influential.
C. Those groups usually were secret
members of the Ku Klux Klan.
D. Those groups usually helped blacks get
civil rights and economic opportunities.
Choose all that are true!
12. What was the real reason for
Johnson’s impeachment by the
Radical Republicans?
A. He violated the Reconstruction Acts of
1867.
B. He was a strong supporter of the
Fourteenth Amendment.
C. He fought against the Radical Republicans for control of Reconstruction.
D. He wanted to give all freedmen forty
acres and a mule.