Episode I
Hope is lost
Abraham Lincoln has been assassinated
and Andrew Johnson is the new
president. President Johnson is against
African Americans and will most likely not
help them. The fate of the union is in
his hands.
Ladies and
Gentleman, the
President of the
United States of
America.
President Andrew
Johnson.
Here is my
plan.
President Andrew
Johnson
JOHNSON’S PLAN-1865
Southern States have to promise to
end slavery (ratify the 13th amendment)
Former Confederate leaders and Southerners must take a loyalty oath and
then can remain in leadership positions. (Confederate Officers have to ask
the president for a pardon.)
Southern states have to write a new constitution (set up a new government
after constitution is written.)
Southern states will decide, individually, if freedmen should vote.
Southern states and former Confederate leaders will not be
punished too harshly.
PROBLEMS WITH JOHNSON’S PLAN:
1. Former Confederate leaders formed new
state governments as ordered, but they
were just like the ones before the war.
2. White Southern lawmakers wrote laws
called black codes.
3. White southerners formed secret groups
to frighten and control blacks. (KKK)
SO...
Episode II
The Radical Republicans Strike
Back
The Radical Republicans are very angry
with Johnson’s plan. They plan to
take action of their own. It appears
there is going to be a fight between
the Radical Republicans and the
President.
THE RADICAL REPUBLICAN’S PLAN
The first RECONSTRUCTION ACT-1867
•Establish five military districts in the South.
•No pardons for Confederate officers
•Write new state constitutions.
•Hold statewide elections.
•Guarantee equal rights to all male citizens. (Including African Americans)
•Ratify the 13th and 14th Amendments.
•Allow African Americans to vote for people who will write the new constitutions.
(This will allow African Americans to be part of the writing process.)
•All adult black males and all white males who were not Confederate leaders or
supporters, can vote.
•The Freedmen must get assistance in establishing new lives.
•If Southern states do not accept the 14th Amendment, the military will have to occupy
and control the region.
The Radical Republicans were pretty angry
“What should we do?”
With a push from the Radical
Republicans, Congress passed :
*The Civil Rights Act and
*The 14th amendment
But this wasn’t enough to help the freedmen and
keep the Southern states honest and fair!
WHAT SHOULD WE DO NOW?
The Radical Republicans
pass the 15th Amendment:
Nobody can be denied the
right to vote based on
race, color, or previous
condition of servitude.
The Radical Republicans also impeach President
Johnson. They are tired of him interfering with their
plans to help African Americans start new lives.
Johnson was against many of their plans.
NOW EVERYTHING WILL BE JUST FINE...
OR WILL IT?
What will life be like for freedmen, white
southerners,white and black northerners,
and leaders of our country? Who will have the
toughest time as our country rebuilds?
Episode III
The Return of the South
The South gets their revenge. They
do so in three ways.
1.Sharecropping
2.KKK
3.Jim crow laws
Sharecropping: People who farm someone else’s
land to make money. They pay for the rent with a
share of the crop. In this case, African Americans
worked the land of former slave owners. The
plantation owners would take advantage of the
African Americans. It turned out that Sharecropping
wasn’t much better than slavery.
Farm A
Farm B
Farm C
Farm D
% of Crops that owner gets.
% of Crops that sharecroppers can
sell.
My life isn’t
much better
than before.
Trust me, would I lie to you and take
advantage of you?
Other jobs that African American’s had were
digging ditches and laying sewers. (The
most dangerous jobs.)
KKK: Founded in 1865. Since the Black Codes
were unconstitutional (14th Amendment), the South
used violence to restrict African Americans.
Members of the KKK wore white sheets. They
would break into the homes of African Americans
and pull out the men and boys and beat them and
sometimes lynch (hang) them.
KKK
Jim Crow Laws:
Separate but equal.
(Plessy v. Ferguson:
Separate but equal is
constitutional. The
reality was that things
were separate and very
unequal)
Episode 4
Left and Forgotten
Reconstruction Ends
Rutherford B. Hayes wins the election of 1876.
“Your rights and interests would be safer if this great mass of
intelligent white men were left alone by the federal government.”
African Americans are now at the mercy of white Southerners.
Hayes refused to enforce the 14th and 15th amendments. One
result of his failure was that African Americans learned to look to
themselves and their own community institutions for help.
We will control African Americans for many years to
come. They will pay for being free.
Someday, we will
all get along and
evil will be
destroyed.