Reconstruction
(1865-1877)
US History & Government
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Definition
Reconstruct: To construct or build again
Question
In 1865 what needed to be reconstructed? Why?
Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address
“….With malice toward none,
with charity for all, with firmness
in the right as God gives us to see
the right, let us strive on to finish
the work we are in, to bind up the
nation's wounds, to care for him
who shall have borne the battle
and for his widow and his
orphan, to do all which may
achieve and cherish a just and
lasting peace among ourselves
and with all nations.”
Presidential Reconstruction
Lincoln’s plan
1. Pardon all southerners who
swore an oath of loyalty to the
united states
2. Recognize new southern state
governments when
• 10% took the oath
• state governments abolished
slavery
Presidential Reconstruction
Abraham Lincoln was assassinated
by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865
Presidential Reconstruction
Andrew Johnson
Facts about Johnson:
• Born in North Carolina
• Grew up in poverty
• Moved to Tennessee
• Became a tailor & slave owner
• Hated the plantation owners
• Became a senator
• Stayed in the Senate (even after secession)
• Lincoln’s Vice-President
Johnson’s Reconstruction plan is similar to Lincoln’s Plan
The South’s Response
The Black codes
“No negro or freedman shall be permitted to rent or keep a
house within the limits of the town under any circumstances. .
. .”
“No negro or freedman shall reside within the limits of the
town . . . who is not in the regular service of some white
person or former owner. .”
“ No public meetings or congregations of negroes or freedmen
shall be allowed within the limits of the town”
“ No freedman ... shall be allowed to carry firearms, or any
kind of weapons”
In parts of Louisiana it was required "that every negro [is] to be in the
service of some white person, or former owner.
The South’s Response
"it is almost a daily
occurrence for black
men to be hunted
down with dogs and
shot like wild
beasts."
"since the negro has
ceased to be
property [their]
maiming and
killing" went
unnoticed.
Lynching of slave Amy Spain outside Darlington, South
Carolina, courthouse. Harper's Weekly, September 30, 1865
SLIDE # 9
Congress Responds
Radical Republicans
Radicals:
• came from the north
• strongly opposed slavery
• controlled congress
• Saw the Civil War as a battle between
good and evil
• Viewed white southerners as traitors
• criticized Lincoln for being to lenient on
the south
• supported a “hard peace” for the south
Thaddeus Stevens
Freedman’s Bureau
• Established by Congress
in 1865
• Provided education to
former slaves
• Vetoed by Johnson
"I had the feeling that to get into a schoolhouse . . .
would be about the same as getting into paradise."
(former slave) Booker T. Washington
Congress responds
How did congress limit the power of the president?
Impeachment
“The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of
the United States, shall be removed from Office on
Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason,
Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.”
-US Constitution
Impeachment
How impeachment works
House of
Representatives
Formally accuses the
president of wrongdoing
(impeachment)
↓
Senate
Serves as a jury and decides
the guilt or innocence of
president
Impeachment
• Johnson accused of
violating the Tenure of
Office Act
• Impeached by the House
of Representatives
• Found innocent by the
Senate
• Remained in office but
politically weakened
Congressional Reconstruction
Situation:
President Johnson has been impeached. the Radical
Republicans control reconstruction……
Imagine you are the leader of the Radicals.
Consider what is happening in the South
• Widespread Lynching & repression of blacks
• Rebels retake control of government
• Northerners treated with hostility/harmed
How will you respond to these problems?
Military Reconstruction
Radical Reconstruction
Who supported it in the South?
Scalawags
White southern
Republicans
Carpetbagger
Northerners who moved
into the South after the
war
African-Americans
Voted for Radical
Republicans
Rise of the Klan
The Klan arose in the South and particularly targeted
freed slaves, “carpetbaggers” & “scalawags”
The Civil War Amendments
Amendment 13 (1865)
“Neither slavery nor
involuntary servitude,
except as a punishment for
crime whereof the party
shall have been duly
convicted, shall exist
within the United States, or
any place subject to their
jurisdiction.”
The Civil War Amendments
Amendment 14 (1868)
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States
…..are citizens of the United States and of the State
wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any
law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of
citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive
any person of life, liberty, or property, without due
process of law; nor deny to any person within its
jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
The Civil War Amendments
Amendment 15 (1870)
“ The right of citizens of
the United States to vote
shall not be denied or
abridged by the United
States or by any state on
account of race, color, or
previous condition of
servitude.”
South Carolina Legislature
The Presidential Election of 1868
Popular
Votes
Republican Ulysses S. Grant
Democrat Horatio Seymour
3,013,650
2,708,744
E.C.
Votes
214
80
The Presidential Election of 1872
Popular
Votes
Republican Ulysses S. Grant
Democrat Horace Greeley
3,598,468
2,835,315
E.C.
Votes
286
0
The Presidential Election of 1876
Popular
Votes
Republican Rutherford B Hayes 4,033,497
Democrat Samuel Tilden
4,288,191
E.C.
Votes
185
184
Compromise of 1877
The Problem
Tilden (Dem) won popular vote but the Electoral College cannot
determine the winner (4 states had disputed returns)
The Solution
Republicans
Democrats
Hayes becomes
President
Federal troops withdrawn
from the south
What does this mean?
Reconstruction ends & African Americans lose their rights
SLIDE # 36
The South Redeemed
Whites were overwhelmingly elected to government in
the south after 1877
Redeemers:
• Democrats
• government officials
• “Redeem” or win
back their states from
the Republicans
The “New” South
Southern Economy - Poverty
Why?
1) Too little investment
2) Too much debt
3) Too much labor
The “New” South
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
Gave legal
justification for
racial segregation
(“Jim Crow”) by
ruling that separate
facilities were legal
as long as those
facilities were equal
The “New” South
Disenfranchisement (loss of voting rights)
1) Poll Tax
2) Literacy test
3) Grandfather clause
SINCE BLACKS COULD NOT VOTE, AND WHITES VOTED
DEMOCRATIC, the South always voted for the Democratic Party
until the 1970’s. It was known as the “Solid South”
Sharecropping
A system of agriculture in which the land owner (old plantation owner)
allows the tenant (often a former slave) to use a piece of land in return
for a share of the crop (possibly more than 1/3 of the crop)
The “New” South
The “New” South
The “New” South
The “New” South
The “New” South
More than 3,000 people were lynched between 1882 and 1900.
The Fight for Civil Rights
Booker T. Washington
• From the South
• Born a slave
• Argued that segregation should be
tolerated
• Tuskegee Institute
– Vocational Education
W.E.B. Du Bois
•
•
•
•
From the North
Ph.D. Harvard
Argued for full equality
NAACP