CHAPTER 12 RECONSTRUCTION The Big Picture Following the

CHAPTER 12: RECONSTRUCTION The Big Picture: Following the Civil War, Congress implemented a plan to reconstruct the South. After 12 years, and in response to fierce resistance from many white southerners, the federal government declared Reconstruction over.

CHAPTER 12 SECTION 1: PLANS FOR RECONSTRUCTION Main Idea: Northern leaders had differing ideas for dealing with the many issues and challenges of restoring the southern states to the Union.

The South after the War Property Losses • Property values drop to half what they were before the war • Many plantations lost workers (20% white male population died; slaves fled) • Transportation systems, especially railroads, were devastated

Challenges for African Americans and the South • 4 million newly freed slaves • No money, education, or job prospects • Federal government still needed to address what role African Americans would play in politics and what would happen to former Confederate states

Wartime Reconstruction Freedmen’s Bureau • March 1865: Congress creates the Freedmen’s Bureau: provided help to both black and white southerners • The Northern army had seized many plantations during the war and paid former slaves to stay and work • Some former slaves earned enough to buy the land from the government

Lincoln’s Reconstruction and Opposition • 1862: Lincoln appointed military governors to run the South • Ten Percent Plan: when 10% of a state’s voters took an oath of loyalty, they could organize a new state government that banned slavery • Arkansas, Louisiana, and Tennessee rejoined the Union under this plan • Congressional leaders opposed this plan for two reasons: readmitting states should be a Congressional decision and it was too lenient • 1864: Wade-Davis Bill: required 51% of voters to pledge loyalty to rejoin the union • Lincoln killed this bill with a pocket veto because he thought it was too harsh

Lincoln’s Assassination • Lincoln’s popularity and political skill probably would have made him ultimately victorious in his battle with Congress over Reconstruction if he had survived • April 14, 1865: John Wilkes Booth, a Southerner, shot and killed Lincoln while he was watching a play at Ford’s Theatre • The assassination was part of a larger plot to kill the vice-president and the cabinet, but the other assassins failed • He was later killed in a shoot-out with Union troops • Lincoln’s assassination meant that Southerner Andrew Johnson was now president of the United States and in charge of Reconstruction

Johnson and Congress Differ over Reconstruction Early Relations • Most Republicans thought they could work with Johnson because he believed the South should be punished for treason even though he was a Southerner • But Johnson really wanted to harm the wealthy planter class (he grew up poor), not the entire South • Congress was in recess until Dec. 1865, and Johnson felt he had the power to run Reconstruction while they were out of town

Opposition to Johnson’s Plan • Johnson’s Plan included a loyalty oath (no specific %) but added one condition: Southerners with property over $20, 000 had to apply for a personal pardon from the President • Republican Congressional leaders Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens were opposed to the plan because it didn’t help former slaves • By the time they came back to DC, all states but Texas had met Johnson’s requirement

Chapter 12 Review Write out the question and the answer. Chapter 12 Section 1 1. What major problems did the South face after the Civil War? 2. Why did some members of Congress oppose Lincoln’s 10% Plan? 3. Why was Johnson’s Reconstruction plan likely to provoke problems with Congress?

CHAPTER 12 SECTION 2: CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION Main Idea: Congress took control of Reconstruction as a new, radical branch of the Republican Party was emerging.

Reconstruction Under President Johnson Southern State Governments • South welcomed Johnson’s approach ~ it gave power to the states • Southerners wanted to rebuild government under white control • Johnson also believed that African-Americans should not have a place in Southern government • Most Southerners elected to Congress were former generals or government leaders in the Confederacy

Black Codes and Southern Defiance • States were required to ratify the 13 th Amendment but quickly passed black codes: laws that kept African Americans in slavelike conditions and dependent upon plantations (required to sign year-long contracts, couldn’t own property, couldn’t own guns) • Ku Klux Klan formed to enforce laws and customs through terror

Congress Takes Control of Reconstruction Northern Opposition • Northerners originally supported Johnson’s plan but quickly became disturbed at what was happening to African Americans in the South • Leniency with the South and implementation of Black Codes leads to stricter rules Congress fights Back • Radical Republicans under Thaddeus Stevens favored tougher requirements for Southern states and wanted economic opportunity and political equality for freed slaves

Johnson versus Congress • when Congress returned from recess, they passed a bill extending aid through the Freedmen’ Bureau • They also passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 which gave African Americans citizenship and equal rights • Johnson vetoes both bills claiming they were unnecessary and unconstitutional • Both bills were passed over his veto • Congress was determined to take control of Reconstruction

Radical Reconstruction Acts • Worried that the Supreme Court would overturn the Civil Rights Act, Congress passed the 14 th Amendment: granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the US and granted them equal protection under the law • After wins in the 1866 election, Radical Republicans passed the Reconstruction Acts which divided the South into 5 military districts controlled by a general until the state ratified the 14 th Amendment and gave African American men the right to vote • Tennessee was the only state exempt from military reconstruction because it had a large number of Union supporters and had met most of the Radical Republicans demands

Johnson’s Impeachment • Tenure of Office Act required the president to ask Congress to be allowed to fire cabinet members • Johnson refused and fired Stanton (his secretary of war), a supporter of Congressional Republicans • Congress votes to impeach him (formally accuse him of a crime) • After a 2 month trial, Johnson is acquitted 15 th Amendment • In 1868 Republicans choose Ulysses S. Grant as their presidential candidate (wins) • Congress pushes the 15 th Amendment: grants African American men the right to vote (most joined Republican Party) because most white southern voters had supported Grant’s opponent • It does not include women or recognize that states might try other ways to disenfranchise African Americans

Chapter 12 Review Write out the question and the answer. Chapter 12 Section 2 4. Why did the South welcome Johnson’s Reconstruction plan? 5. How did Johnson’s views help lead to Radical Reconstruction efforts? 6. What were some shortcomings of the 15 th Amendment?

CHAPTER 12 SECTION 3: REPUBLICANS IN CHARGE Main Idea: Republican Reconstruction had a significant impact on life in the South.

Republican Government Brings Change to the South Scalawags and Carpetbaggers • Military Reconstruction changes Southern politics: • Scalawags: white Southerners who join the Republican Party and cooperate; seen as traitors to fellow white Southerners • Tended to be poor whites who opposed secession and the war and hoped to gain more political power • Carpetbaggers: northern Republicans who moved south to reconstruct the South (also hated by most white Southerners)

African Americans • Scalawags, carpetbaggers, and freedmen joined together to run state governments • African Americans were the largest group of Republican voters in the South; 700 served in state legislatures and 16 served in Congress New State Government • New state governments provided social services (more schools; hospitals, railroads, and repealed black codes)

Grant presides over a South that is clearly still in ruins. President Grant rides atop a carpetbag stuffed with guns and bayonets, carried along by federal soldiers. The woman representing “the Solid South” stumbles along a rough path, under the weight of a heavy carpetbag. THE “STRONG” GOVERNMENT 1869 -1877.

Life after Slavery for African Americans Seeking Economic Opportunity • African American families worked to reunite with loved ones • Some moved to urban areas looking for jobs (populations doubled in 10 cities)—small numbers moved North or West • Most remained on their former plantations working for their former masters Education and Religion • By 1877 600, 000 African Americans were enrolled in school • The Freedmen’s Bureau had started over 4, 000 schools • African Americans also started their own churches, which often became the center of the community • Some of these churches started schools (i. e. Morehouse College) • They also created clubs, fire companies, and aid societies

Reconstruction and Land Ownership • Some Radical Republicans wanted to seize Southern land give it to former slaves (Southern Homestead Act: gave government owned land to slaves, but was repealed because former slaves lacked seed/tools only 4, 000 families got land) many whites refused to sell land • Two farming systems emerged: • sharecropping: owners provide land, tools, and seed, the resulting crop is shared with the farmers; OR • tenant farming: owner rents land for a fixed price, farmer is responsible for all materials and ‘owns’ resulting crop and can choose what to plant

• Most were sharecroppers • all ended up in poverty and in debt because they had to borrow money to meet needs before the harvest of the crops • Collapse of cotton prices and overproduction also hurt farmers • Industry grew in the South during Reconstruction • African Americans were excluded from factory jobs • workers made lower wages than up North and were indebted to company stores

Chapter 12 Review Write out the question and the answer. Chapter 12 Section 3 7. What changes did the new state governments make under Radical Reconstruction? 8. How did freedom change the lives of African Americans in the South? 9. How did the sharecropping system limit the freedom of African Americans?

CHAPTER 12 SECTION 4: RECONSTRUCTION COLLAPSES Main Idea: A variety of events and forces led to the end of Reconstruction, which left a mixed legacy for the nation.

Problems with Reconstruction Terrorist groups in the South • Ku Klux Klan most active of several different terrorist organizations • They included planters, merchants, and poor white farmers and laborers • Common goal: undo advances and restore old political and social order • Main target: African American leaders but they also attacked men and women working with the Freedmen’s Bureau • Enforcement Acts: (1870/1871) heavy penalties including jail for preventing people from voting • KKK power and influence did decline as a result of these laws

Support for Reconstruction Declines • White Southerners claim Enforcement Acts restrict individual rights • Northerners were frustrated with the continued need to post troops in the South • Taxes increased and states were deeply in debt • Democrats won control of Congress in 1874 • A 5 -year depression beginning in 1873 also weakened support for Reconstruction

The End of Reconstruction “Redeeming” the South • The Supreme Court weakens Reconstruction in the Slaughterhouse Cases: most civil rights are under state control, 14 th Amendment doesn’t apply this weakened many of the rights won during Reconstruction • Terror against Southern Republicans became more brutal and bold; the federal government did little to help • Democrats, calling themselves Redeemers, began to take control of Southern states

The Election of 1876 • (R) Rutherford B. Hayes vs. (D) Samuel Tilden • Tilden one vote shy of majority in Electoral College (20 votes in dispute-19 from South) • Both sides made charges of voter fraud; Tilden supporters threatened to go to war over the outcome • Compromise of 1877: Hayes is given the 20 disputed votes becomes president; in return all federal troops were withdrawn from the South ending Reconstruction

Reconstruction’s Legacy • 14 th and 15 th Amendment have profound effects for African Americans in South and North • 15 th Amendment increases calls for women to gain right to vote • Industrialization and economic change in the South leads to the rise of the New South • Supreme Court decisions weaken 14 th & 15 th Amendments and allow white Southern Democrats to control lives of African Americans • Southerners deeply resent federal intervention • South becomes so strongly Democratic, it becomes known as the Solid South, Republicans cannot make gains until the 1970 s

Chapter 12 Review Write out the question and the answer. Chapter 12 Section 4 10. How did legal challenges contribute to the decline of Reconstruction? 11. In what ways was the election of 1876 a victory for the Democrats? 12. How much better off were African Americans after Reconstruction than they had been before the Civil War?

Chapter 12 Review Write out the question and the answer. “From Pocahontas to Decatur, one-hundred and fourteen miles, almost entirely destroyed, except the road-bed and iron rails, and they in very bad condition—every bridge and trestle destroyed, cross-ties rotten, buildings burned. . . and track grown up in weeds and bushes. . . About forty miles of the track was burned. . . and rails bent and twisted in such a manner as to require great labor to straighten. ” ~ House Report 34, 39 th Congress, 1865 13. What does this primary source describe? 14. How would these conditions likely affect the economy of the South?

Chapter 12 Review Write out the question and the answer. Read the passage in Section 4 that begins with the heading “Terrorist groups in the South. ” Then answer the following question. When the passage states, “The hooded and disguised night riders of the Ku Klux Klan were the most active terrorists, ”. . . 15. The term terrorists means. . . A. B. C. D. people who favor enslaving African Americans. people who use violence to further their goals. people who are the targets of attacks. people who use disguises and ride at night.