Reconstruction 1863 1877 Imagine you are either a

Reconstruction (1863 -1877)

Imagine you are either a former slave or former slave owner in 1865. • How will your life be different from before the war? • What expectations or challenges do you have for the future? • What are your goals?

Reconstruction • rebuilding the former Confederate States and reuniting the nation

Essential Questions 1 What hopes and expectations did African Americans in the South have for their lives as freed people? • How did President Lincoln and Congress differ over plans for Reconstruction? • How did President Johnson’s programs benefit former Confederates? • How did the Black Codes affect freed people?

African Americans • wished to establish churches and schools • hoped to legalize marriages • hoped to find family members who had been sold away • desired ownership of land • expected basic human rights

13 th Amendment (1865)—abolished slavery

President vs. Congress • • Lincoln’s Plan wanted to abolish slavery wanted ten percent of voters to pledge loyalty to the union for that state to rejoin offered amnesty (full pardon) to almost all Southerners who would accept new laws and swear allegiance (1863) wanted the union restored quickly • • Wade-Davis Bill wanted to abolish slavery wanted a majority of each state’s voters to pledge loyalty for that state to rejoin did not trust Confederates to become loyal citizens or to protect the rights of former slaves wanted to delay Reconstruction

Lincoln assassinated by John Wilkes Booth days after Lee’s surrender

Andrew Johnson • became president. His plan: • --pardoned all rebels except officeholders and the richest planters • --made it easy for states to return to the Union: they had to nullify their acts of secession, abolish slavery, and refuse to pay war debts

Black Codes • --tried to deprive freed people of equality • --re-established white control over African American labor • --African Americans in Mississippi could not: • hold meetings without whites • own guns • attend white schools • serve on juries • travel without permits • live in towns and states without signing long-term labor contracts

Essential Questions 2 • What issues divided Republicans during the early Reconstruction era? • Why did moderates and Radical Republicans join forces and what actions did they take on behalf of African Americans? • Why was President Johnson impeached and why did the Senate not remove him from office? • Why were African Americans crucial to the election of 1868, and how did Republicans respond to their support?

Republicans Moderate Republicans • restore the union • give African Americans some civil equality • keep former Confederates out of government • • Radical Republicans create an entirely new South give African Americans the right to vote punish the rebels give land to former slaves

President vs. Congress • Freedmen’s Bureau—provided federal aid to freed people, clothing, medical supplies, food, and the establishment of schools • Civil Rights Act of 1866—declared everyone born in the U. S. should have equal Civil Rights (except voting). • Johnson vetoed these two acts, which were successfully overridden by Congress (first time in U. S. history) as moderate and radical Republicans united against him

Important Legislation • 14 th Amendment (1868)—gave all citizens equal rights under the law, required states to extend rights to all, and was an extension of the Civil Rights Act of 1866. • Reconstruction Acts (1867)—divided the Confederacy into five military districts and set up new state Constitutions, in response to spreading violence

Johnson’s Impeachment • Johnson violated Tenure of Office Act—President could not remove a cabinet appointee without Senate approval, when he dismissed his Secretary of War • Congress disliked his lenient Reconstruction policies • Johnson acted inappropriately in speeches and acts • He was acquitted by one vote. Supporters felt that it was a weak case, that Congress was overly critical, and that it would weaken future presidents and the checks and balances system

Election of 1868 • African American votes were crucial to getting Ulysses S. Grant elected • 15 th Amendment (1870)—extended the vote to African American men

Essential Questions 3 • How did African Americans attempt to improve their lives during the Reconstruction era? • What reforms did Republican governments enact? • How did some African Americans respond to harassment by the Ku Klux Klan? • What caused Reconstruction to end?

African Americans • • • registered to vote joined and formed political organizations lobbied for political equality built churches and schools served as delegates to state constitutional conventions

Republican Support in the South • carpetbaggers—Northern Republicans who moved to the South • scalawags (scoundrels)—Southern whites who became Republicans, usually poor and hoped to work with the North toward economic development

Republican Government Reforms • creation of new state constitutions • abolition of property qualifications for jurors and candidates • raised taxes to finance road, bridge and railroad construction • increase in services such as education

Ku Klux Klan – formed in 1866 by six ex-Confederates – focused on destroying Republican party and keep blacks from voting – assaulted and murdered thousands – burned homes, churches, and schools – Enforcement Acts—used government protection against the Klan through the use of the military

End of Reconstruction • • • economic depression—Panic of 1873 immigrants supported Democratic Party increasing white violence in the South focus shifted to industry and to the West disputed election of 1876 Tilden (D, NY) vs. Hayes (R, OH) • Compromise of 1877—withdrawal of federal troops in the south in exchange for supporting Hayes as president • Redeemers—supporters of white-controlled governments

Sharecropping • farmer would work a parcel of land for a share of the crop, a cabin, seed, tools, and a mule. • poor southerners—(whites and most blacks) in the South worked • gave people a place to live and work without close supervision • no income until harvest time • usually required farmers to rely on only one crop • left farmers and the region dependent on outsiders for their food supply (since cotton was the main crop) • crop-lien system led sharecroppers into debt with bad credit (they sold goods to merchants in exchange for supplies)

• Trace the evolving nature of citizens’ rights (e. g. , Alien and Sedition Acts, civil rights laws, women’s suffrage/rights). • Compare and contrast various American beliefs, values and political ideologies (e. g. , political parties, nativism, Manifest Destiny). • Evaluate the role and impact of the individual on historical events (e. g. , Susan B. Anthony, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Martin Luther King Jr. ). • Analyze man-made factors that cause human movement (e. g. , imperialism, discrimination, war, economic opportunity). • Describe examples of laws that have been modified to meet the changing needs of society. • Give examples of how individuals or groups have worked to expand or limit citizens’ rights in the United States and other nations of the world. • Analyze historical and contemporary examples of the need to ensure human rights at both the national and international levels.

• Jim Crow laws—passed by state legislatures to enforce segregation (separation of the races) • Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)—Supreme Court ruled that segregation was legal. Homer Plessy (one-eighth black) was denied a seat in a first-class railway car • poll taxes—fixed taxes imposed on every voter • literacy tests—tests that barred those who could not read from voting • Booker T. Washington—wanted African Americans to achieve economic independence, discouraged protesting • Ida B. Wells—urged African Americans to protest discrimination and to leave the South