The Reconstruction Era 1865 1877 Reconstruction 1 The

The Reconstruction Era (1865 -1877)

• Reconstruction – 1) The rebuilding of the South after being destroyed by the North – 2) Bringing the South back into the Union • But there were 3 plans on how to do this

• 1) Lincoln’s Plan – Wanted a lenient plan – Felt that the Confederates never left – “Proclamation of Amnesty & Reconstruction” • or the “ 10% Plan”

– 10% of the population of the state to swear allegiance to the Union • then they could form a state government & get back into Congress – This plan upset the ‘Radical Republicans’ • Led by Thaddeus Stevens

• Assassination of Lincoln (April 14, 1865) – 5 days after the South surrendered – Lincoln, his wife, and 2 friends attended a play at Ford’s Theatre in D. C. – John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor, openly walked into Lincoln’s balcony – Shot Lincoln in the back of the head

– Booth leaps from the balcony onto the stage • Breaks his leg & leaves theatre • He rides to the South where he thought he would be treated as a hero • It launches the biggest man-hunt in American history

• Booth was running for 12 days • He & a co-conspirator were cornered in a farmhouse in Virginia by Union troops • The troops set fire to the farmhouse – Booth was shot by a soldier & died – 2 months later, 4 of his coconspirators were convicted & executed

– 1 st American President to be assassinated • “Now he belongs to the ages” – This was the end of Lincoln’s lenient plan for Reconstruction

• 2) Andrew Johnson’s Plan (Lincoln’s replacement) – From Tennessee, favors the South – He believed that “white men alone must manage the South” – He would let the Confederate states return to the Union if they did 3 things…

– 1) 10% of population swear allegiance to the Union – 2) Each state withdraw secession – 3) Ratify the 13 th Amendment • Abolish slavery • Then he would forgive the South’s war debts AND let them have their own state governments • The South loved this plan

• 3) Congress Plan (Radical Republicans) • Extreme Republicans that want to punish the South – They hated Johnson’s Plan & made a plan of their own • 1) Enlarged the “Freedmen’s Bureau” – agency to assist newly freed slaves & poor whites in the South • 2) Passed Civil Rights Act of 1866 – forbade states from passing discriminatory ‘Black Codes’

– Johnson vetoed both • => Republicans overrode the vetoes and passed them anyway • also created the 14 th Amendment – Makes the former slaves citizens with equal protection of the law • Congress is gaining a lot of power

• Congress passes The ‘Reconstruction Act’ – 1) Divided the South into 5 military districts – 2) States are required to accept the 13 th and 14 th Amendments • Impeachment of Johnson – Formal CHARGING of misconduct – Radical Republicans thought Johnson was not doing his job – Fell short of conviction by 1 vote

• End of Reconstruction – 1) ‘Amnesty Act’ • The Radical Republicans eventually had to return the South’s right to vote • Returned the right to vote to former Confederate states – They will surely vote Democratic – => Republicans lose power

• 2) Election of 1876 – Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican) vs. Samuel Tilden (Democrat) • Vote was too close to call, so they made a deal (Compromise of 1877) – Hayes would win the Presidency if he did 3 things…

• 1) Withdraw troops from the South • 2) South gets Federal $ to build RR, harbors, bridges • 3) Appoint a Southerner as Hayes’s advisor – Republicans say OK – Shows that the North has lost the will to keep up Reconstruction => segregated South