Reconstruction Era

13th Amendment

• freed slaves (except for criminals)

• southerners found loopholes by accusing black people of the crime vagrancy, to get their work force back

Lincoln 10% Plan

• lenient Reconstruction plan to try to get Confederate States to rejoin the union

• if ten percent of the state population took an oath to allegiance, they could rejoin the union

Presidential Reconstruction

• period after Lincoln’s assassination during Johnson’s presidency

• 1865-1867

• aimed to quickly restore southern states and had very few reforms

Andrew Johnson

• president after Lincoln

• gave many pardons to KKK members and white supremacists

• undid 40 acres and a mule

Pardons of rebels

• over 13,000 rebels pardoned by Johnson

• most southerners except high-ranking Confederate officers and gov. officials were pardon

• Johnson pardoned people because he wanted them to just be back in the country and wanted to be lenient

Radical Republican Reaction to Pardons

• strong opposition to leniency

• pushed for harsher measures and military rule in the south

Congressional Reconstruction

• period where congress made three amendments protecting the rights of black people

  • 13th, 14th, 15th

Radical Republicans

• wanted Johnson impeached

• wanted South to be held accountable

• believed in free and equal rights to black people

Thaddeus Stevens

• Penn. rep and was against Johnson’s leniency’

• advocated for black rights

• radical republican

impeachment of johnson

• impeached for high crimes and misdemeanor

• violated tenure of office act (restricts president from removing certain federal officials)

• opponents narrowly failed to convict him

14th Amendment

• gave birthright citizenship to Americans

  • controversial now because of immigrants

• provides equal protection under the law

15th Amendment

• no denying the right to vote

• did not extend to woman (18th amendment does that)

• created so that some politicians got the upper hand

Freedman’s Bureau

• an act to establish a bureau for the relief of freed men and refugees

• provided food, shelter, medical services, and land to displaced southerners and newly freed black people

share cropping

• labor system after civil war

• land owners allowed tenant farmers to work in exchange for a share of crop

• created a cycle of poverty because landowners would cheat the sharecroppers and they weren’t educated enough to negotiate

40 acres and a mule

• black people were promised 40 acres by Sherman

• weren’t explicitly given a mule but they got some from the military

• land and amenities taken back and given to white people by Johnson

Reconstruction Act 1867

• divided the south into 5 military divisions operated by a general

• southern states required to ratify 13th amendment to be readmitted to union

• required southern states to guarantee black sufferage

black codes

• established by johnson

• prohibited black people from interracial marriage, buying property, etc.

• varied by state

KKK and Terror

• the KKK was a white supremacist group that terrorized black people

• Grant tried to make acts to suppress this, but more southerners came to power and excused them

Carpetbaggers and Scalawags

• carpetbaggers: people who moved from the North to the South seeking profit because of the condition of the south

  • viewed negatively by the south as invaders

• scalawags: as southern person who supports republican party and reconstruction acts

Civil Rights Act of 1871

• addressed terror and violence towards black people

  • mostly because of klan violence

  • allowed federal troops to stop rebellions and suspend habeus corpus

• denied states power to restrict black people’s rights

Compromise of 1877

• agreement between dems and repubs to settle election of 1876 results

• dems accepted Hayes as president and repubs took troops out of the south

• ended reconstruction era

Jim Crow Laws

• enforced racial segregation

• separated schools, parks, restaurants, etc. by race

end of reconstruction questions

• how: hayes removed troops from south and dems accepted hayes as pres.

• why: political blocking of the 1876 election, economic decrease (panic of 1873), southern resistance and northern fatigue

• where: south

• when: 1877

• who: hayes and tilden

• what: Compromise of 1877 resolving 1876

Was reconstruction a failure or was it betrayed and violently sabotaged/subverted

• sabotaged and subverted. it had good intentions to readmit the southerners and protect the rights of black people. it didn’t succeed because the wrong people were placed in power

If the purpose of the 13th Amendment was to abolish slavery, why would the add "except as a criminal punishment"?

• so that it wasn’t completely abolished in the south because the north didn’t want to upset them that much. only slavery was used to punish those who deserved it.

Why would Lincoln propose such a lenient plan?

• his goals during the war were to save the country and did that by trying to get the south to rejoin. the lenient plan was to make it easier and convince the south to reunite with the union

Who were the Radical Republic and why did the oppose Lincoln and Johnson's Plans for Reconstruction?

• people who strongly advocated for the south paying for their rebellions and black rights

• they opposed the leniency of the plans because they believed that the south shouldn’t get off so easy

Why was the 15th Amendment necessary if the 14th Amendment was already in place?

• the 15th amendment gave the right for black people to vote, which was never stated in the 14th amendment

What did the Freedmen's Bureau do to ensure the success of the newly freed slaves (now called Freedmen) ?

• they provided newly freed slaves with materials such as food, shelter, and medical services so that they could acclimatize and have support for their new free life

What did "40 Acres and Mule" mean?

• it was as promise to newly freed slaves that they would receive land for compensation. this promise was broken by Johnson.

Was Sharecropping a realistic resolution for the workers?

• no because it created a cycle of poverty because the landowners would cheat the uneducated sharecroppers

What conditions/rules did the states have to follow to be admitted back into the Union?

• 10% of the state population voters must swear to an oath of allegiance to the union

• ratify the 13th amendment

How were freed slaves impact in the states that enforced the Black Codes?

• their rights were severely restricted and couldn’t do what other freed slaves could do in non-black code states

How did the KKK spread so quickly during Reconstruction?

• people were bitter about the outcome of the war and wanted to restore white supremacy

How did the presence of carpetbaggers and scalawags negatively impact the effectiveness of Reconstruction?

• it created greater tensions between the north and the south and made them more resistant to reconstruction laws and use more violence and intimidation

What methods did Jim Crow laws use to segregate?

• separated public spaces such as restrooms and restaurants, etc.

How did the South change after the compromise?

• There was no more military occupation, southern state democratic governments were established again, creating laws against the protection of African americans (Jim crow laws)