Lesson 2: Reconstruction

Reconstruction

The period after the Civil War focused on rebuilding the South, reintegrating former Confederate states, and determining the political, social, and economic status of freed African Americans

13th Amendment (1865)

Abolished slavery in the United States.

Freedmen’s Bureau

A federal agency (1865–1872) that provided food, clothing, medical care, education, regulated labor, managed abandoned land, and reunited families of formerly enslaved people

Andrew Johnson

Andrew Johnson; a state’s rights Democrat who favored a lenient Reconstruction plan and opposed federal protections for freed Blacks

Johnson’s Plan

Allowed Southern states to rejoin quickly, pardoned former Confederates, and placed few protections on the rights of African Americans

Radical Republicans

Members of Congress who believed the “whole fabric of southern society must be changed” and demanded full civil and political rights for freedmen

Congressional (Radical) Reconstruction

Placed the South under military districts, required states to ratify the 14th Amendment, and protected Black suffrage

Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

Johnson was impeached for violating the Tenure of Office Act; he was not removed, but his power was weakened

14th Amendment

Granted citizenship and equal protection under the law to all persons born in the United States

15th Amendment

Prohibited denying the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude

Carpetbaggers

Northerners who moved South during Reconstruction, motivated by profit, politics, or idealism

Scalawags

Native white Southerners who cooperated with federal Reconstruction efforts and/or freed Blacks

Black Codes

Southern laws designed to control African Americans’ labor and behavior, limiting freedom after emancipation

Sharecropping

A labor system where freed people farmed land in exchange for a share of the crops, often leading to debt and economic dependency

“White Terror”

Organized violence used to restore white supremacy, suppress Black voting, and overthrow Reconstruction governments

Ku Klux Klan

A white supremacist group founded in Pulaski, Tennessee (1865) that used terror, intimidation, and murder to suppress Black suffrage

Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871

Federal law allowing the government to use force against the KKK and protect voting rights

Ulysses S. Grant

elected in 1868 with the slogan “Let us have peace” and supported Reconstruction enforcement

Election of 1868

Grant (Republican) defeated Horatio Seymour (Democrat); focused on Reconstruction and federal authority

Civil Rights Act of 1875

Guaranteed equal access to public facilities (later weakened by Supreme Court rulings)

Election of 1876

Contested election between Rutherford B. Hayes (Rep) and Samuel Tilden (Dem)

“The Bloody Shirt”

Hayes became president in exchange for the removal of federal troops from the South, effectively ending Reconstruction

Significance of Reconstruction

Ended slavery and expanded constitutional rights, but failed to secure lasting equality or protection for African Americans

Why did the Reconstruction fail?

White Southern resistance, withdrawal of federal troops, collapse of Congressional Reconstruction, and renewed racial discrimination