Unit 1. Reconstruction

U.S. History Chapter 2

Start of Reconstruction

• Civil War ended

• Slavery was abolished

• Confederate money was devalued

• South property, land, and railroads were destroyed

Questions Asked

• How would Southern States rejoin the Union?

• Would the President or Congress decide the policy to rejoin the Union?

• What would happen to the newly freed slaves?

• Would the Southern Confederates be able to rejoin politics and gain back their power?

• How would the economy in the South be structured?

Events & Plans

• 13th Amendment

• 10% Plan

• Wade-Davis Bill

13th Amendment

Abolished Slavery throughout the U.S.

10% Plan

(A plan by Lincoln) 10% of the State had to pledge allegiance to the Union and accept the Emancipation Proclamation to be able to rejoin the Union

*Congress did not like this plan and shot it down

Wade-Davis Bill

(Alternative to 10% plan by Congress) 50% of the state had to pledge allegiance and accept the Emancipation Proclamation

*Lincoln did not vote in favor for this plan

Freedman Bureau (1865)

An organization to help the newly freed slaves assimilate into society (housing, education, etc)

President Andrew Johnson

Former Confederate and Slave Owner

• Provided personal pardons to Southern Democrats so they could regain property & power

• Did not see African Americans as equal

• Main goal was to rebuild relations with whites and Southern Whites

Wanted to maintain Southern way of life despite the Civil War

Black Codes

Codes that restricted freedmen’s rights and was based on old slave codes

Was to preserve the South’s way of life despite 13th Amendment

• Could not move freely/leave jobs

• Could not vote

• Could not marry

• Could not stand in jury or testify against whites

• Could be whipped or beaten by employers

• Called persons of color

• Could not hold office

Radical Republicans

A group of Republicans who believed that the Confederates should be punished and African Americans deserved full-fledged rights and legal protection

Bills Passed By Republicans

• Enlarge Freedman’s Bureau

• Civil Rights Act

• 14th Amendment

Republicans refused to seat Democrats, so they were the majority in Congress

Civil Rights Act

Could not discriminate persons based on race

All persons naturalized or born in the U.S. were citizens

14th Amendment

Was based on Civil Rights Act

• Granted “due process“: Could not take away rights or property without fair trial

• Granted “Equal protection of laws“: Could not discriminate rights based on race

*Southern States now needed to accept the 14th Amendment to rejoin the Union

Tenure of Office Act

President could not remove cabinet members without Senate consent

Impeachment of President Andrew Johnson

Johnson fired his Secretary of War without Senate Approval

• Was saved from removal by 1 vote

*Ulysses S. Grant was elected President after Johnson

15th Amendment (1870)

The right to vote could not be discriminated based on race

19th Amendment (1919)

Granted women the ability to vote

Reconstruction Governments

Worked on banning racial discrimination, establishing public schools, and building railroads (many members were corrupt)

Many African Americans started joining state and local governments

*Hiram Rhodes Revel was the first African American to join Congress

Scalawags

Southern Whites who supported Reconstruction

Carpetbaggers

Northerners who packed all their belongings in carpet fabric and moved to the South to exploit it or find business opportunities

*Some joined the Reconstruction Governments

“New South” Economics

More diverse crops (vegetables and fruit), and started manufacturing

Sharecropping

Lending persons land, a cabin, a mule, and tools in exchange for a large percentage of their crop

• Former slave owners often sharecropped with their former slaves

Tenant Farming

Renting out land for borrowers to farm

Debt Peonage

You cannot leave the job unless you pay your debt in full

Presidential Election 1876

Rutherford B. Hayes vs Samuel Tilden

20 votes were disputed among 4 states (3/4 states were suspected of fraud, FL, LA, SC)

Tilden won the popular vote but lost the Electoral College

*Hayes would win if 20 disputed votes went to him

Compromise of 1877

20 disputed votes would go towards Hayes if Union soldiers and military withdrew from Southern States

• Confederates regained power and kicked out African Americans from local and state governments

• Southern States were going back to pre-Civil War era

How the Reconstruction Failed

• Prejudice against African Americans still existed

• Lack of education for former slaves

• Former slaves were dependent on former slave owners for their livelihood

• White terrorist groups such as the KKK, terrorized African Americans who were successful or demonstrated use of social rights

• The North lost interest in Reconstruction in the South because of an 1873 economic depression

How the South Circumvented the 15th Amendment

• Poll taxes

• Literacy Tests

• “Grandfather Clause”: Allowed those who were able to vote in 1876 and their relatives to be able to skip past poll taxes and literacy tests

*Grandfather Clause was declared unconstitutional by 1915, but poll taxes & literacy tests remained

Jim Crow Laws

Laws that segregated public spaces, restaurants, restrooms, etc based on race

• Purpose was to get past the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendment

Plessy vs. Ferguson

Homer Plessy was 1/8 African American, and sat in a white designated train cart

Supreme Court ruled that the Jim Crow law was not unconstitutional because it was “separate but equal“

How African Americans Coped

• Formed strong communal and church ties

• Many moved up North

Reconstruction Act

Separated the South into 4 districts where Union Soldiers would be present, and the district would be under martial law.