Reconstruction

a political and social project: * re-incorporating rebel states into the Union * rebuilding the southern society without slavery
the 12 year period (1865-77) when these projects dominated national politics
critical period of nation-building, even a “second founding” * amendments 13, 14, 15 re-made the United States Constitution * individual, equal national citizenship and male suffrage * federal power over the states * they were imperfect and incomplete, but laid the groundwork of modern citizenship and governance in United States
two key problems: * what would freedom mean in practice for African Americans? * how would white southern rebels be treated and reincorporated?
this was bitterly contested in the government and on the ground

reconstruction began under Lincoln administration * emancipation and abolition, but reluctant to do more for racial equality * leniency to rebels, rapid re-incorporation of states * “radical” republicans wanted more
Congress established Freedman’s Bureau, March 3, 1865, renewed until 1872 * $Freedman’s Bureau:$ an agency of the war department set up in 1865 to assist formerly enslaved people, freed from slavery by emancipation * chronically underfunded * first, humanitarian relief * later on… * mediators between black and white southerners * education and social work for freed people
Lincoln was assassinated days after Lee’s surrender, April, 14, 1865
reconstruction fell to Vice President Andrew Johnson and Congress
the Reconstruction Act of 1867 divided the south into five military districts ran by the army
President Andrew Johnson granted pardons to many Confederate leaders
the combination of white intimidation, a large economic depression, and the Democratic Party winning control of the House of Representatives resulted in Reconstruction failing
white southerners who joined the republican party and helped with eh reconstruction were called scalawags
the goal of the wartime reconstruction was to encourage the states to stop fighting and rejoin the Union * he hoped that the simplicity and kindness of his plan would bring an early end to the war