Beginning of Reconstruction

Reconstruction

• Period after the Civil War• 1867 – 1877• The south is brought back as part of the

United States

Freedman’s Bureau

• Created by the government in 1865• Freed black slaves were uneducated and

unemployed• Georgia has a higher black population than

any other state• Gave food, clothing, medicine, and other

supplies to freed slaves

Freedman’s Bureau

• Built more than 4,000 schools• Church groups and some Northerners also

helped to create schools• Before this these people had been unable to

get an education• The first school for black students was opened

in Savannah in an old slave mart

Tenant Farmers and Sharecroppers

• Many freed slaves started working for their old masters

• Landowners would rent land to farm on• Since farmers could not afford to pay rent for

the land they would give the land owner a share of their crop

Tenant Farmers and Sharecroppers

• Tenant Farmers: often owned animals, equipment, supplies, and would get ¾ of the harvest

• Sharecroppers: did not own anything, just worked. They would get ½ of the harvest. Land owners would deduct rent and money spent from the crop so farmers would get very little.

Reconstruction

• Lincoln wanted to be fair to the South after the war. He wanted them to abolish slavery, set up a new government, 1/10 of the people had to take an oath to obey the constitution.

• Republicans did not agree with Lincoln’s plan. They wanted to punish the South for breaking away from the Union.

• Republicans passed the Wade-Davis Bill.

Wade-Davis Bill

• passed July 1864. • Stricter that Lincoln’s plan. • Wanted a majority of voters to take an oath of

loyalty to the United States. • Lincoln Vetoed the Bill.– Veto: refuse approval

Lincoln’s assassination

• April 1865 Lincoln is shot and killed by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre.

• This was 5 days after the South surrendered.

• Vice President Andrew Johnson becomes President

13th Amendment• Ratified December 1865

• Abolished slavery in the United States

• After bill was passed, Southern states could officially come back into the Union

14th Amendment

• Passed in 1866• Freed slaves are now citizens of the United

States.• Tennessee was the only Southern state to

approve.• Congress reacted by putting southern states

(other than Tennessee) under the rule of the army.

14th Amendment

• Congress told the states if they did not ratify the amendment they could not come back to the union

• 1868 ratified by all states

Rebuilding Georgia’s Government

• General John Pope was in charge of Georgia under military rule

• 1867: constitutional convention was organized to write a new state constitution

• Out of 169 delegates 37 of them were black.

Henry McNeal Turner• Educated minister, served as the first black chaplain in

the U.S. army.

• 1868 elected to the House of Representatives

• Later in 1868 Georgia legislature removes black legislatures from office saying the Georgia constitution denied blacks to hold office.

• Disagreed with his removal and spoke against it. Received threats from the Ku Klux Klan.

Ku Klux Klan

• Hate group with the goal of keeping blacks from having the same rights as whites.

• Dress in white robes and hats, would spread terror by attacking black citizens and their property at night.

• Would also target anyone that would help black citizens.

15th Amendment

• February 1870

• Guarantees the right to vote to all U.S. citizens no matter what their race is.

• Georgia is readmitted to the Union in July of 1870