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Notes VUS. 7d: Reconstruction 1

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VUS. 7d: Reconstruction


Objectives about Title

After the Civil War

Main Idea: Congress opposed Lincoln’s and Johnson’s plans for Reconstruction and instead implemented its own plan to rebuild the South. Why it Matters Now: Reconstruction was an important step in African Americans’ struggle for civil

rights.

I. The War Changes Lives

A. Thirteenth Amendment (1865)

1. Proposed before the end of the war

2. Freed the slaves in the United States

3. Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party

shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their

jurisdiction.

4. Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

B. Lincoln’s Assassination

1. April 14, 1865, 5 days after lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox, Lincoln and his wife went to Ford’s

Theatre in Washington D.C. to see a play

2. John Wilkes Booth, a 26-year-old actor and southern sympathizer shot Lincoln

3. Lincoln died the next day

4. 4 conspirators were executed by hanging including Mary Surratt – the first female to be executed in the

U.S.

5. Andrew Johnson, the Vice President, assumed the presidency

Civil War and Reconstruction: 1860 to 1877 VUS.7 The student will demonstrate knowledge of the Civil War and

Reconstruction Era and their importance as major turning points in

American history by d) examining the political and economic impact of the war and

Reconstruction, including the adoption of the 13th, 14th, and 15th

Amendments to the Constitution of the United States;

e) examining the social impact of the war on African Americans, the common

soldier, and the home front, with emphasis on Virginia;

f) explaining postwar contributions of key leaders of the Civil War.


C. Reconstruction

1. Reconstruction – period during which the U.S. began to rebuild after the Civil War

2. Lasted from 1865-1877

3. Also refers to the process in which the federal government readmitted the Confederate states

II. Different Reconstruction Plans

A. Lincoln’s Plan

1. Aka the 10% plan – very lenient “with malice towards none, with charity for all… to bind up the nation’s

wounds….”

2. Required 10 percent of the state’s population to pledge an allegiance to Constitution

3. Lincoln would pardon all confederate soldiers (except high ranking officials accused of war crimes)

B. Wade/Davis Plan

1. Proposed Congress should create the plan for Reconstruction

2. Required a majority of voters to take an oath to support the Constitution

C. Johnson’s Plan

1. Same as Lincoln’s but called for 50% allegiance to the Constitution and ratification of the 13th

Amendment

2. Didn’t address needs of former slaves

3. Southern states had to pay an annual war debt

4. Pardoned more than 13000 Confederates because he believed “white men alone must manage the

South”

D. Congressional Reaction

1. By Dec. 1865, Johnson clamed Reconstruction was over

a. Congress, led by Radical Republican Senator Thaddeus Stevens disagreed

b. Wanted to see the power of the slaveholders destroyed, full citizenship and right to vote

given to newly freed slaves


2. Freedmen’s Bureau

a. Established in the last month of the war

b. Helped former slave and poor whites by distributing clothing and food

c. Set up 40 hospitals, over 4,000 schools, 60 industrial institutes, and 74 teacher training

centers

3. Civil Rights Act of 1866

a. Gave African-Americans citizenship and forbade states from discriminatory laws called “black

codes”

b. Black codes – laws passed in the South that prohibited black people from carrying

weapons, serving on juries, testifying against whites, marrying whites and traveling

without permits

➢ Some states forbade them from owning land

4. Johnson vetoed the Civil Rights Act and Freedman’s Bureau Act (much to everyone’s surprise)

a. Moderate and Radical Republicans joined forces and overrode his veto

III. Congressional Reconstruction (Military Reconstruction Act)

A. Fourteenth Amendment

1. Made “all persons born or naturalized in the US” citizens of the US

a. Given equal protection under the law, due process

2. Johnson didn’t like it because it treated the Confederates too harshly and it was wrong to force states to

accept an amendment

3. Amendment was ratified in 1868

B. Reconstruction Act of 1867

1. Radicals and moderates joined to pass the Reconstruction Act of 1867

a. Didn’t recognize state governments formed under the Lincoln and Johnson plans


b. Divided the former Confederate states (all but Tennessee) into 5 military districts headed

by a Union General

c. All Confederate states had to ratify the 14th Amendment

d. Their constitutions had to ensure African-Americans had the right to vote

2. Johnson vetoed the bill, Congress overrode him

C. Johnson Impeached

1. Johnson wasn’t carrying out the Reconstruction Act and Congress tried to impeach him – def – formally

charge him with not following the law while in office

2. Needed 2/3 majority to impeach him, Johnson was 1 short of the majority

D. Election of 1868 – Ulysses S. Grant won with help from African American vote

E. Fifteenth Amendment

1. States that no one can be kept from voting because of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

2. Radicals introduced this because they feared southerners would try to limit black voting

Reconstructing Society

Main Idea: Various groups contributed to the rebuilding of Southern society after the war. Why it Matters Now: Many African-Americans institutions, including colleges and churches, were established during Reconstruction. I. Conditions in the South

A. Physical and Economic Conditions

1. By 1870, all of the Confederate states had been readmitted into the Union

2. The South had to physically and economically rebuild (Sherman’s march alone did $100 million worth of

damage)

3. Republican government built roads, bridges, and railroads and established orphanages and institutions to

care for mentally ill and disabled

4. Also created the 1st public school system in most Southern states

5. Southern governments increased taxes to pay for it


B. Politics in the South

1. Scalawags – white Southerners who joined the Republican Party

a. These people hoped to gain political offices with the help of the African American votes and use

the office to better themselves

2. Carpetbaggers – Northerners who moved to the South after the war

a. White Southerners believed they wanted to exploit the South’s postwar turmoil

b. Some of these people were Freedmen’s Bureau agents, teachers, or ministers

c. However a good deal were dishonest business people

II. Former Slaves Face Many Challenges

A. African-American Voters

1. 9/10 supported the Republican Party

2. Attitudes of most Southern whites changed – some supported the Republicans but many refused to

accept the new stature of African-Americans

3. Several thousand white planters emigrated to Europe, Mexico, and Brazil

B. Reunification of Families

1. Took advantage of travel opportunities and moved from their plantations to towns and cities

2. Some were able to find lost family members

3. Established educational institutes

a. Hampton Institute founded in VA

4. Founded their own Baptist and Methodist churches

5. Held office in some local, state, and federal government

a. Hiram Revels – the first African-American senator, represented Mississippi

C. 40 Acres and a Mule

1. Few formers slaves had enough money to buy their own land

2. During the war, Gen. Sherman had promised the freed slaves who followed his army 40 acres of land

per family and 1 army mule


3. Johnson evicted these people when he took over

D. Sharecropping and Tenant Farming

1. Freed African-Americans couldn’t grow or sell crops

a. Economic necessities forces many to sign labor contracts with planters

2. Sharecropping – landowners divided their land and gave each worker (black or white) a few acres,

seeds, and tools

a. At harvest time, each worker gave a share of his crops (1/2) to the landowners

3. Tenant farming – workers rent land for cash from the planters and keep their harvest

a. Better chances of becoming outright owners of farms

b. Rarely happened

E. Cotton no longer “King”

1. The Southern states were left embittered and devastated by the war. Farms, railroads, and factories had

been destroyed throughout the South, and the cities of Richmond and Atlanta lay in ruins.

2. Demand for cotton dropped during the war – other countries increased their cotton production

3. Tried to diversify their economy

a. Textile mills and tobacco sprang back up

4. Many whites were frustrated with their loss of political power and turned to anger towards African

Americans

The Collapse of Reconstruction

Main Idea: Southern opposition to Radical Reconstruction, along with economic problems in the North, ended Reconstruction. Why it Matters Now: The failure of Congress and the Supreme Court to protect the rights of African Americans during Reconstruction delayed blacks’ achievement of full civil rights by over a century. I. Opposition to Reconstruction

A. Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

1. Founded as a social club for Confederate veterans

2. Started in Tennessee in 1866, membership spread rapidly through the South

a. Many new chapters turned into violent organizations


3. By 1868 – the goal turned into restoring white supremacy and to prevent African-Americans from

exercising their political rights

4. Between 1868-71, the Klan and other groups killed thousands and burned schools and churches

a. Targeted African-Americans and whites who tried to help them

5. Another objective was to get the Republicans out of power

6. Also tried to prevent African-Americans from making economic and political progress

a. Destroyed property, refused to hire them if they voted for Republicans

b. Kept them from voting

B. Democrats “redeem” the South

1. Northern support for Reconstruction was fading

a. Northerners stopped caring about the events in the South

2. Republicans began to back away from their commitment to Reconstruction

3. Democrats started to recapture the state governments

a. Called it “redemption”

C. Election of 1876

1. End of Congressional Reconstruction

2. Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican) v. Samuel J. Tilden (Democrat)

3. Tilden won popular vote, but not electoral vote

4. Commission was set up and they elected Hayes

5. Compromise of 1877 – give Hayes the election if the Republicans end Reconstruction

a. Allowed former Confederates to regain power

D. Home Rule

1. The ability to run state governments without federal intervention

2. “Redeemers” (Southern Democrats) set out to rescue the South from a decade of mismanagement


a. Passed laws that restricted the rights of African-Americans, wiped out social programs,

slashed taxes, and dismantled public schools

3. It opened the door to the “Jim Crow Era” and began a long period in which African Americans in the

South were denied the full rights of American citizenship.

E. Legacy of Reconstruction

1. Reconstruction ended without much progress in the battle against discrimination

a. Radical Republicans failed to protect African-Americans completely and the Supreme Court

narrowed the interpretation of the 13th, 14th, and 15th, amendments

2. The South would remain a backward, agriculture-based economy and the poorest section of the nation for

many decades afterward.

3. The North and West emerged with strong industrial economies


Glossary VUS. 7d: Reconstruction Directions: Fill in the definition for the term listed. Then, in the box on the right, you have to draw a picture OR write the definition in your own words OR write a sentence using the word that demonstrates its meeting.

Reconstruction .

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Processing (Illustration, Summarization, or Sentence)

Radical Republicans .

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Freedmen’s Bureau .

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13th Amendment ..

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14th Amendment ..

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15th Amendment ..

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Black Codes ..

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Glossary VUS. 7d: Reconstruction Directions: Fill in the definition for the term listed. Then, in the box on the right, you have to draw a picture OR write the definition in your own words OR write a sentence using the word that demonstrates its meeting.

Impeach ..

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Scalawag ..

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Carpetbagger ..

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Hiram Revels .

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KKK .

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“Redeemers” .

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Compromise of 1877 .

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Summary

DIRECTIONS: Choose only one of the following: a) write a summary (25-75 words) of what you believe was the most important aspect of the notes/lecture b) write what you believe to be the most interesting or memorable part of the notes/lecture (25-75 words) c) draw something that symbolizes the notes/lecture to you (has to be different than your title page)

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Filled In - lcps.org · Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. ... April 14, 1865, 5 days after ... and 15th Amendments to the Constitution