President Andrew Johnson’sReconstruction Plan

Pgs. 185-187

Thirteenth Amendment

• The 13th amendment, which abolished slavery in the United States, passed the Senate on April 8, 1864, and the House on January 31, 1865.

• On February 1, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln approved the Joint Resolution of Congress submitting the proposed amendment to the state legislatures for approval.

Thirteenth Amendment

• Prior to the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, slavery remained legal only in Delaware and Kentucky; everywhere else the slaves had been freed by state action and the Emancipation Proclamation.

Thirteenth Amendment

• The 13th amendment was passed at the end of the Civil War before the Southern states had been restored to the Union and should have easily passed the Congress.

• Although the Senate passed it in April 1864, the House did not.

• At that point, Lincoln took an active role to ensure passage through congress.

• He insisted that passage of the 13th amendment be added to the Republican Party platform for the upcoming Presidential elections.

Lincoln’s Death

• Lincoln did not live long enough to see the 13 amendment accepted by a majority of states and then become law.

• The amendment was declared, in a proclamation of Secretary of State William Henry Seward, dated December 18, 1865, to have been ratified by the legislatures of twenty-seven of the then thirty-six states.

Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan

• Lincoln formed a plan for allowing the Confederate States to rejoin the Union.

• The plan was carried out by President Andrew Johnson. These states could only be readmitted back into the Union under three conditions:

• 1) each state declare its secession illegal

• 2) swear allegiance to the Union

• 3) ratify the 13th amendment

Lincoln’s Plan = UNFAIR

• Many Northern states wanted to punish the Confederate states, but Lincoln’s goal was to quickly reunite the country.

• It was up to President Johnson to see that the country was reunited.

• This was not an easy task!

Tennessee Returns to the Union

• By December 1865, most Confederate states, including Tennessee, had accepted the 13th amendment.

• When Tennessee asked to be allowed back into the Union in 1866, it found a new law made such a return more difficult.

• Confederate states now had to also accept the 14th amendment.

Fourteenth Amendment

• The 14th Amendment made blacks citizens of the United States and guaranteed them the same legal rights as whites.

• In July of 1866, Tennessee Governor William Brownlow convinced Tennessee leaders to accept the 14th Amendment.

• Under his leadership, Tennessee became a part of the Union in 1866.

Black Codes

• Many Southern states passed new laws called Black Codes.

• The black codes made it illegal for former slaves to live in certain areas and to hold certain jobs.

• African Americans without jobs could be arrested or fined.

• Black Codes differed from state to state.

Black Codes

• In most states Blacks were not allowed to vote or travel freely.

• They could be made to work in the fields without pay if they could not find another job.

Ku Klux Klan

• Shortly after the war ended secret groups were formed in the South to prevent former slaves from enjoying their new found freedoms.

• One such group was the Ku Klux Klan or KKK. This group disguised themselves in white robes and hoods.

• Klan members broke into homes and attacked and killed former slaves.

• They burned African schools and churches and punished anyone who helped former slaves.

• It was a time of terror for many people.