Road to Rights

Changes in America

After the chaos and confusion of the Civil War, Americans

experienced the era of Reconstruction.

Reconstruction was defined as the rebuilding of the South and the bringing of the Southern states back into the union, but many had different ideas on Reconstruction.

Some just wanted Peace, but others wanted the Punishment of the South.

As Reconstruction took hold in the South, it became a struggle for African-Americans searching for full rights as citizens.

End of Civil War

Event 1: Thirteenth Amendment

• The Thirteenth Amendment abolished the practice of slavery.

• It was passed by the fall of 1865 after the Southern states were readmitted under President Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan.

• The plan called for new state constitutions and elected governments, gave forgiveness of war debts, and required the acceptance of the Amendment.

Event 2: Freedman’s Bureau• To assist the former slaves in starting their new lives in freedom, Congress established the Freedman’s Bureau in March 1865. • The Bureau provided food, medical care,

job assistance, and education to the freedmen. In the beginning, they distributed land to “loyal refugees” and freedmen.

Event 3: Black Codes

• Many of the Southern governments were still led by the same leaders as before the war. As these leaders saw the African Americans gaining rights, they lashed back with the Black Codes.

• These codes limited the rights of the freedmen, required freedmen to work pushing them back to the fields, and kept the freedmen at the bottom of the social ladder.

Event 4:Fourteenth Amendment

• The 14th amendment attacked the Black Codes by declaring that former slaves were citizens with full civil rights. It also declared that no state could deny these civil rights to any person.

After President Johnson vetoed the Civil Rights Act of 1866, the Fourteenth Amendment was passed by Congress in 1866.

Event 5:Military Districts

• The Military Reconstruction Act was passed in 1867. This act divided the South into military districts, each governed by a general with federal troops.

• The military districts worked in the South to enforce the amendments to the constitution and to protect the rights of African Americans.

Event 6:Johnson’s Impeachment

• As Johnson continued to oppose Congress, the House of Representatives voted to impeach the president.

• They charged him with violating the Tenure of Office Act by “bringing the office of the President into contempt, ridicule, and disgrace…” Even though the majority of Congress did not agree with the president, they did not want to vote to weaken the office. The vote to convict was one vote short. The impeachment did, however, further weaken Johnson.

Event 7: Sharecropping• Most former slaves

struggled to build new lives. They wanted land to farm, but had no money. At the same time, planters no longer had labor to work their fields. This led to the system of sharecropping.

• Former plantation owners rented small plots of land to freedmen. Freedmen paid for the lots in cash or crops. At first it looked like it would lead to independence, but instead it led to debt and poverty – economic slavery.

Event 8: Fifteenth Amendment & New State Constitutions

• The Fifteenth Amendment was passed in 1869. This guaranteed a citizen’s right to vote, stating that the right could not be denied based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

• The new state constitutions guaranteed the right to vote, ended imprisonment for debt, and called for the establishment of public schools in the South.

Event 9: African AmericanOfficeholders

• With the right of African Americans guaranteed and protected in the South, many African Americans were elected to office.

• Blacks served in every southern legislature and held high offices in three states. Twenty-two African Americans represented their states in Congress. Their success gave many other African Americans hope for a positive future.

Event 10:White Terrorism• When whites in the South saw

they would not be able to legally limit the rights of African Americans, they resorted to violence and fear.

• Across the South, secret organizations formed to drive African Americans out of political life, to push out the Freedmen’s Bureau workers, and to place fear and submission in African Americans across the region. The most well formed group was the Ku Klux Klan who wore long white robes and terrorized their victims at night.

• Turn your notes page sideways and draw a road down

the center. Label as below:___________________________________________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

___________________________________________________Limited FullCitizenship Citizenship • Analyze and discuss each event, place it on the road

appropriately with its event number and a brief description.

The Reconstruction Road

How did Reconstruction change the rights of

African Americans?

Exit Slip