Post on 14-Dec-2015
RECONSTRUCTION AND THE NEW SOUTH (1865-1896)
Chapter 17
Essential Question
How did plans to unify the nation differ after the Civil War?
Reconstruction Debate
Main Idea: Government leaders disagreed about how Southern states could rejoin the Union Southern states, because they had left
the Union in 1861, needed to be readmitted
The economy and society of the South needed to be rebuilt
Lincoln’s Plan
Ten Percent Plan: When 10% of the voters of a state took an oath of loyalty to the Union, that state could be readmitted. Punishing the South was useless Offered amnesty to all white Southerners
willing to swear loyalty to the Union.
The Radical’s Plan
Radical Republicans headed by Thaddeus Stevens believed Lincoln’s plan was too forgiving.
Radical Republicans controlled Congress and voted to deny seats to representatives from any state readmitted under Lincoln’s plan.
Passed the Wade Davis Bill
Wade Davis Bill
July 1864 – passed by Congress To rejoin the Union, a state had to
meet the following requirements Majority of white males must swear
loyalty to the Union Only white males who did not fight
against the Union could vote for delegates to a state constitutional convention
Had to ban slavery
The Freedmen’s Bureau
Set up by Lincoln and Congress to help African Americans adjust to freedom Provided food, clothing and medical
services Set up schools Helped freed people acquire land or find
work
Assassination of Lincoln
Shortly after the Freedmen’s Bureau was founded, a tragic event took place that shocked the nation. On April 14, 1865, President Lincoln attended a play at Ford’s Theater in Washington D.C. John Wilkes Booth, an actor and Confederate sympathizer, entered the private box and shot Lincoln in the head. Lincoln died several hours later.
Assassination of Lincoln
Assassination of Lincoln
When Lincoln died, Vice President Andrew Johnson became president. Johnson was born in the South but supported the Union during the war. Johnson soon revealed his plan for Reconstruction.
Johnson’s Plan
Grant amnesty to most Southerners once they swore loyalty
Desired to humiliate Southern Confederate leaders by making them appeal to him personally for a pardon
Opposed equal rights for African Americans States had to ratify the 13th Amendment
before allowed back in the Union By the end of 1865, all states, except Texas,
had new governments and were ready to join the Union.
Compare and Contrast
What were the similarities and differences between Lincoln’s views and the Radical Republicans’ views concerning Reconstruction? Venn Diagram
Radicals in Control
Essential Question: What were the results of Radical
Reconstruction?
The Thirteenth Amendment
December 6th, 1865 The first of the Reconstruction
Amendments Abolishes and continues to prohibit
slavery and involuntary servitude
Radicals in Control
Black Codes Laws to control freed men and women
that resembled slavery Examples
Arrest and fined jobless African Americans Banned from renting or owning farmsCongress passed the Civil Rights Act of
1866 which granted full citizenship to African Americans and overturned the Black Codes
The Fourteenth Amendment
Congress, fearing that the Civil Rights Act of 1866 might be overturned in court, passed this in 1866
Granted full citizenship to all people born in the United States
“Equal protection of the laws” Excluded citizenship of Native
Americans
Radical Reconstruction
After winning the congressional elections of 1866, the Radical Republicans were able to put their version of Reconstruction into action
President Johnson could do little to stop the Republicans because they could easily override his vetoes in Congress. Thus began a period known as Radical Reconstruction.
Reconstruction Acts of 1867 Divided 10 Southern states into military
districts Run by a military commander until a
new government could be formed Guaranteed African American men the
right to vote in state elections Banned former Confederate leaders
from holding office States had to pass 14th Amendment to
reenter the Union.
Readmission of States
With help of African American voters, all ten states were readmitted to the Union by 1870.
Impeaching the President
So that Johnson could not control the military governors as commander-in-chief, Congress passed a series of laws to limit his power Tenure of Office Act: Prohibited president
from removing government officials without the approval of the Senate
Impeaching the President (cont.) Johnson removed Secretary of War
Edwin Stanton without Senate’s approval
Outraged by his actions, the House of Representatives moved to impeach Johnson
Senators could not get a 2/3 majority because some Republicans said Johnson should not be removed from office due to political differences
Johnson stayed in office until 1869
The Fifteenth Amendment
1896 Prohibits the state and federal
governments from denying the right to vote to any male citizen because of “race, color or previous condition of servitude.”
Right to Vote!!!
Making Connections
Comparing: How were the black codes similar to slavery?
Summarize the Reconstruction Amendments
Answer the Essential Question What were the results of Radical
Reconstruction? African Americans gained full citizenship,
although protecting these rights proved difficult
African American voters helped to put Republicans in control of Southern gov’t
By 1870, all Southern states had met the requirements under Radical Reconstruction and were restored to the Union.
The South During Reconstruction Essential Question:
What kinds of resistance did African Americans face as they tried to exercise their rights as citizens of the South?
The South During Reconstruction Main Idea: As African Americans
began to take part in civic life in the South, they faced resistance, including violence from the Whites.
African Americans in Government Played important roles in
Reconstruction politics as voters and officials
Contributed heavily to some Republican victories
Scalawags and Carpetbaggers Scalawags
Southern whites who were non-slave holding and backed Republicans
Carpetbaggers Northern whites to moved south after the war
and backed Republicans Many Southerners accused Reconstruction
governments of corruption. Although some officials made money illegally, probably less corruption occurred in the South than in the North.
Resistance to Reconstruction Most Southern whites opposed
efforts to give rights to African Americans
African Americans were often Refused land to rent Refused credit at stores Not hired by white employers
Ku Klux Klan
Secret society who used fear and violence to deny rights to freed men and women. Killed thousands of African Americans while
wearing sheets and hoods Burned African American schools, churches
and homes Supported by many Southern planters and
Democrats Congress passed several rather
unsuccessful laws to stop the Klan in 1870 and 1871.
KKK
Education
Education improved for both races during Reconstruction
1870s – public schools created for both races
Attended separate schools
Farming
Sharecropping Farmer works land for an owner who
provides equipment and seeds and receives a share of the crops
Answer the Essential Question WHAT KINDS OF RESISTANCE DID AFRICAN
AMERICANS FACE AS THEY TRIED TO EXERCISE THEIR RIGHTS AS CITIZENS OF THE SOUTH?
Change in the South
Essential Question: How did the South change politically,
economically and socially when Reconstruction ended?
Panic of 1873
Severe economic depression Small banks close, stock market
plummets Blame for hard times fell on the
Republicans and the Grant Administration
Panic of 1873
Election of 1876
Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican) vs. Samuel Tilden (Democrat)
Hayes wins although the outcome of the election is disputed
Compromise of 1877
Hayes presidential victory is disputed and Democrats threaten to challenge the decision. Party leaders meet in secret to work out an agreement.
Agreement includes some favors for the South New gov’t would give more aid to the South Republicans would withdraw all troops from
the South Democrats in turn, promised to maintain
African American rights
A New Policy
Hayes announces intention to let Southerners handle radical issues
Federal government would no longer attempt to reshape Southern society
Reconstruction has come to an end
Change in the South
After Reconstruction, the South experienced a political shift and industrial growth.
Democrats in Control
Large landowners, merchants, bankers, business leaders
Adopted conservative practices Lower taxes Cut government spending Eliminated many social services begun
during Reconstruction Cut public education
Rise of the “New South”
By the 1880s, forward-looking Southerners were convinced that their region must develop a strong industrial economy. They argued that the South lost the Civil War because its industry didn’t match the North’s.
Rise of the “New South”
Built industry based on coal, iron, tobacco, cotton and lumber
Textile mills, tobacco manufacturing, iron and steel mills
Industry grows as a result of cheap, reliable workforce
Agriculture is still the South’s main economic activity
Rural Economy
Supporters of the “New South” hope to advance agriculture as well
Too much debt for farmers To repay debt, farmers rely on cash
crops like cotton Too much cotton forced prices down
Sharecropping and reliance on one cash crop keeps Southern agriculture from advancing
A Divided Society
As Reconstruction ended, African Americans’ dreams for justice faded. In the last 20 years of the 1800s, racism became firmly set in the culture. Individuals took steps to keep African Americans separated from white and to deny them basic rights.
Jim Crow Laws
What is it? Laws that required African Americans
and whites to be separated in almost every public place
Impact Segregation! Unequal facilities and
accommodations
Poll Tax
What is it? A fee people had to pay to vote
Impact Most African Americans could not afford
the tax and therefore could not vote
Literacy Test
What is it? Voters take a test in which they have to
read and explain difficult parts of the Constitution in order to vote.
Impact Because most African Americans had
little education, literacy tests prevented many from voting.
Grandfather Clause
What is it? Law that allowed people whose fathers
or grandfathers had voted before Reconstruction to vote.
Impact Literacy tests could keep some whites
from voting. These laws allowed them to do so. Because African Americans could not vote until 1867, they were excluded.
Lynching
What is it? When an angry mob kills a person by
hanging Impact
Fear! African Americans were lynched because they were suspected of crimes, or because they did not behave the way they should.
Lynching
Plessy vs. Ferguson
The Supreme Court decides to uphold the idea of “segregation of the South” by handing down the decision of Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896)
Impact: Said separate is equal. The problem is however, that the facilities are separate but in no way, equal. Gave legal support to Southern segregation and inequality.
Answer the Essential Question How did the South change politically,
economically and socially when Reconstruction ended?