Reconstruction

Essential Question

• How was the nation’s commitment to its founding ideals tested during Reconstruction?

Key QuestionsKey Questions

1. How do we1. How do webring the Southbring the Southback into the back into the

Union?Union?

1. How do we1. How do webring the Southbring the Southback into the back into the

Union?Union?

2. How do we 2. How do we rebuild the rebuild the

South after itsSouth after itsdestruction destruction

during the war?during the war?

2. How do we 2. How do we rebuild the rebuild the

South after itsSouth after itsdestruction destruction

during the war?during the war?

3. How do we3. How do weintegrate andintegrate andprotect newly-protect newly-emancipatedemancipated

black freedmen?black freedmen?

3. How do we3. How do weintegrate andintegrate andprotect newly-protect newly-emancipatedemancipated

black freedmen?black freedmen?

4. What branch4. What branchof governmentof governmentshould controlshould controlthe process ofthe process of

Reconstruction?Reconstruction?

4. What branch4. What branchof governmentof governmentshould controlshould controlthe process ofthe process of

Reconstruction?Reconstruction?

Reconstruction• Major Issues

1. Status of former states • Eleven Confederate States – how/when can

they join the U.S?2. Status of former slaves

• Four million Illiterate, unemployed, poor former slaves

• How much should the federal government help?

3. Rebuilding the South• 50% of manufacturing, agriculture and

transportation destroyed• Who should rebuild?

Radical Plan for Readmission

Radical Plan for Readmission Civil authorities in the territories

were subject to military supervision.

Required new state constitutions, including black suffrage and ratification of the 13th and 14th Amendments.

In March, 1867, Congress passed an act that authorized the military to enroll eligible black voters.

13th Amendment13th Amendment Ratified in December, 1865.

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Summary = Slavery is abolished

14th Amendment14th Amendment Ratified in July, 1868.

* Provide a constitutional guarantee of the rights and security of freed people regardless of race.

Southern states would be punished for denying the right to vote to black citizens!

15th Amendment15th Amendment Ratified in 1870.

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Summary = Right to vote regardless of race.

Women’s rights groups were furious that they were not granted the vote!

Changes in the Southern Economy

• Sharecropping and tenant farming– Cycle of poverty

• Restoration of plantations• Challenges

– KKK– Scandals– Popular support declines

• End of Reconstruction = Compromise of 1877

Black CodesBlack Codes Purpose:

* Guarantee stable labor

supply now that blacks

were emancipated.

* Restore pre-emancipationsystem of race relations.

Forced many blacks to become sharecroppers [tenant farmers].

How Sharecropping WorksHow Sharecropping WorksFurnishing Merchant

Tenant Farmer Landowner

Loan tools and seed up to 60% interest to tenant farmer to plant spring crop.

Farmer also secures food, clothing, andother necessities oncredit from merchant until the harvest.

Merchant holds “lien” {mortgage} on part of tenant’s future crops as repayment of debt.

Plants crop, harvests in autumn.

Turns over up to ½ of crop to land owner as payment of rent.

Tenant gives remainder of crop to merchant inpayment of debt.

Rents land to tenant in exchange for ¼ to ½ of tenant farmer’s future crop.

SharecroppingSharecropping

The “Invisible Empire of the South”

The “Invisible Empire of the South”

Worse Than Slavery

• What do you see?• What artistic devices are used?• Who is shaking hands? • What scene is shown beneath the

two men?• Why do you think this scene is

labeled “Worse Than Slavery”?• What do you think is the message?

Segregation and Discrimination

• Voting Restrictions– Literacy tests– Poll tax– Grandfather clause (white only)

• Jim Crow Laws– Legal separation (segregation) of races

• Plessy v. Ferguson– 1896 U.S. Supreme Court decision allows

‘separate but equal’

Success or Failure?

• Success– Social and Political

Revolution– Former slaves

participate in government

– Expanded public education

– Redistribution of land– Restoration of former

slave families, churches, and communities

• Failure– Political parties unable

to continue reform– Continuation of ‘Cycle

of Poverty’ – Racial bias and

intimidation– Not aligned with

National priorities: ex-slave issues vs. economic issues

U. S. Review Topics Unit 1

• Abolitionists• Popular sovereignty• Kansas-Nebraska

Act• Dred Scot v.

Sanford• Anaconda Plan• Sharecropping• Total war

• Jim Crow laws• Plessy v. Ferguson• Compromise of

1877• Emancipation

Proclamation• 13th Amendment• Outcomes of the

Civil War• African Americans

after Civil WarTEST = Friday 9/18 13 Multiple Choice, 8 Short AnswerUse notes, textbook, www.kdircks.wikispaces.com for information