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?