During & After the Civil War we had to determine:

1. How to integrate 4 million newly freed African Americans into national life

2. The process on how to re-admit the defeated Confederate states to the U.S.

Lincoln’s Policies: The 10% Plan

Lincoln had never been anti-southern and he planned early for a swift and moderate Reconstruction process.

In his words, Lincoln promised “malice toward none; with charity for all.”

In his “proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction” issued in 1863, Lincoln proposed the following:

Lincoln’s Policies: The 10% Plan

Full presidential pardons would be granted to most southerners who(1) took an oath of allegiance to the Union and the

U.S. Constitution; and(2) accepted the emancipation of slaves.

A state government could be reestablished and accepted as legitimate by the U.S. president as soon as at least 10 percent of the voters in that state took the loyalty oath.

What this meant in practice:Each southern state would be required to rewrite its

state constitution to eliminate the existence of slavery.

Lincoln’s Policies: the 13th Amendment & the Freedmen’s Bureau, 1865 January 31st: the 13th Amendment

abolished involuntary servitude everywhere in the US, and

Declared Congress shall have power to enforce the law through “appropriate legislation.”

March: Freedmen’s Bureaukind of early welfare agency.food shelter, and medical aid for those

made destitute by the warApplied to both blacks (mainly freed

slaves) and homeless whites.authority to resettle freed blacks on

confiscated farmlands in the South.Frustrated by President Johnson;

pardoned Confederate owners of confiscated lands; courts gave land to original owners

The Meanings of Freedom Black southerners entered into life after slavery

with hope and circumspection.Moving from place to place just to exercise the

human right of mobilitySearched for family members who had been

previously sold.Husbands and wives who belonged to different

masters established homes togetherParents asserted their right to raise their own

children.Many took measures to minimize contact with

whites.

African Americans’ Search for Independence and Land

Abandoned slave quarters and moved to distant corners of the land they worked.

Established small all-black settlements. The secret churches of slavery came into the open.

Mostly Methodist and Baptist denominations Left employers they felt were “bad” in search of

“good” work. Wanted to be self-sufficient farmers and settle the

land given to them by General Sherman and improve it.

But...how much of a chance would whites give to blacks?

Thomas Nast’s Political Cartoons

How did Northern attitudes towards freed African Americans change during Reconstruction?

Cartoon #1Published in 1865, end of the warDescribe the African American man in this cartoon.

Why is he on crutches?What is Columbia (white woman) asking for?What is the message of this cartoon? Based on the

cartoon, would you say Thomas Nast supported or opposed equal rights for freedmen?

Thomas Nast’s Political Cartoons

How did Northern attitudes towards freed African Americans change during Reconstruction?

Cartoon #2Published in 1874, well into Reconstruction, after

Freedmen’s Bureau lost funding and shut downDescribe the African Americans in this cartoon.

Positive or Negative image?What is Columbia trying to do?What is the message of this cartoon?

What is Sharecropping? Textbook Version

Without their own land, freed African Americans, as well as poor white farmers, could not grow crops to sell or to use to feed their families. Therefore, economic necessity forced many former slaves and impoverished whites to become sharecroppers. In the system of sharecropping, landowners divided their land and assigned each head of household a few acres, along with seed and tools. Sharecroppers kept a small share of their crops and gave the rest to the landowners. In theory, “croppers” who saved a little might even rent land for cash and keep all their harvest in a system known as tenant farming.

Complicate your thinking!

The “Cropper” Contract In pairs, read the contract and answer the

guiding questions. Findings? Discussion:

Did the textbook give an accurate portrayal of life under sharecropping?

How did the contract expand or challenge the description in the textbook?

Rise of the Sharecropping System Sharecropping proved to be a disaster:

Owners and merchants developed a monopoly of control over the agricultural economy

Sharecroppers found themselves riveted into ever-increasing debt.

In a sense, sharecropping had evolved into a new form of servitude.