Waging PeaceWaging Peace

The Union won the Civil War . . .

What were economic, social and political challenges in

reuniting the country?

The Union won the Civil War . . .

What were economic, social and political challenges in

reuniting the country?

Union Army destruction of homes in Jackson, Mississippi

Destruction of East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad

Dead lined up for burial

Ruins of Richmond, VA, former Confederate capital city, 1865

Ruins of Navy Yard, Norfolk, VA

Veterans Hospital Fredericksburg, VA, 1865

Confederate Prison, Andersonville, GA

Fugitive African Americans Crossing the Rappahanock River, 1862

Former Slaves on the Roads

Facts and FiguresThe South lost “everything”

1/4 of its white male population of military age

a third of its livestock,

half of its farm machinery,

$2.5 billion worth of human property.

Factories and railroads

Important cities: Atlanta, GA, Charleston, SC, Columbia, SC and Richmond, VA

Facts and FiguresFor former slaves, this was a time of hope and

uncertainty

13th amendment made slavery illegal in the United States

Over 3 million former slaves were now free

They needed education, employment, shelter, housing

The assassination of Lincoln

• Lincoln attended a play a few days after Appomattox

• Actor and former Confederate soldier John Wilkes Booth was able to sneak into theater and shoot him

• He lingered overnight, never regained consciousness and died

• Manhunt for Booth lasted several weeks

• He was found in a barn and shot in attempt to capture

How should Reconstruction be handled?

• Under what conditions should the South be allowed back into the Union?  Who in the former Confederate States of America should be pardoned?

• What political, economic and social rights should

Free Blacks and Freedmen acquire?

• Who should control the process of Reconstruction—Congress or the President?

• Should Reconstruction be implemented on a national or state level?

Resources

• http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/reconstruction/index.html

• Reconstruction: America’s Second Civil War http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/