The Reconstruction Era

1
The Reconstruction Era
Ruins seen from the capitol, Columbia, S.C.,
1865. Photographed by George N. Barnard.
165-SC-53.
http//www.archives.gov/research/civil-war/photos/
images/civil-war-113.jpg
2
Reconstruction

• Reconstruction (1865-1877) period during which
  the United States began to rebuild after the
  Civil War and included the process by which the
  federal government readmitted former Confederate
  states.

3
After the War

• South lay in ruins (destroyed)
• Nearly 4 million freedman (freed slaves) needed
  food, clothing, jobs
• President Lincoln planned for Reconstruction, the
  rebuilding of the South

Ruins seen from the Circular Church, Charleston,
S.C., 1865. 111-B-4667.
http//www.archives.gov/research/civil-war/photos/
images/civil-war-112.jpg
4
Lincoln and Johnson

• Lincolns Ten-Percent Plan
• argued that the southern states had never left
  the Union because secession was illegal one
  nation indivisible
• when 10 of voters pledged allegiance to the U.S.
  state could be readmitted to U.S and create a
  new government.
• very lenient goal was to readmit southern
  states as quick as possible, not to punish the
  South
• States had to abolish slavery to return.
• Many in Congress didnt like Lincolns plan
  wanted a stricter form of Reconstruction

5
Wade-Davis Bill

• A bill proposed for the Reconstruction of the
  South written by two Radical Republicans.
•  In contrast to President Abraham Lincoln's more
  lenient Ten Percent Plan, the bill made
  re-admittance to the Union for former Confederate
  states contingent on a majority in each Southern
  state to take the Ironclad oath to the effect
  they had never in the past supported the
  Confederacy. 

6
Wade-Davis Bill

• Ironclad oath-  By requiring officials and voters
  to swear they had never supported the
  Confederacy, it limited the political activity of
  ex-Confederate soldiers and supporters. 
• Lincoln blocked this bill with a pocket veto.

7

• Military Reconstruction Acts of 1867-
• These acts divided the south into five military
  districts.
• Each district was placed under military
  leadership and new elections were held with
  voting only allowed by Congress' approved voters,
  which were mostly former slaves.
• Each state was also required to ratify the 13th
  and 14th Amendments after drafting new state
  constitutions.

8
Reconstruction Plan of Andrew Johnson

• Johnsons Presidential Reconstruction also very
  lenient toward the South
• In each southern state, a majority of voters must
  swear loyalty to the U.S.
• Each state must approve the 13th Amendment
• Then each state could rejoin the Union

Andrew Johnson, Vice President President
http//www.archives.gov/research/civil-war/photos/
images/civil-war-187.jpg
9
Response to Johnsons Plan

• Southern States met Johnsons demands
• Republicans in Congress outraged because African
  Americans were not allowed to vote former
  Confederate Leaders were elected to Congress

10
Acts of Congress

• Freedmans Bureau was created by Congress and
  established March 1865
• It gave food, clothing, other kinds of help to
  the freedman.
• Sharecropping many African-Americans rented
  land from plantation owners in return for a share
  or percentage of the total crop produced

11
Sharecropping
Sharecropping
12
Radical Reconstruction

• After the war, most southern states quickly
  ratified the 13th Amendment.
• Then passed Black Codes, which limited the rights
  of African Americans.
• Radical Republicans in Congress decide to take
  over Reconstruction
• They wanted to break the power of the southern
  planters and to make sure African Americans had
  the right to vote.

http//history.sandiego.edu/gen/sespics/34004.jpg
13
Radical Republicans

• Radical Republicans northern members of
  Congress, led by Charles Sumner and Thaddeus
  Stevens, who opposed Lincolns Ten Percent plan
  and Johnsons plan
• Wanted to punish the southern slave owners
• Wanted to give African-Americans the right to
  vote
• Graft- gaining money illegally through politics
  in order to maximize the benefits to private
  interests.

14
Radical Reconstruction (continued)

• 14th Amendment, 1868 All people born in the
  U.S. are citizens. No state may take away rights
  of citizens.
• 15th Amendment, 1870 The right to vote cannot
  be denied to citizens because of their race or
  color or because they were once enslaved.
• Reconstruction Act Southern states had to
  ratify the 14th Amendment, African American men
  must be allowed to vote,
• Johnson vetoed these acts Congress overrode his
  veto Congress eventually tried to impeach him

15
Reconstruction Under Grant

• 18th President of the United States and served
  two terms from March 4, 1869, to March 4, 1877.
• In the 1872 election he won by a landslide
  against Horace Greeley.
• Grant presided over the last half of
  Reconstruction.
• He supported amnesty (pardon) for Confederate
  leaders and protection for the civil rights of
  African-Americans.

16
Reconstruction Under Grant

• He favored a limited number of troops to be
  stationed in the South to protect rights of
  Southern blacks, and suppress the violent tactics
  of the Ku Klux Klan.
• In 1869 and 1871, Grant signed bills promoting
  voting rights and prosecuting Klan leaders.
• Panic of 1873- Promoted scores of smaller banks
  to close and caused the stock market to plummet.

17
Politics in Post War South

• Republican Party in the South relied on 3 groups
  during reconstruction
• African Americans right to vote guaranteed by
  15th Amendment
• Sharecropping many African-Americans rented
  land from plantation owners in return for a share
  or percentage of the total crop produced
• Scalawags Southerners who became Republicans
• Carpetbaggers Northerner Republicans who moved
  to the South

18
The Collapse of Reconstruction

• Anti-Black Violence
• Election of 1876
• Compromise of 1877

19
The Collapse of Reconstruction

• Anti-Black violence goal was to prevent African
  Americans from voting
• Ku Klux Klan (KKK) violent terrorist
  organization devoted to white supremacy

20
The Collapse of Reconstruction

• Election of 1876 Rutherford B. Hayes
  (Republican) vs. Samuel Tilden (Democrat)
• Tilden won the popular vote, Hayes won the
  electoral college
• South upset and disputed the election

21
The Collapse of Reconstruction

• Compromise of 1877 agreement to settle the
  disputed election
• Hayes (Republican) president
• Republicans would end military occupation of the
  South ended
• White Democrats took control of southern state
  governments Redemption
• Redemption- the overthrow or defeat of Radical
  Republicans (white and black) by white Democrats,
  marking the end of the Reconstruction era in the
  South.

22
Reconstruction Ends

• Reconstruction ended after presidential candidate
  Rutherford B. Hayes made a private deal with
  southern politicians.
• After Reconstruction, a new industrial economy
  began to emerge in the South.
• Southern whites pass new laws to deny African
  Americans equal rights.
• Poll Taxes, Literacy Tests, Grandfather Clauses
• Segregation, Jim Crow Laws, Lynching
• Civil Rights Movement (100 years later)

23

• Civil War Pictures from the National Archives
  http//www.archives.gov/research/civil-war/photos/
  
• Many Reconstruction
• http//cla.calpoly.edu/lcall/204/outline.weekfour
  .html