Transcript Reconstruction Outline - McCullough Junior High School

Reconstruction Outline
Rebuilding the Nation
Rebuilding the Nation
 Physically
rebuild South
 Create society not based
on slavery
 Confederate states had to
be readmitted to the
Union
 Reconstruction lasted from
1865 to 1877
Rebuilding the Nation
2nd Inaugural Speech—
Lincoln promises to unify
the country
 Freedman’s Bureau
established

– Assists freed slaves
– Provides food, schools,
hospitals
Rebuilding the Nation
 Lincoln’s
Vice
President, Andrew
Johnson, takes office
when Lincoln (a
Republican) is
assassinated
 Johnson is a Democrat
& former slave owner
from the South
Rebuilding Brings Conflict
 New
state governments must
accept
– the 13th Amendment prohibiting
slavery
– the supremacy of the federal
government
 Southerners
who pledge loyalty to
U.S. receive amnesty—an official
pardon
Rebuilding Brings Conflict
 Southern
states restrict the rights of
freed slaves with black codes
– Can’t carry guns
– Can’t gather in unsupervised groups
– Sent to a plantation to work if don’t
have proof of employment
Rebuilding Brings Conflict
 Johnson’s
policies allowed
Southerners to get away with black
codes
 Radical Republicans in Congress
were upset
– Demanded equal citizenship for
African Americans
Rebuilding Brings Conflict
 Civil
Rights Act—
– passed 1866
– Granted rights to all citizens
– Johnson vetoed it
– Congress voted to override the veto
(1st time in U.S. history)
Rebuilding Brings Conflict
Fourteenth Amendment proposed
– Protects equal citizenship permanently
– Citizens were to be given equal
protection of the laws
– Johnson didn’t support it, angering
Radical Republicans
 Republicans take over Reconstruction
– Divide south into five military districts
– Army commander placed in charge of
each

Reconstruction Acts of 1867
 Military Reconstruction Act
*
*
Restart Reconstruction in the 10 Southern
states that refused to ratify the 14th
Amendment.
Divide the 10 “unreconstructed states” into 5
military
districts.
Rebuilding Brings Conflict
New state governments form in South made
up of—
– white Northerners –carpetbaggers
– poor, white farmers from South—
scalawags
– African Americans
 Fourteen African Americans served in the
U.S. House of Representatives
 Two served in the U.S. Senate including
Hiram Rhodes Revels (add to outline)

Black Senate & House Delegates
Conflict between
Johnson & Congress
 Radical
Reconstruction—
Congress’ efforts to be tough on
the South
– Johnson opposed Congress’ reform
efforts & wanted to be easy on them
 Tensions
exist
– Johnson vs. cabinet members
– Johnson vs. Congress
Conflict between
Johnson & Congress
 Congress
passed a law prohibiting
the president from firing
government officials without
Congressional approval (Tenure of
Office Act)
 Johnson fired his Sec. of War
anyway
The Senate Trial
 11 week trial.
 Johnson acquitted
35 to 19 (one short
of required 2/3s
vote).
Conflict between
Johnson & Congress
House voted to impeach Johnson
– To formally accuse a government official
of improper conduct
– Impeach does not mean to kick out of
office
 Impeachment cases are tried by the Senate
 Johnson was acquitted—found not guilty &
cleared of the charges—by a single vote

Life for African Americans
after the War
 Freed
slaves can
–Leave plantations
–Search for family members
–Marry legally
Life for African Americans
after the War
 Most
were illiterate since it had been
illegal to teach slaves to read or write
 Set up Freedmen’s Schools but some
Southerners worked against them
– Some schools were burned down
– Some teachers were murdered
Life for African Americans
after the War
 Congressmen
supported land reform
 Rumor that slaves would get 40 acres
of land & a mule
 Many believed slaves needed land to
be economically independent of
former owners
 Land reform was expensive & didn’t
pass
Life for African Americans
after the War
 Slaves
turned to sharecropping
– Worker rented land
– Landowner provided seeds, tools,
housing
– Worker gave owner a share of the
harvest
 System
led to a cycle of debt
Life after the War
 Southern
economy suffered after the
war
– Value of cotton dropped
– Planters grew more cotton
– Price declined further
Life for African Americans
after the War
 Ku
Klux Klan (KKK) created
– To keep former slaves powerless
– To restore Democratic control to
South
– Secretive, racist group
– Rode on horseback, dressed in robes
& hoods
Life for African Americans
after the War

KKK attacked African Americans
– Beat people, burned homes
– Lynched some victims
»Killing them for a supposed crime
without a trial
– Authorities ignored the violence
– Victims had little protection
Reconstruction under Grant
 Grant—the
Republican candidate—
won the presidency in 1868
 Popular vote was very close but he got
214 electoral votes & the other guy got
only 80
 500,000 African Americans voted in
South (despite KKK efforts) & this
helped Grant win
The Balance of Power in
Congress
State
White Citizens
Freedmen
SC
291,000
411,000
MS
353,000
436,000
LA
357,000
350,000
GA
591,000
465,000
AL
596,000
437,000
VA
719,000
533,000
NC
631,000
331,000
Reconstruction under Grant
 Republicans
worried that Southern
states might try to prevent African
Americans from voting in the future
 Proposed 15th Amendment
– Citizens can’t be stopped from voting
because of race, color or previous
condition of servitude (being a former
slave)
Reconstruction under Grant

15th Amendment
– angered suffragist Elizabeth Cady
Stanton—
»protested that former slaves could vote
and women could not
– Also didn’t apply to Native Americans
who lived on tribal lands
Reconstruction under Grant
 Tougher
laws passed to deal with
KKK under Grant
 Re-elected in 1872
 Administration hurt by scandals
– Several officials took bribes
 Nation
hurt by economic depression
– Panic of 1873 lasted five years
– Railroads went bankrupt
– Companies closed & workers lost
jobs
– Americans blamed Republicans &
Democrats grew stronger
The End of Reconstruction
& Its Legacy
 Several
court cases hurt African
Americans
– Federal government couldn’t punish
people who violated their civil rights
– Allowed states to get around the 15th
Amendment with poll taxes &
literacy tests
The End of Reconstruction
& Its Legacy

Presidential election of 1876
– So close that both sides claimed victory
– Commission created to determine
outcome
– A deal was made
»Republican, Rutherford B. Hayes
would become President
»He would appoint a Democrat to his
cabinet
The End of Reconstruction
& Its Legacy
Other provisions gained by the Democratic
South
– All federal troops would leave the South
– Government would help build railroads
connecting South & West
– South would get federal funds for
construction projects
 South promised to respect civil rights in
return

The End of Reconstruction
& Its Legacy
Once military left South there was no one to
force them to keep their promises
 States passed laws restricting right of
African Americans
 Jim Crow laws passed
– Laws enforcing segregation
– Separation of white and black people in
public places

Reconstruction
& Its Legacy
Plessy vs. Ferguson
– Court case that upheld segregation
(declared it was legal)
– Said “separate but equal” facilities
didn’t violate 14th amendment
 This legal discrimination continued until the
Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s &
1960s led by Martin Luther King, Jr.

Reconstruction
& Its Legacy
In 1954, the Supreme Court reversed its
position
 “Separate is inherently [by its very nature]
unequal”
 Case was called Brown vs. the Board of
Education
– Schools began to integrate (mix people of
various races)
 Other forms of inequality began to slowly
change
