1865-1877

Why?

 Congress enacted this plan for two reasons  South needed rebuilt after the war  Sherman’s March  Needed a way for Confederate states to be allowed back in Union

Lincoln’s 10% Plan

 Lenient  Wanted to pardon Confederates if they would take an oath swearing allegiance to the Union  High- ranking officials were excluded  Once 10% of voting population had taken the oath, they would be readmitted and also regain their seats in Congress  Not enacted he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth

Wade-Davis Bill

 Created by Radical Republicans  Very severe  Ironclad oath that they never supported Confederacy  Wanted slavery abolished

Johnson’s Plan

 Same as Lincoln’s except he wanted to ban all high-ranking officials AND wealthy plantation owners  Did not agree with Radical Republicans  Felt that Congress had gone beyond anything “contemplated by the authors of the Constitution”  Felt that white men alone must manage the South

Congressional Reconstruction

   Passed the

14 th Amendment

which stated that all people born in the United States were equal Created the

Freedmen’s Bureau Act

 Gave Freedmen Rights ○ Schools for children ○ Distribution of Land  Provided protection in the courts Created

Civil Rights Act

 Guaranteed citizen rights to everyone no matter what color, race or previous condition

Problem with All Plans

 Southerners did not always mean the oath  Many were rich, political figures that stated the oath to get back into Congress to repeal the Radical Republican’s legislations

Johnson’s Impeachment

   Johnson fired Secretary of War which was against the Constitution Did the Radical Republicans have a legitimate reason or were they just looking for a way to get rid of Johnson?

Grant was elected to President and passed the

15 th amendment

which could keep no one from voting

Reconstruction Begins

   Conditions in South  Economically devastated  Low population ○ 400,000 died Republicans started setting up public works programs to clean up Troops sent to South to monitor

Politics in South

  Three types of Republicans in South 

Scalawags

– Southerners who were Republican  ○ Small farmers

Carpetbaggers

– Northerners who moved South after the war 

African Americans

Created Controversy

Former Slaves New Life

 “We are not prepared for this suffrage. But we can learn. Give a man tools and let him commence to use them and in time he will earn a trade. So it is with voting. We may not understand it at the start but in time we shall learn to do our duty” ~~~ William Beverly Nash

African American Successes

  Hiram Revels  1 st African American US Senator   Voting Rights Citizen Rights Frederick Douglass   Supported rights for all citizens including Women, Native American and Blacks Spent reconstruction era traveling around giving speeches about sufferage

African American Hardships



Black Codes

 Used before 14 th 15 th amendments and  Voided with their creation ○ Blocked African Americans from serving as jurors and testifying against white men ○ Forced them to sign a yearly work contract ○ Barred them from acquiring land

  

Jim Crow Laws

  Poll Tax Grandfather Clause  Literacy Test

Sharecropping

 Never ending cycle

Klu Klux Klan

 Wanted to destroy Republican Party   Killed 20,000 men, women, children including whites Many by lynching

Southerners Gain Control

 Congress passed the

Amnesty Act

that allowed 150,000 Confederates to vote  Were able to gain power from Republicans in Congress  Let Freedmen’s Bureau expire  Support for Reconstruction fades under Southern controled Congress

End of Reconstruction

 1876 – Reconstruction officially ends 

Presidential election 1876

 Samuel Tilden and Rutherford Hayes ○ Tilden is short one electoral vote ○ South agrees to vote in Hayes on one condition 

Compromise of 1877

 If Hayes agrees to withdraw troops from South he will win

Aftermath of Reconstruction

 Plessy v. Ferguson  Paved the way for African Americans today ○ Separate but not so equal