Johnson’s Reconstruction• Southern states were

pardoned• Whites dominated politics

and society• Quickly rewrote state

constitutions• Violent riots against African

Americans in southern and northern cities

• South enacted Black Codes.

Black Codes• Laws limiting the rights and

freedoms of Freedmen– Curfew laws– Vagrancy – freedmen must

work– Labor contracts – yearly

contracts that restricted labor options

– Living restrictions – could not rent a place to live in cities, only rent in rural areas

• What is the overall effect of Black Codes?

Radical Republican Reconstruction• Radical Republicans and

moderate republicans controlled Congress– Didn’t like Johnson’s

reconstruction plans– Passed many laws over Johnson’s

veto– Controlled reconstruction from

1867 to mid 1870’s• Passed three main actions

– Reconstruction Act of 1867– 14th amendment– 15th amendment

Reconstruction Act• Military rule in the South• Southern states had to create

new state constitutions• All qualified men could vote,

including Freedmen– Banned those men who supported

the Confederacy• Southern states had to ratify the

14th amendment and guarantee equal rights to all citizens• What effect do you

think this act will have on the South?

Effects of the Reconstruction Act• More freedmen voted in the south and fewer whites voted

– Helped by the 15th amendment • Many of the delegates at state constitutional conventions

were black or republican– Many new state constitutions gave civil rights, public schools,

public offices to all classes of people• Many African Americans were elected to state government

positions and congress– Senate refused to seat P.B.S. Pinchback –a black senator from

Louisiana

Hiram Revels

Reconstruction• Andrew Johnson was impeached,

but not removed from office– Partisan act – no real wrong doing– No power to stop radical

republican reconstruction• Ulysses Grant is elected

president in 1868– Puppet to radical republicans

• Carpetbagger came from the north to try and prosper in the south– Most were honest and educated– Took advantage of the political

and economic state of the south• Scalawags – southern white

republicans – viewed as traders

“New South”Main Concept:

The opportunity for freedmen was tied to land– Policies to give freedmen land were

unpopular– Few freedmen could afford land– Few whites would sell or rent land to

freedmenPlantation owners had land but no labor,

and freedmen had labor but no land.– Sharecropping was the result

Sharecropping – Cycle of Debt

Poor whites and freedmen have no money to buy land

Sign contracts to work landlord’s land for part of

the crop

Sharecroppers incur debt for

housing and food

At harvest, the sharecropper

owes more than the crop is worth

Sharecropper cannot leave the farm as long as

the debt remains

Effects of Sharecropping• More poor whites were harvesting cotton –

considered slave work• Cash crops in the south increased– Cotton, tobacco, sugarcane– Imported food – northern farmers

• Cycle of debt continues to grow– 1 in 20 black families owned land

• Merchant class rises– Stores open to sell farming goods to sharecroppers– Many owned by the landlords

Sharecropping Map

Effects of ReconstructionPositive• Railroads expanded• Cities grew• Industry grew – mostly

unfinished products• Rebuilt infrastructure –

dams, roads, canals, etc

Negative• Corruption with

government contracts• Paid for by southern

taxes• Rise of the Ku Klux Klan

– Used terror tactics to keep African Americans in a submissive role

End of ReconstructionCauses

1. People thought that reconstruction was the cause of corruption in the government

2. Economic downturn of 1873 – disliked the taxing and spending– Federal troops begin to return north

• More violence against African Americans• Less African American suffrage• More white control of politics in south

3. Supreme Court weakens the federal governments ability to enforce the 14th amendment

4. Solid South is formed - democratic5. Compromise of 1877 – Hayes (Republican) wins the

presidency, but all reconstruction ends