Notes #10 Reconstruction and

Life after the Civil War

Reconstruction

• After the Civil War ended in 1865, the South faced the challenge of building a new society not based on slavery.

• The process the federal government used to readmit the Confederate states into the Union is know as Reconstruction.

• It lasted from 1865-1877.1

• To assist former slaves, the president established the Freeman’s Bureau.

• This federal agency set up schools and hospitals for African Americans and distributed clothes, food, and supplies throughout the South.

2

• When Lincoln was killed, Vice-President Andrew Johnson became president.

• Johnson was a former slave holder and, unlike Lincoln, was a stubborn, unyielding man.

• Johnson believed that Reconstruction was the job of the president, not Congress.

• During Reconstruction, there were many conflicts between Congress and President. These conflicts eventually led to a vote for impeachment. He got out of impeachment by one vote.3, 4, 5

• As the Southern states rebuilt, they set up new state governments that seemed very much like the old ones.

• The Southern states passed laws, known as black codes, which limited the freedom of former slaves.

Examples included African Americans were forbidden to meet in groups or carry guns.

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Slavery Slavery Officially Officially Ended!Ended!

On December 18, 1865, the 13th

Amendment was added to the US Constitution and officially ended

slavery. 7

• To make sure equality was protected by the constitution, Congress proposed the Fourteenth Amendment in 1866.

• It stated that all people born in the United States were citizens and had the same rights.

• All citizens were to be granted “equal protection of the laws.” However, it did not establish black suffrage (voting rights).

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Sharecropping• Under the sharecropping system, a worker

rented a plot of land to farm. • The landowner provided the tools, seed, and

housing. • At harvest time, the sharecropper gave the

landowner a share of the crop. This system gave families without land a place to farm. In return, landowners got cheap labor.

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• Problems with sharecropping –– Farmers and landowners

had opposite goals. • Farmers wanted to grow

food to feed their families.• Landowners forced them to

grow cash crops like cotton.

- Farmers had to buy their food but could not afford to do so. They then had to borrow money and were always in debt.

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• During Reconstruction, African Americans in the South faced violent racism.

• Such feelings spurred the rise in 1866 of the Ku Klux Klan.

• The members of this secret society wanted to keep former slaves powerless.

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• Gave African American Men the right to vote

• This amendment stated that citizens could not be stopped from voting “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

• This amendment became law in 1870.

• Because states still controlled elections, they implemented a series of “dirty tricks” to prevent blacks from voting, these included literacy tests, poll taxes, and grandfather clauses that many poor black could not afford to pay.

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Reconstruction Ends• The final blow to Reconstruction

came in the 1876 presidential election.

• The race was between Democrat Samuel Tilden and Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and ended in dispute.

• Congress appointed a special committee to decide the election.

Rutherford B. Hayes

Samuel J. Tilden

• This group made a deal known as the Compromise of 1877.

• Under this agreement, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes became president. In return, Republicans granted Southern Democrats several requests. -They would remove federal troops from the South.- They would provide federal funds for construction and improvement projects.

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• Historians still argue about the success of Reconstruction.

• The nation did rebuild and reunite.

• However, Reconstruction did not achieve equality for African Americans.

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