Reconstruction

Chapter 17

Lincoln’s Rebuilding Plan

• Take an oath of allegiance

• Offer amnesty• Wanted confederates

states to quickly rejoin the union-10% plan

• Form new state governments

• Slavery is banned

Lincoln is Assassinated

• April 14, 1865 at Ford’s Theatre

• John Wilkes Booth shoots him in the head

• The nation is shocked• His death delayed

rebuilding the South

Johnson Becomes President

• Lincoln’s vice president• From Tennessee• A Democrat who ran

with Lincoln on a bipartisan ticket

• Favored quick restoration of seceded states

Problems in the South

• Farms and plantations were ruined

• Confederate money was worthless

• Banks failed• Roads, railroads, &

bridges were destroyed• No police, judges, or

courts• Homeless & unemployed

Reconstruction

• The rebuilding of the South

• President Andrew Johnson in charge

• He followed Lincoln’s plan

• Southerners pardoned after taking oath

• State governments re-formed

The Thirteenth Amendment

• Outlaws slavery• Supported by President

Johnson who urges former confederate states to do so

• Ratified on December 6, 1865

Radical Republicans

• Opposed Johnson’s plan• Wanted to punish

former Confederates• Would not recognize

new state governments• Did not accept these

states back into Union

Black Codes

• Southern states enact laws harmful to freedmen

• Restrict voting, owning land, working certain skilled jobs

• Radical Republicans are incensed

Johnson vs. Congress

• Johnson offends Radical Republicans

• He vetoes the Civil Rights Act of 1866

• Congress overrides his vetoes

• He opposes the 14th Amendment

• Congress impeaches him

The Fourteenth Amendment

• Ensured validity of the Civil Rights Act of 1866

• Citizenship defined• Due process clarified• Equal protection for all

citizens• The only southern state

to ratify it was Tennessee: they got to return to the Union

The Freedman’s Bureau

• Started by Congress• Temp agency to help

former slaves find jobs, get clothing, food, & shelter

• Helped with schooling• Protected civil rights of

African Americans

Reconstruction Act of 1867

• Congress passed four acts- all over the veto of President Johnson

• The 10 states who refused to ratify the 14th amendment would be put under military rule

Impeachment

• Johnson’s vetoes anger Republicans

• The Tenure of Office Act angers Johnson

• Congress tries to impeach him (remove him from office)

• The attempt fails by one vote

The Election of 1868

• The Republicans choose war hero Ulysses S. Grant

• He supports the Radical Republicans

• Democrats pick former NY Governor Horatio Seymour

• African Americans swing a close election

Reshaping the South

• Scalawags manipulate blacks

• Carpetbaggers come south looking for opportunities

• Corruption was rampant

Changed Way of Life

• Plantations were divided up

• Tenant farming• Sharecroppers• The South diversified

their agricultural crops• Iron, steel, & lumber• industries emerge• Public education-but

segregated schools

The 15th Amendment

• African American men now have the right to vote

• Suffrage given to all citizens except women and American Indians

• Southerners opposed the new amendment

• “Grandfather clauses” and widespread voter suppression

Reconstruction Ends

• The Ku Klux Klan terrorizes African Americans

• Blacks are disenfranchised

• Poll taxes• Literacy tests• Residency requirements

Grant’s Problems

• Scandals hurt his administration

• He still wins a second term in 1872

• The country goes into a depression for four years

• Republicans loose many seats in Congress

Reconstruction Ends

• Northerners grew tired of high taxes and lose interest

• 10 years had passed• Rutherford B. Hayes was

elected president in 1876• A backroom deal secured

the election• Federal troops left the

South after he took office