To Reconstruct a Nation

ReconstructionO The entire nation felt the effects of the Civil

WarO Towns, factories, farm fields, and railroads lay

in ruins, especially across the South.O With slavery ending, and the wealth many

plantation owners had enjoyed gone, society had been forever changed.

O The entire nation needed to be remade, or reconstructed, in the wake of the war’s changes.

Some Lose, Others GainO Most Americans were relieved the fighting was

finally over, but they mourned the loss of so many lives.

O In the South, returning soldiers were shocked to see what was left of their land, their homes, and sometimes their families.

O In 1865, the nation ratified the 13th amendment, which outlawed slavery in every state.

O More than 275,000 black people in TN celebrated their freedom, calling the day they found out “Day of Jubilee.”

Adjusting to a New LifeO What is this picture’s theme (message)?

The Freedmen’s Bureau

O The Freedmen’s Bureau is the name of the agency that was created to help former slaves.

O The official name was the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands.

O The mission was to help former slaves and other victims of the Civil War to start or rebuild a life for themselves and to help protect the newly won rights of freedpeople.

SharecroppingO Sharecropping- where a farmer agrees

to work land owned by someone else, and grow crops the landowner wants to grow. At harvest time, the landowner then gives a share of the crop to the sharecropper. Sharecroppers then sell their portion of the crop for whatever price they can get.

O It became another way to “control” former slaves – it did not pay well, and many sharecroppers went into debt.

“I was in debt, and the man I rented land from said every year I must rent again to pay the other year, and so I rents and rents and each year I gets deeper and deeper in debt.” -John Solomon Lewis, a Louisiana sharecropper

Presidential Reconstruction

O Lincoln’s plan:O Allow southern states back into the

Union without too much anger on either side

O Remake the country so the war would never happen again

O But then…..

Lincoln is KilledO President Lincoln was assassinated

at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. while watching a play with his wife.

O John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln in the head.

O Booth then leapt from the balcony to the stage, broke his leg, but still managed to escape.

O He was later found and killed.

A Tennessean in the White House

O A few hours after President Lincoln was killed, Vice President Andrew Johnson was sworn in as President.

O He had a very difficult task before him as America mourned its great leader.

O He was a Tennessean and a Democrat

O At first, President Johnson wanted to punish the Confederate leaders.

Presidential ReconstructionO He soon changed his mind and

suggested the Confederate states be returned to the Union as soon as they ratified the 13th amendment.

O Confederate leaders would have to personally seek a presidential pardon from him for their actions during the war.

O Most Republicans thought this plan was too easy on former Confederates and did not honor the sacrifice and death of the war that had just been fought.

Congress Takes ControlO Congress attempted to take control

over Reconstruction, and passed laws making things tougher on southern states.

O Andrew Johnson often vetoed, or rejected these laws.

O Congressional Reconstruction started when Republicans won a majority of seats in Congress. The Republicans were now able to override Johnson’s vetoes.

The Reconstruction Amendments

O After Congress took over Reconstruction, it said former Confederate states could only be readmitted into the Union if they passed the 13th and 14th amendments.

O 13th- abolished slavery in the U.S.O 14th- gave African Americans full

rights as American citizens

Tennessee is ReadmittedO Tennessee became the first southern

state to rejoin the Union. O TN Gov. William Brownlow wanted to

return to the Union quickly.O Some states did not ratify the

amendmentsO They instead passed laws known as black

codes to limit the rights of freedpeople.O Congress grew concerned and sent in

troops to take over states in the period known as Military Reconstruction.

The Vote for Black MenO TN also became the first state to

give the right to vote to black men. O Two years later, Congress passed the

15th amendment, giving African American men in every state the right to vote.

O Federal soldiers tried to make sure every black man had a chance to vote, and make sure former Confederates did not vote or hold political office.

What different jobs do these voting men appear to have?

Warning Signs on the HorizonO Many southerners had opposed the

federal government’s policies during Reconstruction.

O In 1866, many of them were frustrated and turned to violence.

The Ku Klux Klan is FoundedO The goal of the club was to restore what

they called “southern honor.”O Even though in public they said they did

not want to engage in violence, but a violent attitude was present in the KKK from the beginning.

O Over the next few years, their idea spread rapidly over the entire South, making Reconstruction the second most violent time in our nation’s history.

O This is why many historians today refer to Reconstruction as the Second Civil War.