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Reconstruction (1865 -- 1877): Successes and Failures (Unit III, Segment 3 of 3) Slide 2 Essential Question Essential Question: What were the various plans to reconstruct the Union at the end of the Civil War? Warm-Up Question: Warm-Up Question: What problems exist now that the Civil War is over? Slide 3 Reconstruction ( 1865 to 1877) Reconstruction is the era after the Civil War when the U.S. govt: Brought the seceded Southern states back into the Union Ended slavery & tried to protect newly emancipated slaves Rebuilt the nation after more than four years of fighting Slide 4 Reconstruction occurred in 2 phases: Presidential Reconstruction (1865-67) was lenient in order to allow Southern states to quickly rejoin the Union; It was initiated by President Lincoln but carried out by President Andrew Johnson Slide 5 Reconstruction occurred in 2 phases: Congressional Reconstruction (1867-77) was directed by Radical Republicans in Congress who wanted a stricter plan that protected the rights of former slaves & kept Confederate leaders from regaining power in the South Slide 6 Lincoln s Reconstruction Plan Before the Civil War came to an end (& before his death), Lincoln proposed his Ten-Percent Plan This plan was very lenient & allowed former Confederate states could re-enter the Union when: 10% of its population swore an oath of loyalty to the USA States ratified the 13 th Amendment ending slavery In his 2 nd inaugural address, Lincoln promised a Reconstruction Plan for the Union with malice towards none & charity for all Slide 7 When Lincoln was assassinated in 1865 VP Andrew Johnson tried to continue Lincolns policies: His Presidential Reconstruction plan was lenient towards Southerners States could come back into the USA once they ratified the 13 th Amendment Slide 8 Presidential Reconstruction Johnsons Reconstruction plan hoped to quickly re-unify the nation But, this plan did not require strict regulations to protect former slaves Southern states passed black codes to keep African-Americans from gaining land, jobs, voting rights, & protection under the law Johnson pardoned 13,000 ex-Confederates Slide 9 Presidential Reconstruction Led by Thaddeus Stevens, many radical Republicans in Congress opposed Johnson s plan & pushed for laws to protect African-Americans: Slide 10 The Freedmans Bureau The Freedmans Bureau was established in 1865 to offer assistance to former slaves & protect their new citizenship: Provided emergency food, housing, medical supplies Created new schools Slide 11 A Freedmans Bureau School Slide 12 Historically Black Colleges in the South The emphasis on education led to the creation of African American universities, such as Morehouse College in Atlanta Slide 13 The Role of Freedman s Bureau Agents Many former abolitionists moved South to help freedmen, called carpetbaggers by Southern Democrats Slide 14 The 14 th Amendment Congress feared Johnson would allow violations of civil rights so it drafted the 14 th Amendment: Clarified the idea of citizenship to include former slaves All citizens were entitled to equal protection under the law & cannot be deprived of life, liberty, property without due process of law Slide 15 Presidential Reconstruction President Johnson opposed these new protections because he felt it would slow reconstruction: Johnson vetoed the Freedmans Bureau bill & encouraged Southern states to not support the 14 th Amendment This backfired when Republicans increased their control of Congress in the 1866 elections Slide 16 With a dominance in Congress, moderate & radical Republicans took control & began Congressional Reconstruction in 1867: Did not recognize the state govts approved under Johnsons Plan Made Reconstruction more strict Slide 17 Congressional Reconstruction The Reconstruction Act of 1867 required that any Confederate state that wanted to re-enter the Union had to: Ratify the 14 th Amendment Allow African-American men the right to vote in their states Keep Confederate leaders from returning to power Slide 18 Created 5 military districts to protect former slaves & to enforce reconstruction Slide 19 Johnsons Impeachment (1868) President Johnson obstructed Congressional Reconstruction: He fired military generals appointed by Congress to oversee Southern military zones He violated a new law called the Tenure of Office Act when he tried to fire his Secretary of War who supported Congress plan Slide 20 Radical Republicans used this as an opportunity to impeach the president To impeach is to formally charge an elected official of wrongdoing The House of Representatives voted 126-47 to impeach Johnson Slide 21 After an 11 week trial, the Senate fell 1 vote short of removing the president from office Johnson argued that removal could only occur due to high crimes & misdemeanors but no crime had been committed ButJohnson did promise to enforce Reconstruction for the remainder of his term& he did! Slide 22 The Senate trial of Johnson s impeachment was the hottest ticket in town Slide 23 In 1868, Civil War hero Ulysses Grant won the presidency & worked with Congress to reconstruct the South: By 1868, most Confederate states had been re-admitted to the Union under Congressional Reconstruction Slide 24 Because of Congressional Reconstruction, African-American men in the South could VOTE(!) for the first time Slide 25 Re-Admission of the South Slide 26 In 1870, the 15 th Amendment gave black men the right to vote Prohibited any state from denying men the right to vote due to race Butthe amendment said nothing about literacy tests, poll taxes, & property qualifications Slide 27 The Successes of Reconstruction Through Reconstruction, the national govt achieved Lincolns original goal: Preserve the Union By 1870, all 11 Confederate states had been re-admitted into the United States The statesrights & nullification arguments came to an end Slide 28 America at the Start of the Civil War (1861) America at the End of Reconstruction (1877) Slide 29 Successes of Reconstruction Reconstruction led to the end of slavery & protections for all citizens, including African-Americans: 13 th Amendment ended slavery 14 th Amendment guaranteed all citizens, regardless of race, equal protection under the law 15 th Amendment gave voting rights to African-American men Slide 30 Successes of Reconstruction Reconstruction was the golden age of voting for African-Americans: With the right to vote, military districts, & federal troops in the South to protect voters, African- Americans were empowered The first African American politicians were elected to state & national offices Republicans took control of state governments in the South Slide 31 The First African-American Congressmen Slide 32 Successes of Reconstruction Reconstruction stressed education: Before the Civil War, it was illegal to teach slaves to read & write The Freedmans Bureau created schools for African-Americans The end of slavery allowed African- American families to be reunited, marriages to be legally recognized, & African-American workers to make their own money Slide 33 Failures of Reconstruction After the Civil War, slavery was replaced by sharecropping: White land owners would rent parcels of their fields to African- Americans in exchange for to of the cotton that they produced But, former slaves had no money for tools or seeds so they gained loans from the land owner in exchange for more of their cotton Sharecropping is also known as tenant farming Slide 34 Slide 35 Sharecropping By the end of 1865, most freedmen had returned to work on the same plantations on which they were previously enslaved Slide 36 Sharecropping family in 1937 Sharecropping remained in place from the 1860s to the 1940s when the Great Depression & World War 2 brought an end to the system Slide 37 Failures of Reconstruction Southern whites resisted attempts at reconstruction by: Passing discriminatory laws called black codes Using violence & intimidation to keep African-Americans inferior to whites The inability of the federal govt to sustain Reconstruction Supporting the return of the Democratic Party to state govts Slide 38 Failures of Reconstruction Passing discriminatory laws called black codes: These laws restricted African- Americans from serving on juries, testifying against whites in court, marrying whites, or owning land Black codes kept African- Americans from being able to have true freedom Slide 39 Failures of Reconstruction Using violence & intimidation to keep African-Americans inferior to whites: Groups like the Ku Klux Klan attacked African-Americans who tried to vote or spoke out against black codes; carpetbaggers, & scalawags (whites who voted Republican) Lynching became common Slide 40 The Invisible Empire of the South Slide 41 Failures of Reconstruction The inability of the federal govt to sustain Reconstruction Corruption and scandals during Grants presidency & economic recession in 1873 distracted northerners from Reconstruction The Supreme Court ruled against civil rights laws designed to protect African-Americans Slide 42 Failures of Reconstruction Supporting the return of the Democratic Party to state govts: The KKK & black codes became successful in limiting African- American voting Federal troops & military districts had difficulty protecting African-Americans One-by-one, Southern state govts shifted from Republican control to the Democratic Party These Redeemer Democrats hoped to restore the Old South Slide 43 The Rise of Redeemer Democrats in the South Slide 44 In 1877, Reconstruction ended: The Democratic Party returned to power in all 11 Southern states The only thing protecting African- Americans were federal troops; but by 1875, Grant had stopped sending reinforcements Slide 45 The Compromise of 1877: In the 1876 election, neither Democrat Tilden nor Republican Hayes won a majority of electoral vote Democrats in Congress agreed to vote for Hayes if the remaining federal troops were withdrawn from the South Slide 46 1876 Presidential Election President Hayes removed federal troops & ended military zones Reconstruction officially ended in 1877 Slide 47 Jim Crow Era (1877 to 1954) With Reconstruction over, the Jim Crow era began (1877-1954) Jim Crow laws, such as literacy tests (reading requirements) & poll taxes (fees to vote) kept African- Americans from voting Grandfather clauses allowed poor whites to avoid these laws & vote In Plessy v Ferguson (1896), the Supreme Court said segregation was OK (separate but equal) Slide 48 Jim Crow South from 1877 to 1954 Slide 49