The Reconstruction

The Reconstruction

1865-1877

What was the Reconstruction Era?

Reconstruction (1865-1877), the turbulent era following the Civil War, was the effort to reintegrate Southern states from the Confederacy and 4 million newly-freed people into the United States.

The Reconstruction

Following the Civil War, Congress implemented a plan to reconstruct the South from 1865 to 1877.

Despite landmark constitutional amendments and the presence of federal troops, gains for southern African Americans were limited.

After 12 years, and in response to fierce resistance from many white southerners, the federal government declared Reconstruction over.

Presidential Reconstruction

• The Freedmen’s Bureau was established in 1865 by Congress to help millions of former black slaves and poor whites in the South in the aftermath of the Civil War.

• The Ten Percent plan required 10 percent of the 1860 voting population in the former rebel states to take a binding oath of future allegiance to the United States and the emancipation of slaves.

• Johnson's plan was lenient. It only required that pledge-takers call a convention to repeal secession, amend the state constitution to abolish slavery, and refuse to pay the debts of the Confederate government.

Congressional Reconstruction

• Civil Rights Act gave African Americans citizenship and "equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and property, as is enjoyed by white citizens."

• The fourteenth & Fifteenth Amendments. 14t Amend. Equal Protection of the Laws. 15th Amend. The right to vote not denied by race.

• The Reconstruction Acts of 1867 outlined the terms for readmission to the representation of rebel states.

• The Enforcement Acts (1970-1971) are criminal codes that protected blacks' right to vote, hold office, serve on juries, and receive equal protection of laws.

Reconstruction Government

• Republican Rule brings change to the South.

• Scalawags were white Southerners who collaborated with northern Republicans during Reconstruction, often for personal profit. Carpetbaggers were people from the northern states who went to the South after the Civil War to profit from the Reconstruction.

• African American elected officials.

• Republican improvement programs. They built the region’s first public school system, hospitals, orphanages, and thousands of miles of railroads. The property requirements for voting and holding office were eliminated. The Black Codes were repealed.

Resistance to Reconstruction

• Black Codes were restrictive laws designed to limit the freedom of African Americans and ensure their availability as a cheap labor force after slavery was abolished during the Civil War.

• Violence against freedmen. The Ku Klux Klan, a terrorist group in the south, targeted African Americans and white Republicans.

• Violence against Republican Rule.

• Democratic Redeemers.

Reconstruction Economics

• Labor contracts and wage-labor system.

• Sharecropping and tenant farming.

• Continued dependence on COTTON.

• African American land and ownership.

Reconstruction Ends

• Reconstruction's failures. In 1873 the Supreme Court ruled that most civil rights and freedoms were under state control. Therefore, they were not protected under the Fourteenth Amendment. Other things also weakened Reconstruction. Southern Democrats got stronger. Terrorism grew. Grant refused to send military help to quiet the terrorism.

• Declining support.

• Liberal Republicans.

• Compromise of 1877. gave Hayes the presidency in exchange for removing federal troops from the South. Reconstruction was over.

Reconstruction's Legacy

• It was a time of industrialization and economic change in the South.

• Many southerners hated the federal government.

• They voted for Democrats in such numbers that the region was called the Solid South.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following was a practical concern for African Americans living in the South after the war?

• obtaining their freedom

• obtaining a job

• relocating to the West

• gaining experience in factories

Multiple Choice

The Reconstruction Acts achieved which of the following?

• forced former Confederate officers to serve time in prison

• divided the South into five military districts

• provided free farms to African Americans

• put African Americans into public office

Multiple Choice

What was the purpose of the Freedmen’s Bureau?

• to build up the Union Army with southerners in need of jobs

• to roam the countryside making sure all slaves were freed

• to own and operate every southern plantation

• to provide assistance to black and white southerners who had been uprooted by the war

Multiple Choice

Why did some members of Congress oppose Abraham Lincoln’s plan for Reconstruction?

• They believed southern states did not need to be readmitted to the Union.

• They thought it was too lenient.

• They wanted southern states to create their own governments.

• They wanted to be more forgiving toward high-ranking Confederate leaders.

Multiple Choice

Based on the graph above, how many Union soldiers were killed in the war (approximately)?

• 250,000

• 350,000

• 450,000

• 550,000

Multiple Choice

Who was responsible for the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln?

• Confederate conspirators trying to overthrow the government

• Union soldiers unhappy with the long war

• Confederate soldiers who attacked Lincoln in battle

• Draft rioters unhappy with forced service in the army

Multiple Choice

Which southern laws were designed to keep freedmen in a slavelike condition?

• Labor Codes

• Johnson Laws

• Black Codes

• Johnson Codes

Multiple Choice

Which of the following best describes the Ku Klux Klan?

• an organization that helped freedmen find jobs

• a church group that preached to African Americans

• a government agency that discriminated against freedmen

• a private social club that terrorized African Americans

Multiple Choice

Who took over Reconstruction from President Andrew Johnson?

• freedmen

• Radical Republicans

• the Ku Klux Klan

• southern Democrats

Multiple Choice

Which amendment gave citizenship to all people born in the United States?

• Thirteenth Amendment

• Fourteenth Amendment

• Fifteenth Amendment

• Sixteenth Amendment

Multiple Choice

Which amendment stated that no one could be denied the right to vote due to race?

• Thirteenth Amendment

• Fourteenth Amendment

• Fifteenth Amendment

• Sixteenth Amendment

Multiple Choice

The Enforcement Acts empowered the army and federal court to punish which of the following groups?

• Radical Republicans

• the Ku Klux Klan

• the Redeemers

• carpetbaggers

Multiple Choice

Based on the table above, Which of the following is a reason that freedmen had their rights denied?

• They were not interested in holding public office.

• They were constantly attacking their former owners.

• They did not own land and were powerless.

• They were not interested in economic or political power.

Multiple Choice

How did landowners benefit from sharecropping?

• They did not have to pay their workers.

• They did not have to provide supplies to their workers.

• Workers had to choose which crop to grow.

• They could supervise groups of workers.