Reconstruction

Reconstruction

1865-1877

Freedmen's Bureau

• Helped Ex-slaves by provided:

• Food

• Shelter

• clothing

• medical supplies

• schooling for children

Civil Rights Acts of 1866

• This law granted blacks full citizenship and the right to:

• The right to make contracts

• the right to own property

• the right to sue in court

• and the right to enjoy the full protection of federal law

• Andrew Johnson vetoed this law but congress overrode the veto to make it a law.

13th Amendment

• This amendment abolished slavery in every state in the U.S.

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14th Amendment

• This amendment gave U.S. citizenship to any person born in the U.S. and guaranteed equal protection under the law to all citizens.

15th Amendment

• Guaranteed the right to vote to all citizens, regardless of:

• Race

• color

• or previous condition of servitude.

Radical Reconstruction

• New State governments in the South were Republican dominated, and they passed reform legislation for universal male suffrage.

Radical Republicans

• This was a group of Northern Congressmen that wanted ex-slaves to be granted full political equality.

Reconstruction Act of 1867

• This law imposed military rule in southern states.

• This law also required ratification of the 14th Amendment for readmission to the Union.

• Under this law, the 10 Southern states were divided into 5 districts controlled by the military.

• They were required to make new constitutions.

Black Codes

• Laws passed in the South during Reconstruction that restricted blacks much as they had been as slaves.

• Examples: Freedmen were not to be taught to read or write.

• Example: Public facilities were segregated.

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Segregation

Separating by race in places like public institutions, neighborhoods, ETC.

Jim Crow Laws

• Limited Voting among blacks and pushed for segregation.

• Examples of Jim Crow Laws: “It shall be unlawful for a negro and white person to play together or in company with each other in any game of cards or dice, dominoes or checkers.”

  —Birmingham, Alabama, 1930

Scalawag

• Southerner who had sided with the North during the Civil War.

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Carpetbaggers

Northerners who sent to the South and became involved in the new state politics; many taking advantage of the Southern situation.

Sharecropping

• Landowners made deals with people who could not afford land.

• They provided land, seed, and materials and both parties shared the crop.

Ku Klux Klan; KKK

A secret society originally formed by former Confederate soldiers to undermine Republican rule and terrorize African Americans and others who helped blacks.

Homestead Act

• Gave free federal land west of the Mississippi River.

Morrill Act

• Gave state federal lands to finance agricultural colleges.

• The grant was

  originally set up to establish institutions is each state that would educate people in agriculture, home economics, mechanical arts, and other professions that were practical at the time.

Dawes Act

• Broke up Indian Reservations into sections and sold to non-Native Americans.

• The objective of the Dawes Act was to assimilate Native Americans into mainstream US society by annihilating their cultural and social traditions.

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Tenure of Office Act

• Passed by congress to limit the presidents power to dismiss his own Cabinet members without the approval of the Senate.

• This law was used as the legal ground for impeaching President Andrew Johnson, whose Reconstruction laws were unpopular with the Radical Republicans in Congress

Andrew Johnson's Impeachment

• Johnson's refusal to obey the Tenure of Office Act led to Congressional leaders to try to remove Johnson from office, it failed by one vote.

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