Howdy Reconstruction

CH. 18 NOTES:
RECONSTRUCTION AND
THE CHANGING SOUTH:

1863-1896

John Green (13 minutes)

1) Early Steps to Reunion
2) Radical Reconstruction
3) The South Under Reconstruction
4) The End of Reconstruction

Lincoln’s Second Inaugural address

Equality-denounced slavery (slavery is BAD)

The Union-Restore peace and the Union

“With malice toward none, with charity for all...let us strive...to bind up the nation’s wounds...to do all which

may achieve a just and a lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

Abraham Lincoln

Early Steps to Reunion

I.Postwar Problems
A.

The victorious North

B.

The defeated South

II.

Early Steps Toward Reconstruction
A.

The Freedman’s Bureau

III.

Lincoln is Assassinated

IV.

The New President
A.

Johnson’s Plan

B.

Congress Rebels

✕ Following the Civil War, the South faced more problems than

the North. Across the South, many cities and farms were
destroyed.

Postwar Problems-Adjusting to a
changed world

“My father had come home to a house stripped of nearly

every article of furniture and to a plantation stripped of the
means of cultivating...it. A few mules and one cow were all
that were left of the stock.”

--Susan Smedes, Memorials of a Southern Planter

Turn and Talk: Why was the South more devastated than

the North? Things to consider, Sheridan and Sherman’s
wage of total war (pg. 508).

Postwar Problems

Not only had cities and farms been leveled in some places in the
South, but financial and social systems were wrecked as well.

✕ Economic Ruin:Confederate money was worthless, many

southern banks closed and depositors lost their savings.

✕ Social Ruin: The US had to decide what would happen to the 4

million former slaves, or freedmen who before the Civil War
were forbidden to own property and to learn to read and write.

✕ One month before Lee surrendered, Congress

created the Freedmenʼs Bureau* , a
government agency to help former slaves.

✕ Provided food and clothing to former slaves
✕ It tried to find jobs for freedmen
✕ Provided medical care for more than a million people
✕ Helped poor whites too
✕ Most important task was to set upschool for the freedmen.

Over 1,000 schools built.

✕ The Bureau laid the foundation for the Southʼs Public School

system and created colleges for African Americans, including
Howard, Morehouse, and Fisk.

Freedman’s Bureau:*

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is not a service the Freedman's Bureau provided to former slaves?

• Provide Medical Care

• Provided Food and Clothing

• Set up schools

• Get revenge on former slave owners

“ It is wonderful how a people who have been so long crushed

to the earth...can have so great a desire for knowledge, and
such a capacity for attaining it.”

---Charlotte Forten (African American volunteer teacher

from Philidelphia about classrooms in the South),
article in Atlantic Monthly

Early Steps Toward Reconstruction

Reconstruction*- rebuilding the South after
the Civil War.

Lincoln’s Plan for Reconstructing the South

1. Ten Percent Plan:

a. A southern state could form a new government after 10

percent of its voters swore an oath of loyalty to the
United States.

b. The new government had to abolish slavery.
c. Voters could elect members of congress and take part

in U.S. government again.

d. Granted amnesty (a government pardon) to

Confederates who swore loyalty to the Union. This did
not include amnesty to former leaders of the
Confederacy.

Multiple Choice

The Ten percent plan states that A southern state could form a new government after 10 percent of its voters swore an oath of loyalty to the Confederate States of America

• True

• False

LINCOLN IS ASSASSINATED*

✕ On April 14, 1865, just

five days after General
Lee surrendered, Lincoln
attended a play at Fordʼs
Theater in Washington,
D.C.

Ford’s Theater

LINCOLN IS ASSASSINATED

✕ During the performance, a popular actor from the

South, John Wilkes Booth, crept into Lincolnʼs box
and shot him in the back of the head.

John Wilkes Booth (circled) at Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address. March 1865.

(1:26)

LINCOLN IS ASSASSINATED

✕ Lincoln died the next morning.

Military units marching
down Pennsylvania
Avenue in Washington
D.C. during the state
funeral for Abraham
Lincoln on April 19, 1865.

LINCOLN IS ASSASSINATED

✕ Twelve days after the

assassination, Booth
was killed in a barn
outside of Washington,
D.C.

LINCOLN IS ASSASSINATED

✕ After Lincolnʼs death, Vice President Andrew Johnson became

President.

✕ Lincoln chose him as his VP to help with the Southʼs

Reconstruction.

✕ Johnson had represented

Tennessee in Congress
before the war. When his
state seceded, he
remained loyal to the
Union.

✕ Because of Lincolnʼs assassination,

Reconstruction was more difficult and
policies were harsher.

Multiple Choice

Who was the actor who assassinated Lincoln at Ford Theater?

• John Wilkes Booth

• Johnathan Taylor Thomas

Multiple Choice

When and where was Lincoln assassinated?

• April 20th, 1861

• August 7th, 1864

• April 15th, 1863

• April 14th, 1865

✕ With Abraham Lincoln dead, it was now up to

President Johnson to put forth a plan for the
reconstruction of the South.

✕ President Andrew Johnsonʼs plan

for reconstruction:

1.
Required a majority of voters
in each state to pledge loyalty
to the U.S.

✕ President Andrew

Johnsonʼs plan for
reconstruction:
1.

Required a majority
of voters in each state
to pledge loyalty to
the US

2.

Each state had to
ratify the 13th
Amendment, ending
slavery

Johnson’s lenient plan for
Reconstruction (6 minutes)

2. Radical Reconstruction

I.Black Codes Anger Congress
A.

Rights and Restrictions

B.

Congress Reacts

II.

Rise of the Radicals
A.

Republican Control

B.

14th Amendment

III.

Radicals in Power
A.

Election of 1866

B.

The Radical Program

IV.

Impeachment and a New President
A.

Trial

B.

A New President

C.

15th Amendment

✕ Southern states quickly met Johnsonʼs

requirements of ratifying the 13th amendment
and rejoined the Union.

✕ However, many Southern states passed black

codes* that severely limited the rights of
freedmen.

BLACK CODES – WHAT WERE THEY?

Black Codes: laws that restricted freedmenʼs rights.

✕ The black codes established virtual slavery with provisions such as

these:

✕ Curfews: Generally, black people could not gather after sunset.
✕ Vagrancy laws: Freedmen convicted of vagrancy– that is, not

working– could be fined, whipped, or sold for a yearʼs labor.

✕ Labor contracts: Freedmen had to sign agreements in January for a

year of work. Those who quit in the middle of a contract often lost
all the wages they had earned.

✕ Land restrictions: Freed people could rent land or homes only in

rural areas. This restriction forced them to live on plantations.

Rise of the Radicals

Republicans charged that Johnson’s lenient Reconstruction plan had encouraged

southern legislatures to pass the black codes. Also, Republicans were outraged
at reports of violence against freedmen. In 1866, angry whites burned homes,
churches, and schoolhouses in a black section of Memphis, TN. More than 40
african americans were killed, riots broke out in New Orleans when freedmen
met to support the right to vote.

A report by the Joint Committee on Reconstruction accused the South of trying to

“preserve slavery...as long as possible.”

President Johnson ignored the report, members of Congress called Radical

Republicans vowed to take control of Reconstruction.

Multiple Choice

Black Codes restricted freedman's rights by installing which of the following...

• Timeouts

• political positions

• Vagrancy Laws

• Land Promotions

The Radicals

✕ Strongest Republicans opposing expansion of slavery

before the Civil War

✕ During the Civil War: first to call for arming of black

troops and issuing an Emancipation Proclamation

✕ Before there was any gain of supporting African American’s

rights, they were doing it.

Vision of Reconstruction: should be longer, Southern states
had to be reinvented. Preserving the results of the Civil War
(Thad Stevens). Spread of right of suffrage, increase of
democratization. hi

✕ Congress proposed the 14th Amendment to

protect the rights of African Americans.

✕ 14th amendment granted citizenship to all

persons born in the U.S. and “equal
protection of the laws” and declared that no
state could “deprive any person of life,
liberty, or property without due process of
law.”

WHAT WERE THE CIVIL WAR
AMENDMENTS?

✕ 13th:

✕ 14th:

✕ 15th:

CIVIL WAR AMENDMENTS

✕ 13th: Abolished slavery

✕ 14th:

✕ 15th

CIVIL WAR AMENDMENTS

✕ 13th: Abolished slavery

✕ 14th: Citizenship to African Americans and equal

protection under the law

✕ 15th

CIVIL WAR AMENDMENTS

✕ 13th: Abolished slavery-1865

✕ 14th: Citizenship to African Americans and equal

protection under the law. 1868

✕ 15th Right to vote not based on race (many

women were disappointed by this because it did
not give women the right to vote) 1870

Match

Match the following

• 13th

• 14th

• 15th

Abolished Slavery

Citizenship & Equal Protection

Voting rights

• Abolished Slavery

• Citizenship & Equal Protection

• Voting rights

✕ In 1866, Republicans in Congress refused to

allow Southern representatives to take their
seats in Congress. Many of these
representatives had held offices in the
Confederacy.

Thaddeus Stevens

Charles Summner

•Wanted to the see the South punished.

•Advocated political, social and economic equality for the

Freedmen.

RADICAL REPUBLICANS

✕ In 1867, Republicans in Congress took control of

Reconstruction and began Radical Reconstruction.

✕ In March 1867, Congress passed the Reconstruction Act*,

which threw out state governments that refused to ratify
the 14th Amendment.

✕ These states had to write new state constitutions and ratify

the 14th Amendment to rejoin the US. It also sent the
military to the South to enforce the laws.

3

✕ Election of 1868- Ulysses S. Grant won,

nearly all African Americans voted for Grant

2

3. The South Under Reconstruction

New Forces in Southern politics:The state

governments created during Radical Reconstruction
were different from any governments the South had
known before. The old leaders had lost much of their
influence. Three groups stepped in to replace them:

1. White Southern Republicans
2. Northerners
3. African Americans

3. The South Under Reconstruction

1. White Southern Republicans: Mainly businessmen who

did not support secession before the war. They wanted to
forget the war and get on with rebuilding the South.
a. scalawags

Scalawags- white southern Republicans, many Southerners

believed they were traitors

SCALAWAGS

This word, used as a slur, was originally used to

describe “low grade farm animals.”

3. The South Under Reconstruction

2. Northerners: Came South for several reasons; some
hoped to profit as the South was being rebuilt, many more
were Union soldiers who had grown to love the South’s rich
land. Others, both white and black, were teachers, ministers,
and reformers who wanted to help the freedmen.

a. carpetbaggers

Carpetbaggers- northerners who came to the South after the

Civil War

WHY CARPETBAGGER?
The term Carpetbagger came from the

“carpet bag” luggage many of these

Northerners carried. It was a

common, sturdy form of luggage

made from used carpet.

3. The South Under Reconstruction

3. African Americans:not only did they vote in large
numbers, but they also ran for and were elected to public office
in the South. They became sheriffs, mayors, and legislators in
the new state and local governments. There were 22 African
American men elected to the United States Congress from the
end of the Civil War to the turn of the 20th century.

✕ 1870 – Hiram Rhodes Revels* of Mississippi

became the first African American to serve in
Congress. (He was elected to the Senate in
1870 to replace the seat vacated by Jefferson
Davis)

3

3. The South Under Reconstruction

New Forces in Southern politics:The state governments created during Radical

Reconstruction were different from any governments the South had known before. The old
leaders had lost much of their influence. Three groups stepped in to replace them:

1.White Southern Republicans: Mainly businessmen who did not support secession before the war.
They wanted to forget the war and get on with rebuilding the South.

a.scalawags

2.Northerners: Came South for several reasons; some hoped to profit as the South was being rebuilt,
many more were Union soldiers who had grown to love the South’s rich land. Others, both white and
black, were teachers, ministers, and reformers who wanted to help the freedmen.

a.carpetbaggers

3.African Americans:not only did they vote in large numbers, but they also ran for and were elected to
public office in the South. They became sheriffs, mayors, and legislators in the new state and local
governments. Sixteen African Americans were elected to Congress between 1869 and 1880.

✕ Conservatives- resented the changes imposed by Congress

and enforced by the military. Some white Southerners
formed secret societies, such as the Ku Klux Klan, to help
them regain power.

✕ ____________- a person who rents a plot of land from

another person and farms it in exchange for a share of the
crop

Terms to Know

SHARECROPPERS

✕ Scalawags- white southern Republicans, many Southerners

believed they were traitors

✕ Carpetbaggers- northerners who came to the South after

the Civil War

✕ Conservatives- resented the changes imposed by Congress

and enforced by the military. Some white Southerners
formed secret societies, such as the Ku Klux Klan, to help
them regain power.

✕ Sharecropper- a person who rents a plot of land from

another person and farms it in exchange for a share of the
crop

Terms to Know

Match

Match the following

• Sharecropper

• Scalawag

• Carpetbagger

• Conservative

Person who rents plot of land in exchange for share of the goods

White southern Republicans

Northerners who came to the South after the Civil War

Hated changes by Congress and enforced by military

• Person who rents plot of land in exchange for share of the goods

• White southern Republicans

• Northerners who came to the South after the Civil War

• Hated changes by Congress and enforced by military

✕ Election of 1876- Rutherford B. Hayes won,

pledged to end Reconstruction. Once he
took office, he removed all remaining federal
troops from the South, ending
Reconstruction.

❖The election of 1876 and the Compromise of 1877 are referred to as the Corrupt

Bargain.

❖The Democrats and Republicans work out a deal to recognize Hayes as President

❖In return, President Hayes must end Reconstruction and pull the Union troops out of

the South.

❖Once this happens, there is no protection for the Freedmen and the South will regain

their states and go back to the way it was.

Rutherford B. Hayes

Samuel Tilden

✕ Voting restrictions

+ Poll tax- a tax that must be paid before a person can vote
+ Literacy test- required people to be able to read and

write before they could vote

+ Grandfather clause- excused a person from passing a

literacy test if their father or grandfather was eligible to
vote on January 1, 1867; it protected the rights of
southern whites

✕ Segregation- legal separation of races

+ Jim Crow* laws- laws that separated

people of different races in public places in
the South

+ Plessy v. Ferguson- in 1896, the Supreme

Court ruled that segregation in public
facilities was legal as long as the facilities
were equal .

Multiple Choice

Which of the following was not a strategy used to restrict voting rights for African Americans?

• Literacy Test

• Poll Tax

• Publication of voting locations

• Grandfather Clause

Match

Match the following

• Transcontinental Railroad

• Morrill Act

• Homestead Act

• Dawes Act

Railroad completed in 1869 that connected the east and west

Gave states public lands to sell and use for public colleges

Any citizen can occupy 160 acres of land to build on and improve

Gave Native Americans 16 acres of of land

• Railroad completed in 1869 that connected the east and west

• Gave states public lands to sell and use for public colleges

• Any citizen can occupy 160 acres of land to build on and improve

• Gave Native Americans 16 acres of of land

Ku Klux Klan

Secret Societies of white southerns to help white southerners regain power. They worked to keep African

Americans and Republicans out of office.

IMPACT OF RECONSTRUCTION

1.
White southerners had bitter memories of
Radical Republicans and military rule

2.
South became a stronghold of the Democratic
Party for over 100 years

3.
African Americans lost political rights

SUCCESSES AND FAILURES OF RECONSTRUCTION

Successes

Failures

Union is restored.

Many white southerners bitter
towards US govt & Republicans.

South’s economy grows and new
wealth is created in the North.
The South is slow to industrialize.

14th and 15th amendments
guarantee Blacks the rights of
citizenship, equal protection
under the law, and suffrage.

After US troops are withdrawn,
southern state governments and
terrorist organizations effectively
deny Blacks the right to vote.

Freedmen’s Bureau and other
organizations help many black
families obtain housing, jobs, and
schooling.

Many black and white
southerners remain caught in a
cycle of poverty.

Southern states adopt a system of
mandatory education.

Racist attitudes toward African
Americans continue, in both the
South and the North.

OPENING OF THE WEST

✕ After the Southern states seceded, the US

passed several acts to open the west, which had
previously been blocked by the Southern states.

OPENING OF THE WEST: HOMESTEAD
ACT

✕ Homestead Act* (1862) – Any citizen could

occupy 160 acres of government land. If they
improved the land with a house and grew crops,
they would own the land after 5 years. Nearly
1,400,000 homesteads were granted under this
act.

OPENING OF THE WEST: MORRILL ACT

✕ Morrill Act (1862) – gave each state land to sell

and use the money to establish public colleges
to teach agriculture and mechanical arts. This
led to the founding of sixty-nine colleges.
(Example: Texas A&M University)

OPENING OF THE WEST: DAWES ACT

✕ Dawes Act (1887) – Gave each Indian family 160

acres of land and the rest was available to white
settlers. The act was meant to protect the
Indians, but destroyed Indian culture.

OPENING OF THE WEST:
TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD

✕ The Transcontinental Railroad was completed

in 1869. Construction worked in both directions
and the lines were joined in Promontory Point,
Utah.

IMPACT OF THE TRANSCONTINENTAL
RAILROAD

✕ Products could be shipped in a matter of days,

instead of months

✕ Opened up land to be settled

✕ Brought many Chinese immigrants to America