1. Reconstruction and the New South (1865-1896)
Chapter 17
Reconstruction and the New South ( )

2. Essential Question
How did plans to unify the nation differ after the Civil War?

3. Reconstruction Debate
Main Idea: Government leaders disagreed about how Southern states could rejoin the Union
Southern states, because they had left the Union in 1861, needed to be readmitted
The economy and society of the South needed to be rebuilt

4. Lincoln’s Plan
Ten Percent Plan: When 10% of the voters of a state took an oath of loyalty to the Union, that state could be readmitted.
Punishing the South was useless
Offered amnesty to all white Southerners willing to swear loyalty to the Union.

5. The Radical’s Plan
Radical Republicans headed by Thaddeus Stevens believed Lincoln’s plan was too forgiving.
Radical Republicans controlled Congress and voted to deny seats to representatives from any state readmitted under Lincoln’s plan.
Passed the Wade Davis Bill

6. Wade Davis Bill July 1864 – passed by Congress
To rejoin the Union, a state had to meet the following requirements
Majority of white males must swear loyalty to the Union
Only white males who did not fight against the Union could vote for delegates to a state constitutional convention
Had to ban slavery

7. The Freedmen’s Bureau
Set up by Lincoln and Congress to help African Americans adjust to freedom
Provided food, clothing and medical services
Set up schools
Helped freed people acquire land or find work

8. Assassination of Lincoln
Shortly after the Freedmen’s Bureau was founded, a tragic event took place that shocked the nation. On April 14, 1865, President Lincoln attended a play at Ford’s Theater in Washington D.C. John Wilkes Booth, an actor and Confederate sympathizer, entered the private box and shot Lincoln in the head. Lincoln died several hours later.

9. Assassination of Lincoln

10. Assassination of Lincoln
When Lincoln died, Vice President Andrew Johnson became president. Johnson was born in the South but supported the Union during the war. Johnson soon revealed his plan for Reconstruction.

11. Johnson’s Plan
Grant amnesty to most Southerners once they swore loyalty
Desired to humiliate Southern Confederate leaders by making them appeal to him personally for a pardon
Opposed equal rights for African Americans
States had to ratify the 13th Amendment before allowed back in the Union
By the end of 1865, all states, except Texas, had new governments and were ready to join the Union.

12. Compare and Contrast
What were the similarities and differences between Lincoln’s views and the Radical Republicans’ views concerning Reconstruction?
Venn Diagram

13. Radicals in Control Essential Question:
What were the results of Radical Reconstruction?

14. The Thirteenth Amendment
December 6th, 1865
The first of the Reconstruction Amendments
Abolishes and continues to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude

15. Radicals in Control Black Codes
Laws to control freed men and women that resembled slavery
Examples
Arrest and fined jobless African Americans
Banned from renting or owning farms
Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 which granted full citizenship to African Americans and overturned the Black Codes

16. The Fourteenth Amendment
Congress, fearing that the Civil Rights Act of might be overturned in court, passed this in 1866
Granted full citizenship to all people born in the United States
“Equal protection of the laws”
Excluded citizenship of Native Americans

17. Radical Reconstruction
After winning the congressional elections of 1866, the Radical Republicans were able to put their version of Reconstruction into action
President Johnson could do little to stop the Republicans because they could easily override his vetoes in Congress. Thus began a period known as Radical Reconstruction.

18. Reconstruction Acts of 1867
Divided 10 Southern states into military districts
Run by a military commander until a new government could be formed
Guaranteed African American men the right to vote in state elections
Banned former Confederate leaders from holding office
States had to pass 14th Amendment to reenter the Union.

19. Readmission of States
With help of African American voters, all ten states were readmitted to the Union by 1870.

20. Impeaching the President
So that Johnson could not control the military governors as commander-in-chief, Congress passed a series of laws to limit his power
Tenure of Office Act: Prohibited president from removing government officials without the approval of the Senate

21. Impeaching the President (cont.)
Johnson removed Secretary of War Edwin Stanton without Senate’s approval
Outraged by his actions, the House of Representatives moved to impeach Johnson
Senators could not get a 2/3 majority because some Republicans said Johnson should not be removed from office due to political differences
Johnson stayed in office until 1869

22. The Fifteenth Amendment
1896
Prohibits the state and federal governments from denying the right to vote to any male citizen because of “race, color or previous condition of servitude.”
Right to Vote!!!

23. Making Connections
Comparing: How were the black codes similar to slavery?
Summarize the Reconstruction Amendments

24. Answer the Essential Question
What were the results of Radical Reconstruction?
African Americans gained full citizenship, although protecting these rights proved difficult
African American voters helped to put Republicans in control of Southern gov’t
By 1870, all Southern states had met the requirements under Radical Reconstruction and were restored to the Union.

25. The South During Reconstruction
Essential Question:
What kinds of resistance did African Americans face as they tried to exercise their rights as citizens of the South?

26. The South During Reconstruction
Main Idea: As African Americans began to take part in civic life in the South, they faced resistance, including violence from the Whites.

27. African Americans in Government
Played important roles in Reconstruction politics as voters and officials
Contributed heavily to some Republican victories

28. Scalawags and Carpetbaggers
Southern whites who were non-slave holding and backed Republicans
Carpetbaggers
Northern whites to moved south after the war and backed Republicans
Many Southerners accused Reconstruction governments of corruption. Although some officials made money illegally, probably less corruption occurred in the South than in the North.

29. Resistance to Reconstruction
Most Southern whites opposed efforts to give rights to African Americans
African Americans were often
Refused land to rent
Refused credit at stores
Not hired by white employers

30. Ku Klux Klan
Secret society who used fear and violence to deny rights to freed men and women.
Killed thousands of African Americans while wearing sheets and hoods
Burned African American schools, churches and homes
Supported by many Southern planters and Democrats
Congress passed several rather unsuccessful laws to stop the Klan in 1870 and 1871.

31. KKK

32. Education Education improved for both races during Reconstruction
1870s – public schools created for both races
Attended separate schools

33. Farming Sharecropping
Farmer works land for an owner who provides equipment and seeds and receives a share of the crops

34. Answer the Essential Question
WHAT KINDS OF RESISTANCE DID AFRICAN AMERICANS FACE AS THEY TRIED TO EXERCISE THEIR RIGHTS AS CITIZENS OF THE SOUTH?

35. Change in the South Essential Question:
How did the South change politically, economically and socially when Reconstruction ended?

36. Panic of 1873 Severe economic depression
Small banks close, stock market plummets
Blame for hard times fell on the Republicans and the Grant Administration

37. Panic of 1873

38. Election of 1876
Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican) vs. Samuel Tilden (Democrat)
Hayes wins although the outcome of the election is disputed

39. Compromise of 1877
Hayes presidential victory is disputed and Democrats threaten to challenge the decision. Party leaders meet in secret to work out an agreement.
Agreement includes some favors for the South
New gov’t would give more aid to the South
Republicans would withdraw all troops from the South
Democrats in turn, promised to maintain African American rights

40. A New Policy
Hayes announces intention to let Southerners handle radical issues
Federal government would no longer attempt to reshape Southern society
Reconstruction has come to an end

41. Change in the South
After Reconstruction, the South experienced a political shift and industrial growth.

42. Democrats in Control
Large landowners, merchants, bankers, business leaders
Adopted conservative practices
Lower taxes
Cut government spending
Eliminated many social services begun during Reconstruction
Cut public education

43. Rise of the “New South”
By the 1880s, forward-looking Southerners were convinced that their region must develop a strong industrial economy. They argued that the South lost the Civil War because its industry didn’t match the North’s.

44. Rise of the “New South”
Built industry based on coal, iron, tobacco, cotton and lumber
Textile mills, tobacco manufacturing, iron and steel mills
Industry grows as a result of cheap, reliable workforce
Agriculture is still the South’s main economic activity

45. Rural Economy
Supporters of the “New South” hope to advance agriculture as well
Too much debt for farmers
To repay debt, farmers rely on cash crops like cotton
Too much cotton forced prices down
Sharecropping and reliance on one cash crop keeps Southern agriculture from advancing

46. A Divided Society
As Reconstruction ended, African Americans’ dreams for justice faded. In the last 20 years of the 1800s, racism became firmly set in the culture. Individuals took steps to keep African Americans separated from white and to deny them basic rights.

47. Jim Crow Laws What is it? Impact
Laws that required African Americans and whites to be separated in almost every public place
Impact
Segregation! Unequal facilities and accommodations

48. Poll Tax What is it? Impact A fee people had to pay to vote
Most African Americans could not afford the tax and therefore could not vote

49. Literacy Test What is it? Impact
Voters take a test in which they have to read and explain difficult parts of the Constitution in order to vote.
Impact
Because most African Americans had little education, literacy tests prevented many from voting.

50. Grandfather Clause What is it? Impact
Law that allowed people whose fathers or grandfathers had voted before Reconstruction to vote.
Impact
Literacy tests could keep some whites from voting. These laws allowed them to do so. Because African Americans could not vote until 1867, they were excluded.

51. Lynching What is it? Impact
When an angry mob kills a person by hanging
Impact
Fear! African Americans were lynched because they were suspected of crimes, or because they did not behave the way they should.

52. Lynching

53. Plessy vs. Ferguson
The Supreme Court decides to uphold the idea of “segregation of the South” by handing down the decision of Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896)
Impact: Said separate is equal. The problem is however, that the facilities are separate but in no way, equal. Gave legal support to Southern segregation and inequality.

54. Answer the Essential Question
How did the South change politically, economically and socially when Reconstruction ended?