1. Chapter 11 Social Studies
Reconstruction

2. Reconstruction Reconstruction: the time period after the Civil War.
Abraham Lincoln was president after the war ended.
His plan to put the country back together was simple: to get the Confederate states back into the Union ASAP.

3. However…
5 days after the war ended, Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth.
Andrew Johnson became president.
The simple plan to get the Confederate states back into the Union wasn’t going to happen.

4. The Plan: Johnson wanted to continue Lincoln’s plan.
He set some conditions that the southern states had to do in order to get back into the Union.

5. Continued: The Southern states had to:
Pass the 13th amendment: it abolishes slavery.
Must write a new state constitution.
Swore an oath to the U.S.

6. Former Slaves Test their New Freedom
Former slaves began to move in search of their loved ones who had been sold during slavery.
Others married legally.
Former slaves were also now able to get an education.

7. It’s Your Turn!
Imagine that you had just been granted the ability to do whatever you want. It’s the present day.
What would you do first now that you had this opportunity?

8. Freedman’s Bureau
Freedman’s Bureau: assisted former slaves and poor whites living in the South.
It set up schools for newly freed slaves so that they could get an education.
Also provided food, clothing, medical care, and legal assistance.

9. Southern Reaction
Unfortunately, many southern states tried to pass laws to have things as they were when slavery existed.
Black codes: laws intended to restrict the freedom and opportunities for African-Americans.

10. Continued:
Black codes forbid African-Americans from rights of citizenship, voting, and holding skilled jobs.
This basically made African-Americans only capable of working on the very plantations that they had before.

11. Congress Takes Control
By 1866, the southern states had ratified the 13th amendment.
Ratified: passed.
They had rewritten their state legislatures.
Johnson thought that Reconstruction was over at this point.

12. Continued:
However, Congress was not pleased with the black codes passed in the new state laws.
Radical Republicans: were very critical of Johnson’s plan.
They passed laws that required the black codes to be taken out.

13. Johnson vs. Congress
The Radical Republicans wanted to pass a Civil Rights Act for former slaves.
President Johnson vetoed it.
Congress overrode the veto, and it became law.

14. 14th Amendment
Congress wanted to pass the 14th amendment, which gave citizenship to all African-Americans.
It also treated everyone equally under the law.
President Johnson was against the amendment, but Congress was able to get it ratified.

15. Congress Takes Charge
Congress put the southern states under military rule.
African-American and white voters loyal to the Union could vote.
One couldn’t vote if they supported the Confederacy.

16. Johnson Gets Impeached
Impeached: a president is brought up on formal charges.
Johnson was impeached for bringing disgrace to the office of the president.
A 2/3 majority vote by the Senate was required to remove Johnson from office.

17. Continued:
Johnson argued that this would set a bad precedent if a president were removed if it disagreed with Congress.
Johnson survived as president by 1 vote.

18. Continued: However, he had no power as president anymore.
Congress made the rules.

19. It’s Your Turn!
In your opinion, was Congress justified in impeaching Andrew Johnson?
Let’s say that you were a member of Congress during the impeachment trial. How would you have voted, and why?

20. Scalawags and Carpetbaggers
Scalawags: people in the south who voted Republican.
Carpetbaggers: people from the north who moved to the south after the war.
Many southerners saw them as trying to profit off the south.

21. 15th Amendment Gave African-American men the right to vote.
Women didn’t have voting rights yet.
The 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments are known as the Civil War Amendments.

22. Backlash Segregation began to happen in the south.
Segregation: the forced separation of races in public.
Schools, restaurants, and other buildings were set up this way.

23. Continued:
Some southerners became angry that African-Americans had been given the right to vote.
Ku Klux Klan: organized in response.
This was a terror group!

24. It’s Your Turn!
Who did the Ku Klux Klan not like besides African-Americans?

25. Continued:
The KKK chose to burn crosses, physically intimidate others into not voting, and murder.
The KKK sadly still exists to this day.

26. End of Reconstruction
Congress passed a series of laws making it a federal crime to deprive people of their civil rights.
Hundreds of KKK members were arrested.
Terror incidents were reduced.

27. Election of 1876:
Amnesty Act: allowed white southerners to be able to vote again.
Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel Tilden ran for president.

28. Continued:
Hayes and Tilden finished in a virtual tie to become president.
3 states had their electoral votes in dispute: SC, Florida, and Louisiana.
These same 3 states were the last ones with federal troops in them.

29. Conclusion:
A compromise was reached. The 3 states would give Hayes their vote, making him president.
In return, Hayes would withdraw the troops, ending reconstruction.
This is exactly what happened.