1. The Reconstruction Era
Ruins seen from the capitol, Columbia, S.C., Photographed by George N. Barnard. 165-SC-53.

2. After the War South lay in ruins (destroyed)
Nearly 4 million freedman (freed slaves) needed food, clothing, & jobs
President Lincoln planned for Reconstruction, the rebuilding of the South
Ruins seen from the Circular Church, Charleston, S.C., B-4667.

3. Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan
Reunite Union quickly
Southern state could form a new government after 10 % of its voters swore loyalty to U.S.
States also had to abolish slavery
Many in Congress didn’t like Lincoln’s plan & wanted a stricter form of Reconstruction

4. Acts of Congress Freedman’s Bureau was created by Congress
It gave food, clothing, & other kinds of help to the freedman.
Thirteenth Amendment
Passed by Congress in January, 1865
Ended slavery throughout the U.S.

5. Room of African American women sewing.
Glimpses at the Freedmen - The Freedmen's Union Industrial School, Richmond, Va. / from a sketch by Jas E. Taylor (1866).
Room of African American women sewing.

6. Lincoln is assassinated by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865
Andrew Johnson became President
John Wilkes Booth

7. Reconstruction Plan of Andrew Johnson
In each southern states, a majority of voters must swear loyalty to the U.S.
Each state must approve the 13th Amendment
Then each state could rejoin the Union
Andrew Johnson, Vice President & President

8. Response to Johnson’s Plan
Southern States met Johnson’s demands
Republicans in Congress outraged because African Americans were not allowed to vote & former Confederate Leaders were elected to Congress

9. Radical Reconstruction
After the war, most southern states quickly ratified the 13th Amendment (ended slavery)
Then passed Black Codes, which limited the rights of African Americans.
Radical Republicans in Congress decide to take over Reconstruction
They wanted to break the power of the southern planters and to make sure African Americans had the right to vote.
Radical Reconstruction

10. Radical Reconstruction (continued)
14th Amendment, 1868 – All people born in the U.S. are citizens. No state may take away rights of citizens.
15th Amendment, 1870 – The right to vote cannot be denied to citizens because of their race or color or because they were once enslaved.
Reconstruction Act – Southern states had to ratify the 14th Amendment, African American men must be allowed to vote,…
Johnson vetoed these acts & Congress overrode his veto; Congress eventually tried to impeach him

11. Changes in the South
Southern Republicans (scalawags), whites from the North (carpetbaggers), & freed African Americans played important roles in southern governments.
Ku Klux Klan (KKK) -- formed by white southerners to help them regain power & to keep African Americans and White Republicans out of office.
Landless black and white sharecroppers became locked in a cycle of poverty.
Sharecroppers: person who farms land owned by another in exchange for a share of the crops
Link to Pictures:

12. Reconstruction Ends
Reconstruction ended after presidential candidate Rutherford B. Hayes made a private deal with southern politicians.
After Reconstruction, a new industrial economy began to emerge in the South.
Southern whites pass new laws to deny African Americans equal rights.
Poll Taxes, Literacy Tests, & Grandfather Clauses
Segregation, Jim Crow Laws, Lynching
Civil Rights Movement (100 years later)

13. Civil War Pictures from the National Archives http://www. archives
Many Reconstruction