1. The Ordeal of Reconstruction

2. Reconstruction… What was it?
RECONSTRUCTION refers to the period following the Civil War of rebuilding the United States. It was a time of great pain and endless questions…
On what terms would the Confederacy be allowed back into the Union? Who would establish the terms, Congress or the President?
What was to be the place of freed blacks in the South? Did Abolition mean that black men would now enjoy the same status as white men?
What was to be done with the Confederate leaders, who were seen as traitors by many in the North?
Although the military conflict had ended, Reconstruction was in many ways still a war. This important struggle was waged by radical northerners who wanted to punish the South and Southerners who desperately wanted to preserve their way of life.

3. Key Terms
Reconstruction- process of reorganizing, rebuilding, and bringing the seceded states back into the Union after the Civil War
Freedman- a person who has been freed from slavery
Amendment- a change or modification to a law, bill, or constitution
Ratify- to approve
Civil rights- individual rights belonging to all citizens
Martial law- rule/control by an army instead of the usual civil authorities

4. The War’s End
The Confederate surrender at Appomattox Courthouse in the Spring of The surrender left Texans and other Southerners uncertain about their future.
They had lost the war and would have to make many changes to their way of life to be allowed to rejoin the United States.
40% of farms & 60% of Southern factories and railroads destroyed
Confederate currency was now worthless
Slaves set free = no more free labor for farms and plantations
The South was in ruins…

8. Emancipation Proclamation & 13th Amendment
Jan 1, This proclamation freed all slaves in Confederate states still rebelling from the Union.
Texans and other southern states ignored the proclamation because they did not consider themselves part of the United States.
April 8th, 1864 – 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is passed – abolishing slavery in all states.
Two years later on June 19, 1865, General Gordon Granger , by the authority of President Johnson, declared all slaves to be free. This day, called Juneteenth, has been celebrated in Texas since 1865 as a day of freedom among African Americans.

9. Freedmen & Women Slaves were set free but had NOTHING but freedom.
“A former slave was free from the individual master, but still the slave of society. He had neither money, property, nor friends. He was free from the old plantation, but he had nothing but the dusty road under his feet.” –Frederick Douglass
Many only had the clothes on their backs. Some stayed on the plantations and worked for wages or a share of the crop. (Sharecroppers)
Less than 10% of African-Americans could read or write- it had been illegal to teach slaves these things. Most had no skills but manual labor…

10. The Freedmen’s Bureau
The Freedman’s Bureau was created by Congress to help former slaves face the challenges that came with freedom. They helped freed slaves get food, shelter, legal help, and an education.

11. The New Beginning… A new southern society- no more slavery
A process was needed to bring the Confederate states back into the Union.
Mixed feelings about how Reconstruction should be conducted.

12. RECONSTRUCTION
Reconstruction was the period of rebuilding the nation after the Civil War.
The main goal of Reconstruction was to create a plan to readmit southern states into the Union.
Several different plans would soon emerge……they would each cause problems.

13. Primary Leaders of Each Plan
Thaddeus Stevens - Congress
President - Andrew Johnson

14. The Clash Presidential Reconstruction -1865
Congressional Reconstruction
-1867
Conservative approach
Believed president should run Reconstruction
Southern States had never legally withdrawn – so they weren’t a conquered nation.
Simple & swift restoration
Official pardons
Had to meet four requirements…
Radical Republicans
Believed Congress should run Reconstruction
Seceded states had left the Union- therefore forfeited all rights.
Held the idea that war should be blamed on the south and “the South needs to pay for its sins”
Strict terms & the fed. gov’t. would gain control over state governments

15. Presidential Reconstruction
After Lincoln’s assassination, his vice president, Andrew Johnson, took office and became the 17th president- he created his own plan but followed Lincoln’s for the most part.
Johnson’s plan called for the states to:
Declare that their secession had been illegal
Abolish slavery in their state and ratify the 13th Amendment
Cancel Confederate debts
White males had to pledge loyalty to the United States in order to vote ever again.
Under this plan the “Black Codes” could still be enacted and the new southern state governments were very similar to the old ones (pre civil-war).

16. “Black Codes” & Texas
Texas’ government and other southern states made several controversial decisions, and one of those was the enactment of “Black Codes” (rules to live by) These codes stated…
Marriage between African Americans and whites was illegal
Assigned blacks to second-class status
African American men were not allowed to vote, hold public office, or serve on a jury
African Americans also had to use separate public transportation
The Texas Homestead law, which provided citizens with free land, excluded African Americans
Johnson agreed to admit Texas back into the Union, but Congress was disgusted with the “Black Codes” and many were convinced that Texas could not be trusted. So, Texas was denied re-admission to the United States in 1866.

17. Radical Reconstruction (Congress plan)
Congress greatly disapproved of presidential Reconstruction.
Congressional elections of 1866 placed Radicals in power- could now override presidential vetoes
After all southern states (except Tennessee) refused to ratify the 14th Amendment, Congress passed the 1. Reconstruction Act on March 2, It divided the South into 5 military districts, each commanded by a Union general, referred to as “blue bellies.”
Southern states 2. had to create new constitutions that ratified the 14th Amendment, gave the vote to all adult men, and extinguished the Black Codes.
Soon, the 15th Amendment was created (1870), which guaranteed black suffrage (right to vote), and 2. this had to be ratified by the state governments too.

18. Reality of Reconstruction in the South
Black participation in politics for the 1st time
While 14 black representatives were elected and 2 black senators, “Scalawags” (white southerner who favored the Republican Party) and “Carpetbaggers” (Northerner who had moved south after the war) held the most powerful offices in the south during Reconstruction.
The Contract System and Sharecropping- black people forced into farming systems that are only slightly better than slavery.
Emergence of the Ku Klux Klan in racist terrorist group that used violence to prevent new freedoms and political influence

19. The Ku Klux Klan
Most prominent secret, terrorist organization- made up of southern whites.
Primary goal was to restore Democratic control in the South and to keep former slaves powerless.
Targeted blacks and Republicans
Wore white masks and robes and went so far as to flog, mutilate, and even lynch blacks.
The federal government stepped in to intervene but by then the Klan had already spread much fear

20. Texas: Back in the Union
President Ulysses S. Grant officially declared Reconstruction over for Texas in 1870.
Texas was admitted back into the Union on March 8, 1870, after they ratified the 14th and 15th amendments.
Texas had written 3 constitutions during the Reconstruction era…one in 1866 that enacted the “Black Codes,” and another in The constitution we currently follow was written in 1876, and has been amended over 450 times compared to just 27 times for the U.S. Constitution.

21. Reconstruction Amendments
Use a class copy or click on netschool to go over each amendment and try to put them in your own words. In short, summarize each amendment and what it accomplished. (Just section 1 of each Amendment)
An easy way to remember these three Reconstruction Era amendments is with this simple phrase… “Free Citizens Vote” … True statement, right?

22. The End of Reconstruction
By 1877 the North was tired of Reconstruction…too much money and time being spent. After a tricky election deal, President Rutherford B. Hayes withdraws troops from the South.
The North becomes more focused on western expansion, Indian wars, corruption at all levels of government, and the growth of industry
From this point forward, the civil rights that blacks had been initiated during Reconstruction crumbled under white rule-the condition of southern Blacks forgotten. They were segregated and condemned to live in poverty for the next century.
“…the Republicans had quietly given up their fight for racial equality and blacks’ rights in the south.”