1. Reconstruction Era 1865-1877

2. The End of Slavery Lesson 4 ► Main Idea – The country faced many difficult challenges after the Civil War ended, including rebuilding the South and protecting the rights of newly freed African Americans.

3. Before and After the Civil War Before the war, slaves had been: After the war, freed slaves: ► mistreated ► struggled to survive because they had no place to go ► separated from family members ► had no jobs, money, or education ► provided with food, shelter, and clothing ► had no guarantee of food, shelter, or clothing

4. ► The time after the Civil War was known as the Reconstruction Era. ► It was a time of rebuilding and coming back together for the United States. ► President Johnson worked to carry out fair treatment for the South, while enforcing the 13 th Amendment, which abolished slavery. Reconstruction

5. Lincoln is Assassinated ► After being shot by John Wilkes Booth, President Abraham Lincoln died on April 15, 1865 in Washington, DC. ► Until that time, no U.S. President had ever been assassinated.

6. Lincoln’s Conspirators

7. A New President ► Vice President Andrew Johnson became the new President. ► The former senator from Tennessee intended to carry out Lincoln’s plan for Reconstruction. ► One of the first steps toward reconstruction was ending slavery throughout the country. ► The Thirteenth (13 th ) Amendment, which abolished slavery in the United States, took effect of December 18, 1865.

8. President Andrew Johnson

9. 13 th Amendment ► Abolished Slavery – The 13 th Amendment to the Constitution made slavery illegal in all states in the United States of America. ► It gave freedom to those who had been enslaved. It did not give them the same rights as all Americans.

10. Johnson’s Plan ► Johnson had a plan to readmit the former Confederate states into the Union. ► Each state had to  form a new state government.  pledge to obey all federal laws.  agree to deal fairly with newly freed African Americans. ► By the end of 1865, President Johnson believed that Reconstruction was complete.

11. Black Codes ► Under Johnson’s plan, Southern states were free to pass laws call black codes. ► Black codes were laws that denied African American men the right to vote or act as jurors in a trial. ► Black people also could not own guns, take certain jobs, or own land. ► African Americans who were out of work might be fined or arrested. ► The laws had the effect of making an African American’s life much the same as it had been under slavery.

12. Slaves Codes and Black Codes Slave Codes (before the Civil War) Black Codes (after the Civil War) Slaves couldn’t gather together in groups Blacks couldn’t vote Slaves couldn’t buy or sell goods Blacks couldn’t own property or work in certain businesses Slaves couldn’t leave the master’s property Blacks couldn’t travel freely Slaves couldn’t learn to read or write Blacks could be forced to work in fields without pay

13. Congress ► Many representatives in Congress were angered by the black codes. ► Many people thought Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan was too easy on the South. ► The Republicans, who had a majority in both houses of Congress, did not trust Johnson, who was a Southerner and had been a Democrat before becoming Lincoln’s Vice President. ► Members of Congress began developing a new plan of Reconstruction.

14. Reconstruction Under Congress ► Congress passed the first Reconstruction Act in 1867. ► The former Confederate States were divided into five military districts, and about 20,000 federal troops were sent to the South. ► The troops, led by military governors, were responsible for maintaining order, supervising elections, and preventing discrimination against African Americans.

15. Reconstruction Under Congress ► The Reconstruction Acts required Southern states to write new state constitutions giving African American men the right to vote. ► The Acts also prevented former Confederate leaders and military officers from voting or holding elected office.

16. Freedmen’s Bureau ► The Freedmen’s Bureau was established by the government to help the 4 million freedmen, or former slaves, after the war. ► The Freedmen’s Bureau:  Provided shelter in refugee camps  gave food and supplies to freed slaves  built hospitals and schools  hired black and white teachers from the North and the South to teach in schools built for freed slaves  Helped reunite enslaved families that had been separated

17. Freedman’s Bureau ► The Freedman’s Bureau created a new economy based on employers and employees, or on free labor. ► African Americans could leave a job if they did not like it. ► It created contracts, which are written, legal agreements between two parties. ► Former slaves now got paid to work.

18. African Americans Elected ► For the first time in U.S. history, African Americans became elected officials. ► In Mississippi, two African Americans were elected United States Senators.  1870 - Hiram R. Revels, a minister and a teacher, was elected to the Senate.  1874 – Blanche K. Bruce, a former slave, was elected to the Senate. ► Twenty other African Americans from the South were also elected to the House of Representatives.

19. African American Senators Blanche K. Bruce Hiram Revels

20. Changes ► Many white Southerners did not like the changes brought by Reconstruction. ► Some whites resented the new state governments. ► Some were angered by Northerners who moved south to start businesses. These Northerners were called carpetbaggers.

21. More Changes ► New leaders raised taxes to help rebuild roads, railroads, and schools. Many Southerners had a hard time paying these taxes because they were trying to rebuild their own farms and businesses. ► Some whites objected to the rights gained by African Americans. ► After the new state governments repealed black codes, a small group of white Southerners formed the Ku Klux Klan.

22. KKK ► Southerners continued to rebel against the changes of Reconstruction. ► They found ways to keep African Americans from their rights by running for political office and writing new state laws such as the Black Codes. ► Many joined hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. The goal of the KKK was to restore white control over the lives of African Americans. The KKK used violence against African Americans and anyone else who helped them. They burned schools and homes, and attacked blacks for trying to vote.

23. New Amendments ► Before being readmitted into the Union, former Confederate states had to accept two new amendments. ► 1868 – 14 th Amendment ► 1870 – 15 th Amendment

24. 14 th Amendment ► The 14 th Amendment made African Americans citizens and protected people born in the U.S. from state laws that tried to take away the rights of a citizen.

25. 15 th Amendment The 15 th Amendment protected the right to vote for ALL men over the age of 21, regardless of skin color.

26. Women The 15 th Amendment did not give women the right to vote. This angered many women who thought that women and African Americans should have the right to vote.

27. Impeachment ► The Republicans in Congress were angry about Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan. ► Members of Congress tried to remove Johnson as President by impeachment. ► Impeachment is the bringing of charges against an elected official by the House of Representatives. If found guilty in a Senate trial, an impeached President is removed from office. ► Johnson avoided being removed from office by one vote in May 1868, but his ability to lead the nation was weakened.

28. Newspaper Clipping of the Trial

29. Reconstruction Ends ► By 1870 all of the former Confederate states had met the requirements of Reconstruction, and they were readmitted to the Union. ► Many Northerners were tired of having their taxes used to help rebuild the South. In 1877, the remaining federal troops were withdrawn from the South. ► Reconstruction had some successes. A public school system was established and many industries were expanded.

31. Jim Crow Laws ► To fight the new rights of African Americans, Southern lawmakers made state and local laws call Jim Crow laws. ► The name “Jim Crow” came from an African American character that was a singer and a dancer. ► Jim Crow laws segregated the lives of African Americans and white people. Blacks had separate businesses, train cars, and hotels. ► Whites tried to prevent blacks from voting in several ways.  They set up voting booths far from black communities,  They changed the location of booths without informing blacks.  Some states required a poll tax, or a payment, in order to vote.  In some places, blacks were forced to take a reading test before voting.  A “grandfather clause” was added to some state constitutions that said that men could vote only if their father or grandfather had voted before 1867.

32. “Jim Crow”

33. Sharecropping ► African Americans were freed, but they did not have land or jobs. Many former slaves went back to work on farms and plantations. ► Many blacks as well as whites became trapped in a system called sharecropping. ► Workers rented the land from landowners. They paid for their rent with a portion of their crop. ► A landowner gave workers a cabin, mules, tools, and seed. The worker then farmed the land. At harvest time the crops were harvested and sold. The landowner gave a part of the profit to the sharecropper. Often the sharecropper had no money or very little money left over.

34. Sharecropping (continued) ► Sharecropping gave landowners the help they needed to work the fields. ► It gave former slaves work for pay. ► It was a hard way to make a living because when crops failed, both landowners and workers went into debt. ► Even in good times, most workers’ shares were very small if they got anything at all. ► Usually the costs of sharecropping were so high that the workers stayed in debt.

35. After the Reconstruction Era ► Slavery ended with the 13 th Amendment. ► The federal government had established its power over individual states. ► The 14 th and 15 th Amendments provided a constitutional basis for equal rights, but it would take a long time for these rights to be recognized. ► The nation continued expanding westward and building a strong economy. ► The South, continued to rely on an agricultural economy, and it remained the poorest section of the country.