Reconstruction “Binding up the Nations Wounds”

With malice [hatred] toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan; to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations. Lincoln – Second Augural Address How does he plan to treat/fix the South?

Lincoln Shot! One month after that speech he was killed – John Wilkes Booth (shooter) – Ford Theater Booth fled later found three days later and shot to death North outraged at the South again Reconstruction is left in the hands of VP Andrew Johnson

Johnson’s Plans In order for a Southern state to be accepted back into the Union it must: – Write a new state constitution – Elect new government officials – Ratify the 13 th Amendment Johnson passed the 13 th Amendment which outlawed slavery for the United States. – Former slaves could still not vote – “White men alone must manage the South”- Johnson

Radical Republicans They were extreme abolitionists – Thaddeus Stevens + Charles Sumner – Ulysses Grant – Intended to fight for freedmen’s rights + equality Saw the black codes and fought for Freedmen’s safety and well being – Extended Freedmen’s Bureau contract – Civil Rights Act 1866 Freedmen had all the same rights under ALL laws as whites

New Freedom Former slaves (4 million) (freedmen) tested and used their new freedom – Travel (some searching for loved ones they were separated from) – Weddings – Education (Booker T. Washington, leading educator)

Freedman Bureau Freedman Bureau- Established to help freedmen with food, clothing and Medicare Johnson pardoned former Confederates and returned their land to them. – Most freedmen had to once again work for white farm owners – How much did live really change for a lot of freedman?

Northern account of the South “The whites seem wholly unable to comprehend that freedom for the negro means the same thing as freedom for them. They readily enough admit that the Government has made him free, but appear to believe that they still have the right to exercise over him the same old control.” – In reference to black codes

Black Codes Southern states passed laws restricting freedmen’s rights. Denied- – Citizenship – Serve on a jury – Voting – Any job that was not unskilled labor

A failing Plan A racial issue distracts from reconstruction – Whites revolt in the South KKK is formed Grant sends federal troops into the South to fight white power groups Grant’s Republican party accused of corruption Redeemer officials get elected and take away/block black political power – Jim Crow Laws – Segregation

Compromise of 1877 Election of 1876 – Disputed electoral votes in the Southern states – Hayes won the votes but must: Elect a Southerner as a cabinet member Remove the troops from the South Give Federal money to help Railroad construction in the South Reconstruction was officially over