Reconstruction Era in GA in GA Officially ends in the South in 1877

Reconstruction Era Lincoln’s Plan Lincoln had a plan to rebuild the south and restore it to the Union o It was to be quick and easy o Everyone would be pardoned(except high ranking officials) and when 10% of the voters take a loyalty oath the state would be permitted back into the Union o Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (December 8, 1863) o Replace majority rule with “loyal rule” in the South. o He didn’t consult Congress regarding Reconstruction.

Johnson takes over when Lincoln is assassinated o His plan was much like Lincoln’s but expanded the group that would not be granted the general pardon o In this group he included large property owners and they had to apply to the president for their pardon o Declared that Reconstruction was complete because the war goals were met, national unity and an end to slavery President Johnson’s Plan

Radical Republican Plan Congress and the Radical Republicans take over in 1866, (felt it was their job to be in control Reconstruction) They returned the South to military control, and overruled Johnson’s veto Passed the 14th and 15th Amendments By 1877 Army intervention in the South ceases and Republican control collapses

Freedman’s Bureau Key agency during Reconstruction; Bureau of Refugees, Freedman, and Abandoned Lands Initiated by President Lincoln in March of 1865 and intended to last for one year Was part of the War Dept. Designed to help former slaves and poor whites cope with their everyday problems Main job was to help set up work opportunities and supervise labor contracts, as well as help with education and other daily necessities like food and clothing

Making a living doing what they know SharecroppingTenant Farming Landowners provide the land for farming, the tools, the shelter, the seed, the animals and the fertilizers Worker agrees to share the harvest for the use of the land and the credit of supplies Landowners provide the land for farming and the shelter, the tenant usually owns his own tools and animals Worker agrees to share the harvest for the use of the land and usually makes a little more than a sharecropper because less use of credit is needed

Opposition to the Reconstruction Plans This opposition sometimes took violent measures Ku Klux Klan was a secret organization that tried to prevent the newly freed slaves from exercising their new rights They did this through intimidation, beatings, and murder This appeared in Harper's WeeklyHarper's Weekly January 27, 1872 Three Ku Klux Klan members arrested in Mississippi, September Mississippi 1871, for the attempted murder of an entire family.

New Amendments 13 th Amendment: makes slavery illegal: th Amendment: granted citizenship to the freedmen (remember the Dred Scott decision) and forbade any state from discrimination, states could not deny anyone “equal protection of the law”: th Amendment: gave all male citizens the right to vote ( The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the U.S or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude ):1870

Military Occupations of Georgia Occupied after Civil War. Georgia ratifies 13 th Amendment and begins self-rule and reenters Union Civil Rights Act of 1866 passed by congress over veto and passes 14 th Amendment to ensure its enforcement. Requires southern states to approve. Only Tennessee does and military rule stablished over 10 southern states (including GA) Constitutional Convention of 1867 convened and new constitution drafted. Voters approve in April 1868 and GA once more admitted to Union Rise of violence against blacks. Georgia Act passed in 1869 and military rule once again in GA GA permanently readmitted in July 1870 – the last southern state to do so

Henry McNeal Turner Elected to the Georgia Legislature in 1868, part of the new legislators elected during Reconstruction He and the other black legislators were removed from the legislature on the grounds that the Constitution gave them the right to vote but did not specifically give them the right to hold office. They were reseated in September of 1870.

Review The War began in April of 1861 and ends in April of 1865 Each side creates strategies and the CSA has to create their own government and army Most battles are fought on Confederate soil, many in VA Following the war there is a turbulent period known as Reconstruction The newly freed slaves begin adjusting to freedom with the help of the Freedmen’s Bureau New amendments are passed to enable the freed slaves the ability to enjoy Constitutional Rights