(the time period right after the Civil War) Reconstruction (the time period right after the Civil War)

Unit 4: The Civil War and a New Birth of Freedom? Reconstruction (1865-1877) 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 Lincoln is re-elected Confederate attack on Fort Sumter – Civil War BEGINS! Black Codes enacted 14th Amendment Congress passes the 13th Amendment President Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation Freedmen’s Bureau created 15th Amendment Confederacy surrenders Lincoln is killed

“…that from these honored dead…shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom” - Excerpt from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863

fact, a “new birth of freedom?” Did Lincoln’s assertion or “promise” come true? Was there, in fact, a “new birth of freedom?”

In other words…NO MORE SLAVERY! On January 31, 1865, four months before the Civil War ends and Lincoln is assassinated, Congress passes the 13th Amendment: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction”. In one big way there was a “new birth of freedom.” Before the war was even over (although it was clear at this point that the Union would win), Congress (the legislative branch) approved a constitutional amendment to abolish (end) slavery throughout the nation. In other words…NO MORE SLAVERY!

On the eve of the Civil War, the entire slave population neared 4 million. Census Report - 1860 Total Population 31,183,582 Free Colored Persons 476,748 Total Free Population 27,233,198 Total Number of Slaves 3,950,528 Slaves as % of Population 13% Total Number of Families 5,155,608 Total Number of Slaveholders 393,975 % of Families Owning Slaves 8% The 13th Amendment freed approximately 4 million slaves and precipitated the end of the war. Why? In order to fight a war, you need money and manpower and now, with the end of slavery, the Confederacy’s economy, like much of its landscape, would be collapsed. 13th Amendment = FREEDOM…OR DID IT?

Passed the 14th Amendment (born in U.S. = citizenship) Radical Republicans Passed the 14th Amendment (born in U.S. = citizenship) -Passed the 15th Amendment (can vote regardless of your race) Discontent (dissatisfaction) with Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan led a group of people in Congress known as the Radical Republicans. Radical Republicans believed blacks were entitled to the same political rights and opportunities as whites. They also believed that the Confederate leaders should be punished for their roles in the Civil War. Their first goal was to add an amendment to the Constitution that would make former slaves and all black Americans “citizens.” Remember the infamous Dred Scott case declared that no one descended from an enslaved person could be a U.S. citizen. In 1868, Congress approved the 14th Amendment that says that all people born or naturalized in the US are citizens. The following year, in 1869, Congress approved the Fifteenth Amendment. The 15th Amendment gave African-American males the right to vote. Women, both white and black, still could not vote.

Congress divided the former Confederacy into five military districts Congress divided the former Confederacy into five military districts. A Union general was put in charge of each district to oversee the state’s transition to rejoining the Union and to ensure that the state follows the new Amendments. 8

RECONSTRUCTION ENDS Election of 1876 Rutherford B. Hayes becomes President In order to get southerners to vote for him promised to do away with the military districts.

Maintaining Racial Hierarchy Before the Civil War After the Civil War At the TOP: a white male (Power = citizen and can vote) According to the law – a white male and a former slave are at the same level (both can vote and both are citizens) At the BOTTOM: a black slave (Power = none) 13th, 14th, and 15th, Amendments

How could whites recreate a system of racial hierarchy after the passing of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments? In other words, how could whites keep blacks/former slaves from voting, holding public office and being and/or feeling like full citizens?

Slavery By Another Name – Sharecropping

Black Disenfranchisement (Black codes) to deprive one of the right to vote HOW? Had to work around the 15th Amendment (laws appear color-blind) Men could vote only if they could vote in 1867 Men had to pass a test (given by a white official) to vote. Men had to pay a sum of money to vote.

KKK: use of terrorist tactics to intimidate former slaves. In 1866 a group of white southerners created the Ku Klux Klan. The KKK was a secret society opposed to African Americans obtaining civil rights, particularly the right to vote. The KKK used violence and intimidation to frighten blacks. Klan members wore white robes and hoods to hide their identities. The Klan was known to have murdered many people.