1. Era after the Civil War 1865 - 1877
Reconstruction
Era after the Civil War

2. Reconstruction America needs to be built again…how do we do it?
Problem 1: What do we do with former slaves?
Problem 2: How do we deal with the South? Should we punish Southerners or make it easy for them? (greater good of the country)

3. What to do with Former Slaves?
Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation – is it legal?
Government needs to make official changes – 3 amendments are made
to amend = to change
Amending the Constitution takes 2/3 approval of Senate and Congress
¾ states must approve

4. Reconstruction Amendments
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
Officially outlaws slavery in all U.S.
Ratified in 1865
Fun Fact: Mississippi did not ratify until 1995!

5. Reconstruction Amendments
Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States…are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall … deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
Not only is there no slavery – everyone is EQUAL and deserves equal treatment
Ratified in1868

6. Reconstruction Amendments
15th Amendment
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Citizens, regardless of color or race can vote, even if they used to be a slave.
Nothing mentioned about women 
Ratified in 1870

7. Freedman’s Bureau Established on March 3, 1865
The Bureau was responsible for issuing food, clothing and medicine to former slaves.
Set up schools to help educate “freedmen”

8. Plans to rebuild the South
Lincoln – “ with malice toward none, with charity for all”
Wanted to make Reconstruction as painless as possible for Southerners
After Lincoln is killed, Andrew Johnson becomes president – attempts to carry on Lincoln’s plan

9. Presidential Reconstruction
What to do with the traitors?
Johnson offered amnesty to most Southerners
Top leaders in Confederacy and the rich could appeal directly to Johnson
Gave 13,500 “special pardons”
Jefferson Davis – arrested and imprisoned for 2 years before getting out on bail and living his life in Mississippi.
Robert E. Lee – went home and farmed, eventually became the President of Washington College in Lexington, KY
10% Plan (based on Lincoln’s)
To reenter Union, 10% of a state’s population had to take an oath of loyalty
Once a state had rejoined the Union they would get to send representatives to Congress and vote in elections

10. Andrew Johnson Congress does not like him!
Not a Republican like majority of Congress
Owned slaves (until made illegal)
Did not believe African Americans should vote
His plan did not do anything to help former slaves
First president ever impeached
Impeached means accused of a crime in office
Put on trial by Senate  acquitted (found not guilty) of crime by 1 vote

11. Congressional Reconstruction
Congress is not pleased with Johnson
Believe he has been too lenient
Do not want former Confederate leaders in Congress
Create a stricter Reconstruction Plan

12. Congressional Reconstruction
Set up military districts in former Confederate land
In order to rejoin the Union, each Confederate state must
Create new state constitutions that gives all adult men the right to vote (cannot exclude African Americans)
Ratify the 14th Amendment = equal rights

13. Problems
You can pass laws, but can you force people to think differently?
Many southern states passed state laws the limited rights for African Americans
Known as Black Codes or Jim Crow Laws

14. Jim Crow Laws Black Codes and Jim Crow Laws
Examples of Black Codes: curfews, property restrictions, assembly restrictions, etc.
Segregation – separate facilities for black and whites: bathrooms, water fountains, schools, etc.
Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court Case
Challenged segregation – Supreme Court ruled that “separate but equal” facilities is okay
Really the facilities were rarely ever “equal”

15. Jim Crow Voting Restrictions
Poll Tax – you must pay to vote – if you can’t pay, you can’t vote!
Literacy Tests – if you can’t pass a test, you must not be smart enough to vote.
Both aimed at keeping African Americans from voting

16. Literacy Test Real examples from an Alabama test
What body can try impeachments of the president of the United States?
Name the attorney general of the United States.
At what time of day on January 20 each four years does the term of the president end?
Actual Test (with answers)

17. Literacy Tests Grandfather Clause
If your grandfather was able to vote, you can too
Do not need to take test
THINK: Whose grandfather’s were and weren’t allowed to vote???

18. Why is voting so important?
Southerners feared that they would lose power in Congress
State
White Citizens
Freedmen SC
291,000
411,000 MS
353,000
436,000 LA
357,000
350,000 GA
591,000
465,000 AL
596,000
437,000 VA
719,000
533,000 NC
631,000
331,000

19. Rise of KKK Ku Klux Klan (KKK) White supremacists
Violently enforced black codes and later Jim Crow laws (lynching)
Famous for white cone shaped hoods
Also anti Jews, anti Catholics, and anti immigrants

21. Jim Crow Laws
Eventually Jim Crow laws, including segregation, poll taxes, and literacy tests were ended.
100 years after the end of the Civil War!!
Poll tax –24th Amendment in 1964
Literacy tests – Voting Rights Act of 1965
Segregation –
Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court case 1954,
Civil Rights Act 1965

22. Reconstruction WWYD?
What would you do?
Your job is to create a plan to reunify the United States.
Goals:
Minimize anger between North and South
Ensure rights for African Americans
End memory of war as quickly as possible
You will create a plan outlining your Reconstruction plan