1. Chapter 12
Reconstruction

2. Chapter 12 - Reconstruction
When was Reconstruction?
1865 – 1877
South is economically devastated
Agricultural lands laid waste
Industry destroyed
Railroads have been torn apart
2/3 of assessed Southern wealth vanished
1/5 white southern men of military age are dead

3. Chapter 12 - Reconstruction
Racial attitudes
Southerners moved from being ashamed of slavery to claiming it is good for slaves as well as masters
Belief that freedmen are inferior, and certainly not ready for political life

4. Chapter 12 - Reconstruction
Lincoln’s Death
Changes character of Reconstruction
Lincoln may have been able to rein in radical Republicans
Was a more skillful politician than Andrew Johnson

5. Lincoln’s Plan Moderate policy Reconcile with Southerners
Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction
December, 1863
Amnesty to all Southerners who:
took an oath of loyalty to the United States
Accepted Union’s proclamations concerning slavery
States could organize a new state government when 10% of a state’s 1860 voters took the oath

6. Radical Republican Plan
Led by Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner
“revolutionize Southern institutions, habits, and manners”
Thaddeus Stevens
Charles Sumner

7. Radical Republican Plan
Three main goals
Prevent leaders of the Confederacy from returning to power
Make Republican Party a powerful institution in the South
Use the federal government to guarantee African-Americans the right to vote in the South
How would the old Three-Fifths Clause of the Constitution be affected by the end of slavery?

8. Wade-Davis Bill
Required a majority of white men in the South to take an oath of allegiance to the Union
When that happened, state could hold a constitutional convention to create a new state government
New state constitution had to:
Abolish slavery
Reject all debts acquired by state as part of the Confederacy
Deprive all former Confederate government officials and military officers of the rights to:
Vote
Hold public office
Wade-Davis bill was passed by Congress
Lincoln blocked it with a pocket veto
Pocket veto - President allows session of Congress to expire without passing bill

9. Freed Slave Crisis
Freed slaves usually fled to Union lines during the Civil War
To assist them in starting a new life, General Sherman reserved abandoned plantation lands for 30 miles in from the coast
All the way from Charleston, South Carolina to Jacksonville, Florida
40,000 families settled on over half a million acres

10. Freedmen’s Bureau Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands
Established by Congress
Created to feed and clothe war refugees in the South
Helped prevent mass starvation
Assisted former slaves in finding work
Negotiated labor contracts with planters
Established special courts

11. Freedmen’s Bureau Crucial role in education
Worked with Northern charities
Provided housing
Paid teachers
Established colleges

12. Land Confiscation? Why should traitors keep their property?
Seize Confederate land
Give it to former slaves
40 acres and a mule?
Idea was ultimately rejected by Congress
Widespread belief that violation of property rights was too far