1. Chapter 12 Reconstruction & the New South p. 416-441
At the end of the Civil War, Americans face the problem of how to reunite the nation. Disagreements over Reconstruction lead to conflicts in government and in the South. With the end of Reconstruction, African Americans in the South will lose many of the rights they had gained.

2. Chapter 12, Section 1 Rebuilding the Nation p. 420-423
As the Civil War ends, Americans face the problems of how to reunite the nation.

3. Lincoln Wins Re-election
Victories in the battlefield ensure Lincoln’s victory in the Election of 1864.
Seems to be a diminished man
Personal Tragedies:
Death of his son Willie
Wife’s mental illness
Public Adversities:
Abuse in the press
Death threats
Burden of war
Guilt over high death rate
New dilemma:
RECONSTRUCTION
Lincoln’s 2nd Inaugural Address
March 4, 1865
Can you spot John Wilkes Booth?

4. RECONSTRUCTION How would you handle the reuniting of the states?
Table Question:
How would you handle the reuniting of the states?
Would you be lenient (“soft”) on the Confederates OR would you punish (be “hard”) them?
RECONSTRUCTION

5. Lincoln contemplates the fate of the South.
Preparing for Reunion
Main Idea: President Lincoln and Congress do not agree about how to bring the Union back together.
Lincoln’s 10% Plan (from to make it easy for southern states to rejoin the Union)
To heal wounds quickly
10% voter loyalty oath to U.S.
Form new State Governments
Must declare an end to slavery
Lincoln offers amnesty to former Confederates.
a government declares that will officially overlook violations of existing laws
Lincoln contemplates the fate of the South.

6. - a leading Radical Republican
The Wade-Davis Bill
The “Radical Republicans” in Congress disagree with Lincoln.
Think he’s too lenient
Pass the Wade-Davis Bill
50% voter loyalty oath
Anyone who voluntarily fought for the Confederacy barred from voting (for life)
Lincoln refuses to sign
- Never becomes law
The South lay in ruins.
Who needs help? see p. 424
Benjamin
WADE
Henry
DAVIS
Thaddeus Stevens
- a leading Radical Republican

7. Freedmen’s School House
The Freedmen’s Bureau
Main Idea: The Freedmen’s Bureau provides education and economic help to freed slaves and poor whites – ALL people who had been displaced by the war.
Provides assistance and emergency relief to freedmen
enslaved people who had been freed by the Civil War
Sets up schools to teach freedmen to read & write
Assists poor whites as well
Helps freedmen find jobs & resolves disputes between whites & blacks
to decide; to solve
Freedmen’s School House

8. 1st President to be assassinated
Lincoln is Murdered
Main Idea: Abraham Lincoln’s assassination ends the chance of a lenient Reconstruction
April 14, 1865 (Good Friday)
5 days after Lee’s surrender
Ford’s Theater - during the play “Our American Cousin”
Shot by John Wilkes Booth
Lincoln had premonitions & dreams about his death.
Dies the next day at 7:22 AM
“He now belongs to the ages.” Edwin Stanton (Secretary of War)
1st President to be assassinated

9. “The Handsomest Man in America”
John Wilkes Booth
Very popular actor of his day
Fanatical southern sympathizer
Felt guilty about avoiding military service
Killed at a Virginia farmhouse, while resisting arrest.
Newspapers of the time said, “Booth has killed the South’s greatest friend.”
John Wilkes Booth
“The Handsomest Man in America”