1. African Americans Work to Build New Lives
Chapter 11: Rebuilding a Divided Nation (1865 – 1877)
Section 3 Explain the success of reconstruction when dealing with the problems of freedmen
African Americans Work to Build New Lives

2. Economic Problems Freedmen were slaves their entire lives No Education
Parents and grandparents were slaves
No Education
Limited their job opportunities
Only skills they had was farming
Manual labor not actually running the farm
No money
No clothes
They had nothing

3. Job Opportunities Most freedmen were forced to take farming jobs
Sharecroppers – a landowner allows a sharecropper to use the land in return for a share of the crop produced on the land
Tenant Farming – When a freedmen made enough money sharecropping he could eventually rent the land
Freedmen were unable to make any significant profit
Landowners were usually ex-plantation owners
Freedmen still had very little economic freedom
They were still subservient to whites

4. Sociological Problems
Freedmen were slaves their entire lives
They were not seen as equal
Leads to many societal problems
Southerners did not respect them and in a way were angry at them

5. Freedmen's Aid Freedmen’s Bureau Education Churches
Part of the Reconstruction Act
Provided clothes, shelter and food for freedmen
Education
School teachers from the north
Began to educate the freedmen
Churches
Freedmen needed to find some emotional relief
Lead to the growth of black Methodist and Baptist Churches
Used spiritual song and gospel

6. Southerners Reaction
Also passed Jim Crow Laws – created to separate African Americans from whites (segregation)
In response to the 15th Amendment southern states passed voting laws
Literacy Tests – Voter must be able to read the constitution before voting
Poll Taxes – Pay to vote
Grandfather Clause – Mandated that a person could only vote if his grandfather could

7. Racism Supremacy and racism began to take over in the south
Ku Klux Klan
Former confederate soldiers wanting revenge
Resisted the plans of the reconstruction
Afraid of the power the African Americans were getting

9. End of Reconstruction Reconstruction took place for over 12 years
Northerners were tired of reconstruction
After the Civil War the economy went down
The north could no longer afford the costs of reconstruction
After 8 years of scandalous activity Grant and the Republican power lost power

10. Election of 1876
Democrats had a good chance of winning the presidential election
They nominated Sam Tilden
Republicans nominated Rutherford. B. Hayes
Tilden won both the popular vote and electoral votes
However, to become president you must have a majority (he was 1 elector vote shy)
The decision then went on to a committee of 15
8 Rep. & 7 Dem.

12. Compromise of 1877 The committee ended up cutting a deal
Hayes would become president
Military forced had to leave the south
Thus the end of reconstruction