1. Reconstruction
Fifth Grade

2. Reconstruction Re- to do again Construct- build
Reconstruction- to build again
What is being “reconstructed”?
Our country was badly damaged by the Civil War…emotionally and physically.
Emotionally-there were lots of bad feelings between the Northern and Southern states
Physically-homes, farms, hospitals were destroyed…particularly the South

3. Reconstruction of a Nation
Reconstruction after the Civil War was the process of reorganizing the southern states into the Union. Throughout the South, livestock had been killed, as plantations and industries were destroyed. Productivity levels slowed down, and Southern productivity had depended on slave labor, which no longer existed.
Without slaves after the war southern landholders reduced the size of their plantations. Landowners had to sell large portions of land. The concept of sharecropping began in the South. A tenant or sharecropper agreed to give the landowner, as rent, a portion of the crop raised from his labor. Sharecropping kept newly freed slaves in debt to landowners.

4. Reconstruction time period was from 1865-1877.
President Lincoln’s goal was to unite southern states with the Union. The grand plan was to have a united nation.

5. AIMS of Reconstruction
Abraham Lincoln
Preserve the Union and end Civil War quickly
13th Amendment
Andrew Johnson
Humilate the Southern elite
Wealthy Southerners had to ask for a Presidential Pardon
African Americans
Reunite families, Build churches
Equal rights: land, education, voting
United States Congress
Fix all the problems: 13, 14, 15 amendments
Freedmen’s Bureau
Southerners
Return to a normal way of life
Wanted to continue to be treated better than blacks
Black Codes written to punish blacks

6. The Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution freed the slaves, gave them citizenship and guaranteed the right to vote regardless of race.
The actions of the Freedman’s Bureau were to eliminate injustices to blacks and poor whites.

7. Freed the slaves everywhere in the United States.
13th Amendment
Freed the slaves everywhere in the United States.
President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was the start of this, but it didn’t free ALL slaves.

8. Guaranteed citizenship to all African Americans
14th Amendment
Guaranteed citizenship to all African Americans

9. 15th Amendment
Declared that all male citizens could vote and would not be denied because of “race, creed, or previous condition of servitude.”

10. KKK
The Ku Klux Klan was originally a social organization of ex-Confederate soldiers.
It grew into a terrorist group
The KKK used violence, intimidation and voter fraud to keep African Americans from exercising their rights under the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments.
The Goodings

11. The Compromise of 1877
Democrats agreed to support the election of the Republican candidate of 1876 (the election was riddled with fraud due to KKK and other voter fraud) in exchange for the removal of all federal troops from the South.
Back to last slide

12. Discrimination Groups and Laws
Ku Klux Klan
The Compromise of 1877
Jim Crow Laws
Plessy v Ferguson [1896]
Discrimination in the North vs. South
Supreme Court Justices that ruled on Plessy v Ferguson

13. Jim Crow Laws
The name Jim Crow was ironically, a white man’s imitation of a dancing and singing black stableman. As a result, the white performers gave the name to a system of segregation in the South. The Supreme Court ruled in 1896 in Plessey v. Ferguson that separate facilities for whites and blacks was constitutional. This form of discrimination took out the gains made by blacks during this time.

14. Jim Crow Laws
Jim Crow Laws were laws that promoted segregation in the South between the end of the Reconstruction period and the beginning of the Civil Rights movement.
segregation=separation
Return to discrimination groups and laws

15. Review Questions
How were African Americans’ lives changed by black codes after the Civil War?
They were forced to move to Canada.
They had to sign pledges to obey federal laws.
They were denied many rights.
The codes has no effect.

16. Review Questions 2. Why was the Freedmen’s Bureau established?
To help former slaves after the war.
To punish the former Confederate states.
To help African Americans settle in Europe.
To elect Civil War generals to the Senate.

17. Review Questions
3. Why were many in Congress offended by President Johnson’s position on Reconstruction?
They opposed the work of the Freedmen’s Bureau.
President Johnson favored equal voting rights for women.
They supported the efforts of the Ku Klux Klan in the South.
South states could still limit the rights of African Americans.

18. Effects on African Americans
Rights & Reasons Freedmen’s
Restrictions to Relocate Bureau
Jim Crow Laws
40 acres
Land/ Sharecropping
Freedom
Black Codes
Vote
“Grandfather Clause”
Reading test
Poll Taxes
Reunite with families
Establish communities
Churches
Schools
businesses
Food
Clothing
Medical care
Education
Protection
Find jobs
Land

19. Jump Start #1
What was one of the major differences between a sharecropper and a slave?
There was no difference.
Sharecroppers were very wealthy.
Sharecroppers were paid in shares for the work they did on the farm.
Sharecroppers were paid in gold.

20. Jump Start #2
What enforced the separation of African Americans and other races in the South?
Reconstruction laws
Jim Crow laws
Congress
Freedman’s Bureau

21. Jump Start #3
Why did Congress disagree with President Johnson’s plan for Reconstruction?
They did not want to include all of the southern states.
They did not want slavery to end.
It punished the South.
They thought it was too easy on the South.

22. Economic & Social Effects of Reconstruction
Landowners
Poor Whites
Northerners
Freedmen

23. True or False The Emancipation Proclamation freed all slaves.
The Southerners’ aim for Reconstruction was to end the war, but to keep the slaves.
Jefferson Davis became president after Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.
President Lincoln wanted to unify the country as quickly as possible.
The 15th Amendment gave African Americans, men and women, the right to vote.

24. Match these words with their descriptions:
Jim Crow Laws 15th amendment 14th Amendment 13th Amendment Freedmen’s Bureau
Helped 4 million freedmen after the war.
Laws that enforced segregation
Granted citizenship to African Americans
Abolished slavery
Granted all men the right to vote.

25. Short Answer Questions (in COMPLETE sentences)
What was the overall goal of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments?
How were the lives of African Americans made more difficult after the end of Reconstruction?
What effect did black codes have on African Americans?
Why were many African Americans still unable to vote even after the 15th amendment was passed?
Explain the system of sharecropping. Why many African Americans forced into this system after being freed? Sharecropping is…