1. Reconstruction
Rebuilding the South

2. What was Reconstruction?
When the American Civil War ended in 1865, the South was in ruins.
The Southern Economy was ruined
Social Systems were destroyed
Over 250,000 Confederate Soldiers had been killed.

3. Northern View on Reconstruction
Most Northerners believed that Reconstruction was necessary because of conditions in the Southern States, but few agreed on what should be done.
Many also disagreed about how to ensure freedom and civil rights of former slaves.

4. What kinds of
problems did
Virginia face
following the
Civil War?

5. Virginia faced
social, political,
and economic
problems following
the Civil War.

6. What was the impact of the Civil War on the politics and government of Virginia?
Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States of America
Abraham Lincoln, United States President during the Civil War
Politics: the methods involved in managing a government

7. Andrew Johnson, President of the United States during Reconstruction
What was the political impact of the Civil War on Virginia?
Andrew Johnson, President of the United States during Reconstruction
Political: having to do with government

8. When the Civil War was over, Virginia had no functioning government.
President Lincoln reviews Union Artillery troops, Washington,D.C., May, 1865.
Virginia had belonged to the Confederacy (Confederate States of America), which no longer existed.

9. The state government had to be redesigned to make African Americans equal citizens.

10. Virginia had to adopt a new constitution which banned slavery and gave African American men the right to vote.

11. What was the impact of the Civil War on the economy of Virginia?
Sheet music by James Bland, an African American composer
economy: how a country manages its resources
impact: the effect of one thing on another

12. Virginia faced many economic problems after the Civil War.
Sharecropper child working in a cotton field
Economic: producing, developing, managing wealth and resources

13. Life for Virginians was difficult during Reconstruction.
Sharecroppers picking cotton
Sharecropper’s cabin

14. The economy of Virginia had collapsed.
Plantations could no longer raise cotton, tobacco, and other products, because owners could not afford to pay former slaves.

15. Plantation owners had invested all their money in the Southern Armies
Plantation owners had invested all their money in the Southern Armies. There was no way to get their money back. Their country was no more.

16. Many Southern men had been killed or injured in the Civil War
Many Southern men had been killed or injured in the Civil War. Even if they were well and young,they could not work on hundreds of acres of land to raise a cash crop without many workers.
Civil War hospital

17. Slaves did not own any land and could not raise their own crops or feed their families.

18. Newly freed slaves had little food, clothing, shelter, and no way to make a living.

19. Confederate money had no value.

20. Railroads, bridges, and crops had been destroyed during the war.

21. Most people in Virginia and the South were poor
Most people in Virginia and the South were poor. Times were hard for everybody.

22. Virginia
had to rebuild
the state
after the Civil War.

23. How did Virginians start to rebuild the state after the Civil War?

24. The problems of newly freed slaves were addressed (given attention) by the Freedman’s Bureau.

25. The United States Congress created the Freedman’s Bureau to help newly freed slaves.

26. The Freedman’s Bureau provided (gave) the newly freed slaves help in several ways.
Beaufort, SC

27. Slaves were given food and medical care.

28. A new economic system developed, called sharecropping.

29. Why did sharecropping develop?
Sharecropping developed because plantation owners lacked money to pay workers, and former slaves needed land and work.