The Era of Reconstruction (F2F)

Learn about the Reconstruction Era and its impact on the US after the Civil War.

Postwar Problems The Civil War came to an end on April 9, 1865 with the surrender of the Confederate army at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. After four years of bloody conflict, both northerners and southerners would have to adjust to a changed world. The adjustment would be far more difficult in the South. Confederate soldiers had little chance of taking up where they had left off. In some areas, every house, barn, and bridge had been destroyed. Two thirds of the South's railroad tracks had been turned into twisted heaps of scrap. Cities had been completely leveled. The war also wrecked the South's financial system. Most significantly, the war changed southern society forever. Almost overnight, there was a new class of nearly four million people known as freedmen - men and women who had been slaves. What would become of them? How would the South cope with this sudden, drastic change?Photograph of Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate capital, shortly after the war. The years following the Civil War would be much more difficult for the North. True False Who were freedmen? former slaves Southerners who had always been free former Confederate soldiers The Ten Percent Plan President Abraham Lincoln was worried about Reconstruction, or the rebuilding of the South. He wanted to make it fairly easy for southerners to rejoin the Union. The sooner the nation was reunited, Lincoln believed, the faster the South would be able to rebuild. As early as 1863, Lincoln outlined his Ten Percent Plan for Reconstruction. Under this plan, a southern state could form a new government after 10 percent of its voters swore an oath of loyalty to the United States. The new government had to abolish slavery. Voters could then elect members of Congress and take part in the national government once again. Lincoln's plan also offered to pardon, or forgive, Confederates who swore an oath of loyalty to the Union. The pardon would not apply to the former leaders of the Confederacy.Political cartoon criticizing Lincoln's Reconstruction plan as too willing to forgive the Confederacy. Many people in the Union felt that Lincoln's Ten Percent Plan was too forgiving of the Confederacy and its leaders. True False Lincoln's Reconstruction plan included all of the following, EXCEPT - an oath of loyalty by ten percent of voters in each southern state abolishing slavery pardons for Confederate leaders The Freedman's Bureau Congress and the President did agree on one proposal. One month before the Confederate surrender, Congress passed a bill creating the Freedmen's Bureau, a government agency to help former slaves. Lincoln signed the bill. The Freedmen's Bureau gave food and clothing to former slaves. It also tried to find jobs for freedmen. The bureau helped poor whites as well. It provided medical care for more than one million people. One of the bureau's most important tasks was to set up schools for freedmen. Most of the teachers were volunteers, often women, from the North. Charlotte Forten, an African American volunteer from Philadelphia, wrote:"It is wonderful how a people who have been so long crushed to the earth...can have so great a desire for knowledge, and such capacity for attaining it."Charlotte Forten, article in theAtlantic Monthly-Image of a Bureau agent standing between a group of whites, armed with knives and a rifle, and freedmen armed with sticks and pikes. The Freedmen's Bureau provided all of the following services to former slaves, EXCEPT - finding jobs supplying weapons providing food and clothing What was considered one the bureau's most important tasks? establishing schools protecting freedmen providing healthcare Lincoln's Assassination Painting, The Last Hours of Abraham Lincoln.Please go to today's lesson folder in Schoology and watch the Video: Assassination of Lincoln to answer the questions that follow. President Lincoln was the only target on the night of the assassination. True False President Lincoln was assassinated by - Charles Julius Guiteau, a writer Leon Frank Czolgosz, an anarchist John Wilkes Booth, an actor President Lincoln was murdered just five days after the Civil War ended. Where did the assassination take place? a concert hall a railroad station a theatre The New President Vice President Andrew Johnson was now President. Johnson had represented Tennessee in Congress. When his state seceded, Johnson had remained loyal to the Union. Republicans in Congress believed Johnson would support a strict Reconstruction plan. But his plan was much milder than expected. It called for a majority of voters in each southern state to pledge loyalty to the United States. Each state also had to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment, which Congress had approved in January 1865. It banned slavery throughout the nation. The southern states quickly met Johnson's conditions. As a result, the President approved their new state governments in late 1865. Voters in the South then elected representatives to Congress. Many of those elected had held office in the Confederacy. Republicans in Congress were outraged. The men who led the South out of the Union were being elected to the House and Senate. Also, no southern state allowed African Americans to vote. Photograph of Andrew Johnson, who became president after Lincoln's assassination. What did the Thirteenth Amendment accomplish? it abolished slavery it guaranteed African Americans citizenship it gave African American men the right to vote President Johnson's Reconstruction plan called for all of the following, EXCEPT - an oath of loyalty by the majority of the voters in southern states creation of new state constitutions ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment Quickly after Johnson's Reconstruction plan was announced, many former Confederates were back in power. True False Black Codes After the war, most southern states quickly ratified the Thirteenth Amendment. However, southern legislatures also passed black codes, laws that severely limited the rights of freedmen. Black codes forbade freedmen to vote, own guns, or serve on juries. In some states, African Americans were permitted to work only as servants or farm laborers. In others, they had to sign contracts for a year's work. Those without contracts could be arrested or sentenced to work on a plantation. These codes were clearly meant to keep freedmen from gaining political or economic power.Picture of a white southerner demanding to see the work contracts of freedmen. What was the purpose of black codes? return freedmen to slavery segregate freedmen from white southerners prevent freedmen from gaining political power Black codes prevented freedmen from doing all of the following, EXCEPT - serving on juries voting owning property Rise of the Radical Republicans Republicans argued that President Johnson's plan had encouraged southern governments to create black codes. They were outraged by reports of violence against freedmen. In reaction to this, Republicans issued a report that accused the south of trying to "preserve slavery...as long as possible." When President Johnson ignored the report, members of Congress called Radical Republicans vowed to take control of Reconstruction. The Radical Republicans had two goals. First, they wanted to break the power of wealthy planters who had long ruled the South. Second, they wanted to ensure that freedmen received the right to vote. To combat black codes, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act in April 1866. It gave citizenship to African Americans. Republicans feared that the Supreme Court might use its power of judicial review to declare the Civil Rights Act unconstitutional. To avoid that, the Fourteenth Amendment was proposed. The Fourteenth Amendment granted citizenship to all persons born in the United States, regardless of race. Any state that denied African Americans the right to vote would have its representation in Congress reduced. Republicans believed that freedmen would be able to defend their rights if they could vote.Photograph of Thaddeus Stevens, leader of the Radical Republicans. What does the Fourteenth Amendment guarantee? the end of slavery citizenship for African Americans the right to vote for African American men Who wanted to take over Reconstruction and guarantee more rights for freedmen? Sympathetic Southerners led by Andrew Johnson Radical Republicans led by Thaddeus Stevens Determined Democrats led by Horatio Seymour Radical Reconstruction Beginning in 1867, Republicans in Congress prepared to take charge of Reconstruction. The period that followed is often called Radical Reconstruction. The Radical Reconstruction plan threw out all southern states that had refused to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment - all former Confederate states except Tennessee. It also called for the South to be divided into five military districts. Army commanders were given broad powers to enforce Reconstruction and protect the rights of freedmen. To rejoin the Union, former Confederate states had to write new constitutions and ratify the Fourteenth Amendment. The plan also required southern states to allow African Americans to vote. With new constitutions in place, reconstructed states held elections to set up new state governments. Former Confederate officials were barred from voting. Many other white southerns refused to vote in protest. Protected by the army, freedmen proudly exercised their new right to vote. As a result, Republicans gained control of all the new southern state governments. President Johnson did everything he could to prevent the Radical Reconstruction plan from going into effect. The fight over Reconstruction led Republicans to attempt to remove Johnson from office in 1868. Impeachment ultimately failed, but political damage from the trial left Johnson with little chance of serving another term as president.Map of the southern military districts created during Radical Reconstruction. What did the Radical Reconstruction plan include? (choose all that apply) creation of southern military districts requiring southern state had to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment requiring southern states to allow African Americans to vote Radical Republicans successfully impeached and removed President Johnson from office. True False All of the following are reasons Republicans took control of southern governments, EXCEPT - freedmen exercised their right to vote many white southerns refused to vote in protest most southerners supported the Republican party A New President and the Fifteenth Amendment In 1868, Republicans nominated the Union's greatest war hero, Ulysses S. Grant, for president. By election day, most southern states had rejoined the Union. As Congress demanded, the southern governments allowed African American men to vote. About 500,000 blacks voted - nearly all of them for Grant. He easily won the election. In 1869, Congress proposed the Fifteenth Amendment. It forbade any state to deny African Americans the right to vote because of race. The amendment was ratified in 1870. At last, all African American men over the age of 21 had the right to vote. Because of the Fifteenth Amendment, African Americans became a major new political group in the South. Before the war, they had no voice in southern government. During Reconstruction, they not only voted in large numbers, but they also ran for and were elected to public office in the South. Hiram Rhodes Revels became the country's first black senator in 1870. In all, sixteen African Americans were elected to Congress between 1869 and 1880.Illustration celebrating the Fifteenth Amendment. Was Hiram Rhodes Revels the first African American senator? Yes No The Fifteenth Amendment guaranteed African American men over the age of 21 the right to vote. True False Who won the presidential election in 1868? James A. Garfield Rutherford B. Hayes Ulysses S. Grant Southerners Resist Most white southerners who had held power before the Civil War resisted Reconstruction. They wanted the South to change as little as possible, and they were determined that real power would remain in the hands of whites. White southerners were mainly Democrats, and they declared war on anyone helped the Republicans. "This is a white man's country," declared a southern senator, "and white men must govern it." Some white southerners formed secret societies to help them regain power. The most dangerous was the Ku Klux Klan, or KKK. The Klan used intimidation and violence to keep African Americans and white Republicans out of office. Hundreds of African Americans and their white allies were murdered by the Klan.Editorial cartoon denouncing the Klan and White League as murderers of innocent freedmen. Which political party did most white southerns support during Reconstruction? Republican Democratic Southern groups like the Klan, used violence to - bring an end to the military districts ensure that Republicans were elected to office keep African Americans out of elected office Sharecropping During Reconstruction, many freedmen and poor whites went to work on large plantations. These sharecroppers rented and farmed a plot of land. Planters provided seed, fertilizer, and tools in return for a share of the crop at harvest time. To many freedmen, sharecropping offered a measure of independence. Many hoped to own their own land one day. In fact, most sharecroppers and small landowners became locked in a cycle of poverty. Each spring, they received supplies on credit. In the fall, they had to repay what they borrowed. If the harvest did not cover what they owed, they sank deeper into debt. Many farmers lost their land and became sharecroppers themselves.Photograph of sharecroppers in Georgia. All of the following are reasons why sharecropping became a cycle of poverty for many freedmen, EXCEPT - borrowing supplies on credit from landowners freedmen did not work very hard to pay off their debt low profit from harvests The End of Reconstruction By the 1870s, Radical Republicans were losing power. Many northerners grew weary of trying to reform the South. It was time to let southerners run their own governments, they said - even if it meant that African Americans in the South might lose their rights. In 1872, nearly all white southerners had their right to vote restored. This lead to Democrats regaining control of most southern states by 1876. The end of Reconstruction came with the presidential election of 1876. The Democrats nominated Samuel Tilden, governor of New York, for president. The Republicans chose Ohio governor Rutherford B. Hayes. The election resulted in an electoral tie. In order to break the tie and win the election, Hayes promised Democrats that he would end Reconstruction once he became president. Once in office, he removed all remaining federal troops from Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida. Reconstruction was over. Reconstruction had a deep and lasting impact on southern politics. White southerners had bitter memories of Radical Republican policies and military rule. For the next hundred years, the South remained a stronghold of the Democratic party. At the same time, black southerners steadily lost most of their political rights.Editorial cartoon criticizing the end of Reconstruction as essentially abandoning freedmen. Rutherford B. Hayes won the presidential election in 1876 by promising to bring and end to Reconstruction. True False What happened to black southerners when Reconstruction came to a sudden end? they were returned to slavery they began to support the Democratic party they began to lose most of their rights Restricted Rights As Democrats tightened their grip on southern governments, states found new ways to keep African Americans from exercising their rights. Many of these laws restricted the right to vote. Over time, many southern states passed poll taxes, requiring voters to pay a fee each time they voted. As a result, poor freedmen could rarely afford to vote. States also imposed literacy tests that required voters to read and explain a section of the Constitution. Since most freedmen had little education, such tests kept them away from the polls. After 1877, segregation, or legal separation of races, became the law of the South. Laws separated blacks and whites in schools, restaurants, theaters, trains, streetcars, playgrounds, hospitals, and even cemeteries. These Jim Crow Laws, as they were known, trapped southern blacks in a hopeless situation. Louisiana novelist George Washington Cable described segregation as:"A system of oppression so rank that nothing could make it seem small except the fact that [African Americans] had already been ground under it for a century and a half.""George Washington Cable, "The Freedman's Case in Equity- African Americans brought lawsuits to challenge segregation. In 1896, in the case of Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court ruled that segregation was legal so long as facilities for blacks and whites were equal. In fact, things were rarely equal. For example, southern states spent much less on schools for blacks than for whites.Photographs of public notices enforcing Jim Crow Laws (segregation) in the South. All of the following are ways in which African Americans had their right to vote limited in the South, EXCEPT - poll taxes loyalty oaths literacy tests In the South, Jim Crow laws established segregation of the races. True False The Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court case established that segregation was legal as long a facilities for blacks and white were equal. Did the South do a good job of following this? Yes No