Reconstruction

Vocabulary
• Reconstruction African-American Migration
• 13th Amendment Debt Peonage
Ku Klux Klan
• Black Codes
Nadir
• Republicans Jim Crow Laws
• Radical Republicans
• 14th Amendment
• 15th Amendment
• Suffrage
• Sharecropping
 • Reconstruction refers to the period after the
Civil War

Chapte
• Essentially rebuilding the nation:
economically, admitting states back,
bringing freed slaves into public
• What to do with freed slaves?

r Keys • Many freemen were not given what

was promised to them, eventually
leading to the creation of the
Freedmen’s Bureau

(p.28) • Republicans: How to deal with seceded

states
• Lincoln offered leniency
• …But he was dead, so his successors
wanted to punish states that seceded
 • Southern states had to accept abolishment
of slavery, but adopted black codes to limit

Chapte
civil rights and freedom of freedmen
• N. Republicans mad Confederates joined
Congress. Enacted Civil Rights Act to counter
Black Codes. Foundation for 14th

r Keys
Amendment
• Radical Republicans wanted to give Black
Americans full rights

(p.28)
• Divided South into districts controlled
by Union Army
• Took political rights from confederate
leaders
• Gave freedmen right to vote
Chapter Keys 3
(p.28)
• Republicans in Congress impeached President Johnson, but
Senate failed to remove him
• 13th amendment – Abolished slavery
• 14th – defined US Citizenship =
• Guaranteed citizens important rights such as equal
treatment by law
• 15th – Prohibited denial of suffrage (right to vote) based on
race
Chapter Keys 4
(p.28)
• Freedmen, carpetbaggers (Northerners who came south) and scalawags held power in
Southern governments including Africans
• Reconstruction governments built roads and schools and tried to work towards racial
equality.
• When North army left though, the South decided to pass segregation laws
• Sharecropping
• Former slave owners had no money to pay laborers; former slaves had no land
• Freedmen became tenants to their landlords – giving landowner share of their crop
• Debt peonage – work for debts they can’t repay
Chapter Keys 5
(p.28)

• At the end of the Reconstruction, Southern states passed Jim

Crow Laws
• requiring racial segregation in public places
• Upheld by US Supreme Court (Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896)
• Klu Klux Klan (KKK) and other similar groups committed violent
crimes against African Americans and prevented them from
practicing rights
• Nadir – worst period in race relations
Challenges of Reconstruction
• By April 1865, most of the South was destroyed
• Property destroyed, massive loss of life, slaves freed
• Confederate money and economy decline
 Challenges of
Reconstruction, 2
• Reconstruct = Rebuild. Rebuilding the south involved overcoming political, economic, social
hurdles
• Political
• How should Southern States be admitted into Union?
• Was it the President or Congress that had power to set conditions for their
readmission?
• Social
• Should Confed. leaders be allowed to participate in society or punished?
• What was to happen with the former slaves (freedmen, free people?
• Economic
• How to rebuild South’s Economy?
Early Plans for
Reconstruction
• Freedmen’s Bureau (est. 1865) to help freedmen adjust to freedom
• Goal was to give them land ad right to vote
• Lincoln – believed in leniency
• If 10 % of state’s population pledged allegiance and accepted Emancipation Proclamation, state would
be admitted to Union
• Congress – rejected 10% Plan, attempted stricter Wade-Davis Bill but failed
• 13th Amendment passed by the House and ratified by the states
• Abolished slavery
Politics of Reconstruction
Presidential
Reconstruction • Andrew Johnson, Lincoln’s VP becomes
President (from TN, a slave Confederate
State)
• He was expected to impose harsh
punishments on Confederate leaders, did
not pardon generally
• Just individually pardoned a bunch of
them, giving them rights to their land
back and citizenship
• To Johnson, blacks were not equal with
whites
• Wanted reconciliation between North
and South, without actual change
• Also recognized Confederate leaders
and Southern state governments
Black Codes
• Seeing almost no consequences from the President, Southern whites
pushed the envelope
• Voters elected former Confed leaders to represent them in Congress
• Passed Black Codes – laws based on Slave Codes
• Designed to preserve Southern society, with little disruption, despite
abolishing slavery
• Each state wrote individually, but all labeled freedmen as POCs
• Banned them from voting, jury duty, testifying against whites, hold office, or serving in state
militia
• Illegal for Freedmen to travel freely or quit jobs, and to show work
• Forced many to continue working on plantations
• They could be whipped, children forced into apprenticeship, and black convicts used
for hard labor
Congressional Reconstruction
• Many provisions of Black Codes didn’t go into effect - blocked by Union Army
in the South
• Still, Northern public outraged at election of former rebel leaders and Black
Codes
• Felt made victory was at risk
• Many blamed Johnson, Congress refused to accept Southern members
• Republicans – anti slavery political party of President Lincoln during the war
• Moderates joined with Radical Republicans
• Radicals believed South should be punished and African Americans should have full political, civil rights
• Republicans passed Civil Rights bill and passed bill to enlarge Freedmen’s
Bureau, but Johnson vetoes both
• Republicans had enough votes to override veto
• Civil Rights Act of 1866 prohibited race-based discrimination, made all people born in US citizens,
including freedmen with the same rights as whites
14th Amendment
• Congress rewrote terms of Civil Rights Act into the 14th Amendment to ensure these rights were
protected by the Constitution
• 14th identifies ALL those BORN or who undergo NATURALIZATION as US Citizens
• Passed Laws defining steps for Naturalization (later)
• All Freed people were now US citizens
• Prevented states from denying African Americans or other minorities rights, including fair trial and equal protection

• Equal Protection = state cannot discriminate against people based on race, sex, or ethnicity
• Due Process = Before government can take freedom or property have a fair and public trial before
an impartial judge with the right to appeal decision (hence the legal process)

• Each Southern State was forced to ratify the 14th Amendment and Confed traitors were denied
right to hold office
Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
• Republicans were divided over Reconstruction
• Johnson opposed terms of Congressional Reconstruction and campaigned for
support in 1866 midterm Congressional Elections
• Voters tended to favor Radical Republicans, and they became dominant in Congress
• Radical Republicans passed their own bill dividing the South into 5 Districts
• Each occupied by Union Army division
• Implemented martial law
• Tenure of Office Act
• President can’t just fire cabinet member
• Johnson tried to dismiss Secretary of War, Congress decided to impeach Johnson
• Impeached by House but failed to be removed by Senate

• Ulysses S. Grant elected President in late 1868

• 15th Amendment ratified in 1870
• Prohibited denial of citizens’ right to vote based on race or servitude (guaranteed African American
right to vote)
 Reconstruction
Governments in the
South
• With freedmen being able to vote, governments in South changed drastically
• Often fell under control of carpetbaggers
• Slur meant for poor whites
• Most carpetbaggers came to help freedmen, some for business
• Scalawags = Southern whites supporting reconstruction
• Most importantly, large number of AA participating in state and local governments
• Other notable accomplishments
• Creation of public schools
• Laws banning racial discrimination
• Investment in railroads
African American
Migration
• Migration = movement of people to a new place
• Freedpeople went North
• New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Pittsburg, etc.
• Some went west
• Some to Africa
• And to establish new towns in Kansas
 Economics of
Reconstruction
• Can’t restore plantation system without slaves
• Many plantation owners had to sell off parts of their land
• Most participated in Share-cropping deals with former slaves, who owned nothing
• Landowner provided cabin, tools, mule, and land
• Sharecropper gave a large share of his crop to the landowner
• Most AA never became landowners though; some became tenants
• If a sharecropper owed money (loans, tools, etc.) = debt peonage where they
exchanged servitude in order to pay debt
• 13th amendment banned slavery, but still allowed this, as well as to punish crimes
• South also diversified economy = started manufacturing more, diversify crops
 Reconstruction Ends

• As the result of the Compromise of 1877, Rutherford B. Hayes removed Union Troops
from the south
• With Troops gone, local governments returned to white Southern Rule
• Former Confeds could vote now and prioritized removing AA from voting/ participating politically
• Reconstruction failed because
• Racism = Most white Americans (even in the North) did not recognize AA as equals
• Resented Reconstruction because it allowed blacks to exercise authority over white
• AA Economic Dependence = Most AA remained financially dependent on former masters
• Lack of Education of Freedmen = could not compete with hostile whites
• White Terrorism = Groups like KKK terrorized AA from exercising political and social rights
• Northern Disinterest = When an economic depression hit US, Northerners forgot about South
 Aftermath of Reconstruction: Segregation

• After Reconstruction followed a time period of racial segregation and white supremacy, with AA being
denied many basic and political rights
• Worst period in terms of race relations, known as the Nadir
• AAs lost right to vote
• 15th Amendment guaranteed this right to all adult males but, Southern governments stripped this right
and:
• Blacks were dependent economically on whites and unable to challenge politically
• Terrorized by KKK, White League, other groups if they tried to vote
• Targeted black teachers and community leaders for lynchings
• Sheriffs, police, and judges were all white
• Passed laws to stop AAs from voting without violating 14th and 15th amendments
• Literacy Tests (which were often harder for black citizens)
• Poll Taxes (which they had to pay long in advance and could be costly)
• Grandfather clauses (Most people who qualified in 1867 were white)
• As a result, whites dominated Southern politics, and so did the Democrat party
 Jim Crow Segregation

• Southern governments wanted to separate whites and blacks via

laws
• Ex. Separate schools, Railway cars, restaurants, public restrooms, water fountains….
Etc.
• Known as Jim Crow Laws
• Denied black citizens equal opportunities, reinforced racism, public fear of blacks, and belief of white
supremacy
• “Separate but Equal”
• Designed to circumvent 13, 14, 15th amendment
• Plessy v. Ferguson
• Supreme Court ruled in 1896, that as long as facilities were “Separate but Equal” it was not unconstitutional

• BTW, segregation still occurred in the North

 Florida Focus

• Florida wasn’t as affected by the Civil War as other states

• Was able to diversify its economy into other sources besides cotton, such as citrus fruits,
cattle ranching, tourism, etc.
• African Americans were near half the population, and 19 of 53 legislators in state
government were black

• 1877, Democrats take control of state legislature and enact Jim Crow laws
• Poll taxes, literacy tests, homeownership restrictions, etc.
• Segregation Laws

• Debt Peonage
• AAs would be brought to work in a turpentine camp, and would work to pay for the ride, tools, housing, food etc.,
becoming permanently indebted to the landowners