People
Plantation Owners
Lost their slaves and source of wealth
Land initially seized by government, but reasserted the power structures of slavery.
What was Reconstruction?
The federal government’s controversial effort to
1. Repair the damage to the
South
2. Reunite the Southern states
(including Freedmen and
the issues they faced)
Radical Republicans
Achieved control of Congress in 1866.
Wanted harsher sanctions on Confederates.
Pushed for civil rights for freedmen.
Clashed with Southern Democrat Johnson
Freedmen
Had freedom but faced a poor economy, freedom didn’t give them the resources to survive
At the end of the war many were homeless,unemployed, &
uneducated
Some freedmen moved to cities or out
west looking for work
Why did Reconstruction end?
Heavy taxes
Corruption
Lack of support from North
S. Democrats undermining many reforms, taking back control of state governments.
Poor White Southerners
Competed with freedmen for jobs, lost social status, some migrated West
How many plans were there for Reconstruction and what were they?
Lincoln Plan: 1863-1865
Johnson Plan: 1865
Congressional Plan: 1866-1877
Tenure of Office Act
President could not fire officials without Senate approval, AJ fired Sec. of War Edwin Stanton (who supported Rad Recon) to test Congress 🡪 formal charges against him
Freedmen’s Bureau
Helped former slaves; provided
food, shelter, schools, medical, legal help.
Unpopular with white Southerners
Failed by 1872 b/c it couldn’t overcome Southern hostility & lack of political support.
Black Codes
Limited jobs to only unskilled labor
Set curfews
Beginnings of segregation
Scalawags
Name Democrats gave to white Southern Republicans
Lincoln's Plan
10 Percent Plan: once 10% of voters from 1860 took an oath of allegiance to the US, the state could form a new government
Designed to readmit South quickly; nothing about freedmen
The Trail and Aftermath
Escaped removal from office by one vote!
Johnson continued to veto Reconstruction bills, but Congress had the numbers to outvote him. AJ lost the nomination for the Election of 1868.
Sharecropping
Landowner allows renters to use the land in return for a share of the crop, but . . .
Needed tools, livestock → huge debts.
Tenant Farmers: paid cash rather than a portion of the crops
Many freedmen & poor white people are sharecroppers
Disenfranchisement
To prevent someone from voting
Various methods:
1. poll taxes, grandfather laws
2. literacy tests
3. threats of violence
Ulysses S. Grant
1869-1877
Supported by radicals, Promoted Civil Rights, helped pass the 15th amendants, anti KKK law
Wade-Davis Bill
Stated that Congress should direct Reconstruction
Panic of 1873
Investors took on more debt than they could afford, Major distraction, Reconstruction no longer the priority
13th Amendant
Abolished Slavery, 1865
The Lost Cause Progranda
Goal was to deny African-Americans their rights and keep them in the role of submissive laborers.
Carpetbaggers
Northerners who moved South
Johnson's Plan
Democrat from TN
Sympathized with poor whites
Plan stated that the South must accept 13th amendment
Nothing about freedmen
The Compromise of 1877
Tilden won popular vote
Dems agreed to make Hayes president if all federal troops were removed from the South
Lead to the end of reconstruction
Limits to Freedmen’s Rights
Disenfranchisement
Black codes
Hate groups
Ku Klux Klan
Founded in 1866 in TN by 6 former Confederates
Congress tried to block their actions, but laws were not well enforced