Transcript Reconstruction Era

The Reconstruction Era
The Nation Moves Toward Reunion
► Union
politicians…
► Debated on
Reconstruction
► Lincoln…
► Goal was to reunify the
nation
► Some…
► Harsh Reconstruction
► Punish the South
The Freedmen’s Bureau Aids
Southerners
► designed
to aid freed
slaves and relieve the
South’s immediate needs
► Delivered food and
healthcare
► Began to develop a public
school system for both
black and white
southerners
► Reunite families
separated by slavery
President and Congress Clash
► Lincoln
► A state
– 10 Percent Plan
could be reentered back into the
Union if 10 percent of the
voters of the 1860
election gave an oath of
loyalty
► Radical Republicans…
► Favored punishment
► Wade-Davis Bill (pocketveto) did not sign it
► Iron-clad oath – 50 %
(future loyalty and past
purity)
Andrew Johnson
13th Amendment – south had to
accept it
► Ended slavery
► New president promised to uphold
the state’s rights
► Freedmen’s Bureau – vetoed
► Civil Rights Act – vetoed
► Tenure of Office Act – vetoed
► Fired Secretary of War Stanton
► Impeached
► Act of bringing charges against an
official
► Senate – narrowly voted not to
remove him
►
The Reconstruction South
Radical Republicans…
► Divided the South into 5
military districts
► Under the command of Union
generals
► Condition of readmission
► Required to grant the vote of
African American men
► Passed 14th Amendment…
► Guaranteed full citizenship and
rights for every person born in
the U.S.
►
African Americans Gain Political
Rights
Radical Reconstruction…
Many white southerners were not
eligible to vote
► African American men…
► Signed up to vote
► 1868…
► Many southern states had elected
officials and were dominated by a
strong Republican Party
► 15th Amendment…
► No laws guaranteed the right to
vote to African Americans
► No male citizen could be denied
the right to vote
►
►
Freedmen Rebuild Their Lives
► First
time…
► Celebrate their
marriages
► Make choices on
where to reside
► Freed women…
► Care for families and
leave field labor
► Importance of
education
The Ku Klux Klan Uses Terror Tactics
► Used
terror and violence
against African
Americans and their
white supporters
► Chief goal of Klan
attacks…
► Keep African Americans
from voting
Reconstruction Comes to an End
After a decade …
Northerners began to lose
interest
► 1873
► Series of bank failures
► Political scandals during the
Grant administration
► 1871…
► Troops were withdrawn
► 1872
► Congress dissolved the
Freedmen’s Bureau
►
►
Southern Democrats Regain Power
► One
by one…
► Southern states reinstated
wealthy white southern men
as governors and sent former
Confederate leaders to the
U.S. Congress
► 1874 Elections
► Republicans lost control of the
House of Representatives
Black Codes
► Tried
to restrict the movement of the new
freedmen
► Vagrancy
► Prohibited to enter towns without
permission
► Could not marry whites
Election of 1876 Ends
Reconstruction
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Presidential election…
Signaled the end of Reconstruction
Democratic Candidate
Samuel Tilden
More popular votes
Republican Candidate
Rutherford B. Hayes
Electoral vote – in dispute
Florida – South Carolina – Louisiana
Congressional committee declared
Hayes the winner
Promised to remove troops from
the South
Historians Evaluate Reconstruction
Was Reconstruction a success or
failure?
► Some things were changed
forever
► Radical Republicans failed in most
of their aims
► Political rights
► Failed
► Voting Rights for African
Americans
► Taken away
► De jure segregation…
► Legal separation of the races
►
What were the Reconstruction goals
of the Radical Republicans?
► To
bring the South back into the Union
through punitive reorganization
What political gains did African Americans
make in the early phases of Reconstruction?
► They
became full citizens with the attendant
rights, including, for adult males, the right
to vote
How did the influence of Radical
Reconstruction in the South erode?
► North’s
waning interest
in the Reconstruction
► A national economic
downturn
► Political scandal in the
Grant administration
► Emergence of white
Democratic power in
the South