Transcript Chapter 16, Section 1

Reconstruction
Chapter 16
Rebuilding the South
Section 1
Rebuilding the South

Main Idea 1:

President Lincoln and Congress differed
in their views as Reconstruction began.
Reconstruction Begins

Main Idea 1:

President Lincoln and Congress differed
in their views as Reconstruction began.
Reconstruction Begins

The original goal of Reconstruction was
to reunite the nation and rebuild
southern states without slavery
Reconstruction Begins

The South had to be rebuilt
Towns and farms ruined
 Plantations, roads, bridges,
RRs destroyed
 Thousands faced starvation

Reconstruction Begins

People disagreed on how the Southern
economy and society needed to be rebuilt

Reconstruction: the process of
readmitting the former Confederate
states to the Union; lasted from 1865 to
1877
Reconstruction Begins
 Lincoln
proposes
the Ten Percent
Plan
When 10% of a states
voters would pledge
an oath of loyalty to
the Union, the state
could form a new
state govt.
 Didn’t want to just
punish the South

Reconstruction Begins
Lincoln offered
amnesty – a pardon –
to all white
Southerners, except
Confederate leaders
 Wanted to get the
southern states back
quickly

Reconstruction Begins

Lincoln …
Supported giving
the right to vote to
African Americans
who were educated
or had served in the
Union army
 Would not force
the Southern states
to give those rights
to African
Americans

Reconstruction Begins

Republicans in Congress proposed a
more radical, tougher plan for the South
They became known as Radical
Republicans
 Thaddeus Stevens a leader:
Southern states must be
punished

Reconstruction
Begins

Wade-Davis Bill
50% of white males
in a state had to
swear loyalty
 Former Confederate
soldiers were denied
to public office
 State Constitutions
had to abolish
slavery

Reconstruction Begins

Lincoln refused
to sign the bill

He wanted a
quicker
solution, but
realized he
would have to
compromise
Freedom for African
Americans

Main Idea 2:

The end of the Civil
War meant freedom
for African Americans
in the South.
Freedom for African
Americans

One thing Republicans
agreed on was abolishing slavery.

Lincoln urged Congress to propose the
Thirteenth Amendment, which made
slavery illegal in the United States
• The amendment was ratified on December
16, 1865.
Freedom for African
Americans

Peace. Im
outta here.
Newly freed slaves faced
many changes.
Families searched
for members who
had been sold away.
 Many moved from
mostly white
counties to places
with more African
Americans.

Freedom for African
Americans

Freed people demanded same economic and political
rights as white citizens.
 Many former slaves wanted their own land to farm.
 Many white planters refused to surrender their land
and the U.S. government returned land to its original
owners.
Freedom for African Amer

Freedmen’s Bureau
An agency designed to help former
enslaved persons
 Distributed food and clothing
 Provided medical service
 Established schools
 Helped African Americans acquire land
 Also helped some white southerners

President Johnson’s
Reconstruction Plan

Main Idea 3:

President
Johnson’s plan
began the process
of Reconstruction.
President Johnson’s
Reconstruction Plan


5 days after the war
was over, Lincoln is
assassinated in
Washington D.C.
Lincoln and his wife
were attending the
play Our American
Cousin
I love
legitimate
theatre.
President Johnson’s
Reconstruction Plan
Lincoln watched from a balcony box
 John Wilkes Booth, an actor in the play and a
southern
sympathizer
sneaks behind
Lincoln and
shoots him in
the back of the
head

President Johnson’s
Reconstruction Plan

Booth jumps down and shouts “Sic
Semper Tyranus ” and escapes to
Virginia

Death
to
tyrants
President Johnson’s
Reconstruction Plan

Lincoln is taken to the
Peterson House across
the street


He dies the next day
Lincoln’s death is a shock to the nation

Northerners and African Americans
mourn
Muhaha
President Johnson’s
Reconstruction Plan

Booth was part of a small group
of 8 that plotted to also kill…
John Wilkes Booth
Secretary of State William Seward
 Vice President Andrew Johnson (below)


They hoped the successful
assassinations would cause
chaos and give the South another
shot at fighting again
President Johnson’s
Reconstruction Plan

Andrew Johnson became
President

A Southern senator who
supported the Union
during the Civil War
President Johnson’s
Reconstruction Plan
• Johnson’s Reconstruction plan
was similar to Lincoln’s, but
included the need for wealthy
southerners and former
Confederate officials to receive
presidential pardons in order to
receive amnesty.
President Johnson’s
Reconstruction Plan

Under Johnson’s Plan Southern states

were also required to revise their constitutions
and declare that secession was illegal.

had to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment and
refuse to pay Confederate debts.
President Johnson’s
Reconstruction Plan

All southern states except Texas had
created new governments by 1865.

Johnson declared the Union to be
restored, but Congress refused to readmit
southern states into the Union because
too many newly elected representatives
had been leaders of the Confederacy.