Transcript Analyze the impact of the Civil War and Reconstruction on Georgia

Analyze the impact of the
Civil War and
Reconstruction on Georgia
ANALYZE THE IMPACT OF
RECONSTRUCTION ON
GEORGIA AND OTHER
SOUTHERN STATES
Reconstruction
 Reconstruction (p. 300)
 Freedmen’s Bureau (p. 299-300)
 Sharecropping (p. 307-308)
 Tenant Farming (p. 307-308)
 Reconstruction Plans (p. 300-301, 303-304)
 13th Amendment (p. 301)
 14th Amendment (p. 303)
 15th Amendment (p. 306)
 Henry McNeal Turner and Black Legislators (p. 305)
 Ku Klux Klan (KKK) (p. 305-306)
Reconstruction
 1865-1872
 After the Civil War, much of Georgia was destroyed
 Over 40,000 Georgians had been killed or wounded and many had lost
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their land
Due to the damage inflicted, the United States attempted to reconstruct
Georgia and the other southern states
For a while, both African-Americans and Republicans gained political
power in Georgia
African-Americans were freed from slavery and briefly gained more
freedoms and educational opportunities, though they did face new
challenges in both the cities and rural areas
Soon after Reconstruction ended, southern Democrats regained
political power and white supremacy and Jim Crow laws became the
law of the land for over 90 years
Freedmen’s Bureau
 Officially titled “The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and
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Abandoned Lands”
Created to help African-Americans adjust to their newly gained
freedom
Also supported poor whites in the South
Provided food, clothing, and shelter to blacks and whites who were
most harshly affected by the war
Supervised labor contracts and other legal disputes
Helped build freedmen’s hospitals and schools, including the first
public school program for either blacks or whites in Georgia
Some of these schools created continue to this day, including two of
Atlanta’s historical black colleges: Clarke Atlanta University and
Morehouse College
Sharecropping
 Sharecropping and tenant farming should have been mutually
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beneficial to both sides where “cash poor” land owners provided
land and other resources to the laborer in return for the laborers’
work on the farm
However, landowners soon found ways to keep their employees
indebted to them in hopes of preventing them from gaining the
ability to purchase their own land
Consisted of poor and illiterate blacks and whites
Agreed to exchange their labor and a portion of their crops to a
land owner in return for land to work
Had to buy certain necessities from the landowner’s store which
caused many to find themselves deeply indebted to the landowner
and decreased their chances of getting out of the system
Tenant Farming
 Consisted of poor and illiterate blacks and whites
 Agreed to exchange their labor and a portion of their crops to
a land owner in return for land to work
 Had to buy certain necessities from the landowner’s store
which caused many to find themselves deeply indebted to the
landowner and decreased their chances of getting out of the
system
 Owned their own tools, animals, and other equipment, while
the sharecropper brought nothing but their labor into the
agreement
 Sharecropping and tenant farming remained part of Georgia’s
agricultural system until the mid-20th century
Reconstruction Plans
 Presidential Reconstruction (1865-1866)
 President Johnson, a native of Tennessee who stayed loyal to
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the Union, was extremely lenient with the southern states
Based on the plan of Abraham Lincoln who had been
assassinated in April of 1865
Allowed the South readmission in into the Union if 10% of the
population swore an oath of allegiance to the United States
Also required the South to ratify the 13th amendment
Georgia was readmitted to the Union in December of 1865,
even though their new constitution banned interracial
marriage
Reconstruction Plans
 Congressional Reconstruction (1866-1867)
 Radical Republicans favored harsher punishment for the South
 Georgia and the rest of the southern states were placed under
the authority of Congress when they refused to ratify the 14th
amendment
 Southern states were required to pass this amendment in order
to be readmitted into the Union
 With the South continuing to refuse to pass this amendment,
along with the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, Congress passed the
Reconstruction Act of 1867
 This act lumped the South into five military districts with
Georgia, Alabama, and Florida making up the third district
Reconstruction Plans
 Military Reconstruction (1867-1870)
 General John Pope served as the third district’s 1st military
governor
 Georgia created a new constitution that included a provision
for black voting, public schools, and moving the capital to
Atlanta
 The military continued to be a presence in the state due to the
continued actions of the KKK and Georgia’s refusal to pass the
15th amendment
 Georgia was finally readmitted into the Union in 1870 when
Republican and black legislators voted for the passage of the
15th amendment
13th Amendment
 1865
 Officially ended slavery in the United States
 Southern states were required to ratify to be
readmitted into the Union under Presidential
Reconstruction
14th Amendment
 1868
 Made African-Americans citizens of the United States
 Required that they were given the same rights as all
United States citizens
 Southern states were required to ratify to be readmitted
into the Union under Congressional Reconstruction
 Introduced by Congress in response to the Black Codes
being passed in the South
 Under the Black Codes, blacks were not allowed to vote,
testify against whites in court, and could not serve as
jurors
15th Amendment
 1870
 Gave African-American men the right to vote
 Southern states were required to ratify to be
readmitted into the Union under Military
Reconstruction
Henry McNeal Turner & Black Legislators
 African American freedmen were given more political rights than
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they had ever had and would not have again for 100 years, including
the right to vote
32 black legislators were elected to the Georgia General Assembly in
1867, including Henry McNeal Turner
Turner (1834-1915) helped organize the Georgia Republican Party
and was elected both to the Georgia Constitutional Convention of
1867 and the Georgia House of Representatives
Black legislators suffered many hardships during their time in office
Many were expelled by both the Democrats and Republicans of the
General Assembly in 1868
Over ¼ of the black legislators were killed, beaten, or jailed during
their term (several by the KKK)
Ku Klux Klan (KKK)
 Began in 1867 in Tennessee as a social club for Confederate veterans
 Loosely governed organization of former Confederate soldiers that
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became progressively more political and violent
Used terroristic actions to intimidate freed blacks and white Republicans
from voting and running for office
Used tactics of intimidation, physical violence, and murder against black
organizations, such as the Freedmen schools and churches, in hopes of
establishing social control over African-Americans and their white allies
Major force in Georgia and other southern states and the white
supremacy and racial segregation they championed became the norm for
several decades
Disbanded sometime around 1871, when Democrats regained political
control of the South and Congress passed the Force Act of 1870 and Civil
Rights Act of 1871 (also called the Ku Klux Klan Act)