Transcript File - Mrs. Poorman`s Class

Reconstruction
Clow, Jensen, Poorman
Flour Bluff JHS 2014-15
Reconstruction
The period between 1865 and 1877 during
which the United States
was reunited and rebuilt.
Key Questions
1. How do we
bring the South
back into the
Union?
2. How do we
integrate and
protect newlyemancipated
black freedmen?
3. Who’s job is it
to decide the
process for
reconstruction?
Key Question
How do we
bring the
South
back into the
Union?
Who’s job is it
to decide the
process for
reconstruction?
President Lincoln’s 10% Plan
*Proclamation
*He
of Amnesty and Reconstruction (December 8,
1863)
didn’t consult Congress regarding Reconstruction.
*“Malice
*Pardon
to none and charity towards all.”
to all but the highest ranking military and civilian
Confederate officers.
*When
10% of the voting population had taken an oath of
loyalty and established a government, it would be recognized.
*Bring
the country together as countrymen not winners and
losers.
President Andrew Johnson
-Racist
-Johnson did not want
harsh penalties on the
seceding states.
-Like
Lincoln, he just
wanted to re-admit them
so the nation could begin
healing.
After the Civil War, politicians felt
they had to keep southern
congressional leaders in check.
Civil Rights Bill of 1866
Defined US citizenship and
affirmed that all citizens were
equally protected by the law
President Johnson vetoed it
(saying it was a state decision),
but Congress overrode
his veto.
“Radical Republicans”
“Radical Republicans”
Favored
•harsh (or radical) treatment of the South
•quick incorporation of freemen into citizenry
•full privileges for blacks including voting rights
•the seizure of land from Southern planters.
It’s because of the Radical Republicans’ actions
that the Democratic Party ruled the South
for the next 100 years.
Two new funny-but-nasty words
“SCALAWAGS”
“CARPETBAGGERS”
Southerners
who worked with
Republicans to take
economic advantage
of Reconstruction.
They were viewed as
“traitors” by others.
Northerners
who went South
to get involved in
politics. Named after
their luggage, they
were not trusted by
others, either.
Key Question
How do we
integrate and
protect newlyemancipated
black freedmen?
While the war was still going on,
the War Department set up the
“Freedmen’s Bureau.”
Technically, the
Bureau of Refugees,
Freedmen, and
Abandoned Lands
Its purpose was to assist
former slaves for one year
during their transition.
This included food, clothing,
medicine and above all,
education.
The Bureau also took
control of all confiscated
lands or property.
Slavery is Dead?
Text
Southerners skirt the rules
Southerners passed laws
to limit opportunities for the blacks
they had been forced to set free.
These laws were known as
“black codes” and “Jim Crow laws.”
Some freed slaves were able to take
advantage of the opportunities, but most
programs were underfunded and most
freed slaves ended up going back to
plantations or sharecropping.
Tenancy & the Crop Lien System
Furnishing Merchant
Tenant Farmer
 Loan tools and seed
up to 60% interest
Plants crop, harvests in
to tenant farmer to
autumn.
plant spring crop.
 Sells food, clothing,
Turns over up to ½ of
and other necessities
crop to land owner as
on credit from
payment of rent.
merchant until the
harvest.
Tenant gives
 Merchant holds “lien”
remainder of crop to
{mortgage} on part
merchant in
of tenant’s future
payment of debt.
crops as repayment
of debt.
Landowner
Rents land to tenant
in exchange for ¼
to ½ of tenant
farmer’s future
crop.
Makes money off the
sharecropper
Accepting change
Three amendments
to the U.S. Constitution
were ratified during
Reconstruction.
They became known as the
“Reconstruction amendments”
13th Amendment (1865)
Outlawed slavery everywhere (the Emancipation
Proclamation three years earlier had been limited to
the rebelling slave states, not the “border states”).
14th Amendment (1868)
Gave all U.S.-born
people (except Native
Americans) the rights of
citizenship, with equal
protection under law
regardless of race.
Did NOT give former slaves
the right to vote, but it
limited the Congressional
representation of any state
that didn’t let them vote.
15th Amendment (1870)
Gave voting rights
to black men.
(Women would have
to wait until 1920
for the 19th Amendment).
**Radical Plan for Readmission
 Civil authorities in the territories were subject
to military supervision.
 Required new state constitutions, including
black suffrage and ratification of the 13th and
14th Amendments.
 In March, 1867, Congress passed an act that
authorized the military to enroll eligible black
voters and begin the process of constitution
making.
Military Reconstruction Act of 1867
Allowed military occupation
of the former confederate
states in the 10 Southern
states that refused to ratify
the 14th Amendment.
Divide the 10
“unreconstructed states”
into 5 military
districts.
Also set requirements for readmission to the Union
and strict guidelines on representation (Let the
freed slaves vote or lose some power in
Congress)
Key Question
Who’s job is it
to decide the
process for
reconstruction
?
*Reconstruction Acts of 1867
Command of the Army Act
The President must issue all
Reconstruction orders through the
commander of the military.
Tenure of Office Act
Designed to protect radical members of
Lincoln’s government.
A question of the
constitutionality of this law.
Edwin Stanton
**President Johnson’s Impeachment
 Johnson removed Stanton (Secretary of War) in
February, 1868.
 Johnson replaced generals in the field who were
more sympathetic to Radical Reconstruction.
 The House impeached him on February 24
before even
drawing up the
charges by a
vote of 126 – 47!
**The Senate Trial
 11 week trial.
 Johnson acquitted
35 to 19 (one short of
required 2/3s vote).
Ku Klux Klan
A secret society in
the late 1860s that
used intimidation
tactics on African
Americans and
anyone who helped
them. The KKK
looked to end the
Republican Party in
the South.
Hiram Rhodes Revels
The first African-American Senator in 1870
(Mississippi). Spoke out against segregation.
Twenty-two
African-American
men were elected
to Congress from
1865 to 1900.
“Compromise
of 1877”
In this informal deal,
Rutherford B. Hayes
won the presidency
in exchange for federal
troops leaving the
South, ending
Reconstruction.
“Compromise
of 1877”
Also part of the deal…
•Construction of another
Southern railroad
•Legislation to
industrialize the South
•Guarantee that a Southern
Democrat would be in
Hayes’ administration.
Other actions taken
during reconstruction
time period.
Homestead Act of 1862
Homestead Act of 1862
The General Land Office
gave heads of households
160 acres to “improve.”
If they built a house on it
and farmed the land for five years,
it would become their own.
Homestead Act of 1862
Most of the land went to speculators,
cattlemen, miners, lumbermen
and railroads.
Between 1862 and 1904,
of the 500 million acres dispersed,
only 80 million went to
homesteaders.
Allowed the
western territories
to be settled
quickly.
Morrill Act of 1862
Granted land to new western
states to establish their first
public colleges for their citizens.
Morrill Act of 1862
Major universities such as Texas,
Texas A&M, Nebraska,
Washington State, Clemson,
and Cornell were chartered as
land-grant schools.
Morrill Act of 1862
Brought education to thousands
of farmers and working people,
reshaping the nation’s social and
economic fabric.
Dawes Act (1887)
Broke up
reservation land into
pieces
to be given to
individual Indians.
The Dawes Act
Law passed in 1887
attempting to assimilate
Native Americans into
American society
The law led to the creation of “Indian Territory”
in what is today the state of Oklahoma
It was also supposed to protect Indian
property rights, particularly during the land
rushes of the 1890s, but in many instances the
results were vastly different.
The Dawes Act
Native American children
were forced to learn
English and became more
“Americanized”
Native American families
were forced from their
homelands and onto
reservations
The U.S. government
had to use force to move
some Native American
Dawes Act (1887)
The Indians’ land was often
desert land unsuitable for
farming.
In addition, the farming techniques
were much different from their tribal
way of life.
Dawes Act (1887)
Many Indians did not want
to take up agriculture,
and those who wanted to farm could
not afford the supplies.
Dawes Act (1887)