Transcript So the civil war is over…

So the civil war is
over…
NOW
WHAT???
Reconstruction
After The Civil War
1865 - 1877
Reconstruction, one of the most turbulent
and controversial eras in American history,
began during the Civil War and ended in
1877.
Just as the fate of slavery was central
to the meaning of the
Civil War, the divisive politics of
Reconstruction altered the status the
former slaves …
in the
reunited nation.
The national debate
over Reconstruction centered on
three questions:
1. On what terms should the defeated
Confederacy be reunited with the Union?
2. Who should establish these terms,
Congress or the President?
3. What should be the place of the former
slaves in the political life
of the South?
Lincoln’s Got a Plan!
• A state could be readmitted
when the number of men who
had taken a loyalty oath to the
Union equaled one tenth of
the number of voters in the
1860 presidential election
(“ten percent plan”)
• Most exConfederates
would be granted
amnesty if they
took the loyalty
oath
• High-ranking exConfederate
officials would
have to ask the
President for a
pardon to be
granted amnesty
• The new state
constitutions
had to ban
slavery
• States had to
provide free
public
education to
blacks
…But, sadly, it never fully went into
effect
• On April 14 1865,
Abraham Lincoln,
while watching a
performance with
his wife, was shot in
the back of the head
by John Wilkes
Booth
• After Lincoln’s
death, VicePresident Andrew
Johnson, who had
been the only
Southern senator
not to leave
Congress after
secession,
became president
Johnson’s Plan/ Presidential
Reconstruction
• Granted amnesty to former
Confederates who would
take an oath of loyalty to
the Constitution and the
federal laws
• Property was restored,
except for slaves, and any
land or goods all ready in
the process of being
confiscated
• The ordinances of
secession had to
be revoked
• Confederate war
debts could not be
collected
• The states had to
ratify the
Thirteenth
Amendment
• During the first eight months of his term,
Johnson took advantage of Congress being
in recess and rushed through his own
policies for Reconstruction,
which included
allowing the
South to set up
"black codes,"
which essentially
maintained
slavery under
another name…
Black Codes
1) Allowed
former slaves
to:
• Marry fellow
blacks
• Own personal
property
• Sue and be
sued
2) Didn’t allow them to:
• Serve on juries
• Vote
• Carry weapons without a
license
• Hold public office own land
• Travel without a permit
• Be out after curfew
• Assemble in groups without a
white person in attendance3)
required a former slave to buy
a license to work
4) Authorized the
arrest and fining
of unemployed
blacks
5) Allowed an
employer to pay
the fine of an
unemployed
black in exchange
for the person’s
labor
Many Northerners became
convinced that Johnson's policy,
and the actions of the governments
he established, threatened to reduce
African Americans to a condition
similar to slavery, while allowing
former "rebels" to regain political
power in the South.
As a result, Congress
overturned Johnson's
program.
Between 1866 and 1869,
Congress enacted new laws and the
Fourteenth and Fifteenth
Amendments to the Constitution,
guaranteeing blacks' civil rights and
giving black men the right to vote.
In March 1867 - Congress passed the
Reconstruction Act of 1867.
•Under
provisions of the
Reconstruction
Act, Southern
states could no
longer restrict
the right to vote
because of race.
•It also stated that the states of
the former Confederacy would
only be readmitted to Congress
after they ratified the 14th
Amendment.
•This led directly to the creation of
new governments in the South
elected by blacks as well as
whites.
Johnson's vetoes of Reconstruction
legislation and opposition to the
Fourteenth Amendment alienated
most Republicans.
In 1868, he came
within one vote
of being removed
from office
by impeachment.
Now what about those
amendments?
13th Amendment
• On January 1865, Congress passed
the Thirteenth Amendment, and by
December, the necessary twentyseven states ratified it.
• “Neither slavery nor involuntary
servitude, except as a punishment for
a crime where of the party shall have
been duly convicted, shall exist in the
United States.”
14th Amendment
• All persons born in
the United State or
naturalized were
citizens of the U.S.
and of the state in
which they lived
(blacks included)
• States were
forbidden to deny
citizens their rights
without due process
of law
• All citizens were to
enjoy equal protection
under the law
• A state that denied
voting rights to any
adult male would have
its representation in
Congress reduced in
proportion to the
number of citizens who
had been denied the
vote
15th Amendment
• In March, 1870, the 15th
Amendment was
ratified
• “The right of citizens of
the United States to
vote shall not be
denied or abridged by
the United States or by
any State on account of
race, color, or previous
condition of servitude.”
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13
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Free
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Vote
In the South, a
mobilized black
community joined
with white allies to
bring the
Republican party to
power, while
excluding those
accustomed to
ruling the region.
•The Reconstruction Act of 1867 also
stipulated that former Confederate
states hold conventions to draft new
constitutions that granted former
slaves the rights of citizenship.
- Almost 300 African Americans,
or 25 per cent of the total delegates,
attended these conventions
held in Southern states
in 1868-69…
…making them the first public
bodies in American history with
substantial black representation.
The 41st and 42nd Congress included black
members for the first time in American history.
A total of sixteen blacks served in Congress
during Reconstruction.
Economic Impact of
Reconstruction
Destruction
The war
destroyed…
• 2/3 of Southern
shipping
• 9,000 miles of
railroads
• 654,000 soldiers
• Southern farm property
value plunged 70%
• Black southerners
were homeless and
starving, plantation
owners were broke
and without labor and
poor white southerners
couldn’t compete with
the new freedman