Chapter 16 – Reconstruction and the New South (1863-1896)

Vocabulary –

Key Terms:

  1. freedmen-men and women who had been slaves
  2. amnesty-government pardon
  3. black codes-Southern laws that severely limited the rights of

African Americans after the Civil War

  1. impeachment-to bring charges of serious wrongdoing against a

public official

  1. scalawag-white Southerner who supported the Republicans

during Reconstruction

  1. carpetbagger-uncomplimentary nickname for a Northerner who

went to the South after the Civil War

  1. sharecropper-person who rents a plot of land from another

person and farms it in exchange for a share of the crop

  1. poll tax-tax required before a person can vote
  2. literacy test-exam to see if a person can read and write; used in

the past to restrict voting rights

  1. grandfather clause-law that excused a voter from a literacy test if his

father or grandfather had been eligible to vote on

January 1, 1887

  1. segregation-enforced separation of people based on racial,

ethnic,or other differences

Key People/Places/Events:

  1. Ten Percent Plan-Lincoln’s plan that allowed a Southern state to

form a new government after 10% of its voters swore an oathof loyalty to the US

  1. Wade-Davis Bill-1864 plan for Reconstruction that denied the right tovote to hold office to anyone who had

volunteered tofight for the Confederacy

  1. Freedmen’s Bureau-government agency founded during Reconstruction

to help former slaves

  1. Reconstruction-rebuilding of the South after the Civil War
  2. Radical Republican-member of Congress during Reconstruction who

want to ensure that freedmen received the right to vote

  1. Radical Reconstruction-period beginning in 1867 when the Republicans

whocontrolled both houses took charge of Reconstruction

  1. Reconstruction Act-1867 law that threw out the Southern state

governments who refused to ratify the 14th Amendment

  1. Conservatives-white Southerners who resisted change during the

Reconstruction

  1. Ku Klux Klan-secret society organized in the South after the War

toreassert white supremacy by means of violence

  1. Thirteenth Amendment-1865 – bans slavery throughout the nation
  2. Fourteenth Amendment-1868 – guarantees equal protection of the laws
  3. Fifteenth Amendment-1869 – forbids any state to deny African Americans

theright to vote because of race

  1. John Wilkes Booth-Confederate sympathizer who assassinated Lincoln
  2. Andrew Johnson-17th US President who proposed a more lenient

plan of Reconstruction

  1. Hiram Revels-African American who served in the Senate
  2. Blanche Bruce-African American who served in the Senate
  3. Homer Plessy-arrested for sitting in a “white” section of a coach

of a railroad car – set precedent for “Separate but Equal” rule.

  1. Plessy v. Ferguson-1896 court case in which the Supreme Court ruled

thatSegregation in public facilities was legal as long as the facilities were equal

  1. Jim Crow Laws-laws that separated people of different races in

public places in the South

  1. “New South”-term to describe the South in the late 1800s when

efforts were made to expand the economy by building up industry

Chapter 16 – Reconstruction & the New South (1863 – 1896)

Section 1 – Rebuilding the Nation

Obj: to discuss why postwar problems were more severe in the South than in the North; to list the early steps that were taken toward Reconstruction; and, to explain how the assassination of Lincoln and the inauguration of a new President led to conflict

  • After four years of war, both northerners and southerners had to adjust to a changed world.
  • Victorious North –
  • Economic problems
  • Union soldiers needed jobs
  • Factories were laying off workers after war orders now being cancelled
  • North lost more soldiers than South, but more battles on Southern soil
  • Northern farms and cities were hardly touched.
  • Defeated South –
  • Ex-soldiers had little chance of picking up where they had left off
  • In some areas, every house, barn and bridge had been destroyed
  • Two thirds of their railroad had been turned into twisted heaps of scrap
  • Cities had been leveled
  • Financial system wrecked
  • Confederate money worthless
  • Loans never repaid
  • Society changed forever
  • Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan – 1863
  • Ten Percent Plan – under this plan southern states could form a new government after 10% of its voters swore an oath of loyalty to the United States.
  • New government had to abolish slavery
  • Voters could elect members of Congress and take part in national government
  • Amnesty offered to Confederates who swore loyalty to the Union
  • But this would not apply to former leaders of the Confederacy
  • Rival Proposal –
  • Many Republicans felt 10% too generous
  • 1864 – Wade-Davis Bill a rival plan for Reconstruction
  • It required a majority of white men in each southern state to swear loyalty to the Union.
  • It also denied the right to vote or hold office to anyone who had volunteered to fight for the Confederacy
  • Lincoln refused to sign the Wade-Davis bill because he felt it was too harsh.
  • Freedmen’s Bureau –
  • Congress and Lincoln agreed on this proposal
  • Created to help former slaves
  • It gave them food and clothing and tried to find them jobs
  • It helped poor whites as well
  • It provided medical care for more than one million people
  • It set up schools for freedmen
  • This laid the plan for the South’s public school system and created colleges for African Americans
  • Lincoln hoped to persuade Congress to accept his Reconstruction plan, but never got the chance.
  • April 14, 1865 – just five days after Lee’s surrender, Lincoln was assassinated by popular actor from the south, John Wilkes Booth.
  • He died the next morning
  • Booth was later caught and killed in a barn outside the city
  • Nation plunged into grief.
  • Vice President Andrew Johnson was now President.
  • Johnson’s Plan –
  • His plan milder than strict Reconstruction plan of Lincoln.
  • It called for a majority of voters in each southern state to pledge loyalty to the United States.
  • Each state also had to ratify the 13th Amendment, which Congress had approved in January 1865.
  • Southern states quickly met Johnson’s conditions
  • Republicans in Congress were outraged.
  • Also no southern state allowed African Americans to vote.
  • When the new Congress met, Republicans refused to let southern representatives to take their seats.
  • Instead, they set up a Joint committees on Reconstruction to form a new plan for the South.
  • The stage was set for a showdown between Congress and the President

Chapter 16 – Reconstruction & the New South (1863 – 1896)

Section 2 – The Battle Over Reconstruction

Obj: to describe how Congress reacted to the passage of black codes in the South; to explain how Radical Republicans gained power in Congress; to discuss why President Johnson was impeached; to identify the groups of people that made up the new forces in Southern politics; to describe how Southern Conservatives resisted Reconstruction; challenges the government faces; and, to explain how many Southerners became locked in to a cycle of poverty

  • After war, most states promptly ratified the Thirteenth Amendment.
  • Southern legislature also passed black codes.
  • They could marry legally and own some kind of property
  • Kept freedmen from gaining political or economical power
  • Forbade freemen to vote, own guns or serve on juries
  • Some states permitted them only work as servants or farm laborers
  • Had to sign contracts for a year’s work
  • Republicans charged that Johnson’s lenient Reconstruction plan had encouraged southern legislatures to pass the black codes.
  • Joint Committee on Reconstruction accused the South of trying to “preserve slavery….as long as possible”
  • When Johnson ignored report, members of Congress, called Radical Republicans, vowed to take control of Reconstruction.
  • Republican control –
  • Moderate and radical Republicans disagreed on many issued, but shared a strong political motive – to control both Houses
  • To combat black codes – Congress passed the Civil Rights Act in April 1866.
  • It gave citizenship to African Americans
  • Johnson vetoed the bill, but Congress overrode the veto.
  • To avoid a similar ruling to Dred Scott, Republicans proposed the Fourteenth Amendment. (all persons born or naturalized in US, were citizens)
  • Election of 1866 –
  • Radical Program –
  • 1867 – with huge majorities in both houses, Republicans in Congress prepared to take charge of Reconstruction.
  • Passed the first Reconstruction Act in March 1867.
  • It threw out the state governments that had refused to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment, and divided the South into five military districts.
  • To join the Union, former Confederate states had to write new constitutions to set up new governments. Former leaders barred from voting.
  • February 24, 1868 – the House voted to impeach Johnson.
  • During his trial it was clear he was not guilty of any wrong-doing, and he served out his remaining few months of his term.
  • 1868 – Ulysses S. Grant elected President.
  • 1869 – the Fifteenth Amendment proposed and ratified in 1870. (At last all African American men over age 21 had the right to vote
  • Radical Reconstruction was different from any government the South had known before.
  • Old leaders lost much of their influence
  • Three groups stepped in to replace them –
  • White Southern Republics
  • Northerners
  • African Americans
  • Most white southerners who had held power before the Civil War resisted Reconstruction.
  • These Conservatives resented the changes imposed by Congress and enforced by the military.
  • They were willing to let African Americans vote and hold a few offices, but were determined that real power would remain in the hands of whites.
  • Few wealthy white planters tried to force African Americans back onto plantations.
  • Many farmers who wanted the government to take action against freedmen, now found themselves competing with them for land and power. (most of these white southerners were Democrats)
  • Some white southerners formed secret societies to help them regain power.
  • The most dangerous, the Ku Klux Klan
  • Violence
  • Murder
  • Many moderate southerners condemned the violence of the Klan.
  • 1870 – Congress made it a crime to use force to keep people from voting.
  • Reconstruction governments tried to rebuild the South
  • Built schools for blacks and whites
  • Many states gave women the right to own property
  • Rebuilt railroads, telegraph lines, bridges and roads
  • Corruption in the Reconstruction was widespread, both South and North.
  • During Reconstruction, many freedmen and poor whites became sharecroppers.
  • Many hoped to own their own land one day.

Chapter 16 – Reconstruction & the New South (1863 – 1896)

Section 3 – The End of Reconstruction

Obj: to list events that led to the end of Reconstruction; to explain how the rights of African Americans were restricted in the South after Reconstruction and, to identify industries that flourished in the “New South”

  • By 1870s, Radicals were losing power.
  • Many northerners grew weary of trying to reform the South
  • Time to let southerners run their own governments
  • Even if it meant that African Americans in the South might lose their rights
  • Widespread corruption also hurt Republicans
  • Grant appointed many friends to government offices
  • Some used their position to steal large sums of money from the government
  • Grant won reelection in 1872, but many northerners lost faith in Republicans and their politics.
  • 1872 – Congress passed Amnesty Act – they voted solidly Democratic
  • By 1876 – only three southern states; South Carolina, Florida and Tennessee, remained under Republic control
  • Election of 1876 – end of Reconstruction came with this election.
  • Rutherford B. Hayes, Republican, won election.
  • Reconstruction was over.
  • Reconstruction had a deep and lasting impact on southern politics
  • White southerners had bitter memories of Radical Republican policies and military rule.
  • For the next hundred years, the South remained a stronghold of the Democratic party.
  • At the same time, black southerners steadily lost most of their political rights.
  • Conservatives tightened their grip on southern governments, states found new ways to keep African Americans from exercising their rights.
  • State poll taxes
  • Literacy tests
  • Grandfather clauses
  • After 1877 – segregation became the law of the South
  • Laws separated blacks and whites in schools, restaurants, theaters, trains, streetcars, playgrounds, hospitals and even cemeteries.
  • These Jim Crow laws, as they were known, trapped southern blacks in a hopeless situation.
  • African Americans brought lawsuits to challenge segregation
  • 1896 – Plessy v. Ferguson
  • The South’s economy slowly recovered, by 1880 planters were growing as much cotton as they had in 1860.
  • the “New South” used its vast natural resources to build its own industry instead of depending on the North.
  • More and more textile mills,
  • tobacco company,
  • mineral resources; iron ore and coal;
  • the steel industry;
  • oil refineries; copper, granite and marble.
  • By the 1890s, many northern forests had been cut down.
  • Still, the South could not keep up with the more rapid-growing North and West.