Rebuilding the South

1. Rebuilding the South Section 1 Chapter 17

2. Focus Questions • What effect did the end of the Civil War have on African Americans in the South? • How did President Lincoln, Congress, and President Johnson differ in their views on Reconstruction?

3. After the war, the South lay in ruins • Harvesting was also well below normal

4. Planning Reconstruction • Many southerners faced starvation • Southern money was worthless • The U.S. government faced the question of how to deal with the defeated states • Reconstruction was the process of rebuilding the southern states without slavery (1865-1877)

5. Planning Reconstruction • Lincoln wanted to do this as painlessly as possible • Lincoln wanted to offer the southerners amnesty-- official pardon for all illegal acts supporting the rebellion

6. Planning Reconstruction • They had to swear an oath of loyalty to the U.S. and accept a ban on slavery • Once ten percent of the state’s population had given this pledge, then a new government could be formed (Ten Percent Plan) and then the state would be readmitted into the Union • Louisiana was the first to re-enter the Union under this plan

7. Planning Reconstruction • Henry Davis and Benjamin Wade did not agree with the plan and came up with Wade-Davis Bill– states had to meet two conditions before it could rejoin the Union • They had to ban slavery • A majority of adults in the state had to take an oath of loyalty • Only those who swore that they had never supported the Confederacy could vote or hold office • Lincoln felt that very few southern states would agree to the Wade-Davis Bill and did not support it

8. The Thirteenth Amendment • Many worried that federal courts some day could find the Emancipation Proclamation unconstitutional • Congress proposed the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution that would make slavery illegal in the U.S. • The amendment was ratified and took effect on December 18, 1865

9. The Thirteenth Amendment • Some people felt that blacks should also be given the right to vote (Fredrick Douglass) • Many people searched for relatives that had been sold away years earlier • Many slaves took new last names and preferred to be called Mr. or Mrs. • Many former slaves wanted land and did not know where they would live, what kind of work they would do and what rights they had

10. The Freedmen’s Bureau • In 1865, Congress created the Freedmen’s Bureau and its purpose was to provide relief for all poor people in the South • The Bureau gave food to the poor and supervised labor contracts between freed people and their employees • The Bureau also established schools and provided books and teachers

11. The Freedmen’s Bureau • By 1869, 150,000 students were attending schools established for this purpose • The Freedmen’s Bureau also helped establish several colleges

12. A New President • Abraham Lincoln and his wife attended a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. on April 14, 1865 • John Wilkes Booth snuck into the president’s box and shot him • He died at 7:30 the next morning at a boarding house across the street from the theatre

13. A New President • People across the north were stunned with his death • Lincoln was laid to rest at his home in Springfield, Illinois • Vice President Andrew Johnson was sworn in the next morning and reconstruction became his responsibility • Republicans like Johnson because he favored a tougher approach to Reconstruction

17. A New President • Johnson’s plan was similar to Lincoln when it came to giving southerners amnesty if they took an oath of loyalty • It was different in the fact that he only allowed wealthy southerners and former Confederate officials needed a presidential pardon to get amnesty • While it seemed harsh he offered over 7,000 pardons

18. President Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan • Johnson focused on setting up new state governments • He first appointed a temporary governor • Voters (only the ones who had taken an oath of allegiance) of the state then had to elect delegates to set up a new state government • Each state government was required to declare that secession was illegal and had to stop paying off any Confederate war debts • The state could then elect new representatives to Congress

19. President Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan • By the end of 1865 all southern states except for Texas had formed new governments • Johnson declared that the United States was restored

20. President Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan • Congress thought would not the new southern representatives sit in Senate and the House • Congress felt that army officers and even the ex-Vice President of the Confederate States of America (Alexander Stephens) were not truly loyal to

21. Focus Questions • What effect did the end of the Civil War have on African Americans in the South? • How did President Lincoln, Congress, and President Johnson differ in their views on Reconstruction?