Reconstruction

Essential Question
• What was
Reconstruction?
What was the
purpose of the
Freedman’s Bureau?
 Reconstruction (Nation
trying to rebuild itself)
• The period after the
Civil War in which the
Confederacy was
brought back into the
United States.
• During Reconstruction,
the South was divided
into military districts and
supervised while new
state governments were
set up and the South
was rebuilt.
 Freedman’s Bureau
Over 4 million black southerners
became “Freemen”
• Established by Congress to assisted everyone affected
by the war ( whites and freedmen)
• Controlled by the U.S. Army provided
o Food, clothing, medical care, education, and some protection for new freed
slaves (freedman)

• Helped freedmen find jobs and protected illiterate

workers
• Most important contribution: facilitating the
establishment of over one thousand schools throughout
the South
 Essential Question
•What were the
presidential plans
for
Reconstruction?
 President Lincoln’s Plan
• Wanted a quick
reconstruction of the
South
• 10% of the population
swear allegiance to the
U.S. before their
statehood could be
reinstated
• All southern state
governments must
recognize the end of
slavery
Lincoln Assassinated
 President Johnson’s Plan
• Continuation of
Lincoln’s plan
• Wanted a quick end to
Reconstruction
• Added that Southern
states had to ratify the
13th Amendment (end
of slavery)
• Southern leaders had to
personally ask for
pardon from Johnson
 Summarizing the Presidential Plans for
Reconstruction
• President Johnson simply continued the plan Lincoln
began before his assassinated with a few additions
• Both wanted a speedy reconstruction of the U.S.
1. 10% of the population of each confederate state
had to swear allegiance to the U.S. to be
readmitted
2. Southern states had to ratify the 13th Amendment to
the Constitution(end of slavery)
3. Southern leaders had to personally ask for pardon
from Johnson
 Essential Question:
• What was the
Congressional plan for
Reconstruction?
 Congress Reconstruction
Plan
• Goal was to protect
newly freed slaves in
the South
• Wanted
Reconstruction to
happen over a
longer period of
time
 Why Congress felt the need to
take control of Reconstruction
• Black Codes
o Laws passed by
Southern states
during
Reconstruction to
restrict newly
freed slaves
freedom
 Congress Reconstruction
Plan
• The “Radical Republicans” in Congress
reacted to the South’s Black Codes and refusal
to acknowledge Constitutional Amendments
with a new plan for Southern Reconstruction
• This plan called for military occupation of the
former Confederacy
• It was split into five military districts
• Each district had a military governor and the
army was used to enforce the 13th, 14th, and
15th amendments
Congress Reconstruction
Plan
• Congress also impeached Johnson
• He wasn’t removed from office, but in this action
his power was reduced significantly
 Essential Question
•What did the 13 ,
th

14 , and 15
th th

Amendments
accomplish?
 Reconstruction
Amendments
• Just remember ACT…
• 13th Amendment- Abolished
slavery
• 14th Amendment- Citizenship
granted to all African-Americans
males and protected (EQUALITY)
• 15th Amendment- The right to
vote (African-Americans)
 South Carolina Responds
• SC refused to
acknowledge the
14th and 15th
amendments
• As a result, the
military governor of
SC held a
convention to write
a new state
constitution that
recognized the
amendments
 Reconstruction
Amendments
• All 3
amendments
expanded
citizenship in the
United States
 Essential Question
•What two things did
the Reconstruction
Amendments
increase in the South,
socially?
 Life in the South During
Reconstruction
• The Reconstruction
Amendments
increased two things
throughout the South
socially:
1.Separation
2.Racial Tension
 Increase in Separation
• Because South Carolinians
(and other Southerners) were
not willing to recognize the
new social and political
rights of freedmen both
groups preferred to remain
distant and separated.
• African-Americans formed
communities with schools
and churches of their own
carving out as much
independence as possible.
 Increase in Racial Tension
• In response to the
Reconstruction
amendments,
terrorist/vigilante groups
formed during this time
of Reconstruction:
o The Ku Klux Klan (KKK),
the Riflemen, and the
Red Shirts
 Increase in Racial Tension
• In response to the
Reconstruction amendments,
terrorist/vigilante groups
formed during this time of
Reconstruction:
o the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), the
Riflemen, and the Red
Shirts
• Their goal was to keep the
African-American population
in its “place” socially,
politically, and economically
 Essential Question
• How did the South’s
economy change
during Reconstruction?
What was it based
around?
 Pre-Civil War
• The South’s economy
was based on
agriculture
• The plantation system
and the institution of
slavery was the
foundation of the
economy
• Cash crops like
tobacco, indigo, rice,
and eventually cotton
were king
Reconstructing the Economy of
the South
• As a result of the 13th Amendment,
plantation owners lost their labor
force (wealth)
• Former slaves left their plantations
which led to more hostility between
whites and freedmen
• Whites were forced to perform the
household duties or pay workers
• All plantation owners were left with
was their land
• Plantation owners were “land rich”
and African-Americans had trouble
acquiring land of their own to
sustain a living in the South
 Reconstructing the Economy
of the South
• Aided by the Freedman’s
Bureau, many African-
Americans entered into
sharecropping relationships with
white plantation owners
• Sharecropping was a system in
which freedmen tilled the land
that belonged to their former
masters in exchange for a share
of the crop.
• The plantation owner provides
the land and supplies and the
sharecropper works the land
• Many sharecroppers were
dependent and indebted to
their land owner
 Reconstructing the
Economy of the South
• Poorer farmers that never owned
slaves now had to compete with
African-Americans for work
• This led to more racial tension and
terrorist/vigilante groups gaining
more power because most of the
white population still felt superior
• Those small farmers who
cooperated with the Republican
controlled government and DID
NOT protest the new system were
known as “scalawags” in SC
Essential Question
•How did
Reconstruction
change S.C.
politically?
 Text page 202-203 “The
Constitution of 1868”
1. Where was the convention held in 1868? The Constitutional
convention was held in Charleston.
2. Why were there so many Republicans at the convention?
White voters who had typically supported S. Democrats
boycotted the elections held to choose delegates to the
convention, therefore there were more Republicans.
3. What group of delegates had the majority in the SC
constitutional convention? Black delegates made up the
majority at the convention.
4. What are 4 things the new constitution overturned in 1868?
The new constitution established local gov’t, equal treatment
to all races, required statewide public education, and started
a welfare program for the poor, elderly and disabled.
5. What was a “key feature” of the new constitution? One key
feature was the requirement that publicly funded schools to
be open to both white and black students.
 South Carolina’s New
Constitution
• SC refused to
acknowledge the 14th
and 15th amendments
• As a result in 1868, the
military governor of SC’s
district forced SC to hold
a convention to write a
new state constitution
that recognized the
amendments
 The Constitution of 1868
• African-American men were
given the right to vote and hold
office (more political power)
• SC sent 6 African-Americans to
the U.S. House of Representatives
during Reconstruction
• Granted more educational
opportunities for A-A
o Religious groups and other
Northerners (known as
carpetbaggers) worked with
the Freedman’s Bureau to
establish colleges for African-
Americans in SC (Claflin,
Benedict, Allen)
Propaganda
 The Constitution of 1868
• There was plenty of protest
and backlash in response
to the expansion of
democracy for African-
Americans
• President Grant sent
federal soldiers to SC end
the harassment and
violence of groups like the
KKK (Ku Klux Klan Act) but
this was only a temporary
fix
 Essential Question
•What major event
ended
Reconstruction in
1877?
Political Power Struggle

White
Republicans
Democrats
(North)
(South)
 End of Reconstruction in
•
SC
Reconstruction ended with
violence and controversy
in SC
• The Hamburg Massacre of
1876 (Aiken County) saw 6
black militia members killed
by a white mob
• This event was key
because it marks an
intensification of whites to
"Redeem" (whites wanted
to regain political control
of state) S.C.'s government
• Called “Redeemers”
 End of Reconstruction
• Voting disputes also plagued the national election
of 1876 between Republican Rutherford B. Hayes
and Samuel Tilden
Map Questions
 End of Reconstruction
• Voting disputes also
plagued the national
election of 1876
• The electoral votes of SC,
Florida, and Louisiana
were in dispute once the
votes were tallied
• Northerners were tired of
the Southern resistance to
change during
Reconstruction, Grant, and
the economic depression
in the North
 Compromise of 1877
• Democrats AND Republicans reached a
compromise in 1877 that ended
Reconstruction
o 1. Democrats acknowledged the election of
Republican Rutherford B. Hayes (president)
and Wade Hampton becomes governor. (Civil
War Hero)
o 2. In exchange, the Republicans withdrew all
federal troops from the South
• This Compromise of 1877 ended
Reconstruction