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Reconstruction 1865-1877

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• The period of rebuilding the nation after the Civil War is called the Era of Reconstruction

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• As President, Abraham Lincoln stressed ( in his second Inaugural address) a reunited nation “with malice towards none, with charity for all...to bind up the nation’s wounds....”

• From Lincoln’s 2nd Inaugural Address

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Lincoln’s Plan

• 1. pardon Confederates• 2. states readmitted when 10% of

voters pledged allegiance to the US

• Known as the 10% Plan

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• April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.

• Andrew Johnson the VP, became President.

• The nation would endure several more plans of reconstruction:

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Johnson’s Plan

1. Pardon southerners2. State constitutions without 10%

requirement

More lenient than Lincoln's PlanAmerican Experience | Reconstruction: The Second Civil War | Watch the Program | PBS

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• When southerners voted former Confederates into office, and passed black codes, Congress rejected both the Lincoln and Johnson plans

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• Andrew Johnson, and the Radical Republicans in Congress disagreed over granting civil rights to freed slaves.

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• Johnson was impeached by the House for violating The Tenure of Office act passed by Congress that he felt was unconstitutional.

• Johnson escaped removal from office by one vote

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• Congress then passed the Republican Plan of Reconstruction in 1867, also called the Radical Plan

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Reconstruction Act of 1867:

• 1. South would be placed under military rule- with 5 military districts

• 2. States would allow all male voters to vote

• 3. new constitutions would be written

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• 4. Former Confederate leaders would be barred from offices

• 5. Each state would have to accept the 14th Amendment

• The South remained under Radical Reconstruction from 1867 t0 1877

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• Following the Civil War, three amendments were added to the Constitution. They are the

• 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery

• 14th Amendment, which granted constitutional rights to all Americans

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• 15th Amendment, which granted the vote regardless of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude” (former slaves). (Gender was not included — women still could not vote.)

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• The Compromise of 1877, concerning the presidential election of 1876, Rutherford Hayes became President, and Reconstruction of the South ended with the Reconstruction Act of 1877. Republicans, agreed to end military occupation of the South, if Southern Democrats agreed to support Hayes.

• Former Confederates who controlled the Democratic party regained power and the “Jim Crow Era” began.

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• Jim Crow - Segregation of African Americans and the denial of full rights as citizens

• Racist organizations like the Ku Klux Klan emerged in the South which used violence and intimidation to force freedmen into submission.

• Freedman’s Bureau- an organization established to assist former slaves in the South.

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• Carpetbaggers- a Southern Democratic term used to describe members of the Freedman’s Bureau that came South to seek economic opportunity

• Scalawags- poor whites in the South that assisted Carpetbaggers.

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• Many former slaves • were forced to become

“sharecroppers”• (tenant farmers)

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• The South lay in ruins following the Civil War.

• It would take decades for the Southern economy and infrastructure to recover.

• Soldiers on both sides lived with permanent disabilities.

• Women managed homes, faced poverty and hunger and took on new roles in agriculture, nursing and war industries.

• Ulysses S. Grant- became the Reconstruction President, advocated rights for freedman, and opposed retribution directed at the defeated South. However, his administration was known for corruption.

• Robert E. Lee, became President of Washington and Lee College, urged reconciliation, and emphasized the importance of education.

• Frederick Douglass, advocated full equality for African Americans, supported the 14th and 15th Amendments, and served as ambassador to Haiti.

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• Following the Civil War, the North and Midwest regions of the nation grew as industrial powers.

• This would contribute to the growth of the US as an industrial nation

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The Transcontinental Railroad was an example of the growth of America.

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Meeting of Transcontinental Railroad Promontory, Utah 1869