Brief presentation presenting the plans for Reconstruction and the complications society had to contend with

1. P L A N S F O R R E C O N S T R U C T I O N
The Politics of Reconstruction

2. Reconstruction
Political Rebuilding
 Reuniting the government to feel like a whole again.
Economic Rebuilding
 Rebuilding industries, factories, farms, towns, cities
to be productive again
Social Rebuilding
 Reintegrating all different sorts of people
(democrats/republicans, whiles/blacks, north/south)
to all be equal partners in the US

3. Lincoln’s Plan
Lenient
 Goal: Lenient to the South to quickly rebuild the Union
Ten Percent Plan
 10% of Southerners must take an oath of allegiance
 Unsuccessful because Congress wants to punish the
South
Outcome
 Lincoln is assassinated before the plan could be put into
action

4. Johnson’s Plan
Lenient (easier than Lincoln’s Plan)
 Goal:
 Reunite North and South
 Punish wealthy white Southerners
Presidential Reconstruction
1. Each state would have to withdraw it secession
2. Swear allegiance to United States
3. Annul Confederate war debts
4. Ratify the 13th Amendment (abolishing slavery)
Johnson did not enforce the terms of his Reconstruction
Plan

5. Johnson’s Vetoes
 Freedman’s Bureau:
 goal was to feed and house freed slaves and poor
whites
 Civil Rights Act of 1866
 Goal was to forbid black codes passed by states
 Johnson’s reaction: Vetoes both!
 Angry with Johnson, Radical Republicans strike
back!

6. Reconstruction Act of 1867
Four Parts
1. Divided the other 10 former Confederate States
into 5 military districts, each headed by a Union
General
2. Voters in the districts, including African-
Americans, would elect delegates to state
constitution conventions
3. New state constitutions had to ensure suffrage to
African-American men
4. Each state had to ratify the 14th Amendment &
15th Amendment

7. Reconstruction Act of 1867

8. Southern Resistance
Black Codes
Jim Crow Laws
Carpetbaggers
Scalawags
 Abandoned the Republican party when they no longer saw an advantage to be a
member
KKK (Ku Klux Klan)
 White supremacists killed important Reconstruction leaders and used violence to
prevent African-Americans from participating in politics and achieving economic
independence
Poll taxes
 pay to vote [does affect poor whites as well]
Literacy test
 [also affects white voters] you can vote if you pass a test in how well you read and do
math
Grandfather Clause
 if your grandfather could vote in 1860, you are exempt from poll tax or literacy test

9. Reconstruction on the Decline
Corruption
 Diverted public attention in the North from what was
happening in the South
 Decreased support for Republicans (and their
Reconstruction efforts)
Economic Troubles
 Economic Depression took away public attention in
the North from what was happening in the South
 Weakened support for Radicals to impose
Reconstruction

10. Election of 1876
Hayes (Republican) VS. Tilden (Democrat)
 Votes could not be counted in Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina
because of voting problems
Bargain of 1877
 Hayes became president
 Result: “Redemption” – White Southerners regain control of the South
The End of Reconstruction
 Withdrew federal troops from Louisiana and South Carolina thereby
restoring Democrats to power
 Established home rule (state control) throughout the South allowing
reversal of many Reconstruction reforms
 **White Supremacy and Home Rule Restored**

11. Common Core Practice
1. The main reason Edmund Ross voted for acquittal was
a) To protect the independence of the presidency
b) Because he and Andrew Johnson were friends
c) Because he and Andrew Johnson were in the same political party
d) To gain political power for himself

12. Common Core Practice
2. According to Ross, why had Andrew Johnson been
impeached?
a) Because he was a bad president
b) Because he was a criminal
c) Because he opposed the 13th Amendment
d) Because members of one political party opposed him

13. Common Core Practice
3. Edmund Ross believed that if Andrew Johnson were
removed from office
a) There was danger to the system of checks and balances
b) The executive branch of the government would be weakened
c) Johnson would be a political outcast
d) All of the above

14. Common Core Practice
4. Edmund Ross thought that the evidence brought against
Andrew Johnson
a) Was false
b) Was insufficient to prove the case
c) Showed that he was guilty
d) Violated the 13th Amendment