Reconstruction in the South is a Power Point presentation. It included Presidential and Congressional Reconstruction.

1. Reconstruction in the South

2. Quick Review
• The Civil War lasted from 1861-1865.
• The Confederate States surrendered in the spring of 1865.
• Union President Abraham Lincoln was assisnated April 14, 1865.
• Confederate President Jefferson Davis was captured on May 10, 1865.
• The country faced Reconstruction without any precedent.

3. Quick Review: Geography of the South
Color in Map 1 on your guided notes. The Upper South should be one color
and the Lower South a different color.
Upper South Lower South

4. The End of the Civil War
White Southerners Defeated
• The assassination of President Lincoln was
celebrated by the majority of white Southerners.
• Approximately 10,000 Confederates left the states
for Brazil. ( Brazil was one of the few countries
that allowed slavery.)
• Other Southerners wanted a quick reestablishment
into the Union.
 Mainly for a chance to govern their own free people.
African Americans and
Northerners Celebrated
• African Americans
 Approximately 4 million people were
freed after the Civil War.
 Many sought to reunite their families.
• Northerners
 Celebrated the preservation of the
Union.

5. Questions the Country Now Faced
1. What role would recently freed slaves play in American life?
2. What rights would they possess?
3. What obligations did the federal government have to ensure a meaningful
freedom?
Propose possible answers for the questions above on your Guided Notes.

6. President Andrew Johnson’s View on
Reconstruction
• Believed in “self reconstruction”
• Granted amnesty to majority of the former Confederates-except
for high ranking officers and large land owners.
• A state must ratify the 13th Amendment.
• A state must repeal it’s secession ordinance before being
readmitted into the Union.
• An election was to be held to quickly reestablish the Southern
governments.

7. The North’s View on Reconstruction
• The North wanted the south to be punished in the forms of:
 A difficult reentrance into the Union.
 Payment of war debts.
 Mandatory ratification of the 13th Amendment.

8. Video on Presidential Reconstruction

9. Presidential Reconstruction
• President Johnson began Reconstruction while Congress was out of session.
• This angred the North’s representatives.
• The elections held by the South resulted in a distressed North.
 The Upper South elected members from the Whigs party along with others that were Unionists.
 The Deep South elected members that were former Confederates.
• This resulted in the Black Codes being developed in the Deep South to limit the freedom of
newly freed slaves.
• The Northern Congressmen prevented the newly elected Southern Congress from taking office.
• The North decided they wanted to reevaluate what Reconstruction was supposed to do.

10. Congress v. President Johnson
• With Republicans dominating Congress, they constructed the Joint
Committee on Reconstruction in June 1866.
 The committee rejected President Johnson’s Reconstruction plan.
 Denied office to the Southern legislators.
 Determined that only Congress could determine how and when Reconstruction would
be carried out.
• Congress was directly challenging President Johnson’s power.

11. Congress v. President Johnson Continued
Freedmen’s Bureau
• Feb 1866- Congress wanted to extend the power of the
Freedmen’s Bureau to provide protection for African
Americans.
• It was orginially established to provide care for the
refugees.
• Repbulicans were cautious as it extended federal power
but it was seen as necessary.
• Johnson vetoed it claiming it to be unconstitutional.
• Congress overrode Johnson’s Veto.
Civil Rights Bill of 1866
• March of 1866
• Granted citizenship to African Americans.
• Destroyed a state’s power to restrict African
Americans of their rights.
• Johnson vetoed.
• Congress overrode Johnson once again and
moderate Republicans were pushed to
Radical Republican sides.

12. Congressional Reconstruction
• Following Johnson’s two vetoes Congress saw it necessary to over step
Johnson and take on Reconstruction itself.
• The first move Congress made was the 14th Amendment.
• Provided a broad protection of national citizenship and equality under law.
• Punished states that denied blacks the right to vote through lower representation.
• Former confederates could not hold a state or federal office.

13. Congressional Reconstruction Continued
• The debate over the 14th Amendment.
 Johnson advised states not to accept it.
 Tennesse was the first state to ratify the amendment.
 Race riots broke out in the South over the amendment.
• Because the South refused to ratify the 14th Amendment, Congress took
drastic measures.

14. Congressional Reconstruction Intensifies
Military Reconstruction Act
• Passed on March 2, 1867
• Formed 5 military districts in the former
Confederacy.
 Union generals were to govern these.
• To gain entrance into the Union states were
required to:
 Ratify the 14th Amendment
 Amend state constitutions to provide voting rights for
African Americans.
Tenure Act of Office
• Passed March 3 1867
• Restricted presidential powers of
removing people from office that
require Senate approval

15. The Five Military Districts
On Map 2 Color in the 5 districts in different colors. And answer the
question.

16. Congressional Reconstruction Safeguard
• The 15th Amendment was added because Radical Republicans were worried
that the South may find a loop hole when amending their state constitutions.
• The 15th Amendment prohibited the discrimination of voting rights based
on race.

17. Intro to Reconstruction in the South
Questions for Thought
1. Conclude what all these governmental changes meant for
society in the South.
2. Estimate these changes’ positive effects.
3. Estimate these changes’ negative effects.
4. Compose a list of some possible issues the South may have
faced.

18. Issues the South Faced
• Political
 Voting
• Economic
 Destruction of land
 Workers to work the land
 Cost of emancipation
 Loss of capital ($3 billion)- counted as 60% of southern wealth
• Social
 Racism
 Society Shattered
 Health Concerns

19. Republican Governments in the South
• Southern whites often boycotted the elections for the constitutional changes.
• African Americans were elected to office.
• Fragile dominance
• Often Split
 Middle-Class: moderate opinions; usually wanted economic reforms and laws that protected
land rights
 Freedmen: pushed for education and the protection of rights
• Southern whites saw this and began to exploit it. By 1873 the shifts of political
dominance began to sway the opposite direction.

20. Southern Economy
• The Freedmen’s Bureau helped with the negotiations of employment contracts.
 This helped prevented newly freed slaves from being taken advantage of.
 Often transported people to where work may be located.
• White Southerners expected African Americans to stay put and still work the land
under sharecropping (land owner received 50% of crops).
• Cotton was no longer a stable market.
• Estate values dropped dramatically as African American no longer were part of the
estate.

21. Southern Social Issues
• Racism
 Violent groups began making an appearance
• Patriarchy Traditions Were Torn Down
 Women took on male roles during the war.
 Men could no longer “provide” for their families the way they used too.

22. Southern Social Issues: Health (Smallpox Outbreak)
• Initial Outbreak
 Began in the Winter of 1862 in Washington, D.C.. It spread through the Upper South in 1863-1864.
Smallpox hit its peak in the Deep South in 1865. Finally it would eventually seep its way into Western
territories (1867-1868)
 The wealthy of Washington, D.C. vaccinated themselves.
 The military blamed the African Americans for their illness as they were “dirty”.
• Extinction Beliefs
 Government officials seen this as proof of African American being inferior and as a result would
eventually become extinct. So need to provide medical care.
 Believed that white people could become infected.
• Failed Attempts at Controlling the Outbreak
 It began infecting those who already had the disease.
 It spread like wildfire as the Bureau transported people and as people moved around on there own accord
looking for family.
 1869- The Committee of Freedman’s Affairs estimated that approximately 49,000 newly freed people died
from smallpox between June 1865- December of 1866.
• Government Failed It’s People
 The doctors in bureau hospitals continually asked for my supplies to care for the ill. Request were denied
because of the belief in extinction.
 Southern governments institutied a mandatory vaccination however freed people resisted as they felt in
encroached on their freedoms.
 However the government was quickly able to stop the spread of cholera. It could infect white people so
the government took notice.
 The North had no issues stopping smallpox in New York. They sought out the cause and isolated cases
immediately.

23. The End of Reconstruction Intro
• Hypothesize the reasons for the end of Reconstruction. List them on your
Guided Notes in the adjacent location.
• Hypothesize the lasting outcomes of Reconstruction.

24. The End of Reconstruction
Failed Cause- Cannot Stop
Resistance
• The KKK increasingly became violent.
• The Enforcement acts attempted to stop intimidation.
(Preferred method of the KKK)
 The Department of Justice was made to put KKK
members on trial. Although under funded there
were sucesssful cases of conviction.
 The amry had to be sent in to capture the KKK.
 Did not stop the violence it just went
underground.
Northern Weariness
• Many began to feel that African Americans
should defend themselves.
• Continuing issues alerted Northern
Conservatives that Reconstruction was going
nowhere.
• Courts were tired of trying those who
disobeyed the Reconstruction laws.
• The north had increasingly growing issues
with immigration.

25. The End of Reconstruction Continued
The Panic of 1873
• Caused by rapid expansion of
businesses, factories, railroads, and
farms with the reduction of
greenbacks.
• 15,000 buisnesses filed bankruptcy
• Widespread unemployment
• Railroad production slowed
The Compromise of 1877
• Republicans agreed that Hayes
would withdrawl the last of federal
troops out of the South if allowed
the presidential office.
• This mean that the Republicans
would quietly end the fight for
equality.

26. Oh Freedom
This is a song from the 1960s Civil Rights
Movement. However, the idea of freedom
wouldn’t have changed much as African
Americans had their rights suppressed at the
end of Reconstruction. Listen carefully.
Determine what stood out to you the most.
And explain why. Also compare the feelings
here to possible feelings newly freed slaves
might have had in 1865.

27. Reconstruction Legacy: Failure
• It left the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments unenforced in the end.
• African American rights will be suppressed by white supremacy until the
Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.
• The North essentially forgot about equality. Out of sight out of mind.
• Defend/Criticize the idea of Reconstruction being a failure.