2. Reconstruction Plans
• Once the Civil War was over the federal
government had to decide what to do about the
southern states that seceded.
• Two plans:
- Lincoln wanted to rebuild rather than punish the
South. Less harsh.
- The Radical Republicans were leaders in congress
that felt the south should be punished for causing
the Civil War. More harsh.
5. Reconstruction Plans
• April 14, 1865 Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by
John Wilkes Booth while attending a play at Ford’s
Theatre.
• Andrew Johnson succeeded Lincoln as the seventeenth
president of the United States.
• Andrew Johnson supported Lincolns less harsh views of
rebuilding the South.
• Radical Republicans did not like President Johnson and
attempted to have him removed from office by
impeaching him.
• Radical Republicans were unsuccessful and Johnson
remained in office due to one more vote in the Senate.
10. Radical Republicans Plan
• Believed the majority of the southern states
voting population should swear allegiance to
the United States before they could be
readmitted into the Union.
• Also felt that freed slaves and their civil rights
should be protected.
• Felt that congress, NOT the president should
be in charge of the reconstruction of the
South.
11. Freedmen’s Bureau
• Created by Congress in 1865 as a relief agency
to help freed slaves.
• Provided clothes, medical attention, food,
education, and land for free slaves.
• Due to lack of support, Freedmen’s Bureau
ended in 1869.
14. 13th, 14th, 15th Amendments
• Under the Radical Republicans, Congress passed
legislation that helped African Americans after the Civil
War.
• 13th Amendment – ended slavery throughout the
country.
• Fourteenth Amendment – granted citizenship to
African Americans and guaranteed African Americans
all the rights protected by the Bill of Rights.
• Fifteenth Amendment – guaranteed the right to vote
for African American men.
(Women still not allowed to vote)
16. Sharecropping and Tenant Farming
• With no money, land, or property former slaves
turned to sharecropping and tenant farming in
order to survive.
• Sharecropping – agreeing to farm a portion of a
white landowners land in return for housing and
a share of the crop.
• Tenant Farming – rented a portion of the land
from white landowners and owned the crops
they grew.
• Both meant to keep the African Americans at the
mercy of the white landowners.
18. Georgia’s Reconstruction Government
• After the war, Georgia needed some form of
government.
• For while, the federal government took over
and appointed a provisional governor. (The
military ran the government).
• Eventually Rufus Bullock, a Radical Republican,
became governor of Georgia.
• Ratified the 14th Amendment in Georgia.
20. Henry M. Turner
• One of 32 African Americans that was elected
a legislator in Georgia.
• Doubted that blacks and whites could live
peacefully together.
• Complained about the way blacks were being
treated and encouraged them to move to
Africa rather than stay in the United States.
22. Unrest in Georgia’s Reconstruction
• A faction of Southern Democrats plotted and
caused the expulsion of 28 African American
representatives for Georgia’s legislature.
• Other groups used violence to keep African
Americans from exercising their rights.
• One of the most infamous white supremacist
groups was the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).
• KKK would dress up in white sheets and lynch
those they targeted.
25. Unrest in Georgia’s Reconstruction
• Governor Bullock was concerned about the
unrest in Georgia, and expulsion of the black
legislators in Georgia.
• Bullock asked the federal government to bring
back military rule over Georgia.
• Once the military was back in charge the black
legislators returned to office and ratified the
15th Amendment.
26. End of the Reconstruction
• In 1876 the Radical Republicans and the Southern
Democrats both claimed their candidate won the
presidential election.
• Both sides argued for months, until Republican
Candidate Rutherford B. Hayes became president
due to a compromise.
• Compromise was called the Compromise of 1877.
• Compromise states that Hayes would become
president in exchange for the Republicans
agreeing to end the Reconstruction in the South.
28. End of the Reconstruction
• With the Compromise of 1877 the southern
states now could run their own governments.
• Due to the resentment of the Republican
party the south entered into a long period
called the “Solid South”.
• “Solid South” for nearly 100 years the
Democrats wont high elections in the south
giving them a “solid” grip on southern political
power.