American Reconstruction

Reconstruction of the Union

Before the end of the Civil War Lincoln outlined a plan for reuniting the union. A main goal was to win back the South’s loyalty. The announced plan was called The Ten Percent Plan.

According to the plans, most former Confederates, including high ranking military officers, could receive amnesty for their war actions, by taking an oath of loyalty to the Union.

Those taking the oath had to pledge support to the U.S. Constitution and obey laws passed by congress. They also had to accept the end of slavery. Once 10% of a Confederate state’s voters who had voted in the 1860 election swore loyalty to the Union, they could elect a new state government.

10% Plan

10% Plan

Only after the new state government endorsed the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery, could the state reenter the Union. The Union would return any property with the exception of former slaves, to voters who took the oath.

Radical Reconstruction

Not all Republics supported Lincoln. Those that supported Lincoln’s plan were called Moderates. Those that believed that the plan did not go far enough were called Radicals. They wanted to take drastic steps to change Southern society and help the former slaves acquire civil rights. They also wanted to severely punish the South.

Wade-Davis Bill

The Radicals had their own plan called the Wade-Davis Bill. To bring the South back into the Union the bill required that over 50% of the voters take an ironclad oath to support the federal Constitution. Only then could a southern state form a new government.

Wade-Davis Bill

Congress passed the Wade-Davis Bill in mid 1864. Lincoln vetoed it and went ahead with his own plan. During late 1864, early 1865, Virginia, Louisiana, Arkansas and Tenn. met the terms of Lincoln’s plan. They were restored to the Union.

Reconstruction Time Line

1865 — President Lincoln is assassinated.

1865 — The 13th Amendment is ratified.

1866 — Over President Johnson’s veto, the Civil Rights Act is passed.

1867 — The Reconstruction Acts are passed.

1868 — President Johnson’s impeachment trial begins; he is narrowly acquitted.

1868 — The 14th Amendment is ratified.

1868 — Former Civil War general Ulysses S. Grant is elected president.

1870 — The 15th Amendment is ratified. (voting rights)

Vocabulary Reconstruction — A set of policies

designed to rebuild the South and tobring the southern states back into the Union under terms and conditions setby Congress.

The Civil War — A major war in the United States between 1861 and 1865in which northern states battled southern states that were attempting toleave the Union.

13th Amendment — The first of the Reconstruction Amendments, abolishing slavery.

Black Codes — Laws passed by southern legislatures right after the war tokeep ex-slaves under strict white control.

14th Amendment — The second of the Reconstruction Amendments,granting equal rights of citizenship and legal equality to all.

The Reconstruction Acts of 1867 — A series of measures that Congressestablished as conditions for southern states to follow in order to be readmittedto the Union.

impeachment — An action by Congress to try a president accused of highcrimes and misdemeanors.

15th Amendment — The third of the Reconstruction Amendments givingthe right to vote to formerly enslaved people.

Freedmen’s Bureau — An agency set up by Congress to help formerlyenslaved Africans during Reconstruction, especially in terms of education.

Ku Klux Klan — An organization set up to restore white control in the South through the use of terror and violence.

The Force Acts — Along with the Ku Klux Klan Act, laws passed byCongress in 1870 and 1871 to protect African Americans from the Klan andensure their right to vote.

segregation — Separation of a group from others. In many places inAmerica, certain laws kept blacks segregated from whites.

sharecropping — A system of tenant farming in the South afterReconstruction that kept ex-slaves working the land and tied to the land,under impoverished conditions.

Jim Crow laws — In U.S. race relations, laws enacted in the South to make segregation a fact, named after a minstrel show character.

Plessy vs. Ferguson — An 1896 case in which the Supreme Court upheld the notion of “separate but equal.”