ReconstructionCould the nation come back together?

Chapters 7-8CG#3

Abraham Lincoln’s Death Shocked the Nation and left them unprepared!

South’s Way of Life was about to Change

South

ReconstructionTo rebuild the nation after the Civil War in

1865South was destroyed physically and

emotionallyIt was left up to the North to rebuild it

financially and emotionally4 Million freedmen in the South had no land,

jobs, and were illiterate. How would the North help them to move up the social class ladder?

Lincoln, Johnson, and the Radical Republicans in Congress all had different plans on how to rebuild the nation

Wade-Davis BillWade-Davis Bill: Took control of

Reconstruction from Johnson and gave it to Congress

Congress feared that Johnson would be too LENIENT on the South

Wade-Davis Bill had been pocket vetoed by Lincoln

Congress impeached Johnson because he fired an employee and they said he had violated the Tenure of Office Act

CongressRadical Republicans

Radical RepublicansPut the South under military rule- set up 5

districtsLed by Thaddeus StevensWanted to give the freedmen “40 acres and a

mule” but the Southerners resisted at every turn

Racist groups like the Ku Klux Klan developed to intimidate people and keep them from voting

Believed that redistributing the land to the freedmen would change the power structure of the South

Reconstruction Amendments13th: abolished slavery

14th: “due process,” if you’re born here, you become a citizen

15th: you cannot be denied the right to vote based on race

Southerners Discriminated to keep the freedmen from voting.

Jim Crow laws and black codes

Grandfather clause

Literacy tests

Poll taxes

VotingSouth NorthDemocrats Republican

North tried to help the SouthFreedmen’s Bureau

gave food clothes, education to all poor in South

Hiram Revels: 1st African American Senator

Carpetbaggers: teachers, northerners who came south to help rebuild and educate

FreedmenMost stayed on farms and turned to a life of

sharecropping and tenant farmingLived lives of poverty and hardship in the

SouthSmall percentage moved to northern cities to

look for jobsExodusters moved west to escape

persecution in South

Who Moved WestAfrican Americans (exodusters)MormonsLand-hungry settlersEntrepreneurs

Why People Moved WestGold Rush (49’ers)Silver (Comstock Lode)LandTo escape religious persecution (Mormons)Social Class ImprovementDreams of a better life

CowboysPaid very littleGood with animalsSeasonal workDrove cattle from one

point to anotherLong drive was the

journey across the plains with cattle

Were responsible for the welfare of the cattle

Open range was ended by barbed wire

Worked from sun-up to sun-down

Did not fight and drink in saloons

Were small physically and ¼ were African American or Mexican American

Movies do not portray them accurately

The cattle were called the longhorns

Longhorn Cattle

Native AmericansLand encroachments by settlersBuffalo destroyed by recreational hunters on the

trainsUsed every part of the buffalo for survival and were

destroyed when the buffalo were killed off by 1870Leaders like Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce fought for

their people unsuccessfully, many broken promisesForced onto reservationsGhost DanceBattle of Little Bighorn: last fight of the Indians for

ancestral homelands

Transcontinental Railroad1869 Promontory Point Utah, US was

officially linked from East to West with railroads

Railroads changed the US forever, improving transportation, communication, economy

Enabled people to settle the west and move west very quickly

RR’s and barbed wire ended the cowboys’ way of life forever (ended the open-range)

Native Americans

End of Reconstruction

Compromise of 1877: The South agreed to elect Rutherford Hayes and in return the North would withdraw all troops in 1877 (this officially ended Reconstruction)

North was tired of spending millions of dollars on a stubborn South

Home rule returned (redemption) to the South and 12 years of Reconstruction came to a stop!

Life on the FrontierMyth RealityLife was like a fairy tale

with rolling green prairies and beautiful streams

Life was easyLife was simpleFamilies always stayed

together

Worked from sun-up to sun-down

Cleared land by handPeople died frequentlyHomes were difficult to

buildLived in dirt/grass

houses which were dirty and cold (soddies)

Were called “homesteaders”

Used windmills

Dawes Severalty Act1887Replaced the reservation system with an allotment

systemEach Indian family was granted up to a 160-acre tract

of farmlandNot enough land to sustain a family because land was

not fertileThe farms could not be sold or transferred for 25

yearsFamilies were encouraged to send their children to

boarding schoolsLearn to live by the rules of white cultureTragic struggle to retain their culture and ethnicity1,000’s died in battles

FarmersHigh railroad ratesLow prices for cropsPoor treatment by big businessBegan to organize to fight for better

treatmentGrange

Populist PartyPeople’s PartyWilliam Jennings Bryan made his famous “Cross of Gold

Speech” while running for president, but William McKinley won

Farmers wanted to use gold, silver and paper money (bimetallism) and have the gov’t print more paper money to try to drive prices of crops up

Formed by farmers who wanted lower railroad rates, workers who wanted shorter workdays and more pay, bimetallism (silver coinage), and workers’ rights’ in general

Grange: Oliver KellyThe Populist Movement died off, but reforms were carried

out during the Progressive Movement that followed

Civil RightsBooker T. Washington (Tuskegee Institute)WEB DuBois (doctorate from Harvard)Ida WellsBegan to fight for rights for African

AmericansPendleton Civil Service Act (required exams

for federal jobs)