ReconstructionThe rebuilding of the United States after the Civil War

EFFECTS OF CIVIL WAR• Human toll of the Civil War: The North lost 364,000

soldiers. The South lost 260,000 soldiers.• creation of a single unified country• abolition of slavery• increased power to fed. gov't – killed the issue of

states rights • U.S. now an industrial nation• a stronger sense of nationalism• w. lands increasingly opened to settlement• South was economically and physically devastated,

w/ the plantation system crippled…• a deep hatred of the North remained...

Reconstruction• South lay in ruins• What? Created a plan that would repair the

damage to the South and restore the southern states to the Union.

• When? 1865 to 1877• By Who? The federal government will carry it

out

The struggles in the SouthBy the end of the Civil War…

• Black Southerners began lives as newly freedmen in a poor region with slow economic activity.

• Plantation owners lost slave labor worth $3 billion.

• Poor white Southerners: job competition due to newly freedmen.

• Economy: war had destroyed 2/3 of South’s shipping industry + 9,000 miles of railroad.

The Problem/Dilemma

• What Now?

Big Questions Left to Answer

1. How and when should southern states be allowed to resume their role in the Union?–Should they be pardoned or punished?

2. Now that black southerners were free would they have equal rights?– If so, How would these rights be

protected?

Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction

• 1863 he issued the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction– His policy on how he would deal with the South and

reunite the once united states– This was called his “10 Percent Plan”

Amnesty = to

pardon

How do you think he hoped the N and S would react to this proclamation?

• North: gather support

• South: Confederates would surrender

Lincoln’s 10% PlanReconstruction Plans

• A southern state could be readmitted into the Union once 10 percent of its voters swore an oath of allegiance– Voters then could elect delegates to revise the state

constitution

• Offered a pardon (an official forgiveness of a crime) to any Confederate, who would take an oath of allegiance to the Union and accept federal policy on slavery.– He would protect their property, except slaves– He DID NOT PARDON high-ranking Confederate

army officers and government officials

• DOES NOT FOCUS ON CIVIL LIBERITIES FOR NEWLY FREEDMEN

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Reconstruction PlansLincoln’s 10% Plan

Lincoln’s plan was forgiving

• In Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address March, 1865, he said the following:“With malice toward none, with charity for all, ...let us strive on to finish the work we are in, ...to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among

ourselves and with all nations.”

Congress’s Reaction to Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan

• Moderate Republicans agreed at first!• Radical Republicans: – Lincoln was too easy on the south– saw it as a threat to their Congressional Authority.• It’s Congress’s job to make laws, not the president’s!

Lincoln “should confine himself to his executive duties—to obey and execute, not make the laws…and leave political

reorganization to Congress.”

Radical Republicans emerge with a NEW PLAN!

• Radical Republican Party believed Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan because was too lenient and the south needed to be punished

• They wanted to…– Redistribute land– Develop industry– Guarantee civil rights to former slaves

• Although a minority in Congress, they swayed many moderate republicans

Charles Sumner: Leading radical in the Senate

Thaddeus Stevens: Leading radical in the

House

The Radical Republicans IntroduceThe Wade-Davis Act

• In July, 1864, Congress passed a stricter Reconstruction plan, the Wade-Davis Bill. – Southern States could rejoin the Union if 50% of

voters took a loyalty oath. – Gave blacks civil liberties EXCEPT not the right to

vote– Promised to redistribute southern land

What happened to the Wade-Davis Bill?

• Lincoln let the bill die in a pocket veto.

• How does a pocket veto occur?– Typically, if president does not sign bill within 10

days it automatically becomes law– But….if Congress adjourns/leaves within those 10

days and is not signed then it does not become law

How a bill is passedCongress creates a law

Congress votes on law (majority)

President of U.S.Yes Veto

(no)Congress 2/3 vote override

Pocket VetoPresident ignores

10 days Congress goes into recess bill “dies”

Why use a pocket veto?

• Re-elections are coming up

• Doesn’t get accused of saying “No”

• Can’t go back to Congress for 2/3 override

How were things left before Lincoln was assassinated?

• No decisions were made• At the end of the Civil War, in the spring of

1865…

Lincoln and Congress were on the brink of a political showdown with their competing plans for Reconstruction…….and then….

Lincoln’s hopes of forgiveness end• Weeks after his Second Inauguration, April 14, 1865,

Lincoln was assassinated at the Ford’s Theater by John Wilkes Booth

• John Wilkes Booth, an actor and Confed soldier plotted with others to first kidnap Lincoln and exchange him for prisoners. Failed

• Vice President Andrew Johnson replaced Lincoln as President

MONDAY THERE WILL BE AN OPEN NOTE QUIZ SO BRING YOUR NOTES!

The Conspirator: The Plot to Kill Lincoln

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQSpiHnpx9M&feature=related

• Videon: 46min long