Congressional Reconstitution

Johnson's Reconstruction Plan:
His plan was to pardon the southerners who swore allegiance to the Union. He allowed each state to hold a constitutional convention. The states were required to recognize the secession as not being valid. Then the states could hold elections and join the Union.

Black Codes:
Black codes were laws that restricted freedman's rights. They established virtual slavery with laws such as these:

1. Black people had curfews and they could not meet after sunset.
2. Freedmen with no work could be fined, whipped or sold for a year's labor.
3. Freedmen had to sign a contract in January for a year of work. Those who quite in the middle of the contract lost the wages they had earned.
4. Freedmen could only rent land or homes in rural area. Otherwise they were forced to live on plantations, which most of them did.

14th Amendment:

It said that all the people born in the USA are citizens of the USA and of the State where they reside. No state can make or enforce any law which will put down the priviliges of citizens of the USA; nor can any state stop any person from living, liberty, or property, without any process from the law; nor deny to any person within its juridiction the equal protection of laws.

15th Amendment:

It stated that no citizen could be stopped to vote "by the USA or by any State no matter the race, color or previous condition servitude."

Radical Reconstitution:

A small group of Radical Republicans saw themselves as moderates (someone who supports the mainstream views of the party, not the more extreme positions). They disagreed with Johnson's Reconstruction policies, black codes, and favored the expansion of the republican party in the South. They wanted to give African Americans their civil rights, such as voting and equal treatment.

Carpetbagger:

The Northern Republicans who moved to the South after the war were known as the carpetbaggers. The southerners gave them this insulting name which referred to them as a cheap suitcase made of carpet rags. This name meant that the northerners had taken a few clothes put them in a carpet bag and ran to the south to take advantage of the southern misery, so they can prosper.

Scalawags:

Southerners had an insulting name for the white southern Republicans as well which was the scalawags. This was a word meaning "scrawny cattle." Some scalawags were passed Whigs who had opposed secession. Some we small farmers who resented the planter class. Still others were former planters. Overall most of the scalawags were poor, but not all.

Newspaper: Reconstruction of the South

When the freed slaves went back to their homes they weren't expected by their families. Most of their families were hopeless and moved. Therefore, most of them ended up homeless, jobless, and afamished. From these some decided to continue working in their previous slave plantations and others decided to look for their families. There weren't many family reunions, but many joyful reunions did occur.

The South was completely destroyed. Two thirds of its shipping industry was destroyed. Almost all its farming economy was devoured, as well as roads. Factories, ports, and cities lay smoldering. The value of southern farm property had decreased by about 70%. There were countless men and young ones that died. Children became orphans, and brides became widows.

The South had three major groups of people after the war: The black southerners, plantation owners, and poor white southerners. The black southerners were starting their new lives in poor economic situations. The plantation owners lost their slave labor worth $3 billion, and the poor white southerners couldn't find jobs because of the new job competition from freedmen.

Though Lincoln created a reconstruction plan it was useless because he was dead. Now that the Vice President, Andrew Johnson took over he slightly modified the reconstituton plan:
1. It pardoned southerners who swore allegiance to the Union.
2. It permitted each state to hold a constitutional convention (without Lincoln's 10% allegiance requirement).
3. States were required to void secession, abolish slavery, and repudiate the Confederate debt.
He didn't include the pardons to all Confederate leaders but he gave them to those who asked for it personally. In 1865 alone, he pardoned 13,000 southerners.

Freed people wanted the federal government to give them the land that slaves were entitled and cleared for generations. In 1865, Union general William Sherman set up a land distribution experiment in South Carolina. He divided the taken coastal lands into 40 acre plots and distibuted them to the black families. Unfortunately, this didn't last for long because President Johnson eventually returned most of the land to its original owners, forcing the freedmen out.

Nearly 90% of black adults were illliterate because most southern states had banned education to slaves. Now freed slaves really wanted to learn and have education. White teachers went to the south to start schools, thirty African American colleges were made, and some taught themselves and one another.

A Freedmen's Bureau was created to help southerners adjust to freedom, prior to Lincoln's death. Itpovded clothing, medical supplies, and millions of meals to both black and white war refugees. More than 250,000 African Americans recieved their education from bureau schools.

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