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.
PHOTO: http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/sespics/08064.jpg
http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/images/Andrew_johnson.jpg
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