Reconstruction, 1865–1877
This chapter covers the Freedmen's Bureau, Reconstruction plans, how African Americans got involved in politics and built their communities, as well as the growth of violence against them.
The Debate Over
Reconstruction
Main ideas
• "Black Codes" were implemented by Southern states to limit the freedom of African Americans.
• Congress was populated by former Confederate officers.
The Freedmen's Bureau assisted refugees from conflict in finding employment, housing, clothing, and food.
Radical Republicans were opposed to making amends with the South.
Lincoln granted amnesty to anybody who took an oath of allegiance and agreed to the abolition of slavery.
The south's economy was in a complete collapse when the conflict was over.
Republican Rule
Main ideas
• After Republicans seized control and enacted significant reforms, all former Confederate states re-joined the Union.
"Carpetbaggers" from the North relocated to the South.
Scalawags, or white Southerners, backed Reconstruction and allied with Republicans.
With the construction of roads, railroads, hospitals, and supported industries, the South was rebuilt.
To resist Reconstruction and keep African Americans from voting, the Ku Klux Klan formed.
To combat violence, Congress passed enforcement legislation.
Reconstruction Collaped
Main ideas
• Grant was reelected, but scandals tarnished his image.
• The Republicans suffered politically as a result of the Panic of 1873, a serious economic crisis.
• The electoral votes of Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida in the 1876 election were in question.
• After the end of reconstruction, the economy recovered, but many African Americans took up sharecropping.