United States History Student Edition

Summary Reviewing Reconstruction 05

Plans for Reconstruction • The Freedmen’s Bureau helped formerly enslaved African Americans adjust to life after slavery. • Lincoln’s Ten Percent Reconstruction plan was generous to the South. • Andrew Johnson’s plan required states to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment, but Johnson opposed equal rights for African Americans. Radical Republicans and Reconstruction • Radical Republicans in Congress opposed Johnson’s plan and wanted the South treated more harshly; they impeached Johnson when he did not cooperate. • The South passed black codes, which were unfair, racist laws. Life During Reconstruction • African Americans held political offices in the South for the first time. • African Americans faced racism in daily life, including violence from the Ku Klux Klan. • Many African Americans were forced to be sharecroppers. • The Radicals supported the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, which guaranteed citizenship to African Americans and gave them the right to vote. • Radical Reconstruction provided for the military occupation of Southern states. After Reconstruction • The disputed presidential election of 1876 formally ended Reconstruction when the victor, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes, removed federal troops from the South. • The years following Reconstruction were difficult for African Americans as Southern states passed discriminatory laws around voting, schools, and public places. • African Americans faced threats of violence, and many left the South or joined the army.

» Thaddeus Stevens, a Radical Republican from Pennsylvania, speaks in Congress.

Reconstruction Reconstruction was a time of major social and political change, particularly for African Americans, who had to adjust quickly to life after slavery. For a time, African Americans gained a voice in policies that affected them by holding political positions in Southern governments. However, Southern states soon passed laws that discriminated against them and took away their newfound rights. As Reconstruction ended, African Americans in the South faced prejudice and violence. For many, life seemed little better than under slavery.

» After Reconstruction, Southern African Americans were often denied the right to vote. 497

(t)North Wind Picture Archives/Alamy Stock Photo; (b)Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington [LC-USZ62-127754]

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