The Reconstruction Era followed the Civil War from 1867 to 1877. There were three main plans for rebuilding the southern states: Lincoln's Ten Percent Plan, Johnson's stricter plan, and the Radical Republican's Congressional Reconstruction Act of 1867, which divided the South into military districts requiring new state constitutions guaranteeing African American suffrage. However, the withdrawal of federal troops led to the imposition of Jim Crow laws segregating blacks and whites.

1. Reconstruction Era
(1867-1877)
Reconstruction: refers to the period following the Civil War
when the southern states were rebuilt and new political
gains emerged for African Americans.

2. Problems following the Civil War
Northern States Southern States
 Lost largest number of  Cities in ruins
soldiers  Money worthless
 Factories closed  Bitter feeling
 Government canceled  Bridges and Railroad
work orders destroyed
 Returning soldiers needed  Farmland was burned
jobs  Lost political influence

3. Ruins in Richmond Ruins of Haxall's Flour Mill in Richmond, Virginia. When Union
forces entered the Confederate capital on April 3, 1865, they found much of the city destroyed
by fire.

4. Savannah house destroyed by Union soldiers

5. Plans for Reconstruction
Three plans had emerged at the conclusion of the
Civil War to help rebuild the southern states:
Lincoln’s Plan
 (Ten Percent)
Johnson’s Plan
Radical Republicans
 (Congressional Reconstruction Act of 1867)

6. Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan
Goal:
 achieve a complete and unified Union
 peaceful nation instead of a fighting one
Main Ideas:
 (1) all southerners, except high-ranking Confederate political and
military officials, would be pardoned and regain citizenship when
they took an oath to support the Constitution and the emancipation
of slaves
 (2) when ten percent of the voters in a state took this oath they could
establish a legal government that would be recognized by the
President
* Wanted to take it easy on southern states
* Battled with Congress

7. Assassination of President Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln would never see
his plan take action:
 On the evening of April 14,
1865, while attending a
special performance of the
comedy, "Our American
Cousin,“ at Ford’s Theater,
President Abraham
Lincoln was shot
 The assassin, John Wilkes
Booth, a disgruntled actor

8. Johnson’s Plan
Vice President Andrew Johnson became President
following Abraham Lincoln’s assassination
Agreed with Lincoln’s Plan, however Johnson’s Plan
was stricter
Ideas:
 Pardons would be granted to those taking a loyalty of oath to
uphold the Constitution
 No pardons would be available to high Confederate officials
 A state needed to abolish slavery before being readmitted
 A state was required to repeal its secession ordinance before
being readmitted.

9. Impeachment of President Andrew Johnson
Congress wanted harsher terms for Reconstruction
President Andrew Johnson disagreed with
congressional views on Reconstruction
Congress determined that President Andrew
Johnson had violated the recent Tenure of Office Act
and prompted the Republican-controlled House to
impeach the president
The Senate fell short of their impeachment process
by one vote, however Johnson’s political influence
was gone

10. Radical Republicans
Congressional Military Reconstruction Act of 1867
Ideas:
 Organized the south into five military districts
 The states had to have a military leader from the north
 No state could return to civilian rule and be readmitted to the
Union until white and black voters framed a constitution that
guaranteed suffrage to African Americans and ratified the
Fourteenth Amendment.
 Act banned confederate leaders from voting, and any who
didn't pledge their allegiance to the U.S.

11. Five Military Districts

12. JIM CROW LAWS
Any law passed with the intention of
keeping Blacks and Whites segregated
1830- first law passed in
Massachusetts which allowed railroad
companies to segregate train cars

13. Jim Crow Laws
Poll Tax – Must pay to vote.
Literacy Test – Must pass a test to vote.
Grandfather Clause – If your grandfather could not
vote then you can not.

14. Plessy v Ferguson
Supreme Court
ruled that
segregation was
legal in the
United States
“separate-but-
equal”

15. Booker T Washington
Born as a slave in
1856
studied at
Hampton
University 1872
Founded Tuskegee
Institute in 1881

16. W.E.B.DuBois
First African
American to
earn PhD from
Harvard
Founded
Niagara
Movement

17. National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People
N.A.A.C.P.
Fought for the rights of African
Americans