Reconstruction began after the Civil War to reintegrate the Confederate states and establish rights for freed slaves. It involved readmitting the 11 secessionist states to the Union, establishing new state governments, and protecting civil rights through three Constitutional amendments abolishing slavery, granting citizenship to all persons born in the US including former slaves, and prohibiting voter restrictions based on race. However, Reconstruction ultimately failed due to resistance from Southern states and the withdrawal of federal troops, allowing racism and white supremacy to reemerge through laws and violent groups like the Ku Klux Klan. While it did not achieve full racial equality, Reconstruction did establish rights and access to education for freed slaves.

1. Reconstruction
A “splendid failure”
-W. E. Du Bois

3. A House Divided Cannot stand
ᴥ
All of the former confederacy
(Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tenness
ee, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South
Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia) had to
rejoin after their secession from the Union.
ᴥ
Need for governments
ᴥ
The fates of the Freedmen had to be decided
Constitutionally and legally.
ᴥ
Voting rights and general Civil Rights.
ᴥ
Without re-uniting the North and

4. Life, for many
southerners,
went from
This…

5. To this:
Lots of
this, actually...

6. President Lincoln
ᴥLeading force behind the
beginning of The
Reconstruction Era in1863
ᴥAfter the Emancipation
Proclamation was issued
Photo by Sharpwriter
ᴥHowever, some contend that
it truly started in 1865
after General Robert E.
Lee’s surrender at the
McLean House in

7. Overhauling America
ᴥ
The addition of Constitutional Amendments
ᴥ
13th Amendment (April 8,1864)— Abolished slavery
and indentured servitude (except as punishment for
a crime)
ᴥ
14th Amendment (July 9, 1868)—Made slaves
officially citizens, established the count of them
towards representation, and prevented any
former elected official who supported the
Confederacy from running for positions within the
Government [Not bitter at all there, Union. Stay
classy]
ᴥ
15th Amendment (February 3, 1870)—Prohibits any

8. 1877.
After Lincoln’s death in 1865, it
was carried on by Andrew
Johnson (1865-1869), then by his
predecessor General Ulysses
S. Grant (1869-1877).
Andrew
Johnson
Fun fact: Andrew Johnson was
impeached on February 24, 1868
because of a movement by
those who wanted to take
control of Reconstruction
policies. It was the only
attempt in United States
General
history for presidential
Ulysses S.
impeachment until the Clinton
Grant
administration.
Never have American public men in responsible positions, directing the
destiny of the nation, been so brutal, hypocritical, and corrupt.
-Claude G. Bowers (1929)

9. Whistlin’ Dixie about Change.
• The former Confederacy did not go silently
into the night…and neither did the Union.
• Despite a push to re-unify, sides still held a bitter
divide. Many Northerners viewed the Amnesty Act
of 1872 (counter-acting the 14th Amendment) as a
dishonor to their lost soldiers, believing that the
Confederacy would manipulate the government to
their wants.
• Johnson’s efforts to push for the re-establish
of property for Southerners who would
support the Union would only be tarnished by

10. Why did it fail? Simply put,
It was a fight over

11. A Splendid Failure
Failure
ᴥ Racism persisted despite
government recognition
of equality.
ᴥ Ku Klux Klan Act
ᴥ Southern states
continued to fight against
the racial unification of
the American
government.
ᴥ Northern states did not
want to concede any
political power towards
any member of the
Splendid
ᴥ “Rather than becoming
the illiterate, ignorant
dupes of demagogues
and northern white
Republicans, as so many
whites suspected or
believed, black men
and women eagerly
obtained the education
that had been denied
them by law under
slavery.”.
ᴥ 2,000 African Americans