GSE SS8H6

Impact of Reconstruction on Georgia

 GSE SS8H6

Analyze the impact of

Reconstruction on Georgia.
 GSE SS8H6.a

Explain the roles of the 13th, 14th,

and 15th Amendments in
Reconstruction.
13TH AMENDMENT
 13th Amendment

The 13th Amendment to the

United States Constitution
abolished slavery and
involuntary servitude, except as
punishment for a crime.
14TH AMENDMENT
 14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment to the United States
Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868,
as one of the Reconstruction Amendments.
The amendment addresses citizenship
rights and equal protection of the laws, and
was proposed in response to issues related
to former slaves following the American Civil
War.
15TH AMENDMENT
 15th Amendment

The 15th Amendment ensures

the right to vote to all male
citizens of the United States,
regardless of color or previous
condition of servitude.
 GSE SS8H6.b

Explain the key features of the

Lincoln, the Johnson, and the
Congressional Reconstruction
plans.
 Reconstruction

• Time of major change in GA

• Time after Civil War in the South
• Short period of time (1865-1872)
 Reconstruction

• Much of Georgia was destroyed during

Sherman’s March
• Over 40,000 Georgians had been
killed or wounded in the Civil War
• Many lost their land
 LINCOLN’S
RECONSTRUCTION PLAN
Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan

• Presidential Reconstruction
(1865-1866)
• Lincoln = Bring the U.S. together
Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan

2 Conditions for a state to be readmitted

to the Union:
• The 10% Plan -
• 10% of the voters had to pledge
allegiance to the U.S.
Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan

• Agree to 13th Amendment

• Amendment Banned Slavery Forever
Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan

• Lincoln was shot on April 14, 1865

(dies the next morning)
• Vice-President Andrew Johnson
became the new president
• Vowed to continue Lincoln’s plans
 Andrew Johnson | Lincoln’s Vice-President
Became 17th President
AFTER Lincoln is killed by John Wilkes Booth
Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan

• GA knew this was an easy policy

• Held a constitutional convention in 1866
• Passed the 13th amendment
Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan

Due to the passage of the 13th

amendment:
● Georgia was readmitted into the
Union in December of 1865
 JOHNSON’S
RECONSTRUCTION PLAN
 Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan

“RADICAL (Extreme) Republicans”

• Favored harsher punishments for the South
 Thaddeus Stephens - Radical Republican
Pushed the Passage of the 13th Amendment to Abolish Slavery
Wanted to Punish the South for the Civil War
Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan

In Georgia, the people elected two former

Confederate officials to the U.S. Senate
• Former Confederate Vice President
Alexander Stephens
• Former Confederate Senator
Hershel Johnson
Alexander Stephens
Hershel Johnson
Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan

• Radical Republicans were angry

at having high ranking CSA
officials in Congress
• Refused to allow them to take
their seats
• Accused President Johnson of
abusing his power
Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan

• Johnson wanted the Union back together

• Pardoned former Confederates
• Did not pardon former officer or rich
landowners
Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan

• Republicans brought IMPEACHMENT (formal

charges) proceedings against Johnson
• Just barely escaped removal from office
• 19-18 was the final / Johnson had no power
 CONGRESSIONAL
RECONSTRUCTION PLANS
 Congressional
Reconstruction Plans
CLICK HERE: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtid=2&psid=3103

The South began to pass BLACK CODES:

(Laws that banned free black men from)
• Voting
• Testifying against whites in court
• Serving as Jurors in Trials
 Congressional
Reconstruction Plans
• Congress introduced the 14th
amendment
• African-Americans were now
citizens of the United States
• They must be given the same
rights as all U.S. citizens.
 Congressional
Reconstruction Plans
• Southern states were required to pass
14th amendment to be readmitted into
the Union
• If they refused, they were stripped of
statehood
• Would be run by a military governor
 Congressional
Reconstruction Plans

• Georgia refused to ratify the 14th

amendment
• Taken over by the military
• Run by military governors, John Pope
and George Meade
 General John Pope
Georgia’s 1st Military Governor
after the Civil War
 General George Meade
Replaced Pope in Atlanta
 Congressional
Reconstruction Plans
• During this period, Georgia held
another constitutional convention
• Held in Atlanta (not the capital of
Milledgeville)
• Milledgeville refused to accommodate
Republican or black delegates
 Congressional
Reconstruction Plans

Atlanta was chosen because it accepted:

• Elected Republican delegates
• 37 African American delegates
 Congressional
Reconstruction Plans

Georgia created a new constitution:

• Created black voting rights
• Allowed new public schools
• Moved the capital to Atlanta
 Congressional
Reconstruction Plans

After this convention:

• Republican Rufus Bullock was elected
Governor
• Republicans controlled General
Assembly
 Rufus Bullock
Last Republican Governor of GA
until Sonny Perdue in 2002
 Congressional
Reconstruction Plans

• The military remained in Georgia

• Georgia refused to pass the 15th
amendment
• This amendment gave Black men the
right to vote
 Congressional
Reconstruction Plans
• Georgia finally readmitted into
the Union in 1870
• It had to reinstate Republican
and black legislators
• Had to vote for the passage of
the 15th amendment
 Congressional
Reconstruction Plans

1872
• Southern Democrats called
“redeemers” voted back into office
• Reassumed control of the
Governorship and General Assembly.
 GSE SS8H6.c

Compare and contrast the goals

and outcomes of the Freedmen’s
Bureau and the Ku Klux Klan.
FREEDMEN’S BUREAU
 Freedmen’s Bureau

• Created to help African-Americans

adjust to freedom
• Also supported poor whites
• Provided food to whites and blacks
Freedmen’s Bureau
 Freedmen’s Bureau

• Helped build freedmen’s schools and

hospitals
• Supervised labor contracts/legal disputes
• Freedmen’s Bureau was moderately
successful
Freedmen’s Bureau
 Freedmen’s Bureau

• Fed, clothed, and offered shelter

• Created the first public school program
for either blacks or whites
THE KU KLUX KLAN (KKK)
 Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

• 1867 - Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

began in Tennessee
• Loosely governed organization
• Consisted mostly of
Confederate veterans
Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

• Began as a social club

• Became more political and violent
• Used terroristic actions to
intimidate freed blacks and white
Republicans
Ku Klux Klan (KKK)
• Tried to stop them from voting
and running for office
• Used tactics of intimidation,
physical violence, and murder
• Hoped to establish social control
over African Americans and their
white allies
 Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

KKK was successful in their political goals:

• Democrats gained control of Georgia
politics in 1871
• Many were members of the KKK
 Ku Klux Klan (KKK)
• It would be 100 years before
Republicans regained political control
of the state
• KKK used severe acts of violence
• White supremacy and racial
segregation became the norm in
Georgia and the rest of the South
 Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

• KKK disbanded sometime around 1871

• Democrats regained political control of
the state
• President Ulysses S. Grant pushed
Congress to crack down
 Ulysses S. Grant
• U.S. President
for two terms

• (1868 - 1877)

• Enforced
Congressional
laws to control
the KKK
Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

Congress passed:
• The Force Act of 1870
• The Civil Rights Act of 1871
(also called the Ku Klux Klan Act)
 Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

• Acts authorized federal authority to

fight and arrest members of the Klan
• President Grant sent federal troops to
enforce the acts
• Klan would go underground until 1915
Ku Klux Klan (KKK)
 GSE SS8H6.d
Examine reasons for and effects
of the removal of African American
or Black legislators from the
Georgia General Assembly during
Reconstruction.
 REMOVAL OF
BLACK LEGISLATORS
 Black Legislators
During Reconstruction

During Reconstruction:
• African-American freedmen
briefly gained political rights
• Biggest victory: the right to vote
 Black Legislators
During Reconstruction

1867
• 32 black legislators elected to the
Georgia General Assembly
• Most well-known:
Henry McNeal Turner
 Black Legislators
During Reconstruction
• Received threats from the KKK
• Mr. Turner was expelled from his
General Assembly seat in 1868
ON THE NEXT SLIDE

Actor Danny Glover reads Henry McNeal Turner, "On the

Eligibility of Colored Members to Seats in the Georgia
Legislature" (September 3, 1868). Part of a May 2, 2007
reading from Voices of a People's History of the United States.
 Black Legislators
During Reconstruction

• The other black legislators

suffered hardships
• Constantly harassed
• Many were expelled from
General Assembly in 1868
 Black Legislators
During Reconstruction

• ALL threatened by the KKK

• 1/4 of the black legislators
were beaten, jailed, or killed.
 Black Legislators
During Reconstruction

Most important contribution of these

black legislators:
• 1868 Constitution called for free
general public education in the
State of Georgia
 GSE SS8H6.e
Give examples of goods and
services produced during the
Reconstruction Era, including the
use of sharecropping and tenant
farming.
 SHARECROPPING
& TENANT FARMING
Sharecropping & Tenant Farming

After the Civil War:

• Southern states suffered a
serious shortage of money
• Had printed tons of now
worthless money
 Sharecropping & Tenant Farming

• Landowners were unable to pay workers

• Workers were unable to find work that
paid them wages
• Sharecropping and tenant farming should
have helped both sides
Sharecropping & Tenant Farming

• “Cash poor” land owners provided land

and other resources
• Laborers provided the work on the farm
• Most laborers wound up in debt
Sharecropping & Tenant Farming

• Landowners hoped to prevent

economic equality

• Poor Blacks and Whites could

not afford to buy land
Sharecropping & Tenant Farming
Sharecropping & Tenant Farming

• Many similarities between

sharecroppers and tenant farmers
• Mostly poor, illiterate blacks and whites
• Both agreed to work and give a portion
of their crops
Sharecropping & Tenant Farming

• Both groups had to buy certain

necessities from the landowner
• Caused deep debt to the laborers
• Decreased their chances of getting
out of the system
Sharecropping & Tenant Farming

Major difference:
• Tenant farmers usually owned their
own tools, animals, and other
equipment
• Sharecroppers brought nothing but
their labor into the agreement
 Sharecropping & Tenant Farming

• Both were part of Georgia’s agricultural

system into the mid-1900s
• System began to fall apart for many
reasons
• Great Migration of African-Americans
and rural whites to the North and cities
in the South
Sharecropping & Tenant Farming

• The devastation of the boll weevil in the

1910s and 1920s
• Technological advances in farming
• This system is almost completely gone
• As of 1997, 2,607 Georgians were
classified as tenant farmers