THis is the presentation for 17-3.

2. Why It Matters
We had survived our worst war, but the end of
the Civil War left Americans to deal with a set
of pressing issues. The status of some 3.5
million former enslaved people had yet to be
decided. Nor had the terms by which the former
Confederate states would rejoin the Union been
decided. How Americans would handle these
issues would shape the future of our country.

3. The Impact Today
Debate over the rightful power of the federal
government and the states continues to this day.
Americans continue to wrestle with the problem
of providing civil rights and equal opportunity
to all citizens.

4. Section 3: The South During
Reconstruction
Chapter Objectives
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• Identify what groups participated in the South’s
Reconstruction. 
• Explain how Southern life changed during
Reconstruction.

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Guide to Reading
After the Civil War the South had to rebuild not only
its farms and roads, but its social and political
structures as well. 
• scalawag 
Main Idea
Key Terms
• carpetbagger 
• corruption 
• integrate 
• sharecropping

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New Groups Take Charge
• The Republican Party consisted of three main
groups that dominated Southern politics:
African Americans, white Southerners who
supported Republican policies, and white
settlers from the North who moved to the
South. 
(pages 509–511)
- African Americans held important positions but
did not control the government of any state. 
- Between 1869 and 1880, sixteen African
Americans served in the House and two in the
Senate.

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New Groups Take Charge (cont.)
(pages 509–511)
- Hiram Revels was elected to the Senate from
Mississippi in 1870 and served one year. 
- Blanche K. Bruce was the other senator, also from
Mississippi, who was elected in 1874 and served
six years. 
- The Confederates called some Southern whites
who had opposed secession and were
nonslaveholding farmers or business leaders
scalawags or scoundrels. 
- They hated them for siding with the Republicans.

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New Groups Take Charge (cont.)
(pages 509–511)
- Many Northern whites who moved to the South and
supported the Republicans were called
carpetbaggers by their critics. 
- They got the name because they carried suitcases
made of carpet fabric with all their belongings. 
- Others were reformers who wanted to help reshape
Southern society.

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• Most white Southerners opposed efforts to
expand the rights of African Americans. 
• Plantation owners still tried to keep control of
the freed people. 
• They kept them on the plantations and refused
to rent land to them. 
• Store owners refused them credit, and
employers refused them work.
New Groups Take Charge (cont.)
(pages 509–511)

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• During Reconstruction secret societies
committed violence against African Americans
and white supporters of African Americans. 
• The Ku Klux Klan, formed in 1866, killed
them and burned their homes, churches, and
schools. 
• The Klan’s supporters were Southerners,
especially planters and Democrats who wanted
to reestablish white supremacy and saw
violence as a way to attack Republicans.
New Groups Take Charge (cont.)
(pages 509–511)

11. Click the mouse button or press the
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• Southerners opposed to violence and terrorism
appealed to the federal government. 
• In 1870 and 1871, Congress passed several
laws without too much success. 
• Some arrests were made, but most white
Southerners would not testify against these
people.
New Groups Take Charge (cont.)
(pages 509–511)

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Some Improvements
• Reconstruction brought important changes,
especially in education. 
(pages 511–512)
• African Americans created their own schools
in some regions. 
• The Freedmen’s Bureau and private charities
spread the value of education. 
• Free African Americans from the North and
Northern women taught in the schools. 
• By 1870 about 4,000 schools existed and more
than half the teachers were African Americans.

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• Public school systems for both races were
created in the 1870s. 
• Generally whites and African Americans
attended different schools. 
• More than 50 percent of white children and
about 40 percent of African Americans went
to public schools within a few years.
Some Improvements (cont.)
(pages 511–512)

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• The other major change occurred in farming. 
• Most African Americans were not able to
buy their own land. 
• Instead, they rented a plot of land from a
landowner along with a shack, some seed,
and tools. 
• They became sharecroppers.
Some Improvements (cont.)
(pages 511–512)

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• Sharecropping was not much better than
slavery for many because in return for the use
of the land, the sharecroppers had to pay the
landowner by giving him a share of the crops
they grew. 
• Barely anything was left for their families, and
they rarely had enough to sell and to make any
money.
Some Improvements (cont.)
(pages 511–512)