1. Reconstruction and the New South

2. Rebuilding the Nation

3.  Huge problems after Civil War ended
 Vast parts of the South were ruined
 Homeless refugees scattered across the South
 Both African American & Whites
 Needed: food, shelter, & work
 Biggest problem
 Suppressing the hard feelings between the North &
South

4.  Lincoln’s plan for reconstruction
 December 1863
 10% of voters need to take loyalty oath to U.S.
 New gov’t could then be formed
 Declare an end to slavery
 Members of state could be sent to Congress to take part
in national gov’t
 Plan included amnesty for former Confederates
 Not for Confederate gov’t leaders or military leaders

5.  Stricter than 10% plan
 50% of voters to swear loyalty oath
 Voluntary Confederate soldiers not allowed to vote for
delegates meeting to form new state constitution
 Lincoln refused the bill & it never became law
 Lincoln thought his lenient plan would promote a
strong Republican party in the South
 Radical Republicans opposed lenient plan & wanted
strict plan
 Thought strict plan would keep Confederates who led the
secession from regaining power

6.  Developed to deal with the needs of freed African
Americans & war refugees after the war
 1st Duty: provide emergency relief
 2nd: set up schools to teach freed slaves to read & write
 African American communities also set up their own
schools & paid for teachers by pooling money
 Many white northern women were teachers as well as
black northern women
 Continue education centers were also started
 Public Education system to education whites & blacks in
most southern states

7.  Bureau also helped freedmen find jobs & resolve
disputes between whites & blacks
 Bureau also set up its own court system to deal with
cheaters

8.  April 14, 1865
 5 DAYS after the war
 John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln at the Ford’s Theater in
Washington
 Shot Lincoln in the head with a single bullet
 Booth later shot & killed after the barn he was hiding in was set on fire
 8 others convicted & 4 were hung for their part in the plot to kill
Lincoln
 Nation shocked by death
 Huge crowds paid their last respects & Lincoln’s body was
transported back to Illinois for burial
 Vice President Andrew Johnson, southern Democrat, became
President
 Showed bitterness toward the Confederacy before & during the
war, many expected him to take a strict approach to Reconstruction