4-1+USH

Abby Regan 10/24/11 Masterson

Key Terms: Reconstruction: Fixing up the Confederate states and reunited the nation. Amnesty: An official pardon issued by the government. In this case it forgave all the southerners except for a few generals as long as they agreed to follow the Constitution and accept the fact that slavery was done. Thirteenth Amendment: Congress passed this in 1865 to abolish slavery. Black Codes: These laws limited the rights of freedmen.

Key People: John Wilkes Booth: A Confederate sympathizer who shot Lincoln. Andrew Johnson: Lincoln's vice president who became president after Lincoln's death.

Summary:

The Old South Destroyed
 * The south was destroyed, and illness caused many deaths after the war.
 * The war also destroyed the south's economy, many were left poor and jobless.
 * Many freed slaves were looking forward to having the rights of white people.
 * The main thing freed people wanted was their own land.

President Lincoln and Reconstruction
 * President Lincoln's main goal was to unite the north and the south as quickly as possible.
 * On 12/8/1863, Lincoln issued the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, and permitted a state to rejoin the union when 10% of the population agreed to be loyal to the nation.
 * Congress wanted to pass the Wade-Davis Bill which called for Confederates to get rid of slavery and delay reconstruction until the majority of the white males swore loyalty to the nation, and Lincoln vetoed it.

Lincoln's Assassination
 * 4/4/1865, Lincoln was shot.
 * Americans remembered Lincoln by putting up bits of black cloth outside their homes, paid their respects to Lincoln at the Capitol, and watched as the funeral train made it's way from Washington DC to Illinois, where Lincoln would be buried.
 * The assassination of Lincoln caused distrust and tensions between the north and the south.

President Johnson and Reconstruction
 * Andrew Johnson was chosen to be vice president because he would appeal to northern democrats and southern unionist.
 * Johnson favored white men and often refused to compromise.
 * Johnson's way to get back into the Union only required that they take back their acts of secesion, get rid of slavery, and refuse to pay Confederate govt. debt.
 * People liked this plan because it allowed the Confederate leaders to be in control of the Reconstruction.
 * The Confederates did not let freedmen vote, and president Johnson supported the removal of Union troops, particularly African Americans.

The Black Codes
 * Confederate states adopted the Black Codes, which limited the rights of freedmen.
 * Some rules of the Black Code were: Blacks couldn't hold meetings without whites present, they couldn't travel without permits, own guns, attend white schools, or serve on juries and whites still had control over African American labor.
 * Whites tried to force freedmen to work for them again by preventing them from living in towns unless they were servants, signed a long-term labor contract, or obtained special licenses to work in a skilled profession.
 * These codes also allowed judges to decide whether blacks could support their children.