The Birth of The New South

1865, the civil war finally comes to an end. After the war all the soldiers of the North and the South headed home. Soldiers often came home to destroyed homes and defeated cause. The government started a program to help rebuild the ruins and restore the Southern states to the Union, this program was known as Reconstruction. The war had destroyed two thirds of the South’s shipping industry and 9,000 miles of railroads. The war destroyed farms, farm buildings, and farm machinery, work animals, bridges, canals, and levees. The war killed about 364,000 soldiers from the North and 38,000 of which were African-Americans. The South lost 260,000 soldiers one fifth of which were adult white men. Unfortunately many of the survivors were either mentally or physically scared.

Reconstruction Plan (Lincoln):

-       A pardon was offered to any Confederate who would take an oath of allegiance to the Union and accept federal policy on slavery.

-       It denied pardon to all the Confederate military and government officials and southerners who had kill African American war prisoners.

-       It permitted each state to hold a convention to creat a new state constitution only after 10 percent of voters in the state had sworn allegiance to the Union.

-       States could then hold elections and resume full participation in the Union.

Members of the party The Radical Republicans did not agree with Lincoln’s reconstruction plan. They insisted that the main goal of the Reconstruction should be a total restructuring of society to guarantee blacks true equality. They proposed a stricter plan that Lincoln pocket vetoed. Lincoln’s plans could not be executed because John Wilkes Booth killed him on April 14^th, 1865.

After Lincoln’s death, southern vice president, Andrew Johnson became president. He had another Reconstruction Plan.

Reconstruction Plan (Johnson):

-       It pardoned who swore allegiance to the Union.

-       It permitted each state to hold a constitutional convention.

-       States were required to void secession, abolish slavery, and repudiate the Confederate debt.

-       States could then hold elections and rejoin the Union.

This reconstruction plan, The Presidential Reconstruction Plan, was more generous to the south and ignored Lincoln’s 10 percent rule. Also, Johnson allowed pardon to those who asked him personally. By 1865 alone, he pardoned 13,000 southerners.

The period of reconstruction was needed in order to pardon the southerners ad make the United States of America whole again.

The Southerners faced many problems. They usually went home to ruins and dead families. The South became a region of destroyed farms, widows, and thousands of miles of destroyed railroad.

The slaves, even after their freedom, faced many problems. They had to start from nothing. They had no education, no money, no jobs, and they lived in poor states where the economy was relatively slow.

There you have it, The Birth of The New South!