After the Civil War, the North has defeat the South and Slaves are practically free, and we have started reconstruction "the effort, after the civil war, to reorganize the seceded states and bring them back into the union." Reconstruction was critical to the U.S; reconstruction would bring us out of ruins. The aftermath of the Civil War made the once beautiful South into a wasteland.
President Lincoln hoped to restore the Union as quickly as possible. He believed that punishing the South would only delay healing the nation. But before he could issue this plan, he was murdered by William James Booth in April 1865. Johnson set up a provisional government in every former Confederate State. He appointed government officials and ordered federal troops to protect them. The provisional government would govern until the state was redeemed to the Union.
Gordon Granster was the a Uniost Captian in the Civil War. Because of incredible history in the Civil War, he was given the command of the Sistrict of Texas.
Juneteenth also known as Juneteenth Independence Day, and Freedom Day, is a holiday that commemorates the June 19, 1865 announces the abolition of slavery in Texas. Traditions includes public readings of the Emancipation Proclamation, singing traditional songs such as "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" and "Lift Every Voice and Sing", and readings by noted African-American writers such as Ralph Ellison and Maya Angelou.
The Freedmen's Bereua was set up by our Congress to give the new free African Americans homes, education, and a new start at a better life.
New Texas Governor Appointed
Johnson appointed former representative who had represented Texas in Congress when the the secession crisis that began in 1861-Andrew J. Hamilton. Hamilton also appointed other Unionist to state and country offices. While these officials were loyal to the Union, many of them did not want to grant African American any rights beyond their freedom. This convention was very bias because the people there didn't support African Americans.
A New Constitution
Black codes are the laws that limit the rights of African Americans. The state legislature controlled by the ex-Confederate, refuse to ratify two amendments to the U.S. Constitution: the thirteenth Amendments, which outlawed slavery, and the Fourteenth Amendments, which protected the rights of the formerly enslaved people. The Constitution of 1866 stop short of granting African American Texans equal rights. Free people gain the rights to own land and enter into contracts.
Congress Takes Control!
Since the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to admit new states, they argued that Congress, not the president, should control Reconstruction. This argument grew stronger when President Johnson's Reconstruction program produce few changes in the South. Radical Republicans are a Republican who believes that congress should direct Reconstruction. The Ironclad Oath is an oath that pledges the individuals that had not voluntarily served in Congress army or aided Congress.
Freedmen Get the Vote!
The Ku Klux Klan-KKK- is a secret organization of white men formed after the Civil War that used violence and terror against African Americans. The KKK oppose Carpetbaggers and Scalawags because they both supported Reconstruction. How many members in the KKK is unknown because they are so secretive. The Freedmen’s Bureau and an organization called the Union League helped freedmen to vote. Armed guerrilla warfare killed thousands of Negroes; political riots were staged; their causes or occasions were always obscure, their results always certain; ten to one hundred times as many Negroes were killed as whites. Masked Men shot into houses and burned them, sometimes with the occupants inside. They drive successful black farmers off their land. “Generally, it can be reported that in North and South Carolina, in 18 months ending in June 1867, there were 197 murders and 548 cases of aggravated assault.”
Reconstruction Ends!
Reconstruction end in March 30, 1870. The white people had to pay a tax rate that increased from 15 cents to $2. The African Americans decided it would be best for them to live along the creeks and rivers bottoms, in wilderness areas areas, and on other unused land. In 1872 Democrats won a majority of the seats in the state legislature. They immediately took steps to reduce the governor’s power, and they abolish the state's police force.