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Freedmen’s Bureau created

March 3, 1865

Government agency to help formerly enslaved people and poor whites in the South.

Provided food, housing, education, and medical care.

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Abraham Lincoln is assassinated

April 14, 1865

Shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C.

Changed Reconstruction leadership and direction dramatically.

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Andrew Johnson becomes president

April 15, 1865

Became president after Lincoln’s assassination.

Favored a lenient Reconstruction policy toward the South.

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First Black Codes passed

1865–1866 (varied by state, beginning in Mississippi and South Carolina)

Laws that restricted African Americans’ freedom.

Tried to force freed people into labor with low wages.

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!3th Amendment Passed

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How the 13th Amendment Passed which Abolished Slavery

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Ku Klux Klan is formed

December 24, 1865 (Pulaski, Tennessee)

White supremacist group using terror and violence.

Aimed to stop Black people from voting and exercising rights.

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Civil Rights Act of 1866

April 9, 1866

Granted citizenship to all persons born in the U.S. (except Native Americans).

Tried to protect freed people’s rights against Black Codes.

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Memphis Race Riot

May 1–3, 1866

White mobs attacked Black residents and Union soldiers.

Dozens killed, homes and schools burned.

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Reconstruction Acts of 1867

March 2, 1867

Divided the South into 5 military districts.

Required Southern states to write new constitutions and ratify the 14th Amendment.

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14th Amendment is ratified

July 9, 1868

Granted citizenship to all born in the U.S. and guaranteed equal protection.

Targeted at protecting freedmen’s rights.

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Southern constitutional conventions including freedmen

1867–1868

New state constitutions drafted with participation of African Americans.

Expanded rights, including public education.

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15th Amendment is ratified

February 3, 1870

Prohibited denying the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Major step in Black male suffrage.

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Mississippi Plan / “Shotgun Policy”

1875

Campaign of violence and intimidation to suppress Black voting.

Helped Democrats regain political power in the South.

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Compromise of 1877

March 2, 1877

Resolved the disputed 1876 presidential election.

Federal troops withdrawn from the South → end of Reconstruction.