Welcome back US history students. Lately we have been talking about the Civil War and on April 9th 1865 after five years of bloody unprecedented warfare and over 620 thousand deaths Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia. The Civil War was finally over. The task of rebuilding the nation, especially the South was now underway. The period after the Civil War, called Reconstruction lasted from 1865 to 1877. It was an era of great controversy and competing ideas about what to do with the south, under what circumstances would former Confederates be allowed back into the Union, and what to do with nearly 4 million former slaves. The best way to understand reconstruction is to divide it into two phases. The first phase, Presidential Reconstruction is what this lecture will focus on. In order to get the former Confederates readmitted quickly, Lincoln proposed a moderate plan for Reconstruction known as the 10% Plan. Proposed as early as 1863, Lincoln offered a full pardon to all southerners, except high-ranking officers and officials who took an oath of loyalty to the United States. Former Confederate states could be admitted back into the Union when 10% of the state's voters in the 1860 Election took the same oath. The former Confederate States also had to accept the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln faced opposition to his plan from his own political party a group of Republicans known as Radical Republicans proposed a much different plan which will be discussed in the next lecture. Lincoln's plan may have lasted if except he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth on April 15 1865. His Vice President Andrew Johnson took over. Johnson's plan was similar to Lincoln's in that it was very lenient towards the south and many argued to lenient. Under Johnson's plan all but a few high-ranking Confederates would be pardoned. Former Confederate States had to also ratify the 13th amendment which abolished slavery. While Johnson's plan was notably lenient towards the white South, it did nothing to protect the rights of former slaves known as freedmen. Throughout the south, former Confederates were elected to state governments who then proceeded to return the south to the racial status quo. In other words state governments began to relegate freedmen to a state of racial political and economic inferiority states adopted laws called Black Codes in which they resurrected the old slave codes and simply replaced the word slave with black. Under the Black Codes African-Americans could not testify in court they had to enter into labor contracts or be put into jail, they could not vote or hold office. The Black Codes were designed to keep African Americans in a condition very similar to slavery. Presidential Reconstruction was an attempt to restore the Union as quickly as possible however it did not address the issue of civil rights. Life for Freedmen in the south did not change very much and the South looked much the same as it did before the war. Radical Republicans in Congress were outraged at this situation and became determined to change the course of reconstruction. This set them at odds with President Johnson and we all know what happens when Congress gets upset with the president. that's right IMPEACHMENT!!!