The end of Enslavement
13th amendment • kind of abolished enslavement • january 31, 1865 - day it was passed in congress • december 18, 1865 - day it was ratified • “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment”
New attitudes • vast majority of enslaved people were exuberant after being emancipated • few were quite uncertain about being free • former enslavers were disillusioned, traumatized about the prospects of freedom • they believed that former enslaved people wanted to be slaves, they believed africans would stay and not leave
Reuniting with families • looked over thousands of miles looking for family • even purchased advertisements.
Land
Special field order #15 • Gen William Sherman, January 26, 1865 ○ 400,000 acres ○ seize land at the beginning of the reconstruction area to provide land for former enslaved people
The Port Royal Experiment • 1861 • black people could prove that they can actually learn • established an all black school, one of the first of its kind in the South
CLICKER What was the main purpose of the Freedmen's Bureau?
- Help assist the formers slaves transition into
Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen & Abandoned Lands: The Freedmen's Bureau • Create thousands of schools • helped africans obtained education • negotiate labor contracts • soolve criminal disputes • hospitals • protect men, women and children in the south (very hostile) • Circular 13, July 1865 - land grants provided for black families • Southern Homestead Act, 1866 - provided land for white southerners who always remained loyal to the Union and also to blacks ○ Land was confiscated from the Federal government from the Confederates ○ This law remained in act for about 10 years • Share Cropping - compulsory free labor ○ Sharecropping, black family live on farm