Ch. 17: Reconstruction

Reconstruction

1. The time period following the Civil War

2. Lasted from 1865 to 1877

3. Also refers to the process the federal government used to readmit the defeated Confederate states to the Union

The Defeated South 1. Agricultural land ruined =

regional wealth dropped by 50%

2. Legacy of the civil war?

a. Racism/white skin privilege

b. Political and social power at stake. Can you say “AmeriKKKa?”

3. How does the federal government now stand in relationship to the states?

a. Feds power trumps state power

b. The country is one nation, not a collection of states.

Lincoln’s 10% Plan (1863)

1. Goal: unify country as quickly as possible

2. Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (1863)

a. 10% of voting pop. swear allegiance

b. Accept EP, later the 13th Amend (1865)

3. Radical Republicans wanted to punish south = Wade-Davis Bill - 50% of voting pop pleads allegiance.

4. Special Field Order 15

5. Freedman’s Bureau

Lincoln assassinated

April 14, 1865

In comes…

President Andrew Johnson1865-1869/Democrat

Goal with Reconstruction?

Johnson and Reconstruction

1. It’s an executive issue, not legislature

2. Very lenient on the south; 90% pardoned

3. Supported bya. Northern Dem.b. Conservative Rep.c. S. Unionist

4. Believed in White Supremacy; zero political rights for freedmen

Radical Republicans1. Wanted PES equality2. Civil Rights Act (1866 )

a. Grants citizenshipb. Overturns Dred Scott

3. 14th Amend (1868)

4. Stronger Freedman’s Bureau

5. 2 and 3 vetoed by Johnson; overridden by congress

5. Black codes in the south enforced

Congressional Reconstruction

1. Reconstruction Act (1867):

a. Five military districts under martial law

b. Adopt 14th Amend (1868)

i. universal suffrage

ii. “due process” by law

c. Military supervised voting polls

2. Tenure of Office Acta. Pres. needs Senates

approval to remove cabinet member; Johnson did not get it.

b. Sec. of War Stanton fired by Johnson.

c. Johnson impeached

d. Set precedent: criminal action needed, not political disagreements.

Congressional Reconstruction

Mary Suratt, hanged, considered conspirator in Lincoln’s assassination by Johnson

Mary SurattLetter pleading for a commutation of Mary Suratt's sentence from death to life in prison, was withheld from the President by Edwin Stanton. When Johnson learned about the intentional concealment of this written appeal, he flew into a rage, and on February 21, 1868, fired Secretary Stanton. She was the mother of one of the men who plotted the murder; not Booth’s. Son flees the country.

Election of 1868

U.S. Grant

Passage of 15th Amend (1870)

except for…

Woman Suffrage and Reconstruction

Elizabeth Stanton Susan B. Anthony

Freedom1. Migration to

southern cities2. Began going to

school3. Organized their own

churches; ministers became political figures

4. Landowners & self employed; difficult to do

Sharecropping

Sharecropping vs. Tenant Farming

1. Sharecropping – a. the farmer has nothing; no capital or equipment, gets everything from owner to include seeds

b. Pays owner with a portion of harvest/crop

2. Tenant farming –

a. rented the land and paid owner in cash instead of crops

b. Had their own equipment

African Americans in the Political Scene

1. Main concernsa. Civil rightsb. Suffrage

2. Union Leaguea. Promoted the Republican party in the southb. Reg. AA male votersc. Taught them about their rights!

Politics in the South1. Carpetbaggers

a. Northerners who moved south

b. ideology/capitalism

2. Scalawags

a. white southern Republicans

b. Small farmer; payback from S. elite

c. modernize

3. African Americansable to participate and run for

offices

Reconstructing the States1. New constitutions

expanding democracy

2. Main problem in enforcing the laws in the south?

Convincing whites that it was the right thing to do

3. capital for investing difficult to come by

Resistance and “Redemption”1. Rise of the KKK =

a. KKK Act – fed. crime to infringe on civil rights

b. Suspension of habeas corpus

c. Interference w/voting a fed. offense

2. Slaughterhouse casesa. Group of cases stating that the state, not the federal gov’t, controls defining citizenship

b. Effect on 14th & 15th Amend?

Farmers, Merchants and Cotton

1. By end of war, cotton was in high demand. What’s happening to the price of cotton?

2. By 1880’s, sharecropping leads to influx of cotton. What’s happening to the price of cotton?

1872 Election: Electoral results?

Depression of 1873

1. Commercial overexpansion with RR

2. Reversed trickle-effect

3. Natural business cycle

Electoral Crises of 1876:Electoral results?

Samuel Tilden (Dem)

v.

Rutherford Hayes (Rep)

1. EC votes disputed

a. Fl, La, SC

b. No maj. w/EC

2. Let’s make a deal!

Compromise of 18771. withdraw troops from the

South 2. Promote industrialization

in the South; TRR 3. appoint Democrats to

positions in the South 4. appoint a Democrat to the

president’s cabinet. 5. The South has been

“redeemed!”

Exodusters