chapter 12: reconstruction, 1865-1877harrellshistory.us/visions/2003_visions/chap12.pdf · 2016. 6....

1868• House impeaches President

Johnson in February

• Senate acquits the presidentin May

1870• Fifteenth

Amendmentratified

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384

Reconstruction1865–1877

1863• Lincoln’s Proclamation

of Amnesty andReconstruction issued

1866• Completion of

transatlantic cable

1868• Meiji Restoration begins

Japanese modernization

1869• First ships pass

through Suez Canal

Why It MattersThe nation faced difficult problems after the Civil War. The first issue was how to bring the South

back into the Union. Lincoln had wanted to make reunion relatively easy. After he died, Congressdesigned a plan that focused on punishing the South and ensuring that African Americans had

the right to vote. These policies increased hostility between the regions. Pressures on the South toreform eased with the Compromise of 1877.

The Impact TodayThe Reconstruction era has permanently affected American society.

• The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments provide constitutional protections for all Americans.• The Radical Republicans’ rule so antagonized the South that the region remained solidly

Democratic for nearly a century.

The American Vision Video The Chapter 12 video, “The Aftermath of War,” chronicles the struggles of the nation to heal itself after the Civil War.

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1865• Freedmen’s Bureau

founded

• President Lincolnassassinated

1860 1865 1870

A. Johnson1865–1869

Lincoln1861–1865

1867• Congress passes the

Military Reconstruction Act

▲Grant

1869–1877

385

1877• Compromise of 1877

ends Reconstructionefforts

1871• Unification of Germany

completed; GermanEmpire proclaimed

1874• First Impressionist art

exhibit opens in Paris

HISTORY

Chapter OverviewVisit the American VisionWeb site at tav.glencoe.comand click on ChapterOverviews—Chapter 12 topreview chapter information.

Upland Cotton by Winslow Homer shows that even after emancipation, many AfricanAmericans continued working long hours in the cotton fields.

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1875• “Whiskey Ring”

scandal breaks

1875 1880

Hayes1877–1881

http://www.glencoe.com/sec/socialstudies/ushistory/tav2003/content.php4/354/1

1863Lincoln issues Proclamation ofAmnesty and Reconstruction

386 CHAPTER 12 Reconstruction

The Reconstruction Battle BeginsHouston Holloway and millions like him faced freedom in a devastated South. By

1865 large areas of the former Confederacy lay in ruins. A traveler on a railroad journeythrough the South described the region as a “desolated land,” adding, “Every villageand station we stopped at presented an array of ruined walls and chimneys standinguseless and solitary.”

Union troops and cannons had left few Southern cities untouched. DescribingColumbia, the capital of South Carolina, a Northern reporter noted, “Two-thirds of the

Houston Holloway was ready for freedom. By 1865 the 20-year-old enslaved man hadtoiled under three different slaveholders. President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation,delivered in 1863, had freed him—but only in theory. The proclamation freed enslaved per-sons in the Confederacy, but because the Union could not enforce its laws in Confederate ter-ritory, many African Americans in the South continued to endure a life of bondage. Hollowayknew that his only hope was a Northern victory in the Civil War.

Freedom finally came in the spring of 1865 when Union troops overran his community inGeorgia. Holloway rejoiced upon being freed:

“I felt like a bird out of a cage. Amen. Amen. Amen. I could hardly ask to feel better than Idid that day. . . . The week passed off in a blaze of glory.”

—quoted in A Short History of Reconstruction

Reconstruction Plans

Artist’s depiction of an emancipated

African American

Main IdeaIn the months after the Civil War, thenation began the effort to rebuild andreunite.

Key Terms and NamesReconstruction, amnesty, ThaddeusStevens, Radical Republicans, Wade-DavisBill, pocket veto, freedmen, Freedmen’sBureau

Reading StrategyOrganizing As you read, complete agraphic organizer similar to the onebelow to compare plans for readmittingSouthern states to the Union.

Reading Objectives• Contrast Lincoln’s plan to reunite the

nation with that of the RadicalRepublicans

• Discuss life in the South immediatelyafter the war.

Section ThemeGroups and Institutions Northernersdisagreed on which policies would bestrebuild the South and safeguard therights of African Americans.

✦ 1863 ✦ 1865

1864Congress passesWade-Davis Bill

March 1865Freedmen’sBureau founded

April 1865Lincolnassassinated

Lincoln’s Plan Wade-Davis Plan

Readmission Plans

✦ 1864 ✦ 18661866Congress passesFourteenthAmendment

buildings in the place were burned, including . . .everything in the business portion. Not a store, office,or shop escaped.”

The devastation had left the South’s economy in astate of collapse. The value of land had fallen signifi-cantly. Confederate money was worthless. Roughlytwo-thirds of the transportation system lay in ruins,with dozens of bridges destroyed and miles of rail-road twisted and rendered useless.

Most dramatically of all, the emancipation ofAfrican Americans had thrown the agricultural sys-tem into chaos. Until the South developed a new sys-tem to replace enslaved labor, it could not maintainits agricultural output.

The president and Congress grappled with the diffi-cult task of Reconstruction, or rebuilding after the war.They had to decide under what terms and conditionsthe former Confederate states would rejoin the Union.

Lincoln’s Plan The problem of how to bring theSouthern states back into the Union began shortly afterthe Civil War started. As Union forces advanced intoTennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana in 1862, PresidentLincoln appointed military governors for the regionsunder Union control. He also began developing a planfor restoring a regular government in those states.

Lincoln wanted a moderate policy that would rec-oncile the South with the Union instead of punishingit for treason. In December 1863, he set forth his planin the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction.He offered a general amnesty, or pardon, to allSoutherners who took an oath of loyalty to theUnited States and accepted the Union’s proclama-tions concerning slavery. When 10 percent of a state’s

voters in the 1860 presiden-tial election had taken thisoath, they could organize anew state government.

The Radical Republicans Resistance to Lincoln’splan surfaced at once among the more radicalRepublicans in Congress. Led by RepresentativeThaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania and SenatorCharles Sumner of Massachusetts, the radicals didnot want to reconcile with the South. They wanted, inStevens’s words, to “revolutionize Southern institu-tions, habits, and manners.”

The Radical Republicans had three main goals.First, they wanted to prevent the leaders of theConfederacy from returning to power after the war.Second, they wanted the Republican Party to becomea powerful institution in the South. Third, theywanted the federal government to help AfricanAmericans achieve political equality by guaranteeingtheir right to vote in the South.

Congressional Republicans knew that once theSouth was restored to the Union, it would gain about15 seats in the House of Representatives. Before theCivil War, the number of Southern seats in the Housewas based on the Three-Fifths Compromise in theConstitution. According to this compromise, eachenslaved person counted as only three-fifths of a free

person. The abolition of slavery entitled the Southto more seats in the House of

War-Shattered City The Civil Warwreaked terrible devastation onRichmond, Virginia. Why do youthink the women pictured here aredressed in black?

History

Thaddeus Stevens

Representatives. This would endanger Republicancontrol of Congress, unless Republicans could find away to protect African Americans’ voting rights.

Although Radical Republicans knew that givingAfrican Americans in the South the right to votewould help their party win elections, most were notacting cynically. Many had been abolitionists beforethe Civil War and had pushed Lincoln into makingemancipation a goal of the war. They believed in aright to political equality for all Americans, regard-less of their race. Senator Henry Wilson ofMassachusetts summarized their position by saying:

“[Congress] must see to it that the man made freeby the Constitution is a freeman indeed; that he cango where he pleases, work when and for whom hepleases . . . go into schools and educate himself andhis children; that the rights and guarantees of thecommon law are his, and that he walks the earthproud and erect in the conscious dignity of a freeman.”

The Wade-Davis Bill Caught between Lincoln andthe Radical Republicans was a large number of mod-erate Republicans. The moderates thought Lincolnwas being too lenient, but they also thought the radi-cals were going too far in their support for AfricanAmericans.

By the summer of 1864, the moderates and radi-cals had come up with a Reconstruction plan thatthey could both support as an alternative to Lincoln’sand introduced it in Congress as the Wade-DavisBill. This bill required the majority of the adult whitemen in a former Confederate state to take an oath ofallegiance to the Union. The state could then hold aconstitutional convention to create a new state gov-ernment. Each state’s convention would then have toabolish slavery, reject all debts the state had acquiredas part of the Confederacy, and deprive all formerConfederate government officials and military offi-cers of the right to vote or hold office.

Although Congress passed the Wade-Davis Bill,Lincoln blocked it with a pocket veto, that is, he letthe session of Congress expire without signing the


MOMENTinHISTORYMOMENTinHISTORYWINDS OF CHANGETwo formerly enslaved women in the rural, postwarSouth share a treasure that was once forbidden to them—a book. Before the Civil War,it was illegal in some states toteach an enslaved person toread and write. Despite thewell-intentioned efforts ofsome federal officials duringReconstruction, the educationof African Americans continuedto be an issue after the war. In1865 only about 10 percent ofAfrican Americans could read.By 1880 more than 25 percentwere considered literate andaround 40 percent of AfricanAmerican children wereenrolled in school.

Writing About History

CHAPTER 12 Reconstruction 389

Checking for Understanding1. Define: Reconstruction, amnesty,

pocket veto, freedmen.2. Identify: Thaddeus Stevens, Radical

Republicans, Wade-Davis Bill,Freedmen’s Bureau.

3. Explain why the efforts to provideAfrican Americans with their own landfailed.

Reviewing Themes4. Groups and Institutions What services

did the Freedmen’s Bureau provide toSouthern refugees and to newly freedpeople?

Critical Thinking5. Analyzing What are the benefits of a

compromise such as the Wade-DavisBill to a government? What are thedrawbacks?

6. Categorizing Use a graphic organizersimilar to the one below to list theeffects of the Civil War on the South.

Analyzing Visuals7. Examining Photographs Study the

National Geographic photograph of for-merly enslaved women on the previouspage. How would you describe thewomen’s environment? Do you thinkthere were other books in the house?

8. Descriptive Writing Take on the roleof a Southerner after the Civil War.Write a journal entry describing thepostwar South and what you hope thefuture will hold for the South.

legislation. Although Lincoln sympathized withsome of the radical goals, he felt that imposing aharsh peace would be counterproductive. The presi-dent wanted “no persecution, no bloody work.”

Summarizing Why did PresidentLincoln favor a generous policy toward the South after the endof the Civil War?

The Freedmen’s BureauLincoln realized that harsh Reconstruction terms

would only alienate many whites in the South. Also,the South was already in chaos. The devastation ofthe war and the collapse of the economy left hun-dreds of thousands of people unemployed, homeless,and hungry. At the same time, the victorious Unionarmies had to contend with the large numbers ofAfrican Americans who flocked to Union lines as thewar progressed. As Sherman marched throughGeorgia and South Carolina, thousands of freedAfrican Americans—now known as freedmen—began following his troops seeking food and shelter.

To help the freed people feed themselves, Shermanreserved all abandoned plantation land within 30miles of the coast from Charleston, South Carolina, toJacksonville, Florida, for use by freed AfricanAmericans. Over the next few months, Union troopssettled more than 40,000 African Americans onroughly half a million acres of land in South Carolinaand Georgia.

The refugee crisis prompted Congress to establishthe Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and AbandonedLands—better known as the Freedmen’s Bureau.

The Bureau was given the task of feeding and cloth-ing war refugees in the South using surplus armysupplies. Beginning in September 1865, the Bureauissued nearly 30,000 rations a day for the next year.Its activities helped prevent mass starvation in theSouth.

The Bureau also helped formerly enslaved peoplefind work on plantations. It negotiated labor con-tracts with planters, specifying the amount of payworkers would receive and the number of hours theyhad to work. It also established special courts to dealwith grievances between workers and planters.

Although many people in the North applaudedthe Bureau’s efforts, they argued those who were for-merly enslaved should be given “forty acres and amule” to support themselves. These people believedthat the federal government should seize Con-federate land and distribute it to emancipatedAfrican Americans. To others, however, taking landfrom plantation owners and giving it to freedmenseemed to violate the nation’s commitment to indi-vidual property rights. Ultimately, Congress refusedto support land confiscation.

Although the Freedmen’s Bureau failed to provideAfrican Americans with land to make a new start, itdid make a lasting and important contribution in thefield of education. The Bureau worked closely withNorthern charities to educate formerly enslavedAfrican Americans. It provided housing for schools,paid teachers, and helped to establish colleges fortraining African American teachers.

Explaining What were the purposesof the Freedmen’s Bureau?

Reading Check

Reading Check

Civil War

Effects on South

Why Learn This Skill?Do you enjoy reading the comics section in the

newspaper? Many people enjoy reading comic strips.Cartoons also appear on the editorial page. Thesecartoons express opinions on political issues. Politicalcartoons are good sources of historical informationbecause they reflect opinions on current events.

Learning the SkillPolitical cartoonists rely mostly on images to

communicate a message. By using caricatures andsymbols, political cartoonists help readers see rela-tionships and draw conclusions about events. Acaricature exaggerates a detail, such as a subject’sfeatures, in a drawing. Cartoonists use caricature tocreate a positive or negative impression of a sub-ject. For example, if a cartoon shows one figurethree times larger than another, it implies that thelarger figure is more powerful than the smaller oneor perhaps is a bully.

A symbol is an image or object that representssomething else. For example, a cartoonist may usea crown to represent a monarch. Symbols often rep-resent nations or political parties. The bald eagleand Uncle Sam are common symbols for the

United States,a bear oftenstands forRussia, and adragon mightbe used to rep-resent China.

To analyze apolitical car-toon, first iden-tify the topicand main char-acters. Thenread labels andmessages andnote relation-ships betweenthe figures and

symbols. Review your knowledge of the cartoon’stopic to determine the cartoonist’s viewpoint andmessage.

Practicing the SkillThe political cartoon on this page, published in

an 1872 newspaper, makes a statement about theReconstruction years. After the Civil War,Southerners gave the nickname “carpetbaggers” toNortherners who moved South. Southernersclaimed Northerners came with nothing but asmall bag made from carpet fabric, ready to gainwealth at Southerners’ expense. Study the cartoon,and then answer the following questions.

1 The figure at the top is President Ulysses S.Grant. What symbols are surrounding him? Whatdo these symbols represent? Why do you thinkGrant is placed among them?

2 In what symbol is Grant sitting? What might thisobject represent?

3 What symbols depict the North? How are theyshown? What does their appearance imply aboutthe North’s feelings about Reconstruction?

4 Summarize the cartoonist’s opinion ofReconstruction and explain why you agree ordisagree with this point of view.

Skills AssessmentComplete the Practicing Skills questions on

page 409 and the Chapter 12 Skill ReinforcementActivity to assess your mastery of this skill.

Social Studies

Interpreting Political Cartoons

390

Applying the SkillInterpreting Political Cartoons Find a political cartoonin a newspaper or magazine. If an editorial appears with the cartoon, read that as well. Write a summary ofthe cartoon’s message and explain whether or not youagree with this message.

Glencoe’s Skillbuilder Interactive WorkbookCD-ROM, Level 2, provides instruction and prac-tice in key social studies skills.

1866Congress passesFourteenth Amendment

Johnson Takes OfficeLincoln’s assassination dramatically changed the politics of Reconstruction. Lincoln’s

vice president, Andrew Johnson, now became president. Johnson had been a Democratliving in Tennessee before the Civil War. He had served as a mayor and state legislatorbefore being elected to the United States Senate. When Tennessee seceded from the

Tensions ran high in the nation’s capital as Congress reconvened in December 1865.President Andrew Johnson had implemented his Reconstruction plan, which was lenienttoward the South, despite strong opposition by many members of Congress. One of the morevocal critics was Massachusetts senator Charles Sumner. Sumner advocated greater rights forformerly enslaved people and stronger punishment for the South. Just days before Christmas,Sumner expressed his distrust of the former Confederate states:

“They will continue to assert the inferiority of the African, and they would today, if possi-ble, precipitate the United States into a foreign war, believing that they could then reassertand obtain their independence. . . . On the whole, looking at the affair from all sides, itamounts to just this: If the Northern people are content to be ruled over by the Southerners,they will continue in the Union, if not, the first chance they get they will rise again.”

—quoted in Charles Sumner

CongressionalReconstruction

Main IdeaDissatisfied with the president’s lenientpolicies toward the South, Congressseized control of Reconstruction.

Key Terms and Namesblack codes, Civil Rights Act, FourteenthAmendment, Military Reconstruction Act,Tenure of Office Act, impeach

Reading StrategyCategorizing As you read aboutReconstruction, complete a graphicorganizer like the one below to show how each piece of legislation listedaffected African Americans.

Reading Objectives• Analyze the Reconstruction dispute

between President Johnson andCongress.

• Describe the major features ofcongressional Reconstruction.

Section ThemeCivic Rights and ResponsibilitiesCongressional Reconstruction promotedcivil rights for formerly enslaved persons.

1867Congress passesReconstruction Act

1868House impeaches President Johnson;Senate acquits Johnson

1870States ratify FifteenthAmendment


Legislation Effect

black codes

Civil Rights Act of 1866

Fourteenth Amendment

Fifteenth Amendment

Charles Sumner

✦ 1870✦ 1868✦ 1866

Union, Johnson remained loyal and stayed in theSenate, making him a hero in the North.

As Union troops advanced into Tennessee in 1862,Lincoln appointed Johnson military governor of thestate. The president then approved Johnson’s nomi-nation as vice president in 1864, hoping to convincesome Democrats to vote for the Republicans. Johnsonwas hot-tempered and stubborn at times, but, likeLincoln, he believed that a moderate policy wasneeded to bring the South back into the Union and towin Southern loyalty.

Johnson’s Plan In the summer of 1865, withCongress in recess, Johnson began to implementwhat he called his restoration program, which closelyresembled Lincoln’s plan. In late May 1865, he issueda new Proclamation of Amnesty to supplement theone Lincoln had issued earlier. Johnson offered topardon all former citizens of the Confederacy whotook an oath of loyalty to the Union and to returntheir property. He excluded from the pardon formerConfederate officers and officials as well as all formerConfederates who owned property worth more than$20,000. These were the people—the rich planterelite—who Johnson believed had caused the CivilWar. Those who were excluded could apply to thepresident individually for a pardon for their acts dur-ing the war.

On the same day he issued the Proclamation ofAmnesty, Johnson issued another proclamation forNorth Carolina. This became a model of how hewanted to restore the South to the Union. Under it,each former Confederate state had to call a constitu-tional convention to revoke its ordinance of secessionand ratify the Thirteenth Amendment. The conven-tions also had to reject all Civil War debts.

The former Confederate states, for the most part,met Johnson’s conditions. While the Southern statesorganized their new governments and elected peopleto Congress, Johnson began granting pardons tothousands of Southerners.

By the time Congress gathered for its next session inDecember 1865, Johnson’s plan was well underway.Many members of Congress were astonished andangered when they realized that Southern voters hadelected to Congress many former Confederate officersand political leaders, including Alexander Stephens,the former vice president of the Confederacy. ManyRadical and moderate Republicans found this unac-ceptable and voted to reject the new Southern mem-bers of Congress.

Black Codes The election of former Confederatesto Congress was not the only development thatangered congressional Republicans. The newSouthern state legislatures also passed a series of


The FourteenthAmendment

Key provisions of the FourteenthAmendment (1868) made all persons born inthe United States citizens of both the nationand the state where they resided. States wereprohibited from abridging the rights of citi-zenship or depriving persons of due process and equal protection of the law.The Supreme Court has often cited theFourteenth Amendment when reviewingwhether state or federal laws and actions violate the Constitution. TheCourt continues to do so today.

1896In Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Courtdecided that Jim Crow laws—state-man-dated segregation of public facilities suchas railroad cars—did not violate theFourteenth Amendment. The Court ruledthat separate facilities could be equal andallowed segregation to continue.

1954In Brown v. Board of Education,the Court found that segregatededucation denied minority school-children like Linda Brown (far left)the equal protection of the lawsprovided by the FourteenthAmendment. This decision par-tially reversed Plessy v. Ferguson.

Testing the Fourteenth Amendment✦ 1896 ✦ 1954

laws known as black codes, which severely limitedAfrican Americans’ rights in the South.

The black codes varied from state to state, but theyall seemed intended to keep African Americans in acondition similar to slavery. African Americans weregenerally required to enter into annual labor con-tracts. African American children had to acceptapprenticeships in some states and could be whippedor beaten while serving in these apprenticeships.Several state codes set specific work hours forAfrican Americans and required them to get licensesto work in nonagricultural jobs.

The black codes enraged many Northerners.Gideon Welles, the secretary of the navy, warned,“The entire South seem to be stupid and vindictive,know not their friends, and are pursuing just thecourse which their opponents, the Radicals, desire.”

Summarizing Who did PresidentJohnson blame for the Civil War?

Radical Republicans Take ControlThe election of former Confederates to office and

the introduction of the black codes convinced manymoderate Republicans to join the Radicals in oppos-ing Johnson’s Reconstruction policies. In late 1865,House and Senate Republicans created the Joint

Committee on Reconstruction. Their goal was todevelop their own program for rebuilding the Union.

The Fourteenth Amendment In March 1866, in aneffort to override the black codes, Congress passedthe Civil Rights Act of 1866. The act granted citizen-ship to all persons born in the United States exceptNative Americans. It allowed African Americans toown property and stated that they were to be treatedequally in court. It also gave the federal governmentthe power to sue people who violated those rights.

Fearing that the Civil Rights Act might be over-turned in court, the Republicans introduced the

Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.This amendment granted citizenship to allpersons born or naturalized in the UnitedStates and declared that no state could depriveany person of life, liberty, or property “withoutdue process of law.” It also declared that nostate could deny any person “equal protectionof the laws.”

Increasing violence in the South convincedmoderate Republicans to support the amend-ment. The most dramatic incident occurred inMemphis, Tennessee, in May 1866. White mobs

killed 46 African Americans, and burned hundreds ofblack homes, churches, and schools. Congress passedthe amendment in June 1866 and sent it to the statesfor ratification.

The Election of 1866 President Johnson attackedthe Fourteenth Amendment and made it the majorissue of the 1866 congressional elections. He hopedNorthern voters would turn against the RadicalRepublicans and elect a new majority in Congressthat would support his plan for Reconstruction.

As the election campaign got under way, moreviolence erupted in the South. In July 1866, a whitemob attacked delegates to aconvention in New Orleanssupporting voting rights forAfrican Americans. AsJohnson attacked RadicalRepublicans, Republicansresponded by accusingDemocrats of being traitorsand starting the Civil War.When the votes werecounted, the Republicansachieved an overwhelmingvictory, winning an approxi-mate three-to-one majorityin Congress.

Reading Check

Student WebActivity Visit theAmerican Vision Website at tav.glencoe.comand click on StudentWeb Activities—Chapter 12 for anactivity onReconstruction.

HISTORY


1963In Gideon v. Wainright, theSupreme Court ruled that thestate of Florida had violated thedue process clause when itrefused to appoint a lawyer torepresent Clarence Gideon(right). The ruling extended theBill of Rights to state courts.

2000In the disputed presidential race betweenGeorge W. Bush and Al Gore, the SupremeCourt decided a crucial case based on the Four-teenth Amendment. Justices argued that a lackof uniform standards for hand recounts ofballots in Florida would violate the equal pro-tection of all the state’s voters. The decisionallowed Bush to claim a controversial victory.

✦ 1963 ✦ 2000

http://www.glencoe.com/qe/qe40.php?&st=354&pt=2&bk=16

Military Reconstruction In March 1867, Con-gressional Republicans passed the MilitaryReconstruction Act, which essentially wiped outJohnson’s programs. The act divided the formerConfederacy, except for Tennessee—which had rati-fied the Fourteenth Amendment in 1866—into fivemilitary districts. A Union general was placed incharge of each district.

In the meantime, each former Confederate statehad to hold another constitutional convention todesign a constitution acceptable to Congress. The newstate constitutions had to give the right to vote to alladult male citizens, regardless of their race. After astate had ratified its new constitution, it had to ratifythe Fourteenth Amendment before it would beallowed to elect people to Congress.

With military officerssupervising the registrationof voters, the Southern statesbegan holding elections andorganizing constitutionalconventions. By the end of1868, six former Confederatestates—North Carolina,South Carolina, Florida,Alabama, Louisiana, andArkansas—had met all of therequirements and were read-mitted to the Union.

Impeachment The Repub-licans knew they had thevotes to override any veto oftheir policies, but they alsoknew that President Johnsoncould still interfere with theirplans by refusing to enforcethe laws they passed.Although they distrustedJohnson, Republicans inCongress knew that Secretaryof War Edwin M. Stantonagreed with their programand would enforce it. Theyalso trusted General UlyssesS. Grant, the head of thearmy, to support the policiesof Congress.

To prevent Johnson frombypassing Grant or firing

Stanton, Congress passed the Command of the ArmyAct and the Tenure of Office Act. The Command ofthe Army Act required all orders from the presidentto go through the headquarters of the general of thearmy—Grant’s headquarters. The Tenure of OfficeAct required the Senate to approve the removal ofany government official, including Stanton, whoseappointment had required the Senate’s consent.

Determined to challenge the Tenure of Office Act,Johnson fired Stanton on February 21, 1868. Stantonbarricaded himself inside his office and refused toleave. Three days later, the House of Representativesvoted to impeach Johnson, meaning that they chargedhim with “high crimes and misdemeanors” in office.The main charge against Johnson was that he had bro-ken the law by refusing to uphold the Tenure of OfficeAct. Also, because Johnson had removed four com-manders in the Southern military districts who sup-ported the Republicans, the House charged him withattempting to undermine the Reconstruction program.


80°W90°W

30°N

40°N

TROPIC OF CANCER

AtlanticOcean

Gulf of Mexico

1870TEX.

1868ARK.

1868LA.

1870MISS. 1868

ALA.

1870GA.

1868FLA.

1868S.C.

1868N.C.

1870VA.

(not part of a military district)

TENN. 1866N. MEX.TERR.

UNORG.TERR.

MO.

ILL.

IOWA

WIS.MINN.

KANS.COLO. TERR.

MICH.

IND.OHIO

KY.

W.VA.

MD.DEL.

PA. N.J.

N.Y.CANADA

MEXICO

N

S

EW

Lambert Equal-Area projection500 kilometers0

500 miles0

Military Districts, 1867

1. Interpreting Maps Only one former Confederate statewas not part of a military district. What was it?

2. Applying Geography Skills How many years after thewar was the last Southern state readmitted to the Union?

Military District Commander

General John Schofield

General Daniel Sickles

General John Pope

General Edward Ord

General Philip Sheridan

1870 Date of readmission to union



Checking for Understanding1. Define: black codes, impeach.2. Identify: Civil Rights Act, Fourteenth

Amendment, Military ReconstructionAct, Tenure of Office Act.

3. Evaluate why the congressional elec-tion of 1866 was significant to theRadical Republicans.

Reviewing Themes4. Civic Rights and Responsibilities

What actions by the RadicalRepublicans were intended to protectthe civil rights of African Americans?

Critical Thinking5. Evaluating Do you think Presidents

Lincoln and Johnson were wise in notseeking harsh treatment of theSouthern states? Why or why not?

6. Taking Notes Use an outline similar tothe one below to list the major eventsof congressional Reconstruction.

Analyzing Visuals7. Analyzing Maps Study the map of

Military Districts on page 394. Then listthe Confederate states that werereadmitted to the Union in 1868, theearliest year for any such state to gainreadmission.

8. Persuasive Writing Imagine that youare a citizen during Andrew Johnson’sadministration. Write a letter to a mem-ber of Congress urging him to voteeither for or against Johnson’s impeach-ment. Include reasons for your position.

As provided in the Constitution, the Senate thenput the president on trial. If two-thirds of the senatorsfound the president guilty of the charges, he would beremoved from office. For more than two months,amid intense public excitement, the Senate debatedthe president’s fate. On May 16, 1868, the Senatevoted 35 to 19 that Johnson was guilty of high crimesand misdemeanors—just one vote short of what wasneeded for conviction. Seven Republican senatorsjoined with the Democrats in refusing to convictJohnson. These senators believed that it would set adangerous precedent to impeach a president simplybecause he did not agree with congressional policies.

The Election of 1868 Although Johnson remainedin office, the impeachment stripped him of what littlepower he had left. Demoralized, he finished his termquietly and did not run for election in 1868. The logi-cal candidate for the Republicans was General Grant,the most popular war hero in the North. In 1868 theRepublican convention unanimously nominatedGrant to run for president.

During the campaign, ongoing violence in theSouth convinced many Northern voters that theSouth could not be trusted to reorganize its state gov-ernments without military supervision. At the sametime, the presence of Union troops in the Southenabled African Americans to vote in large numbers.As a result, Grant won six Southern states and mostof the Northern states. The Republicans retainedlarge majorities in both houses of Congress.

The Fifteenth Amendment With their majoritysecurely established and a trusted president in office,congressional Republicans moved rapidly to continue

their Reconstruction program. Recognizing theimportance of African American suffrage, theRepublican-led Congress passed the FifteenthAmendment to the Constitution. This amendmentdeclared that the right to vote “shall not be denied . . .on account of race, color, or previous condition ofservitude.” By March 1870, enough states had ratifiedthe amendment to make it part of the Constitution.

Radical Reconstruction had a dramatic impact onthe South, particularly in the short term. It changedSouthern politics by bringing hundreds of thousandsof African Americans into the political process for thefirst time. It also began to change Southern society. As itdid so, it angered many white Southerners, who beganto fight back against the federal government’s policies.

Identifying What two laws did theRadical Republicans pass to reduce presidential power?

Reading Check

Expanding the Nation An important diplomaticachievement during President Andrew Johnson’sadministration was the purchase of Alaska in 1867.Secretary of State William H. Seward orchestrated thedeal, buying the vast expanse of wilderness fromRussia for $7.2 million. Initially, the public ridiculedthe purchase. Critics labeledthe newly acquired territory“Seward’s Icebox.” Eventually,Americans recognized thevalue of the region, whichturned out to be rich in suchresources as oil and gold.

I. Johnson Takes OfficeA.B.C.

II.A.B.C.

N O T E B O O K

V E R B A T I MV E R B A T I M

EyewitnessEyewitnessWILLIAM H. CROOKE served as a bodyguard for President AndrewJohnson and witnessed the decisive vote by Edmund Ross during theimpeachment trial in the Senate on Saturday, May 16, 1868. Here,Crooke recalls the scene:

The tension grew. There was a weary number of names before that ofRoss was reached. When the clerk called it, and Ross [senator fromKansas] stood forth, the crowd held its breath.

‘Not guilty,’ called the senator from Kansas. It was like the babbling [sic]over of a caldron. The Radical Senators, who had been laboring withRoss only a short time before, turned to him in rage; all over the housepeople began to stir. The rest of the roll-call was listened to with lessenedinterest. . . . When it was over, and the result—35 to 19—was announced,there was a wild outburst, chiefly groans of anger and disappointment,for the friends of the president were in the minority.

It was all over in a moment, and Mr. Johnson was ordering somewhiskey from the cellar. [President Johnson was not convicted.]

“If the South is ever to be made a safe Republic, let herlands be cultivated by the toil of the owners, or the free labor of intelligent citizens.”THADDEUS STEVENS,

arguing for land redistribution in the South during Reconstruction

“In the South, the [Civil] war iswhat A.D. is elsewhere; they date from it.” MARK TWAIN,from Life on the Mississippi“For we colored people did notknow how to be free and the whitepeople did not know how to have afree colored person about them.”HOUSTON HARTSFIELD HOLLOWAY,

freedman, on the problem ofReconstruction

“As in the war, freedom was the keynote of victory, so now is universal suffrage the keynoteof Reconstruction.”ELIZABETH CADY STANTON,

arguing for universal suffrage, 1867

“We thought we was goin’ to bericher than the white folks, ’causewe was stronger and knowed howto work, and the whites didn’t andthey didn’t have us to work forthem anymore. But it didn’t turn outthat way. We soon found out thatfreedom could make folks proudbut it didn’t make ’em rich.”FELIX HAYWOOD,

former slave

While he was neither “first in war, first in peace” nor “first in the hearts of hiscountrymen,” President Andrew Johnson left his mark on history:

� First to have never attended school

� First to be impeached

� First to be elected to the Senate bothbefore and after being president

� First to host a queen at the White House

� First tailor/president who made his own clothes

� Last not to attend successor’s inauguration

� Most vetoes overridden

� Father of the Homestead Act

P R E S I D E N T I A L S U P E R L A T I V E SP R E S I D E N T I A L S U P E R L A T I V E S

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R E B U I L D I N G T H E N A T I O N : 1 8 6 5 – 1 8 7 7

MilestonesREEXAMINED. THE ROMANTICSTORY OF POCAHONTAS, basedon the written account of CaptainJohn Smith. The London Spectator,reporting on the work of Mr. E.Neils, debunks Smith’s tale of theyoung Pocahontas flinging herselfbetween him and her father’s club.The young girl was captured andheld prisoner on board a Britishship and then forcibly married to Mr. John Rolfe. CommentsAppleton’s Journal in 1870: “All thatis heroic, picturesque, or romanticin history seems to be rapidlydisappearing under the microscopicscrutiny of modern critics.”

FOUNDED, 1877. NICODEMUS,KANSAS, by six African Americanand two white Kansans. On thehigh, arid plains of GrahamCounty, the founders hope to establish a community ofhomesteading former slaves.

TOPPED, 1875. THE ONE MILLIONMARK FOR POPULATION, by NewYork City. New York is the ninthcity in the history of the world toachieve a population level ofmore than one million. The firstwas Rome in 133 B.C.

EXTINGUISHED, 1871. THEPESHTIGO FOREST FIRE inWisconsin. The conflagrationcaused 2,682 deaths. The Peshtigotragedy has been overshadowedby the Great Chicago Fire of thesame year, which killed 300.

PUBLISHED, 1865. DRUM TAPS,by Walt Whitman. Based on hisexperiences as a hospital volunteer,Whitman’s new poems chroniclethe horrors of the Civil War.

THROWN, 1867. FIRSTCURVEBALL, by William A.“Candy” Cummings of theBrooklyn Excelsiors. In a gameagainst Harvard, pitcherCummings put a spin on the ballto make it swerve downward.Most spectators thought the ball’scurved path was an illusion.

N U M B E R S(Re)inventing AmericaPatents awarded to African American inventors during the Reconstruction period:

ALEXANDER ASHBOURNE biscuit cutter

LANDROW BELL locomotive smokestack

LEWIS HOWARD LATIMER water closets (toilets) for railway cars, electric lamp with cotton filament, dough kneader

THOMAS ELKINS refrigerator with cooling coils

THOMAS J. MARTIN fire extinguisher

ELIJAH McCOY automatic oil cup and 57 other devices and machineparts, including an ironing board and lawn sprinkler

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Pocahontas

Refrigerators keep foods cool.

Freedmen’s classroom

$7,200,000Purchase price paid by U.S. toRussia for Alaska in 1867

2¢ Price paid per acre for Alaska

$30 Boarding and tuition, per quarter, at Saint FrancesAcademy, boarding school forAfrican American girls in Baltimore,Maryland. Students come fromstates as distant as Florida andMissouri for an education“productive of the happiest effectsamong individuals and in society.”

$5 Extra charge for instruction in embroidery

$25 Extra charge for instruction in making wax fruit

$3 Tuition, per quarter, for local “day scholars”

5,407 Number of pupils in Mississippi Freedmen’sschools in 1866

50 Number of schools established for freed AfricanAmericans in Mississippi in 1866

20% Percentage of stateincome of Mississippi spent onartificial arms and legs for warveterans in 1866


1866Ku Klux Klan formed; Fisk School, later Fisk University, founded in Tennessee


✦ 1868 ✦ 1872

Republican Rule in the SouthBy late 1870, all of the former Confederate states had rejoined the Union under the

congressional Reconstruction plan. Throughout the South, the Republican Party tookpower and introduced several major reforms. Most white Southerners scorned theRepublicans, however, partly because the party included Northerners and AfricanAmericans. Southerners also believed the Union army had forced the new Republicangovernments on them.

On a moonlit December night in the late 1860s, Essic Harris, a formerly enslaved man,woke suddenly after hearing loud noises outside his small home in Chatham County, NorthCarolina. He peered out his bedroom window and a wave of terror rushed over him. Thirtymen in white robes and hoods stood around the house. Many held shotguns. They weremembers of the Ku Klux Klan, an organization that used violence and intimidation to forceAfrican Americans and white Republicans out of Southern politics. They had come to harassHarris, who was active in local politics.

As Klan members began firing shotgun blasts at his home, Harris pushed his family into acorner and grabbed his own shotgun. He rushed to the front door and fired back, thenshouted to one of his childen, “Boy, bring my five-shooter!” Harris had no such gun, but hisbluff worked. The Klan members cursed Harris and rode off, but they would return. They con-tinued harassing Harris until he abandoned his home and moved to another county.

—adapted from The Fiery Cross

Republican Rule

Early KKK robe and hood

Main IdeaUnder Republican rule, the South beganto rebuild. African Americans gained newopportunities, and some Southernersorganized to resist the Republicans.

Key Terms and Namescarpetbagger, scalawag, Joseph Rainey,Hiram Revels, graft, Ku Klux Klan Act

Reading StrategyOrganizing As you read about Southernattempts to rebuild, complete a graphicorganizer to identify how AfricanAmericans helped govern theReconstruction South.

Reading Objectives• Discuss Republican rule in the South

during Reconstruction.• Describe how African Americans

worked to improve their lives.

Section ThemeGroups and Institutions Despite opposi-tion, African Americans took active rolesin politics during Reconstruction.

1870First Enforcement Act passed; first AfricanAmericans elected to Congress

1871Ku Klux Klan Actpassed

'African

Americans´Political Roles

✦ 1866 ✦ 1870

Carpetbaggers and Scalawags As Reconstructionbegan many Northerners moved to the South. Quitea few were eventually elected or appointed to posi-tions in the South’s new state governments.Southerners, particularly Democratic Party support-ers, referred to these newcomers as carpetbaggersbecause some arrived with suitcases made of carpetfabric. Many local residents viewed the Northernersas intruders seeking to exploit the South.

Some carpetbaggers did seek to takeadvantage of the war-torn region.Others, however, hoped to find moreopportunities than existed for them inthe North and West. Some simplywanted to help. Many Northernschoolteachers, for example, movedsouth to help educate whites andAfrican Americans.

While many Southerners despisedcarpetbaggers, they also disliked white Southernerswho worked with the Republicans and supportedReconstruction. They called these peoplescalawags—an old Scotch-Irish term for weak,underfed, worthless animals.

The scalawags were a diverse group. Some wereformer Whigs who had grudgingly joined theDemocratic Party before the war. Many were ownersof small farms who did not want the wealthy

planters to regain power. Still others were businesspeople who favored Republican plans for developingthe South’s economy.

African Americans Enter Politics Thousands offormerly enslaved people also took part in governingthe South. Having gained the right to vote, AfricanAmericans quickly began organizing politically. “Younever saw a people more excited on the subject of

politics than are the [AfricanAmericans] of the South,” wrote oneplantation manager.

At first, African American leaders inthe South came from those who hadbeen educated before the war. Theseincluded artisans, shopkeepers, andministers. Many had lived in the Northand fought in the Union army. Helpedby the Republican Party, these African

Americans delivered speeches to former plantationworkers, drawing them into politics.

Within a few remarkable years, African Americanswent from enslaved workers to legislators andadministrators on nearly all levels of government.Hundreds of formerly enslaved people served as del-egates to state constitutional conventions. They alsowon election to numerous local offices, from mayorto police chief to school commissioner. Dozens of

i n H i s t o r y

Joseph Rainey 1832–1887At the outbreak of the Civil War,

Joseph Rainey was working as a bar-ber in Georgetown, South Carolina.Less than 10 years later, he becamethe first African American elected tothe U.S. House of Representatives.

Rainey was born to enslaved parentswho bought their freedom in the 1840s.They opened a barbershop, where Raineyworked until the war broke out. After the war,Rainey entered politics, and in 1870 he was elected to the House of Representatives, serving in Congress until 1879.

As the body’s first African American, Rainey found himself the object of intense scrutiny. During this time, he showedconsiderable knowledge of politics and made impressivespeeches in favor of legislation to enforce the FourteenthAmendment and the Ku Klux Klan Act. Throughout his tenurein Congress, Rainey worked tirelessly—both in and out of theHouse chamber—to advance African American civil rights.

Hiram Revels 1822–1901For a man reluctant to enter politics,

Hiram Revels went a long way—becoming the first African American inthe United States Senate. Revels wasborn to free parents in Fayetteville,North Carolina. In 1845 he became a minister in the African MethodistChurch. Soon after, Revels settled inBaltimore, where he worked as a churchpastor and as the principal of an African American school.

After the Civil War, Revels settled in Natchez, Mississippi,where he continued his religious work. At first, Revels expressedreluctance to wade too deeply into politics, but he overcamethis concern and won the respect of both whites and AfricanAmericans. In 1870 Revels was elected to the Senate. The firstAfrican American senator, he served in a subdued manner,speaking much less than other African American members ofCongress. Upon his retirement from the Senate, Revels servedtwice as president of Alcorn University, an African Americancollege in Mississippi.


Carpetbag

African Americans served in Southern state legisla-tures, while 14 were elected to the House ofRepresentatives and 2 to the Senate.

With formerly enslaved people making suchpolitical gains, many Southerners claimed that“Black Republicanism” ruled the South. Such claims,however, were greatly exaggerated. No AfricanAmerican was ever elected governor. In SouthCarolina, where African Americans made up amajority of the population, they did achieve a major-ity in the legislature, but it lasted for only one leg-islative term. African Americans participated ingovernment, but they did not control it.

The Republican Party took power in the Southbecause it also had the support of a large number ofwhite Southerners. Poor white farmers, whoresented the planters and the Democratic Party thatdominated the South before the Civil War, oftenjoined with African American voters to electRepublicans.

Republican Reforms in the South The newlyelected Republican governments in the South quicklyinstituted a number of reforms. They repealed theblack codes and made many more state offices elec-tive. They established state hospitals and institutionsfor orphans, the hearing and visually impaired, andthe mentally ill. They rebuilt roads, railways, andbridges and provided funds for the construction of

new railroads and industries in the South. They alsoestablished a system of public schools.

The Republican reforms did not come withoutcost. Many state governments were forced to borrowmoney and to impose high property taxes to pay forthe repairs and new programs. Many property own-ers, unable to pay these new taxes, lost their land.

Although many Republicans wanted to help theSouth, others were corrupt. One Republican governoradmitted accepting more than $40,000 in bribes.Graft, or gaining money illegally through politics,was common in the South, just as it was in the Northat the time, but it gave Southern Democrats anotherissue that would help them regain power in the 1870s.

Summarizing What three groupshelped elect Republicans in the South during Reconstruction?

African American CommunitiesIn addition to their efforts on the political stage,

African Americans worked to improve their lives inother ways during Reconstruction. Many sought togain an education and establish their own thrivingcommunities.

A Desire to Learn Once they were freed, manyAfrican Americans wanted to get an education. In thefirst years of Reconstruction, the Freedmen’s Bureau,

with the help of Northern charities, estab-lished schools for African Americans acrossthe South. By 1870 some 4,000 schools and9,000 teachers—half of them AfricanAmerican—taught 200,000 formerlyenslaved people of all ages. In the 1870s,Reconstruc-tion governments built a com-prehensive public school system in theSouth, and by 1876 about 40 percent of allAfrican American children (roughly 600,000students) attended school in the region.

Several African American academiesoffering advanced education also beganoperating in the South. These academiesgrew into an important network of AfricanAmerican colleges and universities, includ-ing Fisk University in Tennessee andAtlanta University and Morehouse Collegein Georgia.

Churches and Social OrganizationsWith the same determination they showedin pursuing an education, formerlyenslaved people across the South worked to

Reading Check

Schools for African Americans O.O. Howard, head of the Freedmen’s Bureau, is pictured here (seated, far right) with the students of a Freedmen’s school.


establish their own churches. Religion had longplayed a central role in the lives of many AfricanAmericans, and with the shackles of slavery nowgone, the building of churches quickly began.

Churches served as the center of many AfricanAmerican communities, as they housed schools andhosted social events and political gatherings. In ruralareas, church picnics, festivals, and other activitiesprovided residents with many of their recreationaland social opportunities. In many communities,churches often acted as unofficial courts by promot-ing social values, settling disputes among residents,and disciplining individuals for improper behavior.

African Americans also established thousands ofother organizations to help and support each other.These organizations ranged from burial societiesand debating clubs to drama societies and tradeassociations.

Examining How did education forAfrican Americans change during Reconstruction?

Southern ResistanceAt the same time these changes were taking place,

African Americans faced intense resentment frommany Southern whites. Many Southerners also

Reading Check


Carpetbaggers: Corrupt or Well-Intentioned?

According to Southerners, many carpetbaggers were corruptNortherners who came south to get rich or to get elected. Filmslike Gone with the Wind influenced many generations to acceptthis view. The opposing interpretation argues that Northernerswere not necessarily corrupt but often simply wanted to makenew lives or aid African Americans.

In an 1871 question-and-answer session beforeCongress, William Manning Lowe, a formerConfederate colonel and Alabama lawyer, criticizedhis state’s U.S. senators, Willard Warner and GeorgeSpencer. Both were originally from Northern states:

“[A] carpet-bagger is generally understood to be aman who comes here for office sake, of an ignorant orbad character, and who seeks to array the Negroesagainst the whites . . . in order to get office throughthem. . . . (The term) does not apply to all northern menwho come here. . . . We regard any republican or anyman as a man of bad character, whether he is native orforeign born, who seeks to obtain office from theNegroes by exciting their passions and prejudices againstthe whites. We think that a very great evil—very great.We are intimately associated with the Negro race; wehave a large number in the country, and we think itessential that we shall live in peace together. . . . No, sir;the term is never applied to a democrat under any cir-cumstances. . . .“

—quoted in Reconstruction: Opposing Viewpoints

Learning From History1. Evaluating Which of these two

viewpoints most accuratelydescribes carpetbaggers? Why?

2. Analyzing Choose one of the view-points above. Write three questionsyou would like to ask your chosenspeaker.

In 1871 Oliver Morton, a Radical Republican senatorfrom Indiana, defended Northerners who relocatedto the South, claiming they were beneficial to thatregion:

“When the war ended many men who had been inthe Union army remained in the South, intending tomake it their home. . . . Others emigrated from theNorth, taking with them large capital, believing that theSouth presented fine prospects for business. . . . It sohappened, and was, in fact, necessary, that many ofthese men should be elected to office. This was theirright and the natural result of the circumstances bywhich they were surrounded. . . . Emigration is a part ofthe genius of the American people. . . . it is an odiousand anti-American doctrine that a man has no right to beelected to an office in a State because he was not born init. . . . What the South needs is emigrants with carpetbags well filled with capital to revive industry. . . . “

—quoted in Reconstruction: Opposing Viewpoints

despised the “Black Republican” governments,which they believed vindictive Northerners hadforced upon them.

The Ku Klux Klan Unable to strike openly at theRepublicans running their states, some Southernersorganized secret societies. The largest of these groupswas the Ku Klux Klan. Started in 1866 by formerConfederate soldiers in Pulaski, Tennessee, the Klanspread rapidly throughout the South. Its goal was todrive out the Union troops and carpetbaggers andregain control of the South for the Democratic Party.

Hooded, white-robed Klan members rode inbands at night terrorizing supporters of theRepublican governments. They broke up Republicanmeetings, drove Freedmen’s Bureau officials out oftheir communities, burned African American homes,schools, and churches, and attempted to keep AfricanAmericans and white Republicans from voting.

Republicans and African Americans formed theirown militia groups and fought back. As the violenceperpetrated by both sides increased, one AfricanAmerican organization sent a report to the federalgovernment asking for help:

“We believe you are not familiar with the descrip-tion of the Ku Klux Klan’s riding nightly over thecountry, going from county to county, and in thecounty towns spreading terror wherever they go byrobbing, whipping, ravishing, and killing our peoplewithout provocation. . . . We pray you will take somesteps to remedy these evils.”—from the Records of the U.S. Senate, 42nd Congress

The Enforcement Acts The Ku Klux Klan’s activi-ties outraged President Grant and congressionalRepublicans. In 1870 and 1871, Congress passedthree Enforcement Acts to combat the violence in theSouth. The first act made it a federal crime to inter-fere with a citizen’s right to vote. The second put fed-eral elections under the supervision of federalmarshals. The third act, also known as the Ku KluxKlan Act, outlawed the activities of the Klan. Localauthorities and federal agents, acting under theEnforcement Acts, arrested more than 3,000 Klanmembers throughout the South. Southern juries,however, convicted only about 600, and fewer stillserved any time in prison.

Describing Why did Congress passthe Enforcement Acts?

Reading Check


Checking for Understanding1. Define: carpetbagger, scalawag, graft.2. Identify: Joseph Rainey, Hiram Revels,

Ku Klux Klan Act.3. Describe how some white Southerners

reacted to the Republican Party gainingpower in the South.

Reviewing Themes4. Groups and Institutions How did the

establishment of schools, churches, andsocial organizations benefit AfricanAmericans during Reconstruction?

Critical Thinking5. Analyzing Why did white Southerners

resent both carpetbaggers andscalawags?

6. Categorizing Use a graphic organizersimilar to the one below to identifyboth the negative and positive aspectsof carpetbag rule.

Analyzing Visuals7. Analyzing Photographs Study the

photograph of the Freedmen’s schoolon page 400. By 1876, around howmany children attended schools such asthe one pictured here?

8. Descriptive Writing Imagine you areliving in the postwar South. You areeither a Northerner who has recentlymoved there or a longtime Southernresident. Write a friend and describeSouthern life as you see it.

Carpetbag Rule

Positives Negatives


Enforcement Efforts In 1871 President Grant signed an anti–Ku KluxKlan Bill. What actions did the Klan take to interfere with AfricanAmerican voting rights?

History

Ethelbert Barksdale could hardly contain his excitement as the 1875 election campaignin Mississippi wound down. For the past several years, Democrats had steadily regainedpower throughout the South, winning back various local and state offices from Republicansthrough political organizing and through intimidation and harassment of African Americansand other Republican supporters.

Barksdale, the editor of the Weekly Clarion, a Democratic Mississippi newspaper, nowwatched with joy and anticipation as Democrats prepared to recapture numerous political

offices in his state. To Barksdale and many other white Southerners, theefforts by the Democrats to regain political control was nothing less than arevolution to free the South from despised Republican rule. “When a govern-ment is oppressed with very bad rulers, and national affairs are tending

toward corruption, the people . . . bear these grievances for a long time hoping that areformation may come,” he wrote on the eve of Election Day.

—adapted from Reconstruction and Redemption in the South

1872Grant reelected

✦ 1874 ✦ 1878

The Grant AdministrationAs commander of the Union forces, Ulysses S. Grant had led the North to victory in

the Civil War. His reputation had then carried him into the White House in the elec-tion of 1868. Unfortunately, Grant had little experience in politics. He believed that the

ReconstructionCollapses

Main IdeaAfter a little more than a decade,Reconstruction ended shortly after theelection of 1876.

Key Terms and Names“sin tax,” Horace Greeley, “WhiskeyRing,” Panic of 1873, Compromise of1877, tenant farmer, sharecropper, furnishing merchant, crop lien, debtpeonage

Reading StrategyTaking Notes As you read about theGrant administration and the end ofReconstruction, use the major headingsof the section to create an outline similarto the one below.

Reading Objectives• Discuss the policies and problems of

Grant’s administration.• Explain how Reconstruction ended,

and contrast the New South and the Old South.

Section ThemeEconomic Factors After Reconstructionthe South tried to build a new economy,but many problems remained.

✦ 1876

1873Jay Cooke and Companydeclares bankruptcy

1875“Whiskey Ring”scandal breaks

1877Hayes namedpresident


I. The Grant AdministrationA.B.C.

II.A.B.

✦ 1872

Ethelbert Barksdale

president’s role was to carry out the laws and leavethe development of policy to Congress. Thisapproach pleased the Radical Republicans inCongress, but it left the president weak and ineffec-tive when dealing with other issues. Eventually,Grant’s lack of political experience helped to dividethe Republican Party and to undermine public sup-port for Reconstruction.

The Republicans Split During Grant’s first term inoffice, the Republican-controlled Congress continuedto enforce Reconstruction. At the same time,Congress expanded the programs it had introducedduring the Civil War to promote commerce andindustry. It kept tariffs high, tightened banking regu-lations, promised to repay its debts with gold and notpaper money, and increased federal spending on rail-roads, port facilities, and the national postal system.

The Republican Congress also kept in place thetaxes on alcohol and tobacco that had been introducedas emergency measures during the war. These taxes,nicknamed “sin taxes,” helped the government pay offthe bonds that had been issued to pay for the Civil War.

Democrats attacked these Republican economicpolicies, arguing they benefited the wealthy, such asgovernment bondholders, at the expense of the poor,

who paid most of the sin taxes. They argued thatwealthy Americans were gaining too much influencein Grant’s administration.

Some Republicans, known as Liberal Republicans,agreed with the Democrats. They were concernedthat men who were in office to make money and sell influence were beginning to dominate theRepublican Party. The Liberal Republicans tried toprevent Grant from being nominated for a secondterm. When that failed, they left the Republican Partyin 1872 and nominated their own candidate, HoraceGreeley, the influential newspaper publisher.

To attract Southern support, the LiberalRepublicans promised to pardon nearly all formerConfederates and to remove Union troops from theSouth. As a result, the Democratic Party, believingthat only a united effort would defeat Grant, alsonominated Greeley. Despite the split in his own party,Grant won the election easily.

Scandals Mar Grant’s Second Term DuringGrant’s second term, a series of scandals badly hurthis administration’s reputation. In one scandal,Grant’s secretary of war, William Belknap, wasfound to have accepted bribes from merchantsoperating at army posts in the West. He wasimpeached but resigned before the Senate could tryhim. Then, in 1875, the “Whiskey Ring” scandalbroke. A group of government officials and dis-tillers in St. Louis cheated the government out ofmillions of dollars by filing false tax reports. It wasreported that Orville E. Babcock, Grant’s privatesecretary, was in this group, although the chargeswere never proven.

The Panic of 1873 In addition to dealing withpolitical scandals, Grant and the nation endured asevere economic crisis that began during Grant’ssecond term. The turmoil started in 1873 when aseries of bad railroad investments forced the power-ful banking firm of Jay Cooke and Company todeclare bankruptcy. A wave of fear known as thePanic of 1873 quickly spread though the nation’sfinancial community. The panic prompted scores ofsmaller banks to close and the stock market to plum-met. Thousands of businesses shut down, and tensof thousands of Americans were thrown out of work.

The scandals in the Grant administration and thedeepening economic depression hurt theRepublicans politically. In the 1874 midterm elec-tions, the Democrats won control of the House ofRepresentatives and made gains in the Senate.These newly elected Democrats immediately


Political Corruption A cartoonist shows the Grant administration looking forthose guilty of fraud in a whiskey barrel—symbol of the “Whiskey Ring.” How fardoes the cartoonist believe the corruption goes?

Analyzing Political Cartoons

launched investigations into the scandals, furtherembarrassing Grant and the Republicans.

Explaining Why did the LiberalRepublicans oppose President Grant?

Reconstruction EndsThe rising power of the Democrats in Congress

meant that enforcing Reconstruction policies becamemore difficult. At the same time, many Northernerswere weary of the decade-long struggle to impose anew society on the South. They were more concernedwith their own economic problems than with thepolitical situation in the South.

Democrats “Redeem” the South Throughout the1870s, Southern Democrats had worked to regain con-trol of their state and local governments fromRepublicans. Southern militia groups intimidatedAfrican American and white Republican voters, whilesome Democrats resorted to various forms of electionfraud, such as stuffing ballot boxes, bribing votecounters, and stealing ballot boxes in Republicanprecincts. Southern Democrats also called on allwhites to help “redeem”—or save—the South from“Black Republican” rule.

By appealing to whiteracism and defining the elec-tions as a struggle betweenwhites and African Americans,Democrats were able to winback the support of white own-ers of small farms who hadsupported the Republicans. By1876 the Democrats had takencontrol of all Southern statelegislatures except those ofLouisiana, South Carolina, andFlorida. In those states, thelarge number of AfricanAmerican voters, protected byUnion troops, were able tokeep the Republicans in power.

TURNING POINT

The Compromise of 1877With Grant’s reputation dam-aged by scandals, the Re-publicans decided not tonominate him for a third termin 1876. Instead, they nomi-nated Rutherford B. Hayes, a

former governor of Ohio. Many Americans regardedHayes as a moral man untainted by scandal or corrup-tion. Hayes wanted to end Radical Reconstruction.

The Democrats responded by nominating SamuelTilden, a wealthy corporate lawyer and former gov-ernor of New York who had tried to end the corrup-tion in New York City’s government. On ElectionDay, Tilden clearly won 184 electoral votes, 1 short ofa majority. Hayes clearly won 165 electoral votes,leaving 20 votes in dispute. Nineteen of the voteswere in the three Southern states Republicans stillcontrolled: Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida.There had been so much election fraud on both sidesthat no one could tell who had won.

To resolve the situation, Congress appointed acommission of 15 persons made up equally of mem-bers of the House, Senate, and Supreme Court. Thecommission had 8 Republicans and 7 Democrats andeventually voted along party lines—voting 8 to 7 togive the electoral votes to Hayes. The commission’srecommendations, however, were not binding if bothhouses of Congress rejected them.

After much debate, several Southern Democratsjoined with Republicans in the Democrat-controlledHouse of Representatives and voted to accept thecommission’s findings, giving the election to Hayes,

Reading Check


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The Election of 1876

DisputedTerritories

Hayes 185 4,036,572 Republican

Democrat4,284,020184

CandidateElectoral

VotePopular

VotePolitical

Party

Tilden

Presidential Election, 18761. Interpreting Maps In which stateswere election results disputed?

2. Applying Geography Skills In whatregions of the country did Hayes winsupport?


Atlanta Pride The war devastated Georgia’s capital, but this painting by Horace James Bradley portrays the city’srevival. Bradley called his painting Commercial Center of Atlanta. What elements of the painting show thatAtlanta was indeed a commercial center again?

History Through Art

the Republican. Noting that Hayes could not havewon without the support of Southern Democrats,many concluded that a deal had been made. This iswhy the outcome of the election is known as theCompromise of 1877. Historians are not sure if a dealreally took place or what its exact terms were. Thecompromise reportedly included a promise by theRepublicans to pull federal troops out of the South, ifHayes was elected.

In April 1877, after assuming the presidency, Hayesdid pull federal troops out of the South. Without sol-diers to support them, the two remaining Republicangovernments in South Carolina and Louisianaquickly collapsed. The Southern Democrats had“redeemed” the South. Reconstruction was now over.

Explaining What major issue wassettled by the Compromise of 1877?

A “New South” ArisesDuring his inaugural speech in March 1877,

President Hayes expressed his desire to move the coun-try beyond the quarrelsome years of Reconstruction, in

part by putting an end to the nation’s regional distinc-tions. He hoped to narrow the divisions of sectionalismthat had long plagued the nation:

“Let me assure my countrymen of the SouthernStates that it is my earnest desire to regard and pro-mote their truest interests—the interests of the whiteand colored people both equally—and to put forthmy best efforts in behalf of a civil policy which willforever wipe out . . . the distinction between Northand South, . . . that we may have not merely a unitedNorth or a united South, but a united country.”

—quoted in Rutherford B. Hayes

Many Southern leaders realized the South couldnever return to the pre–Civil War agricultural econ-omy dominated by the planter elite. Instead, theseSoutherners called for the creation of a “NewSouth”—a phrase coined by Henry Grady, editor of the Atlanta Constitution. They were convincedthat the region had to develop a strong industrialeconomy.

Reading Check



Checking for Understanding1. Define: “sin tax,” tenant farmer, share-

cropper, furnishing merchant, crop lien,debt peonage.

2. Identify: Horace Greeley, “WhiskeyRing,” Panic of 1873, Compromise of1877.

Reviewing Themes3. Economic Factors What factors con-

tributed to improving the economy ofthe South after Reconstruction?

Critical Thinking4. Analyzing How did the disputed elec-

tion of 1876 affect Reconstructionpolicy?

5. Organizing Use a graphic organizersimilar to the one below to identify theproblems that President Grant’s admin-istration faced.

Analyzing Visuals6. Interpreting Art Study the Horace

Bradley painting on page 406. Whatdetails did the artist include in thispainting to suggest dynamic activity?

7. Expository Writing Write a shortessay explaining what you consider tobe the three most important events ofthe Reconstruction period. Explain whyyou chose these events.

New Industries An alliance between powerfulwhite Southerners and Northern financiers broughtgreat economic changes to some parts of the South.Northern capital helped to build railroads, and by1890, almost 40,000 miles of railroad track criss-crossed the South—nearly four times the amountthere in 1860. Southern industry also grew. A thrivingiron and steel industry developed aroundBirmingham, Alabama. In North Carolina, tobaccoprocessing became big business, and cotton millsappeared in numerous small towns.

In other ways, however, the South changed little.Despite its industrial growth, the region remainedlargely agrarian. As late as 1900, only 6 percent of theSouthern labor force worked in manufacturing. Formany African Americans in particular, the end ofReconstruction meant a return to the “Old South,”where they had little political power and were forcedto labor under difficult and unfair conditions.

Sharecropping The collapse of Reconstructionended African American hopes of being granted theirown land in the South. Instead, many returned toplantations owned by whites, where they eitherworked for wages or became tenant farmers, payingrent for the land they farmed. Most tenant farmerseventually became sharecroppers. Sharecroppers didnot pay their rent in cash. Instead, they paid a shareof their crops—often as much as one-half to two-thirds—to cover their rent as well as the cost of theseed, fertilizer, tools, and animals they needed.

Many sharecroppers also needed more seed andother supplies than their landlords could provide. As aresult, country stores and local suppliers, known asfurnishing merchants, provided sharecroppers withthe supplies they needed on credit but at interest rates

often as high as 40 percent. To make sure sharecropperspaid their debts, laws allowed merchants to put lienson their crops. These crop liens meant that the mer-chant could take some of the crops to cover the debts.

The crop lien system and high interest rates ledmany into a financial condition called debt peonage.Debt peonage trapped sharecroppers on the landbecause they could not make enough money to pay offtheir debts and leave, nor could they declare bank-ruptcy. Failure to pay off debts could lead to imprison-ment or forced labor. The Civil War had ended slavery,but the failure of Reconstruction left many AfricanAmericans trapped in economic circumstances wherethey lost much of their newly gained freedom.

Summarizing What alliancebrought about an economic rebuilding of the South?

Reading Check

Problems Faced byGrant’s Administration

Sharecroppers at Work This family of formerly enslaved laborers still faceda difficult existence in the postwar South. Unable to purchase their own farm-land, sharecroppers often amassed large amounts of debt. To whom did thesharecroppers owe the most money?

History

Reviewing Key Facts15. Identify: Wade-Davis Bill, Freedmen’s Bureau, Military

Reconstruction Act, Tenure of Office Act, Panic of 1873.

16. What was the main conflict between Presidents Lincoln andJohnson and Congress over Reconstruction?

17. How did the Civil War affect the South’s economy?18. How did the black codes prevent African Americans from

achieving equality?

19. How did African Americans seek to improve their lives oncethey gained their freedom?

20. What supposedly were the provisions of the Compromise of1877?

21. What motivated Radical Republicans to pass civil rights legis-lation on behalf of African Americans?

22. Who was Thaddeus Stevens, and what role did he play inReconstruction?

23. When was the Ku Klux Klan formed, and what was its goal?24. What did President Johnson do that convinced Congress that

he was not carrying out the laws Congress had passed forReconstruction?

25. What was the goal of the Tenure of Office Act?26. What constitutional amendments were Southern states asked

to ratify before they could reenter the Union?

27. What tactics did Southern Democrats use to try to regainpolitical power?

Critical Thinking28. Analyzing Themes: Civic Rights and Responsibilities Why

did the end of slavery not bring about equality for AfricanAmericans?

29. Forming an Opinion In your opinion, whose approach toReconstruction was more appropriate—that of PresidentsLincoln and Johnson or that of Congress? Why do you think so?

30. Synthesizing Why did African Americans in the 1870s losesome of the political power that they had gained duringReconstruction?

31. Making Inferences Who were the “Black Republicans,” andwhat did this name imply?

32. Evaluating What were the main features of Lincoln’s planfor Reconstruction? Do you think his plan would haveworked? Why or why not?

33. Analyzing Some leaders, both Northern and Southern,argued that the South should develop a different kind ofeconomy after the Civil War. What kind of economy did theymean?

1. Reconstruction

2. amnesty

3. pocket veto

4. freedmen

5. black codes

6. impeach

7. carpetbagger

8. scalawag

9. graft

10. “sin tax”

11. sharecropper

12. furnishing merchant

13. crop lien

14. debt peonage

Reviewing Key TermsOn a sheet of paper, use each of these terms in a sentence.

Needs of the Postwar South

Plans

Opposition

End

• Land, infrastructure, and economy needed to be rebuilt• Refugees and freed African Americans needed assistance

Wade-Davis Bill• Required majority of adult white men in the South to pledge

loyalty to the Union• Each state’s new constitution had to abolish slavery and deprive

former Confederate leaders of voting and public service rights• Killed by Lincoln’s pocket veto

Johnson’s Plan• Amnesty for those taking an oath of loyalty to the Union• Required states to abolish slavery

Congressional Reconstruction• Passed the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments• Military Reconstruction Act divided South into five military districts• New state constitutions had to guarantee voting rights• Military rule protected voting rights for African Americans• Empowered African Americans in government and supported

their education

Southern Reactions to Federal Reconstruction• Southerners believed Northern Republicans were taking advantage

of the weakened South• Some Southerners were barred from government service; others

refused to participate• Formed secret societies to undermine Republican rule• Intimidated African American voters

Reconstruction Comes to a Close• Scandals and economic problems weakened Republican Party• Disputed election of 1876 brought an end to Reconstruction

34. Categorizing Use a graphic organizer similar to the onebelow to list the positive and negative aspects ofReconstruction.

Practicing Skills35. Interpreting Political Cartoons Study the political cartoon

on page 404. Then use the steps you learned on page 390 toanswer the following questions:a. What well-known symbol appears here, and to whom

does it refer during this period?

b. What attitude do you think the cartoonist has aboutpromises of reform? Why do you think so?

Geography and History36. The graph on this page shows agricultural production in the

South from 1860 to 1900. Study the graph and answer thequestions below.a. Interpreting Graphs Which crops surpassed pre–Civil

War levels of production by 1890?

b. Applying Geography Skills What factors do you thinkmight have contributed to increased production in thelate 1800s?

Writing Activity37. Portfolio Writing Choose one of the events of the

Reconstruction period discussed in the chapter. Imagine thatthe radio had been invented at that time. Write a radio newssegment in which you provide information about the eventand your view of it. Include the script for the radio segmentin your portfolio.

Chapter Activities38. Research Project Use library sources to find examples of

political cartoons from the Reconstruction era. Create a dis-play of these cartoons, and write a summary of how theyillustrate the major issues of the time period.

39. Technology Activity: Using the Internet Search theInternet to find information on an aspect of theReconstruction era, such as Johnson’s impeachment or therole of carpetbaggers. Use the information to write a reportto present to your class. In your report, be sure to identifythe authors or sources of your Web sites.


Self-Check QuizVisit the American Vision Web site at tav.glencoe.comand click on Self-Check Quizzes—Chapter 12 toassess your knowledge of chapter content.

HISTORY

Reconstruction NegativesPositives

StandardizedTest Practice

0

2

4

6

8

10

200

300

400

500

600

700

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

110

Mill

ions

of b

ales

Mill

ions

of p

ound

s

Cotton Tobacco

Rice Corn

Mill

ions

of p

ound

s

Mill

ions

of b

ushe

ls

1860 1870 1880 1890 1900

1860 1870 1880 1890 19001860 1870 1880 1890 1900

1860 1870 1880 1890 1900

Source: Historical Statistics of the South, 1790–1970

Agricultural Productionin the South, 1860–1900

Directions: Choose the best answer to thefollowing question.

Which of the following statements about the period ofReconstruction after the Civil War is not true?

A To maintain their strength in Congress, Radical Republicanswanted to be certain African Americans voted.

B Some Northern teachers wanted to help newly emanci-pated African Americans get education and jobs.

C President Johnson was eager to punish the South andinsisted on strict control of the region through theMilitary Reconstruction Act.

D Southern state legislatures often passed black codes tolimit the rights of African Americans in the South.

Test-Taking Tip: Pay careful attention to the wording of thequestion. This question asks you to select the answer that isNOT true. That means three of the four statements must betrue, and you should find the one that is not.

http://www.glencoe.com/qe/qe40.php?&st=354&pt=3&bk=16

The American VisionTable of ContentsReading for InformationHow Do I Study History?National Geographic Reference AtlasUnited States PoliticalUnited States PhysicalUnited States 2000 Congressional ReapportionmentUnited States Territorial GrowthMiddle America Physical/PoliticalCanada Physical/PoliticalMiddle East Physical/PoliticalWorld Political

United States FactsNational Geographic Geography HandbookIntroductionGlobes and MapsUsing MapsThe Elements of GeographyGeographic Dictionary

Unit 1: Three Worlds Meet, Beginnings to 1763Chapter 1: Converging Cultures, Prehistory to 1520Section 1: The Migration to AmericaSection 2: Native American CulturesSection 3: African CulturesSection 4: European CulturesSection 5: Europe Encounters AmericaChapter 1 Assessment and Activities

Chapter 2: Colonizing America, 1519–1733Section 1: The Spanish and French Build EmpiresSection 2: English Colonies in AmericaSection 3: New EnglandSection 4: The Middle and Southern ColoniesChapter 2 Assessment and Activities

Chapter 3: Colonial Ways of Life, 1607–1763Section 1: The Southern ColoniesSection 2: New England and the Middle ColoniesSection 3: The Imperial SystemSection 4: A Diverse SocietyChapter 3 Assessment and Activities

Unit 2: Creating a Nation, 1754–1816Chapter 4: The American Revolution, 1754–1783Section 1: The Colonies Fight for Their RightsSection 2: The Revolution BeginsThe Declaration of IndependenceSection 3: The War for IndependenceSection 4: The War Changes American SocietyChapter 4 Assessment and Activities

Chapter 5: Creating a Constitution, 1781–1789Section 1: The ConfederationSection 2: A New ConstitutionSection 3: RatificationChapter 5 Assessment and Activities

The Constitution HandbookThe Constitution of the United StatesChapter 6: Federalists and Republicans, 1789–1816Section 1: Washington and CongressSection 2: Partisan PoliticsSection 3: Jefferson in OfficeSection 4: The War of 1812Chapter 6 Assessment and Activities

Unit 3: The Young Republic, 1789–1850Chapter 7: Growth and Division, 1816–1832Section 1: American NationalismSection 2: Early IndustrySection 3: The Land of CottonSection 4: Growing SectionalismChapter 7 Assessment and Activities

Chapter 8: The Spirit of Reform, 1828–1845Section 1: Jacksonian AmericaSection 2: A Changing CultureSection 3: Reforming SocietySection 4: The Abolitionist MovementChapter 8 Assessment and Activities

Chapter 9: Manifest Destiny, 1835–1848Section 1: The Western PioneersSection 2: Independence for TexasSection 3: The War With MexicoChapter 9 Assessment and Activities

Unit 4: The Crisis of Union, 1848–1877Chapter 10: Sectional Conflict Intensifies, 1848–1860Section 1: Slavery and Western ExpansionSection 2: Mounting ViolenceSection 3: The Crisis DeepensSection 4: The Union DissolvesChapter 10 Assessment and Activities

Chapter 11: The Civil War, 1861–1865Section 1: The Opposing SidesSection 2: The Early StagesSection 3: Life During the WarSection 4: The Turning PointSection 5: The War EndsChapter 11 Assessment and Activities

Chapter 12: Reconstruction, 1865–1877Section 1: Reconstruction PlansSection 2: Congressional ReconstructionSection 3: Republican RuleSec

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