Chapter 17

Reconstruction

1. The Aftermath2. Problems:

• The South• Freedmen• Leadership

3. President Andrew Johnson4. Power Struggle: Johnson vs. Congress

• President’s plan: gentle---1865 to 1867• Radical Republicans---opposed

Johnson• Congress’s plan: harsh---1867 to 1876

• South followed Johnson’s plan until??????until??????

•What went wrong?•Black Codes---1865 to 1866•Johnson vetoed Civil Rights Act for Freedmen

•Congress impeachedimpeached Pres. Johnson---1868

•Election of 1868: President Grant enforces Congress’s “harshharsh” plan

•Reconstruction Act of 1867

4. Revolutionary changes•Civil War Amendments:

•13th, 14th and 15th•Effects of Emancipation on Freedmen

•Freedmen’s Bureau•New South

•Abolished slavery

•gained citizenship

•right to vote

““Neither slavery nor involuntary slavery nor involuntary servitudeservitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall shall

exist within the United Statesexist within the United States, or any place subject to their

jurisdiction.”

The CongressCongress shall have power to enforceenforce by appropriate

legislation, the provisions of this article.

Human toll of the Civil War: The North lost 364,000 soldiers. The South lost 260,000 soldiers.

Between 1865 and 1877, the federal government carried out a program to repair the damage to the

South and restore the southern states to the Union. This program was known as ReconstructionReconstruction.

FreedmenFreedmen (freed slaves) were starting out their new lives in a poor region with slow economic

activity. Plantation owners lost slave labor worth $3 billion.

Poor white Southerners could not find work because of new job competition from FreedmenFreedmen.

The war had destroyed two thirds of the South’s shipping industry and about 9,000 miles of railroad.

Wartime Reconstruction

• Lincoln announces lenient policy in 1863

• Congress resents Lincoln’s effort to control

• Congressmen seek to condition readmission to Union on black suffrage

• Congress mistrusts white Southerners

• Remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War.

• Lincoln chose him as his VP to help with the South’s Reconstruction.

• Supported Lincoln’s Plan• Engaged in a power struggle

with Congress over who would lead the country through Reconstruction.

• Would be impeached but not removed from office

Johnson’s plan to readmit the South was considered too gentlegentle.

Amnesty:Amnesty: Presidential pardonPresidential pardon•Rebels sign an oath of allegianceRebels sign an oath of allegiance

•10% of the population10% of the population•Even high ranking Confederate officialsEven high ranking Confederate officials

Write new state ConstitutionsWrite new state Constitutions•approve the approve the 13th Amendment13th Amendment

•reject secession and state’s rightsreject secession and state’s rights•submit to U.S. Government authoritysubmit to U.S. Government authority

•Repudiate all Confederate DebtRepudiate all Confederate DebtNo mention ofNo mention of

•Education for freedmenEducation for freedmen•Citizenship and voting rightsCitizenship and voting rights

•AmnestyAmnesty : : Presidential pardonPresidential pardon•oath of allegiance---50%

•high ranking Confederate officials•loose voting rights if you don’t sign oath

•Write new state ConstitutionsWrite new state Constitutions•Ratify: 13, 14 & 15 Amendments•reject secession and state’s rights

•submit to U.S. Government authority•Help for FreedmenHelp for Freedmen

•Freedmen’s Bureau for education•40 acres and a mule

•Divide the South into 5 military districts

Reconstruction Act of 1867-Reconstruction Act of 1867--76 (Harsh)(Harsh)

Thaddeus Stevens Charles Summner

•Wanted to the see the South punished.

•Advocated political, social and economic equality for the Freedmen.

•Would go after President Johnson through the impeachment process after he vetoes

the Civil Rights Act of 1866.

1865, Congress created the Freedman’s Bureau to help former

slaves get a new start in life. This was the first major relief agency in United

States history.

Bureau’s AccomplishmentsBuilt thousands of schools to educate

Blacks. Former slaves rushed to get an education

for themselves and their children. Education was difficult and dangerous to

gain. Southerners hated the idea that Freedmen would go to school.

The White South’s Fearful Response

• The dominant emotion in the Southern post-war white community was fear of newly freed slaves; of rape and revenge

• Almost all societal norms in the South had been reversed as a result of losing the war

• Southern legislatures passed “Black Codes” the first year after the war to secure white dominance

•Similar to Similar to Slave Slave CodesCodes. .

•Restricted the Restricted the

freedom of movement.freedom of movement.

•Limited their Limited their rightsrights as free people.as free people.

As southern states were restored to the Union under President Johnson’s plan, they began to enact black codes, laws that

restricted freedmen’s rights. The black codes established virtual slavery with provisions such as

these:Curfews: Generally, black people could not gather after sunset.Vagrancy laws: Freedmen convicted of vagrancy– that is, not

working– could be fined, whipped, or sold for a year’s labor.Labor contracts: Freedmen had to sign agreements in January

for a year of work. Those who quit in the middle of a contract often lost all the wages they had earned.

Land restrictions: Freed people could rent land or homes only in rural areas. This restriction forced them to live on plantations.

An inflexible President, 1866: Republican cartoon shows Johnson knocking Blacks of the Freedmen’s Bureau by his veto.

An inflexible President, 1866: Republican cartoon shows Johnson knocking Blacks of the Freedmen’s Bureau by his veto.

President Johnson vetoed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 Gave $$$$ to Freedmen’s Bureau for schools and granted citizenship to the Freedmen Congress believed Johnson was working against Reconstruction and overrode his veto.Pres. Johnson impeachedLed to the 14th Amendment

Impeachment:Impeachment: Bringing charges against the President. Two steps

involved……

1st Step: U. S. House of Representatives hold hearings to decide if there are crimes committed. They then vote on the charges

and if there is a majority, then, charges are brought against the President.

2nd Step: U.S. Senate becomes a courtroom. The President is tried for the charges brought against him. The Chief

Justice of the Supreme Court is the judge. Once trial is completed, Senators must

vote to remove President with a 2/3’s vote.

Impeachment process

Brought up on 11 charges of high

crimes and misdemeanors.

Tenure in Office Tenure in Office Act:Act: Law Congress passed. President can’t fire any of his cabinet members

without consulting Congress.

fired Edwin Stanton

Missed being removed from office

by 1 vote

Presidency would suffer as a result of this failed

impeachment. President would be more

of a figure-head. Saved the separation of

powers of 3 branches govt.

Reconstructing Southern Society

• Three contending interests in South 1. Southern whites seek to

keep newly-freed blacks inferior

2. Northern whites seek to make money or to "civilize" the region

3. Blacks seek equality• Decline of federal interest in

Reconstruction permits triumph of reaction and racism

Reorganizing Land and Labor

• Ex-slaves wish to work their own land

• Federal government sometimes grants land

• Land reverts to white owners under Johnson

• Slave owners try to impose contract labor

• Blacks insist on sharecropping• Sharecropping soon becomes

peonage

Republican Rule in the South

• 1867--Southern Republican party organized– businesspeople want government aid– white farmers want protection from creditors– blacks form majority of party, want social and

political equality

• Republican coalition unstable

• Republicans break up when whites leave

Republican Rule in the South (2)

• Republicans improve public education, welfare, and transportation

• Republican state legislatures corrupt– whites control most Radical state governments– African Americans given blame for corruption

1. Poor whites and freedmen have no

jobs, no homes, and no money to buy

land.2. Landowners need laborers and have no

money to pay laborers.

4. Landlord keeps track of the money that

sharecroppers owe him for housing, food

or local store.

5. At harvest time, the sharecropper is

paid.

•Pays off debts.

•If sharecropper owes more to the landlord or store

than his share of the crop is worth;

6. Sharecropper cannot leave the

farm as long as he is in debt to the

landlord.

3. Hire poor whites and freedmen as

laborers

•Sign contracts to work landlord’s land

in exchange for a part of the crop.

The 14th and 15th AmendmentsIn 1867 and 1869 Congress passed the 14th and 15th Amendments,

granting African American males citizenship, equality under the law and the right to vote.

In 1867 and 1868, voters in southern states chose delegates to draft new state constitutions. One quarter of the delegates elected were black.

The new state constitutions guaranteed civil rights, allowed poor people to hold political office, and set up a system of public schools and orphanages.

In 1870, southern black men voted in legislative elections for the first time. More than 600 African Americans were elected to state legislatures, Louisiana gained a black governor, and Hiram Revels of Mississippi became the first African American elected to the Senate.

““All persons born in the U.S. are citizens of this country and the state they reside in. No state No state shall make or enforce any law shall make or enforce any law

which deprives any person of life, which deprives any person of life, liberty, or property, without due liberty, or property, without due process of lawprocess of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction to

the equal protection of the lawsequal protection of the laws.”

The CongressCongress shall have power to enforceenforce by appropriate

legislation, the provisions of this article.

““The The right of citizensright of citizens of the of the United States to United States to votevote shall not be shall not be denied or abridged by the United denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account States or by any State on account

of race, color, or previous of race, color, or previous condition of servitude”.condition of servitude”.

The The Congress Congress shall have shall have power to power to enforceenforce this article by appropriate this article by appropriate

legislation.legislation.

•13th AmendmentAbolished slavery

(1865)

•14th Amendment Provided citizenship & equal protection

under the law. (1868)

•15th Amendment Provided the right to

vote for all men which included white

and black men. (1870)Giving the Black man the right to vote was

truly revolutionary……..A victory for A victory for democracy!democracy!

•Women rights supporters refused to support the 14th Amendment giving African American men citizenship unless women were added to it.

•Abolitionists would not support women’s rights

Women’s Right’s Movement Crumbles

Black Congressmen

First Black Senators and representatives in the 42st and 42nd Congress.Senator Hiram Revels, on the left was elected in 1870 to replace the seat vacated by Jefferson Davis.

The Taste of FreedomFreedom of movement: Enslaved people often walked away

from plantations upon hearing that the Union army was near. Exodusters: moved to Kansas and Texas

Freedom to own land: Proposals to give white-owned land to freed people got little support from the government. Unofficial land redistribution did take place, however.

Freedom to worship: African Americans formed their own churches and started mutual aid societies, debating clubs, drama societies, and trade associations.

Freedom to learn: Between 1865 and 1870, black educators founded 30 African American colleges.

Hopes Among the Freedmen

• Blacks tested their new freedom gradually• Most freed slaves made education a priority• Many left their plantations in search of a family

member who had been sold• The primary goal for these freedpeople was to

secure jobs and land; they expected a new economic order and some compensation for their years in slavery

Claiming Public and Private Rights

• Freed slaves viewed legalized marriage as an important step in claiming political rights

• They also formed churches, fraternal and benevolent associations, political organizations, and schools

• Education for children was a top priority

Freedmen’s Bureau 5

Funding ReconstructionRebuilding the South’s infrastructure, the public property and

services that a society uses, was one giant business opportunity.

Roads, bridges, canals, railroads, and telegraph lines had to be rebuilt.

Funds were also needed to expand services to southern citizens. Following the North’s example, all southern states created public school systems by 1872.

Congress, private investors, and heavy taxes paid for Reconstruction. Spending by Reconstruction legislatures added another $130 million to southern debt.

The Abandonment of Reconstruction

• The Election of Grant– Gen. Grant elected in 1868– 1870: Fifteenth Amendment ratified; granted

suffrage to blacks– Proponents of women’s suffrage disappointed

by amendment’s silence on women’s suffrage

• The Grant Administration– Corruption under Grant was rampant– Reformers began to focus on cleaning

up corruption rather than on blacks’ rights

• Growing Northern Disillusionment– Civil Rights Act of 1875 was the last

major piece of Reconstruction legislation

– Waning northern concern with Reconstruction

– Economic depression in 1873 led to Democratic resurgence

KKK

•Ku Klux Klan refers to a secret society or an inner circle•Organized in 1867, in Polaski, Tennessee by Nathan Bedford Forrest.•Represented the ghosts of dead Confederate soldiers •Disrupted Reconstruction as much as they could.•Opposed Republicans, Carpetbaggers, Scalawags and Freedmen.

Spreading TerrorSpreading TerrorThe Ku Klux Klan

The Klan sought to eliminate the Republican Party in the South by intimidating voters.

They wanted to keep African Americans as submissive laborers.

They planted burning crosses on the lawns of their victims and tortured, kidnapped, or murdered them.

Prosperous African Americans, carpetbaggers, and scalawags became their victims.

The Federal Response President Grant’s War On

Terrorism. The Enforcement Act of

1870 banned the use of terror, force, or bribery to prevent people from voting.

Other laws banned the KKK and used the military to protect voters and voting places.

As federal troops withdrew from the South, black suffrage all but ended.

kkk

ALL HATED BY THE KKKALL HATED BY THE KKK

CarpetbaggersCarpetbaggers Northerners/Republicans sent to help

reconstruct the South….

ScalawagsScalawags Southerners who helped

Carpetbaggers

Freedmen Freedmen Blacks who tried to vote or were

involved in the reconstruction of their states governments.

During Radical Reconstruction, the Republican Party was a mixture of people who had little in common

except a desire to prosper in the postwar South. This bloc of voters included freedmen and two other

groups: carpetbaggers and scalawags.

Northern Republicans who moved to the postwar South became known as carpetbaggers.

Southerners gave them this insulting nickname, which referred to a type of cheap suitcase made from carpet scraps.

Carpetbaggers were often depicted as greedy men seeking to grab power or make a fast buck.

White southern Republicans were seen as traitors and called scalawags.

This was originally a Scottish word meaning “scrawny cattle.”

Refers to one who is a “scoundrel”, reprobate or unprincipled person.

Some scalawags were former Whigs who had opposed secession.

Some were small farmers who resented the planter class. Many scalawags, but not all, were poor.

Sharecroppers were Freedmen and poor Whites who stayed in

the South and continued to farm.

Freedmen signed a work contract with their former masters

.Picked cotton or whatever crop

the landowner had. Freedmen did not receive “40

acres and a mule”

•Sharecropping is primarily used in farming

•Landowner provided land, tools, animals, house and

charge account at the local store to purchase necessities

•Freedmen provided the labor.

•Sharecropping is based on the “credit” system.

The election of 1876 and the Compromise of 1877 are referred to as the Corrupt Bargain.The Democrats and Republicans work out a

deal to recognize Hayes as PresidentIn return, President Hayes must end

Reconstruction and pull the Union troops out of the South.

Once this happens, there is no protection for the Freedmen and the South will regain their

states and go back to the way it was.

Rutherford B. HayesRutherford B. Hayes Samuel TildenSamuel Tilden

Successes and Failures of Reconstruction

Successes Failures

Union is restored. Many white southerners bitter towards US govt & Republicans.South’s economy grows and

new wealth is created in the North.

The South is slow to industrialize.

14th and 15th amendments guarantee Blacks the rights of citizenship, equal protection under the law, and suffrage.

After US troops are withdrawn, southern state governments and terrorist organizations effectively deny Blacks the right to vote.Freedmen’s Bureau and

other organizations help many black families obtain housing, jobs, and schooling.

Many black and white southerners remain caught in a cycle of poverty.

Southern states adopt a system of mandatory education.

Racist attitudes toward African Americans continue, in both the South and the North.