HIST 2111U. S. History I

The Aftermath of Civil War Review for final exam

Chapter 24

Mike “Wheels” Breakey

Reminders

• Paper due by 1159 tonight—after that late policy kicks in

• Final exam next Tuesday at 5:30 until complete

• End of course survey– Verbal

EOC

• Good• Bad• Ugly

• Worst assignment—why?• Best assignment—why?

The Reconstruction Crisis• The post-war South

– Many cities flattened, plantations largely abandoned, and railroads destroyed– Labor force gone—dead; 260,000 Confederates dead; over 170,000 wounded

• Reconstruction – Political debate between President Lincoln and Congress about restoring

eleven rebel states to Union

• Lincoln wanted a quick and painless reunification (1863)– First, full pardon for and restoration of property to all with the exception of

the highest Confederate officials and military leaders. – Second, new state government to be formed when 10 percent of the eligible

voters had taken an oath of allegiance to the United States. – Third, the Southern states admitted encouraged to enact plans to deal with

the freed slaves so long as their freedom was not compromised

Reconstruction Crisis (cont.’d)

• Radical Republicans in Congress desire firmer guarantees of southern loyalty to Union and Constitutional and statutory protections for freedmen’s civil equality and political rights

• Radical and moderate Republicans pass Wade–Davis bill – 50 percent of eligible voters of a Confederate state must affirm loyalty

to Union – Congress, not President, to approve or disapprove state constitutions– Radical Republicans not prepared to expedite reconciliation with

South unless their political demands are met• Lincoln vetoes Wade-Davis bill

Reconstruction Crisis (cont…)

• Lincoln’s assassination ends conciliatory approach to reunion• Vice President Andrew Johnson (not Lincoln’s VP for his first term)

becomes president– Hostile towards equality for freedmen– Deep prejudices against blacks

• BUT Johnson was a staunch opponent of the wealth and power held by the slaveholding planter class of the South– Thus he began his presidency with Radicals’ political goodwill

• Rapidly comes into conflict with congressional Republicans over presidential/congressional authority concerning Reconstruction – Favors presidential control over restoring the rebel states to the Union– Asserts Confederate states never actually left Union since Constitutionally it

was impossible for the eleven rebellious southern states to do so

Reconstruction Crisis (cont.’d)

• Johnson’s position legally sound, but politically untenable– Congressional Republicans strongly opposed to Johnson’s liberal

pardoning of Confederates and his willingness to permit enactment of retrograde “black codes” by southern legislatures

• Congressional Republicans fear return of former Confederates in state and federal offices and perceive a virtual return to slavery with enactment of “black codes”– All the fighting to return to the same basic system?

• Radical Republicans position after Lincoln gone– Congress, not the president retains political authority to determine

readmission process of former Confederate states

Reconstruction Crisis (cont.’d)

• Radical Republicans see Southern states as politically disorganized and economically chaotic

• A continued military occupation of the South necessary—Union military!– Black codes prove southern states can’t be trusted to guarantee political and

economic freedoms of emancipated blacks in the South

• A few of the Black Codes– Race was defined by blood; the presence of any amount of black blood made one

black.– Employment required of all freedmen; violators faced vagrancy charges.– Freedmen could not assemble without the presence of a white person.– Freedmen were not to be taught to read or write.– Public facilities were segregated.– Violators of these laws were subject to being whipped or branded.

1866: The Critical Year

• Southern Blacks– Many “freedmen” leave plantations to seek better opportunities, but found

these promises to be elusive (i.e., “40 acres and a mule”)– Very few opportunities to support themselves or their families; some return to

their former plantations to work for “future wages”

• Freedmen’s Bureau– Congress creates organization to provide food relief, medical assistance,

schools, and labor contracts between former slaves and land owners– Depressed southern economy means many blacks must resort to sharecropping – Mobs attack freedmen in several southern cities including New Orleans

• Congress extends life of Freedmen’s Bureau for two years through 1867– Johnson vetoes extension and a bill to grant citizenship to the reedmen

1866: The Critical Year (cont.’d)

• Fourteenth Amendment (Passed Congress in 1866; Ratified in 1868)– Establishes national citizenship which states could not modify – Guarantees all citizens equal treatment under the law

• Johnson unsuccessfully campaigns against ratification– Bans some former Confederates from office

• In denouncing radical Republicans, Johnson antagonizes many voters– Radicals win political control of Congress– Uh-oh—look out Johnson

Radical Reconstruction, 1867-1868• Radical program passes Congress

– Provides for continued military occupation of South– Army registers new voters among blacks disenfranchised whites– Congress must approve Southern state constitutions – Southern states must ratify Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments

• Radical Republicans Exert their Political Power– All but four southern states readmitted by 1868– Congressional Republicans pass Tenure of Office Act to prompt an impeachment

crisis with President Johnson• Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

– Johnson repeatedly vetoes Reconstruction bills and urges South not to cooperate

– Johnson defies Tenure of Office Act• House of Representatives impeaches Johnson

– Senate fails to impeach by one vote—moderate Republicans refuse to convict Johnson

Radical Reconstruction (cont.’d)

• The Fifteenth Amendment and the Election of 1868– Republicans attempt to preserve political advantage by passing

Fifteenth Amendment to guarantee black right to vote • Republican Ulysses S. Grant wins close election; black vote in

South critical to Grant’s win in closely contested election– Fifteenth Amendment ratified in 1870, Republicans maintain political

advantage in southern states where blacks a majority

Radical Reconstruction (cont.’d)

• Corruption in the South• Scalawags, Carpetbaggers

– Scalawags were white Southerners working for or supporting the federal government during Reconstruction

– Carpetbaggers were Northerners who went to the South after the Civil War for political or financial advantage

– Allegations of rampant corruption by southern Democrats

• Political Corruption in the South in perspective– Large expenditures needed to rebuild South– Corruption in South no worse than elsewhere– Democrats in South later stole more money from government coffers than

Republicans– “Real Crime” of Reconstruction, emphasized by Democrats, was African

Americans having influence in government in the South

Radical Reconstruction (cont’d…)

• Ku Klux Klan and the Redeemers– Democrats called themselves Redeemers

• Brought economic pressure on southern blacks to remain at home on election day

– Nathan Bedford Forrest starts Klan• Klan uses terrorism to stop black political activity– Federal Ku Klux Acts (1870) and (1871) make Klan activity

illegal• Klan effectively limits black participation through a

highly organized campaign of terror against African Americans in the South

Paleo-Indians and Exploration

• How did most Paleo-indians live• Discovery– First– Second (more prominent)

• Spanish interest in the Americas• The Columbian Exchange– What was it– Effect

Colonial • Early Settlements

– Jamestown– Obstacles and overcoming these

• Types of colonies– Royal (Crown)– Proprietary (Leaders granted rights by the crown)– Corporate (Stiockholders)

• Value of colonies• Governance of colonies• Headright versus indentured servants• Three sections of the new country• Enumerated Articles• French approach versus English approach to natives

Rebellion• An ACT was really a ____________

– Stamp, Sugar, Townshend, Tea, Intolerable• Sugar

– 1st attempt, vice admiralty courts– Boycotted _____________

• Stamp– Try again, tax stamps on good, who did this affect? Was that bad?

• Townshend– Luxury items, repealed EXCEPT for the tax on _______

• Shot heard round the world– First battles– Tactics– Key victory mid-war– Final battle

D of I, Articles, Constitution• D of I—American ideals—what where they?• Big reasons (PLURAL) for the Declaration of Independence

– Still significant?

• Articles of Confederation– Effective?

• Constitution– What is it?– Preamble-- more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility,

provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity

– Federalist versus anti-federalists– Bill of Rights—which group wanted this?– Three branches, balance of power?– Slavery?

Growth• Louisiana Purchase—who from whom?• The Monroe Doctrine• The Missouri Compromise

– Where, what, why

• Slave trade– What drove it– Abolished when– Why a non-issue for plantation owners?

• Technology– What moved the goods– First BIG industrialized industry– Cotton Gin, who and what happened?

• Nationalism versus sectionalism– Manifest Destiny

Change• Jacksonian democracy

– Common man

• Nullification• Enter the Whigs

– Opposed to King Andrew – Congress or the Pres should have the power?

• Slavery– King Cotton– Abolitionist versus ___________– Southern political power

• Solutions?– Colonization– Compromise of 1850 (omnibus)—can kicked

Prelude to war• War with Mexico

– Fallout

• Whigs– Dissolving over slavery

• Republican party– Radical versus moderate– Lincoln in 1860—why?

• Democrats– Splitting over slavery

• Kansas-Nebraska and popular sovereignty• John Brown• Southern reaction to Lincoln

– What was his stance on slavery?– Abolitionists versus moderate

Civil War

• Uncle Tom• Dred Scott• Secession

– 7 then 4– What caused the 4?

• Shots fired• Union grand strategy• Southern strategy• July 3, 1863• Attrition and surrender

Next week• May 6 Final—normal time (5:30pm)