NOTES 4: RECONSTRUCTION AFTER THE WAR

Unit 2 – Civil War and Reconstruction

Modern US History

October 8-11, 2012

Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment

On January 1, 1863, Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclamation. This authorized the Union army to free slaves behind Confederate lines. This was used as a tactic of war – the Union began freeing slaves just like they seized Confederate supplies. This turned the Civil War into a fight over slavery.

Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment

After the war ended, the 13th Amendment was finally ratified at the end of 1865. The 13th Amendment outlawed slavery. It stated:

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States

The End of the War – Appomattox

On April 3, 1865, Union troops conquered Richmond, VA, the confederate capital. Southerners had abandoned the city the day before and set it on fire as they left to prevent the Union from seizing it.

The End of the War – Appomattox

On April 9, 1865 General Lee (Confederate commander) and General Grant (Union commander) met in a town called Appomattox Court House. There they set the terms for a Confederate surrender. Approximately 360,000 Union soldiers and 260,000 Confederate soldiers died in the war. This is nearly as many deaths as in all other American wars combined.

Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan

After the war, the country (especially the South) had to be put back together. This process was called Reconstruction. Even before the war ended, Lincoln had created a plan for Reconstruction.

Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan

Lincoln’s goal was to reunite the union as quickly as possible once the war ended. Therefore he made a plan that made it easy for Confederate states to rejoin the Union, it was called the 10% Plan: The government would pardon all Confederates

(except high ranking officials and those accused of crimes against prisoners of war) if they swore allegiance to the Union.

Once 10% of a state’s voting population from 1860 swore allegiance, a Confederate state could rejoin the Union.

Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan

Lincoln never got a chance to try this plan since he was assassinated only 5 days after the South surrendered, on April 14, 1865. John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre in Washington D.C.

Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan

Andrew Johnson was Lincoln’s vice-president and took over leadership of the country after Lincoln was killed. Johnson was originally a working class man from the South.

Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan

Johnson’s plan was similar to Lincoln’s except that Johnson did not like the rich Southern planters and therefore he excluded wealthy landowners from taking the oath of allegiance

Troubles between Congress and the White House

A section of the Republican party called the “Radical Republicans” wanted to help the freed slaves become successful citizens and have the right to vote. They also wanted to destroy any power that former slaveholding whites still had in the South. Radical Republicans felt that Johnson was being too soft on the South so they began to pass bills in Congress that would help freed slaves. These included:

Troubles between Congress and the White House

The Civil Rights Act gave African Americans citizenship and forbade the passage of discriminatory laws such as the Black Codes.

The Freedmen’s Bureau Act established the Freedmen’s Bureau to help freed African Americans in the South.

Troubles between Congress and the White House

They also drafted the 14th Amendment, which prevented states from denying rights and privileges to any U.S. citizen regardless of race. The 14th Amendment states: No state shall make

or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States

This Amendment also defined a citizen as anyone born or naturalized into the U.S. It also establishes the process by which people become citizens.

Troubles between Congress and the White House

The Reconstruction Act of 1867 took away the lenient reacceptance plans of Lincoln and Johnson. Therefore most Southern state governments were not accepted back into the Union. It also divided the South into 5 military districts under federal military control.

To rejoin the Union, states had to grant African American men the right to vote and ratify the 14th Amendment.

Troubles between Congress and the White House

Johnson was infuriated with this and vetoed Congress’ plans. Congress overrode the veto and looked for a way to get back at Johnson. The House of Representatives ended up impeaching Johnson after he tried to remove someone from his cabinet, but the Senate did not convict him so he continued as President

President Grant and the 15th Amendment

Ulysses S. Grant was elected in 1868 as the new president. He was a Union war hero (and the commander of the Union forces during the Civil War). More than 500,000 Southern African Americans voted in the election – 90% voted for Grant and helped win him the election.

President Grant and the 15th Amendment

Under Grant, the Radical Republicans introduced the 15th Amendment, which granted all men the right to vote. It stated:“the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

The South During Reconstruction

The war had crushed the South economically and most planters did not have the money to hire workers, but they did have land. Therefore, many began a system called sharecropping.

The South During Reconstruction

In sharecropping a man or family (usually African Americans or poor whites) would work to grow a planter’s crop. The sharecropper (worker) would then get a percentage of the crop to sell for himself at harvest time.

The South During Reconstruction

Sharecropping usually kept the sharecropper in a cycle of indebtedness as he needed to borrow money to buy supplies before the money from his crop came in. Sharecropping did NOT make the sharecroppers economically successful.

Freedom for African Americans

After the war many freed slaves worked to join back together with lost family members. They also founded their own churches – an important center to the new African American communities. Ministers were often seen as community leaders and brought news to their congregation.

Freedom for African Americans

95% of former slaves were illiterate. To aid in developing their ability to read, many Reconstruction governments and the Freedmen’s Bureau created African American schools. Teachers from these schools often came from new African American Universities such as Fisk and Howard. African Americans of all ages attended school as much as possible to learn how to read.

Freedom for African Americans

Since African Americans had received the right to vote, they were also eligible to hold public office. Even though the population of African Americans almost equaled whites in the South, only 16 of the 125 Southerners elected to U.S. Congress during Reconstruction were African American.

Freedom for African Americans

Hiram Revels was the first African American senator. Many African Americans served in state and local governments

Freedom for African Americans

General Sherman had promised the freed slaves that followed his army 40 acres and a mule after a Union victory. Many African Americans were thrilled at the promise of being able to be self sufficient and successful Americans. Sadly most former slaves received no land at all.

Political Changes in the South

The Republican Party in the South was made of 3 new groups: African Americans that

now had the right to vote were the largest group of Southern Republicans.

Political Changes in the South

Scalawags were white Southerners who joined the Republican Party. Many were small farmers that wanted to keep the former large planters out of power – they were not always interested in furthering the civil rights of African Americans.

Carpetbaggers were Northerners that moved to the South after the war.

Political Changes in the South

The differences between these three groups caused disunity in the Southern Republican party.

Southern Opposition to Reconstruction

Many whites in the South were infuriated with the fact that African Americans were now given the right to vote and citizenship. Groups like the Ku Klux Klan formed to prevent African Americans from exercising their political rights.

Southern Opposition to Reconstruction

The KKK killed over 20,000 men, women, and children to inspire fear in African Americans and Radical Republicans that were working for equality. Congress initially passed Enforcement Acts in 1870 and 1871 to allow federal supervision of elections so the KKK could not tamper with them.

Reconstruction Dies

In 1872, Congress granted 150,000 former Confederates amnesty and the right to vote. They also let the Freedmen’s Bureau expire. The Panic of 1873 drew Northern attention away from problems in the South as the North entered a 5-year depression.

Reconstruction Dies

Lack of support from the North allowed the South to take away Civil Rights from African Americans by passing Black Codes, which were laws that limited the freedom of blacks, and creating laws that made it almost impossible for them to vote.

Reconstruction Dies

In 1876 Reconstruction came to an end. There was a problem with the accuracy of the count for the presidential election. The Democrats in Congress agreed to accept the Republican candidate (Rutherford Hayes) if the military and Reconstruction would withdraw from the South.

Called the Compromise of

1876

Reconstruction Dies

Without Reconstruction, the generally racist South was able to withhold many of the civil and political rights that African Americans had won under Reconstruction. This began a dark period of poverty for most of the working class and segregation and discrimination against African Americans in the South.

Louisiana Black Codes

Sec.1….no negro shall be allowed to pass within the limits of said parish without special permit in writing from his employer

Sec.3. …no negro shall be permitted to rent or keep a house within said parish

Sec.4…every negro is required to be in the regular service of some white person

Sec.7….no negro who is not in the military service shall be allowed to carry fire-arms… within the parish, without the special written permission of his employers

Louisiana Black Codes

Sec.8….no negro shall sell, barter, or exchange any articles of merchandise or traffic within said parish without the special written permission of his employer

Sec.9….any negro found drunk within the said parish shall pay a fine of five dollars, or in default thereof work five days on the public road, or suffer corporeal punishment as hereinafter provided

Sec.11….it shall be the duty of every citizen to act as a police officer for the detection of offences and the apprehension of offenders

Louisiana Black Codes

1. What major restrictions were placed against blacks with these codes?

2. What do these codes tell us about the lives of blacks in the South after the Civil War?

3. Why would towns pass these codes? What did they gain from them?