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1 RECONSTRUCTION Chapter 14 Aftermath of War Confederate leaders Southern civilization collapsed Economy Agriculture Slavery Reconstruction Question Nothing in Constitution! Had the South really seceded? If so, should Congress take action? If not, should President deal with it? separation of powers Politics of Reconstruction Abraham Lincoln 10% Plan – December 1863 10% of 1860 voters - oath of loyalty 13 th Amendment Congress Wade-Davis Bill – July 1864 50% take oath of loyalty gov’t – no one who fought no vote for Conf. leaders pocket-vetoed by Lincoln

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Page 1: Politics of Reconstruction · Radical Reconstruction Reconstruction Act of 1867 South – 5 military districts except TN – readmitted in 1866 thousands lost voting rights ratify

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RECONSTRUCTION

Chapter 14

Aftermath of War

Confederate leaders

Southern civilization collapsedEconomy

Agriculture

Slavery

Reconstruction Question

Nothing in Constitution!

Had the South really seceded?

If so, should Congress take action?

If not, should President deal with it?

separation of powers

Politics of Reconstruction

Abraham Lincoln

10% Plan – December 186310% of 1860 voters - oath of loyalty

13th Amendment

Congress

Wade-Davis Bill – July 186450% take oath of loyalty

gov’t – no one who fought

no vote for Conf. leaders

pocket-vetoed by Lincoln

Page 2: Politics of Reconstruction · Radical Reconstruction Reconstruction Act of 1867 South – 5 military districts except TN – readmitted in 1866 thousands lost voting rights ratify

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Lincoln Resists

April 11, 1865

speech to Congressappealed for flexibility

no success

Lincoln’s last speech

Lincoln’s Assassination

April 14, 1865 – Good Friday

Ford’s TheatreJohn Wilkes Booth

Lincoln died the next morning – April 15th

Lincoln’s death terrible for the Southless cruel

more bitterness from North

Page 3: Politics of Reconstruction · Radical Reconstruction Reconstruction Act of 1867 South – 5 military districts except TN – readmitted in 1866 thousands lost voting rights ratify

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Andrew Johnson

1857 - Senator from TNJacksonian Democrat

TN seceded – refused to give up his Senate seat (only one)

1862 – TN capturedappointed military governor

iron fist

1864 – Lincoln’s VP candidateattract southern Unionists

Johnson’s Reconstruction

Recognized some 10% governments

May 1865 – proclamationprovisional governors

revoke secession

13th Amendment

Amnesty for all taking oath except top officials & wealthy planters

most gov’ts set up within months

Republicans seemed to approvetreatment of leaders

states decide civil, political rights

hoped for good treatment of blacks

Black Codes

adopted in SouthMississippi 1st

labor contracts

social discrimination

sharecropping

Republicans Furious

new Congress elected

former Confederates9 Conf. Congress

7 Conf. state gov’t

4 generals, 4 colonels

Conf. VP Alexander Stephens

Refused to seat southerners!

Page 4: Politics of Reconstruction · Radical Reconstruction Reconstruction Act of 1867 South – 5 military districts except TN – readmitted in 1866 thousands lost voting rights ratify

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Freedmen’s Bureau

created March 1865

Gen. Oliver Howard

Purpose aid, land, supplies to freed slaves

Limited successtaught 200,000 blacks to read

Failureslittle land to blacks

forced out of towns

forced into labor contracts

expired in 1872

Lyman Trumbull

civil rights billcitizenship

court access

protection of person and property

state laws nullified if no equal protection

Emancipation

Uneven freedomresistance, loyalty

Freedom at lastcelebrated freedom

took to the road

churches, schools, politics

Fight for Land

Sherman – 40 acres plots

Freedmen’s Bureauland distribution

Johnson’s amnesty plan - reclaim land

Oct. 1865 – Howard ordered to restore SC plantations

Wage Labor

Freedom?

returned to plantationslabor contracts

“dependency”

many fled to towns & cities

Page 5: Politics of Reconstruction · Radical Reconstruction Reconstruction Act of 1867 South – 5 military districts except TN – readmitted in 1866 thousands lost voting rights ratify

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whites wanted to deny all rights to blacks

blacks beaten and murdered

blacks “would be just as well off with no law at all or no gov’t”

- Freemen’s Bureau agent

Johnson Fights Congress

Johnson Vetoes

1866 - Freedmen’s Bureau recharter

Trumbull’s civil rights billquote – page 465

Congress Responds

April 1866 – Civil Rights Act passed with 2/3 Congress voteresponse to violence in South

July 1866 – renewed Freedmen’s Bureau over Johnson veto

14th Amendment

guarantee citizenship

equal protection of the laws

made Civil Rights Act constitutional

opposed 14th Amendment

Midterm Election of 1866

Campaigningbroke custom against Pres. campaigning

cost Dem seats in Congress

Rep. 3 to 1 majority

Johnson Hurts His Cause

Page 6: Politics of Reconstruction · Radical Reconstruction Reconstruction Act of 1867 South – 5 military districts except TN – readmitted in 1866 thousands lost voting rights ratify

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Radical Republicans

RadicalsSenate: Sumner (MA)

House: Stevens (PA)

“remake” southern society

full equal rights for blacks (suffrage)

Radical Reconstruction

Reconstruction Act of 1867

South – 5 military districtsexcept TN – readmitted in 1866

thousands lost voting rights

ratify 14th Amendment

guarantee black suffrage

Johnson’s Impeachment

Tenure of Office Act – 1867

Feb. 1868 - Johnson fired Sec. of War Edwin Stanton

Johnson impeached

Senate: 1 vote short of removal

Election of 1868

Republicans – Ulysses Grantcontinue military reconstruction

Democrats – Horatio Seymour

Grant won by 52.7 %500,000 black votes

Rep. majority in both houses

Page 7: Politics of Reconstruction · Radical Reconstruction Reconstruction Act of 1867 South – 5 military districts except TN – readmitted in 1866 thousands lost voting rights ratify

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15th Amendment

voting rights for blacks loopholes:poll taxesliteracy testsproperty requirements

passed Feb. 1869requirement for readmission

ratified in 1870

Women’s Suffrage

Stanton & Anthonyblacks’ rights

amendment left out women“the Negro’s hour” – radical Repub.

Republican Rule in the South

Rejoin the Union

1868 – 1871 – all met stipulations

Rep. controlled gov’ts ranged from months to years

Scalawags

Southerners who supported Reconstruction

ex-Whigs, ex-Dems, former slave owners

wanted northern capital

Carpetbaggers

Whites who came from the North

personal profit

Union army vets impressed with the South

wanted to force emancipation

Page 8: Politics of Reconstruction · Radical Reconstruction Reconstruction Act of 1867 South – 5 military districts except TN – readmitted in 1866 thousands lost voting rights ratify

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Black Leaders

elite free blacks from the South

northern blacks

ex-slaves recruited for political roles

Blacks & Reconstruction

Delegates to draft constitutions

Congress - 16

State administrations – 20

State Legislatures – over 600

Republican Achievements

modern state constitutions

Black Codes eliminated

rights for married women

hospitals, asylums, penitentiaries

road-building, RRs

Paying for Reform

Taxed planters (property)slaves as tax collectors

Huge debt – stateswasted spending

pockets of public officials

CORRUPTION!!

Schools & Churches

Schools importantRepublicans

blacks

Churches grewalso served as schools, social centers,

political meeting halls

The Quest for Land

Page 9: Politics of Reconstruction · Radical Reconstruction Reconstruction Act of 1867 South – 5 military districts except TN – readmitted in 1866 thousands lost voting rights ratify

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Land Grants

SC land commission14,000 families got farms

Southern Homestead Act of 186680-acre grants

little land available (infertile regions)

few succeeded

Sharecropping

blacks could not afford land

freedmen worked for use of land, house, seed, fertilizer, etc

Problems

1/3 to 1/2 of crops to landlord

no $ to get startedtook liens on crops (debt)

often permanent indebtedness

Undoing of Reconstruction

Counterrevolution

“redeem” the Southled by planters

resented northern involvement

restore political power – Democratsex-Confed. voting rights

oppose black rule

Page 10: Politics of Reconstruction · Radical Reconstruction Reconstruction Act of 1867 South – 5 military districts except TN – readmitted in 1866 thousands lost voting rights ratify

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Nathan Bedford Forrest

TN slave-trader

MS plantation owner

wounded at Shiloh

Fort Pillow Massacreblack troops

Ku Klux Klan

TN – late 1865 opposed Rep. governor

late 1866 – Forrest - Grand Wizard

campaign of terror against Rep. supporters

1869 – TN Gov. left for Senate

Klan disbanded in TN

Klan grew in other statesmurdered Republican politicians

burned black schools, churches

gained control across South

Federal Response

1871 – Ku Klux Klan Actenforce blacks’ rights

arrests made

PROBLEM: must be enforced at federal level!

Federal Failure

KKK prosecutions difficultwhite juries; unsympathetic judges

U.S. v. Cruikshank – 1876 state’s job to prosecute

Grant’s adm. unwilling to help

States “Redeemed”

1870 – VA, NC

1871 – GA

1873 – TX

1874 – AL, AR

1875 – MS

3 states left – LA, SC, FL

Page 11: Politics of Reconstruction · Radical Reconstruction Reconstruction Act of 1867 South – 5 military districts except TN – readmitted in 1866 thousands lost voting rights ratify

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Reconstruction Fades

1875 Civil Rights Law declared unconstitutional in 1883

Republicans losing control

concerns about jobs

North just lost interest

Election of 1872

Republicans – Grant

Liberal Republicans – Horace Greeley

Democrats – supported Greeley

Grant won

LR forced Republicans to changecivil service reform; limited gov’t

Scandal and Depression

D.C. Whiskey Ring

1875

Treasury robbed of $ millions

Grant’s secretary involved

criminals unpunished

Republicans Divided

Stalwarts – patronage Roscoe Conkling

Half-Breeds – civil service James Blaine

Election of 1876

Republicans – Rutherford Hayes

Democrats – Samuel Tilden

Results: Irregular returnsLA, SC, FL still under Rep. control

Tilden 1 vote short

Page 12: Politics of Reconstruction · Radical Reconstruction Reconstruction Act of 1867 South – 5 military districts except TN – readmitted in 1866 thousands lost voting rights ratify

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The Debate Begins

2 sets of Electoral Votes

Electoral Count ActCompromise of 1877

15 member commission

Feb. 1877 LA, SC, FL votes to Hayes

Still deadlockedHouse stalled final count (Dem)

Agreement reached3 days before inauguration

Hayes won (185–184)

Reconstruction Ended

Effects of the Election

North abandoned black equality goals

South suppressed blacks’ rightspoll taxes, literacy tests

1890s – Jim Crow Laws

1896 – Plessy v. Ferguson