Radical ReconstructionToday’s LEQ: How did the government react?

Radical Republicans Challenge Johnson’s Reconstruction•By the end of 1865, President

Johnson thought Reconstruction was over – Radical Republicans felt Reconstruction had hardly begun•Many in the North disagreed with

the black codes

Radical Republicans Challenge Johnson’s Reconstruction• Radical Republicans joined with more

moderate lawmakers to enact two bills designed to help former slaves• Extended the Freedmen’s Bureau and gave

it more power• Civil Rights Act of 1866• Took direct aim at the black codes• All Americans were entitled to “equal benefit of

all laws… enjoyed by white citizens.”

Radical Republicans Challenge Johnson’s Reconstruction• Johnson vetoed both!• Congress overrode his decision and both

laws were passed• Radical Reconstruction had begun

Radical Republicans Challenge Johnson’s Reconstruction• To further protect the rights of freedmen,

Congress passed the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution• Reversed the Dred Scott Decision• Guaranteed citizenship to African

Americans and “equal protection of the laws”

Reconstruction Acts

• Congress laid out its plan for Reconstruction• The South was divided into five districts and

put under military control• Both white and black males could vote if they

were loyal to the Union• Each state had to write a new constitution• Required to ratify the 14th amendment and allow

African Americans to vote

President Johnson Faces Impeachment• Congress enacted two laws to keep Johnson

from interfering• Command of Army Act – limited president’s

power as commander in chief of the army• Tenure of Office Act – barred the president

from firing certain federal officials without the “advice and consent” of the Senate

President Johnson Faces Impeachment• President Johnson is outraged and fires

the Secretary of War to prove his point• Johnson is charged with violating the

Tenure of Office Act and just escapes impeachment by one vote!

Activity: Andrew Johnson is Impeached(answer on the back)1. What occupation did Johnson have before he entered into

politics?2. To what party did Johnson belong?3. What was the “swing around the circle”?4. What was the effect of the “swing around the circle”?5. Whom did Johnson want to help, and whom did Stevens want to

help?6. What was the purpose of the Tenure of Office Act?7. Whom did Johnson fire, and whom did he appoint to replace him?8. How many senators must vote “guilty” before an official is

removed from office?9. How many states had senators at that time? How did you figure

that answer out?10. How many votes did Johnson have to spare?

Living Under Radical Reconstruction

• White Southerners were angry!• Shocked at return of federal troops• Thought Reconstruction was over

• Black Southerners were elated! • Had been organizing to fight discrimination• “We simply ask that the same laws that govern

white people shall govern black men.”

The South’s New Voters

• Former confederates barred from voting under Reconstruction Act of 1867

The South’s New Voters

•Freedmen• Joined Republican party (Lincoln’s party = Emancipation party)

The South’s New Voters

•Scalawags• “worthless scoundrels”•White Southerners who opposed

secession• Joined Republican party (Democratic party = party of

secession)

The South’s New Voters

•Carpetbaggers• Northerners

who were attracted to the South after the war• Viewed as

fortune hunters

Election of 1868• New voters help Republican candidate,

Ulysses S. Grant, win the election of 1868• Grant’s victory helped persuade Congress

to pass the Fifteenth Amendment • African Americans win the right to vote• “the right of citizens… to vote shall not

be denied or abridged [limited] by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

Rebuilding the South

• Every state readmitted into the Union by 1870• Wrote new constitutions and formed new

governments•Majority of those elected into office were

Republican – 1/5 were African American • Established the South’s first public school

system

Slow Economic Recovery

• Corrupt government officials used money intended to rebuild Southern infrastructure for personal gain•Most of the South still dependent on

agriculture•Many Southern farmers lost all they had

to war costs

Slow Economic Recovery

• Once-wealthy plantation owners had land but no money to hire workers• Tenant Farming - planters divided land

into small plots they rented to workers who would grow crops • In some cases, tenant farmers would

pay a share of their crop as rent instead of cash – this was called Sharecropping

Who Benefited?

“We make as much cotton and sugar as we did when we were slaves and it does us little good now as it did then.”

In Summary…

Reconstruction Amendments Foldable• Some important vocabulary:

Amendment: a change or addition (to the United States Constitution)

Jurisdiction: power, authority; authority over an area

Naturalized: granted citizenship

Reconstruction: era of rebuilding (in the US, 1865-1877)

Servitude: state of being a slave