THE AFTERMATHPROBLEMS

PRESIDENT ANDREW JOHNSONPOWER STRUGGLE: JOHNSON V. CONGRESS

Reconstruction: 1865-1877

Reconstruction IntroductionHuman toll of the Civil War:

The North lost 364,000 soldiers. The South lost 260,000 soldiers.

1865-1877: 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 Reconstruction.

Freedmen (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 Freedmen.The war had destroyed two thirds of the South’s

shipping industry and about 9,000 miles of railroad

Tredegar Iron Works: Leading armaments producer during war

Confederate White House, Richmond, VA

Charleston, SC after the war

Lincoln’s Second Inauguration Speech

“With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds….to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.”

President Andrew Johnson

Remained loyal to Union during Civil War

Chosen VP to help with Reconstruction after war

Engaged in power struggle w/ Congress as to who would lead Reconstructive efforts

Did not favor Southern elite, but pardoned many after war

Land given back to plantation owners

Presidential Reconstruction

Considered too gentle- soft on Confederate ‘traitors’

Proclamation of Amnesty & Reconstruction: 1863 Amnesty: Presidential Pardon

Rebels sign an oath of allegiance 10% of population Even high-ranking Confederate officials

Write new State Constitutions: Approve the 13th Amendment Reject secession and state rights Submit to U.S. gov’t authority

No mention of: Education for Freedmen Citizenship and voting rights for Freedmen

Southern Governments: 1865

All 11 of ex-Confederate states qualified for President’s Reconstruction Plan

State governments wrote new Constitutions, repudiated secession and ratified 13th Amendment

No gov’t extended voting rights to blacks

Former leaders of Confederacy were elected seats in Congress Example: Alexander

Stephens (Confederate V.P.) was elected Senator from Georgia

Congressional Reconstruction

Reconstruction Act of 1867-1876 (harsh) Amnesty: Presidential Pardons

Oath of allegiance- 50% High ranking Confederate officials included Lose voting rights if not signed

Write new state Constitutions 14thAmendment Reject secession and state rights Submit to U.S. authority

Help for Freedmen Freedmen Bureau of Education 40 acres and a mule Divide South into 5 military districts

“Whether we like it or not; we must realize that fact now and forever. To be free, however, does not make him a citizen or entitle him to social or political equality with the white man.”

Mississippi Govenor, 1866: “The Negro is free…”

Black Codes

Similar to Slave Codes Restricted the freedom of movement Limited blacks’ rights as people, as humans Southern States enacted Black Codes as they were restored

to the Union Curfews:

In general, blacks could not gather after sunset Vagrancy Laws:

Freedmen convicted of vagrancy (not working) could be whipped, fined or sold for a year’s labor

Labor Contracts: Freedmen had to sign contracts in January; if they quit they had to give

back all earned wages Land Restrictions:

Freedmen could rent or own homes only in rural areas; forced them to live on plantations

Black Codes: St. Landry’s Parish- Louisiana, 1866

Section I: Be it ordained by the police jury of parish of St. Landry, That no negro shall be allowed to pass within the limits of said parish without a special permit in writing from his employer. Whoever shall violate this provision shall pay a fine of $2.50, or in default thereof shall be forced to work four days on the public road or suffer corporeal punishment.

Section IV: Be it further ordained, No Negroes shall be allowed to congregate in public meetings between the hours of sunset to sunrise and by special permission of the police chief may a public meeting of Negroes occur. However, church services are not included in this law. Pay a fine of $5.00, work 5 days on the road crew or receive corporeal punishment

Radical Republicans

Thadeus Stevens to Congress, 1866: “Strip a proud nobility of their bloated estates, send them forth to labor and you will thus humble the proud traitors.”

Charles Summner to Congress, 1867: “I am for Negro suffrage in every rebel state. If it be just, it should not be denied: if it be necessary, it should be adopted: if it be a punishment of traitors, they deserve it.”

•Wanted to see the South punished•Advocated social, political and economic equality for Freedmen•Proposed military rule over South•Seek to impeach President Johnson after he vetoed Civil Rights Act of 1866

Enacting the Radical Program

Civil Rights Act (1866) All African-Americans were pronounced citizens of U.S. This decision repudiated the Dred Scott decision Attempted to give legal shield against Black Codes Feared Act could be repealed if/when Democrats took control

of Congress Fourteenth Amendment

Declared all persons born or naturalized in U.S. were citizens Obligated the states to respect rights of U.S. citizens; provide equal

protection under the law First time: States, not Federal gov’t, required to uphold Constitution Other Clauses of 14th Amendment:

Repudiated debts of defeated governments of the Confederacy Penalized state’s representation in the electoral college if it kept any

eligible person from voting

President Johnson’s Impeachment President Johnson vetoed Civil Rights Act of

1866 This would have increased the Freedmen

Bureau’s $$ This bill would have granted citizenship to

Blacks This forced Congress to pass the 14th

Amendment: Declared all people born or naturalized in

the US were citizens All peoples protected by due process of the

law Johnson was a Southern Democrat, white

supremacist Johnson pardoned many southern elite

landowners, politicians Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1867 in

defiance of Johnson South would be placed under military

control States had to ratify 14th amendment in

their constitutions President Johnson impeached

Vote for removal was one short of 2/3 needed

Realizations of Reconstruction

The South may have lost the war, but ideologies and mind-set in southerners who defended the war were still present

Who, from the South, can take part in politics again?What to do with southern military officers?The ways in which to “reconstruct” were heavily debated

in Congress Should the South “pay” for what they did? Should an even hand be used to bring southerners back into the

fold? How would free blacks be treated in an American society that

treated them primarily as second-class citizens, and in many cases, less than citizens?

How long would the South be militarized? Would this lead to more animosity between the two regions (North and South)?

ELECTION OF 1868RECONSTRUCTION GOVERNMENTS

REPUBLICAN RECORDAFRICAN-AMERICANS

ELECTION OF 1872END OF RECONSTRUCTION

Reconstruction & Grant’s Presidency

Pageant Chapter 23(pages 538-564)

Reforms after Grant’s Election Democrats nominated Horatio

Seymour at their convention (Johnson’s presidency would have ended regardless of impeachment)

Republicans turned to war hero (Ulysses S. Grant)

Grant won only 300,000 more popular votes in North (500,000 freed blacks voted for Grant)

15th Amendment (1869): protect all citizens’ right to vote

Civil Rights Act 1785: guaranteed equal accommodations in

public places (hotels, railroads, theatres)

African-Americans could not be prohibited from juries

Poorly enforced: Northern politicians frustrated with

having to ‘reform’ unwilling South and losing white votes in the North

Reconstruction in the South

Republican party dominated in ex-Confederate statesEach state was under military protection starting in

1867 (until Gov’t satisfied Reconstruction criterion were met)

Whites were majority in southern state governmentsScalawags: southern Republicans

Southern whites (Republicans) were former Whigs who had interest in economic development

Carpetbaggers: northern newcomers Northerners who came south for investment purposes,

missionaries, teachers and to plunderAfrican-American Legislators: Educated land

holders; took moderate stance on issues

Evaluating Republican Record

Accomplishments: Liberalized state constitutions

Universal male suffrage, property rights for women, debt relief, modernized penal codes

Promoted building of roads, bridges, railroads Established hospitals and asylum for handicapped State supported public schools in the South Tax systems overhauled, bonds introduced

Failures: Greed and wasteful spending

Kickbacks and bribery from contractors business in state programs

No demographic or geographic section of U.S. immune to general decline in ethics

Reconstruction in the North

North’s economy driven by Industrial Revolution and pro-business policies of Republicans

Greed & Corruption Rise of spoilsmen:

Political leadership passed from reformers to manipulators (Stevens, Sumner & Wade out- Roscoe Conklin and James Blaine in)

Gave jobs and gov’t favors to supporters - Patronage Corruption of Business & Gov’t

1869: Wall Street financiers (Jay Gould & James Fisk) got help from Pres. Grant’s brother-in-law to corner the gold market

Treasury Dept. broke the scheme but Gould made fortune Credit Mobilier Affair:

Insiders gave gov’t officials stock to hide the large profits they made from the Trans-Continental Railroad

Whiskey Ring: Federal Revenue agents conspired w/ liquor industry to defraud gov’t of

millions in taxes Local Politics:

William Tweed - Democratic Party boss in New York Tweed found ways to steal from New York tax payers ($200 million) Scheme discovered and Tweed was put in prison (1876)

Adjusting to Freedom

Building Communities: Freedom to southern blacks- reuniting families, reading &

writing, migrating to cities, emancipation Independent black churches founded after War Baptist and African Methodist Episcopalian Churches grew in

stature Black colleges: Howard & Morehouse were established to train

black teachers and ministers Sharecropping:

Compulsory labor force was gone White landowners adopted a system of tenancy &

sharecropping Landlords provided seeds and supplies in return for a share of

the harvest By 1880 only 5% of southern blacks were independent

landowners Sharecropping was a new form of servitude

Sharecropping in the South: post Civil War

Population: 33 million Slaves: 4 millionCompare geographical location of large slave percentages to that of large sharecropping percentages

Election of 1872 Reform-minded Republicans

broke from party Horace Greeley selected as

pres. Candidate (editor of New York Tribune)

Liberal Republicans advocated civil service reform, end of railroad subsidies, withdrawal of troops from South, reduced tariffs, free trade

Democrats joined them & nominated Greeley

Republicans ‘waved the bloody shirt’ & won again

Panic of 1873

Thousands of northerners were jobless & homeless

Over-speculation by financiers and overbuilding by industry led to business failure & depression

Debtors argued for easy-access solution: Greenbacks (money not supported by gold)

Grant vetoed a bill calling for additional Greenbacks (1874)

Hard-money bankers and creditors wanted stable money supply backed by gold

End of Reconstruction

White Supremacy & KKK: Secret societies to intimidate black and

white reformers Nathaniel Forest Bedford founded KKK

(1867) Burned black-owned buildings, flogged,

murdered, lynched freedmen Force Act (1870 & 1871): federal

authority to stop KKK violence Amnesty of 1872:

Last restrictions of ex-Confederates passed

Reduced high Civil War tariffs Election of 1876

Federal troops w/drawn from ex-Confed. states (except S. Car, Florida & Louisiana)

Democrats returned to power except in these three states

Congressional Reconstruction 1865-1877

•Republicans nominated Rutherford B. Hayes (not part of Grant’s scandals)

•Democrats chose Samuel J. Tilden (reform minded, fought against corruption of Tweed)

•Democrats won clear majority but votes were contested in three ex-Confed. states This leads to Compromise of 1877

Compromise of 1877

The compromise essentially stated that Southern Democrats would acknowledge Hayes as president, but only on the understanding that Republicans would meet certain demands.

The following elements are generally said to be the points of the compromise: The removal of all federal troops from the former Confederate States. (Troops

remained in only Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida, but the Compromise finalized the process.)

The appointment of at least one Southern Democrat to Hayes's cabinet. (David M. Key of Tennessee became Postmaster General.)

The construction of another transcontinental railroad using the Texas and Pacific in the South (this had been part of the "Scott Plan," proposed by Thomas A. Scott, which initiated the process that led to the final compromise).

Legislation to help industrialize the South and get them back on their feet after the terrible loss during the Civil War.

In exchange, Democrats would: Peacefully accept Hayes's presidency. Respect blacks' rights.

Information for you to Comprehend

Aftershock: Beyond the Civil War (Part I)Aftershock: Beyond the Civil War (Part II)Understand and be able to discuss the

information from notes and the following from the text: Election of 1876 (page 544) Compromise of 1877 (page 545) Jim Crow Laws in the South (page 547) Class Conflicts & Ethnic Clashes (page 548)