Reconstruction1865-1877

Mr. Owens

Essential Questions

• To what extent were the political, economic, and social effects of the Civil War and Reconstruction revolutionary?

• What were the short-term successes and long-term failures of Republican-lead Reconstruction from 1865 to 1877?

• What constitutional changes emerged due to the Civil War and how were American identity, national purpose, and definitions of citizenship altered?

Lincoln’s ReconstructionLincoln’s 10% Plan:• “Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction”

(December 1863)* Presidential Pardons to: 1) took loyalty oath to the Union

and Constitution & 2) agreed to emancipation.* When 10% of the voting pop. in the 1860 election were

“loyal” the state could be reestablished. Wade-Davis Bill (1864) Benjamin Wade (OH) & James Davis (MD)• 50% of the number of 1860 voters to take oath • “Iron-clad Oath” only non-Confederates could vote only if

never voluntarily aided the rebellion.• Enacted specific safeguards of freedmen’s liberties.• Lincoln “pocket” vetoed it. Freedmen’s Bureau (March 1865) welfare agency providing food, shelter, & medical aid for former slaves (& homeless whites)

– Led by General Oliver Howard – Created 3,000 schools that educated 200,000

freedmen– Attempts to settle blacks on confiscated lands blocked

(“40 acres and a mule”)

Johnson’s Reconstruction• Andrew Johnson (TN) Jacksonian Democrat, added to

Lincoln’s ticket in ‘64 to lure pro-Union Democrats, white supremacist who clashed with Republican goals

Presidential Reconstruction:• Similar to Lincoln’s plan• Disenfranchised Confederate civil and military officers &

wealthy ($20,000 or more) States had to ratify 13th Amendment.

• Johnson granted 13,500 special pardons.• None of the new state constitutions extended voting rights

to blacks - result?• 1866 Northern Republicans refused to seat ex-

Confederates including former VP Alexander StephensBlack Codes: restricted rights of former slaves Including: 1. couldn’t rent land or borrow $ 2. Forced “vagrants” into contract-labor 3. Couldn’t testify against whites in courtJohnson Vetoes: Freedmen’s Bureau re-charter & Civil Rights Act to nullify black codes, but Congress overrides both in 1866

- 29 vetoes but 15 overridden by Republican Congress

“Radical” Republicans• Radical Republicans led by Charles Sumner in Senate &

Thaddeus Stevens in House wanted to punish the South & extend rights to former slaves

• Civil Rights Act of 1866 – all blacks were citizens & attempted to eliminate black codes

• 14th Amendment (June 1866 – ratified by states 1868)* Citizenship Clause: All persons born or naturalized in

U.S. are citizens (including former slaves)* Due Process & Equal Protection Clause: States can’t

deny rights, “equal protection” or “due process” to any U.S. citizen

* Disqualified former Confederate political leaders from holding state or fed. office.

* Confederate states must pay off debts.* Punished states that denied black suffrage by

reducing members of Congress & electoral college

Radical Reconstruction & Impeachment•Johnson’s “Swing Around the Circle” 1866 midterm campaign backfired – Republicans gained 3 to 1 majority in CongressReconstruction Acts of 1867 *Required new state constitutions, including black suffrage and ratification of the 13th and 14th Amendments.*Divide the 10 “unreconstructed states” into 5 military districts “Military Reconstruction”Johnson Impeachment:• Command of the Army Act & Tenure of Office

Act: Pres. couldn’t remove Generals or officials [esp. Cabinet] without the Senate’s consent.

• Johnson fires Sec. of War Edwin Stanton claiming laws unconstitutional

• Johnson Impeached in 1868 but 1 vote shy of removal in 3 month Senate trial

Election of 1868 & GrantElection of 1868: Ulysses S. Grant victory over

Horatio Seymour in ugly campaign “waving the bloody shirt” due to in part victory in

South – lesson?15th Amendment:• Passed in 1869 - Ratified in 1870.• The right to vote can’t be denied by the fed or

state government “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

• Congress shall enforce it.• Women’s rights groups were furious – why?Civil Rights Act of 1875• Guaranteed equal accommodations in public

places & forbid courts from banning blacks from juries

• Law was poorly enforced & ignored• No significant Civil Rights legislation for 89

years

Reconstruction in the South

•Republican government dominated South during Military occupation•Democrats attempted to undermine Republicans as “Carpetbaggers” & “Scalawags”• African American legislators: Freedmencontrolled lower house in South Carolina & 2 black senators from Mississippi: Hiram Revels (1870) & Blanche Bruce (1875) & 20 blacks served in House of Reps – Next black Senator from South?• Myth of “Colored Rule” – undermined supportBuilding Black Communities:• Reunited with families, many moved to cities.• Rise of Negro Baptist and American Methodists

Episcopal (AME) churches• New black colleges - Howard, Atlanta, Fisk,

Morehouse - train black ministers & teachers• Rise of Sharecropping (tenant farming) landlord

seed & supplies in exchange for ½ of the harvest, by 1880 less than 5% were landowners

The North During Reconstruction• Rise of “Spoilsmen” – Republican leadership

shifted from reformers to Party Bosses like Sen. Roscoe Conkling & James Blaine

• Corruption: – Jay Gould & James Fisk corner the Gold Market in

1869– Credit Mobilier Scandal – profiteering & graft from

transcontinental railroad– Whiskey Ring – Fed agents & distillers defrauded

gov. of millions– “Grantism” – Boss Tweed Ring of Tammany Hall urban politcal

machine corruption in NYC

• Election of 1872: despite scandals Grant defeats reform-minded Horace Greeley editor of NY Tribune

• Panic of 1873: overspeculation & overbuilding by railroads led to high bankruptcy, unemployment & debt

End of Reconstruction• Radical Republicans in decline & northern focus on

economic issues• White supremacy reigns in South

– Ku Klux Klan “invisible empire” founded in 1867 by Nathan Bedford Forrest lynchings & violence to suppress black votes

– Force Acts in 1870 & 1871 use of federal military to crush Klan operations

• Amnesty Act of 1872: pardon all Confederates except top leaders. Led to white Southern Democrat “Redeemers” regaining control of South

• Election of 1876: Republican moderate Rutherford B. Hayes of OH vs. NY reform governor Dem Samuel Tilden. Disputed result but Tilden appeared in lead.

• Compromise of 1877:1. Hayes gets the presidency2. Immediate end of military Reconstruction in South3. Support for Southern transcontinental railroad “Ruther-fraud Hayes”

“His Fraudulency”