Reconstruction 8/25Terms

-Presidential Reconstruction (Lincoln and Johnson) -Congressional Reconstruction (Radical Reconstruction) -Freedman’s Bureau -Compromise of 1877

Prof. Malone’s Random History Trivia of the Day: Nowhere in the Constitution does it say that US Supreme Court justices have to be lawyers or have any legal training. In fact, several justices in the court's history had never attended law school. James Byrnes, on the court from 1941 to 1942, had little formal education and never attended college.

The Issues

I. How will the nation be reformed? What should be done with those who rebelled? Can the devastated South be rebuilt?

II. What will be done with the almost 4 million new citizens who have been freed from slavery? How will they adapt to freedom? What will the government do to help these people? What will their legal rights be?

III. How will Reconstruction be concluded?

The Devastation of War: Land and Economy

• Sherman’s March to the Sea from Atlanta to Savannah Late 1864

• “The trail of war is visible throughout the valley in burnt up gin-houses, ruined bridges, mills, and factories, of which latter the gable walls only are left standing, and in large tracts of once cultivated land stripped of every vestige of fencing. . . .”

Human Cost of War

• At least 618,000 Americans died (2.5 percent of the US population)

• Union lost 360,222 men

• Confederacy lost 258,000 men

• Thousands more crippled

How to reunite the country after such terrible devastation?

• Three main plans -Abraham Lincoln April 1865-Andrew Johnson April 1865-1866-Congressional (radical) 1866-early 1870s

Lincoln’s Plan for Reconstruction

• Moderate • Quick • 10% Plan • Pardons• Freedman’s Bureau

Freedman’s BureauMandates: • Transition African Americans from slavery to freedom • Create a free labor system in the South • Aide to those who couldn’t support themselves• Adjudicate disputes between whites and blacks • Provide justice through the South • To serve as the government agency in the place of the

now null Confederate government • Establish schools and hospitals for freed African

Americans in the South

Presidential Reconstruction of Andrew Johnson

Under his plan: • States could be readmitted if • A loyalty oath was taken by the people of the State and their

leaders • The State ratified the 13th Amendment The declared that

secession was not a legal principal • New elections were held

His Plan did not • Punish • Address the needs of former slaves

Black Codes

Began Jan 1866

• Restrict movement• Limit voting• Implement Curfews • Not allowed to bear arms• Vagrancy laws • Minors could be drafted into apprenticeships if their

parents were deemed too poor to take care of them

Congressional Reconstruction

• Republicans are angry • Feel that nothing has changed• Angry at Johnson for vetoes • 1866 Elections give republicans the ability to

overturn Johnson’s vetoesThey decide to: • Reestablish the charter for the Freedman’s Bureau • Pass a Civil Rights ActJohnson vetoes both, but they are overturned

14th Amendment July 1868

• “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

Reconstruction Act of 1867

• Divides the South into 5 military districts • Forces States to write Constitutions

President VS Congress

• Tenure on Office Act (1867)• Johnson violates the Act • Impeachment Trial 1668

15th Amendment Feb 1870

• Section 1. 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

• Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation

Redemption

Occurs for many reasons • The KKK and other Organizations • Other events turn the nation’s attention away

from the South

Of Course He Wants to Vote the Democratic Ticket

Democratic “Reformer” “You’re as Free as Air, Ain’t You? Say You Are or I’ll Blow Yer Back Head Off”

Harper’s Weekly, Oct. 21, 1876

Samuel Tilden

Rutherford B. Hayes

The End of Reconstruction (1877)

Election of 1876

“Corrupt Bargain”

Far Reaching Effects of these Events

• African Americans will have unequal status until the mid 20th century

• The Klan and other organizations which have roots in this period will continue to the present day

• Southern economy won’t recover for decades and won’t equal the northern economy until the 1960s

• 14th Amendment is the first time the word “male” is linked to voting rights

• The 14th Amendment is still an issue today (immigration)