ReconstructionAmerican History

Ms. Costas

Post Civil War

• Questions that needed to be answered…• How to rebuild a shattered southern

society and economy?• What is the place of the 4 million

freed slaves?• Is the federal government

responsible for helping them?• How to treat the former

Confederate states?• Who has the authority to answer all

these questions: the president or Congress?

Lincoln’s Plan

• Lincoln disagreed that the Confederate states actually left the Union• Didn’t have the Constitutional ability

• Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction introduced in 1863• Full presidential pardons for those who:

• Took an oath of allegiance to the Union• Accepted the emancipation of slaves

• State government could be reestablished with 10% voter loyalty

• Wade Davis Bill (1864)• Stricter policies proposed by Congress, pocketed by Lincoln• 50% loyalty and no Confederate voters

• Freedmen’s Bureau• Established by Congress in 1865 to aid former slaves

• Assassination, April 11, 1865

Johnson’s Plan

• Senator from Tennessee – remained loyal to the Union• White supremacist

• Similar plan as Lincoln’s 10% plan• Disfranchisement of

• All former leaders and officials of Confederacy• Confederates with more then $20,000 in taxable

property

• Pardoned many “disloyal” southerners• All 11 states were readmitted

• None addressed voting rights to African Americans

• Did not address rights of the freedmen

Black Codes

• Adopted in the south – restricted rights of African Americans• Prohibited blacks from renting land or borrowing

money to buy land• Forced freedmen as “vagrants” and “apprentices”

to sign work contracts• Prohibited blacks from testifying against whites in

court

• Contracted-labor system was no different than slavery

• Johnson vetoed two important bills• Increase funding for the Freedmen’s Bureau• Civil Rights Bill that nullifies Black Codes

Election of 1866

• Elections to the US House of Representatives

• Johnson took to the road in his infamous “swing around the circle”• Nickname for Johnson’s political speeches

• Hoped to gain Congressional support for Reconstruction

• Claimed equal rights for blacks would result in “Africanized” society

• Republicans counter-attacked with campaign tactic “waving the bloody shirt”• Recalling the passion and hardship of the Civil War

• Republicans gain overwhelming majority in Congress• 2/3 majority

Congressional Reconstruction

• Second round of Reconstruction• First were the plans enacted by Lincoln and

Johnson• Where 11 states reentered the Union

• After Johnson lost majority vote in both houses, Congress came up with its own plan for Reconstruction• Harsher on southern whites• More protective of freed blacks

Enacting the Radical Program

• Led by Radical Republicans• Equal rights for all citizens

• Under radical program major acts were passed• Civil Rights Act of 1866

• Pronounced all African-Americans citizens• Protected African Americans from Black Codes

• Fourteenth Amendment• All people born in the United States were citizens• States must provide “equal protection of the laws” and “due

process”

• Reconstruction acts of 1867• New State Constitutions• Military Districts• Ratification of 14th Amendment

Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

• Tenure of Office Act (1867)• Cannot remove a military or federal

official without Senate’s approval• Designed to protect Radical Republicans in

the cabinet

• Johnson saw law as unconstitutional• Removed Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton

• Impeached by the House• Impeach = to call into question the

integrity or validity of a practice• Congress fell one vote short of the 2/3

majority• 7 moderate Republicans voted with

Democrats

• Johnson was not nominated for reelection

Reforms After Grant’s Election

• Election of 1868 • Republicans nominate Ulysses S. Grant

• African-American vote gave Grant the edge

• Ratification of Fifteenth Amendment• Prohibited any state from denying a citizen’s

right to vote “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude”

• Civil Rights Act of 1875• Guaranteed equal accommodations in public

places• Courts cannot prohibit African-Americans from

juries

• Poorly enforced

Reconstruction Governments

• Whites were the majority of southern state governments• Except South Carolina

• Freedmen controlled the lower house

• Many northerners headed to southern states• Driven by hopes of economic gain

• Scalawags• Southern Republicans

• Carpetbaggers• Northerners relocated to the south

• African Americans gained positions of power in Congress• Caused resentment from disfranchised ex-Confederates

Evaluating the Republican Record

• Controversy surrounds legislative record of Republicans• Did they abuse power for selfish reasons?• Did they govern responsibly to protect public interest?

• Accomplishments• Liberalized southern governments• Promoted internal improvements• Promoted state institutions• Improved and expanded education

• Failures• Wasteful spending• Corruption and bribery• Poor ethics

African Americans Adjusting to Freedom

• Needed to secure economic survival and political rights

• Building black communities• Reuniting families• Independent black churches• Education

• Black colleges

• Communities in frontier states

• Sharecropping• Landowners provided goods and supplies in return for a

share of the crop• Gave poor opportunity to work land for themselves

• Often dependent on landowners

Greed and Corruption

• Growth of materialism changed the tide of Reconstruction• Crusade for civil rights got pushed aside

• Rise of the spoilsmen• Congressmen played the game of patronage

• Giving jobs and government favors to their supporters

• Corrupt businessmen and politicians• Grant often turned a blind eye to corruption• Millions of dollars stolen from taxpayers

Election of 1872 & Panic of 1873

• Republican party splits• Reform-minded Republicans

nominate Horace Greeley, editor of New York Times• Joined by liberal Republicans and

Democrats

• Radical Republicans countered with “waving the bloody shirt”• Grant reelected by a landslide

• Economic disaster hits in 1873• Gave out too much federal funding

• Caused by post-war inflation• High investments in railroads• Large trade deficits • Property loss

End of Reconstruction

• Third and final phase of Reconstruction• Southern conservatives (aka redeemers) took control of state

governments• Agreed on state’s rights, reduced taxes, reduced spending on social

programs, and white supremacy

• White Supremacy and the Ku Klux Klan• Secret society to intimidate blacks and white reformers

• The Amnesty Act of 1872• Removed last restrictions on ex-Confederates

• The Election of 1876• Rutherford B. Hayes (R) beats out Samuel J. Tilden (D)

• The Compromise of 1877• Hayes would become president on two conditions

• Immediately end federal support for Republicans in the south• Build a southern transcontinental railroad