RECONSTRUCTION

Chapter 12

Presidential Reconstruction

Reconstruction Post Civil War 1865 – 1877 Repair damage to the South

The Wars Aftermath

Physical Toll 2/3rds South’s shipping was destroyed 9000 miles of RR destroyed 1/3 of livestock dead Value of Southern Farm Land down 70%

Human Toll North lost 364,000 South lost 260,000 1 in 3 permanently wounded

Black Southerners

4 million free people Homeless, Jobless, Hungry Could keep working on plantations

Plantation Owners

Lost $3 billion in labor Gov. took $100 million in plantation land Confederate money was worthless Had to sell property to cover debt

Poor White Southerners

Couldn’t find jobs Families left to go west

Punishment or Pardon?

What should be done to South? Unsure who was in charge

Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan

10% Plan Pardon to any Confederate who swear oath to

Union Denied pardon to Confederate military & gov

officials 10% of voters swear allegiance to start new

constitution Congress threatened by Pres making law Radical Republicans – main restructure

goal= equality Lincoln’s plan too lenient July 1864 – Wade-Davis Act Lincoln pocket veto

Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan

Presidential Reconstruction Plan Pardon with oath States could hold new constitutional

convention Had to void secession, abolish slavery,

repudiate Confederate debt Hold elections and rejoin Union

Pardoned 13,000 Southerners

The Taste of Freedom Freedom of Movement

Started looking for family Freedom to Own Land

Sherman’s 40 acres and a mule Stayed and worked to gain money

Freedom to Worship Started churches Became center of all-Black towns

Freedom to Learn 1860 – 90% AA illiterate 1865 – 1870 = 30 AA colleges founded

The Freedmen’s Bureau

Established in March 1865 by Congress Help newly freed slaves Gave clothes, medicine and food Set up schools Dismantled in 1869

Congressional Reconstruction Black Codes

Curfews – sunset Vagrancy Laws – not working= fine, whip,

sold for 1 yr. Labor contracts – 1 yr of work for pay in

December Land Restrictions – only live in rural areas

14th Amendment

South defiance angered Congress 1866 Civil Rights Act outlawed black

codes All people are free and equal

Radical Reconstruction

The North Grows Impatient Violence against AA’s increased Johnson still opposed civil rights for AAs

Reconstruction Act of 1867

Put South on 5 unit martial law Must have new elections and

Constitution All men, including AAs could vote Ex-Confeds couldn’t vote Guarantee equal rights

for all Ratify 14th amendment

Congress and the President

Johnson vs. Sumner and Stevens Both powerful and abolitionists Fight between men and branches of

government

A Power Struggle

1868 Johnson tries to fire Secretary of War Stanton

Didn’t want Stanton to preside over South

Senate needed to approve the firing

Johnson is Impeached

Congress finds the firing unconstitutional Feb 24, 1868 – Impeach 126 to 47 Impeach – charge with wrong doing May 16, 1868 vote

to remove from office Stayed in with by

one vote

Grant is Elected

1868 – Republicans choose Ulysses S. Grant

Beat Democrat Horatio Seymour

The 15th Amendment

Freedmen wanted right to vote, hold office, serve on juries, and testify in court

15th ratified in March 1870 Texas vs. White, upheld Reconstruction

The First Votes

Military had been registering freedmen

735,000 voted in 1867 and 1868

250 AA delegates at Constitutional Conventions

Electing Black Leaders

Most AAs voted Republican 600 AAs elected to office Louisiana got P.B.S. Pinchback as

governor

Integrating the Capitol

Eight AAs in Congress by 1875 Climate began to shift against AAs

The Republican South

Carpetbaggers Northern Republicans who moved to the

South Luggage made of carpet scraps Went to profit off post-war problems

Scalawags

White Southern Republicans Usually very poor and uneducated Seen as traitors

Birth of the New South-Changes in Farming Wanted: Workers

Planters held land & worked

Whites didn’t like doing “slave labor”

Fields 50 cents, RR $2

Planters had land but no labor

Freedmen had labor but no land

Sharecropping

Farmed part of plantation for owner Family got 1/3rd or ½ crop at harvest Conditions similar to slavery Charged for supplies at

inflated prices Trapped on plantation

for debt to owner

Tenant Farming

Didn’t own land but rented, very poor Choose crops to grow

Effects of the South

Changes in the Labor Force Before 1860, 90% AA labor By 1875, only 40%

Emphasis on Cash Crops Grew cotton, tobacco, sugar cane Cash crops Had to import food

Cycle of Debt Years profit = Years debt Never could escape Only 1 in 20 black families had land in 1870

Rise of Merchants Tenant farming

created new wealthy 8000 stores that sold

on credit Landlords had own

stores

Cities and Industry

The Growth of Cities South jealous of industrialized North ATL rebuilt & became center of South Railroads became center of Reconstruction

Limits of Industrial Growth Did not turn South in to “new” North Only early stages of manufacturing existed Most profits came from cotton mills

Funding Reconstruction

Infrastructure – Public property & services that a society uses

Biggest business opportunities Roads, canals, bridges, railroads South created public schools in 1872 Heavy taxes Added $130 million to Southern debt

Corruption

Many fraudulent loans and grants Lost money that could have helped the

South

The KKK

6 confederate soldiers in Tennessee

Kuklos- Greek for circle Wore robes pretending to be confederate

ghosts Seek revenge 1867- Nashville Convention 1st Grand Wizard Nathan Bedford Forrest Civil War general ordered 300 blacks

killed. 1868- ½ New Orleans adult white males.

The Klan

Plan to eliminate Republicans and blacks. Worked at night Burned crosses and killed Anyone who disagreed was a target

The Federal Response

Enforcement Act of 1870 Banned any prevention of terror States banned KKK all together 1000s of Klansmen tried and jailed

A Dying Issue

Corruption- reconstruction legislatures symbolized greed and corruption.

The economy- spent and never paid= huge debt

Violence- lack of troops left blacks to be harassed by whites.

Dems Return to Power solid south- ex. Confeds reversed reconstruction laws.

Supreme Court Limits Scope of Amendments Used cases to define 14th and 15th

Basic civil rights belonged to the state Limited Federal Govs ability to protect

AAs

The Compromise of 1877

Election of 1876 Rep. Hayes loses popular vote, wins EC Disputed and commission set up Deal made Hayes becomes President Support money to build levees on

Mississippi River Give huge subsides to Southern

Railroads

Success

Union restored South’s economy grew 14th and 15th Amendment Blacks became independent Southern Education System

Failures

South bitter toward Republicans Slow to industrialize Violence against AAs Cycle of poverty Racism