Reconstruction of the SouthImportant People and Terms

The Civil War Amendments

•13th Amendment•Passed by Congress on January 31, 1865,

and ratified on December 6, 1865•Abolished slavery in the United States•"Neither slavery nor involuntary

servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."

Civil War Amendments Cont.

•14th Amendment•Ratified on July 9, 1868•Granted citizenship to “all persons born

or naturalized in the United States,” which included former slaves recently freed

•Forbids states from denying any person "life, liberty or property, without due process of law" or to "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Civil War Amendments Cont.

•15th Amendment ratified Feb. 3, 1870•Granted African American men the right

to vote •Declared that 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.

• Not fully realized for almost a century• Poll taxes, literacy tests skirted 15th

Amend.•Voting Rights Act of 1965 outlawed poll

taxes

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Susan B. Anthony

“40 Acres and a Mule”•As Union soldiers advanced through the South,

thousands of freed slaves left their plantations to follow Union general W.T. Sherman

•To solve problems caused by the mass of refugees Sherman issues:

• Special Field Orders, No. 15•Granted each freed family forty acres of tillable

land on islands and the coast of Georgia• Unneeded mules were also granted to settlers.

Cont.

•After the assassination of President Lincoln:

• His successor, Andrew Johnson, revoked Sherman's Orders and returned the land to its previous white owners

•The phrase "40 acres and a mule" has come to represent the failure of Reconstruction policies

Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan•December 1863•Model for reinstatement of Southern states•A state could be reintegrated into the Union

when 10% of the 1860 vote count from that state had taken an oath of allegiance to the U.S. and pledged to abide by emancipation.

•Next step in the process would be for the states to formally elect a state government

•State legislature could write a new constitution, but it also had to abolish slavery

Wade-Davis Bill of 1864

•Written by Radical Republicans who felt that Lincoln was being too lenient

•Made re-admittance to the Union for former Confederate states contingent on a majority in each Southern state to take the Ironclad oath

•Lincoln used a pocket veto to kill the bill

Radical Republicans

•Loose faction of American politicians within the Republican Party from about 1854 (before the American Civil War) until the end of Reconstruction in 1877.

•Strongly opposed slavery during the war and after the war distrusted ex-Confederates, demanding harsh policies for Reconstruction

•Opposed by the Democratic Party and usually by moderate and Liberal Republicans

Thaddeus Stephens

Leader of the Radical Republicans

Most outspoken in condemnation of the Confederacy and slavery

Largely responsible for using the military to control Reconstruction

Died in 1868

Ironclad Oath

•A person had to swear he had never borne arms against the Union or supported the Confederacy

•Unpopularity among ex-Confederates led them to nickname the oath "The Damnesty Oath."

Freedman’s Bureau

•March 3, 1865 becomes the law•Purpose was to aid freedmen and white

refugees•Provide food, clothing, fuel, and advice on

negotiating labor contracts•Attempt to oversee new relations between

freedmen and their former masters in a free labor market.

Andrew Johnson

•17th President •Known primarily for the non enforcement

and defiance of Reconstruction laws passed by the U.S. Congress

•Ordered that confiscated or abandoned lands administered by the Freedman's Bureau would not be redistributed to the freedmen but be returned to pardoned owners.

Andrew Johnson

Impeachment of Andrew Johnson•President Johnson notified Congress on

February 21, 1868, that he had removed Edwin Stanton as Secretary of War and replaced him with Adjutant-General Lorenzo Thomas

•Takes the House of Representatives only three days to impeach him for "high crimes and misdemeanors” (Tenure of Office Act)

•Stanton refused to abandon his office and had Thomas arrested for attempting to exercise the duties of the Secretary of War.

The Trial• Senate trial, which he did not attend, began

on March 23 •Presided over by Chief Justice Salmon B.

Chase• There were eleven articles of impeachment.•On May 16, the Senate voted on the eleventh

article, which included many of the charges contained in the preceding articles

•Johnson was acquitted by one vote; the 35-19 count was just short of the necessary two-thirds majority.

First Reconstruction Act/Mar 2, 1867

•AKA Military Reconstruction Act•South was divided into five military districts,

each under a major general.• Act included an amendment that offered

readmission to the Southern states after they had ratified the Fourteenth Amendment and guaranteed adult male suffrage

• President Johnson immediately vetoed the bill but Congress re-passed the bill the same day.

2nd Reconstruction Act/Mar 23, 1867

• First Reconstruction Act left the Southern States in confusion to whose role it was to reinforce the legislation

• Second Act established and clarified that the military commanders held responsibility to register voters and hold elections in their territories

• Required that every voter recite the registration oath promising their support to the constitution and their obedience to the law

• Johnson vetoed and Congress overturns

3rd Reconstruction Act/Jul 19 1867•Gave supreme power to the five Union

generals overseeing Reconstruction in the five districts of the South

•Generals held the power to remove any official, elected or otherwise, from office if they believed the official to impede rather than expedite the process of Reconstruction

•Widely resented by Southerners who felt that the North was, yet again, attempting to impose their will on the former Confederacy.

Carpetbaggers• It became the term to refer to a Yankee who

moved to the south and usually meant a “damn Yankee and not to be trusted, a scoundrel”.

•Took advantage of poor conditions to make money

•The worst Carpetbaggers were the politicians who used their positions in the corrupt Reconstruction Government to enrich themselves through bribes and graft at the expense of native Southerners.

Scalawags AKA Southern Unionists• Native white Southern politicians who joined

the Republican party after the war • Advocated the acceptance and compliance with

congressional Reconstruction • To most white Southerners, scalawags were an

unprincipled group of traitorous opportunists • Many scalawags were sincere in their belief

that conformance with the measures of the Reconstruction Acts was the best and fastest way to end Reconstruction and return the South to home rule.

Ku Klux Klan

•Formed in 1866 by Confederate veterans•“Tennessee social club”•Most prominent of vigilante groups that

used terrorist methods against recently freed slaves

Election of 1868•Republicans nominate U.S. Grant•Democrats nominate Horatio Seymour who

had been governor of New York but was also against emancipation and for states rights

•Grant receives 500,000 African American votes

•Republicans also keep majorities in both houses of Congress

•Georgia, Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia had not yet ratified the 14th Amendment and were unable to cast votes in this election

Ulysses S. Grant

18th President of the U.S.

Grant Administration Scandals•“Salary Grab”•Raised presidential and congressional salaries•Signed in secret with a clause that back paid

congressmen for previous two years•Eventually, law was repealed and bonuses

were repaid to the Treasury•“Black Friday”•Attempt by two financiers to corner the gold

market using Grant’s brother-in-law to get to the president

Scandals cont

•Credit Mobilier Scandal•Began during Lincoln’s administration,

continued during Johnson’s, but became news during Grant’s terms

•Involved the selling of stock and bribes to congressman in the Union Pacific Railroad company during construction of Transcontinental Railroad

Enforcement Acts/1870-71•Designed to counter racial terrorism•1. Interference with voting a federal offense•2. Federal supervision of voting•3. President could send troops and suspend

writ of habeas corpus (declare martial law)•Ku Klux Klan Act:•Made violence against civil and political

rights a federal crime•Hundreds of Klan members prosecuted•Election of 1872, Grant easily re-elected

Civil Rights Act of 1875

•Outlawed racial discrimination in theaters, hotels, railroads (Other places as well)

•On the surface, appeared to be an attempt by the federal government to intervene in southern affairs

•In substance, it was difficult to enforce•Required African Americans to sue in

federal courts:•Expensive and took a lot of time

Redemption of South

•Control of southern states back to Democrats

•By 1874, Democrats regain a majority in the House of Representatives

•Blamed republicans for financial crisis in the South

•Between 1869 and 1877, Democrats regained control (Redeemed) of southern state governments

Supreme Court Rulings

•U.S. v Reese and U.S. v Cruikshank both 1876

•Restrict congressional power to enforce Ku Klux Klan Act

•Put power to prosecute in the hands of the state instead of federal authorities

Supreme Court cont

•Ruled that 15th Amendment did not guarantee a citizen’s right to vote

•Only barred “race, color, or previous condition of servitude”

•Allowed interpretation of Southern states to pass laws restricting voter eligibility:

•Poll taxes, literacy tests, property requirements, Jim Crow laws

Supreme Court cont

•1883, Supreme Court declares the Civil Rights Act of 1875 unconstitutional

•14th Amendment gave Congress power to outlaw discrimination by states, not private institutions or individuals

•Majority opinion stated that “black people must no longer be the special favorite of the law”

•Decisions mark the end of federal attempts to protect rights of African Americans for decades

Election of 1876• Republicans run Rutherford B. Hayes, Governor

of Ohio• Democrats run Samuel J. Tilden, Governor of

New York• Electoral crisis with accusations of voter fraud• Tilden received 250,000 more popular votes &

184 E.C. votes (1 short of 185 needed)• 20 disputed E.C. votes from Florida, Louisiana,

South Carolina, and Oregon• Southern states had turned in two sets of E.C.

votes

January 1877

•Congress establishes an Electoral Commission

•5 Senators, 5 House of Reps, and 5 S.C. justices

•8 Republicans, 7 Democrats•All E.C. votes went to Hayes•Compromise of 1877•More money for southern improvements•Appoint a southerner to Hayes cabinet•Noninterference in southern affairs

(Home rule)

End of Reconstruction

•After Hayes takes office, he orders removal of last remaining federal troops in the South

•“Home rule” ended Republican help to freed people

•Effectively nullified 14th and 15th Amendments

•African Americans denied most rights until what is known as the 2nd Reconstruction:

•Civil Rights movement