reconstruction politics 1865 - 1877 years following the civil war (1861 – 1865)

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Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

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Page 1: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877

Years following the Civil War(1861 – 1865)

Page 2: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Themes

• Profile of different leaders during Reconstruction-Involved Presidents and members of Congress

• Goals and accomplishments of different leaders

• The end of Reconstruction • Your evaluation: Was it a success or failure?

Page 3: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Results of the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

• Over 600,000 died • The South’s economy was destroyed • How would the economy be rebuilt?• What about the status of 3.5 million former

slaves?

Page 4: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Reconstruction

• Textbook definition of Reconstruction:• The process of putting the nation back

together following the Civil War.

Page 5: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Lincoln’s Plan (1863) (Lenient)

1. 10% Plan: ten percent of voters in Confederate states musta). accept emancipation b). swear loyalty to the Union

2. High ranking Confederate officials could not vote or hold office unless pardoned by PresidentONCE THESE CONDITIONS WERE MET, A STATE COULD RETURN TO THE UNION.

Lincoln wanted to make it easy for the Confederate states to return to the Union.

Page 6: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Wade-Davis Bill (1864)

• Rather than 10 percent (Lincoln’s Plan), the Wade-Davis Bill would require a majority of a state’s white men to swear an oath of allegiance to the Union.

- guaranteed full legal and civil right to African Americans, BUT!!! Not the right to vote.

*Lincoln vetoed the bill stating only he had the power to emancipate slaves.*

Page 7: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Election of 1864

• President – Abraham Lincoln• Vice President – Andrew Johnson- Johnson was sworn in first, however he was completely wasted. He could barley walk and kept slurring his words. Johnson gave a speech about him being for the common man and kept referring to members of congress…but he could not remember any of their names.

Page 8: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

The Funeral of President Lincoln (April 25, 1865)

• Lincoln was shot April 14, 1865 by John Wilkes Booth

• He was watching the play “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theatre

• The president who helped the United States through its most divided conflict was dead.

Page 9: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Targeted Congressman

• Abraham Lincoln: Killed• Secretary of War William Seward: stabbed in

the face and throat• Assistant Secretary of State Fredrick Seward:

stabbed• Andrew Johnson: never attacked

Page 10: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)
Page 11: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Reconstruction Terrorists

• John Surratt – By 1863, Surratt was working as a Confederate secret agent in the Potomac River area. According to him, was on a spying mission for General Edwin Lee the night of Lincoln’s assassination. The federal government eventually dropped all charges against Surratt in 1868

• David Herold – was sent to assassinate Secretary of War Seward. He fled and met with Booth near Port Royal, Virginia.

Page 12: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Three Important Individuals Following Lincoln’s Death

• Thaddeus Stevens – member of congress from Pennsylvania. • Charles Sumner – senator from Massachusetts• Andrew Johnson (turn to Lenient)– Lincoln’s vice president• Benjamin Wade and Henry Winter Davis – Wade Davis Bill. • Wade-Davis Bill of 1864 – required that 50 percent of citizens

in the South take an oath to support the Union in order to be readmitted.

ALL 5 of these were the leaders of the Radical Republicans.

Page 13: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Radical Republicans

1. Members of the Republican Party who wanted to:a. Punish the South for causing the Civil Warb. Fought to protect the rights of former slaves

Page 14: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Thaddeus Stevens(Radical Republican)

• Leading member of the Radical Republicans in the House of Representatives

• Goal: Economic opportunity for former slaves

• When he was dying he stated that he wanted to be buried near blacks.

Page 15: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Charles Sumner(Radical Republican)

• Member of U.S. Senate• Fought for the rights of

slaves after the end of the war.

• Was beaten over the head in the House of Congress by Preston Brooks over the issue of slavery.

• Goal: Citizenship/political rights for former slaves.

Page 16: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Charles Sumner vs. Preston Brooks(1857)

Page 17: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Andrew Johnson • A former Senator from

Tennessee; became the next President of the United States

• He was at the head of a Republican Administration but….

• A Democrat and his Reconstruction plan was similar to Lincoln.

• While President: Issued 13,000 pardons, unconcerned with rights of former slaves when he did nothing to fight black codes.

• First President in American History to be impeached in 1868.

Page 18: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Andrew Johnson

• Elected by one party• Belongs to another party• With the majority of Congress belonging to

the opposite party from himself

NOT GOOD.

Page 19: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Andrew Johnson(Pardons)

• While Congress was out of session (March until December) Johnson offered amnesty and the restoration of property to white southerners who swore an oath of loyalty to the Union.

• To earn readmission to the Union, the first thing the seceded states were required to do was abolish slavery ( ratifying the 13th Amendment)

• Strongly believed the South should “Reconstruct” themselves

• His plans had absolutely nothing to do with protecting the civil rights of former slaves

Page 20: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

13th Amendment (1865)

• “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the Unite States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”

• Prohibited slavery

Page 21: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Southern Resistance to Reconstruction

• Black Codes emerged and Johnson did nothing:

- Laws establishing conditions very similar to slavery for black Americans.

- African Americans couldn’t leave plantations, restrictions on racial intermarriage, and jury service, etc.

Page 22: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

The First Ku Klux Klan

• The Klan was organized at Pulaski, Tennessee in May 1866 by General Nathan Bedford Forest. 1st Grand Wizard

• The first Klan’s main target was not blacks. They aimed their strikes against carpetbaggers and scalawags from the North.

• After Forrest had taken back Tennessee from Radicals, he ordered the Klan to be disbanded.

Page 23: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Radicals in the South

• Carpetbaggers – opportunists from the North looking to exploit and profit from the region’s misfortunes; supported the Republican Party.

• Scalawags- Whites from the South who supported the advancement of blacks and the policies of Reconstruction.

Page 24: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Blacks and early stages of Reconstruction

• Following emancipation, southern blacks withdrew from white churches and established their own congregations. Central institution in the southern black community

• The American Missionary Association- organized hundreds of northern teachers

to help educate the blacks in the South. As a result, hundreds of thousands of southern blacks became literate within a few years.

Page 25: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Blacks and early stages of Reconstruction

• Land- Thousands of blacks, who were now free, wanted land to

work and to support their families. • In early 1865, Union General William Tecumseh Sherman

issued Special Field Order No. 15- Granting captured land to the freed people. By June 1865,

400,000 acres had been distributed to 40,000 former slaves.

• In March 1865, the Republicans established the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandon Lands, or commonly known as the Freedmen’s Bureau

Page 26: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Freedmen’s Bureau• Johnson was opposed to the

Bureau.• The Organization oversaw relief

activities designed to aid former slaves (food, clothing, medicine)

• Established schools for blacks• Helped to re-unite families

separated under slavery• Controlled the disposition of over

850,000 acres of land in the South.

• The Bureau was renewed by Congress but vetoed by Johnson in 1866

Page 27: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Freedmen’s Bureau(We have a problem)

• General Oliver Otis Howard, the head of the bureau, issued Circular 13

• Directed his agents to rent the land to the freed people in 40-acre plots that they could eventually purchase.

• Many bureau agents believed that to reeducate them in the values of hard work, the freed people should be encouraged to save money and buy land for themselves.

• Bureau’s perspective- Redistributing land was like giving it

away to people who had not paid for it.

• Former slaves perspective- Blacks had more than earned the right

to the land.“The labor of these people had for two hundred years cleared away the forests and produced crops that brought millions of dollars annually.”

“It does seem to me that a Christian nation would, at least, have given them one year’s support, 40 acres of land and a mule each.”

- H.C. Bruce• Abraham Lincoln would have agreed

to those terms, but he was already dead.

Page 28: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Johnson and the Freedmen’s Bureau

• Once southern states began to fully comply with Johnson • Now that southern whites had gained some power back, they

demanded the restoration of all properties confiscated or abandoned during the war.

• In September 1865 Johnson ordered the Freedmen’s Bureau to return all confiscated and abandoned lands to their former owners. In late 1865 former slaves were being forcibly evicted from the 40-acre plots they had been given by the Union army or the Freedmen’s Bureau.

• Former slaves were forced to sign labor contracts with white landlords. They were essentially back to living in the Antebellum South.

Page 29: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Johnson vs. Congress

• As early as 1866 Congress passed a landmark Civil Rights Act. It overturned the Dredd Scott decision by granting United States citizenship to Americans regardless of race.

• Johnson vetoed the Civil Rights Act of 1866. • Johnson’s argument, “blacks do not possess the

qualifications to entitle them to all the privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States”

• For only 8th time in history Congress overrode the president’s veto. However, it would not be ratified until 1868.

Page 30: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Johnson vs. Congress

• March 1867- Congress the Tenure of Office Act- This act prohibited the president from removing officials

whose appointments required Congressional approval. - This prevented Johnson from firing Secretary of War

Edwin M. Stanton, who was sympathetic to the Republicans.

- Required all presidential orders to the military pass through General Ulysses S. Grant. *This would prevent the president from removing military officials who enforced the Reconstruction Acts*

Page 31: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Johnson vs. Congress

• August 5, 1867 – Johnson asked Secretary of War Stanton to resign.

• Stanton refused, and Johnson appointed General Grant as interim secretary of war.

• In February of 1868, Johnson fired Stanton. • For this the House of Representatives voted to

impeach the president and put him on trial.

Page 32: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Impeachment and Andrew Johnson(1868)

• Johnson was impeached, but not removed from office.

• House of Representatives passed the impeachment but no one knows how the Senate is going to vote.

Page 33: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Impeachment and Removal of President

• 1. Impeachment: To bring official charges against the President (majority vote in House of Representatives)

• 2. Trial/Removal: The President stands trial (Senate acts as jury; 2/3 majority vote is needed for removal)

Page 34: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Impeachment and Andrew Johnson(1868)

• Needed votes to impeach – 35• Republicans in Senate – 45• Johnson got off….. by 1 vote.

• Hollow victory meaning Johnson now has no power and has weaken the Executive Branch.

Page 35: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Radical/Congressional Reconstruction(1868 – 1877)

• Following Johnson’s impeachment, Congress controlled Reconstruction.

• Congress passed Reconstruction Acts(1867-68)1. The former Confederate States were militarily

occupied by U.S. troops.2. States could re-enter the Union once they

ratified the 14th Amendment. *Tennessee was not under military control because

it had already ratified the amendment in 1866.

Page 36: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

The Confederacy and Reconstruction

Page 37: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

14th Amendment (1868)

1. All persons born in the United States are citizens of the United States

2. All citizens are guaranteed equal treatment under the law

3. Punished states that denied adult males the right to vote**The Amendment did not guarantee blacks the right to

vote, it based representation in Congress on a state’s voting population. This punished southern states by reducing their representation if they did not allow blacks to vote.**

Page 38: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Election of 1868

• First election held post Civil War

• Ulysses S. Grant (Rep)• Horatio Seymour (Dem)• Electoral votes did not

count from Texas, Mississippi, and Virginia

• General Grant won the election due to the popularity pertaining to the African American vote.

Page 39: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

President Grant

• Ulysses S. Grant• General of the Union

Army• American Hero• Grant was in over his

head - He was not a good public speaker- No showmanship

Page 40: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

15th Amendment (1870)

• Guaranteed the right of all African American men to vote.

Page 41: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Women and the Right to Vote

• Many women, who were abolitionists at the time, believed that the years following the Civil War was the perfect time to ask for their right to vote.

• In 1866, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Lucy Stone founded the Equal Rights Association to link the rights of white women and African Americans.

• Sadly, Abolitionists believed that the two causes should be separated – that women should wait patiently until the rights of African American men were firmly secured.

• In 1869, Cady Stanton and Anthony founded the National Woman Suffrage Association.

Page 42: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

The 2nd Ku Klux Klan

• By 1870, federal troops in the South had dropped from 20,000 to 6,600.

• A new war – a war in the villages, in the fields to do anything necessary to prevent blacks from voting.

• The Klan would blow up churches, burn down school houses, and attacking any blacks who became landowners

• White supremacist terrorists are going to do anything they can to regain control of the American south.

*The white south showed far more commitment to White supremacy than it did to Confederate Independence*

Page 43: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

White Supremacist Organizations

Page 44: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Violence

• Between the 1800s and 1890s an average of 100 African Americans were lynched

• Between 1900-1920 lynchings averaged about 75 per year

• Victim’s bodies were often mutilated

Page 45: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Force Bill

• President Grant asked Congress to pass a force bill that would suspend constitutional rights from domestic suspected terrorists. Same as George W. Bush after 9/11.

• Over 100 key Klan leaders were arrested• By mid 1870s the Ku Klux Klan will be essentially

dispersed and will not appear again till the 20th Century.

• Blacks and Abolitionist (Votes) praised President Grant

Page 46: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Limits to Reconstruction

• The Reconstruction Amendments were a major success for African Americans.

• However, there was no redistribution of land and most African Americans lived as sharecroppers and faced little economic opportunity.

Page 47: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Election of 1872

• President Grant vs. Horace Greeley• Grant was very popular due to the fact that his major

scandals were not yet exposed to the public. • Grant won 286 electoral votes; Greeley died before the

electoral votes could be counted. • Grant was now on “cruise control” - ended his day at 3 p.m.- Played billiards- Began to play a new game that was sweeping the

nation: Baseball.

Page 48: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Depression of 1873

• Banks who backed the 2nd Transcontinental Railroad went bankrupt.

• People began to question American Capitalism• Becomes known as “The Long Depression”- 20% of business failed- ¼ of the railroads shutdown- Unemployment at 14%

Page 49: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Depression of 1873

• Grant’s solution- “Why don’t we think about putting people to

work on public works”? (paraphrased)

• James Garfield’s response:- “That’s the stupidest idea that anyone had come up with” (paraphrased)

Page 50: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Scandal

• While Americans are suffering due to the depression, Grants cabinet is becoming rich $$$

• Credit Mobilier Scandal – Railroad paybacks to Grant’s Administration.

• Secretary of the Navy George Robeson salary – $4,000 a year; in his bank account: $500,000 dollars

• However, Grant was never accused of corruption in fact when he left office he was nearly bankrupt.

Page 51: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Election of 1876• One of the most controversial elections in American History.• Two candidates: - Samuel Tilden: A Democrat and political reformer from New York - Rutherford B. Hayes: A Republican and former Ohio Governor• On election night - Tilden wins the Popular Vote.- Tilden is leading the Electoral votes: 184-165NEED 185 to win.

• The winner is…?

• Both candidates accused the other of cheating and both claimed victory in Louisiana, Florida, and South Carolina

Page 52: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Election of 1876

• The Democratic Party had seized control in all the southern states EXCEPT

- Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida• Ironically these were the states that the nation

was waiting on. • Was there election fraud? Were black votes

counted fairly? • Congress forms an Electoral Committee

Page 53: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

1876 Election (185 Electoral Votes Needed to Win Presidency )

Page 54: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Wormley Hotel, Washington DC

• To decide the election 7 Democrats, 7 Republicans, 1 Independent met at the Wormley Hotel in Washington DC

• The 1 Independent soon resigned because of too much pressure from both parties

• The Final Electoral Commission – 7 Democrats, 8 Republicans

Page 55: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Results of Electoral Commission

• Compromise of 1877

1. Hayes became the 19th President (North victory)2. Military occupation of the South ended (South

Victory)a. The rights of former slaves were not protected

**Ends Reconstruction**The Republicans sold out.

Page 56: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Rutherford B. Hayes

• Would kick off the series of “Forgotten Presidents”• Not much to say about Hayes..• Introduced the Easter Egg hunt at the White

House• These next presidents and the nation, some might

say the entire government, are going to take a back seat to the Captains of Industry

• The United States for years will essentially be run by 5 men

Page 57: Reconstruction Politics 1865 - 1877 Years following the Civil War (1861 – 1865)

Reconstruction: Evaluation

• Historian arguments-1. Some argue it was a success because slavery

was abolished and African Americans were guaranteed equal treatment

2. Others say it was a failure because after 1877 those rights were only in place on paper; not in reality.