reconstruction ppt

Key QuestionsKey QuestionsKey QuestionsKey Questions Key QuestionsKey QuestionsKey QuestionsKey Questions

11. . How do weHow do we

bring the Southbring the South

back into the back into the

UnionUnion??

22. . How do we How do we

rebuild the rebuild the

South after itsSouth after its

destruction destruction

during the warduring the war??

33. . How do weHow do we

integrate andintegrate and

protect newlyprotect newly--

emancipatedemancipated

black freedmenblack freedmen??

44. . What branchWhat branch

of governmentof government

should controlshould control

the process ofthe process of

ReconstructionReconstruction??

�� Human toll of the Civil WarHuman toll of the Civil War: : The North lost The North lost 364,000364,000 soldierssoldiers. . The South lost The South lost 260,000260,000 soldiers soldiers..

�� The war had destroyed two thirds of the SouthThe war had destroyed two thirds of the South’’s s shipping industry and about shipping industry and about 9,0009,000 miles of railroad miles of railroad..

�� Plantation owners lost slave labor worth Plantation owners lost slave labor worth $4$4 billion billion. .

�� Between Between 1865 1865 and and 18771877, , the federal government the federal government carried out a program to repair the damage to the carried out a program to repair the damage to the South and restore the southern states to the UnionSouth and restore the southern states to the Union. . This program was known asThis program was known as ReconstructionReconstruction..

�� FreedmenFreedmen ((freed slavesfreed slaves) ) were starting out their new were starting out their new lives in a poor region with slow economic activitylives in a poor region with slow economic activity..

�� Poor white Southerners could not find work because of Poor white Southerners could not find work because of new job competition fromnew job competition from FreedmenFreedmen..

1. The Aftermath

2. Problems:

• The South- How is it to be rebuilt/reorganized?

• Freedmen- How are they to be integrated?

• Leadership- Who will lead? Former Rebels?

3. President Andrew Johnson-up to the job?

4. Power Struggle: Johnson vs. Congress

• President’s plan: gentle---1865 to 1867

• Radical Republicans---opposed Johnson

• Congress’s plan: harsh---1867 to 1876

North developed during the war:

• Business developed

– Supplying the army

• National Banking Act- uniform system of banking and sound financialsystem.

• Transcontinental railroad legislation passed.

• Homestead Act- free land (160 acres) to settlers of west.

• Morrill Land Grant- national lands to states for sale, proceeds to create colleges.

South devastated by war: • Sherman brought total war to the South

• Charleston, SC “a place of vacant houses, widowed women, rotting wharves, deserted warehouses, weed wild gardens, grass grown streets, acres of pitiful and voiceless barrenness.”

• Confederate money worthless

• Railroad damaged or destroyed

• Emancipation wiped out $4B investment in slaves.

• Cotton collapse

• People embittered in defeat.

South after war South after war 11

are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds….to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.”

Lincoln’s speech

“With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the

right, as God gives us [ability] to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we

President Lincoln’s Plan President Lincoln’s Plan « 10%10%10%10% Plan Plan Plan Plan • Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (December 8, 1863)

• Replace majority rule with “loyal rule” in the South. • He didn’t consult Congress regarding Reconstruction.

• Pardon to all but the highest ranking military and civilian Confederate officers.

• When 10% of the voting population in the 1860 election had taken an oath of loyalty and established a government, it would be recognized.

• Tennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana formed governments under this plan, but Congress did not recognize. Their votes did not count for President in 1864.

President Lincoln’s Plan President Lincoln’s Plan

�1864- “Lincoln Governments”

formed in LA, TN, AR

�“loyal assemblies”

�They were weak and

dependent on the

Northern army for

their survival.

Wade-Davis Bill (1864) Wade-Davis Bill (1864) �Required 50% of the number of

1860 voters to take an “iron

clad” oath of allegiance

(swearing they had never

voluntarily aided the rebellion).

�Required a state constitutional

convention before the election

of state officials.

�Enacted specific safeguards of

freedmen’s liberties.

Senator Benjamin Wade (R-OH)

Congressman Henry

W. Davis (R-MD)

Wade-Davis Bill (1864) Wade-Davis Bill (1864)

� “Iron-Clad” Oath.

� “State Suicide” Theory [MA Senator Charles

Sumner]

� “Conquered Provinces” Position

[PA Congressman Thaddeus Stevens]

PresidentPresidentPresidentPresidentPresidentPresidentPresidentPresident LincolnLincolnLincolnLincolnLincolnLincolnLincolnLincoln

WadeWadeWadeWadeWadeWadeWadeWade--------DavisDavisDavisDavisDavisDavisDavisDavis BillBillBillBillBillBillBillBill

PocketPocketPocketPocket VetoVetoVetoVeto

Jeff Davis Under Arrest Jeff Davis Under Arrest

13th Amendment 13th Amendment

� Ratified in December, 1865.

� Neither slavery nor involuntary

servitude, except as punishment for crime

whereof the party shall have been duly

convicted, shall exist within the United

States or any place subject to their

jurisdiction.

� Congress shall have power to enforce

this article by appropriate legislation.

Freedmen’s Bureau (1865) Freedmen’s Bureau (1865) � Bureau of Refugees,

Freedmen, and

Abandoned Lands.

� Many former northern

abolitionists risked their

lives to help southern

freedmen.

� Called

“carpetbaggers” by

white southern

Democrats.

Freedmen’s Bureau Seen Through

Southern

Eyes

Freedmen’s Bureau Seen Through

Southern

Eyes

Plenty to

eat and

nothing to

do.

Freedmen’s Bureau School Freedmen’s Bureau School

President Andrew Johnson President Andrew Johnson

� Jacksonian Democrat.

� Anti-Aristocrat.

�White Supremacist.

� Agreed with Lincoln that

states had never legally

left the Union.

� Remained loyal to the

Union during the Civil

War.

� Lincoln chose him as

his VP to help with the

South’s Reconstruction.

Damn the negroes! I am fighting these traitorous aristocrats, their masters!

�Remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War. �Lincoln chose him as his VP to help with the South’s Reconstruction. �Supported Lincoln’s Plan �Engaged in a power struggle with Congress over who would lead the country through Reconstruction. �Would be impeached but not removed from office.

Johnson’s plan to readmit the South was considered too gentlegentle.

AmnestyAmnesty:: Presidential pardonPresidential pardon ••Rebels sign an oath of allegianceRebels sign an oath of allegiance

••10%10% of the population needs to be of the population needs to be ‘‘loyalloyal’’ to reform state to reform state

••Even high ranking Confederate officials eligible Even high ranking Confederate officials eligible

Write new state ConstitutionsWrite new state Constitutions ••approve the approve the 1313th Amendmentth Amendment

••reject secession and statereject secession and state’’s rightss rights

••submit to Usubmit to U..SS. . Government authorityGovernment authority

No mention ofNo mention of ••Education for freedmenEducation for freedmen

••Citizenship and voting rightsCitizenship and voting rights

President Johnson’s Plan (10%+) President Johnson’s Plan (10%+)

� Offered amnesty upon simple oath to all except

Confederate civil and military officers and those with property

over $20,000 (they could apply directly to Johnson)

� In new constitutions, they must accept minimum

conditions repudiating slavery, secession and state debts.

� Named provisional governors in Confederate states and called

them to oversee elections for constitutional conventions.

EFFECTS?

1. Disenfranchised certain leading Confederates.

2. Pardoned planter aristocrats brought them back

to political power to control state organizations.

3. Republicans were outraged that planter elite

were back in power in the South!

Growing Northern Alarm! Growing Northern Alarm!

� Many Southern state constitutions fell short of minimum requirements.

� Johnson granted 13,500 special pardons.

� Revival of southern defiance.

BLACK CODESBLACK CODESBLACK CODESBLACK CODES BLACK CODESBLACK CODESBLACK CODESBLACK CODES

Slavery is Dead? Slavery is Dead?

Black Codes Black Codes • Purpose: • Guarantee stable labor

supply now that blacks

were emancipated.

• Restore pre-emancipation

system of race relations.

• Examples:

• Annual labor contracts required;

dependent children subject to

compulsory “apprenticeship” and

corporal punishment by masters;

“vagrants” punished with severe fines,

and if they couldn’t pay (they

couldn’t), they were forced into labor;

generally denied privilege of owning

weapons. • Forced many blacks to become

sharecroppers [tenant farmers].

Congress Breaks with the President Congress Breaks with the President �Congress bars Southern

Congressional delegates.

�Congress begins passing

Reconstruction bills.

�February, 1866 ► President

vetoed the Freedmen’s

Bureau bill.

�March, 1866 ► Johnson

vetoed the 1866 Civil Rights

Act.

�Congress passed both bills over

Johnson’s vetoes ► 1st in

U. S. history!!

Johnson the Martyr / Samson Johnson the Martyr / Samson

If my blood is to be shed If my blood is to be shed

because I vindicate the Union because I vindicate the Union

and the preservation of this and the preservation of this

government in its original government in its original

purity and characterpurity and character, , let it be let it be

shedshed; ; let an altar to the Union let an altar to the Union

be erectedbe erected, , and thenand then, , if it is if it is

necessarynecessary, , take me and lay take me and lay

me upon itme upon it, , and the blood that and the blood that

now warms and animates my now warms and animates my

existence shall be poured out existence shall be poured out

as a fit libation to the Unionas a fit libation to the Union..

( (February February 18661866))

AmnestyAmnesty : : •oath of allegiance---50% required

•high ranking Confederate officials excluded

•loose voting rights if didn’t sign oath

Write new state ConstitutionsWrite new state Constitutions •Ratify: 13, 14 & 15 Amendments

•reject secession and state’s rights explicitly

•submit to U.S. Government authority explicitly

Help for FreedmenHelp for Freedmen •Freedmen’s Bureau for education

•Divide the South into 5 military districts

Reconstruction Act of Reconstruction Act of 18671867---76 ((HarshHarsh))

•13th Amendment Abolished slavery

(1865)

•14th Amendment Provided citizenship & equal protection under

the law. (1868)

•15th Amendment Provided the right to vote for all men which included white and black men. (1870)


�Ratified in July, 1868.

� Provide a constitutional guarantee of the

rights and security of freed people.

� Insure against neo-Confederate political

power.

� Enshrine the national debt while repudiating

that of the Confederacy.

�Southern states would be punished for

denying the right to vote to black citizens!

The Balance of Power in

Congress

The Balance of Power in

Congress

331,000 631,000 NC

533,000 719,000 VA

437,000 596,000 AL

465,000 591,000 GA

350,000 357,000 LA

436,000 353,000 MS

411,000 291,000 SC

Freedmen White Citizens State

The 1866 Mid-Term Election The 1866 Mid-Term Election

Johnson’s “Swing around the Circle”

� A referendum on Radical Reconstruction.

� Johnson made an ill-conceived propaganda tour

around the country to push his plan.

� Republicans

won a 3-1

majority in

both houses

and gained

control of

every northern

state.

Radical Plan for Readmission Radical Plan for Readmission

� Civil authorities in the territories were

subject to military supervision.

� Required new state constitutions, including

black suffrage and ratification of the 13th

and 14th Amendments.

� In March, 1867, Congress passed an act

that authorized the military to enroll

eligible black voters and begin the process

of constitution making.

Reconstruction Acts of 1867 Reconstruction Acts of 1867 Military

Reconstruction

Act

• Restart

Reconstruction

in the 10

Southern states

that refused to

ratify the 14th

Amendment.

• Divide the 10

“unreconstructed

states” into 5

military

districts.

Reconstruction Acts of 1867 Reconstruction Acts of 1867 • Command of the Army Act

• The President must issue all

Reconstruction orders through

the commander of the military.

• Tenure of Office Act

• The President could not remove

any officials [esp. Cabinet members]

without the Senate’s consent, if the

position originally required Senate

approval.

• Designed to protect radical

members of Lincoln’s government.

• A question of the

constitutionality of this law. Edwin Stanton

President Johnson’s Impeachment President Johnson’s Impeachment

• Johnson removed Stanton in February, 1868.

• Johnson replaced generals in the field who were more

sympathetic to Radical Reconstruction.

• The House impeached him on February 24

before even

drawing up the

charges by a

vote of 126 – 47!

The Senate Trial The Senate Trial

• 11 week trial.

• Johnson acquitted

35 to 19 (one short of

required 2/3s vote).

The 1868 Republican Ticket The 1868 Republican Ticket

The 1868 Democratic Ticket The 1868 Democratic Ticket

Waving the Bloody Shirt! Waving the Bloody Shirt!

Republican “Southern Strategy”

1868 Presidential Election 1868 Presidential Election

President Ulysses S. Grant President Ulysses S. Grant

Grant Administration Scandals Grant Administration Scandals

� Grant presided over an era of

unprecedented

growth and

corruption.

� Credit Mobilier

Scandal.

� Whiskey Ring.

� The “Indian

Ring.”

The Tweed Ring

in NYC

The Tweed Ring

in NYC

William Marcy Tweed (notorious head of Tammany Hall’s political machine)

[Thomas Nast - crusading cartoonist/reporter]

Who Stole the People’s Money? Who Stole the People’s Money?

And They Say He Wants a Third Term And They Say He Wants a Third Term

The Election of 1872 The Election of 1872

� Rumors of corruption

during Grant’s first

term discredit Republicans.

� Horace Greeley runs

as a Democrat/Liberal

Republican candidate.

� Greeley attacked as a

fool and a crank.

� Greeley died on

November 29, 1872!

Popular Vote for President: 1872 Popular Vote for President: 1872

The Panic of 1873 The Panic of 1873

� It raises “the money

question.”

� debtors seek inflationary

monetary policy by

continuing circulation of

greenbacks.

� creditors, intellectuals

support hard money.

� 1875 ► Specie

Redemption Act.

« 1876 ► Greenback Party formed & makes gains in

congressional races ► The “Crime of ’73’!

Legal Challenges Legal Challenges

� The Slaughterhouse Cases (1873)

� Bradwell v. IL (1873)

�U. S. v. Cruickshank (1876)

�U. S. v. Reese (1876)

1. Poor whites and freedmen have no jobs, no homes, and no money to

buy land. 2. Landowners need laborers and have no money to pay

laborers.

4. Landlord keeps track of the money that sharecroppers owe him for housing, food or local store.

5. At harvest time, the sharecropper is

paid.

•Pays off debts.

•If sharecropper owes more to the landlord or store

than his share of the crop is worth…

6. Sharecropper cannot leave the farm as long as he is in debt to the

landlord.

3. Hire poor whites and freedmen as laborers

•Sign contracts to work landlord’s land in exchange for a part of the

crop.

Sharecropping Sharecropping

Tenancy & the Crop Lien System Tenancy & the Crop Lien System

� Rents land to tenant in exchange for ¼ to ½ of tenant farmer’s future crop.

� Plants crop, harvests in autumn.

� Turns over up to ½ of crop to land owner as payment of rent.

� Tenant gives remainder of crop to merchant in payment of debt.

� Loan tools and seed up to 60% interest to tenant farmer to plant spring crop.

� Farmer also secures food, clothing, and other necessities on credit from merchant until the harvest.

� Merchant holds “lien” {mortgage} on part of tenant’s future crops as repayment of debt.

Landowner Tenant Farmer Furnishing Merchant

Black & White Political Participation Black & White Political Participation

Establishment of Historically

Black Colleges in the South

Establishment of Historically

Black Colleges in the South

Black Senate & House Delegates Black Senate & House Delegates

Colored Rule

in the South?

Colored Rule

in the South?

Blacks in Southern Politics Blacks in Southern Politics

� Core voters were black veterans.

� Blacks were politically unprepared.

� Blacks could register and vote in states since 1867.

� The 15th Amendment guaranteed federal voting.


� Ratified in 1870.

� 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.

� The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

� Women’s rights groups were furious that they were not granted the vote!

The “Invisible Empire of the South” The “Invisible Empire of the South”

KKKKKK

�Ku Klux Klan refers to a secret society or an inner circle �Organized in 1867, in Polaski, Tennessee by Nathan Bedford Forrest. �Represented the ghosts of dead Confederate soldiers �Disrupted Reconstruction as much as they could. �Opposed Republicans, Carpetbaggers, Scalawags and Freedmen.

The Failure of Federal Enforcement The Failure of Federal Enforcement

� Enforcement Acts of 1870 & 1871 [also known as the KKK Act].

� “The Lost Cause.”

� The rise of the “Bourbons.”

� Redeemers (prewar Democrats and Union Whigs).

The Civil Rights Act of 1875 The Civil Rights Act of 1875

� Crime for any individual to deny full & equal use of public conveyances and public places.

� Prohibited discrimination in jury selection.

� Shortcoming ► lacked a strong enforcement mechanism.

� No new civil rights act was attempted for 90 years!

Northern Support Wanes Northern Support Wanes

� “Grantism” & corruption.

� Panic of 1873 [6-year depression].

� Concern over westward expansion and Indian wars.

� Key monetary issues:

� should the government retire $432m worth of “greenbacks” issued during the Civil War.

� should war bonds be paid back in specie or greenbacks.

1876 Presidential Tickets 1876 Presidential Tickets

“Regional Balance?” “Regional Balance?”

The Political Crisis of 1877 The Political Crisis of 1877

« “Corrupt Bargain” Part II?

Hayes Prevails Hayes Prevails

Alas, the Woes of Childhood… Alas, the Woes of Childhood…

Sammy Tilden—Boo-Hoo! Ruthy Hayes’s got my Presidency, and he won’t give it to me!

A Political Crisis: The

“Compromise” of 1877

A Political Crisis: The

“Compromise” of 1877

Reconstruction EndsReconstruction Ends •Corruption: Reconstruction legislatures & Grant’s administration symbolized corruption & poor government.

•The economy: Reconstruction legislatures taxed and spent heavily, putting the southern states deeper into debt.

•Violence: As federal troops withdrew from the South, some white Democrats used violence and intimidation to prevent freedmen from voting. This tactic allowed white Southerners to regain control of the state governments.

•The Democrats’ return to power: The pardoned ex-Confederates combined with other white Southerners to form a new bloc of Democratic voters known as the Solid South. They blocked Reconstruction policies.

•The Country: The Civil War was over and many Americans wanted to return to what the country was doing before the war.

Successes and Failures of Successes and Failures of ReconstructionReconstruction

Successes Failures

Union is restored. Many white southerners bitter

towards US govt & Republicans.

South’s economy grows and new wealth is created in the North.

The South is slow to industrialize.

14th and 15th amendments guarantee Blacks the rights of citizenship, equal protection under the law, and suffrage.

After US troops are withdrawn, southern state governments and terrorist organizations effectively deny Blacks the right to vote.

Freedmen’s Bureau and other organizations help many black families obtain housing, jobs, and schooling.

Many black and white southerners remain caught in a cycle of poverty.

Southern states adopt a system of mandatory education.

Racist attitudes toward African Americans continue, in both the South and the North.