RECONSTRUCTIONRECONSTRUCTION

Unit IVCUnit IVC

AP United States HistoryAP United States History

Fundamental Question

►How did the Civil War change the political, social, and economical landscape of the United States?

►Did the Civil War and Reconstruction solve the problems and conditions that led to the sectional conflict?

Reconstruction, Phase 1Lincoln’s Plan

► Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (1863) Full presidential pardons for

► 1. Oath of allegiance, ► 2. Accept end of slavery

Ten Percent Plan► Confederate state reestablished once 10% of

voters affirmed allegiance and loyalty Provide education and voting rights for

blacks► Wade-Davis Bill (1864)

Bill required 50% voters to swear ironclad oath and non-Confederates

► Second Inaugural Address “with malice toward none; with charity for all” Louisiana as example of reconstructed state

► Lincoln’s Assassination April 14, 1865 by John Wilkes Booth in

Ford’s Theater Johnson and rise of Radical Republicans…

Freedmen’s Bureau► Bureau of Refugees,

Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands in March 1865

► Food, shelter, medicine for freed blacks and displaced whites

► Education of blacks and colleges

► Viciously attacked and ridiculed by Northern racists and bitter Southerners

Reconstruction, Phase 2Andrew Johnson’s Plan

► About Andrew Johnson Tennessee Democrat and Lincoln’s

VP Represented more for poor whites

against Southern “aristocracy” White supremacist

► Reconstruction Plan Pardons for loyalty oath No pardons for Confederate leaders

and owned $20,000 taxable property

Admitted Confederate states with appointed governors who established voting procedures for state legislatures

States must abolish slavery and secession clauses

Result of Johnson Plan► Johnson’s Pardons

Alexander Stephens (former CSA VP) elected Georgia U.S. Senator► Johnson revokes General Sherman’s Special Field Orders, No. 15

40 acres and a mule for each former slave family► Readmitted states complied but did not provide provisions for blacks to vote► Black Codes

Prohibited renting land or borrowing to buy land Contract-labor systems No testifying against whites, curfews, no jury service, restricted commerce

► Race Riots Memphis (May 1-3, 1866)

► Shooting between white policemen and discharged black Union soldiers precipitated white-led rioting against black neighborhoods

► 46 blacks and 2 whites killed; 91 homes, 4 churches, 8 schools burned down New Orleans (July 30, 1866)

► Radical Republicans call convention to oppose black codes; leads to public commotion of bitter white Democrats against black parade marchers

► 34 blacks and 3 Radicals killed► The Johnson Vetoes

Freedmen’s Bureau Bill - appropriations, protect from Black Codes Civil Rights Bill of 1866 - prohibits Black Codes, secures voting rights

► Mid-Term Election of 1866 and the Radical Republicans “Waving the Bloody Shirts” during campaign

► “Not every Democrat was a rebel, but every rebel was a Democrat!” Republicans controlled 2/3 of both houses

Reconstruction, Phase 3Radical Plan

► Republicans led by Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner overrode Johnson’s vetoes “state suicide” and “conquered

provinces”

► Reconstruction Acts of 1867 Confederate leaders disavowed Johnson-based state

governments replaced with military districts under martial law

Former Confederate states may be admitted if…

► Ratify the Fourteenth Amendment

► Enfranchise blacks and former slaves

Radical Legislation► Fourteenth Amendment (1868)

Anyone born or naturalized was American citizen (Citizenship Clause)

“nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law” (Due Process Clause)

“nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” (Equal Protection Clause)

Disavowed Confederate leaders; not paying state debt; penalty for preventing voters

► Johnson Impeachment (Feb.-May, 1868) Political ploy by Radical Republicans with

Tenure of Office Act Acquitted by one vote

► Fifteenth Amendment (1869) Blacks have right to vote

► Civil Rights Act of 1875 Equal accommodations for blacks;

participation on juries► Other goals and reforms

Infrastructure, penal and institutional development and codification, women property rights, public education

Freedmen in the South► Political Recognition

Right to vote Elected to state and national

legislatures► 2 U.S. Senators and a dozen

Representatives► 630 black state legislators► Black governor of Louisiana

Anger and resentment by Southern whites

► Desire for autonomy: independent churches, schools, move out West Exodusters

► Sharecropping White landowners provided seed and

farm supplies for as much as half of production

► Tenant Farming White landowners provided land, but

not tools and supplies► Only 5% of southern blacks claimed

economic independence

Northern Influence on the South► Republicans and Northerners

in the South Scalawags

►Southern Republicans fostering American System-type programs

►Cooperated with Northern politics and economics

Carpetbaggers►Northerners investing in

“New South,” ► reformers/provide aid►squatters and plunderers

Southern Life under Reconstruction► Political Corruption

Reconstruction state governments influenced by carpetbaggers and scalawags

Southern perception of corruption steadily increased and white Democrats return to dominate state legislatures

► Public services greatly improved State-funded public education Infrastructure

► Railroads, utilities, waterways► Modernized hospitals and prisons

Highly susceptible to corruption and spending cuts► Economics

Sharecropping and tenant farming not very productive► Crop-liens

Cash crops over food crops slowed Southern recovery► Cotton production significantly decreases in the early years of Reconstruction► As cotton plantations recover and more farmland converted to cotton, prices

decrease due to overproduction and profits decrease for farmers Led to foreclosures, more sharecropping and tenant farming

Tax rates and collection increased

White Southern Resistance► Paramilitary groups based

on white supremacy The South Will Rise Again! White League

► Openly criticized, attacked, killed Republicans and freedmen

Ku Klux Klan (1867)► Nathaniel Bedford Forrest► “invisible empire” to scare

or destroy Republicans and freedmen

► Force Acts (1871-1872) disband KKK

“The Union as it Was”Harper’s WeeklyOctober 1874

The North► As the South struggled to recover,

Republicans pursued economic expansion through industry and infrastructure

► Political and Financial Corruption Abuse of patronage (spoils system) Grant’s connection to stock market

speculation, tax fraud, embezzlement► Political Machines

Network of elected officials, businessmen, “behind-the-scenes” people to command the vote

► Typically run by an authoritative boss or leadership group

► Patronage and spoils system Provide for underprivileged, immigrants,

businesses in return for votes William “Boss” Tweed and Tammany

Hall (Democrats in NYC)► Reaction to Radical Republicanism

Racism entrenched in the North Immigrants and poor whites feared

losing economic opportunities to freedmen and entitled blacks

Evolution of Northern Attitude Toward Blacks During Reconstruction

“And Not This Man?”August 1865

“This Is A White Man’s Government”September 1868

“Colored Rule in aReconstructed State”March 1874

Shown through the political cartoons of Thomas Nast of Harper’s Weekly

Election of 1868► Republicans

Nominate war hero General Ulysses S. Grant

► Democrats Nominate Horatio

Seymour Radical Republican

legislatures in the South limited Democratic influence

Grantism► Civil War hero, but no political experience; linked with

moderates and Radicals► Becomes engrossed in corruption links and charges

involving his personal secretary, most of his Cabinet, and Vice President Black Friday Scandal (1869)

► Jim Fiske and Jay Gould attempted to corner gold market► Had Grant’s brother-in-law convince Grant to halt gold sales

Salary Grab Act (1873)► Double salaries of Congress retroactive to beginning of

ending terms Credit Mobilier

► Union Pacific Railroad creates dummy construction company to hire execs at inflated salaries and earn high dividends

► Sold stock to Republican congressmen and bribed press to keep quiet

Sanborn Contract Fraud► Congressman John Sanborn hired private tax collector for

50% of commission, some of which went to Republican campaign funds

Whiskey Ring► Republicans embezzled liquor tax revenues using bribes and

networks Secretary of War W.W. Belknap

► Accepted bribes for trader contract (Fort Sill)

Impact of Grant Administration► Split in Republicans

Republican Party weakened by less popular Radicals and business corruption

Liberal Republicans►Against Radical legislation and hatred of South►Civil service reform to avoid further corruption►Formed coalition with Democrats

Election of 1872►Won by Grant given war record and financial support and

Greeley’s ineffective campaign and death► Amnesty Act of 1872

Removed voting and office-holding restrictions for most secessionists

Led to Southern Democrats to retake state governments and replace black legislators

Panic of 1873: The Long Depression► Causes

Expansion of railroads, enterprises in industries and mines outpaces market demand

Coinage Act of 1873► Demonetizes silver contracting the

money supply► “Crime of 73”

Jay Cooke & Company bankrupt► Major financing investment firm

leads to chain reaction of banks

► Effects Contractionary monetary policy

increases interest rates► Harder to acquire or afford new

loans Over 100 railroads fail; 16,000

businesses fail► Unemployment at 14%

“Election” of 1876

► Republicans struggle to nominate “boring” Rutherford B. Hayes

► Democrats nominate solid and popular Samuel J. Tilden

► Tilden won the popular vote solidly and needed only 1 more electoral vote for majority

► Contested electoral votes in 3 Reconstruction states (Louisiana, South Carolina, Florida)

► Electoral Commission rewarded 3 sets of electoral votes to Hayes Split ideologically 8-7 in favor of

Republicans

Samuel Tilden (D)

Rutherford B.

Hayes (R)

Compromise of 1877► Angry Democrats and riots

around the nation due to Hayes’ “victory” forced a deal

► Hayes will become president, if… Remove federal troops from the

South Help develop infrastructure in

South, ex. Railroads Appoint Southerner to Cabinet Limited enforcement of racial

equality► End of Reconstruction

With no enforcement by federal troops, civil rights limited or eliminated in the South

Democrats return to power in the South

► Redemption Democratic state governments take hold of former Confederate states

► Democrats had majorities in House of Representatives in 1875 and also the Senate in 1877