Transcript The Reconstruction: 1865

The Reconstruction: 1865 - 1877
All the King’s Horses and All The
King’s Men, Couldn’t Put Humpty
Dumpty Back Together Again
What major problems did the
President and Congress face after
the Civil War?
• How and when should the states
of the Confederacy be
permitted to resume their role in
the Union?
• Should the “South” be punished
or forgiven? (States, Generals,
Soldiers)
• What should be done with the
former slaves?
• Should everyone now be equal?
• Is the Government strong
enough to heal the Union and
run the country effectively?
Main Themes of Reconstruction:
• Struggle for power within
the U.S. Government
– Who should be in charge of
Reconstruction? The
President or Congress
• Integration of Freedmen in
American Society
• Southern Response to
Northern Power
• 1st major Act of
Congress after the
surrender of the
Confederacy
– 13th Amendment:
• “Neither slavery or
involuntary servitude . . .
Shall exist within the United
states
• Slavery Abolished
1865 Congress Established the
Freedmen’s Bureau
– Help freed slaves and poor
whites with food and
medical care
– Provide farmland that had
previously been owned by
slaveholders
– Construct schools to educate
freed slaves and poor whites
• Mostly run by Northern White
Women (Carpetbaggers)
Carpetbaggers
• Negative term to describe
Northerners who moved to
the South during
Reconstruction
– Outsiders that moved to
capitalize on the war torn
South
– Often targets of violence
– Hated invaders
Presidential Reconstruction vs.
Congressional Reconstruction
• Lincoln’s Reconstruction
Philosophy
– Quickly and painlessly
reincorporate the South
– No punishment
– Heal the nation
– His plan conflicted with
Radical Republicans
Lincoln’s Plan
• 10% of voters needed to
take a loyalty oath to the
United States
• Federal Government
would rule over State
Governments
• Military governors would
oversee the conquered
states
Radical Republicans
Reconstruction Philosophy
• The Civil War had been fought
over slavery
– Punish the South
– Grant Slaves Equal Rights
– Take Land away from Rich
Slave Owners
– Make Republicans the
National Party
Thaddeus Stevens
Charles Sumner
Radical Republicans’ Plan
• Wade-Davis Bill
– Ban slavery
– Disenfranchise (no vote)
confederate military and
political leaders
– 50% of state’s citizens swear
an oath of loyalty
Lincoln vs. Congress
• Lincoln Pocket Vetoes
Wade-Davis Bill
• Congress feels betrayed
• Constitutional Authority in
Question – Who Should
Rule Reconstruction?
Lincoln Assassinated April 14, 1865
Andrew Johnson Becomes President
• Former slave owner from
Tennessee
• Southern Democrat
Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan
• States Must Ratify 13th
Amendment
• States hold new elections
• Pardons ex-confederates
• Gives Southern land back
to the plantation owners
Radicals Quickly turn on Johnson
• Johnson’s plan goes
against Radical
Republicans’
• South back in power
• The Nation is caught in a
titanic battle between the
President and Congress
• Who will decide
Reconstruction?
Should These Men Be
Pardoned?
While he is Denied
his Civil Rights?
Radical Reconstruction:
Radical Republicans
wage war against
Johnson and the South
The South Responds to the 13th
Amendment
• As the former Confederate
states re-enter the Union
they institute a new type of
slavery
• Most Southerners could not
accept the fact that the
people they had
subjugated, abused, and
used for labor hundreds of
years were now their
equals
Black Codes
• Southern State
governments established
new laws to limit the
freedoms of the freedmen
• These laws essentially
reinstituted slavery in the
South
Black Codes: A few Examples
• Former slaves were
– denied the right to own property
– Forced to sign work contracts
– Vagrancy Laws punished those
who did not work
– Denied the opportunity to testify in
a court of law or serve on a jury
against a white person
– Non-working children could be
auctioned to other farmers
– Denied the right to Vote
– Denied the right to own or carry a
weapon
Congress counters the Black Codes
• Radical Republicans
enraged by Black Codes
• Radicals wanted to
guarantee former slaves
would have equal and civil
rights
• By doing this, they also
believed the Republican
party would become
stronger in the South
14th Amendment is Passed in 1868
• All persons who are born or
naturalized in the U.S. are
citizens
• U.S. citizens cannot be
denied equal protection
under the law and due
process regardless of race,
gender, class, religion,
ethnicity, or political views
• Any state that denies these
rights would lose
Congressional representation
Radical Reconstruction Begins
• Southern states refused to
ratify the 14th Amendment
• Radical Republicans lay
down the hammer
• Reconstruction is “Forced”
upon the South
Radical Reconstruction
• All reconstruction policies
were placed on the
Legislative Branch
• The Republicans blazed a
new path in American
History
The Reconstruction Act of 1867
1. The South divided into 5
military districts and put under
Martial Law
2. Former Confederates barred
from voting
3. Southern states adopt new
Constitution
4. States enfranchise all males,
including former slaves
5. Southern state ratify the 14th
Amendment
The 5 military districts of the South
Radical Republicans go after Johnson
• Congress passes the
Tenure of Office Act
– Prohibited the President from
hiring or firing cabinet
officials without the approval
of the Senate
– The Goal was to weaken the
authority of the President
Johnson Answers the Challenge
• Johnson fires Sec. of War
Edwin Stanton to
challenge Tenure of Office
Act
• Stanton was a Radical
Republican and in charge
of the Military Districts in
South
• Republicans charge the
President with Treason
Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
Johnson on Trial
• House members vote to
Impeach Johnson
• The Senate puts Johnson
on Trial
• Johnson escapes removal
from office by one vote
• Johnson poses no serious
threat the rest of his
Presidency
Constitutional Authority?
• Huge event in American History
• System of Checks and Balances
is seriously Challenged
• Had the President been
removed, Congress could have
the power to remove any
president for political reasons
• The Executive branch could
have been seriously weakened
Reconstruction: The South Strikes
Back
Sharecropping and the KKK
How can the Southern economy
survive without slavery?
• Who will work the
plantations?
• Would freedmen go North,
or stay in the South?
• Planters had land and no
workers
• Workers could offer labor,
but had no land
The Freedmen continue to be Slaves to
the Southern Economy
• Sharecropping –
A policy where Freedmen
would farm the old
master’s land, and be paid
with crops and some profit
• Share the crops
• Owner could provide living
quarters
Abuses of the Sharecropper System
• Sharecroppers were
treated harshly
• Fined for missing work
• High rent for tools and
housing
• Sharecroppers could not
leave until all debt was
paid
• New Slavery – slave labor
for slave wages
Sharecropper Family 1867
Central Texas Sharecropper’s House
Children working instead of going to
school
Mother teaching children numbers
and alphabet in home of
sharecropper.
Tenant Farming
• Former slave rented land
and farmed it for
themselves – no sharing
• Chose crop, when to work,
get all of the harvest
• Some economic
independence
• Needed $ to get started
• Higher social status than
sharecroppers
Cycle of Debt
• Poverty becomes rooted in
the Southern economy
• Very little industry
• Freedmen had difficulty
improving their lives
• This year’s wages go to last
year’s debt
• 1880 – 1 black family in 20
owned land
Grant Becomes President
• 1868 Ulysses S. Grant is
elected President
• Republican
• Union General of the Civil
War
• Hero to the North, Villain in
the South
• Congress and the
President were allies, not
enemies
Another Reconstruction Success
• 15th Amendment is passed
• 1869
• Freedmen Vote
– No citizen may be denied
the right to vote by the
United States or any other
state on account of race,
color, or previous condition
of servitude
1870 Former Slaves Vote
• With federal troops in the South
and the 15th Am. In place,
southern black men voted
• Most voted republican
• Over 600 African-Americans
were elected in the South
• Louisiana gained a black
governor
• 16 Af.-Ams. Went to Congress
• Mississippi sent a former slave to
the Senate
The Klan is Born
• Southern retaliation to
Radical Reconstruction
• 1866, Nathan Bedford
Forest founds the Ku Klux
Klan in Tennessee
• A Social Club, designed to
honor and protect the
Southern Gentlemen and
Southern way of life
America’s 1st Terrorist Organization
• Members were exconfederates and former
slave owners
• Men stripped of their right
to vote
• Membership was
secretive???
Goals of the Klan
• Secret war against Radical
Reconstruction
• End the Republican rule in
South
• Put the former slaves back
in their place
• End Reconstruction
“Southern Justice”
Targets of the Klan
• All Republican Voters
– Carpetbaggers
• Freedmen’s Bureau
• Teachers
– Unionists and Scalawags
– Freedmen – especially those
who were exerting their
newly found freedom
– U.S. Military
– Republicans
– As the Klan grew, it became
extremely violent
“Is this a Republican
form of government?”
“One Vote Less”
Federal Government Takes on the
Klan
• Anti-Klan laws passed in
1870-1871
• Banned the use of terror,
force, or bribery to prevent
people from voting
• KKK membership banned
• Military protects voters and
hunts down the Klan
End of the Klan
• By 1872, Klan almost wiped
out
• Many escape prosecution
• Can’t kill an idea
• As troops leave South, KKK
comes back and black
suffrage (voting) ends