Reconstruction

Chapters 22 & 23

Objective #1

• Examine Reconstruction including: – The 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments – The Freedmen’s Bureau – Lincoln and Johnson’s moderate policies – Radical Reconstruction – Military occupation of the South

Objective #2

• Examine Southern responses to the policies of Reconstruction including: – The rise of the Redeemers – Black Codes – Jim Crow Laws

Objective #3

• Examine the Compromise of 1877 and its effect upon the political, social and economic status of African-Americans in the South.

Objective #4

• Describe the importance of the Supreme Court’s decision in Plessy v. Ferguson and its ramifications for the enforcement of civil rights of African Americans.

Key Questions

1. How do we bring the South back into the Union?

4. What branch of government should control the process of Reconstruction?

2. How do we rebuild the South after its destruction during the war?

3. How do we integrate and protect newly emancipated black freedmen?

What Branch of Government Should Control Reconstruction?

• Hinges on this question: Was secession legal?

• Lincoln: NO – Never left Union, so he is in charge of enforcing law and Reconstruction • Congress: YES – CSA states are now conquered territories – Must apply for statehood – Congress in charge of dictating terms

How do we bring back the South?

• Peacefully?

• Punish leaders?

Political Parties

• Republicans have control of Presidency and Congress • Republicans want to show bipartisan effort to reunite country – Democrats could take blame if Reconstruction failed • Lincoln nominated Democrat Andrew Johnson as his VP in 1864

Impact of Civil War on Economies: How do we rebuild South?

• North: – Successful factories – Strong cities – Productive farms – Superiority of free over slave labor • South: – Land in ruins – Railways destroyed – Failed banks – Economic “limbo”

What do we do with 4 million “Freedmen”?

• Many left plantations – Many returned when opportunity was not found – Others moved to cities or out west • Many old ways of treating whites gone • Many could not afford land

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 School

Freedmen’s Bureau Seen Through Southern Eyes

Plenty to eat and nothing to do.

White Response to Freedmen

• Southern society was shaken • Competition for jobs in cities • Many offended of new boldness of blacks • Many Southerners believed slavery was lawful until state legislatures outlawed it or Supreme Court ruled • Many only acknowledged freedmen when military came through • Fear

President Lincoln’s Plan



10% Plan

* Believed individuals rebelled, not whole states * * Restore Union quickly: didn’t consult Congress Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (December 8, 1863) * 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, and pledged to abide by emancipation, it would be recognized.

Congress’ Reaction

• Congress believed Lincoln was overstepping his Constitutional authority • Radical Republicans: War was over slavery – Wanted to destroy Southern power – Also wanted full citizenship for blacks (which was not covered in Lincoln’s plan)

Wade-Davis Bill (1864)

Senator Benjamin Wade (R-OH)  Required 50% of the number of 1860 voters to take an “iron clad” oath of allegiance (swearing they had never voluntarily aided the rebellion ).

 State constitutions had to be approved before Southern leaders enacted.

 Enacted some safeguards of freedmen’s civil liberties.

Congressman Henry W. Davis (R-MD)

Congress Adjourned After Passing Wade Davis Bill…

• Lincoln killed it by Pocket Veto • Lincoln’s plan goes into effect while Congress was out of session.

• Radical Republicans angry with Lincoln

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.

Congress refused to seat many of the newly elected reps.

After Civil War

• Lincoln assassinated and Andrew Johnson becomes President • Many Confederate leaders were arrested and put in prison.

– Andrew Johnson will pardon most of them in 1868.

President Andrew Johnson

 Jacksonian Democrat.

 Anti-Aristocrat.

 White Supremacist.

 Agreed with Lincoln that states had never legally left the Union.

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

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 (13th Amendment) and secession.

 Named provisional governors in Confederate states and called them to oversee elections for constitutional conventions.

EFFECTS?

1. Disenfranchised certain leading Confederates.

2. Johnson pardoned many planter aristocrats who were then brought back to political power by their states.

3. Republicans were outraged that planter elite were back in power in the South!

13

th

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.

Growing Northern Alarm!

 Many Southern state constitutions fell short of minimum requirements.

 Johnson granted 13,500 special pardons (mentioned previously).

 Revival of southern defiance.

 Many reps in Southern govts were old Confederates, Black Codes

Black Codes

    State Laws (first enacted in Nov. ‘65) Forbidden: intermarriage, bear arms, possess alcohol, ownership of land, vagrancy Purpose: * * Guarantee stable labor supply now that blacks were emancipated.

Restore pre-emancipation system of race relations.

Forced many blacks to become

sharecroppers

[tenant farmers].

   

Congress Breaks with the President

Congress bars Southern Congressional delegates.

February, 1866 vetoed the Freedmen’s Bureau bill.

 President March, 1866  Johnson vetoed the 1866 Civil Rights Act.

June, 1866: Congress approves the 14th Amendment and sends it to states  Get around Johnson’s vetoes  Make sure South couldn’t repeal a Civil Rights law if they gain control of Congress in the future.

14

th

Amendment

* *  Proposed in 1866, ratified in July, 1868.

* Provide a constitutional guarantee of the rights and security of freed people--equal protection * * States would have to guarantee black male suffrage in their constitutions.

Enshrine the national debt while repudiating that of the Confederacy.

Amendments cannot be touched by President Black voters would vote Republican and prohibit old Confederate control of South.

The Balance of Power in Congress

State SC MS LA GA AL VA NC White Citizens 291,000 353,000 357,000 591,000 596,000 719,000 631,000 Freedmen 411,000 436,000 350,000 465,000 437,000 533,000 331,000

The 1866 Mid-Term Election

   Johnson made an ill-conceived propaganda tour around the country to push his plan.

Many moderates pushed into Radical camp Republicans won a 2/3 majority in both houses and gained control of every northern state.

Johnson’s “Swing around the Circle”

Reconstruction Acts of 1867



Military Reconstruction Act

* * Divide the 10 “unreconstructed states” into 5 military districts.

Military would oversee new elections and writing of new Constitutions.

Radical Plan for Readmission

   Civil authorities in the territories were subject to military supervision.

 Ignored Ex parte Milligan (1866): Supreme Ct. said civilians could not be tried in military court.

Required new state constitutions, including black suffrage and ratification of the 13 th and 14 th Amendments.

In March, 1867, Congress passed an act that authorized the military to enroll eligible black voters and begin the process of constitution making.

Johnson’s Reaction

• Johnson vetoed all parts of Radical Reconstruction • Radicals overrode his vetoes • South had no choice but to approve these acts or military would occupy them.

Radical Reconstruction of 1867



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

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

 11 week trial.

 Johnson acquitted 35 to 19 (one short of required 2/3s vote).

What Did the People Want?

• Obvious that Radicals wanted to punish South and Johnson, while protecting their power.

• Many states began electing moderates in the 1870s and Radicals will eventually lose power

Despite Radical Reconstruction…

• Southern land still concentrated in hands of rich • Concentration on cotton production • Freedmen still had problems finding farm land and jobs

Homestead Act of 1866

• Example of failure of Reconstruction • Made public lands available to blacks and loyal whites in five southern states – Land was of poor quality – No transportation, tools or seed provided – Fewer than 4000 blacks applied

Sharecropping

The “Invisible Empire of the South”

The 1868 Republican Ticket

The 1868 Democratic Ticket

Waving the Bloody Shirt!

Republican “Southern Strategy”

1868 Presidential Election

Impact of Black Voters

• Grant won many southern states due to the approximately 500,000 black voters • First black Congressmen, Senators and local governmental officials elected in 1868.

Black Senate & House Delegates

   

15

th

Amendment

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!

Despite These Advances, Enforcement a Problem

• By 1869, most of federal soldiers were gone • South leadership still made up of elite classes • Some Carpetbaggers moving South and voting Republican • Most of white South loathed the Republicans (seen as outsiders) • Democrats began to gain control in some southern states – Republicans will continue to control states in the “Black Belt” where black population was more equal to whites – Also the area hardest hit by Black Codes, Jim Crow and Redemption after Reconstruction

Increased Violence in the South

• With military leaving the South, black intimidation increased • KKK and other white supremacist groups continue to grow in power • President Grant and Congress pass Force Acts in 1870 and 1871

Force Acts of 1870 and 1871

• Gave President strong powers to use federal supervisors to make sure citizens were not prevented from voting • Ku Klux Klan Act made hate groups illegal – Rarely enforced – Democrats and local officials did not enforce – Republicans more concerned with Northern issues – Grant also believed continued protection of blacks would hurt him in 1872 election – White juries rarely found whites guilty of violence against blacks • Supreme Court would later rule these unconstitutional

Reconstruction and the North

• North tiring of the “Southern problem” • Move on: – Continue to build industry – Complete railroad system – Solve issues between factory owners and unions (500,000 unionize between 1866-1873) • Northern Congressmen begin diverting money from Reconstruction to Northern issues

Grant Administration Scandals

 Grant presided over an era of unprecedented growth and corruption.

* * Credit Mobilier Scandal.

Whiskey Ring.

Election of 1872

• Rumors of scandal hurt popularity of Republican party • Grant and other Republicans begin to move to the center of political spectrum to capture votes • Radical ideas and increasingly unpopular within the party--bad for Reconstruction plans.

1872 Presidential Election

The Panic of 1873

 Caused by overconstruction of railroads, failure of banks and businesses, removal of paper money from circulation, etc.

 Poor economy and Grant’s policies hurt the Republican party.

 Democrats gain control of the House in 1874

Reconstruction’s Support Wanes

 Corruption in Grant Admin.



Panic of 1873

depression].

[6-year  Concern over westward expansion and Indian wars  Monetary issues  Civil War and Post-Civil War fatigue--time to put the differences aside  Northern indifference and Southern dislike of Reconstruction.

1876 Presidential Tickets

Election Controversy

• 20 Electoral votes disputed – 3 of 4 states were in the South • House of Reps. Creates Electoral Commission – 8 Republicans, 7 Democrats • Hayes declared winner of all votes • Democrats did not challenge in return for Hayes’ pledge to end Reconstruction

1876 Presidential Election

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

Result of Compromise of 1877

• Redemption • Jim Crow Laws • Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) • Literacy tests, poll taxes, other voter registration laws • Return of white supremacy