Transcript Supreme Court Cases

Reconstruction
Reconstruction
• 1865-1877
• Very complicated period of
time during which the US:
–Began to rebuild after Civil War
–Readmitted southern states
• Lots of disagreement on process
Lincoln’s plans
• Intended to be lenient to
southerners & southern states
–If states weren’t legally allowed
to secede, they never actually did
–People rebelled, not states
–Individual people can be
pardoned by the president
Lincoln’s 10% Plan
• Proclamation of Amnesty &
Reconstruction (Dec 1863)
–All rebels pardoned except:
• High ranking Confederate officials
• Accused of mistreatment of POWs
–State could rejoin union if 10% of
1860’s voters swore allegiance
Dissent to Lincoln’s Plan
• Radical Republicans wanted to:
– Seize former slaveholders’
property
– Redistribute seized property to
freed slaves
– Give former slaves full citizenship
– Allow former slaves to vote
Radical Republican leaders
Thaddeus Stevens (PA) & Charles Sumner (MD)
Andrew Johnson (TN)
• 17th president
• Took over after
assassination
• Dem – picked by
Lincoln to be VP
for national unity
Andrew Johnson (TN)
• Only southern
senator to remain
loyal to US
• Strong abolitionist
• Hated plantation
owners – thought
war was their fault
Andrew Johnson (TN)
• Universally hated
• Southerners hated
him – traitor
• Radical Reps
hated him – dirty
southerner
Presidential Reconstruction
• Johnson’s plan for reconstruction
• States would be readmitted if they:
– Withdraw secession
– Swear allegiance to union
– Cancel war debts against US gov
– Ratify 13th amendment
Presidential Reconstruction
• Not included in plan:
–Land rights for freed slaves
–Voting rights for freed slaves
–Legal protection for freed slaves
• Radical Republicans were
upset that these were missing
Presidential Reconstruction
• Southern states quickly
followed his instructions
• Held conventions:
–Wrote new state constitutions
–Set up new state governments
–Elected new Congressmen
End of Pres Reconstruction
• Congress refused to admit new
southern congressmen
–Almost all of them were either
former CSA congressmen or
CSA military officers
Freedmen’s Bureau
• Congress proposed bill to
continue & increase work of FB
• Assisted former slaves & some
poor whites in south
–Distributed clothes & food
–Built hospitals & schools
Civil Rights Act of 1866
• Congress proposed bill to give
freed slaves basic rights
• Would make freedmen citizens
• Would outlaw discriminatory
laws like Black codes
Black Codes
• Postwar laws in south restricting
rights of blacks:
– Ownership of property
– Carrying weapons
– Interracial marriage
– Serving on juries
– Testifying against whites
– Ability to move or travel
Johnson’s vetoes
• Andrew Johnson vetoed:
–Freedmen’s Bureau law
–Civil Rights Act
• Angered moderate Republicans
who had been on his side
Congressional Reconstruction
• Moderate & Radical Republicans
joined forces
• Overrode veto of Civil Rights Act
• Wrote 14th Amendment
th
14
Amendment
• Everyone born within the
boundaries of US is a citizen
• Citizens have equal protection
of the law
• Did not include right to vote
1866 Congressional election
• Johnson campaigned for
congressional candidates who
would support him
• Campaigned with Ulysses Grant
• Public loved Grant, hated Johnson
1866 Congressional election
• Race riots erupted all around south
– Fear that national government would
step in to protect former slaves
• Republicans won huge majority in
Congress
– Could override president’s vetoes
Reconstruction Act of 1867
• Abolished new state govs formed
in former CSA
• Divided south into 5 military
districts headed by union generals
• States had to guarantee blacks’
voting rights to be readmitted
Reconstruction Act of 1867
• Johnson vetoed act
• Congress overrode Johnson’s veto
• Johnson vowed not to enforce act
Impeachment
• Radical Republicans wanted to
impeach Johnson for not
enforcing Reconstruction Act
–Was formally accused of
misconduct in office
Tenure of Office Act
• Congress passed law saying:
–President can’t fire a former
president’s cabinet member
unless Senate ok’s it
• Johnson fired Secretary of War
Edwin Stanton
Impeachment
• House impeached Johnson
–Accused him of wrongdoing
• Senate did not have the 2/3
vote required to expel Johnson
–1 vote away from kicking him out
th
15
Amendment
• Passed in 1870
• No one can be denied suffrage
because of:
–Race
–Color
–Previous condition of servitude
Postwar in the South
• By 1870, all southern states
readmitted to union
• State govs were all Republican
–Dems & Confeds were not given
positions of power
Physical & economic conditions
• Property values plummeted
–Land was destroyed
–People who held CSA bonds or
held CSA $ were out of luck
• All southerners (exc freedmen)
poorer than before war
Public works programs
• Congress did all this stuff:
– Built roads, railroads & bridges
– Built orphanages, public schools &
hospitals
• Expected states to help pay for
projects
– But they couldn’t afford it
Politics in postwar south
• Scalawags
–Southern insult for southerners
who joined the Republicans
–Many trying to get ahead
economically
• Small farmers looking for a way to
get a leg up on wealthy planters
Politics in postwar south
• Carpetbaggers
–Southern insult for yankees who
came down to exploit poor
southerners
–Some worked for Freedmen’s
Bureau & came to help
–Some wanted to start new
businesses & industries in area
African American voters
• 90% of Black voters Republican
• Large numbers of blacks
registered to vote
–Sometimes outnumbered whites
Changes in voting
• High # of blacks voting alarmed
scalawags
–Many didn’t believe in civil rights
and started voting for Democrats
Republicans react
• Republicans gave jobs to some
Democrats
–Trying to convince southern
whites to vote Republican
–Didn’t convince them, just
alienated black voters
Education
• 80% of freedmen had been illiterate
– Had been illegal to teach them to read
• Many early professors & teachers
were northern whites
• Schools & colleges formed by
Freedmen’s Bureau & churches
– Like Morehouse College in ATL
Hiram Revels (R, MS)
• 1st black senator
• 1 of 16 black
Congressmen during
Reconstruction
• Minister
• Had served as captain
in union army
Restoration of plantations
• People who wanted to restore
plantations to original owners:
–Planters whose land was taken
–Northern textile merchants who
did business with them
–Poor southern whites wanting to
stay superior to blacks
Sharecropping
• Landowners subdivided land
into small plots
• Gave workers land, seed, tools
• Owners took ~50% of crops
Tenant farming
• Farmers pay rent for the land,
keep all of the crops
• Only if they can save up the $
–Very few sharecroppers could
Economic depression
• Demand for cotton dropped
– Dropped prices
• Foreign countries found other
sources for cotton they needed
• Southern planters overreacted &
planted too much cotton
– Drove prices down even more
Economic depression
• Planters couldn’t repay loans
• Banks failed
• No $ available for new loans
• People couldn’t buy land, tools,
start businesses, etc.
• People stayed poor
Opposition to reconstruction
• Some southern whites violently
opposed Republicans & blacks
• Most southern whites just went
about their business
KKK
• Originally a social club for
former confederates
–Expanded rapidly through south
–Some local groups became
violent terrorist organizations
KKK
• Used intimidation – stop blacks
from exercising political rights
–Threatened whites who helped or
did business with blacks too
KKK in southern elections
• KKK’s intimidation so bad that
most blacks didn’t vote at all
• Dems eventually won elections
for control over south
–Then changed voting laws to
restrict black voting
Congress vs. the KKK
• Enforcement Acts 1870-1871
–Southern elections monitored
–President could send troops to
put KKK down
KKK’s decline
• Declined because they mostly
got what they wanted
–Dems got back total control
–Blacks had rights taken away
• No need to keep fighting
Amnesty Act (1872)
• Allowed 150,000 former
confederates to vote again
• Mostly voted for Democrats
U.S. Grant’s Scandals
• President Grant was one of the
worst presidents in history
–Put corrupt people in positions
under him – personal friends
–Left them alone to ruin things
Crédit Mobilier scandal (#1)
• Gov was paying for transcontinental
railroad construction
• Crédit Mobilier was the railroad
construction company
– They were overbilling & pocketing the
extra cash
– Paying off government officials to look
the other way
Election of 1872
• Grant running for reelection
• Some angry Repubs broke off &
formed Liberal Repub Party
– Insisted on ethical government
– Nominated Horace Greeley
• Grant won reelection
Whiskey Ring scandal (#2)
• Distillers didn’t want to pay the
taxes on their whiskey
– Bribed tax collectors
– Cheated gov out of millions of $
• Grant’s personal secretary
involved – he wouldn’t believe it
Panic of 1873
• Lots of businessmen all over
the country borrowed lots of
money to start businesses
• Many borrowed more money
than they could pay back
Panic of 1873
• Many people defaulted on loans
• Banks closed
• Stock market collapsed
• Unemployment skyrocketed
Currency problems
• Before war, US $ was gold
– There wasn’t much cash in circulation
– Poor didn’t have access to cash at all
• During war, needed more $ in
circulation
– US could handle temporary inflation
– Needed more circulating cash to pay
for war expenditures
Currency problems
• Increased money supply by
issuing paper money
• After the war:
–Poor wanted to keep paper $ in
circulation – “easy money”
–Rich wanted to go back to gold
standard – consolidates wealth
North stopped caring
• North was more concerned with:
– Economic problems
– Grant’s corruption
• And less concerned with:
– Protecting rights of blacks
• Got tired of fighting south about
Reconstruction
Redemption
• Democrats returned to
power in all southern states
by 1875
Election of 1876
Rutherford Hayes (R, OH) v. Samuel Tilden (D, NY)
Election of 1876
• Backlash from Grant corruption
• Both parties picked men with
clean & honest reputations
• Rs selected Hayes – Gov of OH
• Ds selected Tilden – Gov of NY
Election absurdity
• Popular vote:
Tilden: 4,284,757
Hayes: 4,033,950
• Electoral votes:
(185 needed to win)
Tilden:
Hayes:
Disputed:
184
165
20
Election absurdity
• Results in 3 states disputed by
Reps (accused Dems of fraud)
– South Carolina, Louisiana, Florida
Election absurdity
• Commission set up to investigate the
vote in the 3 states
– 15 person commission – 8 Reps, 7 Dems
– Ruled that votes were fraudulent, awarded
the 3 states’ electoral votes to Hayes
• Hayes won electoral vote – 185-184
Compromise of 1877
• House of Reps certifies/rejects
presidential election results
–Dems controlled House
• Southern Dems made a deal
–Allow Hayes to be president &
US will end Reconstruction
“Old 8 to 7”
• Hayes was very unpopular
• Everyone felt he cheated to
become president
Home rule
• Dems canceled changes Reps
had made while in charge
–Cut taxes
–Dismantled public schools
–Cut social programs
–Restricted rights of blacks