Transcript Reconstruction

Reconstruction: Triumphs and
Tragedies
Base Problems
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Treason?
Status of the States
Rights of ex-slaves
Rights of Unionists
Veteran’s Rights
Law and Order
Repairs
Economic Wasteland
The Freedman's Bureau
• Operates: March
1865-1872
• Boss: General
Oliver Howard
• Assists Freedmen in
many different ways,
many unprecedented
The Freedman’s Bureau -Education
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Biggest Success of the Agency
No Southern Public Education Pre-War
3000 Schools, 150,000 students
Originally Northern White Women
Teachers
– Later staffed by Blacks
• Literacy: Up to 30% by 1876, 70% by
1910
Sea-Island School
Black Universities
• 1880—13 Black Universities
• “Hampton Normal and Agricultural
Institute” (1870—Land Grant University)
– Trained Teachers
– “Head, Heart, and Hands”--Mixed intellectual,
moral, and craft instruction
– Booker T. Washington was a graduate
Other Freedman's Bureau
Activities
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Food Distribution (15 million rations)
Reuniting Families
100 Hospitals
Work Dispute Resolution and Contract
Negotiations
Land for the Freedmen
• Former Slaves wanted land (“Forty Acres
and a Mule”)
• Sherman's Field Order Number 15—
January, 1865—Land for slaves on South
Atlantic Coast
• 1866—Southern Homestead Act: Blacks get
first Homestead rights in South
Results
• 33% of Upper South Blacks own a farm
• 20% of all Blacks
• Why no redistribution? Too radical for a
bunch of laissez-faire economists
• Most blacks and whites are tenant farmers /
sharecroppers by 1900.
– Sharecroppers rent land with part of their crops
Freedmen--Migration
• Many former slaves hit the road once free and
move around a year or two
• Many move to the cities because there is lots of
work, even if wages = poor.
Freedmen--Religion
• Churches usually segregated, but whites and blacks
follow same religions
• Churches serve as a major community hub
– Provide experience in managing and organizing
things
• Used for clubs, businesses, fraternities, etc.
• Focus for defense of civil rights
A Black Church
The Lincoln Plan
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States now federal territories
10% of voters must swear allegiance
Must ban slavery
A minimalist plan
Lincoln dies, only applied in Tennessee.
President Andrew Johnson (18651869)
The Johnson Plan (1865-1867)
• States exist, but former Confederates
can't vote
– Under $20,000 dollars property folk can get
easy pardon
– Rich must apply to president
• No protection of former slaves
• Johnson hopes poor whites will rule!
Southern Response
• Southerners resist any changes
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Re-elect ex-confederates
Institute 'Black Codes', which limit
freedom of ex-slaves, force them to
work for others
Congress Fights Back
• December 1865—Congress in session
• Congress’ Desires
• Extend Suffrage to Blacks
• Protect Civil Rights of Ex-Slaves
• The Whites had to acknowledge these civil rights
Congress vs. South, Round 1,
Fight!
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Civil Rights Act of 1866
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All born in US are citizens!
Mainly protects business / court rights
Fourteenth Amendment
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All born in US are citizens!
Defends basic rights of citizens to life,
liberty and property
No ex-Confederates in office
Confederate debts NEVER to be paid
1866 Mid-Term Elections
• Johnson opposes the Republicans
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Goes on a speaking tour before 1866
elections
This is unusual
He fails miserably
• Congressional Reconstruction Begins
Military Reconstruction Act of 1866
Congress vs. Andrew Johnson
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Tenure of Office Act—No firing anyone
without Senate saying yes.
Andrew Johnson fires Secretary of War
Edwin Stanton to control the generals for
Military Reconstruction
Congress tries to impeach Johnson.
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House: YES
Senate: No by 1 vote
1868 Election
1868 Election
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Ulysses S. Grant (Moderate Republican)
vs. Horatio Seymour (Democrat)
Grant wins: 52.66% Popular, 214 EV vs
80.
Grant takes 7 Southern states
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Black support is key
The Grant Administration
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1869: Fifteenth Amendment—All adult
males can vote, 21+
Grant is not very experienced
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Failure of oversight
Some appointees are corrupt
Conflict between reformers and 'stalwarts'
(who are more interested in perks of office)
1868 Election
The Southern Republican Party
• Southern Poor to Middling Whites:
“Scaliwags”
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Debt Relief, Education, Roads
• Northern Whites: “Carpetbaggers”
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Economic Development, Civil Rights
• Southern Blacks
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The Union Leagues.
• 90% of Blacks Vote
• Debt Relief, Land, Education, Civil Rights!
Black Politicians:
Senator Blanche K. Bruce, Frederick Douglass, and Senator
Hiram Revels
Expansion of State Government
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Debt and Stay Laws
Building Projects
Public Education
Child Support
Legal Aid
Medical Assistance
• The Unfortunate Side Effects:
– Higher Taxes
– Corruption
Counter-Reconstruction
• Racism
• Racism used to divide poor whites and blacks in
favor of 'white unity'
• Violence
• the Klu Klux Klan – Ex-Confederate murderers,
rapists, and thugs who attacked former slaves and
their white allies
• Enforcement and Klu Klux Klan Acts
• Allowed calling in federal help against political
violence
“The Union as it was,”
Thomas Nast, Harper’s Weekly, 1874
Failure of Northern Will
• Many see Southern Republican
governments as corrupt
• Many don't care about black rights
• Many care more about other issues:
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Immigration
Fiscal Responsibility
Tariffs
Hard Money (This is a priority for
Grant)
1872: ‘Liberal Republican’
Insurgency
• Some Republicans now revolt against
corruption of the 'Stalwarts'
• Platform:
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Civil Service Reform
Tariff Reductions
End of Federal Grants to Railroads
Amnesty for Southern Whites
Southern Self-Government
1872 Election
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US Grant (Rep.)
vs. Horace
Greeley (Liberal
Republicans +
Democrats)
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Grant wins:
55.58% of
Popular, 286-66
EV
Greeley then
1872 Election
‘Redemption’: 1874-7
• ‘Redeemers’ --Racist militia who aided
Southern Democrats
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They triggered growing violence
• Civil Rights Act of 1875: No
discrimination in public places
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Useless vs. Violence
Grant's Failing Administration
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Corruption:
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1874 Sanborn Incident
1875 Whiskey Ring
1876 Indian Trading Post Ring
Indian Wars
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Gold in Black Hills; settlers invade Sioux
land
Battle of Little Bighorn (1876)
1876: Tilden v. Hayes
• Samuel Tilden (D) vs. Rutherford B.
Hayes (Rep.)
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Election results disputed in Florida,
Louisiana, South Carolina
No good way to resolve fairly
• Compromise of 1877
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Hayes becomes President
Hayes abandons Reconstruction
The Failure of Reconstruction
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The Lost Cause
Survival of Segregation
Sharecropping
Slaughterhouse Cases (1873)
United States vs. Cruikshank (1876)
Gutting of Protections