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Reconstruction
VA/US History
Lacks
Reconstruction
• 1865 – 1877
• Time of rebuilding the Union
• refers to the period after the Civil War
when the U.S. focused on abolishing
slavery, destroying all traces of the
Confederacy, and "reconstructing" both
the South and the Constitution
Andrew Johnson & Abe Lincoln (Lincoln was called the “Rail Splitter”
Political Changes
• federal gov. assumes supreme national
authority
• federal gov. touches lives of individuals
directly
• taxes, forced to accept new paper
currency, draft
Economic Changes
• North vs. South economy
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cotton textile industry declined
war-related industries grew (firearms, woolens, wagon building)
iron and coal mining grew by the end of the war
northern economy boomed
• by end of war was producing more coal, iron, merchant ships, etc than
entire country had in 1860
– southern economy devastated
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end of slavery as a labor system
wrecked most of region’s industry
wiped out 40% of livestock
destroyed much of farm machinery and railroads
left 1000s of acres of uncultivated farmland in weeds
• Cost of the war = $20 billion
Social Changes
• 620,000 soldiers died in war
• an additional 545,000 wounded
New President - Andrew Johnson
• born in NC - fled to Tennessee at age of
16
• worked his way up through politics
• once owned slaves - by 1863 supported
abolition
• Only Southern Senator to not quit upon
secession
• Supported Lincoln’s military position
Andrew Johnson
• US Senator from TN
• 17th POTUS
• endorsed harsh
punishment for
rebellion’s leaders
• 1st POTUS to be
impeached
Presidential Reconstruction
• 3 Proposed Plans
• 1. Lincoln's plan - “10% Plan”
• announced during the war
• pardon confederates who would swear allegiance to
union and promise to obey its laws
• when 10% of voting age men took oath = state allowed
to re-enter
• very moderate plan
• no mention of former slaves
• Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Virginia re-enter under
this plan
Presidential Reconstruction
• Radical Republicans
– did not agree with moderation
– wanted to push for black suffrage (very
radical)
– leaders: Charles Sumner and Thaddeus
Stevens
Radical Republicans
Charles Sumner Thaddeus Stevens
Presidential Reconstruction
• 2. Wade-Davis Bill - July 1864
– proposed that Congress - not the president
- should be responsible for Reconstruction
– also for new state gov. to be formed, a
majority (not just 10%) of eligible voters
must take oath to support Constitution
– passed by Congress but killed by Lincoln’s
pocket veto
Presidential Reconstruction
• 3. Johnson's plan
– declare secession illegal
– future loyalty oath
– ratify the 13th Amendment
– failed to address the needs of former slaves
: land, voting rights, protection under the
law
– problems with congress and the radical
republicans
Failure of Presidential Reconstruction
Johnson issues pardons
Failure of Presidential
Reconstruction
• In the South
– Ex-Confederates in the government appointed to Congress
– Pardons - Johnson issued pardons for
congress-elects
– angers Radicals
Failure of Presidential
Reconstruction
• Black codes
– discriminatory laws that restricted lives of freed
blacks - restored many of the restrictions of
slavery
– ex. prohibit blacks from carrying weapons, serving
on juries, testifying against whites, marrying
whites, starting their own business, etc
Ku Klux Klan
• 1868 - existed in every southern state
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began in Tennessee as a social club
violent terrorist group
whipped, tortured, and murdered former slaves
burned cabins and churches
attacked political leaders
• goals: destroy Republican Party
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throw out Reconstruction gov.s
aid planter class in controlling black laborers
prevent blacks from exercising political rights
opposition to the violence will bring gradual decrease in
the Klan’s activities
Ku Klux Klan
Nathan Bedford Forrest
• From TN
• Slave trader
• Confederate LT. General
(entered as a private –
one of the few)
• “The Wizard of the
Saddle”
• Excellent war leader
• Excellent writer and
speaker
• 1st Grand Wizard of the
KKK
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Nathan Bedford Forrest National
Park, Memphis, TN
Ku Klux Klan
• 1st Klan: 1865 – 1870s (500,000 members)
– veterans of the Confederate Army
– purpose was to restore white supremacy
– resisted Reconstruction by intimidating freedmen
and white Republicans
– Southern elites didn’t like it because it served as
an excuse for federal troops to continue
occupation
– organization declined from 1868 to 1870 and was
destroyed by President Grant's passage and
enforcement of the Force Acts of 1870 and 1871
• Mississippi
• 1871
Ku Klux Klan
• 2nd Klan: 1915 – 1944 (4 million members)
– Formed due to the Great Migration in the early
1900s and the lack of jobs of long-term Americans
– racism, anti-Catholicism, anti-Communism,
nativism, and anti-Semitism
– At its peak in the mid-1920s, the organization
included about 15% of the nation's eligible
population, approximately 4–5 million men
– popularity fell further during the Great Depression
and World War II
Cross-burning by the Klan originated with the 2nd Klan in 1915
• released in 1915
• one of the most influential and
controversial of American
motion pictures
• Set during and after the
American Civil War, the film
was based on Thomas Dixon's
The Clansman, a novel and play
• The Birth of a Nation is noted
for its innovative technical and
narrative achievements, and its
status as the first Hollywood
"blockbuster."
• It has provoked great
controversy for its treatment of
white supremacy and
sympathetic account of the rise
of the Ku Klux Klan.
Ku Klux Klan
• 3rd Klan: since 1946
– researchers estimate there may be more
than 150 Klan chapters with 5,000-8,000
members nationwide
– The U.S. government classifies them as
hate groups, with operations in
separated small local units.
In Congress
• Freedman's Bureau - March 1865
– provide assistance to former slaves and poor
whites
– furnished food, medical supplies, clothing
– concerned with regulation of wages and working
conditions of blacks
– establishment and maintenance of schools and
hospitals for former slaves and poor whites
– control and distribution of lands
– handled legal trials involving blacks
– originally created for 1 year
In Congress
• Freedman’s Bureau
– President Johnson vetoed it
renewal but congress over rode his
veto
– most of the program ended in 1869
except education program (1872)
In Congress
• Civil Rights Act of 1866
– gave blacks citizenship and forbade state
from passing discriminatory laws that
restricted their lives (black codes)
In Congress
• Presidential veto
– Johnson vetoed both renewal of the Freedman’s
Bureau and Civil Rights Act
– both overridden by congress
– Johnson said it was beyond the scope of
Congress’s powers
– began a battle between congress and the
president
– presidential reconstruction will come to a halt
Civil War Amendments
•The three “Civil War
Amendments” to the
Constitution were added:
13th Amendment
•Slavery was
abolished
permanently in
the United
States
14th Amendment
• States were prohibited from denying equal
rights under the law to any American.
Citizenship,
Equal
Protection,
and Due
Process
15th Amendment
• Voting rights
were guaranteed
regardless of
“race, color, or
previous
condition of
servitude”
(former slaves)
Reconstruction Acts (1867)
• 1866 Congressional Elections
– moderate and radical Republicans won
landslide victory giving them 2/3 majority
needed to override presidential veto
Reconstruction Acts (1867)
• Reconstruction Act
– did not recognize state gov. formed under Lincoln or
Johnson’s Plan except for Tennessee because it had
ratified the 14th Amendment and was readmitted
– divided the other 10 former confederate states into 5
military districts
– each district was headed by a union general
– new state gov. to be created at state conventions
– required oath of past loyalty
– required black male suffrage
– required passage of 14th Amendment
Johnson’s Impeachment
• radicals in congress determined to get rid
of Johnson
• March 1867 - had passed the Tenure of
Office Act
– president could not remove cabinet officers
during the term of president who
appointed him unless approved by 2/3
Senate
– considered unconstitutional by Johnson and
others but not yet tested in courts
Johnson’s Impeachment
• Johnson fired Secretary of War Edward
Stanton
• House brought 11 charges of
impeachment against Johnson for
misconduct in office
– 9 based on violation of Tenure of Office Act
• trial lasted 11 weeks
• Johnson found not guilty by 1 vote
Presidential Election of 1868
• Democrats: wartime NY gov. Horatio Seymour
• Republicans: Ulysses S. Grant - winner
• importance of black vote to Republican Party
was obvious
• 15th Amendment - black vote
– ratified in 1870
Presidential Election of 1868
Presidential Election of 1868
• New Republicans dominated government
• All southern states had re-entered by
1870
Conditions in the Postwar South
• physical and economic conditions
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physical devastation of land
decreased property values
serious drop in wealth/capita
over 1/5 of adult white men in confederacy were
killed
– others were maimed for life
– 1000s of blacks also died
– women and kids suffer from malnutrition and illness
Conditions in the Postwar South
• public works program
– built roads, bridges, railroads, etc.
– established schools, orphanages, etc.
• few financial resources available
– increase in poll taxes
– impose property, sales, luxury taxes
Southern Politics
• Republicans made of 3 groups
– Scalawags - white southerner who joined Republican party
• some wanted south to industrialize
• majority are small farmers wanting to improve economic position
and didn’t want former wealthy farmers to regain power
– Carpetbaggers - northerners who move to south after war
• various motives for moving
– African Americans - largest group of southern republicans
• 90% of qualified voters actually voted
• lack of unity between groups due to different goals
Carpetbaggers
• Southerners
considered them
ready to loot and
plunder the
defeated South
• Called this because
they came South
with travel bags
The KKK will hang carpetbaggers
Former Slaves Improve Their Lives
• move/travel, seeking new opportunities
• tracking down family members
• allowed to marry legally
Former Slaves Improve Their Lives
• education
– 1870 - over 90% of freed slaves over 20 were illiterate
– during reconstruction people of all ages sought an
education
– organized their own schools, colleges, universities
– Hampton Institute (Hampton University)
– black teachers will gradually take over teaching in black
schools
Former Slaves Improve Their Lives
• churches and volunteer groups
– Founded own churches - usually Baptist or Methodist
– ministers emerge as influential community leaders
– establish their own fire companies, debating clubs,
political organizations, etc.
– fostered black independence
– provide financial and emotional support
– provide opportunities to develop leadership skills
Former Slaves Improve Their Lives
• black politics
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became active in political process
vote
organize black conventions
join influential political groups
held office in local, state, and federal gov.
• Hiram Revels - 1st black Senator
– laws against segregation
• 1866 - most states had repealed black codes
• bills proposed to desegregate public transportation
• many anti-segregation laws were not enforced
Southern Economy
• sharecropping
– landowner divided land and gave each worker a few acres, seed and
tools
– worker gave a portion of harvested crop (@½) back to landowner
• tenant farming
– bought their own horse/mules
– rented farm land for cash
• cotton no longer king
– prices dropped with demand
– look to diversification
• textile mills established in south
• tobacco - product manufacturing
– wages increased some
Collapse of
Reconstruction
Opposition to Reconstruction
• some react to situation with violence
– KKK
– anti-black violence
– some southern democrats openly use violence to
intimidate republicans
• Mississippi - 1875 state election campaign
• democrats riot, disrupt rallies, attack republican
leaders, murder prominent blacks
• frighten the majority (black) away from the polls
allowing democrats to sweep the election
• similar tactics adopted in other states
Opposition to Reconstruction
• economic pressure
• Klan and other groups try to prevent
economic progress of blacks by killing
livestock, personal attacks, forced labor
• nonviolent tactics mainly used - refusal
to hire or do business with blacks who
voted republican
Opposition to Reconstruction
• Enforcement Acts 1870-1871
– federal supervision of elections in the south
– gave president power to use federal troops in
areas of Klan activity
• Amnesty Act - 1872
– returned the right to vote and hold federal or
state office to @160,000 former confederates
(left out high-ranking officials)
– weakened power of republicans in the south
Government Scandals
• Grant had no previous political experience
– he appointed friends and acquaintances to
political positions
– many of these turned out to be dishonest
• Credit Mobilier Affair
– construction co. had skimmed seriously large
profits on a gov. railroad contract
– involved several leading republicans including
Grant’s first vice president - Schuyler Colfax
Government Scandals
• Whiskey Ring
– internal revenue collectors and other officials
accepted bribes from whiskey distillers in order to
avoid paying taxes on product
– cheated the gov. out of millions
– Grant’s private secretary - Gen. Orville E. Babcock
involved
• William W. Belknap - Secretary of War
– accepted bribes from merchants wanting to keep
profitable trading concessions in Indian territory
– was impeached, promptly resigned
Government Scandals
• other scandals as well
surrounded Grant’s
administration
• public became disgusted
with the president and
gov.
• Republican unity was
shattered
Northern Retreat
• northern support began to fade as they
shift their concern to the bad economy
and corruption of Grant’s administration
• desire for reconciliation between the
north and south
• many of the passionate radical leaders
had died
Election of 1876
• “redemption” - democrats began regaining control of
the south
• Rutherford B. Hayes – Republican (Ohio)
• Gov. Samuel J. Tilden – Democrat (NY)
• Tilden won popular vote but was 1 short of the
electoral votes needed to win and 20 electoral votes
were in dispute
• congressional committee appointed to decide
election and they gave it to Hayes
• committee controlled by republicans but had to be
approved by a democratic house
Election of 1876
• the two sides struck a deal - Compromise of
1877
– democrats agreed to accept Hayes in exchange for:
• withdrawal of federal troops from Louisiana and South
Carolina
• federal money to build railroad from Texas to the west
coast
• federal money to improve southern rivers, harbors and
bridges
• appointment of a conservative southerner to the cabinet
• this marks the end of reconstruction in the
south
• A political cartoon
by Joseph Keppler
depicts Roscoe
Conkling as
Mephistopheles, as
Rutherford B.
Hayes strolls off
with a woman
labeled as "Solid
South".
• The caption quotes
Goethe: "Unto that
Power he doth
belong / Which
only doeth Right
while ever willing
Wrong."
Election of 1876
• Home Rule - democrats regain
southern control
– restricted the rights of freed slaves
– wiped out social programs
– slashed taxes
– dismantle public school system
End of Reconstruction
• the country turns its attention to
further westward expansion