Transcript Chapter # 16

Chapter # 16
Reconstruction
Write an essay in which you evaluate the
struggle for Civil Rights from Abraham
Lincoln to Rutherfield B. Hayes
Proclamation of Amnesty
Issued by Lincoln in 1863
Offered full pardon to all southerners (except
certain war leaders)
10% of population had to take an oath of
allegiance
State could then establish loyal government
This was done with hopes of shortening the war
1864 Louisiana and Arkansas had established
Union governments
New governments also needed to abolish slavery
Congress was unhappy with the president’s plan
Some wanted protections to guarantee black male
suffrage
Others did not trust the south and did not want
the south to have any control of government
Wade Davis Bill
Congress refused to pass Lincoln’s plan
Congress passed a Reconstruction Bill – 1864
Required 50% of population to take the oath
Then they could elect delegates to Constitutional
convention
 Did not include black male suffrage
Courts given power to enforce Emancipation
Lincoln -Veto
Andrew Johnson
Became president when Lincoln died
He had supported slavery
Sympathy to the south
He though all families should have a slave
Reconstruction
Johnson’s plan – 1865
Put provisional governors in charge of southern
states
Governor responsible fall Constitutional
convention and insuring only loyal whites could
vote
Excluded wealthy planters from voting (later
would give pardons to them)
All states would have to ratify the 13th
Amendment
Military placed in southern states and southern
states under military law until ratification of state
constitution
Black Codes
Laws passed in southern states
Made blacks subject separate laws
Laws –to hold back the blacks
Restricted black freedom
Congress
Republicans in Congress was to make sure the
old southern ruling class did not gain power
Congress passed a bill extending the life of the
“Freedmen’s Bureau”Agency that…
Gave relief for blacks
Education
Legal help
Civil Rights Bill – give equal rights under law to
blacks
Crush black codes
Johnson vetoed both bills
Congress later passed the Civil Rights Act w/
2/3rd majority
1st time Congress had overridden a president veto
Fourteenth Amendment
Passed by Congress
Equal rights to all Americans / under law
States could not deprive citizens of life, liberty,
or property without due process
Reconstruction Act
March 2, 1867
Placed the south under military rule
Split the south into 5 military districts
Ex-Confederates not allowed to vote to elect
delegates to Constitutional convention
Set out process for quick entry into the Union
Impeachment
Johnson was apposed to the new Reconstruction
Started to dismiss officeholders who sympathized
with the Radical Reconstruction
He interfered with the process when ever he
could
Congress passed bills to limit the president’s
power
Tenure of office bill – required Senate approval to
remove cabinet officer
Another limited president’s authority over military
commanders
Johnson’s position was that Congress did not have
the power to limit his power
Secretary of War – Edwin Stanton
Johnson tried to dismiss him
Ordered General Thomas to replace Stanton
The House voted to impeach the president
Tried in Senate
1 vote short of the needed 2/3rds to convict
Stopped the presidency from being dominated
by Congress
Johnson agreed-enforce the Reconstruction Act
Social Adjustment
Much of the south was in ruins
Cotton fields were over grown with weeds
Railroad tracks torn up
Several major cities destroyed by fire
Southerners lost valuable assets (slaves)
Economy in ruins
Population of free blacks needed work
Sharecroppers
Some given small amounts of land
Blacks continue to be controlled by whites
Separate facilities for whites and blacks
Schools started to educate blacks
America was a divided society
Politics in the South
Southern government had little regard for the
rights of free blacks
Some made black unemployment a crime
Hundreds of blacks were murdered by whites
Violence was used to keep blacks from voting
Northerners came to the south to buy and control
politics – carpetbaggers
Some former Whig planters “scalawags” also
wanted to be part of the grab for wealth
Many were concerned that the large amount of
free blacks (republicans) could control government
Blacks elected to positions in government
16 served in Congress
2 in Senate
No blacks elected to governor
Most southern governments were corrupt
White people elected to office tried to fill their
pockets
Small number of blacks elected to national office
Ulysses S. Grant
Elected President -Republican
Many look at him as a failure
Time in office full of corruption
Fifteenth Amendment
1869 – prohibited any state from denting a
citizen from the right to vote
Feminist disappointed women not included
Grants administration was charged with
enforcement of the Laws
Ku Klux Klan
Secret society – formed 1866
Intimidated blacks
Membership spread rapidly
“Night Riders” visited blacks at home and told
them not to vote or cause problems
Some blacks were taken from their homes and
beaten or killed
The 15th Amendment made interfering with
voting a federal crime
Military was used to protect black rights
Thousands of Klan members arrested
Heavy black voting allowed Republicans to hold
power
Spoils systems
Grant had placed many friends and family in
government positions
Scandals would emerge in this administration
Vice president Schuler Colfax – Credit Mobilier
scandal took profits from government projects
Secretary of War – William Belknap – took
bribes for the sale of Indian trading posts
Impeached and resigned before conviction
Many wanted reform in government
Rutherfield B. Hayes
President 1876 – republican
Samuel Tilden – democrat won majority of
popular vote
3 southern state’s results contested
Compromise of 1877 – secrete agreements with
republicans and democrats to make Hayes
president
Ended military intervention in the south
Southern blacks sacrificed
Bloody Shirt
Northern republicans waved a bloody shirt to
remind people of the war
There denounced the south for their suppression
of black suffrage