Questions your group needs to address:

1.What do you do with (now) former prisoners of war? Discuss this from both the Northern & Southern perspectives.2.What do you do with former Confederate Generals? Should they be punished?3.What do you do with the states that seceded from the Union?4.How do you solve financial debt?5.What do you do with former slaves that are now free men, approximately 4 million of them?

President Lincoln Congress

Radical Republicans vs. Moderate Republicans

President Johnson

RECONSTRUCTION PLANS

Thomas Nast's Original "The Union Christmas" Civil War PrintThis is probably the most touching and moving Abraham Lincoln print to come out of the Civil War era. The leaf was printed on December 31, 1864, and Thomas Nast was the artist. The print shows Mr. Lincoln standing at the door, inviting the Southern Rebels to come in from the cold and snow, and rejoin the union.

A large banquet table has been prepared, and the table has empty chairs labeled Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and so forth. The print has a large banner that reads, "The Union Christmas Dinner, Peace on Earth and Good Will Toward Men." The print has four insets, one showing Robert E. Lee offering his surrender to Grant (something that did happen a few months later. The second inset is captioned, "Lay Down your Arms and You Will be Welcome", which shows Rebel Soldiers being welcomed back into the Union. The third inset presents the Rebels as the prodigal son returning home, and the forth inset shows a soldier bowing down to accept a pardon from Lady Liberty.

For all the pain and all the loss of the Civil War, we see by the end of 1864, there were signs of hope. Nast creates this image of hope by showing a country tired of war, and willing to invite their former countrymen to once again sit at the table of fellowship and Union. Within three months of this image being made, Mr. Lincoln was dead, assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. However, Nast's vision of a country once again united did come to pass.

• Lincoln wanted to restore national unity (speedy)– March 5, 1865

“With Malice toward None…”

• Issued Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (Dec. 1863):– Would give a full

pardon to all southerners (except high-ranking Confederate leaders) who would:

• Restoration of rights and property

• swear allegiance to the Constitution

• accept emancipation

– After 10% of the citizens of a southern state took that oath, the state would be readmitted.

Forgive

Lincoln’s PlanTreatment of ex-confederates

Citizenship for former slaves

Civil Rights for former slaves

Suffrage for former slaves

Economic rights for former slaves

“Ten Percent Plan” - South could set up government if 10% of voters swore an oath to the Constitution and accepted laws ending slavery

Freedmen’s Bureau provided loans and grants to purchase land, education, etc.

Limited voting rights for soldiers, and educated freemen, but no role in shaping the political future of the South

13th Amendment abolished slavery, Wanted to protect Civil Rights, but did not offer equal rights

Limited enfranchisement

•Lincoln’s Ten Percent plan: In it all southerners, except high-ranking Confederate officials, could get a full pardon and restoration of rights after taking an oath, pledging loyalty to the Union and accepting the end of slavery. When ten percent of the 1860 voting population had taken this oath, citizens could vote in elections that would create new state governments and new state constitutions. After that the state would once again be eligible for representation in Congress and readmitted to the Union.

13th Amendment: Abolished Slavery

• After debating the amendment, the Senate passed it on April 8, 1864, by a vote of 38 to 6.

• Although they initially rejected the amendment, the House of Representatives passed it on January 31, 1865, by a vote of 119 to 56.

• President Abraham Lincoln then submitted the proposed amendment to the states for ratification.

• Secretary of State William Henry Seward issued a statement verifying the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment on December 18, 1865.

Assassination of April 14, 1865: President Lincoln was assassinated while attending a performance of Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. The assassin, John Wilkes Booth, escaped with a broken leg, but he was shot later. Lincoln was succeeded by his vice president, Andrew Johnson.

John Wilkes Booth: Booth was a Southern sympathizer during the Civil War, who plotted with six fellow-conspirators to assassinate Union leaders. On Apr. 14, 1865, he shot President Lincoln during a performance of Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. He escaped, but was later shot and killed.

The Assassination of Lincoln• Plot devised by John Wilkes Booth along with

accomplices:• Lewis Powell (Secretary of State Seward)• George Atzerodt (VP Andrew Johnson)• David Herold (lookout)

The Assassination• Booth, Powell & Atzerodt were to strike at

the same time (10:00PM)

• In the balcony with Lincoln: Mary, Major Henry Rathbone & his fiancé Clara Harris

• Booth knew the play and when laughter would erupt.

• Shoots Lincoln point blank, stabs Rathbone and jumps onto the stage:– "Sic semper tyrannis!"

Walt Whitman (1819-1892)1 O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,

              2 The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won,               3 The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,               4 While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;               5    But O heart! heart! heart!               6        O the bleeding drops of red,               7 Where on the deck my Captain lies,               8   Fallen cold and dead.               9 O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;             10 Rise up -- for you the flag is flung -- for you the bugle trills,             11 For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths -- for you the shores a-crowding,             12 For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;             13    Here Captain! dear father!             14        This arm beneath your head!             15 It is some dream that on the deck,             16    You've fallen cold and dead.

            17 My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,             18 My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,             19 The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,             20 From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;             21    Exult O shores, and ring O bells!             22        But I with mournful tread,             23 Walk the deck my Captain lies,             24    Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! My Captain!

Oh Captain! My Captain!

• What does the ship represent in this poem?

• What is the “fearful trip” that Whitman refers to?

• What “prize” do you think Whitman is referring to?

• Who is the captain in the poem?

For Homework

• For Monday, please write a eulogy for President Lincoln. Imagine that you are speaking at his funeral. What would you say? – What accomplishments would you

highlight?– What qualities as a leader would you

focus on?

• Your eulogy should be two paragraphs long (4-5 sentences a piece).

• Due date: Monday, October 3rd

• Lincoln wanted to restore national unity (speedy)– March 5, 1865 “With

Malice toward None…”

• Issued Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (Dec. 1863):– Would give a full

pardon to all southerners (except high-ranking Confederate leaders) who would:

• Restoration of rights and property

• swear allegiance to the Constitution

• accept emancipation

– After 10% of the citizens of a southern state took that oath, the state would be readmitted.

Believed southerners should be punished harshly.

Proposed the Wade-Davis Bill (July 4, 1864): The South could set up government according to the following terms:

Governor appt. by Pres. & approved by Congress

At least half of voters in a conquered state take oath of allegiance.

Ex-Confederates would be banned from drafting new state constitutions (IRONCLAD OATH).

State constitutions must abolish slavery and grant citizenship/voting rights to freedmen

Passed Congress on July 2, 1864.

Lincoln did not sign the bill: “southern states should be able to choose between both plans”

PunishForgive

Group of abolitionist American politicians that proposed harsh policies towards Confederates during the Reconstruction Era.

Most well known Radicals:

Senator Charles Sumner Pennsylvania Representative Thaddeus Stevens

RADICAL REPUBLICANS

Senator Benjamin Wade

THADDEAS STEVENS ON RECONSTRUCTION

The President assumes, what no one doubts, that the late rebel States have lost their constitutional relations to

the Union, and are incapable of representation in Congress, except by permission of the Government. It matters

but little, with this admission, whether you call them States out of the Union, and now conquered territories, or

assert that because the Constitution forbids them to do what they did do, that they are therefore only dead as to

all national and political action, and will remain so until the Government shall breathe into them the breath of life

anew and permit them to occupy their former position. In other words, that they are not out of the Union, but are

only dead carcasses lying within the Union. In either case, it is very plain that it requires the action of Congress to

enable them to form a State government and send representatives to Congress. Nobody, I believe, pretends that

with their old constitutions and frames of government they can be permitted to claim their old rights under the

Constitution. They have torn their constitutional States into atoms, and built on their foundations fabrics of a

totally different character. Dead men cannot raise themselves. Dead States cannot restore their existence "as it

was." Whose especial duty is it to do it? In whom does the Constitution place the power? Not in the judicial

branch of Government, for it only adjudicates and does not prescribe laws. Not in the Executive, for he only

executes and cannot make laws. Not in the Commander-in-Chief of the armies, for he can only hold them under

military rule until the sovereign legislative power of the conqueror shall give them law. Unless the law of nations is

a dead letter, the late war between two acknowledged belligerents severed their original compacts and broke all

the ties that bound them together. The future condition of the conquered power depends on the will of the

conqueror. They must come in as new states or remain as conquered provinces. Congress . . . is the only power

that can act in the matter.

Republican’s PlanTreatment of ex-confederates

Citizenship for former slaves

Civil Rights for former slaves

Suffrage for former slaves

Economic rights for former slaves

Punish the ex-confederates; proposed “Wade Davis Bill” - South couldn’t set up gov’t until majority took the Ironclad Oath

Continued the Freedman’s Bureau, providing $ and education to former slaves, give them land from former slave owners

Full Suffrage and 15th Amendment

Equal Rights, passed the Civil Rights act of 1866 and eventually the 14th Amendment

Full citizenship…who will enforce?

Congress continues to ActFreedman’s Bureau

• Was created in March 1865 to aid the millions of southerners left homeless and hungry by the war.

• Distributed millions of free meals to black and white refugees--Set up hospitals

• Brought thousands of white southerners back onto farms to make a living again.

• Served as an employment agency

• Operated schools (By 1869, hundreds of schools for African Americans had been established in the South)– Built schools and provided teachers to give blacks the education they had been

denied under slavery– Helped establish colleges for black students, including Howard University,

Hampton Institute, Atlanta University, and Fisk University

Congress Passes Civil Rights Bill

• First Civil Rights law in nation’s history

• Declared that everyone born in the U.S. was a citizen with full civil rights; however, it still did NOT guarantee voting rights – Sound Familiar?

• This law was written to overturn the 1857 Dred Scott ruling and to nullify the recently enacted black codes.

• “If the President (now Andrew Johnson) vetoes the Civil Rights Bill, we shall be obliged to draw our swords.”

--Ohio senator

Not this Time!

• Johnson vetoes the bill, arguing that it would centralize power in the federal government.

• This veto eroded any support he had had in Congress—Moderates and Radicals unite:

Congress overrode the veto of the Civil Rights Act.

Congress passed a new Freedman’s Bureau Bill, overriding Johnson’s veto yet again.

The Fourteenth Amendment (Ratified 1868)

• Congress attempted to answer all of Johnson’s Constitutional objections to the Civil Rights Bill with the 14th Amendment: 1. Required states to extend equal citizenship to

African Americans and all people “born or naturalized in the U.S.”

2. It denied states the right to deprive anyone of “life, liberty, or property without due process of law.”

3. It promised all citizens the “equal protection of the laws.”

The 14th Amendment

• Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Fourteenth Amendment (Cont’d)

• DID NOT GUARANTEE AFRICAN AMERICAN VOTING RIGHTS

• It did, however, reduce the representation of any state that did not allow its adult male citizens to vote.– The more African American men who were not allowed to vote, the

fewer representatives that state could send to Congress

• If the Southern states accepted this amendment, they could enter the Union: TENNESSEE

• Johnson campaigned heavily against this amendment.

15th Amendment

• Section 1. 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.

• Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation

Civil Rights Act: This act was passed in Congress with nearly unanimous Republican support in March 1866, and it attempted to redress the issue of slavery by defining all persons born in the nation as citizens. It also specified the rights of citizens, the right to sue, make contracts, give evidence in court, hold, convey, and inherit property.

Thirteenth Amendment: The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1865. It prohibited "slavery or involuntary servitude except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." This amendment guaranteed freedom for African Americans.

Fourteenth Amendment: The Fourteenth Amendment was passed in 1868. It said that no state can make or enforce any law which "deprives any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." Also, states could not "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

Fifteenth Amendment: Secretary of State Hamilton Fish ratified the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of United States on March 30, 1870. This amendment explicitly forbid denial of the right to vote for citizens "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."

Post Civil War

Johnson Becomes President (April 1865)

• Began life as a poor tailor

• Owned 5 slaves until 1862 (Tenn. Rebels)

• Racist: “…inferior to the white man in point of intellect…better calculated in physical structure to undergo drudgery and hardship.”

• Democratic Senator (Tenn.)

• Only Southern Senator to support the Union(held aristocratic planter class responsible for secession)

• Becomes Pres. In April 1865; Congress not due in session until December

Johnson’s PlanTreatment of ex-confederates

Citizens for former slaves

Civil Rights for former slaves

Suffrage for former slaves

Economic rights for former slaves

Full Pardons, except rich plantation owners who would have to apply individually (eventually pardoned)

Allowed for the Black Codes, former slaves should go back to work for their former masters.

No Suffrage, African Americans should not be involved in politics

No Civil Rights

No citizenship

Johnson’s Plan

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or

any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Pardoned many ex-Confederates (14,000)

Returned confiscated land to ex-Confederates.

Set easy terms for readmission to the Union

1. States had to nullify their acts of secession (South Carolina and Georgia)

2. States had to abolish slavery (ratify13th Amendment)

3. States had to refuse to pay Confederate government debts (this was intended to punish southerners who had financed the war)

Why did many Americans consider President Johnson’s plan unfair?

• It allowed former Confederates to go unpunished.

• It allowed former Confederates to take office and control state legislatures

• It allowed for these new state governments to enact black codes that restricted the rights of freedmen.

• It led to ex-Confederates getting elected to Fed. Govt. (Elections of 1865)– 15 of 80 Senators and House of Reps had served in Confederate

Army (10 were generals)– Another 16 had served in judicial and civil posts– Another 9 had served in the Confederate Congress– Alexander Stephens had served as VP of the Confederacy

Johnson Vetoes Bill

• In February 1866 Congress passed the Freedman’s Bureau Bill to extend the life of the agency

• Surprisingly, Johnson VETOED the bill, citing constitutional and financial reasons:

– “It was never intended that the Freedmen should be fed, clothed, educated, and sheltered by the United States.”

– Johnson disagreed with allowing the Bureau to deal with cases involving discrimination or infringement of civil rights---(claimed this should be left to the courts)

Congress (Republicans) Vs. Johnson

• Republican-dominated Congress refused to seat the southern representatives.

• In early 1866, Congress began hearings on conditions in the South.

• Witness after witness presented evidence of postwar violence– African Americans recounted stories of murder

and the burning of churches, homes, and schools

• A move was made by Republicans to extend the life of the Freedman’s Bureau

Race Riots

• May 1, 1866 two carriages collided on the streets of Memphis

– Police officers arrested the black driver but not the white driver

– Blacks protested; white mob gathered

– Led to a 3-day riot in which white rioters (mainly police officers and firefighters) killed 46 African Americans and burned 12 schools and 4 churches

Events causing Conflict b/w Johnson & Senate

1.Vetoes Freedmen’s Bureau Bill

2.Vetoes Civil Rights Bill of 1866 which declared every one born in U.S. a full citizen with civil rights

3. 14th Amendment - Granted rights of citizenship to all people born or naturalized in the U.S.

Denied states the right to deprive anyone of life, liberty, or property without due process

Result: Former Confederates Enact Black Codes

• Resembled pre-Civil War slave codes– i.e. Mississippi only substituted the word

“freedman” for “slave”

• Varied from state to state

• Aimed to prevent African Americans from achieving social, political, and economic equality

Examples of Black Codes• African Americans could not hold meetings unless whites were

present

• Forbade them to travel without permits, own guns, attend schools with whites, sit on juries, etc…

• Reestablished white control over labor– Forced African Americans to return to the fields…

• Some states required blacks to only work as servants; • Some states required blacks to pay taxes to work in other

occupations.

– Several states required blacks to sign long-term labor contracts (those who refused could be arrested)

– Apprenticeship laws: Most states allowed judges to bind black children to white employers if they deemed the parents unable to support them (thousands of black children worked for planters)

PRESIDENT JOHNSON’S RECONSTRUCTION PLAN

FORMER CONFEDERATES ENACT BLACK CODES

EFFECTS OF CODES ON AFRICAN AMERICANS● Tried to deprive freed people of equality● Re-established white control over African American labor

BENEFITS TO FORMER CONFEDERATES● Blanket pardon for most rebels● Easy terms of readmission to the Union;: states had to nullify their acts of secession, abolish slavery, and refuse to pay war debts

EFFECTS OF PRESIDENT JOHNSON’S RECONSTRUCTION PLAN ON FORMER

CONFEDERATES AND THE EFFECTS OF THE BLACK CODES ON FREEDPEOPLE

Help is on the way!!!

The Freedmen Bureau – agency developed to help the homeless and the hungry

CarpetbaggersNorthern Republicans who moved South during Reconstruction

Scalawags - Name given to southerners who now backed reconstruction and helped with the rebuilding process

Joint Committee of 15 established by Congress to examine successes and failures of reconstruction

RECONSTRUCTION ACT OF 1867

RECONSTRUCTION ACT OF 1867

Abolished state governments formed under Andrew Johnson’s plan

Divided the ten Confederate States into 5 military districts – each governed by an army commander and patrolled by federal troops to help enforce the acts.

Outlined how a state would be readmitted to the union:

Hold a convention Write a new constitution

allow black men to vote

Elect a governor and a state legislature

Ratify the 14th Amendment

At the same time the Reconstruction Acts were passed, the Tenure of Office Act is passed to limit the power of the President. The Also passed the Command of the Army Act to prevent the president from issuing military orders except through the commanding general, Ulysses S. Grant. (Who could not be removed without the approval of the Senate).

TENURE OF OFFICE ACT STATES:Senate must approve the removal of an official.

Johnson challenged this by firing Secretary of War – Edward Stanton

THEREFORE:President Johnson violates the Tenure of Office Act

Tenure of Off. Act → Johnson Fires Stanton → Johnson violates Act → Impeachment

Article II Section 4Conviction of treason, bribery, and any

other high crime or misdemeanor

Step #1 - The House charges president with crime by majority vote Step # 2 – Certain House members act as lawyers and prosecute the president / Senate acts as jury and listens to charges Chief Justice of Supreme Court (Salmon P. Chase) acts as judgeStep # 3 – Senate votes – if 2/3rds vote guilty the president is removed from office

Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

Reasons House impeached Johnson Reasons Senate Acquitted Johnson

Articles 1-8: Charged Johnson with illegally violating the Tenure of Office Act – prohibited the President from removing any appointed govt. official without Senate approval

Article 9: Accused Johnson of violating the Command of the Army Act – required Johnson to issue all military orders through the General of the Army instead of dealing directly with military governors in the South

Article 10-11: Accused Johnson of making “inflammatory and scandalous speeches.”

• Weak case against Johnson

• Failure to prove that Johnson was guilty of “bribery, treason, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”

• Personal dislike of potential presidential successor (Benjamin Wade)

• Fear that impeachment would weaken future presidents and threaten checks and balances

Ku Klux Klan:secret terrorist organization formed by

6 ex-confederates soldiers

The Grand Wizard: (Head of the Klan) Nathan Bedford Forrest

THE KKK

A REACTION TO RECONSTRUCTION POLICIES AND RADICAL REPUBLICANS

ORIGINS• The Ku Klux Klan, or KKK,

was started by ex-confederate soldiers that were concerned about the effects of Radical Republican plans to reconstruct the south.

• Its name comes from the Greek work kyklos, meaning circle. This refers to the tight knit bond between members.

• The passage of the Reconstruction Amendments (13th ,14th, and 15th) alarmed many Southerners as they saw them as threatening to the power of whites in society.

TACTICS OF THE KKK

• The KKK used violence to wage a war on freedmen and Radical Republican whites in the South.

• Intimidation and threats were commonplace, and when necessary, hanging and other forms of murder and violence were used.

• In a Louisiana parish where the Republicans had a 1,000 person majority, not a single Republican voted in the 1868 elections.

TACTICS CONTINUED

• The KKK would routinely raid homes at night, dragging out family members and beating them for intimidation. Very effective because the word spreads quickly. Is it worth dying to vote?

• They essentially acted as a “paramilitary” group, operating at the fringes of the law.

Portion of KKK application questions for members

• Did you belong to the Federal army during the late war, and fight against the South during the existence of the same?

• Are you opposed to Negro equality, both social and political ?

• Are you in favor of a white man's government in this country ?

• Are you in favor of Constitutional liberty, and a Government of equitable laws instead of a Government of violence and oppression?

• Are you in favor of maintaining the Constitutional rights of the South?

• Are you in favor of the re-enfranchisement and emancipation of the white men of the South, and the restitution of the Southern people to all their rights, alike proprietary, civil, and political?

• Do you believe in the inalienable right of self-preservation of the people against the exercise of arbitrary and unlicensed power?

Led murders on Republicans – killing many whites and blacks that sided with the Republican Party

Klansmen burned schools, homes, churches

These events led to the

Enforcement Acts (document):designed to help protect against the KKK

THE END OF THE FIRST KKK

• The violence reached such a fever pitch that the Federal government had to step in to prosecute KKK members when states would not.

• The Force Acts (1870): These acts banned the use of Terror or Bribery to deny someone the right to vote based on their race.

• The original KKK was essentially wiped out within a year of passage of the Force Acts because of the threat of Federal prosecution.

KKK 3 Main Objectives: During Reconstruction

1.Prevent Blacks from voting

2.Destroy Republican Party

3.Frighten African Americans political leaders

Strange Fruithttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFIficim0ds

THE END OF RECONSTRUCTION

ECONOMIC CRISIS AND THE ELECTION’s OF 1868, 1872 & 1876

General Ulysses Grant received a unanimous vote on the first ballot at the Republican convention. Grant's Democratic opponent was Horatio Seymour of New York. Grant did not campaign and made no promises. Seymour broke with tradition and campaigned actively in the North.

The Republicans promised continued radical reconstruction in the South, while the Democrats promised swifter reintegration of the South. The Democrats attacked the Republicans for reconstruction and attacked Grant for being a drunkard. The Republicans claimed the Democrats were going to give up all that was accomplished in the Civil War. Ultimately, it was Grant's personal popularity that determined the election.

ELECTION OF 1868:

Reconstruction policy in the aftermath of the Civil War was the key issue of the 1868 campaign. The Republicans rallied behind the most successful Union general of the war, Ulysses S. Grant, and chose Schuyler Cofax, Speaker of the House , as his running mate. Horatio Seymour, governor of New York, selected as the Democrats’ standard-bearer, criticized the Republican Reconstruction program had objected to their granting of rights to the freed slaves. The Republicans wer skeptical of the wartime patriotism of the Democrats. The former slaves contributed to the Republican victory, with many of them exercising their right to vote for the first time.

ELECTION OF 1872:

Horace Greeley, New York Tribune editor, was the choice of the Liberal Republicans; the Democrats endorsed him for the sake of expediency. Greeley ran on a platform of civil service reform and an end to Reconstruction. Grant, the Republican incumbent, also supported civil service reform and protection fo the rights of the ex-slaves. Grant won the largest Republican popular majority of the century. Greeley died after the elections but before the meeting of the presidential electors, and his votes were distributed among several Democratic candidates.

THE PANIC OF 1873

• There was a banking panic which caused thousands of businesses to close.

• Thousands of people lost their jobs and protested in the streets of several large cities.

• Many of the jobless were new immigrants, and they were an important part of the Northern economy.

EFFECTS OF PANIC OF 1873 ON SOUTHERN RECONSTRUCTION

• Northern leaders in the government had to respond to the economic problems, and focus efforts on helping the economy.

• Immigrants made up a large numbers of voters, they had to be helped.

• All of this meant that Reconstructing the South was no longer the highest priority for the national government.

THE ISSUES OF THE ELECTION OF 1876

• Immigration was a big issue for both candidates, new Americans needed to be represented too.

• Republicans wanted to continue to control the South through military reconstruction.

• Democrats wanted reconstruction to end, and pull the military out.

• 82% of people who could vote actually voted in the election (pretty high)

WHAT TO LOOK FOR ON THE ELECTION MAP

• In what regions did each candidate get their votes from?

• From what regions would you expect each party to get it’s votes from?

• Why do you think that the election was as close as it was?

• What state was the most important one for the candidates?

ELECTION OF 1876

RESULTS OF THE ELECTION

• There was a dispute over electoral votes, and the congress decided who would win.

• The democrats gave the votes to Hayes, but demanded that he end Reconstruction.

• Hayes, the Republican, was given the votes and the presidency.

• He was nicknamed “Rutherfraud” B. Hayes due to the election controversy.

WHY THE ELECTION ENDED RECONSTRUCTION

• The Republicans wanted the presidency, and the only way that the Democrats would give up the votes was if the President agreed to end Military Reconstruction.

• Hayes agreed to pull the military out of the South, and with no army to enforce rules, many gains made by the freedman were given up to power hungry, racist, Southerners.

ELECTION OF 1876:

The nation had tired of Reconstruction policies that kept federal troops in the South and the scandals that had occurred during Grant’s administration. The economic depression that followed the panic of 1873 further troubled the Republican party. The Republicans nominated Rutherford B. Hayes, governor of Ohio, as a reform candidate. His Democratic opponent, Governor Samuel J. Tilden of New York, also promised change. Tilden won the popular vote majority but fell one vote short of the electoral majority of 185 needed to win. Hayes took 165 electoral votes. Twenty votes were disputed – nineteen from three states that still had Republican governments (South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida), and one from Oregon. Republican officials in the three southern states charged that racist electoral rules were used to take the black vote away from Hayes. The parties submitted two differing sets of electoral returns from these states and each claimed victory. Congress, split along party lines, was unable to decide the issue impartially. To determine the authenticity of the disputed returns, a fifteen-member electoral commission made up of ten congressmen and five U.S. Supreme Court justices was set up. The commission, composed of eight Republicans and seven Democrats, voted strictly along party lines, awarding the disputed votes and the presidency to Hayes. In return for a peaceful inauguration, the Republicans removed all federal troops from the southern states in what is known as the Compromise of 1877, which ended Reconstruction.