Reconstruction

Chapter 22

Essential Questions?

• How are civil liberties challenged during times of conflict?

• How have changes during Reconstruction made a lasting impact on America?

• Which changes of the Civil War and Reconstruction era were short lived and which have had a lasting impact?

• To what extent have the issues surrounding the Civil War yet to be resolved?

Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address, Mar. 4, 1865

16th president of US (1809 - 1865)

• With malice toward none, with charity for all, ...let us strive on to finish the work we are in, ...to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

Questions to Ponder?

• How would the South, physically devastated by war and socially revolutionized by emancipation, be rebuilt?

• How would liberated blacks fare as free men and women?

• How would the Southern states be reintegrated into the Union?

• Who would direct Reconstruction – the Southern states themselves, the president, or Congress?

A Peace Worth Having?

• Confederate leaders captured

• Jeff Davis: 2 years in prison, never tried

• Most leaders were pardoned by President Johnson

• Southern cities, transportation, and agriculture destroyed.

• Slave labor system gone, along with $2 billion worth of slaves.

• Southern belief in the “lost cause” of the Civil War

Freedmen

• Emancipation not instant, slow process.

• Many freedmen remained loyal to former owners, began to sharecrop and tenant farm.

• Others sought revenge for years of bondage

• New liberties– Change of name– Travelled– Search for relatives– Officially get married– Move west (Exodusters)– Change religious

affiliation– Sought education

Freedmen’s Bureau

• Former slaves were often unskilled, uneducated, property-less, and broke.

• Congress created the FB as an early form of welfare.– Taught literacy– Feed and clothed– Basic healthcare

• 1865 to 1872• Often plagued by

corrupt officials who swindled freedmen out of money and property

• Hated by southern whites

Andrew Johnson

• Born in NC, orphaned • Never went to school,

apprenticed with a tailor• Champion for poor whites

and the Constitution• Southerner that did not

secede; Lincoln picks him to balance the ticket on 1864.

• Not trusted by North or South, Democrats or Republicans

Johnson Administration Timeline

• 1865– Johnson becomes 17th

president– Freedmen’s Bureau

established– Black Codes appear– 13th Amendment ratified

• 1866– Override of Civil Rights

Bill veto– 14th Amendment created

• 1867– Reconstruction Act– Tenure of Office Act– US buys Alaska

• 1868– Johnson impeached

Presidential Reconstruction

• Lincoln’s Plan: stats readmitted when 10% pledge allegiance to US and emancipation.

• Johnson follows 10% Plan and disenfranchised Confederate leaders.

• Leaders asked Johnson for pardons.

Black Codes

• Under Presidential Recon, many states sought to force freedmen back into a subservient status.

• Laws passed that kept AA from voting, juries

• Forced many to work or be punished

• Sharecropping: with no capital to buy and run their own farms, many AA went into debt working for former slave owners.

• AA would work a portion of a farm and “share” the profit with the landlord.

Congressional Reconstruction

• Also known as Radical Reconstruction

• 50% of state population• New state constitutions• Wade-Davis Bill: vetoed

by Lincoln• Much harsher on South• Congress and the

president had very different views

• During the war, Republicans controlled Congress

• Radical Republican leaders feared the re-admittance of the Democrat-South.

Radical RepublicansCharles Sumner Thaddeus Stevens

Johnson v Congress

• Johnson vetoed the Freedmen’s Bureau and the Civil Rights Bill of 1866.

• Congress overrides both!• 1866 Republicans get 2/3rd majority in Congress• 14th Amendment– Created to fight black codes– Equal protection to all citizens– Disqualified Confederate officials from voting.

Military Reconstruction

• RR wanted to punish South for War and Black Codes

• Reconstruction Act: 1867, allowed military to govern South by martial law.

• States now only readmitted when they elected Republican leaders, ratified 14th, allowed AA the vote.

• South resents measures!

Military Reconstruction

Military Reconstruction

• Ex parte Milligan: 1866, Supreme Court rules that military can’t try civilians during peace.– Makes Military Reconstruction somewhat

unconstitutional.• When military is removed (1877) the South

goes back to its old ways.• Solid South: From 1877 to 1970 South always

votes Democrat – result of Reconstruction.

“The Negro’s Hour”, Not Women

• Women played a huge role in abolition.• With the 14th and 15th Amendments, women

hoped to be included in citizenship, but weren’t.

• Women tried using the 14th Amendment as the basis for court cases, but failed.

Politics During Military Reconstruction

• Southern AA seized opportunity• Organized churches and schools• Elected to office: State legislatures, US House,

and US Senate.• Often helped by northerners that came south

(Carpetbaggers) and Southern Republicans (Scalawags).

• Inexperience often lead to corruption, which was common everywhere throughout the Gilded Age.

Ku Klux Klan

• Group that attempted to disenfranchise and intimidate AA from voting and other rights.

• Terrorist group often beat and murdered to make example in AA communities.

• Many AA did avoid exercising rights out of fear.

• Military in South often overlooked (corruption)!

KKK

Congress Goes After a President

• Tenure of Office Act: 1867, provided that the pres. Couldn’t fire cabinet members without Congressional approval.– Not really constitutional!

• Meant to protect Lincoln’s cabinet members that Johnson hated.

• Johnson fires Sec. of War to test act.

• House votes to impeach Johnson.

• 1st time ever for presidential impeachment (2nd in 1998, Clinton)

President on Trial

• Tensions ran high as Senate held impeachment trial.

• Johnson remained in office by 1 vote!

• Could have set a dangerous precedent and upset the checks and balances for future times.

• Showed the maturity of our government (sort-of)

The Purchase of Alaska

• 1867: Russia wants to sell Alaska.

• Secretary of State William Seward buys for $7.2 million.

• Public outraged over waste of $ (Seward’s Folly)

• Later proved to be highly rich in resources (fur, gold, timber, oil, natural gas)

Heritage of Reconstruction

• Some considered it worse than the war.

• For southern whites it seemed the north was forcing AA equality and the Republican Party upon them.

• AA rights in the south would not last once the military was withdrawn.

• Also, Republican support in the south vanishes after Reconstruction.

• Reconstruction will officially end in 1877 (next chapter), but AA rights and the Republican party will not return to the South for another 90 years!