The Reconstruction Era(1865-1877)

Think about: What lasting

consequences arose from the struggles over

Reconstruction?

Charleston, SC after the Civil War. What does this picture represent?

Focus Question: How

did the Radical Republicans’ plans for Reconstruction differ from Lincoln’s and Johnson’s?

PROBLEMS: At the end of the Civil

War, parts of the South lay in ruins – homes were burned, businesses closed, and property abandoned

African Americans – even though emancipated, lacked full citizenship and the means to make a living

Federal government struggled with how to return the Southern states back to the Union, give rights to African Americans, and rebuild the South

Section 1: Rival Plans for Reconstruction

How Will the Southern States

Rejoin the Union? One important issue, deciding

the political fate of the Confederate states.

Many questions arose as to what should be done…

The Constitution provided no guidance on succession or readmission of states.

Some argued that it should be done simply and quickly

Others thought the Southern states should satisfy certain stipulations…

Between 1860 & 1870, the South’s

share of the economy fell from 30% to 12%

The Union army had destroyed factories, plantations, and railroads.

Nearly ½ of the Region’s livestock and farm equipment was gone.

¼ of Southern white men between 20 and 40 had died in the war.

More than 3 million newly freed African Americans were now without homes and jobs.

Arguments also rose over who should control the South’s only valuable asset – Land.

How Will the Southern Economy

Be Rebuilt?

Proposed that millions of acres

abandoned by planters or taken by the federal government should be given to former slaves.

“Forty acres and a mule” Many northerners agreed and

thought this was the answer to restoring the South’s productivity, economy, and provide employment and income to former slaves

Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman

Southern landowners

rejected the idea that the government could just give away their land.

Many white Northerners thought that this violated the Constitution.

Even some Southern African Americans thought that the white landowners should be compensated for their land, and then be able to sell it off

Not Everyone Agreed

13th Amendment -- Abolishes

slavery and involuntary servitude

13th granted freedom, but did not grant privileges of full citizenship

The dominating Republican Party supported programs to extend these rights to former slaves…

Most white Southerners opposed the idea because it would undermine their own power and status in society

What Rights Will African Americans Have?

The President’s first major goal

was to reunify the Union In 1863, he issued a Proclamation

of Amnesty and Reconstruction known as the “Ten Percent Plan”

The plan stated that as soon as 10% of a state’s voters took a loyalty of oath to the Union, the state could set up a new government

Also, if the state’s constitution abolished slavery and provided education for African Americans, the state would regain representation in Congress

Lincoln’s Course

Lincoln was also generous in

other ways to white southerners.

He was willing to grant pardons to former Confederates, and considered compensating them for lost property.

Lincoln did not require a guarantee of social and political equality for African Americans.

Lincoln’s Course (cont.)

Member’s of Lincoln’s own party

(Rep.) opposed the plan “Radical Republicans,” led by

Representative Thaddeus Stevens and Senator Charles Sumner, in Congress insisted that the Confederates had committed crimes (?)

The Radical Republicans advocated full citizenship for African Americans, including the right to vote

They favored punishment and harsh crimes for the South, and supported Gen. Sherman’s “40 acres and a mule plan.”

Radicals Oppose the Ten Percent Plan

Thaddeus Stevens

Charles Sumner

Rejecting Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan,

Congress passed the Wade-Davis Bill in 1864

It required that a majority of a state’s prewar voters swear loyalty to the Union before the restoration process could begin.

The bill also demanded guarantees of African American equality

President Lincoln killed this plan with a “pocket veto” by withholding his signature beyond the 10-day deadline at the end of the congressional session.

Wade-Davis Bill

Davis (left); Wade (right)

One Radical Republican plan did receive

Lincoln’s support The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and

Abandoned Lands known as the Freedmen’s Bureau

It’s goal was to provide food, clothing, healthcare, and education for both black and white refugees in the South.

It helped reunite families separated by slavery and war

It also negotiated fair labor contracts between former slaves and white landowners

And by representing African Americans in court, it established a precedent that black citizens had legal rights.

Efforts were continued until 1872.

Government Aids Freedmen

Lincoln was assassinated on

Good Friday, April 14, 1865, just 5 weeks after his 2nd inaugural address

Lincoln was the first American president to be assassinated

The assassination of Lincoln was planned and carried out by the well-known stage actor John Wilkes Booth, as part of a larger conspiracy in a bid to revive the Confederate cause.

Lincoln’s Assassination

Lincoln’s VP, became President

after Lincoln’s assassination Did not have formal schooling Became a skilled public speaker Entered Tennessee politics as a

Democrat When TN seceded in 1861, Johnson

was the only southern senator who refused to join the Confederacy

Lincoln appointed him military governor in 1862, hoping to attract Democratic voters

Chosen as VP in 1864

Andrew Johnson Becomes President

Like Lincoln, Johnson wanted to

restore the political status of the southern states as quickly as possible

He offered pardons and the restoration of land to almost any Confederate who swore allegiance to the Union and the Constitution.

His main requirement was that each state ratify the 13th Amendment and draft a constitution that abolished slavery

Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan

However, Johnson resented

wealthy planters and required that they and other Confederate leaders apply for pardon by writing him personally

He also did not desire to elevate African Americans and did not want them to have the right to vote and showed them little sympathy

Believed in “government for white men.”

Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan (cont.)

Johnson supported states’

rights, which would allow the laws and customs of the state to outweigh federal regulations.

This would limit freedoms to former slaves

How did Johnson’s attitude toward African Americans affect his approach to Reconstruction?

Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan (cont.)

Southern leaders proceeded to

rebuild their prewar world Many states limited the right to

vote to white men. All of the states instituted black

codes – laws that sought to limit the rights of African Americans and keep them as landless workers

The codes required African Americans to work only in a limited number of occupations, most often servants or farm laborers.

Southerners Aim to Restore Old Ways

Some states prohibited African

Americans from owning land, and all set up vagrancy laws

Vagrancy laws stipulated that any black person who did not have a job could be arrested and sent to work as prison labor.

Even though the South remained under Union military occupation, white southerners openly used violence and intimidation to enforce black codes.

Southerners Aim to Restore Old Ways (cont.)

Both Radical and moderate

Republicans were mad about the South’s disregard of the spirit of Reconstruction

Southern representatives were denied their seats by Congress in Washington D.C.

Congress also created a committee to investigate the treatment of former slaves

Congress Fights Back

While the Radicals claimed that

federal intervention was needed to advance African Americans rights, President Johnson accused them of trying to “Africanize the southern half of our country.”

When Congress passed a bill to allow the Freedmen’s Bureau to continue its work and provide it authority to punish officials who failed to extend rights to African Americans, President Johnson vetoed it.

Political Situation Grew Worse

Created to try to overturn the

black codes Created federal guarantees

of civil rights and superseded any state laws that limited them.

Once again, Johnson used his veto power to block the law.

Johnson was now openly defying Congress

Civil Rights Act of 1866

As violence against African

Americans increased in the South, both moderate and Radical Republicans blamed it on the lawlessness and leniency of Johnson’s policies

Congress then did something unprecedented

For the first time ever, Congress passed major legislation over a President’s veto with the required two-thirds majority vote.

The Civil Rights Act of 1866 became a law.

Congressional Reconstruction

With their strength in Congress,

Radical and moderate Republicans spent nearly a year developing a Reconstruction program

They passed the 14th Amendment, which guaranteed equality under the law for all citizens.

Under this Amendment, any state that refused to allow black people to vote would risk losing seats in the House of Representatives, and it counteracted the presidential pardons by barring Confederate officials from holding federal or state offices

Radical Reconstruction Begins

Congress again passed

legislation over Johnson’s veto with the ratification of the Military Reconstruction Act of 1867.

This act divided the 10 southern states that had yet to be readmitted into the Union into 5 military districts governed by former Union generals. (map)

The act also outlined how

each state could create their new state government and receive congressional recognition.

In each state, voters were to elect delegates to write a new constitution that guaranteed suffrage for African American men.

Once a state ratified the 14th Amendment, it would then re-enter the Union.

Radical Reconstruction Begins (cont.)

The power struggle between the President

and Congress reached a crisis in 1867. To limit the President’s power, Congress

passed the Tenure of Office Act. Under its terms, the President needed Senate approval to remove certain officials from office…

After the incident, the House voted to impeach Johnson.

The trial in the Senate ended with one vote short of the required two-thirds majority

During the trial, Johnson promised to enforce the Reconstruction Acts.

In his remaining time in office, he kept that promise.

Congress Impeaches the President

In 1868, former Union general, Ulysses

S. Grant was elected President In 1869, Congress passed the 15th

Amendment which forbid any state from denying suffrage on the grounds of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Unlike before, this guarantee applied to northern and southern states

Both the 14th and 15th Amendments were ratified by 1870, but contained loopholes for evasion.

States could still impose voting regulations based on literacy and property qualifications which still would exclude most African Americans.

15th Amendment

Ulysses S. Grant

Did southerners of various social classes experience war

differently? Why did the federal government have difficulty in formulating its

Reconstruction policies? How did the South’s share of the nation’s wealth change from

1860 to 1870? How did the Radical Republicans‘ plans for Reconstruction differ

from Lincoln’s and Johnson’s? What made Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumner, and their

followers radical? What was Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan? How did the Wade-Davis Bill differ from the Ten Percent Plan? Why did Lincoln support the Freedmen’s Bureau while rejecting

other initiatives of the Radical Republicans?

Questions

When was Lincoln assassinated and who succeeded

him as President? How did the southern states try to reestablish

conditions before the war? How did Johnson’s attitude toward African Americans

affect his approach to Reconstruction? How did the 14th Amendment penalize states that

refused to allow citizens the right to vote?

Questions

Almost 1500 black men – some born free and some freed slaves helped bring the Republican Party to the South

New black citizens served the South as school superintendents, sheriffs, mayors, coroners, police chiefs, and state representatives

6 served as lieutenant governors 2 state legislatures (MS, SC) had black Speakers of the House Between 1870 & 1877 – 2 African American senators and 14

African American congressmen served in the U.S. Congress. Millions of southern African Americans were now voters.

Section 2: Reconstruction in the South

Since the Radical Republicans

required a loyalty oath, many white southerners were now not eligible to vote

Many chose to stay away from the elections

Black men lined up to use their new right of suffrage

By 1868, many southern states had both black officials and a strong Republican Party

SC (the state that started the Civil War) became the one state where a black majority ruled the legislature

Reconstruction in the South

Scalawags – a white Southerner

who supported Republican policy during Reconstruction, often for personal gain. (?)

Found allies in northern white or black men who relocated in the South

Many southern whites resented this “invasion” of people seeking opportunity

Southerners called these men carpetbaggers after the cheap carpet suitcases they carried

Scalawags & Carpetbaggers

New land to be purchased New career opportunities Comparable to “Westward

Expansion” Offered northern women

(white and black) opportunities in medical facilities, orphanages, and other relief agencies

Women also participated in the shaping of a public school system

Opportunities

Public schools grew slowly Only half of the southern children

attended by the end of the 1870s Expensive Southerners opted for

segregation – operating two school systems severely strained the economy

Radical Republicans suggested integration – unpopular with most Republicans

Considered a major Reconstruction success

Schools System

Many southerners remained illiterate Quality of medical care, housing, and economic

production was far behind the North Legal protection for blacks was limited Racial violence remained a problem

South’s Challenges

New reality – political offices were now a road to wealth

and power People everywhere were willing to bribe politicians in

order to gain access to things like loans or contracts Developing railroads attracted corruption

Across the Country

Building railroads had two big

advantages – created jobs and provided a means to transport goods to expanded markets

Many states gave public land or loans to the railroad speculators

Southern leaders found that a number of their loans were stolen or mismanaged

Fewer resources and less expertise than Northern counterparts

North defaulted also though

Railroads

“As long as the shadow of the

great house falls across you, you ain’t going to feel like no free man and no free woman.”

For the first time, black men and women could legalize and celebrate their marriages, create homes for their families, and choose where they would live.

Still limited by black codes on where they could work

Freed People Build New Communities

Many blacks headed south where

they could develop churches and schools

Hoped to find work Skilled men as carpenters,

blacksmiths, cooks, servants Women often worked in childcare or

domestic work Still sometimes settled for

substandard housing and poor food in exchange for hard labor

If settled in rural areas – worked in lumbering, railroad building or farming for whites or blacks and were usually also poor

Freed People Build New Communities

Freed people quickly realized

the value of learning to read and do basic arithmetic

Freedmen’s Bureau schools filled quickly – 150,000 students (adult & children) by 1866 and quickly grew

FB also aided black colleges and encouraged churches and organizations to support schools

Taught basics and skills like health, nutrition, and how to look for a job

Schools

Black church was an

important component of education

Established throughout the South and often served as schools, community centers, employment agencies, and political rallying sites

Helped develop black leaders A number of black politicians

began their careers as ministers

Churches

Many of South’s problems resulted from an

uneven distribution of land Ag region – wealth determined by landownership 1860, wealthiest 5% owned almost half of

Region’s land Before war had a large number of white citizens

with no land Postwar – many white and black people were

now competing for land and jobs

Remaking the Southern Economy

Large land owners had

little or no money to purchase supplies or pay workers

Many southerners adopted one of three arrangements Sharecropping Share-tenancy Tenant-farming

Systems For Sharing the Land

Could be done without cash Helped most of the South’s black and

white poor How it worked: a landowner dictated the

crop and provided the sharecropper with a place to live, seeds and tools in return for a “share” of the harvested crop

Landowners often bought these supplies on credit with high interest and this cost was passed down to the sharecropper

Sharecroppers were in debt to landowners; landowners were in debt to supplier

Sharecropping

Could be done without cash Helped most of the South’s black

and white poor Similar to sharecropping The farmworker chose what crop

he would plant and bought his own supplies

The farmworker then gave a share of the crop to the landowner

Farmworker had more control and could grow food for his family

Able to save more money

Share-tenancy

Most independent

arrangement for farmer and landowner

The tenant paid cash rent to landowner and then was free to choose and manage his own crop

Free to choose where he could live

Only viable for a farmer who had good money management skills

Tenant Farming

KKK – Formed in TN in 1866, mostly in the South

Racial violence eventually spread through the north and south

Arkansas – legislators were murdered

New Orleans – riots

Violence

Congressional response to violence Also known as KKK Acts 1870 & 1871 Made it a federal offense to interfere with a citizens

right to vote Congress held hearing asking black politicians and

other observers to describe the situation in the south But also present in north Hundreds were indicted because of acts and violence

declined

Enforcement Acts

What were the immediate effects of Reconstruction? How did southern literacy rates benefit carpetbaggers? How did Reconstruction affect women? How did the school system in the south represent the

successes and failures of Reconstruction? Why might the south have less financial expertise than

the north? What new groups were active in politics under

Republican government? How did the South's African American population

change after the war?

Questions

What institutions helped promote education in African

American communities? Why were schools and churches important to freed

people? What was the distribution of land in the south? Which of the three systems for sharing land described

offered the most independent arrangement for the farmer and landowner?

When and where did the white southerners organize the Ku Klux Klan?

How did the federal government respond to the acts that the Klan committed?

Questions

Northerners came to realize

what many in the South already knew – rebuilding the politics, economy, and society of the South would not be easy or happen quickly

Focus had been on the North and South for nearly 2 decades

New issues now needed attention European Immigration Corruption in politics Growth of Industry

End of Reconstruction

Popular war hero –

disappointing President Radical Republican Promised to take a

strong stand against the southern resistance to Reconstruction

His ability to lead was overshadowed by scandal

Corruption in Grant’s Administration

He gave high-level advisory

positions to untrustworthy friends and acquaintances who used their positions to line their own pockets

VP was investigated and implicated in a scheme to steal profits from Union Pacific Railroads

Grant ran for re-election in 1872 and easily won

Not long after, greed surrounded American politics

Corruption in Grant’s Administration

Now scandal involved Grant’s

private secretary, the Secretary of War, and member of Congress – Grant ignored

Public approval plummeted Local scandals also came to

light Most notorious – NYC

Democrats led by Senator William “Boss” Tweed – “Tweed Ring” plundered millions of $$ from the city’s treasury

Corruption and Scandal

Fall 1873 – one of nation’s

most prominent banks failed b/c of overextending loans to the railroad industry

Across country – bank failures, job losses, uncertain economy

Led to Depression

Economic Panic

Voters and politicians (outside

the South) were focused on more pressing issues – reforming politics and the economy

The continued costs of military operations in the South had people worried

Beginning in 1871 – troops were withdrawn from the South

1872 – the Freedmen’s Bureau was dissolved

Northern prejudice reemerged

Northern Support Evaporates

13th, 14th, & 15th Amendments – was left to the courts

to interpret how they would be applied Cases:

Slaughterhouse Cases (1873) – restricted the 14th – stated that though a citizen had national rights, the federal government would have no control over how a state chose to define these rights.

United States v. Cruikshank – white mob in Louisiana killed a large group of African Americans at a political rally, court ruled that the due process and equal protection clauses of 14th protected citizens from action of the state and not action of other citizens

Supreme Court Decisions

Southern Democrats came up

with a subtle strategy for suppressing black rights

Coalition to return the South to the white men

Ultimately agreed that racial segregation should be the rule of the new South

Called Redeemers – described as being designed to redeem or reclaim the South from northern domination

Southern Whites Gain Power

By 1870, VA, NC, TN had

reinstated wealthy white southern men as governors

Also sent Confederate leaders back to the United States Congress

Other states soon followed 1874 congressional elections

– Republicans lost their control over the House of Representatives

Southern Whites Gain Power

Election of 1876 – Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel Tilden

Tilden won 51% of popular vote and carried all southern states

Republicans demanded a recount and found mistakes – Hayes won by 1 electoral vote

Democrats then protested the results

Reconstruction Officially Ends

Rutherford B. Hayes would become the next president Under the terms of this agreement, the Democrats agreed to

accept the Republican presidential electors provided the Republicans would agree to the following: To withdraw federal soldiers from their remaining positions in the

South To enact federal legislation that would spur industrialization in

the South To appoint Democrats to patronage positions in the South To appoint a Democrat to the president’s cabinet.

Once the parties had agreed to these terms, the Electoral Commission performed its duty. The Hayes’ electors were selected and Hayes was named president two days before the inauguration.

Compromise of 1877

AWSA NWSA Some people thought that the

15th Amendment could not be ratified if women’s suffrage was included

Women were supportive of African American rights

Created because of the disagreements about the 15th Amendment

Later – Colored Women’s Progressive Franchise association

Women’s Suffrage

Republican Party After Reconstruction

State & Federal Power

Originally “the party of Lincoln, that freed slaves”

After Reconstruction – party of big business

Still remains today

American voters and representatives opted for a balance of power between the state and federal governments

Evaluating Reconstruction

Successes Introduction of school system Modernized railroads and

other ports (federally funded) South’s economy expanded

from one crop (cotton) to a range of agricultural and industrial products

Raised awareness for African Americans about rights

Gave value and meaning of the right to vote

Failures

Still bitterness between the North and South

No unifying desire to provide lasting protection for freed people