Reconstruction - Suffolk Public Schools Blog
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“With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in
the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to
finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds; to care
for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his
orphan – to do all which may achieve and cherish a just, and a
lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.
Abraham Lincoln
Second Inaugural Address
Timeline of Events
1865
Confederacy surrenders at Appomattox,
April 9th
Abraham Lincoln assassinated on April 14th
Andrew Johnson becomes President
Thirteenth Amendment passed abolishing
the institution of slavery
Congress creates the Freedmen’s Bureau
Timeline of Events
1866
President Johnson proposes moderate
Reconstruction policies
Tennessee readmitted into the Union
Austro-Prussian War is fought
Civil Rights Act
Ku Klux Klan founded in Tennessee by
Nathaniel Bedford Forrest
Timeline of Events
1867
U.S. purchases Alaska from Russia for $7.2
million (Seward’s Folly)
Reconstruction Act of 1867
First South African diamond field is
discovered
Timeline of Events
1868
Fourteenth Amendment ratified
Congress impeaches President Johnson
Ulysses S. Grant elected President
Arkansas readmitted into the Union
Louisiana readmitted into the Union
Timeline of Events
1868
Alabama readmitted into the Union
South Carolina readmitted into the Union
North Carolina readmitted into the Union
Florida readmitted into the Union
Timeline of Events
1869
Mohandas K. Gandhi is born in India
1870
Fifteenth Amendment ratified
Enforcement Act of 1870
Virginia readmitted into the Union
Timeline of Events
1870
Georgia readmitted into the Union
Texas readmitted into the Union
Mississippi readmitted into the Union
Unification of Italy is completed
Timeline of Events
1871
U.S. and Great Britain sing Treaty of
Washington
Kaiser Wilhelm I unifies Germany
1872
Horace Greeley runs for president as a
Liberal Republican
U.S. Grant is reelected
Timeline of Events
1874
British declare Gold Coast of Africa a
colony
1875
France’s National Assembly votes to
continue the Third Republic
1876
Hayes-Tilden presidential election results in
deadlock
Timeline of Events
1877
Federal troops withdraw from the South
Rutherford B. Hayes is inaugurated
Reconstruction ends
The Politics of Reconstruction
Reconstruction
Period during which the U.S. began to
rebuild after the Civil War, lasting from
1865 until 1877
It is the process the federal government
used to readmit the Confederate states
Lincoln, Johnson, and Congress all had
different plans
Lincoln’s Plan for Reconstruction
Lincoln favored a lenient Reconstruction policy
Believed secession was constitutionally
impossible so the Confederate states had
never seceded
Individuals, not the states had rebelled
Lincoln’s Plan for Reconstruction
Proclamation of Amnesty & Reconstruction
(AKA ~ 10% Plan)
Presented in December 1863
Government would pardon all Confederates
(except high-ranking Confederate officials and
those accused of war crimes against POWs) if
they would swear allegiance to the Union
After 10% of those on the voting lists in 1860
swore allegiance, a state could form a new state
government and gain representation in Congress
Lincoln’s Plan for Reconstruction
4 states moved towards readmission
Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, and Virginia
Radical Republicans in Congress
Led by Charles Sumner ~ Massachusetts Senator and
Thaddeus Stevens ~ Pennsylvania Representative
Wanted to destroy political power of the former
slaveholders
Wanted African Americans to have full citizenship
and the right to vote
Radical Reaction
Wade-Davis Bill
Proposed Congress not the president be in charge of
Reconstruction
Majority of those eligible to vote in 1860 had to
swear an oath of allegiance not just 10%
Lincoln’s used a pocket veto to kill the bill after
Congress adjourned
Radicals became upset and outraged by Lincoln’s veto
Set stage for a presidential-congressional showdown
Johnson’s Plan
Andrew Johnson
Democrat from Tennessee becomes president in April
1865
Staunch Unionist
Presidential Reconstruction
Declared each remaining state could be admitted if they
met certain conditions
Requirements for states
Withdraw its secession
Swear allegiance to the Union
Annul Confederate war debts
Ratify the 13th Amendment
Johnson’s Plan
Johnson’s Plan did not differ that much from
Lincoln’s
Johnson did want to prevent high ranking
Confederates and wealthy plantation owners
from taking the oath for voting privileges
Did not address the needs of the former
slaves as far as land, voting rights, and
protection under the law
Angered the Radical Republicans
Johnson’s Plan
Southern States liked Johnson’s Plan
Within a few months, they held conventions,
set up new constitutions and elected their
representatives to Congress
Many of the representatives had served in
the Confederate Congress, cabinet and 4
were Confederate Generals
Johnson pardoned all of them
Radical and African Americans were angry
The Standstill
Congress convenes in December 1865
Radical Republicans dispute Johnson’s claim that
Reconstruction was complete
Congress refuses to admit the new elected
Southern legislators
Freedmen’s Bureau (General O.O. Howard)
Congress voted to continue it in February 1866
Assisted former slaves and poor whites in the South
Distributed food and clothing
Set up more than 40 hospitals, 4,000 schools, 6
industrial institutes, and 74 teacher-training centers
Civil Rights Act of 1866
Gave African American males voting rights
Forbade states from passing “black codes” ~ laws
that restricted African Americans’ lives
Black Codes ~ African Americans could not
Carry weapons
Serve on juries
testify against whites
Marry whites
Travel without permits
Own land (in some states)
Johnson’s Veto
Johnson shocked everyone when he vetoed the
Freedmen’s Bureau Act and the Civil Rights Act of
1866
Alienated the moderate Republicans who were
trying to improve his Reconstruction plans
Angered the Radical Republicans by appearing to
support Southerners
Presidential Reconstruction ground to a halt
Congressional Reconstruction
Radical and moderate Republicans decided to work
together to overthrow Johnson’s veto
Civil Rights Act of 1866 ~ first major legislation
ever enacted over a presidential veto
Congress drafted the 14th Amendment
Made “all persons born or naturalized in the United
States” citizens of the country
All were entitled to equal protection of the law
Could not be deprived of their life, liberty, or
property with due process of law
Johnson advised Southern states not to ratify it, did
not become an amendment until 1868 (Tennessee)
Congressional Elections of 1866
Johnson goes on a speaking tour with U.S. Grant,
turns many voters away because of his rough
language
Moderate and Radical Republicans win a landslide
victory over the Democrats
Republicans gains a 2/3 majority in Congress
Have enough votes to override any presidential
vetoes
Reconstruction Act of 1867
Did not recognize state governments formed under
Lincoln and Johnson’s Reconstruction plans
Tennessee was excepted because it had ratified the
14th Amendment
Divided the 10 remaining Confederate states into
military districts each headed by a Union general
John Schofield ~ Virginia
Daniel Sickles ~ North and South Carolina
John Pope ~ Georgia, Alabama, and Florida
Edward Ord ~ Arkansas and Mississippi
Philip Sheridan ~ Texas and Louisiana
Reconstruction Act of 1867
Voters in districts would elect delegates to
convention in which new state constitutions would
be drafted
To reenter into the Union a state had to ratify the
14th Amendment
Johnson vetoed it
Congress overrode the veto
Johnson’s Impeachment
Radical Republicans believed Johnson was not
carrying out his obligation to enforce the
Reconstruction Act
Looked for grounds on which to impeach Johnson
Tenure of Office Act
passed by Congress in March 1867
Stated the president could not remove cabinet
officers “during the term of the president by whom
they may have been appointed”
Trying to protect Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton,
their ally
Johnson’s Impeachment
Johnson fired Stanton
House of Representatives impeached Johnson on 11
charges, 9 were based on the Tenure of Office Act
Trial took place in the Senate
Need a 2/3 majority to remove Johnson from office
The vote was 35 to 19, one vote shy of the majority
Election of 1868
Democrats nominated Horatio Seymour, a wartime
governor of New York
Republicans nominated U.S. Grant, a Civil War hero
Grant won by a wide margin in the Electoral College,
but on 306,000 popular votes
Southern African Americans voted mostly
Republican which helped Grant win the election
After election Radicals introduced the 15th
Amendment (ratified in 1870) which states no one
can be kept from voting because of “race, color, or
previous condition of servitude”
Postwar South Conditions
1868
Former Confederate states of Alabama, Arkansas,
Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina
reentered the Union
1870
Georgia, Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia reentered
the Union
Even with all states back in the Union, Republicans
did not end Reconstruction
They wanted to make economic changes in the
South
Physical & Economic Conditions
Physical Effects
New Southern state governments had to rebuild
battle scarred regions
William T. Sherman estimated that his Union troops
had destroyed about $100 million word of
Confederate property in Georgia and South Carolina
Destroyed railroads, buildings and bridges
Neglected roads and abandoned farms had to be
restored or replaced
Physical & Economic Conditions
Economic Effects
Property values plummeted
Those with Confederate bonds or money had little
hope of recovering their value
Small farms were ruined or in disrepair
Southern economic resources were destroyed
Region’s population was devastated
1/5 of the adult white male population had died during the
war
Many who returned from the war were maimed for life
Tens of thousands of African American males died as well
Public Works Programs
Republican governments
Built roads, bridges, and railroads
Established orphanages
Created institutions for the mentally ill and disabled
Created the first public school systems
Virginia ~ established its public school system in 1869
Created by Dr. William Henry Ruffner, who became the
first Superintendent of Public Instruction for the
Commonwealth of Virginia
Was given less then 30 days to completely create it, did
so in less than 20 days
Increased taxes to create the money needed for
recovery
Scalawags and Carpetbaggers
Scalawags
white Southerners who joined the Republican Party
Hoped to gain political offices with the help of the
African American vote
Wanted to use the offices to enrich themselves
Carpetbaggers
Northerners who arrived in the South carrying so few
belongings that they could fit into a carpetbag
White Southerners believed these men wanted to
exploit the South’s postwar turmoil for their own
profit
African Americans as Voters
Made up the largest group of Southern
Republicans
Many registered to vote for the first time
9 out of 10 voted Republican
Eager to exercise their voting rights
90% of African American voters voted
Political Differences
Internal conflicts in the Republican Party
caused disunity
New status of African Americans required
changes in the attitudes of Southern whites
Southern whites thought that Northern
investments would help the south recover from
the war
Many Southern whites refused to accept the
new status of blacks and resisted the idea of
equal rights
Former Slaves Face Challenges
New Won Freedoms
Now allowed to travel with passes, many former slaves
moved
Between 1865 and 1870 the population of the 10 largest
Southern cities doubled
Former slaves wanted to leave the plantations behind
Plantations were symbols of oppression
Reunification of Families
Slavery split up many African American families
Many freed slaves took advantage of their freedom to look
for their loved ones
Freedmen’s Bureau worked to reunited families
African Americans were now allowed to marry
Former Slaves Face Challenges
Education
Over 90% of freed African Americans over the age
of 20 could not read or write
Established educational institutions with the
assistance of both public and private institutions
Hampton Normal and Agricultural School was founded
in Hampton, Virginia (Now Hampton University)
Most teachers in black schools were initially white
and about half were women
By 1869, black teachers outnumbered the whites
By 1877, 600,000 blacks were enrolled in elementary
schools
Former Slaves Face Challenges
Churches
African Americans found their own churches after
the war which were usually Baptist or Methodist
African American ministers became influential in
their communities
Volunteer Groups
Established their own fire companies, trade
associations, political organizations, and drama groups
Provided financial and emotional support for their
members
Former Slaves Face Challenges
Politics
1865 – 1877
Growing African American involvement
First time African Americans held local, state, and
federal government offices
16 African Americans elected to Congress
No African American governors until Virginia elected
Douglas Wilder in 1990
Hiram Revels was the first African American Senator
Former Slaves Face Challenges
Laws Against Segregation
Most Republican Southern state governments
repealed the black codes
Most African Americans focused on building up the
black community rather than total integration
By establishing separate school blacks were able to
escape the interference by whites who had for so
long dominated their lives
Changes in the Southern Economy
40 Acres and a Mule
Sherman promised freed slaves who followed him 40
acres and the use of army mules
40,000 blacks settled on 400,000 acres of
confiscated land and began farming it
President Johnson issued an order allowing the
original owners to reclaim their land
Former slaves were evicted
Land that was set aside for blacks and loyal white was
not suitable for farming
Changes in the Southern Economy
Restoration of Plantations
Planter class wanted to restore plantations
Wealthy Northern merchants encouraged this
because they wanted the cash crop of cotton for
their businesses
White planters were determined to get the labor
they needed in order to get their plantations working
again
Used sharecropping and tenant farming to do this
Economic necessity forced former slaves to sign labor
contacts with planters
In exchange for wages, housing, and food, freedmen
worked in the fields
Changes in the Southern Economy
Sharecropping and Tenant Farming
Sharecropping
Landowners divided their land and gave each worker
(freed slave or poor white) a few acres along with seeds
and tools
At harvest time, each worker gave a share of his crop,
usually half, to the landowner
Share paid the owner back and end the arrangement until
the next year
Changes in the Southern Economy
Sharecropping and Tenant Farming
Tenant Farming
Sharecroppers who saved a little and bought heir own
tools could bargain better with landowners
Could even rent land for cash from the owner and keep
all their harvest
Seldom worked in practice, most bought on credit
from merchants who charged them inflated prices
End result could not save enough to buy their own land
Changes in the Southern Economy
Cotton No Longer King
Demand for Southern cotton began to drop during the
war as other countries increased their cotton
production
1869 ~ 16.5 cents per pound
Late 1870s ~ 8 center per pound
Instead of diversifying, Southerners planted even
more cotton driving the price down even further
Southerners will begin to diversify the economy
Devastating effects on the economy because of the
war will last into the 20th century
The Collapse of Reconstruction
Most white Southerners
accepted the change in
African American status
Some were bitter and
used violence to keep
African Americans from
participating in politics
Ku Klux Klan
Founded as a social club for Confederate veterans
Started in Pulaski, Tennessee in 1866 by 6 former
Confederate veterans
The name comes from the Greek word “kyklos”
(circle) and the word clan.
Eventually spread to every Southern state by 1868
Many chapters became violent terrorist
organizations
Goal ~ to restore white supremacy
Method ~ to prevent African Americans from
exercising their political rights
Ku Klux Klan
Was a secret society so not much is truly known
about the KKK
They wore the robes and masks to represent the
ghosts of Confederates killed during the Civil War
Also wore them to remain anonymous and hide their
numbers
Southern states did most of their activities during
the night whereas Northern states did their
activities during the day
Ku Klux Klan
A cartoon threatening that the KKK would lynch carpetbaggers,
Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Independent Monitor, 1868.
Ku Klux Klan
Nathaniel Bedford Forrest
Former slave trader
Confederate General
Said to be the KKK’s first
Grand Wizard
He denies that he had a
leadership role in the Klan
Anti-Black Violence
1868 – 1871
Klan killed thousands of men, women, and children
Burned schools, churches and property
Any whites who tried to help were also in jeopardy
Goals
Turn the Republicans out of power in Southern
states
Use outfits to conceal their identity so they can
intimidate people into not voting
Anti-Black Violence
Economic Pressure
Also tried to prevent African Americans from
making economic progress
African Americans who owned their own land or
worked in jobs other than agriculture were
targeted by attacks and destruction of their
property
Fear of economic reprisals kept many former
slaves from voting
Legislative Response
Enforcement Acts of 1870 and 1871
First one provided for federal supervision of
elections in Southern states
Second one gave the president the power to use
federal troops in areas where the Klan was active
1882
Supreme Court ruled the Enforcement Act of 1871
was unconstitutional
Acts helped to decrease Klan activity
By 1880 Klan managed to restore white supremacy
to the South
Shifts in Political Power
Amnesty Act of 1872
Congress returned the right to vote and hold
federal and state offices to 150,000 former
Confederates
The former Confederates would vote democratic
1872
Congress allows the Freedmen’s Bureau to expire
Southern Democrats able to shift the balance of
power in their favor
Scandals and Money Crises
Fraud and Bribery
Grant
Honest man with no political experience
Did not believe others would use him for their
own political gains
Appointees to political offices proved to be
dishonest
Credit Mobilier
Exposed by the New York Sun
A construction company had skimmed off large profits
from a government railroad contract
Involved Schuyler Colfax, Grant’s Vice President
Scandals and Money Crises
Republican Unity Shattered
Liberal Republican Party formed in 1872
Formed because of all the scandals occurring
Horace Greeley,
editor of the New York Tribune
Presidential candidate
Broke with the Radical Republicans because he
disagreed with their politics concerning
Reconstruction and the former slaves
Also nominated by the Democrats
Grant easily won the election of 1872
Continued Scandal
Whiskey Ring ~ 1875
Internal revenue collectors and other officials were
accepting bribes from whiskey distillers who want to
avoid paying taxes on their product
Defrauded the federal government of millions of
dollars
238 people will be indicted in the scandal
Orville E. Babcock, Grant’s private secretary was
involved but Grant helped him escape prosecution
Continued Scandal
1876
Secretary of War, William W. Belknap accepted bribes
from merchants so they could keep their trading
concession in Indian Territory
Secretary of the Navy, George M. Robeson, accepted
bribes from shipbuilders
Secretary of the Interior, Zachariah Chandler, had
shady dealing with land speculators
The Panic of 1873
Economy was booming, investors felt it would
continue to do so
Invested heavily in new business opportunities
Many took on more debt than they could
afford
Jay Cooke, a Philadelphia banker, invested
heavily in railroads
Did not get enough investors
Cooke’s banking firm, the nation’s largest dealer in
government securities, went bankrupt
The Panic of 1873
Financial failures became known as the Panic
of 1873
Small banks closed
Stock market temporarily collapsed
89 railroads went broke
By 1875, 18,000 companies had folded
Triggered a 5 year economic depression
3 million workers lost their jobs
Currency Dispute
Caused by the Panic of 1873
Roots were in the Civil War
Greenbacks issued by the federal government
which were not backed by equal value in gold
North wanted greenbacks to be taken out of
circulation
South and West wanted more greenbacks
introduced
Specie Resumption Act ~ 1875
Promised to put the country back on the gold
standard which sparked more debate
Economy improved and issued died down by 1878
Supreme Court Decisions
Date
Decision(s)
Ruling
1873
Slaughterhouse cases
Most civil rights were ruled to be state,
rather than federal, rights and therefore
unprotected by the Fourteenth
Amendment
1876
U.S. v. Cruikshank
The Fourteenth Amendment did not to
grant the federal government power to
punish whites who oppressed blacks
1876
U.S. v. Reese
The Fifteenth Amendment was determined
not to grant voting rights to anyone, but
rather to restrict types of voter
discrimination
•The Supreme Court’s restrictive rulings narrowed the
scope of the amendments so that the federal government
could not protect black rights.
Northern Support Fades
Supreme Court is rejecting Reconstruction
policies of the 1870s
Northern voters begin to grow indifferent to
the South
Concerns shift to national issues like the Panic
of 1873
Judicial and public support for Reconstruction
diminish
Republicans will slowly retreat from the
policies of Reconstruction
Democrats Redeem the South
1869 – 1875
Democrats recapture state governments of
Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, North
Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia
Named this redemption ~ their return to power in
the South
Redemption and the national election of 1876 will
put an end to congressional Reconstruction
Election of 1876
Republicans choose Rutherford B. Hayes, the
governor of Ohio as their candidate
Democrats choose Samuel J. Tilden, the
governor of New York as their candidate
Tilden helped clean up graft caused by the Tweed
Ring in New York City
Tilden was one vote shy of winning the electoral
vote
A commission gave the election to Hayes because
they made a deal with the Democrats
Election of 1876
Compromise of 1877
Withdrawal of federal troops from Louisiana and
South Carolina
Democrats wanted federal money to build a railroad
from Texas to the West coast and to improve
Southern rivers, harbors, and bridges
Hayes was to appoint a Southerner to his cabinet
Republican leaders agreed to the demands and
Rutherford B. Hayes was inaugurated
Reconstruction had officially ended
Home Rule in the South
Republicans and Democrats will dispute the
rules of elections in Louisiana and South
Carolina
Each group will set up rival state governments
Hayes removes federal troops and Democrats
take over
Florida’s elections were also questionable but
their state supreme court ruled in favor of
the Democrats
All southern states were now controlled by
Democrats
Home Rule in the South
Democrats achieved their goal of home rule
They now had the ability to run their state
governments without federal intervention
New laws passed did the following
restrict the rights of African Americans
wiped out social programs
slashed taxes
dismantled public schools
Legacy of Reconstruction
Reconstruction ended with much real progress in
the battle against discrimination
Radical Republicans wanted to help former slaves
but they made several mistakes
By giving former slaves civil rights they thought they
were protecting them
Problems that occurred were that Congress did not
adequately protect the rights and the Supreme Court
undermined them
Did not want to distribute land to former slaves which
prevented them from becoming economically
independent
Did not fully realize the extent of racism in society
Legacy of Reconstruction
Congressional Reconstruction was not a complete
failure
Allowed for the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th
Amendments
Supreme Court will narrow their scope, but in the
20th century they will become the foundation for
civil rights legislation
African Americans were the founders of many
black colleges (Howard University) and volunteer
organizations
Literacy among blacks will increase
Inspired the fight to regain civil rights