Transcript The Agony of Reconstruction

The Agony of Reconstruction
1865-1877
The human costs of the
Civil War
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Union soldiers dead—360,000
Confederate soldiers dead—258,000
Thousands more disabled
Unemployed returning soldiers—
800,000
Problems in the North
 Unemployment since factories shut down
 Short economic recession
Problems in the South
 Destruction of factories, railroads, plantations, small
farms
 Burned cities
 Miles of railroad track destroyed
 Businesses and factories destroyed or dismantled
 Unemployment
 Evaporation of investment capital and labor pool
(slaves)
Competing Ideas About
How to Implement
Reconstruction
Minimalists hoped for quick restoration of rebel
states without protection for freed Blacks
beyond the outlawing of slavery
Lincoln’s Hope for Gradual
Reconstruction 15—A**
• Restore friendly relations as soon as possible
• Pardon to Confederates (excepting certain
classes of leaders) if they swore an oath of
loyalty to the Union
• Lincoln’s “Proclamation of Amnesty and
Reconstruction”—“The 10% Plan,” December
1863. It placed emphasis on forgiveness
A state could be readmitted to the
Union after 10% of its voters
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Abolished slavery
Subscribed to an
oath of loyalty to the
Union
Formed a
government loyal to
the U.S.
Lincoln’s inauguration speech of
1865
“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 orphan—to
do all which may achieve and
cherish a just and lasting peace
among ourselves and with all
nations.”
Congress—“Wade-Davis”
Reconstruction Bill passed July 1864
15—B**
Radicals wanted to make readmission to the Union
dependent on “loyalists” who would replace the former
Confederate elite and the extension of basic American rights
and citizenship to Blacks.
• Radicals wanted to make readmission to the Union
dependent on “loyalists” who would replace the former
Confederate elite and the extension of basic American
rights and citizenship to Blacks.
• Vote extended only to those who swore they never willingly
supported the Confederacy
Wade-Davis Provisions Continued
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Refusal to honor Confederate war debts
States had to cancel acts of secession
States had to abolish slavery
Federal courts empowered to enforce
emancipation
“The resulting struggle between Congress
and the chief executive was the most serious
clash between two branches of government
in the nation’s history.”
President Andrew Johnson’s
Reconstruction Plan**
• Restoration of the prewar federal system as
soon as possible
• Provisional governors in former
Confederate states selected from prominent
Southern politicians who had opposed
succession
• Those governors to convene constitutional
conventions at which three things had to be
achieved:
 Declare
ordinances of
succession illegal
Repudiate Confederate
debt
Repudiate Confederate
debt
Flaws perceived in Johnson’s plan
15—A**
• Resulting state constitutions limited
suffrage to whites
• Institution of various “Black Codes” that
subjected former slaves to “special
regulations and restrictions on their
freedom”
Collectively, all this appeared to be the old institution
of slavery just dressed up in new clothes—a new and
creative system to keep Blacks in subjugation.
Congress Takes Charge
In early 1866, Johnson’s vetoed to
two bills passed by Congress
precipitating an irreconcilable
break:
•Bill to extend life of Freedmen’s
Bureau (established March 1865)
• Civil rights bill to nullify Black
Codes
It sought to guarantee “full and
equal benefit of all laws and
proceedings for the security of
person and property as is enjoyed by
all white citizens”
Johnson’s vetoes
shocked moderate
Republicans who
heretofore had
hope to work with
the White House.
The president
thereby alienated
those who might
have worked with
him.**
Congressional response:
14th and 15th amendments
15—B 1 & 4**
• Congress feared Johnson would
not enforce civil rights legislation
•Congress passed 14th and 15th
amendments
To the left, “Reconstruction—
How it Works,” Thomas Nast
cartoon in Harper’s Weekly.
Using Shakespearian imagery
that would have been familiar to
mid-19th century American
readers, Nast casts Johnson as
Iago from Othello. A wounded
Black Union veteran represents
Othello. On the wall, Johnson’s
slogans—"Treason is a crime
and must be made odious" and
"I am your Moses"—appear. At
center left one sees a flurry of
presidential pardons issued by
Johnson to Confederate
offenders; at center right,
presidential vetoes abound.
Columbia (left, representing
the U.S.) pardons Robert E.
Lee while right, the Black
Freedman is no so easily
accommodated
The 13th, 14th, and 15th
Amendments**
•S
Thirteenth Amendment—Congressional
passage January 1865; ratification December 1865
Prohibited slavery in the U.S.
•C
Fourteenth Amendment—Congressional
passage June 1866; ratification July 1868 15—B 1
Gave right of citizenship to freedmen
•V
Fifteenth Amendment—Congressional
passage February 1869; ratification March 1870
15—B 4 Prohibited denial of franchise because of
race, color, or past servitude
Congressional Plan—Radical
Reconstruction, 1866-1867 15—B
During these two years,
Congress passed a
series of acts nullifying
Johnson’s program and
reorganizing the South
on its own terms. It was
a Republican
compromise
The two leading Radical Republican politicians of the day:
Charles Sumner (1811-1874, above left) and Thaddeus
Stevens (1792-1868, above right)
The By-election of 1866**
• Johnson aggressively
campaigned nation-wide
for candidates who
supported his program for
Reconstruction
• He slandered his
opponents in crude
language
• He engaged in undignified
exchanges with hecklers
• His behavior alienated
Northern voters and
Radical Republicans
Reconstruction Act of March 1867**
• Adopt state constitution barring
former Confederates from office
• Grant African-American men the
vote
• Ratify the 14th amendment
• Military occupation for states until
they were readmitted (all Southern
states readmitted by 1871) 15—B 2
Readmission to the
Union**
• The South was reorganized into
five military districts
• Quick readmission to the Union
could be achieved for any state
that framed and ratified a
constitution providing for Black
suffrage
Tenure of Office Act**
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Required approval of
Senate for removal of
Cabinet members or
other officials whose
appointment had
required Congressional
consent
On February 21, 1868,
Johnson dismissed the
only Radical Republican
Cabinet member,
Secretary of War, Edwin
Stanton (right—a
Lincoln appointee)
The Upshot
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Johnson ordered
• Grant (eying the presidential
General U.S. Grant
nomination of 1868) did not
comply
to replace Stanton
• Johnson appointed
General Lorenzo
Thomas to the post
The House voted overwhelmingly on February 24,
1868, to put Johnson on trial—impeachment—for
what representatives considered a violation of the
Tenure of Office Act.
The Trial—March 25-May 26, 1868
35-19
Not
Guilty**
Senator Ross (left)
from Kansas denied
the Radicals the 36th
vote that was
necessary for
conviction.
The Central Issue**
Should the President be impeached
for “political” reasons?
Richard M. Nixon,
1913-1994, 37th
president
President Bill Clinton ( 1946- ),
42nd president
If so, he/she is in fear of being
removed for making an
unpopular political
decision
• Such action threatened the
constitutional balance of powers
• It opened the way to legislative
supremacy over the executive
The Freedman
The Old Order changed forever—“freedmen” were neither
slaves nor completely free. Their dream of “forty acres and a
mule” was largely disappointed.**
The New Players**
The Carpetbaggers**
Some have
described
“carpetbaggers” as
men of bad
character who
moved from the
North to the South
to manipulate and
exploit the Black
vote, political office,
and economic
privilege, all to
aggrandize
themselves.
Scalawags**
The “collaborators”—
white Southerners
who supported
Reconstruction
The Freedmen**
The First Vote by A. R.
Ward (Part of the
Historic New Orleans
Collection)
Freedmen—only in
South Carolina did
African-Americans
win a majority in
one House of
legislature
Ascension of the Democratic Party
in the South**
• Because of deep resentment against Radical
Republican Reconstruction politics—and its
association with loss of the Civil War—led most
Southerners of means embraced the Democratic
Party for the next hundred years
• Southerners justifiably resented the dishonesty,
embezzlement, graft, bribery, and waste—all
common occurrences among ruling cliques—of
Radical Republican Reconstruction
Republican achievements during
Reconstruction**
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Republican achievements during Reconstruction
Democratization of state and local government
Appropriation of funds for huge expansion of
public services and responsibilities
Fostering economic development and prosperity
through railroad construction and other internal
improvements
Improvement of prison conditions
Establishment of centers for care of mentally
and physically handicapped
Election of 1868 and the Grant
Administration
• Grant (right) would be
the only president
elected for back-toback terms of office
between the
administrations of
Andrew Jackson
(1828-1836, left) and
Woodrow Wilson
(1912-1920, far right)
The Evolution
Of a President
Ku Klux Klan and Resistance to
Reconstruction
Main threat to
Republican
administrati
ons in South
from 18681872**
The Klan adopted two revered cultural
symbols—the cross (see vestment,
above) and the American flag (right).
The Ultimate Failure of Radical
Reconstruction**
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Without the protection afforded by
Reconstruction, white supremacists
gradually stripped away the civil and
political rights of African-Americans
Southern capitalists and large landowners
ignored the interests of the lower-class
whites
The “New South” remained vulnerable to
exploitation by Northern business interests
The Historiographical Debate over
Reconstruction**
• Early-20th century—an “orgy of misrule”
• 1915-1940s—efforts to enforce equal rights was
grave mistake
• 1920s-1930s—minority view that racism overcame
momentum of 13th-15th amendments
• 1950s-1960s—praise of idealism of Radical
Reconstructionists
• 1970s-1980s—carpetbaggers and scalawags cast as
selfish opportunists
Reasons Grant’s Administration
failed**
• Grant allowed corruption within the
administration
• Grant was inconsistent and hesitant with use of
presidential power
• Grant’s “Southern Policy” failed—Republican
regimes in the South were
• corrupt and tottering
• Grant’s highest priority was to be loyal to old
friends and the politicians who supported him
• Grant lacked a clear sense of duty
Sins of Omission vs. Sins of
Commission
“There is no evidence that
Grant profited personally
from any of these misdeeds
of his subordinates. Yet. . .
he failed to take firm action
against the malefactors, and
even after their guilt had
been clearly established, he
sometimes tried to shield
them from justice .”
Election of 1876
Hayes
Wins
Rutherford
B. Hayes,
1822-1893
Samuel J.
Tilden, 18141886
But How?
The “Compromise of 1877”**
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Federal aid to build new Southern
railroads
Federal aid to build flood controls along
the Mississippi River
Removal of last federal troops from the
South (April 1877)
Promise from Southerners to treat
African-Americans fairly, protect their
rights
For all intents and
purposes, Hayes
extended “Home Rule”
to the South**
In fact, Hayes
abandoned Southern
Blacks “to their fate. . .
. [Moreover,] the entire
South was firmly under
the control of white
Democrats. The
trauma of the war and
Reconstruction had
destroyed the chances
for a renewal of twoparty competition
among white
Southerners
The New South
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Rule of the “Redeemers”—late-1870s1880s involving:
The restoration of the planter class of the
Old South
Those of middle class origin and outlook
who favored commercial interests and
industrial development over agrarian
groups
The rise of professional politicians
Joseph E. Brown (1821-1894,
left) was a dramatic
representation of the
professional politician who
emerged in the aftermath of
the Civil War and
Reconstruction. These men
blew with the prevailing
political winds. In his long
career, Brown was a
secessionist, the governor of
Georgia during the war, a
scalawag Republican, and
finally a “Redeemer” from
the Democratic Party.
Abuse of African-American suffrage
and civil rights**
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The white ruling class intimidated Republican Black
voters
Threatening loss of jobs
Eviction from tenant farms
Physical abuse (e.g., whippings, beatings, lynchings)
Control of the electoral machinery through which the
whites could stuff ballot boxes, discard unwanted votes,
or report fraudulent totals
Establishment of complicated and discriminatory voting
requirements (e.g., literacy tests, poll taxes)
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Abuse of African-American suffrage
Jim Crow
and civil rights continued**
Laws
Jim Crow laws barred
African-American from
certain jobs or access to
various public facilities
like restaurants or hotels
“Jim Crow” may have been the creation of a minstrel show
performer—one Thomas “Daddy” Rice—of the 1830s. Rice
used charcoal paste or burned cork to blacken his face and
danced a jig while singing to the song, “Jump Jim Crow.”
Rice’s skit represents one 19th century stereotypical image of
Black inferiority.
Abuse of African-American suffrage
and civil rights continued**
• Supreme Court Decisions Affecting
Black Civil Rights
• Hall v. DeCuir, 1878**
Struck down Louisiana law prohibiting
racial discrimination by common
carriers (e.g., railroads, steamboats,
buses).
Abuse of African-American suffrage
and civil rights continued**
Plessy v.
Ferguson,
1896**
Upheld Louisiana statute
requiring “separate but
equal” accommodations on
railroads; declared
segregation was not
necessarily discrimination
Unfinished Business
• “By the late 1880s” there existed a “spirit of
sectional reconciliation.” Both Northerners and
Southerners moved toward “celebrating their
common Americanism. ‘Reunion’ was becoming a
cultural as well as political reality.”**
• “Whites could come back together only because
Northerners had tacitly agreed to give
Southerners a free hand in their efforts to reduce
Blacks to a new form of servitude.”
Conclusion of the Matter**
True (de facto) Equality vs. Legislated (de
jure) Equality
The 14th and 15th amendments set a standard, a
goal—true equality. Over and against the laws
that these amendments established, there still
existed the reality of a centuries-long patterns of
racism. Equality among the races, as well as
respect between them, is a matter of the heart.
Racism and discrimination cannot be legislated
away overnight.