Transcript Slide 1 - Cloudfront.net

Pursuing Equality for
African-Americans During
Radical Reconstruction
Freedmen in the South Carolina Sea Islands
http://web.gc.cuny.edu/ashp/toer/looking.html
The End of the Civil War

When the Union won the
Civil War the big
questions were:
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Jefferson Davis, President
of the Confederacy
http://www.redstone.army.mil/history/int
egrate/chron2.htm
What should Southern
states have to do to be
readmitted to the Union?
What should happen to
southerners who
participated in the war
effort?
What should happen to the
newly emancipated slaves?
Views of Reconstruction
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Republican leaders agreed
that slavery had to be
permanently destroyed and
all forms of Confederate
nationalism had to be
suppressed
Moderates thought this
could be accomplished as
soon as Confederate armies
surrendered and the
southern states repealed
secession and ratified the
13th Amendment
All of this happened by the
end of September 1865
General Lee surrendering to General
Grant at Appomattox Courthouse
http://www.ct.gov/mil/lib/mil/pictures/civilwar/thesurrende
r.jpg
Johnson Alienates
Radical Republicans
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President Andrew Johnson
http://www.army.mil/cmhpg/books/cg&csa/_notes/20a.jpg
President Johnson
supported votes for Black
army veterans in 1864 and
1865
By 1866, however, Johnson
broke with the moderate
Republicans and aligned
himself with the Democrats
who opposed equality and
opposed the Fourteenth
Amendment
Radicals attacked Johnson’s
policies, especially his 10%
Plan and his veto of the Civil
Rights Bill for the Freedmen
Plans for Reconstruction
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Led by Charles Sumner and
Thaddeus Stevens, the
Radical Republicans wanted
the Southern states to be
punished for their
treasonous behavior
They called for harsh
punishment of Confederate
officers and soldiers and
equal rights for Freedmen
http://www.msp.umb.edu/afam/AfAm
ResearchQuestions.html
Radical Republicans Gain
Control of Congress
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“Time Works Wonders” by Thomas Nast
http://www.harpweek.com/09Cartoon/BrowseByDateCartoon.as
p?Month=April&Date=9
The election of 1866
dramatically changed the
balance of power in
congress, giving the Radical
Republicans enough votes
to overcome Johnson's
vetoes
Though he avoided (by one
vote) the Radical Republican
attempt to impeach him
Johnson remained almost
powerless regarding
Reconstruction policy
Radical Reconstruction
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Radical Republicans
implemented a federal
reconstruction plan
They used the Army to
combat the effect of black
codes and enforce new laws
that guaranteed rights to
African Americans in
Southern states
Federal reconstruction took
the vote away from 10,000 to
15,000 white men who had
been Confederate officials or
soldiers
Radical Republican Leaders
http://lfa.atu.edu/ssphil/people/ssjw/us2/presrecon.htm
Black Codes
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African American men who were
arrested for vagrancy due to
unemployment
http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/civilwar/16/reconstruc
tion1.html
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White Southerners sought
ways to control newly
freed African Americans
They wrote Black Codes
to regulate civil and legal
rights, from marriage to
the right to hold and sell
property
In many ways the codes
guaranteed African
Americans would
continue working as farm
laborers
The Civil Rights Act of 1866
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The Civil Rights Act of 1866
gave rights to freed slaves
including the rights to make
contracts, sue, witness in
court, and own private
property
President Johnson vetoed the
bill saying it would "operate in
favor of the colored and
against the white race“
Congress overrode the
presidential veto in April of
1866
The act declared that all
persons born in the U.S. were
now citizens, without regard to
race, color, or previous
condition of servitude,
excluding Indians
Former Slaves and Wounded Union
Veterans Celebrating the Passage of
the Civil Rights Act of 1866
http://lincoln.lib.niu.edu/fimage/gildedage/image.php?id
=3490
The 14th Amendment
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In order to ensure
permanent change
the 14th amendment
granted citizenship to
African Americans
The amendment also
guaranteed the right
to due process under
the law to African
Americans
http://www.fbi.gov/publications/leb/2005/
june2005/june05leb_img_29.jpg
The 15th Amendment
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Granted African American
men suffrage in 1870
This did not guarantee
African American men
would be allowed access
to their local polls
Violence against African
Americans at polling
places was common
Literacy tests, poll taxes
and other voter
qualification laws became
common
The First Black Voters
http://www.harpweek.com/09Cartoon/Bro
wseByDateCartoon.asp?Month=November
&Date=14
African Americans Vote
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Hiram Revels, the first
African American elected to
the U.S. Senate
http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodis
play.pl?index=R000166
Slowly Southern states
held elections in which
Freedmen voted
These elections usually
produced Republican
state governments
For the first time
African Americans were
elected to local, state
and federal offices
The End of Radical Reconstruction
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Federal Reconstruction
ended in 1876 with the
election of Rutherford B.
Hayes to the presidency
A few weeks after taking
office Hayes issued an
order for the removal of
all federal soldiers
stationed in the South
The end of
Reconstruction led to a
drastic reduction of rights
for African Americans
President Rutherford Hayes
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/057_pra3.h
tml