Transcript Reconstruction

Reconstruction Begins
Objectives:
1. Discuss life in the South
immediately after the war.
2. Describe the major features of
congressional Reconstruction and its
political impact.
The President versus Congress
The Problem of how to reconstruct the Union in the wake of the South’s
military defeat was one of the most difficult and perplexing challenges ever
faced by American policymakers.
After emancipation, the question became “ how far should the federal
government go to secure freedom and civil rights for four million former
slaves?
Debate
The debate evolved into a major political crisis.
Advocates of a minimal reconstruction policy favored quick restoration of
the Union.
• They favored no protection for the freed slaves. Beyond the prohibition of slavery.
Debate
•
Proponents of a more radical policy wanted the readmission of the southern states to
be dependent on guarantees that “loyal” men would displace the confederate elite in
positions of power.
They also wanted to make sure that the African-Americans would acquire
the basic rights of American Citizenship.
Question
Which plan did the White House endorse for reconstructing the South?
Debate
The White House favored the minimal approach.
Congress endorsed the more radical and thoroughgoing form of
Reconstruction.
Lincoln never set forth a final and comprehensive plan for bringing the
rebellious states back into the Union.
Reconstruction
In December 1863, Lincoln issued a Proclamation of Amnesty and
Reconstruction.(Ten Percent Plan)
It offered
• A full pardon to all Southerners ( except for certain Confederate leaders) who would
take a full oath of allegiance to the Union and accept the legality of emancipation.
• Known as the 10% plan
Ten Percent Plan
Once ten percent (10%) or more of the voting population of any occupied
state had taken the oath, they were authorized to set up a loyal government.
By 1864, Louisiana and Arkansas (either wholly or partially occupied by
Union troops) had established Unionist Governments.
Ten Percent Plan Reasoning
Lincoln hoped to weaken the southern cause by making it easy for
disillusioned or lukewarm Confederates to switch sides.
He also hoped to further his emancipation policy by insisting that the new
governments abolish slavery.
Congress
Was not happy with Lincoln’s plan.
Congress refused to seat the Unionists elected to the House and Senate from the
states that had rejoined the Union. (Louisiana & Arkansas)
The minority faction of Republicans called the Radical Republicans were strongly
anti-slavery.
They favored protection of black rights (black male suffrage) as a precondition to
the readmission of the southern states.
The Radical Republicans in Congress, led by Representative Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania
and Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, did not want to reconcile with the South.
The Radical Republicans had three main goals. They wanted to prevent the Confederate leaders
from returning to power after the war. They wanted the Republican Party to become powerful in
the South. They wanted the federal government to help African Americans achieve political
equality by guaranteeing them the right to vote in the South.
Views of Reconstruction
Lincoln thought that the secession being illegal in the first place, the act had
not placed the Confederate States outside of the Union in a Constitutional
sense.
Since he believed individuals, not states, had defied federal authority , he
could use his pardoning power to certify a loyal electorate to function as a
legitimate state government.
Views of Reconstruction
Congress felt that the southern states had forfeited their place in the Union
and that it was up to Congress to decide when and how they would be
readmitted.
Congress justified its stance by the Constitutional clause that “ the United
States shall guarantee to every state in this Union a Republican form of
government.
Reconstruction Battle Begins (pages
266-268)
Union troops and cannons had devastated most Southern cities and the South's economy.
The president and Congress had to deal with Reconstruction, or rebuilding the South after the Civil War.
They also had to decide under what terms and conditions the former Confederate states would rejoin the
Union.
President Lincoln's Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction called for a general amnesty, or
pardon, to all Southerners who took an oath of loyalty to the United States and accepted the Union's
proclamations concerning slavery. After ten percent of the state's voters in the 1860 presidential election
had taken the oath, the state could organize a new state government.
Congress
The Radical Republicans also did not trust the repentant Confederates who
would play a major role in the new governments.
Congress also believed that the president was exceeding his power by using
executive orders to restore the Union.
Views of Reconstruction
The Radicals in Congress, argued that the Confederate States had ceased to
be republican and Congress had the authority to set the conditions to be
readmitted.
In July 1864, Congress passed its own form of reconstruction known as the
Wade-Davis Bill
Moderate Republicans thought Lincoln's plan was too lenient on the South and
the Radical Republicans' plan was too harsh. By the summer of 1864, the
moderates and the radicals came up with a plan that they both could support.
The Wade-Davis Bill was introduced and passed in Congress. The Wade-Davis
Bill required the majority of adult white men in a former Confederate state to
take an oath of allegiance to the Union. The state could then hold a
constitutional convention to create a new state government.
Wade-Davis Bill
50 percent of the voters were required to take an oath of future loyalty
before the restoration process could begin.
One this had happened, all that could swear they had never willingly
supported the Confederacy could vote in an election of delegates to a
constitutional convention.
Each state's convention would then have to abolish slavery, repudiate all
debts the state had acquired as part of the Confederacy, and deprive any
former Confederate government officials and military officers the right to
vote or hold office.
Wade-Davis Bill
Did not guarantee black suffrage, but gave the courts power to enforce
emancipation.
Lincoln exercised the power of pocket veto by refusing to sign the bill
before congress adjourned
The Freedmen's Bureau (pages 268269)
Thousands of freed African Americans, known as freedmen, had followed General Sherman and
his troops as they marched through Georgia and South Carolina.
As a result of the refugee crisis, Congress established the Freedmen's Bureau. This bureau was to
feed and clothe war refugees in the South using army surplus supplies. The bureau also tried to
help freedmen find work and negotiate pay and hours worked on plantations.
The Freedmen's Bureau's lasting contribution was in education. It provided
schools, paid teachers, and helped establish colleges for training African
American teachers.
Many freed African Americans served in the U.S. Cavalry after 1866. Those
stationed in the southwestern United States became known as buffalo
soldiers.
Why did Congress establish the Freedmen's Bureau?
It fed and clothed war refugees in the South; tried to help freedmen find
work and negotiate pay and hours worked; and provided schools, paid
teachers, and helped establish colleges for training African American
teachers.
Johnson Takes Office (page 269)
Vice President Andrew Johnson became president after Abraham Lincoln's assassination.
Johnson agreed with Lincoln that a moderate policy was needed to bring the South back to
the Union.
In May 1865, Andrew Johnson issued a new Proclamation of Amnesty. This plan offered to
pardon all former citizens of the Confederacy who took an oath of loyalty to the Union and
to return their property. Excluded from the plan were all former Confederate officers and
officials. These people could individually ask the president for a pardon.
Johnson's plan to restore the South to the Union included having each former
Confederate state ratify the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery. The
Southern states, for the most part, met Johnson's conditions.
Johnson granted pardons to thousands of Southerners. Many members of
Congress were angry that several former Confederate officers and political
leaders were elected to Congress. Radical and moderate Republicans voted to
reject these new members of Congress.
The new Southern state legislatures passed laws, known as black codes,
that severely limited African Americans' rights in the South. The codes varied
from state to state, but in general, they were written with the intention of
keeping African Americans in conditions similar to slavery. The black codes
enraged Northerners.
What was President Andrew Johnson's plan for restoring the South to the
Union?
Johnson's plan to restore the South to the Union offered to pardon all former
citizens of the Confederacy who took an oath of loyalty to the Union. His plan
excluded Confederate officers and officials. His plan also included having each
former Confederate state ratify the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery.
Congressional Reconstruction (pages
269-271)
In late 1865, House and Senate Republicans created a Joint Committee on Reconstruction
to develop their own program for rebuilding the Union.
In March 1866, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866. The act gave citizenship to all
persons born in the United States, except Native Americans. It guaranteed the rights of
African Americans to own property and be treated equally in court. It granted the U.S.
government the right to sue people who violated these rights.
The Fourteenth Amendment granted citizenship to all persons born or
naturalized in the United States. It said that no state could deprive any
person of life, liberty, or property "without due process of law." No state
could deny any person "equal protection of the laws." Congress passed the
amendment in June 1866. It was sent to the states for ratification.
The Fourteenth Amendment became the major issue in the congressional
election of 1866. Johnson was against the amendment. He wanted Northern
voters to elect a new majority in Congress that would support his plan for
Reconstruction. Increased violence against African Americans and their
supporters erupted in the South. The Republicans won a three-to-one
majority in Congress.
In March 1867, Congress passed the Military Reconstruction Act. This act did away with
Johnson's Reconstruction programs. The act divided the former Confederate states (except
Tennessee because it had ratified the Fourteenth Amendment) into five military districts. A Union
general was placed in charge of each district. Each former Confederate state had to hold another
constitutional convention to write a constitution that Congress would accept. The constitution
had to give the right to vote to all adult male citizens. After the state ratified its new constitution,
it had to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment. Then the state could elect people to Congress.
The Republicans feared that Johnson would veto their Reconstruction plan and
interfere with their plans by refusing to enforce the Military Reconstruction Act.
Congress passed the Command of the Army Act that required all orders from the
president to go through the headquarters of the general of the army. Congress
passed the Tenure of Office Act that required the Senate to approve the removal
of any government official whose appointment had required the Senate's
approval.
On February 21, 1868, Johnson challenged the Tenure of Office Act by firing Secretary of
War Edwin M. Stanton. Stanton supported the Congressional Reconstruction plan.
After Johnson fired Stanton, the House of Representatives voted to impeach Johnson. They
charged Johnson with breaking the law by refusing to uphold the Tenure of Office Act and
with trying to undermine the Reconstruction program. After more than two months of
debate, the Senate vote was one vote short for conviction.
The impeachment took away what little power Johnson had left. He did not run for election in
1868. General Ulysses S. Grant was the Republican candidate. The presence of Union soldiers in
the South helped African Americans vote in large numbers. Grant easily won the election.
Republicans kept majorities in both houses of Congress.
The Republican-led Congress proposed the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution. This
amendment said that the right to vote could not be denied on account of race, color, or previous
servitude. The amendment became part of the Constitution in 1870.
How did Radical Reconstruction affect the South?
It changed Southern politics by bringing hundreds of thousands of African
Americans into the political process for the first time. It began to change
Southern society.
Chapter 7, Section 5
Did You Know?
In the 1870s, Reconstruction governments started public school systems for both
Southern whites and African Americans. Within a few years, about 50 percent of
white children and about 40 percent of African American children attended
public school. For the most part, white students and African American students
attended separate schools. Only three states—Louisiana, South Carolina, and
Florida—required that the schools be integrated, but the laws were not enforced.
Republican Rule in the South (pages
272-273)
By 1870 all former Confederate states had rejoined the Union.
During Reconstruction, many Northerners moved to the South. Many were
elected or appointed to positions in the state governments. Southerners referred
to these Northerners as carpetbaggers because some brought suitcases made of
carpet fabric. Many Southerners viewed the Northerners as intruders who
wanted to gain from the South's postwar troubles.
Southerners also disliked scalawags—white Southerners who worked with
the Republicans and supported Reconstruction.
Thousands of formerly enslaved people took part in governing the South.
They were delegates to state conventions, local officials, and state and
federal legislators. Hiram Revels became the first African American in the
United States Senate.
The Republican Party became powerful in the South and started many
major reforms. The reforms included repealing the black codes,
establishing state hospitals, and rebuilding roads and railways damaged
during the Civil War.
To pay for Republican reforms, many Southern state governments
borrowed money and imposed high property taxes.
Some Republicans in the South were corrupt. Graft, or getting money
illegally through politics, was common in the South.
What kinds of reforms did the Republican Party institute in the South?
The reforms included repealing the black codes; establishing state hospitals
and institutions; and rebuilding roads, railways, and bridges.
African American Communities (page
274)
Many formerly enslaved African Americans attended schools in the South
during Reconstruction. By 1876 about 40 percent of all African American
children attended school in the region.
African Americans in the South established churches, which served as the
center of many African American communities.
Southern Resistance (page 274)
Many Southern whites resented African Americans and the "Black
Republican" governments. Some Southerners organized secret societies
such as the Ku Klux Klan to undermine the Republican rule.
Klan members terrorized supporters of the Republican governments,
including African Americans, white Republicans, carpetbaggers, teachers in
African American schools, and others who supported the Republican
governments and equality for African Americans.
In 1870 and 1871, Congress passed three Enforcement Acts to end the violence in
the South, one of which made the activities of the Ku Klux Klan illegal.
What kinds of people did the Ku Klux Klan target for intimidation?
African Americans, white Republicans, carpetbaggers, teachers in African American
schools, and others who supported the Republican governments and equality for
African Americans
The Troubled Grant
Ulysses S. Grant had little political experience. He believed his only
Administration
role as president
was to carry out the laws. He let Congress develop
(pages 274-275)
policy. This left the president weak and ineffective, and it helped divide
the Republican Party and undermined public support for
Reconstruction.
Democrats attacked the Republican economic policies, saying that the
policies benefited wealthy Americans at the expense of the poor.
Liberal Republicans agreed with the Democrats and left the Republican
Party in 1872. The Liberal Republicans and the Democratic Party
nominated the influential newspaper publisher Horace Greeley for
president.
Grant, the Republican candidate, won the election of 1872.
Grant's second term of office was badly hurt by a series of scandals. Grant's secretary of
war, William Belknap, accepted bribes from merchants operating at Western army posts.
In 1875 the "Whiskey Ring" scandal involved a group of government officials, possibly
including Grant's private secretary, and distillers in St. Louis who cheated the government
by filing false tax reports.
The Panic of 1873 caused many smaller banks to close and the stock
market to fall. Thousands of businesses closed and tens of thousands
of Americans became unemployed.
In 1874 Democrats won control of the House of Representatives and
gained seats in the Senate.
What two factors hurt the Republican Party during Grant's administration?
The scandals in the Grant administration and the deepening economic
depression hurt the Republican Party.
Reconstruction Ends (pages 275-276)
During the 1870s, Democrats worked to regain control of state and local
governments from the Republicans. Southern Democrats defined the
elections as a struggle between whites and African Americans. By 1876 the
Democrats had control of most Southern state legislatures.
The Republican candidate in the election of 1876 was Rutherford B. Hayes.
Hayes wanted to end Radical Reconstruction. The Democratic candidate was
Samuel Tilden, the former governor of New York. Neither candidate won a
majority of electoral votes. There was so much election fraud that it was
hard to tell who had won.
Congress worked out the Compromise of 1877, in which Hayes became
president. It is believed that to get Southern Democrats in Congress to agree
to Hayes as president, the compromise included the promise by the
Republicans to pull federal troops out of the South.
Hayes pulled federal troops out of the South. This ended Republican
governments and Reconstruction in the South.
How did Democrats "save" the South from Republican rule?
Democrats worked to regain control of state and local governments from the
Republicans. Southern Democrats defined the elections as a struggle between
whites and African Americans. It is believed that to get Southern Democrats in
Congress to agree to Hayes as president, the Compromise of 1877 included the
promise by the Republicans to pull federal troops out of the South. This ended
Republican governments and Reconstruction in the South.
A "New South" Arises (pages 276-277)
President Hayes wanted to put an end to the nation's regional differences.
Many Southerners wanted a "New South" with a strong industrial economy.
An alliance between Southerners and Northern financiers brought great
economic changes to parts of the South. Capital from Northerners built railroads
and dozens of new industries.
Many parts of the South still based their economies on agriculture. Most African
Americans had little political power and worked under difficult and unfair
conditions.
After Reconstruction ended, African Americans returned to plantations owned by
whites, where they worked for wages or became tenant farmers, paying rent for
the land they farmed.
Most tenant farmers ended up becoming sharecroppers. They paid a share of
their crops to cover their rent and farming costs.
Although sharecropping allowed African American farmers to control their own
work schedule and working conditions, it also trapped them in poverty because
they could not make enough money to pay off their debts and buy their own
land.
Why did many Southerners want a "New South"?
They realized that the South could never return to the pre-Civil War agricultural
economy. Instead they were convinced that the region had to develop a strong
industrial economy.