Transcript Reconstruction and the Changing South

1863-1896
RECONSTRUCTION AND THE CHANGING
SOUTH
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.
-- Lincoln’s 2nd inaugural address
March 4, 1865
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/richmond.h
tm
THE VICTORIOUS NORTH
Some 800,000 returning Union soldiers
needed jobs
 The North lost more soldiers than the South
had
 Since only a few battles had taken place on
Northern soil, farms and cities were hardly
touched.

THE DEFEATED SOUTH
Cities and farms lay in ruins
 2/3 of railroad tracks had been torn up
 Columbia, Richmond, and Atlanta had been
leveled
 Confederate money was worthless
 4 million freedmen had “joined” the population

FINANCIAL COST TO SOUTH (P. 404)
Livestock killed – 40%
 Farm machinery destroyed – 50%
 Drop in total property wealth – 66%
 Total national wealth held by South,1860 – 30%
 Total national wealth held by South,1870 – 12%

What questions might there be post Civil War?
WHAT TO DO?
Richmond, Virginia
Atlanta
Virginia farm
Confederate money - The
reverse side of the $1
bill was blank. Notice
the lack of color ink on
the second bill. This
was because as the Civil
War continued, the
South had less money to
make money
FREEDMEN’S BUREAU
Congress & Lincoln agreed on one proposal,
creating an agency to help former slaves.
 Food, clothing, jobs, schools, and medical care
for former slaves and poor whites.
 Provided care for more than 1 million people.

Black schoolhouse during reconstruction.
Sharecropper’s cabin in South Carolina, 1866
How do you get states functioning again after war?
WHAT’S A REASONABLE SOLUTION?
RECONSTRUCTION PLANS



Lincoln’s 10% Plan
A southern state could return
if 10% voters swore loyalty,
Had to abolish slavery,
Amnesty for those who swore
loyalty to the Union (except
Conf. leaders)
“When the doctrine that quality and
not the number of voters is to decide
the right to govern, then we no longer
have a republic.”
-Thaddeus Stevens




Wade-Davis Bill
Majority of southern white men
had to swear loyalty
Anyone who had volunteered
in the Confed. army couldn’t
vote or hold office
Lincoln wouldn’t sign it
because he felt it was too harsh
Pocket-veto
LINCOLN IS ASSASSINATED
Lincoln never got the chance to persuade
Congress to accept his Reconstruction plan.
 He was shot by John Wilkes Booth April 14,
1865, five days after Lee’s surrender.
 Booth was later caught and killed in a barn
outside the city.

Determined to keep the Union intact
whatever the cost, Lincoln had presided
over the nation through her darkest hour,
serving in a way that few in history have
ever been called upon to do. His
leadership made him one of the most
revered of all American heroes, and poll
after poll has named him the favorite
president of most American citizens. There
is never a close runner-up.
“Now he belongs to the ages.”
Edwin Stanton, U.S. Secretary of War
V-P ANDREW JOHNSON BECOMES PRESIDENT
His plan was much milder than expected
 Majority of voters had to pledge loyalty to the
United States.
 State had to ratify the 13th Amendment
(banning slavery nationwide)

The southern states quickly met
Johnson’s conditions
and were admitted back
into the Union
Southern states
didn’t allow
blacks to vote
Congress was upset that former
Confederate leaders were allowed
to be reps so they refused
to let reps take their seats
SHOWDOWN!
BLACK CODES

convict labor, vagrancy, must have home and means of support

in Mississippi, blacks forbidden to rent or own land outside
towns

in South Carolina, black children could be apprenticed to
whites if parents did not educate

the point? to keep blacks in slavery - insure labor supply

enforced by southern "county militia"
RADICAL RECONSTRUCTION
Black codes angered Congress
 Congress thought President Johnson’s mild
approach encouraged the black codes
 Radical Republicans vowed to take control of
Reconstruction
 They joined with the moderate Republicans to
reduce the power of the southern Democrats

Civil Rights Act – gave citizenship to African
Americans.
 Johnson vetoed, Congress overrode veto
 14th Amendment – defined citizens and
guaranteed protection against discrimination
for all citizens
 Reconstruction Act – threw out state
governments that refused to ratify 14th
Am.,established martial law in South, forced
any returning states to ratify 14th
Amendment

IMPEACHMENT OF PRES. JOHNSON
Didn’t succeed, one
vote shy
 Moderate Republicans
said you can’t impeach
the President just
because you disagree
with him.

ULYSSES GRANT
ELECTED
With 500,000 blacks
voting, Grant easily
won the election.
 The next year, the
15th Amendment was
passed, forbade any
state to deny the right
to vote based on
race.

NEW FORCES IN THE SOUTH
White Southern Republicans (scalawags)
 Northerners: some hope to get rich off the
South, Some just fell in love with the South
(carpetbaggers)
 African Americans

KKK
Secret society formed to help southern
Democrats gain power
 Threatened Southern republicans and African
Americans
 Used destruction, torture, and murder.

Testimony of a former slave to Congress about the KKK
GRANT’S ADMINISTRATION
Marked by widespread corruption ($1,000 for a
horse bet, coffins, perfume, and hams)
 Grant had appointed many friends to
government, stole large sums of money
 Amnesty Act in 1872 – nearly all white
southerners could vote again

END OF RECONSTRUCTION
Democrat Tilden v. Republican Hayes
 Election too close to call
 House decided to elect Rutherford B. Hayes
 For the next 100 years, the South would be
Democrat

JIM CROW LAWS
Laws specifically discriminating against blacks
 States could impose legal punishments on
people for consorting with members of another
race.
 The most common types of laws forbade
intermarriage and ordered business owners to
keep their black and white clientele separated.
(segregation)

examples
ATTEMPTS TO PREVENT BLACK SUFFRAGE
Literacy tests
 Poll tax
 Grandfather clause

Example of literacy tests and voter application
http://www.crmvet.org/info/lithome.htm
PLESSY V. FERGUSON
Supreme court case
 Ruled segregation was ok
 “Separate but equal”
