Transcript Chapter 22: “The Ordeal of Reconstruction”

Ch 22 PPT
“The Ordeal of Reconstruction”
1865-1877
Problems of Peace: 1865–1877
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Rebel leaders given jail terms (Pres Johnson
pardoned rebel leaders 1868)
Transportation system broke down.
Banks / businesses closed.
Slave-labor system collapsed.
Cotton fields with weeds.
Planter aristocrats reduced to poverty. Their
investment in slaves evaporated.
Radical Republicans take control of policy in 1866
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Conservative white democrats regained power in
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each state by 1877
TMWK CH 22
1. Pg 482 Picture How is being a freedmen
different from being a slave?
2. Pg 487 Picture How is this different from
being in slavery?
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Black
Codes
1865: Blacks Codes designed to regulate the affairs
of emancipated Blacks - aimed to ensure a stable
and subservient labor force.
Strong penalties for those who broke labor contracts.
Had right to marry.
Could not serve on jury; some barred from owning or
leasing land.
Could be punished for idleness - subjected to work in
a chain gang.
Many Blacks became sharecropper farmers.
Response from North: Freedmen’s Bureau and
Civil Rights Bill
Are They Truly Free?
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Emancipation was uneven and slow.
Some Blacks attempting to move to freedom were
murdered.
Some Southerners resisted/protested emancipation
until it was legally passed by govt
Tens of thousands went in search of family members
and to test their freedom.
1878 through 1880: 25,000 Blacks from Louisiana,
Texas, and Miss. moved to Kansas. Steam boat
capts. began to refuse to transport these
“Exodusters” across the Miss. River.
Blacks formed own churches – became a focal point
of Black community life.
Education for Blacks – societies for self improvement
Freedman’s Bureau (expired in
1872
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March 1865: Congress created Freedmen’s
Bureau lead by Union Gen Oliver Howard.
1st type of welfare program in U.S.
Made to provide food, clothing, medical
care, and education to both freedmen and
white refugees.
Greatest success was in education – taught
Blacks how to read.
Authorized to settle former slaves on 40 acres
of land, but little land made it into their hands.
Some Blacks convinced to sign labor
contracts to work for their former “masters.”
Pres Andrew Johnson, who shared Southern
Supremacist feelings, tried to end
Union General Oliver O. Howard
Freedman’s Bureau
Freedmen’s Bureau Seen
Through
Southern
Eyes:
“Plenty to eat
and nothing to
do.”
Freedmen’s Bureau School
TMWK
3. Political Cartoon pg 488 What is the political
cartoon depicting? Is it for or against something or
someone? Add OI
Johnson: “The Tailor President”
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Came from poverty: was an orphan.
Moved to TN - elected to Congress
as Democrat.
Gained attention when he didn’t want to
secede along with his state of TN.
Johnson was a Southern Democrat: Vice-Pres
in the Union Party (but pro-slavery) as
Republicans needed to attract support from War
Democrats.
Wasn’t popular as pres – didn’t fit in with
North or South.
Plans for Reconstruction
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1863 Lincoln’s 10% Reconstruction Plan: a state
could re-enter the Union when 10% of its voters in the
pres election of 1860 had taken an oath of allegiance
to U.S. and pledged to abide by emancipation. Next, a
formal setting up of a state govt.
Republican Opposition in Congress: 1864 Congress passed Wade-Davis Bill which required
50% of a state’s voters take the oath of allegiance.
Lincoln vetoed it.
Thus some felt rebel states should be restored to the
Union simply and swiftly while others felt South
should be punished and their social structure
uprooted
Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan
May 1865: Pres Johnson agreed with Lincoln.
He passed his own Reconstruction proclamation
to quickly allow Southern states to re-enter the
Union.
 disenfranchised leading Confederates including those with taxable property worth more
than $20,000.
 Called for special state conventions - required to
repeal the ordinances of secession
 ratify the slave-freeing 13 Amendment
 repudiate all Confederate debts
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Congressional Reconstruction
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Two factions: 1) Majority were moderate who
sided with Lincoln. 2) Minority radical group
thought South should pay.
Radical Republicans didn’t want to give up
political advantage to rebellious Democrats.
(1861-1865 Republicans had passed Morrill
Tariff, Pacific Railroad Act, Homestead Act).
Republican concern: South is stronger
politically because blacks now count for one
person instead of 3/5’s (12 more votes in
Congress, 12 more in presidential electoral
votes)
Johnson Clashes with Congress
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Pres Johnson vetoed Freedmen’s Bureau Bill –
Congress re-passes it.
March 1866: Congress passed Civil Rights Bill:
gave Blacks the privilege of American
citizenship – Johnson vetoes it, but then
Congress steamrollered over veto by 2/3
majority.
14 Amendment – Gave Blacks citizenship to
make sure South wouldn’t be able to repeal the
Civil Rights Bill. (reduced representation of a
state if denied Blacks the ballot)
Blacks still not given right to vote, but Radical
Republicans agreed all states had to ratify the
amendment to remain in the Union.
Republican Control of Congress
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Radicals: led by Charles Sumner and Thaddeus
Stevens - want to keep South out of the Union
as long as possible and to bring about a social
and economic transformation.
Moderates: (the majority) wanted quicker
reconstruction/re-uniting
Both agreed upon the necessity to enfranchise
Black voters.
They would both compromise
Charles Sumner & Thaddeus
Stevens Senate
House
TMWK
4. Pg 491 Map During Reconstruction, how was the
South divided up?
5. Pg 491 Chart What two years were most of the
South readmitted to representation in Congress?
(thus gaining political power)
6. Pg 491 Chart What are “Redeemer” regimes?
Reconstruction by Sword
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March 1867 Reconstruction Act - divided the
South into 5 military zones
Laid guidelines for readmission of states:
Must accept 14th amendment: freedmen given
citizenship
15th Amendment: gave blacks right to vote in
1869; Results in South - Black migration out of
the South and West.
Women: Amendments didn’t give women
suffrage.
5 Military Districts
Civil War Amendments
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13th Amendment:
14th :
15th:
Civil War Amendments
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13th Amendment: Slavery is prohibited in
U.S. or any part controlled by it
14th: All people born in U.S. are citizens at
place of their birth (Civil Rights Amendment)
15th: Citizen’s right to vote won’t be denied
or taken away due to race, color, or previous
slave status
Reconstruction in the South
 Having gained right to vote, Southern Black
men began to organize politically through the
Union League.
 Union League: network of political clubs that
educated members in civic duties and
campaigned for Republican candidates.
 Other purposes: Build Black churches and
schools, represent Black grievances in
workplace and govt, recruit militias to protect
Black communities from White retaliators.
 Black men began serving in Congress
 Southerners hated seeing former slaves hold
higher positions than they
 There was contempt for both groups in the
Black Political Participation
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1868-1876: 14 Black Congressman and 2 Black
Senators served in D.C.
Former slaves holding office angered plantation
owners.
Southerners lashed out at White allies of the Blacks,
calling them “scalawags”- Southern Whites
supporting Reconstruction & the Republican party and
“carpetbaggers”-Northerners who settled in South
after Civil War as Republican political appointees
and for financial gain.
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Steps taken to establish adequate public schools.
Property rights guaranteed to women.
Scalawags and Carpetbaggers
Black Reconstruction
Ku Klux Klan: “Invisible Empire
of the South.”
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1866 Secret organization began in TN: angry
over Blacks being successful as legislators.
Dedicated to scaring blacks into not voting or
seeking employment.
Committed Violence: floggings, mutilations,
murders.
1870-1871: To protect voting rights Congress
passed Force Acts - Federal troops used to
stamp out violence of KKK
Starting in 1890 - stopped Blacks from voting by
intimidation, fraud, and imposing literacy
The Ku Klux Klan
Secretary of War: Edwin M. Stanton
Impeachment of Andrew
Johnson
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Impeachment: Formal process which an
official is accused of unlawful activity
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1867 Congress passes Tenure of Office Act:
Law required Pres to get approval of Senate
before he could remove his appointees. (fire
anyone)
Congress did this to keep Edwin M. Stanton,
Sec of War, who was a Republican spy in
office.
1868 Johnson dismisses Stanton, then House
of Reps immediately voted to impeach Johnson
Not-Guilty Verdict for Johnson
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Johnson advised not to testify by his lawyers
Johnson’s counsel claimed Tenure of Office Act
was unconstitutional
May 1868, Johnson acquitted of charges by one
vote (7 out of 6 votes)
Radicals were enraged by the acquittal, but
other politicians feared setting the precedent of
removing the pres of office by impeachment
1867 Purchase of Alaska
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Sec William H. Seward bought Alaska from
Russia for $7.2 million. (2 cents per acre)
People laughed- called it “Seward’s Folly”
Not until gold and oil were discovered was the
purchase of Alaska considered to be a bargain
1959 admitted as state.
Why did Russia want to sell Alaska to the U.S.?
They were afraid it would fall into British
hands.
The Purchase of Alaska
Heritage of Reconstruction (18651877)
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Many Southerners regarded Reconstruction as
worse than the Civil War
War destroyed the South’s system of society
Republicans failed to improve conditions of the
South
Conditions for blacks would remain difficult
for at least another century until Civil Rights
Movement in 1950’s & 60’s
Post Reconstruction Era
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By 1877: Southern white resistance and withdrawal
of federal supervision brought about the
"redemption" of the South – “Redeemer
governments.”
African Americans were disenfranchised. The
redemption measures enforced greater racial
separation and increased white intimidation and
violence.
President Johnson’s Plan (10%+)
 Offered amnesty upon simple oath to all except
Confederate civil and military officers and those with property
over $20,000 (they could apply directly to Johnson)
 In new constitutions, they must accept minimum
conditions repudiating slavery, secession, and state debts.
 Named provisional governors in Confederate states and called
them to oversee elections for constitutional conventions.
1. Disenfranchised certain leading Confederates.
EFFECTS?
2. Pardoned planter aristocrats brought them back
to political power to control state organizations.
3. Republicans were outraged that planter elite
were back in power in the South!