Transcript Chapter 17 - Spearfish School District

Reconstructing the Union
Presidential Reconstruction
--Lincoln’s plan for executive branch oversight, while
inviting southerners into Republican Party (10%
plan—loyalty oath, then state government with
constitution that abolished slavery, provided for
black education)
--Lincoln planned to be generous to defeated South
Senators Benjamin Wade of
Ohio and Henry Winter Davis
of Maryland; a cartoon
making fun of Johnson’s
reconstruction policies.
Radical Republicans—Lincoln’s 10%
too
lenient, freedmen suffer, Congressional involvement
Wade-Davis bill—stricter, military governance,
50%--pocket veto, but Lincoln ready to compromise
Johnson’s Character—
Little education, champion of
common man and hater of wealthy, but a racist who was
tactless and inflexible
President Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, a
former tailor then politician of the common
man, was a leader who lacked the deft
political touch of Abraham Lincoln.
Black prisoners on a chain gang. They may
have committed no crime other than being
in the wrong place at the wrong time
(vagrancy) while looking for family or
opportunity.
Johnson’s program—like Lincoln’s
plan, but even more lenient
Southern defiance—changed or disregarded
reconstruction program, snubbed Freedmen’s rights
Black Codes—some rights (marriage), most denied
Elections in the South—Confederates back
in; Johnson pardons aplenty
In 1865, the South Carolina legislature passed Black Code laws prohibiting black
farmers from selling anything without "written permission of the employer or
District judge." They also prohibited ownership of weapons, while allowing any
white person to arrest any "person of color" for any misdemeanor. They also
instituted a "sunrise to sunset" workday and stipulated that blacks could only be
farm laborers or hired servants, unless they purchased an expensive license.
Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner, along
with Benjamin Wade, were the leaders of the
Radical Republicans. Stevens, an outspoken
fighter for black rights, was buried at his
request in one of the few integrated cemeteries.
Issue of black rights—two views:
Johnson (inferior), Radicals (rights for Freedmen good for Republican Party)
Johnson’s vetoes—Freedmen’s Bureau (food, clothing, medical) extension,
civil rights bill meant to defeat Black Codes (civil rights bill veto overridden)
Provisions of the 14th Amendment—repay Union war debt, prohibit
payment of Confederate debt, disqualify prominent Confederates, defined AfricanAmerican citizenship, and prohibited depriving rights “without due process,” and
“equal protection of the laws”
Anti-black riots—violence targeted “uppity” blacks
Repudiation of Johnson—despite Johnson’s campaign (a fiasco), “waving
the bloody shirt” brings 2/3rds Republican majorities in both houses, every northern
governor, every northern legislature
Congressional Reconstruction
Resistance of southern whites—series of four Reconstruction Acts
needed to break white resistance and bring southern states politically back into the
Union
Blacks desire for land—40 acres and a mule, economic independence
Failure of land redistribution—anti-American? All land proposals
rejected: favoritism, property rights
Tenure of Office Act
—Senate dismissal/approval trap
regarding cabinet members
Johnson acquitted
—high crimes, not political crimes
before impeachment (one vote
short)
The Senate chamber during the
impeachment of Andrew Johnson.
Reconstruction in the South
Background of black political leaders—most literate
Divisions among southern Republicans—Scalawags vs.
Carpetbaggers
New state constitutions—more rights + social reform
Race and social equality—cautious
Corruption—yes, but rampant all over—End
The gaze of
carpetbaggers from the
Southern point of view,
sneaky and suspiciouslooking, or a burden to
the South, protected by
Union occupation
soldiers.
Black
Aspirations
Changing employment
—anywhere but “home” plantation
Importance of names—first, last: origins
Upholding the family—recognized marriage important;
men head of household
Former slaves,
lining up for rations
from the
Freedman’s Bureau.
Black education—for children, adults, best hope for advancement
Teachers in black schools—missionaries,
“peacetime soldiers,” who often faced white resistance
Independent black churches—same
religion, why different churches from whites?
One of the early African
Methodist Episcopal Churches.
Sharecropping—independence, but possible perpetual debt to
landowner
Bureau’s mixed record—depended on individual agent’s integrity:
favored freedmen or planters; Freedmen’s Courts to avoid state courts
End of the Bureau—by 1872, Northerners tired, bored, disinterested
Planters’ new values
—paternalism dead, strictly
economic; segregation
sounding good rather than
slavery’s integration
The concentration of slave quarters on a
plantation during slavery (left) was
replaced by separated individual
sharecroppers shacks placed on each
family’s plot after the Civil War.
The Abandonment of
Reconstruction
Fifteenth Amendment—freedmen’s right to vote, kinda
Women’s suffrage rejected—too much at once?
Corruption under Grant—not him, but seemingly
everyone else, and he didn’t do much about it
Civil Rights Act of 1875—last gasp before death
of Reconstruction: anti-discrimination in public places,
but unenforced and largely ignored
A New York City
newspaper editor,
Horace Greeley ran
against President Grant
as a Liberal Republican
in 1872. He favored
corruption reform more
than protecting
freemen’s rights. He
also said, “Go west,
young man.”
Waning northern concern—disillusionment
Depression and Democratic resurgence—other fish to fry
Racism—at least I’m above someone; Ku Klux Klan way of taking back control
Samuel Tilden lost the 1876 election,
though he’d won the popular vote, on a
backroom deal to Rutherford B. Hayes,
who some would later call
“Rutherfraud.”
Mississippi Plan—Democrats: as much violence as needed to win
Compromise of 1877—Hayes gets undisputed Presidency if Union troops
withdrawn, southerners get control of their states—in other words,
RECONSTRUCTION IS DEAD
Redeemers take control—South for white southerners
End of the Davis Bend experiment—Montgomery family thrown off
Davis plantations