Transcript 24-Reconstruction_After_the_Civil_War

Reconstruction:
the period of time between 1865-1877, in which the U.S.
began to rebuild and readmit the Southern states to the Union
“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 orphan, to do all
which may achieve and cherish a
just and lasting peace.”
~Abraham Lincoln
“The time has arrived when the
American people should understand
what crime is, and that is should be
punished, and its penalties enforced
and inflicted…Treason must be
made odious…traitors must be
punished and impoverished…their
social power must be destroyed. I
say, as to the leaders, punishment.
I say leniency, conciliation, and
amnesty to the thousands whom
they have misled and deceived.”
~Andrew Johnson
“We have turned, or are about to
turn, loose four million slaves
without a hut to shelter them or a
cent in their pockets. ... This
Congress is bound to provide for
them until they can take care of
themselves. If we do not furnish
them with homesteads, and hedge
them around with protective laws;
if we leave them to the legislation
of their late masters, we had better
have left them in bondage.”
~Thaddeus Stevens,
Radical Republican
Rebuilding
-Had to rebuild everything
-Political
•Readmit Confederate states
•Deal with rebellious leaders
-Social
•Find a way to deal with hatred
and freedmen
-Economic
•Rebuild the economy of the
South
Lincoln’s Plan
-Preserve Union
•Wanted South’s return to be
quick and easy
-Higher Cause
-forgiving peace
-”with malice toward none,
with charity for all”
-amnesty to most
•Except for high-ranking CSA
officials
-10% must take oath
•“Ten-Percent Plan”
Why did Lincoln want a “forgiving
peace” with the South?
Who would oppose this? Why?
-little mention of former slaves
Radical Plan
•Charles Sumner/Thaddeus
Stevens (Congressmen)
-Radical Republicans
-harsher plan
-Wade-Davis Bill of 1864
•Congress is responsible for
Reconstruction, not President
-martial law
•Send troops to South to serve
as the government
-majority takes oath
•Not just 10%
-bar former leaders from office
Radical Republicans, like Thaddeus
Stevens, opposed Lincoln’s plan
because they felt it was too
forgiving to the rebellious South.
Lincoln Assassinated
-John Wilkes Booth
-Andrew Johnson is President
•Wants to punish Southern
officials
-tried to follow Lincoln’s plan
with additions
-13th Amendment
•Abolished slavery but did not
mention freedmen’s rights
-Congress refuses plan
•Radical Republicans do not
think it harsh enough
-South tries to reorganize
under Lincoln’s plan
Southern Politics
-Black Codes
•Laws that limited what free
blacks could do (segregation,
jobs, etc.)
-many of the same leaders
elected to office
•Johnson pardoned CSA leaders,
many of which were elected to
high offices
-blacks denied most rights
•Could not vote, serve on jury
-many people of the Union saw
little change and began to
question the outcome of the
war
“For we colored people did not know
how to be free and the white people did
not know how to have a free colored
person about them.”
~Houston Holloway
Power Struggle
-Congress refuses to admit new
southern delegates
•See no change since before war
-Congress passes Civil Rights
laws but Johnson vetoes
•Gave blacks citizenship,
prohibited black codes
-Congress bypasses Johnson
-14th Amendment
•Grants citizenship and equal
protection rights to former
slaves (all men)
-Radicals control Congress after
1866 elections with large
majority – many angry with
Johnson, vote new people in
Radical Reconstruction
-Reconstruction Act of 1867
•New Congress in control of
Reconstruction
-override the President
•Johnson tries to veto, Congress
overrides
-military rule of South
•Divides South into 5 military
districts, ruled by a federal
general and troops
-protect former slaves
•Must ratify 14th Amendment
•Must ensure the black vote
-bans former leaders
•Denied the right to vote
Radical Reconstruction in Congress
divided the South into five military
districts. How did Southerners,
most of which had already applied
for readmittance under President
Johnson, feel about this legislation?
New Government
-Scalawags
•Republicans already living in the
South who favor Republican
government (hated)
-Carpetbaggers
•Republicans who move South
after Civil War to make a profit
or to gain power (hated)
-African Americans can vote
•Most vote Republican
-Black leaders elected
Hiram R. Revels was appointed by the
predominantly Republican Mississippi
Legislature in 1870 to serve out the unexpired
term of Jefferson Davis. He became the first
black to serve in the U. S. Senate.
•Hiram Revels
-some corruption
New Government
Political cartoon about
Reconstruction in the
South. What is the
cartoonist saying about
the South’s burden
during Reconstruction?
Johnson Impeached
-Johnson fights with Radicals
•Felt Johnson was not doing his
job and enforcing Recon.
-Radicals seek to impeach
•Formally charge with
misconduct in office
-Tenure of Office Act
•President cannot fire people
on his Cabinet without Senate
approval
-Johnson tests the legality of
Act
•Fires a Radical Republican
from his Cabinet
-Johnson impeached but
acquitted (1st ever)
A ticket to attend the impeachment
trial of Andrew Johnson, the first
President to ever be impeached in
the United States. He was
impeached for violating the Tenure
of Office Act, when he fired a
Radical Republican sympathizer
from his Cabinet. He was acquitted,
though, because he argued that
Lincoln had appointed that Cabinet,
not him.
Grant Elected
-Johnson serves out term with
no real effect on policy
-General Grant is nominated
and wins election easily
•Many Republicans, esp. black
Republicans, vote for him
-15th Amendment
•Cannot prohibit any citizen
from voting based on “previous
condition of servitude”
Civil War General Ulysses S. Grant
becomes the 18th President of the
United States, following Johnson’s
disappointing behavior during
Reconstruction.