Transcript Did Reconstruction fail?

Reconstruction
1865 - 1877
What is “Historiography” ?
Did Reconstruction fail?
QUESTIONS
• Southern View
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How will you/we restore the southern economy?
What rights will be guaranteed to Blacks?
Can states determine rights and privileges?
Will we be compensated for damages and loss of property?
QUESTIONS
Northern Perspective
How will South be punished?
Will we have to pay southern war debts?
How will freed blacks be provided with
opportunities?
• How will the government respond to the changes in
demographics?
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I. Problems facing the
Government
as the Civil War ends
Economic
How to rebuild the devastation
of infrastructure & loss of capital?
Political
How do we bring Southern
states back into the Union?
Wade-Davis Bill
2nd Inaugural Address
LINCOLN CONFLICTS WITH
CONGRESS
ON THE POLITICAL STATUS OF
SOUTHERN STATES
• Majority of Republican Congress at end of Civil War sees the South as
“Conquered Provinces” who committed “Suicide” by leaving the Union
Lincoln sees the South as “Runaway Sisters” who never really left the Union
Debate on a Lenient or Strict policy to readmit the Southern States
• Lincoln proposes “10% Plan” to readmit Southern States
• “Radical Republicans” propose “50% Plan” (Wade-Davis Bill)
• Lincoln “pocket vetoes” Wade-Davis Bill in July 1864
Following the re-election of Lincoln (Nov. ‘64) , end of war
and unexpected death of Lincoln (April ‘65),
VP (Tennessee Democrat) Andrew Johnson
becomes President and quickly expands conflict with “Radical
Republicans” who dominated Congress lead by Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania
Video Clip #1 – Assassination of Lincoln
Andrew Johnson
Thaddeus Stevens
1866 cartoon illustrating conflict over Reconstruction policy
Between Johnson (President) & Stevens (Congress)
Film Clip: Andrew Johnson
WHY JOHNSON?
V I D E O D E B R I E F : WH Y H A D L I N C O L N C H O S E N H I M ?
Social: What will happen to the “Freedmen”?
Freedmen after the War: (Radical Republicans) voting rights,
elected office, property, education
(Pres. Johnson)
-States should be able
to grant suffrage.
-No civil rights
guarantees
II. Treatment of the
Former Slaves
Freedmen’s Bureau established in
1865 to assist former slaves &
enforce new federal policies.
Freedman’s Bureau
headed by Union General
Oliver Howard
Freedman’s Bureau generally successful
in area of education and some social welfare assistance
Shortcomings of Freedman’s Bureau
Primary Source Reading – p. 114
• “40 Acres & a Mule” promised & taken away
• Lack of funding & widespread corruption
“Revolutionary” Changes
for African-Americans??
13th Amendment (1865)
Ends slavery
14th Amendment (1868)
Establishes black citizenship &
“equal protection under the law”
15th Amendment (1870)
Suffrage for all men
Black Codes passed by most Southern States
Attempt to re-establish white supremacy
Slave Labor Gradually Replaced by
Sharecropping System –
Limited economic opportunities of former slaves
Many Northerners Criticize the Freeman’s Bureau
Video Clip #2 – “Carpetbaggers in the South”
Republican party backed “Union League” & “Carpet baggers”
Anger White Southern Democrats
III. POLITICAL CONFLICTS
& SOUTHERN RESENTMENT GROW
“Radicals” in
Congress override
Johnson’s Veto of
Freedmen's Bureau
Bill in 1866
“Swing Around the Circle Tour” Congressional Election of 1866
Seals Johnson’s Political Fate
Firing of Sect. of War Edwin Stanton violating
Tenure of Office Act triggers impeachment
of Johnson in 1867
Former General
U.S. Grant elected
in 1868 &
reelected
in 1872 despite
political
inexperience &
widespread
corruption
Why?
“Waving the
Bloody Shirt”
& 15th Amendment
“Military Reconstruction” of Grant Era
Enforces Constitutional Amendments &
Angers Southern Whites
1870 Cartoon Illustrates Southern Democratic Anger
Video Clip #4 – Formation of KKK
Ku Klux Klan
and other similar
“paramilitary terrorist”
groups established
by Southern Democrats for
“Self Protection” and to
“Redeem” the South
Primary Source p. 115
• Anti-Klan Force Acts (‘70 & ‘71)
Not Effective
• KKK growth shows gradual
restoration of “Home Rule”
Historiography Question:
Were the KKK “terrorists” or
“freedom fighters”?
“Compromise of 1877”
Ends Reconstruction
A political deal following
disputed presidential
election of 1876.
Results
Republican Rutherford B. Hayes
becomes President
Federal troops pulled from
last Southern states.
End of Federal
support for Southern blacks
Republicans get Presidency
Democrats get “Home Rule”
Blacks get 100 years of
government approved
discrimination
1915 “epic” film
The Birth of a Nation
depicts KKK as “heroes”
and blacks as “villains”
of Reconstruction
Interpretations of
Reconstruction change
drastically following
Civil Rights era of the 1960s
Historiography constantly changing
How history is told
often reveals as much about
the time it was told
as about the past