Transcript Radical Republicans – believed in punishing the South

Thought
Saturday, April
9, 2016
of the Day
Reconstruction (1865-1877), the period that followed the
American Civil War, is perhaps the most controversial
era in American history. During the process of
Reconstruction many Northern politicians known as
Radical Republicans wanted to show no mercy toward
the South. These men wanted to punish the South for
seceding and for supporting slavery. If you were a
Northern legislator, would you rule and rebuild the South while
punishing them, or would you show mercy? Why?
Schedule:
TOTD
Unit V Test Return Review
The War is Over! Now what…
Notes p 24
Unit 6 Terms
Thursday 12/5
Lincoln’s plan for Reconstruction was based on forgiveness. He thus issued
the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction in 1863. Following Lincoln's
assassination in April 1865, the disagreements over the postwar
reconstruction policy led to a heated battle between the next president,
Andrew Johnson, and Congress. What do you think is going to be the biggest
problem?
TOTD
Reconstruction Research
P24 Notes
Unit VI Terms
Friday 12/6
You are now familiar with the
Reconstruction plans proposed by
Lincoln, the Radical Republicans and
President Johnson. Which one do you
think was the most logical at the time
and why?
Agenda:
Radical Repubs
Notes p24-25
Unit VI Terms
Rebuilding
-Had to rebuild everything
How do we…?
-Political – Decide how to accept
11 states back in Union
-criteria?
-representation?
-punishments?
Reconstruction:
1865-1877
What does the
US do now?
-Social – promote freedom and
civil rights to freed slaves
-Economic – rebuild the southern
economy
PAGE 24 Notes
Lincoln’s Plan
-Preserve Union
-Higher Cause
-forgiving peace
-”with malice toward none, with
charity for all”
-amnesty to most
-10% must take oath - if 10% of
state’s voters swear loyalty to
Union, they would be accepted
back
-little mention of former slaves
Radical Plan
-Radical Republicans – believed in
punishing the South
-Thaddeus Stevens
-Charles Sumner
-Wade-Davis Bill of 1864 –proposed
by Senator Wade & Representative
Henry Winter Davis.
harsher plan
Confiscating CSA land for freedmen
martial law – military rule
majority takes oath –
bars former leaders from office
• required 50 % of a state’s white
males take a loyalty oath to be
readmitted to the Union.
• states were required to allow blacks the
right to vote.
• Lincoln pocket vetoed it
Stevens:
•Major opponent of slavery
•Main Radical Republican in
Congress
Sumner:
•Senator from Massachusetts.
•Leader of the antislavery forces
in Massachusetts and a leader of
the Radical Republicans
Lincoln Assassinated
-John Wilkes Booth “THE
SOUTH IS AVENGED”
-Andrew Johnson is President
-tried to follow Lincoln’s plan
with additions
-13th Amendment – Abolishes
slavery (1865- Lincoln was
alive to see this go through!)
-Congress refuses plan –
Johnson’s plan was too
moderate
-South tries to reorganize
under Lincoln’s plan
Southern Politics
-Black Codes
Laws that sought to limit the rights
of African Americans
-many of the same leaders
elected to office
-blacks denied most rights
Limited employment
opportunities
Prohibited ownership of
property
Vagrancy laws
-many people of the Union saw
little change and began to
question the outcome of the
war
Power Struggle
-Congress refuses to admit new
southern delegates
-Congress passes Civil Right Act
of 1866 over a Johnson veto –
14th
amendment:
Grants
citizenship rights
and equal
protection of
laws
It was bitterly disputed,
particularly by Southern
states, which were forced to
ratify it in order to return
their delegations to Congress.
-superseded state laws
-guaranteed civil rights
-Congress bypasses Johnson to
achieve equal rights
-14th Amendment – 1868: It
set criteria for readmitted
states States would lose
representation if they refused
blacks the vote
-Refused office holding of former
confederate leaders
-Radicals control Congress after
1866 elections with large
majority
Radical Reconstruction
-Reconstruction Act of 1867
Aka: The Military
Reconstruction Act
-laid out a process for
readmitting the South
•
Created as a way for RR’s in
Congress to punish the southern
states that & ensure rights for
the free blacks in the South
•
The first military commanders
had unlimited power.
•
required the southern states to
elect new government officials
-override the President
-military rule of South –
divided into 5 regions
-protect former slaves
• the bill reduced the secessionist states to conquered
territory
• dividing them into five military districts (except TN. They
had ratified the 14th and was readmitted
• each governed by a Union general-had power to
appoint/remove state officials
•Congress declared martial law in the territories, dispatching
troops to keep the peace and protect former slaves.
•Voters were to be registered
• all freedmen were to be included as well as those white men
who took an extended loyalty oath
•state constitutional conventions w/ new officials, were to
draft new governing documents providing for black male
suffrage
•States were required to ratify the 14th Amendment prior to
readmission.
Johnson’s vetoes of these measures were overridden by Congress
New Government
-Scalawags – any Southerner who
supported the federal plan
of Reconstruction after the Civil
War or who joined with the black
freedman.
-most were middleclass men
-Carpetbaggers – Northerners who
moved to the South for economic
gains --Southerners viewed them
as opportunists looking to exploit
and profit from the region's
misfortunes–supported the
Republican Party, and would play a
central role in shaping new
southern governments during
Reconstruction.
-African Americans can vote
-Black leaders elected
(especially in Wilmington, NC)
-some corruption
Johnson Impeached
-Johnson fights with Radicals
-RRs seek to impeach & pass
the
-Tenure of Office Act – says
President must ask Congress
before firing certain govt
officials (ones hired by
previous presidents)
-Johnson tests the legality of
Act – fires his Secretary of
State (Stanton)
-Johnson impeached but
acquitted
House Republicans, tired of
presidential vetoes that blocked
Military Reconstruction
impeached him w/a vote of:
126–47 for violating the Tenure
of Office Act. …
Grant Elected
-Johnson serves out term with
no real effect on policy
-General Grant is nominated and
wins election easily
-15th Amendment – protects
voters on basis of race, color
or previous condition of
servitude
- States use literacy
tests to disenfranchise black
voters