Transcript Monday, November 9

5.3 The Union victory in the Civil War and the contested
reconstruction of the South settled the issues of slavery and
secession, but left unresolved many questions about the power
of the federal government and citizenship rights.
• 13th Amendment – abolished slavery
• 14th Amendment – granted African Americans citizenship, equal protection
under the law. For the first time, the Constitution required STATES as well as the
federal government to uphold the rights of citizens.
• In the 1950s and later, the Supreme Court would make “equal protection of the
laws” and “due process” the basis of civil rights for minorities, women, children
disabled persons, and those accused of crimes.
• 15th Amendment – granted African American males the right to vote
• The Women’s rights movement was both emboldened and divided over the 14th
and 15th Amendments to the Constitution.
Reconstruction Plans
Lincoln’s Plan
• Because Lincoln thought the Southern states had never left the Union, he
hoped they could be reestablished by meeting a minimum test of political
loyalty.
• Proclamation of Amnesty & Reconstruction, 1863 – a process for
reconstructing the state governments in the South so that Unionists were in
charge rather than secessionists.
• A state could be reestablished and accepted as legitimate by the US
president as soon as at least 10% of the voters in that state took the loyalty
oath.
• This meant that each state had to rewrite its constitution to eliminate
slavery and secession.
• Lincoln’s lenient policy was designed to shorten the war and get more
validity to his Emancipation Proclamation.
Lincoln’s plan resulted in the Wade-Davis Bill
• Many Republicans in Congress objected to Lincoln’s 10% plan because
they feared it made it too easy for southern state governments to be
controlled by disloyal secessionists and the president does not have
the power to write laws!
• The Wade-Davis Bill required 50% of the voters to take the oath and
permitted only non-Confederates to vote for a new state constitution.
Lincoln refused to sign the bill, pocket vetoing it after Congress
adjourned.
Freedmen’s Bureau
• Acted as an early welfare agency, providing food, shelter, and medical
aid for those made destitute by the war – both blacks and homeless
whites. A way to help former slaves adjust to a new life of freedom.
• It’s biggest success was in education, establishing 3000 schools for
freed blacks, including several colleges. Taught 200,000 African
Americans how to read.
Andrew Johnson’s Plan
• VP under Lincoln and the only senator from a Confederate state, a Southern
Democrat, who remained loyal to the Union. Was a white supremacist who
clashed with Republicans in Congress.
His Reconstruction Plan:
• Similar to Lincoln’s except he retained the power to grant individual pardons
to “disloyal” Southerners. This was an escape clause for the wealthy
planters and Johnson made frequent use of it. As a result of the president’s
pardons, many former Confederate leaders were back in office by the fall of
1865.
• All state constitutions had to repudiate secession (cast off, disown), ratify
the 13th Amendment, and negate the debts of the Confederate government.
• Johnson’s Plan led to the passage of Black Codes.
Black Codes
• Prohibited blacks from renting land or borrowing money to buy land
• Placed freedmen into a form of semibondage by forcing them them
as “vagrants” and “apprentices” to sign work contracts
• Prohibited blacks from testifying against whites in court
The contract-labor system, in which blacks worked cotton fields under
white supervision for deferred wages, seemed little different from
slavery.
Johnson’s Vetoes
• As a “Southern Democrat” in the role of a “Republican” President,
Johnson alienated even moderate Republicans.
• Johnson tried to veto the Freedmen’s Bureau and a civil rights bill that
nullified the Black Codes
• Led to “Congressional Reconstruction”
Radical Republican Plan
• Led by Charles Sumner
• proposed “Military Reconstruction” (idea of Thaddeus Stevens of PA).
This would allow African Americans to exercise their civil rights, to be
educated in schools operated by the federal government, and receive
land confiscated from the planter class (this last part never
happened).
• Included the Civil Rights Act of 1866 to replace the Freedmen’s
Bureau Act and the first Civil Rights Act which pronounced all African
Americans to be US citizens and to stop Black Codes. Because
Republicans feared Johnson would be repealed if the Democrats won
control of Congress, they amended the Constitution – 14th
Radical Plan continued
• A joint committed of the House and Senate issued a report
recommending that the reorganized states of the Confederacy were
not entitled to representation in Congress; therefore those elected
from the South as senators and representatives should not be
permitted to take their seats.
• The report also stated that Congress, not the President, had the
authority to determine the conditions for allowing reconstructed
states to rejoin the Union, thus rejected the presidential plan of
Reconstruction (Johnson’s).
• Over Johnson’s veto, Congress passed 3 Reconstruction Acts of 1867
which placed the South under military occupation, into 5 military
districts, each under the control of the Union army and required each
state to ratify the 14th Amendment.
Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
• Also in 1867 over Johnson’s veto, Congress passed the Tenure of
Office Act. This law, which may have been an unconstitutional
violation of executive authority, prohibited the president from
removing a federal official or military commander without the
approval of the Senate.
• The purpose of the law was strictly political. Congress wanted to
protect the Radical Republicans in Johnson’s Cabinet, such as
Secretary of War Edwin Stanton who was in charge of the military
governments in the South.
• Believing the law to be unconstitutional, Johnson challenged it by
firing Stanton, resulting in impeachment charges by the House. He
was tried in the Senate and lacked 1 vote to be removed from office.
Election of 1868
• Grant was elected president.
• 15th Amendment was passed – the right to vote for African American
males
• Civil Rights Act 1875 was passed guaranteeing equal accommodations
in public places, however, the law was poorly enforced.
Scalawags and Carpetbaggers
• Named given by Democrats to their hated Republican rivals
• Scalawags – Southern Republicans
• Carpetbaggers – Northern newcomers
African American Legislators
• Elected to reconstructed state governments
• Were educated property owners
• 2 were elected to the Senate; more than a dozen to the House of
Representatives
Reconstruction Accomplishments
• Universal male suffrage
• Property rights for women
• Debt relief
• Promoted the building of roads, bridges, railroads
• Established state institutions such as hospitals, asylums, homes for
the disabled
• State supported public school systems in the South
Reconstruction Failures
• Led to corruption and wasteful spending as Republican politicians
took advantage of their power to take kickbacks and bribes from
contractors who did business with the state
African Americans adjusting to freedom
Building black communities:
• The desire for autonomy led to the building of African American
churches, the most obvious change after the Civil War.
• The desire to education led to independent schools for black children
with education African Americans as their teachers.
• Black colleges such as Howard, Atlanta, and Fisk were established to
prepare African American black ministers and teachers.
• Many migrated to the West (Exodusters) to Kansas where they still
faced discrimination but could establish black communities.
African Americans continued
• Sharecropping and tenant farming began to replace the contract
system.
• Under sharecropping, the landlord provided the farm supplies in
return for a share, usually half, of the harvest. This system gave them
the opportunity to work a piece of land for themselves but forced
them to remain dependent on the landowners or in debt to local
merchants. By 1880, no more than 5% of Southern African Americans
had become independent landowners. Sharecropping had evolved
into a new form of servitude.
The End of Reconstruction
• Southern conservatives (redeemers) began to take control of state
governments. Their political program: states’ rights, reduced taxes,
reduced spending on social programs, white supremacy
• During the period that Republicans controlled state governments in
the South, the KKK formed. Congress responded with the Force Acts
or KKK Acts giving federal authorities the power to stop the KKK but
were difficult to enforce.
• Amnesty Act 1872 removed the last of the restrictions on exConfederates except for top leaders. This allowed Southern
conservatives to vote for Democrats to retake control of state
governments.
Election of 1876
• Led to a political compromise between the Democrats and
Republicans.
• In exchange for Rutherford B. Hayes (R) becoming president,
Reconstruction would end and the Republicans would support the
building of a Southern transcontinental railroad.
The end of Reconstruction
• In a series of decisions in the 1880s and 1890s, the Supreme Court
struck down one Reconstruction law after another that protected
blacks from discrimination.
• Supporters of the New South promised a future on industrial
development, but most Southern African Americans and whites in the
decades after the Civil War remained poor farmers, and they fell
further behind the rest of the nation.