Transcript Civil War and Reconstruction

Civil War and
Reconstruction
Causes of the Civil War
Slavery
Moral issue—NO Compromise on the moral issues
Cultural Differences
States’ Rights
Conflicting interpretations of the Constitution
Economics
Western Territories
Politics
Split of the Democratic party over slavery
Development—and success of—the GOP
Lincoln’s Dilemma, 1861
Lincoln had four choices when he came into office:
adopt the Crittenden Compromise and wait for seceded
states to return
blockade the ports of the South, and wait for them to
succumb
raise a huge army and batter the Confederacy into
submission
give up and let seceded states go in peace
Lincoln refused to back off his campaign pledge of
no western expansion of slavery
but guaranteed the operation of the Fugitive Slave Law
Ft. Sumter, April 12, 1861
Lincoln attached great
importance to the retention
of two U.S. forts in the
South, Pickens (Pensacola)
and Sumter (Charleston)
sent a supply ship to Ft.
Sumter on April 11, 1861
Davis also attached great
importance to keeping forts
Confederate forces, on Davis’
orders, open fired on Ft.
Sumter on April 12
• Fort surrendered the next day
War Aims
Confederacy:
Independence
• Be left alone
Fight a defensive war
• Lots of land to conquer
Don’t force war
Foreign recognition
U.S.:
Restore the Union
Be the aggressor
• put down the rebellion
Invade South and
destroy the rebel army
and government
Advantages
Confederacy:
Fighting defensive war
South a huge territory
Knew the territory
Southerner fighting to
protect his home
Union:
Population
• 18 million persons in
North; 9 million in South
(4 million were slaves)
Industry
• 90% of nation’s
manufacturing capacity
• 2/3 of railroad miles
• Most raw materials—iron,
coal, copper, and precious
metals were in the
North controlled the seas
U.S. Army
Battle over the Border States
Maryland
Pratt St. Riot, April 19, 1861
Md. placed under martial law; habeas corpus suspended
Missouri
Mo. Legislature refused to secede from Union
• But Gov. Jackson sought to join the Confederacy
U.S. troops arrest Gov. Jackson, install pro-Union gov’t
Kentucky
Sept. 1861, both Union and Confederate forces invade
• Union forces drive Confederates out of the state
West Virginia
When Va. secedes from Union, western counties secede
from Va.
Confederate Government
Confederate government faced formidable tasks
No army, navy, treasury, currency, foreign service, or
bureaucracy in 1861
restricted by the doctrine of states rights
1861, Confederate Congress called for 500,000
volunteers for the army
While volunteers joined the army readily in 1861,
the government could not equip them
Most Confederate soldiers initially brought their own
weapons—hunting rifles
Confederate forces never all wore a regulation uniform
Confederate Conscription Act
April 1862, Confederate Conscription Act
all white males between 18-35 (later 17-50)
subject to military service
but provided numerous exemptions to the draft
• “fighters” and “producers”
• “20 slave law”
• substitution
“King Cotton” Diplomacy
Confederate government placed a lot of faith in
Britain to come to its aid
Believed Britain was so dependent on cotton that it
would intervene into the war on the South’s behalf
Confederacy refused to export cotton at the
beginning of war
South effectively blockaded itself in 1861
• The major diplomatic mistake of the war
King Cotton not as powerful as South believed
Britain had stockpiles, and cotton in Egypt and India
Britain also had very close ties with the North
Slavery and the War
Slaves played vital role in Confederate war effort
Produced food
Made up a large percentage of the industrial labor force
Were used on military projects
• laws authorized impressment of slaves for mil. work
Slave labor enabled white men to join the army
Slaves also saw war as an opportunity for freedom
As early as 1861, runaways flocked to the Union lines
• Initially, some runaway slaves were returned to masters
• Later declared “contrabands”
Runaway slaves forced Union Army and Lincoln
government to deal with issue of slavery
Emancipation Proclamation, 1863
Following Union victory at Antietam, 22 Sept.
1862, using the President’s war powers, Lincoln
announced that on January 1, 1863, all slaves held
in a state or part of a state which was in rebellion
should be “then, thenceforward and forever free”
Technically, Emancipation Proclamation freed no one
However, the Emancipation Proclamation
completely changed the character of the war
North now committed to larger cause of freedom
European nations were now never going to
recognize the South while it was fighting to
preserve slavery.
Runaway Slaves entering New Bern, N.C., January 1863
Gettysburg and Vicksburg, July 1863
Gettysburg, July 1-3:
Ended Lee’s northern
invasion
Ruined chance of CSA
to end war with a quick
stroke on Northern soil
Cost Lee more men
than he could afford to
lose
Vicksburg, July 4:
Opened Mississippi
River to the Union
Gave Union control of
entire Mississippi
Valley
Effectively broke the
Confederacy in half
Brought Grant east
The War in the South
By end of 1862 Southern civilians began to
experience shortages
inflation was rampant
• Confederate currency worthless by 1864
Food production declined dramatically
• men pulled form the farms to army
• slaves also fled as war progressed
Rail lines collapsed
Union occupation
• Union armies destroyed cotton, crops, and livestock
By end of 1864, Confederate army in shambles,
burdened by desertion and lack of supplies
Appomattox Court House, 9 April 1865
Lincoln’s assassination
April 14, 1865, John Wilkes
Booth shot Lincoln
Booth was the leader of a
conspiracy which planned to
kill Lincoln, Grant, VP
Andrew Johnson, and Sec. of
State William Seward.
Only the attempt on Lincoln
was successful
Booth killed by Federal troops
Assassination of Lincoln
hardened Northern attitudes
No longer willing to have an
easy peace with the South
Questions of the peace
What power did freed slaves have?
Did they have full rights as citizens?
Could they vote and hold public office?
What right did former rebels have?
Did they have full rights as citizens?
Could they vote and hold public office?
Who would run the Southern States?
Would Southern legislatures continue in office?
Would new elections be ordered?
Who could vote?
Who could run?
13th Amendment
1864, Senate approved the 13th Amendment,
abolishing slavery in the U.S.
Ratified in December 1865
Questions following Emancipation
Now that slaves were free, where was their place?
• were they citizens? could they vote?
Did they get any land?
• ‘40 Acres and a Mule’?
Southern representation
• If freedmen were not able to vote, Southern whites would get
more seats in Congress, without diluting any of their votes,
helping the white South
Freedmen
Southern blacks got their freedom, but little else
many stayed on their plantations, working for their
same masters, but now for pay
some left, just because they could
• went looking for lost family, or better work
Most wanted land of their own, but few got it
soldiers, and some others who had saved some money,
were able to but land
there was a hope that the U.S. government would give
or lease freemen land, esp. confiscated rebel land, but
few actually got any
Freedmen were free, but with little hope of ever
getting any land of their own
The South after the War
South destroyed in 1865
economically, politically, socially, agriculturally
many areas without law and order
• widespread looting
freedmen and refugees roamed the countryside
• violence against freemen and Southern Unionists
U.S. armies remained as an army of occupation
200,000 Union troops kept the peace under martial law
military courts set up
issued rations to refugees and civilians
army hospitals treated sick and wounded
Early Reconstruction, 1862-65
As U.S. Army invaded South, the “reconstruction”
of occupied territory began
Lincoln’s “10% Plan,” 1863
Full pardon and full restitution of all property (except
slaves) to rebels who professed allegiance to Union
• Leading Confederate officials and officers excluded
Once 10% of the white male population took the oath
of allegiance, a new state government could be formed
Congress opposed Lincoln’s plan as too lenient
Refused to acknowledge three state governments—
Arkansas, Louisiana, and Tennessee—that Lincoln had
recognized as reconstructed.
Different views of what Reconstruction should entail:
Most Republicans agreed Reconstruction should include:
•
•
•
•
absolute repudiation of secession
guarantees for the freedom and civil rights of blacks
security and political power for Southern Unionists
temporary political disqualification for Confederates
Democrats wanted self-reconstruction:
• allow existing Southern state governments to:
 declare their loyalty to the Union
 supervise the election of new representatives
Radical Republicans wanted:
• overthrow Southern ruling class
• enfranchise blacks
• give freedmen confiscated rebel land
Presidential Reconstruction, 1865
1865, Andrew Johnson issued his plan for
Reconstructing the seceded states:
Amnesty and the restitution of property (not slaves) to
rebels who would take the oath of allegiance
• prominent and rich Confederates were excluded
Named a provisional governor for N.C., and recognized
the Lincoln-sponsored gov’ts of La., Ark., Tenn., & Va.
Once 10% of white male population of remaining states
declared allegiance to U.S., they could form gov’ts
Ordered new state governments to hold constitutional
conventions; new Constitutions must include:
• abolition of slavery
• nullification of secession
• repudiation of all state debts incurred during the war
Black suffrage
With new state constitutions passed, Johnson
declared all the former Confederate states
readmitted to the Union in Dec. 1865
None of the new state constitutions made
provisions for black suffrage
angered Republicans and abolitionists
allowed Southern states to gain more political power
(because of revocation of 3/5 clause), without having to
give blacks the vote
Only six states allowed blacks to vote in 1865
In 1865, Conn., Wis., and Minn. all rejected measures
that would have given blacks the right to vote
Southern Defiance
Some states did not abide by Johnson’s requirements
Repealed, instead of repudiated, their secession ordinances
Miss. and S.C. failed to repudiate their debt
Miss. and Texas failed to ratify the 13th amendment
Ga. sought compensation for slaves
Black Codes established in most Southern states
Allowed blacks to be arrested for ambiguous crimes
et rules for where blacks could live and work
Revoked by the Freedman’s Bureau and Congress
Leading ex-Confederates elected to U.S. Congress
14th Amendment, 1866
All native born and naturalized persons, including
blacks, were citizens of the U.S.
States prohibited from depriving any person “of life,
liberty, or property” without due process of the law
States prohibited from denying any person “equal
protection of the laws”
Reduction of congressional representation any state that
withheld suffrage from its adult male citizens
Disqualified from holding office any person who had
engaged in rebellion against the U.S.
Guaranteed the national debt and repudiated the
Confederate debt
Gave Congress the right to enforce the Amendment by
“appropriate legislation”
Congressional Reconstruction, 1866-1868
Southern states, with Johnson’s urging, rejected passage
of the 14th Amendment
drove the moderates to side with the radicals in Congress
First Reconstruction Act, Feb. 1867:
Nullified the existing Southern governments
• Placed them under military rule
Set forth provisions for the readmission of unreconstructed
states back into the Union:
• Constitutional convention elected by universal manhood suffrage
• Ratification of a new constitution that included black suffrage
• Ratification of the 14th Amendment
Johnson vetoed Reconstruction Act, but Congress
passed it over his veto
Congressional Reconstruction
Second Reconstruction Act, March 1867:
Required generals in command of the Southern
territories to register eligible voters and set the
machinery in motion for convention elections
Third Reconstruction Act, July 1867:
Declared Southern provisional governments
subordinate in all respects to the military rule
• Allowed military commanders to remove officials from office
Broadly defined disfranchised ex-Confederates
• Rejected any voter’s oath of allegiance if believed it to be
falsely sworn
Congressional Reconstruction
September 1867, 735,000 blacks and 635,000 whites
were registered to vote in ten unreconstructed states
blacks held a voting majority in five states
10-15% of the white population in the South was
disenfranchised because of their wartime activities
• another 25-30% of the white population in the South did not register
Southern GOP made up of
Southern Unionists (scalawags)
Blacks
Northerners who had migrated South (carpetbaggers)
Democratic party made up of ex-Confederates who
could vote
“Black and Tan” Conventions, 1867-68
A number of blacks were elected as delegates to
the constitutional conventions
blacks the majority in the S.C. and La. conventions
First time in US that blacks & whites worked
together to write laws of their government
Many of the constitutions were very progressive
universal manhood suffrage
mandated public schools for both races
increased state responsibility for social welfare
most forbid disfranchisement of ex-Confederates
Readmission to the Union
The Ku Klux Klan
1866, KKK founded in Tenn.
by 1868 it had evolved into a
terrorist organization
assaulted and killed freemen;
burned their homes, businesses
and schools
attacked GOP voters &
leaders, white & black
1868 presidential campaign
200+ political murders in Ark.
1000 persons killed in La.
between April and November
GOP got no votes in 11
counties
15th Amendment
1868, black men not allowed to vote in 11 of 21
Northern States and none of the 5 border states.
1/6 of the nation’s black population lived in states where
they could not vote
1868, the Republican Congress drafted a
Constitutional amendment permitting black suffrage
Congress passed 15th Amendment in 1869; ratified by the
states in March 1870.
15th Amendment forbid states from denying citizens
the right to vote on the grounds of race, color, or
previous condition of servitude
Myth of “Black Reconstruction”
White Southerners have portrayed “black rule” of the
South as incompetently run by hoards of uneducated
ex-slaves, this is not the truth
blacks actually held no more than 20% of government
offices during the height of reconstruction (1869-1876)
• only 14 black congressmen and 2 black senators elected
Most G.O.P. officeholders were carpetbaggers or scalawags
Republicans actually governed very progressively
established public schools for both races
provided state aid for railroad construction
conducted internal improvements
reorganized and modernized the judicial system
passed civil rights legislation
The End of Reconstruction
Reconstruction began to unravel during the mid1870s, for a number of reasons:
fracturing of the Southern GOP coalition
disenchantment of Northern Republicans
Democratic resurgence
Reconstruction ended when Democrats returned to
power and “redeemed” states from “black rule”
States redeemed at different times
• 1876, Republicans out of power in every Southern state except
S.C., La., and Fla.
Compromise of 1877
Disputed returns in election of 1876 between
Samuel J. Tilden (D) and Rutherford B. Hayes (R)
Fraud in the electoral boards in La. and Fla.
Congress established an electoral commission to
settle the election
commission decided for Hayes
Deals were made by Hayes to ensure peace
Appointed Democrats to his cabinet
Federal gov’t to give aid to Southern improvements
Federal troops withdrawn from S.C. and La.
• GOP governments in those states soon collapsed