Transcript Reconstruction (1865-1876)

Mr. S Byrd
APUSH
South Laurel HS
What was Reconstruction?
• Reconstruction is the name of the
period of time right after the
Civil War in which we are trying
to tie the nation back together
• Years 1865-1877!
Problems of Peace
• Lincoln’s quote
– “With malice toward
none, with charity for
all.”
• Jefferson Davis and
major Confed’
leaders were
temporarily jailed
– Over a hundred years
later they gave Davis
his citizenship back
• South was
utterly
destroyed, North
was booming
• Agriculture was
hurt bad. South
didn’t produce
as much cotton
as it did until
1870
Freedmen Define Freedom
• After Civil War, some blacks would move
around to test their freedom, but most
stayed in the South
• Blacks created their own churches and
segregated voluntarily
• When blacks left white churches and
segregated themselves it is called “de
facto” segregation
• “De jure” segregation is
segregation made by law
• Freed slaves wanted to learn to
read and write.
The Freedmen’s Bureau
• Freedmen’s Bureau--1865
– Provides assistance to ex-slaves and
poor whites
– Oliver Howard was the head
– It’s biggest accomplishment was
education
– “Forty Acres and a Mule”--slogan of
Freedmen’s Bureau
Johnson: The Tailor President
• Andrew Johnson
– Democrat from Tennessee
– Wouldn’t secede with his state
– Was a tailor before he became
politician
– Poorest person to ever become
President
– 1st person to become president b/c
of an assassination
– Was sick during his inaugural
speech and had drank a stiff
whiskey
– Honest, sincere, intelligent…would
give out copies of the
Constitution and was buried with
one as his pillow!
Presidential Reconstruction
• Abe Lincoln thought that the South
never really seceded and
Reconstruction would be short and
painless
– 10% Plan--when 10% of voters who
voted in 1860 in Southern states took
an oath of allegiance would come back
in to the Union
– Lincoln was very lenient on the South
• Wade Davis Bill
– Plan of Reconstruction by
the Radical Republicans
in the North
– 50% have to take an oath
of allegiance and
stronger safe guards for
blacks
– Lincoln pocket vetoed it
• Andrew Johnson
disappointed the
“Radical Republicans” by
treating South leniently
(Just like Lincoln)
• Johnson’s plan was to treat south
good and have them ratify the 13th
amendment to rejoin the Union
The Baleful Black Codes
• Black Codes
– Regulate the everyday affairs of the free
blacks
– Set of laws passed in the South after the
war
– 1st passed in Mississippi (to keep labor
stable)
– Blacks HAD to work
– Most blacks and poor whites became (1)
tenant farmers or (2) sharecroppers
• Sharecropper--someone that owned no land, no
supplies, but would work on someone else’s
farm with their supplies and they only
offered labor and were paid little
– Never get wealthy, only survive
• Tenant Farmer--may own some supplies, but
owned no land. Rent a farm and do what they
wanted
– Make money, but have to pay most of it to rent
– Crop-lien system another name for a tenant farmer
Johnson Clashes with Congress
• Civil Rights Bill of 1866
– Forerunner of the 14th amendment
– Gave blacks citizenship
– Republicans said this bill wasn’t
strong enough
– Southerners couldn’t come back as
states until they ratified the 13th
and 14th amendments
• Tennessee was the 1st state to ratify and
rejoin
Swingin Around the Circle with
Johnson
• Johnson’s swing around the circle
– When Johnson went around trying to
not let the people in Congress he
didn’t want
– Failed, everyone of the Republicans
got elected
Republican Principles and
Programs
•
Radical Republicans-those who wanted to
punish the South
•
3 leaders in
Congress
(1)Charles Sumner
(2)Thaddeus Stevens--74
years old, insisted on
being buried in black
cemetery
(3)Ben Wade
Reconstruction by the Sword
• Military
Reconstruction Act of
1867
– Divided South into 5
military districts
– Each had a Union
General and an army
• Radical Republicans
now wanted the 15th
amendment passed
– 15th amendment=black
suffrage
• Ex Parte Milligan--1866
– Couldn’t try civilians in military courts,
if civil courts were open, even if its
during a war
• “Redeemers”, “Home Rule”, or “Bourbons”
– Names of people (after Reconstruction) that
would get in power and kick Republicans out
in the South
• “Solid South”
– Name of the South after
Reconstruction
– Would vote Democrat solidly
No Women Voters
• Union League
– To encourage blacks to get into
politics
– Started in North, but spread into
South
Realities of Radical
Reconstruction in the South
• Hiram Revels and Blanche
K. Bruce
– 1st 2 Black Senators
– Both from Mississippi
– Blacks were slowly becoming
leaders
• Scalawags
– Southerners who cooperated
with the North and
Republicans during
Reconstruction
• Called this by other
Southerners
• Carpetbaggers
– Northerners who
moved to the
South to take
advantage (make
money) of South
during
Reconstruction
• Some were sleazy
crooks
• Example: One of
the governors
made 100,000 on
an 8,000 salary
The Ku Klux Klan
• (KKK)--founded in
Pulaski, Tenn.
– “Invisible Empire
of the South”
– Started by Nathan
Bedford Forrest
– Composed of white
Southern Democrats
– KKK attempted to
keep “blacks in
their place”
– Uniform was a
sheet
• Force Acts--1870
– Passed by
Congress to try
to stamp out the
KKK
– KKK would just
hide themselves
and say they
were part of
another club
• Franchise--the
right to vote
• 3 main ways white Southern
Democrats kept blacks from voting
(1)Poll taxes
(2)Literacy tests
(3)Bold face intimidation
Johnson Walks the Impeachment
Plank
• Tenure of Office Act
– Said a President couldn’t fire
a member of their cabinet with
Congressional approval
– Johnson was set up
– He immediately fired a
member…Edwin Stanton b/c there
was nothing prohibiting him in
the Constitution
– Congress accused him of “high
crimes and misdemeanors”
– Impeached him and took him to
court
A Not-Guilty Verdict for Johnson
• 7 independent Republicans voted
Johnson “Not Guilty”
The Purchase of Alaska
• We bought Alaska from Russia in
1867
– Cost 7.2 million
– Purchased by William Seward
– People made fun of it calling it
“Seward’s Folly”, “Sewards Icebox”,
“Frigidia”
The Heritage of Reconstruction
• Many white Southerners said
Reconstruction as or more grievous
wound than the war itself!!!
AP Practice Questions
1. President Lincoln’s plan for Reconstruction
was opposed by some Radical Republicans
because they
(A) felt it was too harsh on southerners
(B) felt it was too lenient on southerners
(C) believed it was too generous to the
freedmen
(D) believed it would be impractical to
carry out
(E) worried it would raise taxes too high
AP Practice Questions
1. The Reconstruction plans of both Lincoln and
Johnson included
(A) a requirement that a majority of
citizens sign sworn statements of allegiance
(B) a call for immediate elections in
former Confederate states
(C) the passage of the Civil Rights Act
(D) the requirement that Southern states
ratify the 13th amendment
(E) the redistribution of land
AP Practice Questions
1. Which of the following would be considered
an achieved success of Reconstruction in the
South?
(A) racist policies were ended
(B) industrialization was successfully
implemented
(C) African-Americans were given
redistributed land
(D) a public school system was successfully
created
(E) tensions in the North were ended