Transcript Chapter 22 RECONSTRUCTION - History of the Americas, HL1 : home

Chapter 22-23
RECONSTRUCTION
(The Second Civil War)
1865-1877
High-Water Marks and 2 concerns
after the Civil War
(1) Ending the war and testing the resilience of the federal
government
(2) Morality claim to press the 13th amendment
(3) World perception
*Leads to the Monroe Doctrine’s much needed attention to
promoting America’s ability to calm down war in our own
hemisphere.
PROBLEMS:
(1) RECONSTRUCTION: Who will control it? (Congress or the
President)
(2) Integration of 4 million “freedmen” into American society
Presidential Reconstruction
• The INDIVIDUALS left, not the STATES
• Lincoln: *Wanted the return to the South to be
“QUICK”
• *Fed. government will PARDON / Forgive
everyone
(except Conf. generals) of all charges IF they
swear allegiance to the Union.
Lincoln’s 10 % Plan / Reconstruction and
Amnesty Plan
(1)10% of the voting population will swear
allegiance to the Union
(2) Form a new state government *(with federal
intervention) and support the Union.
Radical Republicans
(Congressional Recon.)
• Small subculture of Republicans that HATE
Lincoln / Johnson’s plans for Reconstruction
• Led by “Thaddeus Stevens” and Charles Sumner
• Original position: (1861) – promoted the
“limitation of Presidential power”
• MAIN AGENDA: Fight FOR African American
rights! (wants African Americans to have full
citizenship (14th) and voting rights(15th) –
• 15th = most radical – no other country in the
world provided suffrage for freed slaves.
*** THE SOUTH SHOULD BE PUNISHED ***
Johnson’s Plan
•
•
April 1865 – Lincoln is assassinated
While Congress is in recess….Johnson claims his plan:
(1) Withdraw a Southern State’s title of “secession” - PARDON
(2) Swear allegiance to Union
(3) Pay off Confederate Debts (assumption)
(4) States need to ratify (and practice) the 13th Amendment (abolition of slavery).
*This IS NOT is promotion of the AA culture, its in promotion of a “forced” relationship
with the Southern States /forcing the South to do what the Feds tell them to.
Note: Don’t physically practice 13th and, eventually, 14th Amendment, the assumption
of debt and pardoning will be stripped.
Main agenda: ensure the South wouldn’t gain a majority power to dictate what
happens at that government level.
DIFFERENCE: Johnson’s plan did not support freedmen in areas such as (a) owning
land, (b) voting rights and (c) protection under the law
* (5) Southern Society Revolution: Claimed all land owners with $20,000 value are
up for confiscation; PURPOSE: Shift social/monetary power to the poor.
Black Codes
• Cultural laws passed in the South to hinder the lives of freemen (not
federally funded and leads to the dismal Jim Crow era).
• Established codes to regulate the affairs of emancipated African
Americans.
• Southerners were trying to bring back pre-Civil War times (unequal rights)
• Mississippi was the first to start the laws and other states followed after
(Mississippi was the harshest and Georgia was the most lenient)
• People went to work on farms and were required to sign work contracts
and were getting paid very little (like $15/yr) . (Sharecropping and Tennent
farming)
Congressional Response to Lincoln’s
10% Plan
• Wade-Davis Bill:
• Passed by the Radical Republicans in 1864
(1) Congress should control Recon.
(2) Not 10% (as in Lincoln and Johnson)...
a majority (at least 51%) needs to pledge allegiance to the
Constitution (not Union) to be readmitted.
*****Lincoln’s reaction to the Wade-Davis Bill
“Pocket Veto” killed the bill
– Pocket Veto: when the President fails to sign a bill within
the 10 days allowed by the Constitution. (ignoring it)
****Freedmen’s Bureau****
1865-1872
• -Congressional assistance to former slaves (provides
housing, food, clothing, education, money….)
• 2 cultures involved: poor whites and freedmen
POINT: to ease the transition from slavery to freedom
(Johnson Vetoes
this) but Congress
overrides his veto
Most significant success:
teaching literacy to African Americans
*At times, seen as misleading
-Reason: Federal government would provide land to the
Southern elite, not the freedmen. This allowed the
promotion of land contracts.
**Civil Rights Act 1866**
*African Americans are stripped of their citizenship rights from which 1857
Supreme Court case? ________________
(1) Gave African Americans “Citizenship” Rights back
(2) Ends the ability for states to pass….
“BLACK CODES” (no more black codes)
- severe restrictions on African American lives from 1800 to 1865
Examples: carrying weapons, serving in juries, testifying against whites,
marrying whites
(Johnson Vetoes this) but Congress overrides
MOST SIGNIFICANT PART: For the awareness the South would NOT
enforce the claims of the CRA ‘66, provides strength into
Amending the Constitution (14th Amendment)
1866 Midterm elections
(Turning Point in Reconstruction)
Radical Republicans took over majority of
Congress for the first time in American history!
• Outcome: 2/3 majority went to Republicans
(Radical and Moderate Republicans.)
• Therefore: Overriding presidential vetoes are
easy.
14th Amendment
1868 (introduced during AJ’s term but passed later)
• 14th Amendment: (1) all persons born or naturalized in the
U.S. are citizens and (2) Equal protection (due process) under
the law
(Agreed upon because the South is not enforcing the Civil Rights
Act of 1866)
– Proves the federal government is getting stronger!
***If the Southern States practice the 14th Amendment – they will be
readmitted and martial law WILL NOT be used!
Example: Tennessee agrees to practice the 14th Amendment
*Reconstruction Act of 1867*
(1) Abolished governments formed by the Confederacy during the Civil
War (Sovereign and independent state governments)
(2) This act created “MARTIAL LAW” (just like borders states during the
Civil War) / Military Districts in these southern states
(Johnson Vetoed this (unconstitutional?) but Congress overrides his veto
– It divided the South into 5 military districts. U.S. soldiers
would be stationed in each to make sure things stayed
under control.
– Congress laid out rules for states to be re-admitted.
They said
(a) the 14th Amendment must be physically practiced
(b) The 15th Amendment (male suffrage)
Military Districts
Congress Reacts to Johnson
• What has Johnson vetoed?
Plot / Plan: put president Johnson in a “lose-lose” situation
TENURE OF OFFICE ACT
• which said the president needed Congressional “okay” to fire anyone who was
previously Presidentially appointed and approved by the Senate.
Purpose: Congressional protection of Edwin Stanton (Radical Republican spy and Secretary
of War under president Johnson)
• Johnson’s options:
(1) Keep Stanton – Congress is happy
(2) Fire Stanton – Congress can impeach, bring up formal charges, against Johnson
OUTCOME: Johnson fires Stanton
Presidential Defense: Stanton was appointed during Lincoln’s presidency.
*Thought the entire issue was unconstitutional; wanting to test the Supreme Court.
JOHNSON’S IMPEACHMENT TRIAL
•
•
•
Senate trial
Needs a 2/3 vote to remove him from office
NOT REMOVED: one single vote kept in office
1868 Presidential Election
• Ulysses S. Grant (Republican)
• 1868-1876
Campaign:
“Wave the Bloody Shirt” – reminding
Americans of his war hero persona
in the Civil War.
Radical Republican Reaction: The
South would try to limit black
suffrage rights and other political
opportunities, so they introduced
the 15th Amendment
Grant’s Scandals
• Credit Mobilier Affair (1872)
A construction company building Union-Pacific R.R. and
effectively sub-hired itself to get paid double.
• Whiskey Ring Scandal (1875)
– Internal-revenue collectors accepted bribes from
whiskey distillers (so they wouldn’t have to pay taxes)
– Federal government lost millions!
Scandals impact on Grant: DID NOT RUN IN 1876
15th Amendment & Enforcement Acts
• No one should be kept from voting due to “race, color or previous
amount of servitude”
• Problem: South didn’t care
• Result: Congress passes the
ENFORCEMENT ACTS of 1870 and 1871
- gave more power to the federal
government to punish those who
kept African Americans from voting.
3 reasons it was repealed:
(1) Grant’s maneuvering of funds (scandals)
(2) Super expensive
(3) 1st Amendment violation of
Peaceful assembly
Ku Klux Klan
“Invisible Empire of the South” started in
Pulaski, Tennessee in 1866
• Worked off a “fear factor”
• Main Agenda: Keep African Americans from making political, social and economic advances in
America.
Ways to hinder A.A. advancements and to promote the white man: (Federally funded)
Literacy Test: Pass the test = vote
Discrimination: African Americans are asked more difficult questions
Problem: some whites can’t read
*Voting Rights Act in 1965 got rid of this test.
Poll Tax: pay the tax = vote
Discrimination: Poor whites and African Americans can’t afford to vote
Problem: uneducated, poor whites were weeded out too
*24th Amendment (1964) got rid of this tax.
Solution: GRANDFATHER CLAUSE
- if your father or grandfather could vote before Jan 1, 1867, then you, as a white man, did not have to
pass the literacy test or pay to vote
Issue: 15th Amendment was not passed before the above date.
15th Amendment’s ratification on Feb. 3, 1870 will exhaust the Grandfather Clause
Politics of Postwar South
Scalawags VS. Carpetbaggers
Scalawag (R) – White Southerners that supported the Radical Republican’s plan for
Recon. (support for African American rights) and joined the Rep. Party
*Southern version of a Carpetbagger
– Small farmers who wanted to improve the conditions
of the South
Goals: Mixed - some wanted to truly help A.A / others wanted
to get the A.A vote and then use politics to enrich themselves
Carpetbaggers (D) – Northerners that move to the South
Goals: Mixed: Either make a profit
(take advantage of War-torn South)
or truly help the South / A.A.
Sharecropping v. Tenant Farming
*Slavery warmed over
LIFE OF AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE SOUTH AFTER CIVIL WAR
(1) Sharecropping: economic necessity forced freed slaves into
“contracts” with land owners.
– Landowners would divide their land and gave each freed African
American…some land, seed, and tools
– Harvest / Crops come in: a “SHARE” of the crops go to the
landowner!
(2) Tenant Farming: another bad system for African Americans
(you own your tools and seed, but you RENT the land!
– OVERALL: A.A. were “locked in” or “trapped” in a style of
slavery / lacked capital = no money to buy their own goods!
“The slave went free; stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved
back again toward slavery.” – W.E.B Dubois
No Votes for Women
• The 13th, 14th, and 15th Reconstruction-era Amendments
delighted former abolitionists, but disappointed advocates of
women’s rights
• Women displayed a prominent part in the pre war abolitionist
movement and pointed out that both women and blacks lacked
basic civil rights, especially the crucial right to vote
• The struggle in black freedom and the crusade for women’s rights
were the same in the eyes of many women
• During the war, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, who
were feminist leaders, wholeheartedly supported black
emancipation and also helped the Woman’s Loyal League gather
nearly 400,000 signatures on petitions asking Congress to pass a
constitutional amendment prohibiting slavery
Democrats “REDEEM” the South
(NEW SOUTH) / REDEMPTION
Redemption: Democrat’s “return” to power
in the South after the Civil War
• 1869-1875…the democrats “REDEEM” the South
(Democratic “return” to power in the South)
Redeemers want the following:
(1) SOLID SOUTH – anti-Republican Reconstruction / pro - White
supremacy (KKK) / Return to “black codes
(2) HOME RULE – the ability to run a region WITHOUT federal
intervention (nullification action)
Underlying Goal: Set out to rescue the South from “mismanagement”
from Republicans and African Americans
The Purchase of Alaska
(1867)
Most successful international issue under President Johnson
Reason Russia sold: Location…thinking it would wage war with Britain if
they want the territory (British Navy) / lose anyway.
William Seward: “Seward’s Folly or Seward’s Icebox”
Price: $7.2 Million
U.S. Hesitation:
(1) focused on Reconstruction
(2) Natural resources
U.S. Eagerness
(1) Honor a reinforcement to the MD!
(2) Honor the Russians for being allies to the Union during the civil War.
Collapse of Reconstruction in 1877
•
Grant does not run for a third term in 1876 (why?)
Presidential Election of 1876
Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican)
Sam Tilden (Democrats)
Problem: Tilden got 184 electoral votes; he needed 185 to win.
*20 votes hung in the balance due to questionable returns
In order to correct the problem: Electoral Commission
(Electoral Count Act was formed)
(8 Republicans and 7 Democrats) - Republican majority
- Democratic response: Filibuster
*COMPROMISE OF 1877*
End issue: Hayes is the new President in 1876 (office in 1877)
The North (Republicans) received…..
(1) Rutherford B. Hayes elected as president.
The South (Redeeming Democrats) received…
*(1) Got a pledge that Hayes would removal of military occupation in the South.
(2) Money would be spent on a railroad in Texas.
(3) A Southern sympathizer must be appointed to Hayes's Cabinet.
Reconstruction as a Success
Success:
(1) An attempt to create a social and political
revolution despite economic panics, collapse
and opposition of much of the South.
(2) African American played roles in the
government (Hiram Revels – 1st African American
Senator)
(3) African American schools, churches, etc.
*(denied prior)
(4) Passing of the 14th and the 15th Amendment to
move towards racial political equality
Reconstruction as a Failure
Failure:
(1) Lack of Radical Republican resources to break
the cycle of poverty.
(2) Racial bias was a national and not regional
problem.
(3) The Supreme Court undercut the power of the
14th and 15th Amendment (court cases)
(4) African Americans found themselves again in a
subordinate position in American society and racial
division continued.