Transcript Chapter 15: Reconstruction Part 1

Chapter 15:
Reconstruction Part 1
By Neil Hammond
Millbrook High School
Costs of the War
The Meaning of the War
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Shifted power from South to North
Increased power of federal
government
Accelerated modernization of
Northern economy
Placed on the postwar agenda the
challenge of defining and protecting
African-American freedom
The Ambiguity of the Constitution
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Silent on secession…silent on readmission of states
Lincoln
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10% plan
1. Loyalty oath (open to all except
Confederate leaders and people who had
resigned from Congress)
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2. Form a government once 10% of a state
had sworn loyalty
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By 1864 this had been implemented in
Arkansas, Louisiana and Tennessee
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Lincoln v Congress
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Congress thought L’s plan was too weak.
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Wade-Davis Bill was passed by Congress
Lincoln didn’t sign it (pocket veto)
He died on April 14, 1865, and his plan died
with him. Andrew Johnson became president.
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Southerner
Senator who did NOT resign in 1860
Hated plantation owners
BUT no fan of blacks either
Johnson’s Plan
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Moderate, like Lincoln’s
1. Loyalty oaths in exchange for amnesty
for Confederates (except for Confederate
leaders and those worth $200,000 or more
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2. Ratification of the 13th amendment
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3. Repudiation of Confederate war debts
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4. Disavowal of secession ordinances
The New Southern Governments
Southern states quickly formed new
governments formed mainly by Southern
unionists and those who had been reluctant
Confederates, but because Johnson handed
out lots of pardons, many Confederate leaders
were elected to positions of power in the NEW
Southern governments
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Southern states had also passed Black
codes (laws designed to keep blacks in
slavery in all but name)
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Congress Takes Control
Republicans in Congress REFUSED to seat
the new Southern delegates, effectively
rejecting Johnson’s program
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At the same time a wave of violence
erupted across the South. Many Radical
Republicans believed it was time for the
federal government to step in.
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1. Freedman’s Bureau (created in March 1865)
was extended
 2. Civil Rights Bill passed
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Congress Takes Control
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Freedman’s Bureau
originally created to ease the transition of slaves
from slavery to freedom…the Bureau’s powers grew
to include economic aid, voting instruction and
help establishing schools…given direct federal
funding and tasked with investigating
mistreatment toward blacks in the South
 out of place??? An agency that would seem to be
more fitting for the 1930s…government usually
didn’t do this…
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Civil Rights Bill
It declared ex-slaves to be citizens and granted
them, along with every other citizen, equal rights
of contract, access to the courts, and protection of
person and property.
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Congress v. The President
A political struggle over who controlled
Reconstruction followed
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Johnson vetoed the new Freedman’s Bureau
Bill. A month later Johnson vetoed the Civil
Rights Bill, but Republicans overrode the veto
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Johnson’s attitude became ugly. He ranted that
the US government was a government for whites
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Republicans reestablished the Freedman’s
Bureau. More reports came out of the South
about violence toward ex-slaves.
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The
th
14
Amendment
Republicans moved to establish their gains in a
constitutional amendment:
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This is THE most important amendment in US
history. The Supreme Court has used this amendment
more than ANY OTHER to decide cases.
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Things Turn Ugly
Johnson began to actively campaign against the 14th
Amendment, urging southern states not to ratify it. Johnson
aimed at establishing a new political coalition made up of
Democrats and conservative Republicans.
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Republicans responded by “waving the bloody shirt”.
Republicans crushed Johnson and national union
candidates in the 1866 elections. Now they had control over
reconstruction, and the Republican program became a
mixture of the radical and conservative agenda.
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The Federal Government Takes Charge
Even after the 1866 elections Southern
states remained defiant. Every state except
Tennessee rejected the 14th amendment.
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So…Congress passed the Military
Reconstruction Act in 1867 over Johnson’s
veto
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The Federal Government Takes Charge
The South was
divided into 5
military districts
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To be readmitted to the union, states had to:
1. pass the 14th amendment
 2. organize a government that guaranteed black
suffrage (voting)
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Impeachment
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Tenure of Office Act
1. Required senate consent for the removal of
ANY official whose appointment had required
senate confirmation
 2. All orders to the army had to be issued
through its commanding general
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Radical Republicans were trying to remake
the presidency as well as Reconstruction
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Johnson tried to remove Secretary of War
Stanton…Republicans responded by
impeaching the president
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Johnson Video
Impeachment
House acts as the
prosecutor
 Senate acts as the
Judge
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After an eleven-week
trial, thirty-five senators
on May 15 voted for
conviction, one vote short
of the two-thirds majority
required. Seven moderate
Republicans broke ranks,
voting for acquittal along
with twelve Democrats.
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Why?
too radical
 wary of next in line
for presidency,
Benjamin Wade, a
Radical Republican
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1868 Election
Johnson narrowly avoided conviction, but he was
powerless for the rest of his presidency
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Republicans waved the “bloody shirt” and nominated
US Grant, who defeated Democrat Horatio Seymour
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th
15
Amendment
Many felt a need to protect the right of
blacks to vote.
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1. Grant had received almost all of the 700,000
black votes cast
2. 11/21 northern states did not allow blacks to
vote
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3 Different versions:
1. prohibited states from denying citizens the
vote because of their race, color, or the previous
experience of being a slave.
 2. prevented states from denying the vote to
anyone based on literacy, property, or the
circumstances of their birth.
 3. all males 21+ had right to vote
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th
15
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Amendment
Congress chose the least radical solution
Many states used poll taxes, literacy tests
and other methods to qualify voters
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In order to get this to pass, Congress made
the 14th and 15th amendments a condition of
readmission to the union for the states of
Texas, Virginia and Mississippi
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th
15
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Amendment
Women WERE NOT a part of this amendment
“When women, because they are women, are hunted
down … dragged from their homes and hung upon
lamp posts … when their children are not allowed to
enter schools; then they will have an urgency to
obtain the ballot equal to our own.” Frederick
Douglass
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"Think of Patrick and Sambo and Hans and Ung
Tung, who do not know the difference between a
Monarchy and a Republic, who never read the
Declaration of Independence... making laws for Lydia
Maria Child, Lucretia Mott, or Fanny Kemble."
Elizabth Cady Stanton
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th
15
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Amendment
The women’s movement split:
AWSA -- accepted that the 15th amendment did not
allow the vote
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NSWA -- Led by Stanton and Susan B
Anthony…fought for the right to vote
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