Download Topic 20 = Reconstruction

Reconstruction
Putting Humpty {America} Back Together Again??
Edmund Ruffin’s Suicide Note, June 17, 1865
I here declare my unmitigated hatred to Yankee rule -- to all political, social and business connection
with the Yankees and to the Yankee race. Would that I could impress these sentiments, in their full
force, on every living Southerner and bequeath them to every one yet to be born! May such
sentiments be held universally in the outraged and down-trodden South, though in silence and
stillness, until the now far-distant day shall arrive for just retribution for Yankee usurpation,
oppression and atrocious outrages, and for deliverance and vengeance for the now ruined, subjugated
and enslaved Southern States!
...And now with my latest writing and utterance, and with what will be near my latest breath, I here
repeat and would willingly proclaim my unmitigated hatred to Yankee rule--to all political, social and
business connections with Yankees, and the perfidious, malignant and vile Yankee race."
The South in Ruins
Reconstruction: Meaning and Problems
1865-1877: Putting the Union back together
Questions to be answered:
What conditions should be put on Southern states before readmitting them to the
Union?
Which branch of government – executive or legislative – should determine the
conditions for return of the Southern states?
What political, economic, and social rights should be granted to blacks and how
should these rights be enforced?
Lincoln’s Plan of Reconstruction
Southern states had never seceded
Rebellion the work of individual Southerners
Reconstruction was the job of the President because only the President could pardon acts
against the government
The 10% Plan
Southerners (except leaders) pardoned upon taking Oath of Allegiance
When 10% of voters in any state took the oath, they could form a legal state government
Johnson Retained Lincoln’s Plan
Andrew Johnson, Vice-President, became President when Lincoln was assassinated
Pro-Union Tennessee Democrat
Didn’t have Lincoln’s prestige with the people, or influence with the Republicans; stubborn
and tactless
Followed Lincoln’s plan: Pardoned most Southerners, accepted Southern governments
By 1866 white Southerners had reestablished all state governments, elected Senators and
Representatives, including some prominent ex-Confederates
Radical Republicans
Senator Charles Sumner
Representative Thaddeus Stevens
Congressional Condemnation of the Lincoln-Johnson Plan
Infringing on the Powers of Congress
Only Congress can admit states to Union
Too Lenient
South should be treated harshly and punished to deter future challenges to Federal
authority
Endangered Republican Influence
Democrats including former Confederates, kept Blacks from voting, depriving
Republicans of black votes
Fear that Democrats would gain control of Congress
Abandoned Blacks
Black Codes
It shall not be lawful for any freedman, free negro or mulatto to intermarry with any white
person; nor for any person to intermarry with any freedman, free negro or mulatto; and any
person who shall so intermarry shall be deemed guilty of felony
Every freedman, free negro and mulatto shall, have a lawful home or employment, and shall
have written evidence thereof.
Must have a license authorizing him or her to do irregular and job work; or a written contract,
which license may be revoked for cause at any time by the authority granting the same.
Every civil officer shall, and every person may, arrest and carry back to his or her legal
employer any freedman, free negro, or mulatto who shall have quit the service of his or her
employer. Said officer and person shall be entitled to receive for arresting the sum of five
dollars, and ten cents per mile from the place of arrest to the place of delivery; and the same
shall be paid by the employer, and held as a set off for so much against the wages of said
deserting employee.
All freedmen, free negroes and mulattoes in this State, over the age of eighteen years, with no
lawful employment or business, or found unlawful assembling themselves together, shall be
deemed vagrants, and on conviction thereof shall be fined in a sum not exceeding fifty dollars,
and imprisonment at the discretion of the court not exceeding ten days.
All fines collected by the provisions of this act shall be paid into the county treasury. It shall be
the duty of the sheriff to hire out said freedman, free negro or mulatto, to any person who
will pay said fine and forfeiture and all costs:
If any freedman, free negro, or mulatto shall fail or refuse to pay any tax it shall be prima facie
evidence of vagrancy, and it shall be the duty of the sheriff to arrest such freedman, free
negro, or mulatto, and proceed at once to hire for the shortest time such delinquent taxpayer
to any one who will pay the said tax.
“No negro or freedmen shall be allowed to come within the limits of the town without special
permission from his employers. .
"No negro or freedman shall be permitted to rent or keep a house within the limits of the
town under any circumstances. . . .
No public meetings or congregations of negroes or freedmen shall be allowed within the limits
of the town. . . .
No negro or freedman shall be permitted to preach, exhort, or otherwise declaim to
congregations of colored people without a special permission from the mayor or president of
the board of police.. ..
No freedman ... shall be allowed to carry firearms, or any kind of weapons....
No freedman shall sell, barter, or exchange any article of merchandise without permission in
writing from his employer
Every negro [is] to be in the service of some white person, or former owner.
“No negro, mulatto, or person of color may keep any bowie-knife, dirk, sword, firearms, or
ammunition" without a license.
A black owning any weapon of any kind must surrender his arm or arms to the informer, stand
in the pillory ... for one hour, and then [be] whipped with thirty-nine lashes on the bare back."
The same penalty shall be invoked for "any person of color . . . who shall intrude himself into
any religious or other public assembly of white persons or into any railroad-car or other
vehicle set apart for the accommodation of white persons."
Congressional Reconstruction
Civil Rights Act of 1866
Gave Blacks equal rights with whites; authorized Federal troops for enforcement
(Johnson vetoed - overridden)
Freedman’s Bureau Act
Set up agency to help provide schooling, food, clothing, jobs, protect civil rights.
Bureau could use Federal troops for enforcement (Johnson vetoed - overridden)
13th Amendment
Abolished slavery
14th Amendment
Made individuals citizens of United States and state of residence
No state may “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of
law” or deny any person equal protection
Congress has power to enforce
15th Amendment
Guaranteed blacks right to vote
Reconstruction Act
(Johnson vetoed - overridden)
Divided South into five military districts with a military governor
To return to Union, states had to:
Conduct an election open to Blacks and Whites for a Constitutional Convention
Must guarantee black suffrage, receive approval of voters, and Congress
State legislature must ratify 14th and 15th amendments
Force Acts (1870 and 1871) kept troops in South
Reconstruction Acts
Impeachment of Johnson
Radical Republicans incensed at Johnson’s lenient policies toward South and vetoes of
Freedmen’s Bureau, Civil Rights, and Reconstruction Acts and failure to act in a massacre of
blacks and Republicans in New Orleans.
1867 House passed Tenure in Office Act – preventing President from dismissing cabinet
members without Senate approval
Johnson intentionally violated the Act because he thought it unconstitutional.
House of Representatives passed 11 Articles of Impeachment
Articles 1-9 and 11 relate to violation of Tenure of Office Act
Article 10 claims Johnson did “. . . attempt to bring into disgrace, ridicule, hatred, contempt
and reproach the Congress of the United States.”
Senate sat as the jury, Chief Justice Salmon Chase presided.
The Impeachment Trial
Results of the Trial
Johnson did not attend
Trial began on March 30, 1868
Both sides presented arguments and witnesses
May 16, 1868 vote was taken; 2/3 needed to convict
Acquitted by one vote.
Reconstruction Governments
Carpetbaggers
Northerners who went south
Scalawags
Pro-Union Southern Whites
Blacks
Newly enfranchised, elected Carpetbag governments
Evaluation of Reconstruction Governments
Criticism of Reconstruction Governments
Graft & Corruption
Wild Spending
Heavy Taxation
High Public Debt
Defense of Reconstruction Governments
New Constitutions, guaranteed civil rights, universal manhood suffrage, fair
apportionment, abolished imprisonment for debt.
Began to rebuild South
Free compulsory public education for all children
No more guilty of graft and corruption than northern governments
Factors Leading to Home Rule
Ku Klux Klan & Similar Groups
Increased Number of Southern White Voters
Waning Northern Interest in Problems of Blacks
Presidential Election of 1876
The Republican-Democrat Deal
Presidential Election of 1876
Results of the Civil War and Reconstruction
Abolition of Slavery
13th Amendment
Legal Guarantee of Black Rights
14th Amendment
15th Amendment
Legal Discrimination in the South
Segregation
Poll taxes and Literacy Tests
Literacy Test
Who is the President of the U.S.?
What is the term of office of the President of the U.S.?
May the President be legally elected for a second term?
If the President of the U.S. dies in office who succeeds him?
How may groups compose the Congress of the United States?
How many United States Senators are there from California?
What is the term of office of a United States Senator?
Who are the United States Senators from California?
Who is the Governor of California?
Who is the Lieutenant Governor of California?
Who is the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of California?
Who is the chief judge of the Court of Appeals of California?
Into what two groups is the legislature of California divided?
Does each county have at least one representative in the Assembly?
Do all counties have the same number of representatives in the Assembly?
In what city are the laws of the United States made?
How old do you have to be to vote in California?
How many states are there in the United States?
What is the capital of the United States?
Who is the Commander-in-Chief of the United States Army?
In what Congressional District do you live?
Who represents your Congressional District in the House of Representatives?
In what State Senatorial district do you live?
Who is the State Senator that represents your Senatorial District?
Who represents your county in the Assembly?
In what county do you live?
What is the name of the county seat of your county?
Who is Public Defender in your county?
Who is the Judge of the Superior Court in your county? If there is more than one, list all.
Who is the Secretary of State of California?
Results Continued
Beginnings of Education for Blacks
Although segregated
Supremacy of the Federal Government
Settled by force of arms
Official National Thanksgiving Day
Officially declared by Lincoln in 1863 as the last Thursday in November
Expansion of Presidential Power
“War Powers”
The “Solid South”
Democratic voting block for almost 100 years
Economic Prosperity in the North and Improvement of Southern Economy
Industrialization
Technology
Arms/weapons
Anesthetics
Medical Care
Final Result: The Last West
Armed citizenry
Outlaw Gangs:
James, Younger, Dalton, Wellman, Dynasty of Western Outlaws
Homestead Act
Passed after South seceded
Transcontinental Railroad
Passed after South seceded
Brought settlers to plains
Destroyed Buffalo
Wellman’s Dynasty of Outlaws
Indian Wars
Reaction to destruction of buffalo and settlers
Reaction to the Reservation System
Long Drive
Wild cattle in Texas during the war
Demand for food in East
Railroad provided viable transportation
Drive from Texas to Kansas, etc.