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Reconstruction
1863-1877
Phase 1:
Presidential
Reconstruction Plans
1863-Spring 1866
Presidential Reconstruction Plans
Lincoln’s Plan
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Wanted the process to be simple, meeting a minimum
test of loyalty
Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction
(1863)
Full presidential pardons to southerners who (1)
took an oath of allegiance to the Union and the
Constitution and (2) accepted the emancipation
of slaves
State governments could be reestablished as
soon as 10% of the population took the oath
Presidential Reconstruction Plans
Congressional Republican Plan
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Wade-Davis Bill (1864)
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Response by many Republicans who thought that
Lincoln’s plan would allow disloyal secessionists to run
state governments
Required 50% of voters to take the loyalty oath
Only non-confederates could vote on a new
state constitution
Lincoln pocket-vetoes the bill
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Leaves it alone until after congress adjourns
Presidential Reconstruction Plans
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Congress was ready to reassert its power after
the war in 1865
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Retake power of the president
Freedmen’s Bureau
(Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands)
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Provided food, shelter, medical aid for the
destitute
Benefited both blacks (mostly freed slaves) and
homeless whites
Had the authority to resettle freed blacks on
confiscated farmland
Presidential Reconstruction Plans
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Led by General Oliver O. Howard
Greatest success in education
Established almost 3,000 schools for freed
blacks as well as several colleges
Helped approximately 200,000 AfricanAmericans how to read
Funding ended in 1870
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Last public address on April
11, 1865
Says he wants to grant the
right to vote to “very
intelligent” freedmen and
those who were soldiers
Suggests that he would
have adopted the
congressional Republican
agenda
Loss of intelligent & flexible
leader makes lasting
reform impossible
Presidential Reconstruction Plans
Andrew Johnson’s Plan
 Chosen as running mate in 1864 to
encourage pro-Union democrats to vote
for the Union (Republican) party
 Was the only senator from a Confederate
state who stayed loyal to the Union
 Tennessee’s war governor
 Problem with him leading reconstruction:
He’s a white supremacist
Presidential Reconstruction Plans
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Plan is similar to Lincoln’s 10% Plan
Provided for disfranchisement of certain
groups
(1) All former leaders and officeholders of the
Confederacy
(2) Confederates with more than $20,000 in taxable
property
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Retains power to pardon “disloyal”
southerners
Frequently pardoned wealthy planters
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Many former Confederates in power by fall, 1865
Presidential Reconstruction Plans
Southern Governments of 1865
 8 months after Johnson takes office, all 11 of
the ex-Confederate states qualified to rejoin the
Union
 They repudiated secession, negated debts of the
Confederacy, ratified the 13th Amendment.
 But they didn’t give blacks voting rights and exConfederates elected to congress
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Alexander Stephens, VP of the CSA elected senator
from Georgia
Presidential Reconstruction Plans
Black Codes
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Prohibited blacks from renting land or
borrowing money to buy land
Placed freedmen into a form of servitude
by forcing them as “vagrants” and
“apprentices” to sign work contracts
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Restricted the rights of newly freed blacks
Worked in cotton fields under white
supervision for deferred wages
Prohibited blacks from testifying against
whites in court
Presidential Reconstruction Plans
Republicans begin to ask
“Who won the war?”
Begin to demonstrate unhappiness
w/Johnson
 In 1866, Congress refuses to seat elected
representatives and senators from former
Confederate states
Johnson angers them
again by vetoing 2 bills:
(1) a bill increasing
services and protection of
Freedmen’s bureau
(2) a civil rights bill
nullifying black codes and
guaranteeing full
citizenship and equal rights
to blacks
Election of 1866
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Johnson launches
campaign against
Republicans
Appeals to racial
prejudices
Says Equal Rights =
“Africanization” of
society
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Republicans “wave
the bloody shirt”
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Inflame northern
voters by reminding
them of wartime
hardships
Propaganda campaign
against Democrats
Since southerners are
Democrats, all
Democrats belong to
the party of Rebellion
and Treason
Phase 2:
Congressional
Reconstruction
1866-1872
Congressional Reconstruction
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After election of 1866, Republicans have a
2/3 majority in the House and Senate
Most Republicans join the Radicals
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Feared strength of unified Democrats, especially
since the South gained seats in Congress
Led by Senator Charles Sumner of
Massachusetts and Rep. Thaddeus Stevens
of Pennsylvania
Congressional Reconstruction
The Radical Program
Civil Rights Act of 1866
 Pronounces all African-Americans to be U.S.
citizens, repudiating the Dred Scott decision,
shield against black codes
Fourteenth Amendment
 All people born/naturalized in U.S. are
citizens
 “equal protection” of laws & “due process”
need to be protected by the states
Congressional Reconstruction
Joint Committee of June 1866
 Decide that the Confederates are not
entitled to representation in Congress
 Determines that Congress, not the
president has the power to set the
conditions of readmitting a state
 All but renders Johnson’s powers useless
Congressional Reconstruction
Reconstruction Acts of 1867
 Passed over Johnson’s vetoes
 Placed the South under military
occupation
 Divides the former Confederacy into five
military districts under the control of the
Union army
 Added the condition of ratifying the 14th
Amendment as a readmission requirement
Congressional Reconstruction
Andrew Johnson’s Impeachment
 1867—Congress passes Tenure of Office Act
 Prohibits the president form removing
federal officials or military commanders
without the Senate’s approval
 Probably unconstitutional
 Designed to protect cabinet Radical
Republicans
 Congress wanted to maintain the military
governments installed in the South
Congressional Reconstruction
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Johnson dismisses Edwin Stanton, Secretary of War
House charges Johnson with 11 “high crimes and
misdemeanors”
Impeaches, or indicts him
Senate falls one vote short of removing him from
office
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Needed 2/3 of Senate
Democrats and more moderate Republicans don’t want
to set precedent of removal for political reasons
Congressional Reconstruction
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Fall 1868—Presidential election
Democrats had nominated Horatio
Seymour
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Republicans nominate Ulysses S. Grant
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Johnson’s out no matter what
War hero, but no political experience
Very close election—would have lost
without black votes
Congressional Reconstruction
Fifteenth Amendment (1869)
 Prohibits states from denying a citizen’s
right to vote on condition of race, color, or
previous condition of servitude
 Civil Rights Act of 1875
 Guaranteed equal accommodations in
public places, including hotels, railroads,
and theaters
 Poorly enforced, and largely ignored
Reconstruction in the South
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Military rule by the Union army until ready
for readmission
Whites are the majority in all state
legislatures except for lower house of
South Carolina in 1873
Most Republicans were native-born
whites, freemen, and northern transplants
Reconstruction in the South
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Scalawags
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Carpetbaggers
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Conservative Democrat name for Southern
Republicans
Northern newcomers who supported Republican
policies
Most southern white Republican interested in
economic development for their state
Northerners interested in new business,
missionary work, teachers, and some were
just plain greedy
Reconstruction in the South
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African-American legislators
Most were educated property-holders
Moderates
Two black Senators and over a dozen
Representatives sent to Congress
Hiram Revels takes Jefferson Davis’s Senate
seat from Mississippi
Causes bitter resentment among
disfranchised ex-Confederates
Reconstruction in the South
The Republican Record
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Universal male suffrage
Property Rights for
Women
Debt relief
Modernized penal
codes
Built roads, bridges,
railroads
Hospitals, asylums,
public schools for all
Overhauled tax
systems, issued bonds
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Graft and wasteful
spending
Kickbacks and bribes
from gov’t contractors
Decline in gov’t ethics
Sharecropping
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Economic picture didn’t
improve for blacks
By 1880, less than 5% of
southern blacks are
independent landowners
Reconstruction in the North
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Idealism pushed aside, marked by greed
and corruption in politics and business
Rise of spoilsmen
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Give gov’t jobs and favors to supporters
Crédit Mobilier Affair
 Influential Congressmen given stock by
insiders
 Hiding profits of up to 348% from gov’t
subsidies for building the transcontinental
railroad
Reconstruction in the North
Election of 1872
 Republicans break apart due to scandals
and corruption of Grant Administration
 Select Horace Greeley to run as Liberal
Republican
 Also nominated by Democrats
 “Bloody Shirt” waved again
 Grant wins in a landslide
Reconstruction in the North
Panic of 1873
 Overspeculation by financiers and
overbuilding by industry and railroads
 Debtors wanted more paper money issued
that wasn’t supported by gold
 In 1874, Grant sides with hard-money
bankers
Phase 3
End of Reconstruction
1872-1877
The End of Reconstruction
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During Grant’s second term, Radical
Republicanism declining
Corruption, economic problems in the north,
waning interest in idealistic policies
Rise of the redeemers
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Southern conservatives
Different social backgrounds, but all wanted
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States’ rights, lower taxes
Reduced spending on social programs
White supremacy
The End of Reconstruction
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During Republican rule, southern whites
organized secret societies to intimidate white
reformers and blacks
Ku Klux Klan
Founded by an ex-Confederate General—
Nathaniel Bedford Forrest
“Invisible Empire”
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Burned black-owned buildings
Flogged, murdered freedmen to prevent voting
Congress passes Force Acts in 1870
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to stop the worst of the violence
Enforce 14th and 15th Amendments
The End of Reconstruction
Amnesty Act of 1872
 Removes restrictions on ex-Confederates,
except the highest leaders
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By 1876 Federal troops withdrawn from
everywhere except Louisiana, Florida, South
Carolina
Democrats regain control of House of
Representatives
The End of Reconstruction
Election of 1876
 Republicans nominate Rutherford B. Hayes
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Democrats nominate Samuel J. Tilden
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Governor of Ohio
Not involved with corruption of Grant Administration
Governor of New York
Fought corruption of the Tweed Ring
Votes contested in LA, FL, SC
Tilden wins popular vote, needs only one electoral
vote from one of the three states to win
The End of Reconstruction
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Special electoral commission created to
decide who gets disputed votes
Commission: 8 Republicans, 7 Democrats
Votes 8-7 to give all electoral votes to
Hayes
Democrats threaten to filibuster the
results, send election to the House
The End of Reconstruction
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(1)
(2)
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Compromise of 1877
Deal worked out between the parties
Hayes becomes President on two
conditions:
Federal support for Republicans on the
south ended immediately
Support the building of a Southern
transcontinental railroad
Hayes complies with conditions, agrees
to only serve one term
The End of Reconstruction
Reasons for the final failure
 End of federal military presence
 Throughout 1880s and 1890s, Supreme
Court strikes down anti-discrimination laws
 New South supporters promised industrial
development that never was realized
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Most blacks and whites remain poor farmers
South increasingly fell behind the rest of the
nation