Download Chapter 22 Outline The Ordeal of Reconstruction I. The Problems of

Chapter 22 Outline The Ordeal of Reconstruction
I. The Problems of Peace
i. After the war, there were many questions over what to do with the free Blacks, such
as how to reintegrate the Southern states into the Union, what to do with Jefferson
Davis, and who would be in charge of Reconstruction?
ii. The Southern way of life had been ruined, as crops and farms were destroyed, the
slaves had been freed, the cities were burnt down, but still, and many Southerners
remained defiant.
II. Freedmen Define Freedom
i.
At first, the freed Blacks faced a confusing situation, as many slave owners reenslaved their slaves after Union troops left.
1. Other planters resisted emancipation through legal means, citing that
emancipation wasn’t valid until local or state courts declared it.
ii. Some slaves loyally stuck to their owners while others let out their pent-up bitterness
by pillaging their former masters’ land, property, and even whipping the old master.
iii. Eventually, even resisting plantation owners had to give up their slaves, and
afterwards tens of thousands of Blacks took to the roads to find new work or look for
lost loved ones.
iv. The church became the focus of the Black community life in the years following
the war.
1. Emancipation also meant education for Blacks, but despite all the gains Blacks
made, they still faced severe discrimination and would have to wait a
century before truly attaining their rights.
III. The Freedman’s Bureau
i.
In order to train the unskilled and unlettered freed Blacks, the Freedman’s Bureau
was set up on March 3, 1865. Union General Oliver O. Howard headed it.
ii. The bureau taught about 200,000 Blacks how to read (its greatest success), since most
former slaves wanted to narrow the literary gap between them and Whites; the bureau
also read the word of God.
iii. However, it wasn’t as effective as it could have been, as evidenced by the further
discrimination of Blacks, and it expired in 1872 after much criticism by racist Whites.
IV. Johnson: The Tailor President
i. Andrew Johnson came from very poor and humble beginnings, and he served in
Congress for many years (he was the only Confederate congressman not to leave
Congress when the rest of the South seceded).
ii. He was feared for his reputation of having a short temper and being a great fighter, was
a dogmatic champion of states’ rights and the Constitution, and he was a Tennessean
who never earned the trust of the North and never regained the confidence of the
South.
V. Presidential Reconstruction
i. Since Abraham Lincoln believed that the South had never legally withdrawn from
the Union, restoration was to be relatively simple. In his plan for restoring the union,
the southern states could be reintegrated into the Union if and when they had only
10% of its voters pledge and taken an oath to the Union, and also acknowledge the
emancipation of the slaves; it was appropriately called the Ten Percent Plan. Like the
loving father who welcomed back the prodigal son, Lincoln’s plan was very forgiving
to the South.
ii.
The Radical Republicans felt punishment was due the South for all the years of
strife. They feared that the leniency of the 10 % Plan would allow the Southerners to reenslave the newly freed Blacks, so they rammed the Wade-Davis Bill through Congress. It
required 50% of the states’ voters to take oaths of allegiance and demanded stronger safeguards
for emancipation than the 10% Plan.
iii. However, Lincoln pocket-vetoed the bill by letting it expire, and the 10% Plan remained.
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It became clear that there were now two types of Republicans: the moderates, who shared the
same views as Lincoln and the radicals, who believed the South should be harshly punished.
1. Sadly though, Lincoln was assassinated. This left the 10% Plan’s future in
question.
2. When Andrew Johnson took power, the radicals thought that he would do what
they wanted, but he soon proved them wrong by basically taking Lincoln’s policy
and issuing his own Reconstruction proclamation: certain leading Confederates
were disfranchised (right to vote removed), the Confederate debt was repudiated,
and states had to ratify the 13th Amendment.
VI. The Baleful Black Codes
i.
In order to control the freed Blacks, many Southern states passed Black Codes, laws aimed
at keeping the Black population in submission and workers in the fields; some were harsh,
others were not as harsh.
ii. Blacks who “jumped” their labor contracts, or walked off their jobs, were subject to
penalties and fines, and their wages were generally kept very low.
iii. The codes forbade Blacks from serving on a jury and some even barred Blacks from renting
or leasing land, and Blacks could be punished for “idleness” by being subjected to working on
a chain gang.
iv. Making a mockery out of the newly won freedom of the Blacks, the Black Codes made
many abolitionists wonder if the price of the Civil War was worth it, since Blacks were
hardly better after the war than before the war. They were not “slaves” on paper, but in reality,
their lives were little different.
VII. Congressional Reconstruction
i.
In December, 1865, when many of the Southern states came to be reintegrated into the
Union, among them were former Confederates and Democrats, and most Republicans were
disgusted to see their former enemies on hand to reclaim seats in Congress.
ii. During the war, without the Democrats, the Republicans had passed legislation that had favored
the North, such as the Morrill Tariff, the Pacific Railroad Act, and the Homestead Act, so now,
many Republicans didn’t want to give up the power that they had gained in the war.
iii. Northerners now realized that the South would be stronger politically than before, since now,
Blacks counted for a whole person instead of just 3/5 of one, and Republicans also feared that
the Northern and Southern Democrats would join and take over Congress and the White
House and institute their Black Codes over the nation, defeating all that the Civil War gained.
iv. On December 6, 1865, President Johnson declared that the South had satisfied all of the
conditions needed, and that the Union was now restored.
VIII.Johnson Clashes with Congress
i.
Johnson repeatedly vetoed Republican-passed bills, such as a bill extending the life of the
Freedman’s Bureau, and he also vetoed the Civil Rights Bill, which conferred on blacks
the privilege of American citizenship and struck at the Black Codes.
ii. As Republicans gained control of Congress, they passed the bills into laws with a 2/3 vote and
thus override Johnson’s veto.
iii. In the 14th Amendment, the Republicans sought to instill the same ideas of the Civil Rights
Bill: (1) all Blacks were American citizens, (2) if a state denied citizenship to Blacks, then its
representatives in the Electoral College were lowered, (3) former Confederates could not hold
federal or state office, and (4) the federal debt was guaranteed while the Confederate one was
repudiated (erased).
iv. The radicals were disappointed that Blacks weren’t given the right to vote, but all
Republicans agreed that states wouldn’t be accepted back into the Union unless they ratified
the 14th Amendment.
IX. Swinging ‘Round the Circle with Johnson
i. In 1866, Republicans would not allow Reconstruction to be carried on without the 14th
Amendment, and as election time approached, Johnson wanted to lower the amount of
Republicans in Congress, so he began a series of ‘Round the Circle speeches.
ii. However, as he was heckled by the audience, he hurled back insults, gave “give ‘em hell”
iv.
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speeches, and generally denounced the radicals, and in the process, he gave Republicans
more men in Congress than they had before—the opposite of his original intention.
X. Republican Principles and Programs
i. By then, the Republicans had a veto-proof Congress and nearly unlimited control over
Reconstruction, but moderates and radicals still couldn’t agree with one another.
ii. In the Senate, the leader of the radicals was Charles Sumner, long since recovered from his
caning by Preston Brooks, and in the House, the radical leader was Thaddeus Stevens, an
old, sour man who was an unswerving friend of the Blacks.
iii. The radicals wanted to keep the South out of the Union as long as possible and totally change
its economy and the moderates wanted a quicker Reconstruction. What happened was a
compromise between the two extremes.
XI. Reconstruction by Sword
i. The Reconstruction Act of March 2, 1867 divided the South into five military zones,
temporarily disfranchised tens of thousands of former Confederates, and laid down new
guidelines for the readmission of states (Johnson had announced the Union restored, but
Congress had not yet formally agreed on this).
1. All states had to approve the 14th Amendment, making all Blacks citizens.
2. All states had to guarantee full suffrage of all male former slaves.
ii. The 15th Amendment, passed by Congress in 1869, gave Blacks their right to vote.
iii. In the case Ex parte Milligan (1866), the Supreme Court ruled that military tribunals could not
try civilians, even during wartime, if there were civil courts available.
iv. By 1870, all of the states had complied with the standards of Reconstruction, and in 1877, the
last of the states were given their home rule back, and Reconstruction ended.
1. The end of Reconstruction was part of the Compromise of 1877—the two
presidential candidates were at a stalemate and the only way to break the stalemate
was with a deal. In the deal, the North got their president (Rutherford B. Hayes) and
the South got the military to pull-out (abandon?) the South and the former slaves, thus
ending Reconstruction.
XII. No Women Voters
i. Women suffrage advocates were disappointed by the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, since
they didn’t give women suffrage.
1. After all, women had gathered petitions and had helped Blacks gain their rights.
2. Frederick Douglass believed in the women’s movement, but believed that it was now
“the Negro’s hour.”
ii. As a result, women advocates like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony
campaigned against the 14th and 15th Amendments—Amendments that inserted the word
male into the Constitution for the first time ever.
XIII.The Realities of Radical Reconstruction in the South
i. Blacks began to organize politically, and their main vehicle was the Union League.
1. It became a network of political clubs that educated members in their civic duties and
campaigned for Republican candidates, and later even built Black churches and
schools, represented Black grievances, and recruited militias to protect Blacks.
2. Black women attended the parades and rallies of Black communities.
ii. Black men also began to hold political offices, as men like Hiram Revels and Blanche K.
Bruce served in Congress (they represented Mississippi).
iii. Southern Whites hated seeing their former slaves now ranking above them, and they also hated
“scalawags,” Southerners who were accused of plundering Southern treasuries and selling out
the Southerners, and “carpetbaggers,” Northerners accused of parasitically milking power
and profit in a now-desolate South.
iv. One could note that Southern governments were somewhat corrupted during these times.
XIV. The Ku Klux Klan
i. Extremely racist Whites who hated the Blacks founded the “Invisible Empire of the South,”
or Ku Klux Klan, in Tennessee in 1866—an organization that scared Blacks into not voting or
not seeking jobs, etcÉ and often resorted to violence against the Blacks in addition to terror.
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This radical group undermined much of what abolitionists sought to do.
XV. Johnson Walks the Impeachment Plank
i.
Radical Republicans were angry with President Johnson, and they decided to try to get rid of
him.
ii. In 1867, Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act, which provided that the president had to
secure the consent of the Senate before removing his appointees once they had been approved
by the Senate (one reason was to keep Edwin M. Stanton, a Republican spy, in office).
iii. However, when Johnson dismissed Stanton early in 1868, the Republicans impeached him.
XVI. A Not-Guilty Verdict for Johnson
i. Johnson was not allowed to testify by his lawyers, who argued that the Tenure of Office Act was
unconstitutional and Johnson was acting under the Constitution, not the law.
ii. On May 16, 1868, Johnson was acquitted of all charges by a single vote, as seven
Republican senators with consciences voted “not-guilty” (interestingly, those seven
never secured a political office again afterwards).
iii. Die-hard radicals were infuriated by the acquittal, but many politicians feared
establishing a precedence of removing the president through impeachment.
XVII. The Purchase of Alaska
i. In 1867, Secretary of State William H. Seward bought Alaska from Russia to the
United States for $7.2 million, but most of the public jeered his act as “Seward’s Folly”
or “Seward’s Ice-box.”
ii. Only later, when oil and gold were discovered, did Alaska prove to be a huge
bargain.
XVIII. The Heritage of Reconstruction
i. Many Southerners regarded Reconstruction as worse than the war itself, as they
resented the upending of their social and racial system.
ii. The Republicans, though with good intentions, failed to improve the South, and the fate
of Blacks would remain poor for almost another century before the Civil Rights
movement of the 1950s and 1960s secured Black privileges.
ii.
Chapter 22 Vocabulary
Oliver O. Howard – Howard was the head of the Freedmen's Bureau which was intended to be a kind of
primitive welfare agency for free blacks. He later founded and served as president of Howard University in
Washington D.C.
Andrew Johnson – Johnson was president after Lincoln's assassination, between 1864 and 1868. He was an
“accidental president" who was an ex-Tennessee Senator, and was Lincoln's vice-president. He was a
Southerner who did not understand the North, a Tennesseean who had never been accepted by the Republicans,
and a president who had never been elected to the office. Republicans feared that Southerners might join hands
with Democrats in the North and win control of Congress. If the South ran Congress, blacks might be enslaved
once again. To protest, Congress passed the Civil Rights Bill, but Johnson vetoed the bill (it was overridden by
a 2/3 vote though. Congress also tried to have Johnson impeached. The impeachment trial failed by one vote
in the Senate. The one great achievement that Johnson's administration committed was the purchase of Alaska.
Alexander Stephens -- He was the vice-president of the Confederacy, until 1865, when it was defeated and
destroyed by the Union. Like the other leaders of the Confederacy, he was under indictment for treason.
Charles Sumner -- Charles Sumner was a senator for Massachusetts. He was a leading abolitionist. He spoke
against slavery and openly insulted Butler in the wake of the Kansas-Nebraska crisis. Preston S. Brooks was
offended by the insults and beat Sumner with a cane. Sumner obtained very serious injuries and had to leave for
three and a half years to recover. Massachusetts reelected Sumner, and South Carolina reelected Brooks. This
showed how emotional the North and South were and how close they were to war.
Thaddeus Stevens -- Thaddeus Stevens was a radical Republican congressman. He orchestrated the
Congressional Reconstruction plan, which was very stern toward the South. He also tried to impeach
President Andrew Johnson in 1868. William Seward – Seward was Secretary of State under Lincoln and
Johnson and purchased Alaska in 1867 for $7.2 million. It was referred to as "Seward's Folly" or “Seward’s
Icebox” then, before its oil reserves were known.
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Freedman's Bureau – The Bureau was to be a primitive welfare agency for freed blacks. It provided food,
clothes, and education to freedman. Union General, Oliver O. Howard founded the program. It taught
200,000 blacks how to read, its greatest success, but it expired in 1872.
10% Plan -- This was Lincoln's Reconstruction plan. Written in 1863, it proclaimed that a state could be
reintegrated into the Union when 10% of its voters in the 1860 election pledged their allegiance to the U.S.
and pledged to abide by emancipation, and then formally erect their state governments. This plan was very
lenient to the South, and would have meant an easy Reconstruction.
Moderate vs. Radical Republicans -- Moderate Republicans agreed with Lincoln's ideals. They believed
that the seceded states should be restored to the Union swiftly through lenient terms. The Radical Republicans
believed that the South should pay dearly for their crimes. The radicals wanted the social structure of the
South to be changed before it was restored to the Union. They wanted the planters punished and the blacks
protected by federal power. They were against Abraham Lincoln.
Black Codes -- The Black Codes were laws passed in the Southern states after the Civil War. The laws were
designed to regulate the affairs of the freed blacks. They were aimed to ensure a stable labor supply and they
sought to restore, as closely as possible, the pre-freedom system of racial relations. They recognized freedom
and a few other rights, such as the right to marry, but they still prohibited the right to serve on a jury, or renting
or leasing land. No blacks were allowed to vote. They mocked the ideal of freedom and created horrible
burdens on the free blacks that were desperately struggling to make it. The North viewed it as re -enslaving the
freed slaves, only in different words. They thought that if this was true, then the war had been fought in vain.
These laws caused Radical Republicans to pass the Civil Rights Act in 1866.
Sharecropping -- After the Civil War former landowners "rented" plots of land to blacks and poor whites in
such a way that the renters were always in debt and therefore tied to the land. Sharecropping was little better
than life as a slave, as they did not own the land but paid shares of the crops. Sharecroppers were often in debt
to the landlord.
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Civil Rights Act -- In 1866, the Civil Rights Act was created to grant citizenship to blacks and it
was an attempt to prohibit the black codes. It also prohibited racial discrimination on jury
selection. The Civil Rights Act was not really enforced and was really just a political move used
to attract more votes. Its greatest achievement was that it led to the creation and passing of the
14th Amendment.
Fourteenth Amendment – Preceded by the Civil Rights Bill, the Fourteenth Amendment was
proposed by Congress and sent to the states in June of 1866. "It (1) conferred civil rights,
including citizenship, but excluding the franchise, for the freedmen; (2) reduced proportionately the
representation of a state in Congress and the Electoral College if it denied blacks the ballot; (3)
disqualified from federal and state office any rebel until they swore 'to support the Constitution of
the U.S.; and (4) guaranteed the federal debt, while repudiating all Confederate debts." It did not
grant the right to vote and all Republicans agreed that a state could not be part of the Union again
without ratifying the amendment.
Military Reconstruction Act – This act divided the South into five military districts that were
commanded by Union generals. It was passed in 1867 by Radical Republicans, it ripped the
power away from the president to be commander in chief and set up a system of martial law.
Fifteenth Amendment -- This amendment was passed in Congress in 1869 and was ratified by the
required number of states in 1870 and gave freed black men the right to vote. Before ratification,
Northern states withheld the ballot from the black minorities. The South felt that the
Republicans were hypocritical by insisting that blacks in the South should vote. The moderates
wanted the southern states back in the Union, and thus free the federal government from direct
responsibility for the protection of black rights. The Republicans were afraid that once the states
were re-admitted they would amend their constitutions and withdraw the ballot from blacks. The
only ironclad safeguard to cease the tension was the Fifteenth Amendment.
Scalawags – Scalawags were Southerners who were favorable to the North.
Carpetbaggers -- During the Reconstruction period after the Civil War, this nickname was given
to Northerners who moved south to seek their fortune out of the destruction. Some went southward
to help, others to scam.
Ku Klux Klan -- In 1866, Tennessee formed one of the most notorious anti-black groups, the
KKK. They were against any power or rights a black might have. They were violent and often
times they killed blacks "to keep them in their place."
Force Acts -- These acts were passed in 1870 and 1871. They were created to put a stop to the
torture and harassment of blacks by whites, especially by hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan.
These acts gave power to the government to use its force to physically end the problems.
Tenure of Office -- The Tenure of Office Act was passed by Congress in 1867. It stated that the
president could not fire any appointed officials without the consent of Congress. Congress passed
this act knowing that Andrew Johnson would break it. Johnson fired Stanton without asking
Congress, thus giving Congress a reason to impeach him. Johnson’s impeachment trial was 1
vote short in the Senate.
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