Download Reconstruction Plans

Reconstruction
1865 through 1877
A time for rebuilding the South
and reuniting the country.
Reconstruction Plans:
Abraham Lincoln’s Plan
 Lincoln wanted generous terms and leniency for
former Confederates: “with malice toward none…”
 He wanted to pardon southern supporters if they
took oaths of loyalty to the United States.
 His plan: recognize and welcome states back into
the Union when ten percent (10%) of the people
took oaths of allegiance to the Union and the
states adopted new constitutions abolishing
slavery. This was called the “10% Plan”.
 Although Lincoln was open to suggestions from
Congress, his assassination in 1865 meant that he
would never carry out his program.
Reconstruction Plans:
Andrew Johnson’s Plan
 Andrew Johnson became president when Lincoln
was assassinated and intended to follow broad
outline of Lincoln’s plan.
 Radical Republicans, who controlled Congress,
wanted harsher terms for Confederates and
Johnson’s failure to consider congressional views
on Reconstruction and his attempts to block their
plans led Republicans to try to impeach him.
 President Johnson was charged with “high crimes
and misdemeanors” and was impeached in 1868although he was not removed from office because
the Senate fell ONE vote short required to remove
the president from office.
Reconstruction Plans:
Radical Republicans in Congress
 Now the Republican-controlled Congress dictated
terms of Reconstruction. The main features of the
Radical Republicans plans were:
 The division of south into five (5) military districts
controlled by U.S. Army while new state
governments and constitutions were being set up.
 The requirement that new constitutions had to give
African American MEN the right to vote.
 Southern states also had to ratify (approve) the
14th amendment which granted African Americans
U.S. citizenship. The amendment also prohibited
former Confederate officials from holding elected
office.
State Governments During Reconstruction
 White Southerners tried to regain control of state
governments and wanted to limit the freedom and
movement of former slaves (now called freedmen).
They did not like Radical Republican Reconstruction
plan because they were barred from holding office
and voting.
 Only a few white southerners supported Radical
Republicans and served in the new southern state
governments. They were branded, by former
southern sympathizers, as scalawags (scoundrels)
and Republican northerners who came south to
take part in Reconstruction were called
carpetbaggers.
 Terror and violence were used to keep African
Americans from participating in government.
The Freedmen’s Bureau
 An organization created by Congress in 1865 to
help former slaves (freedmen). It existed from
1865-1871.
 At the end of the war, the bureau provided
emergency food, housing, and medical care to
former slaves and helped reunite families.
 It helped former slaves adjust to freedom. Its
main job was setting up work opportunities and
supervising employment contracts with private
landowners. It also helped former slaves get an
education and established many schools for young
African Americans.
Civil War Amendments
During Reconstruction, states had to ratify these
amendments to the Constitution:
13th Amendment: (1865)
 Abolished slavery in the United States.
14th Amendment: (1868)
 African Americans were made citizens of the
United States- all native-born people.
15th Amendment: (1870)
 Gave African American MEN the right to vote- and
declared that state governments could not DENY
the right to MEN based on race, color, etc…
President Ulysses S. Grant: 1868-1877
 Another president during Reconstruction was former
Civil War General Ulysses S. Grant. Grant ran for
president as a Republican and won the 1868 election.
 Grant’s strengths were that of a military leader,
not a politician. Scandals and corruption
damaged his reputation and his presidency.
 The most notorious scandals were:
 Crédit Mobilier Scandal: railroad officials took
money from the railroad companies, then bribed
members of Congress to block any investigation.
 Whiskey Ring: whiskey distillers took money for
themselves and put it in their own pockets rather
than paying federal tax collectors the money
owed from tax on liquor.
The End of Reconstruction: 1877
 As corruption in the Grant Administration grew,
Democrats began to gain power in the South and
would dominate the southern U.S. for years to
come…this gave rise to the term “the Solid South”.
Election of 1876:
Samuel Tilden (D) v. Rutherford B. Hayes (R)
-- Tilden won the popular vote, but the electoral
votes were disputed. Four states had disputed
election returns.
-- A commission was appointed to count the votes,
the Republican majority on the commission gave
the disputed electoral votes to Hayes, thus
guaranteeing his victory.
The End of Reconstruction: 1877
Compromise of 1877
Democrats agreed go along with the decision of the
commission in return for Hayes promise to do the
following:
 Withdraw federal troops from Southern states
 Hayes had to name a southerner to his cabinet
 Spending money for internal improvements in
the South
 The Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction
and allowed many southern leaders to regain
power in southern state governments. White
leaders actively worked to curb the rights of
African Americans.
Reconstruction: Was it a failure?
 Ongoing violence continued against freedmen
(former slaves) with the rise of the Ku Klux Klan
(KKK).
 Segregation: separating people based on race
 Jim Crow laws: segregation laws passed in the
South. Legal separation of African Americans
and whites in schools, public parks and
buildings, and railroad cars.
 Black Codes: laws passed in the Southern states
to control freedmen and enable plantation
owners to exploit African Americans: curfews,
beatings, and contract work.
Reconstruction: Was it a failure?
Voting Obstacles for African American Men:
 Poll taxes: Southern laws that required registered
voters to pay to vote. They were intended to
keep poor people away from the polls, in
particular, African Americans, who did not have
any money.
 Literacy tests: Designed by the southern states,
these tests were designed to keep African
Americans from voting…the tests were difficult
and many former slaves were illiterate.
 Grandfather Clause: allowed the son or grandson
to vote if their grandfather voted before 1866.
Since African Americans could not vote before
that time, they were not allowed to vote.
Supreme Court Rules:
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
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In 1890, Louisiana passed a law called the Separate Car Act. This law said that railroad
companies had to provide separate but equal train cars for whites and blacks. Blacks had to
sit with blacks and whites had to sit with whites. This is called segregation. Anyone who
broke this law would have to pay $2500 or go to jail for 20 days.
Two groups challenged the constitutionality of the Separate Car Act. A group of black
citizens raised money to overturn the law and worked together with the East Louisiana
Railroad Company, which sought to terminate the Act largely for monetary reasons. They
chose a 30-year-old shoemaker named Homer Plessy, a citizen of the United States who was
one-eighth black and a resident of the state of Louisiana. On June 7, 1892, Plessy purchased
a first-class passage from New Orleans to Covington, Louisiana and sat in the railroad car for
"White" passengers. The railroad officials knew Plessy was coming and arrested him for
violating the Separate Car Act. Well known advocate for black rights Albion Tourgee, a white
lawyer, agreed to argue the case for free.
Plessy argued in court that the Separate Car Act violated the 13th and 14th Amendments to
the U.S. Constitution. The Thirteenth Amendment banned slavery and the Fourteenth
Amendment required the government treat people equally. John Howard Ferguson, the
judge hearing the case, stated in a previous court decision that the Separate Car Act was
unconstitutional if applied to trains running outside of Louisiana. In this case, however, he
declared the law was constitutional for trains running within the state and therefore found
Plessy guilty.
Plessy appealed the case to the Louisiana State Supreme Court, which affirmed the decision
that the Louisiana law was constitutional. Plessy then took his case, Plessy v. Ferguson, to
the Supreme Court of the United States, the highest court in the country. Judge John
Howard Ferguson was named in the case because he had been named in the petition to the
Louisiana State Supreme Court, not because he was a party to the initial lawsuit.
Supreme Court Rules:
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
 Who: Homer Plessy (1/8th African American: in
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Louisiana he was considered 100% African
American)
What & Where: Plessy was jailed for sitting in a
“white’s only” car on a train in Louisiana.
When: 1896
Decision in the Case: Segregation was upheld as a
law (legal) as long as African Americans had
access to “separate but equal” facilities. Hence,
segregation was legalized on trains, in schools,
theaters, etc…
In Reality: Separate was RARELY, IF EVER, equal.