Download Reconstruction: Success or Failure

1865-1877
The South After the War…
 Entire plantation system collapsed, Southern
economic and social structure destroyed,
transportation shut down, major cities in ruins,
agriculture crippled.
 Emancipated blacks established schools and
churches in an attempt to protect their new
freedoms
Reconstruction:
 a program implemented by the Federal
government between 1865 and 1877 to repair
damage to the South caused by the Civil War and
restore the Southern states to the union
Seeks to find answers for three major
problems
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How to rebuild the South
 How to re-admit the South to the Union
 What are the implications of emancipation
Also: Which branch of government should be in charge
of Reconstruction?
How will Southern States re-join the Union?
 Confederate leaders…should they be tried for
treason or pardoned
 What will the process be for Southern
representatives to reclaim their seats in congress?
 Constitution did not hold the answers to these
questions.
 Some wanted quick and painless process so healing
could begin, others wanted to see
stipulations met.
How will the Southern Economy be rebuilt?
 Between 1860-1870 the south’s share of the nation’s total wealth
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declined from more than 30% to 12%.
Plantations, factories, and railroads destroyed
about a quarter of the south’s men between the ages of 20 and 40 were
killed.
4 million freed African Americans without homes or jobs
Land is the south’s most valuable asset…who should control it?
40 acres and a mule: some (Sherman) believed that former slaves
should benefit from the land, either abandoned or confiscated by the
government.
White southerners objected to the idea that their land could be taken
away, White Northerners worried that it was unconstitutional.
Some African Americans felt the government should by the land from
whites and then sell it on easy terms.
What rights will African Americans have?
 13th Amendment: Abolished slavery in the United
States, but did not grant them full citizenship.
 African Americans hoped for full citizenship with
voting rights and access to education and the
Republican party supported that, however many
southern whites rejected the idea, fearing that it would
undermine their power and status.
Lincoln’s Plan: 10 Percent Plan
 major goal to re-unify the nation.
 Ten percent of a state’s voters must swear loyalty to the Union before
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setting up a new government.
States must abolish slavery and agree to provide education for AfricanAmericans to re-gain representation in Congress.
Former Confederates pardoned and compensated for lost property.
Did not require a guarantee of social or political equality for AfricanAmericans
Recognized pro-Union governments in Arkansas, Louisiana, and
Tennessee, even though they denied African Americans the right to
vote.
The Union was unbreakable, therefore the southern states had never
really left the Union.
Wade-Davis Bill proposed by Radical Republicans in Congress who
opposed Lincoln’s plan for being too lenient on the
south.
 required that a majority of a states prewar voters
swear loyalty to the Union and demanded
guarantees of African American equality.
 Lincoln kills bill with a pocket veto…withholds his
signature past the 10 day deadline.
Freedman’s Bureau goal to provide food, clothing, health care, and
education for both black and white refugees in the
south.
 Helped reunite families separated by slavery and war
 represented African Americans in court, setting a
precedent that they had legal rights.
Lincoln’s Assassination
 Shot in the back of the head on April 14, 1865 while
attending a play, died the following morning.
 First President to be killed in office
 Andrew Johnson becomes 17th President
Johnson’s Plan Offered pardons and restoration of lands to most
Confederates who swear loyalty to the Union.
 States must ratify the 13th Amendment.
 Would allow states to limit freedoms of former slaves
(still believed in states’ rights)
Southerners try to return to prewar world:
 specifically limited the vote to white men
 instituted Black Codes (African Americans could only
work in certain professions, prohibited from owning
land, vagrancy laws, etc..)
 angers the radical republicans.
Failures of Presidential Reconstruction
(Lincoln’s Plan & Johnson’s Plan)
 Allowed Southern states to pass black codes
restricting the rights of freedmen, didn’t address
economic difficulties of freedmen, some states
refused to ratify 14th Amendment
 THESE FAILURES CONTRIBUTED TO
GROWING SUPPORT FOR RADICAL
REPUBLCIANS IN CONGRESS WHO SOUGHT
A MORE PUNITIVE RECONSTRUCTION PLAN
Johnson v Radical Republicans
 With Lincoln’s death, Johnson had to grapple with
growing support for ‘Radical Reconstruction’
 Republicans were unhappy with the ease that
Southern states had reorganized and
disenfranchised blacks under Presidential
Reconstruction.
 Republicans have 2/3 majority after 1866 mid-term
elections…
“Congress alone can
do it…Congress
must create states
and declare whether
they are to be
represented.”
***Radical Republican
Leader Thaddeus
Stevens***
Congressional Reconstruction
Known as “Republican Rule” in the South
1. South should be punished for the war and forced to protect the
rights of freedmen (former slaves).
2. Extended Freedmen’s Bureau (0ver Johnson’s Veto)
3. Civil Rights Act of 1866: (passed over Johnson’s Veto) designed to
grant freedmen full legal equality, undercutting the state Black
Codes
4. Military Reconstruction Act of 1867: (Over Johnson Veto)
*Divided South into 5 military districts and placed them
under
military rule (Military Governor).
*Effectively disbanded state governments established under
Lincoln/Johnson plans
*Required states to ratify 14th amendment
*Guaranteed freedmen a vote at new constitutional
conventions where all Southern states were to write NEW state
constitutions
5. 15th Amendment: Suffrage for African-Americans (but not
women)
5 Military Districts Under Republican
Reconstruction
Reconstruction Amendments
 13th: Abolished Slavery in all
states
 14th:
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Citizenship clause
Equal Protection
Due Process
Former Confederates
 15th: The right to vote shall
not be denied on the basis of
‘race, color, or previous
condition of servitude.’
Impact of Reconstruction laws…
 Ushered in a brief period of Republican dominance in
Southern States as most freedmen registered Republican.
 More than 700,000 freedmen enfranchised;
 10-15% of white voters disenfranchised
(Republican rule in the South is brief…only lasts a decade)
State Constitutional Conventions
 First participation for Freedmen in American
government at these conventions
 Forged democratic changes in state constitutions
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Property qualifications abolished, most offices elected instead
of appointed, integrated some schools
NO STATE CONSTITUTION INCLUDED LAND REFORM…
Carpetbaggers, Scalawags and Freedmen
White Southerners especially despised these three groups:
Carpetbaggers: Northerners who came down to make a profit through
rebuilding, land speculation, etc. Held state offices during Republican rule.
Scalawags: White Southerners who supported Republican policies. Most were
small farmers from mountainous regions…had owned no slaves and sought to
get ahead during Reconstruction. Eventually, most drifted back to Democrats
Freedmen: Backbone of Southern Republicanism…provided 8 of 10 Republican
votes
Held-at most-1 in 5 political offices at state level
Served in all southern legislatures; longest tenure in states with larger black
population (SC, MI,AL, LA)
Impeachment of Johnson
 1867:Congress passes Tenure in Office Act
Prohibits President from firing cabinet officials
without consent of Congress (limit powers of
President during Reconstruction)
 1868: Pres. Dismisses Sec. of War Stanton
(Radical) replaced him with Grant
 House votes to impeach, fails in Congress by 1
vote…would have seriously weakened executive
branch.
Ku Klux Klan
 Established in 1866 in
Tennessee to keep blacks from
exercising their new liberties
 Supporters of Redemption, the
Klan uses terrorism to
intimidate Southerners: They
target schools, Republican
officeholders, Freedmen, etc.
 Congress passes the Force Acts
to stop the KKK and others from
intimidating freedmen…(AKA:
Klan Act)
 It is totally ineffective
without federal military
presence to enforce…
Compromise of 1877
Democrats will concede electoral votes and thus the
White House if Republicans will:
1. Remove last military forces in South
2. Send federal monies for internal improvements
3. Require Hayes to appoint Southerners to cabinet
positions
Reconstruction is OVER…Redemption complete
Redemption Complete
 Without a Federal military
presence, Democrats take
control of state governments in
LA, SC and FL
 The Solid South is
born…Democrat
 1883: Supreme Court
invalidates the Civil Rights Act
and Force Acts and later upheld
segregation as constitutional
(Plessy v. Ferguson)
*Essentially dismantled
Congressional
Reconstruction
“Black Reconstruction”: Efforts by Freedmen in the
South to establish their own institutions and preserve
their own identities and liberties.
 Growth of black churches that provided community, relief, funds for
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schools and support for Republican policies
Black schools: by 1869 4,000 black schools in south (partly funded by
Northern philanthropic societies)
Advanced schools like Howard, Atlanta and Fisk Universities opened
for blacks
Family bonds were strengthened as marriages became legal and broken
families were reunited
Together, groups pooled resources to buy land or they entered into
sharecropping in the ‘crop-lien’ economy
Increased voting and office holding (Before ‘Redemption’)
Troubled Legacy of Reconstruction
 Much resentment of the North in the South
 Blacks still oppressed by Democratic state
governments and black codes…will become Jim Crow
laws
 South becomes the Solid South (democrat)
 Some much needed reform is passed during
Radical/Republican Reconstruction phase
Reconstruction at a glance…
Presidential Reconstruction: (1865-1867) Lenient, quick
readmission of states, 10% oaths, enables Southerners to adopt
black codes and limit freedoms of freedmen
Republican/Radical Reconstruction: (1867-1873) More severe,
includes passage of Reconstruction Amendments, Civil Rights
Act and Force Acts, enables black Republican voters to briefly
exercise power at a state level. Requires Federal Military
Presence in the South to enforce.
Redemption: (1873-1877) With Republican and Northern public
support for a military presence in the South fading, Southern
democrats use intimidation (Klan) and legal means (challenging
elections) to ‘redeem’ their states. The Solid South is born and
much of the gains made for freedmen are reversed.
So….
 How effective WAS Reconstruction?
 Was it successful or was it a failure?