Download Punishment or Reconciliation?

Unit 12, Notes 1
Punishment or Reconciliation?
Lincoln's Reconstruction Plan
 Reconciliation: wanted to mend the nation's wounds and bring the South back into the fold
like a wayward son
 Amnesty (pardon for political offenses) to all Southerners who took an oath of loyalty and
agreed to follow federal policies concerning slavery
 10% Plan: when 10 percent of a state's voters in the 1860 election took this oath of loyalty
then a new state government could be organized
Radical Republican Plan
 The Radical Republicans were led by Rep. Thaddeus Stevens and Senator Charles Sumner
 3 Radical Republican Reconstruction Goals
 No Confederate leaders returning to power/authority of any kind
 Republican presence in the Southern states
 Support the new freedmen (former slaves) in the South
 Wade-Davis Bill: Congressional act requiring the majority of adult white men in the
Confederate states to take an oath of allegiance to the Union - required the majority of
adult white men in a former Confederate state to take an oath of allegiance to the
Union
 Constitutional Convention would then follow
 State conventions had to...
 Abolish slavery
 Repudiate all wartime debts
 Deprive Confederate officers and govt. officials from holding office or voting
 Lincoln blocked it with a pocket veto it was a power struggle over who would control
Reconstruction, the President or Congress. Lincoln was assassinated before
Reconstruction really began so this showdown ended when the President died.
President Johnson's Presidential Reconstruction Plan Johnson believed that a moderate
policy was needed to bring the South back into the Union and to win Southern loyalty
 Restoration program – very similar to Lincoln’s plan
 Pardoned all former Confederates who took an oath of loyalty except... former
Confederate officers planter aristocracy - Johnson believed these people had
caused the war they could only be pardon by the president
 State conventions held to revoke succession and ratify the 13th Amendment:
abolished slavery in the United States
 After initially being tough on ex-Confederate leaders, Johnson began to grant private
pardons to thousands of former Confederate planters and officers
Freedmen's Bureau
 Thousands of freedmen settled on old plantation lands along S.C. and Georgia coastline –
The devastation of the war and the collapse of the economy left thousands of people
unemployed, homeless, and hungry
 Those sympathizing with the freedmen pushed for the "40 acres and a mule" support
method – take land for the former Confederates and give to the former slaves, others
thought that violated individual property rights
 The government created the Freedmen's Bureau to provide needed support – Large
numbers of African Americans had flocked to Union lines as the war progressed
seeking food and shelter
 Freedmen's Bureau:
 Created to feed and clothe war refugees in the South – about 30,000 rations a day
 Help former slaves find work - negotiated labor contracts with planters,
specifying pay and number of hours of work
 Educate former slaves – provided housing for schools, paid teachers, and helped
establish colleges for training African-American teachers
New Civil Rights Legislation
 New Southern legislatures (dominated by ex-Confederates) passed a series of Black Codes
to limit African American rights...- varied from state to state…but they intended to keep
African-Americans in a condition similar to slavery
 annual labor contracts set specific work hours - African American children could
be beaten
 required nonagricultural workers to get a special license
 perpetuated the segregation of society
 Civil Rights Act of 1866
 Grants citizenship to all persons born in the U.S. except Native Americans
 14th Amendment – passed to override the black codes
 Citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the U.S.
 No state can deprive anyone of life, liberty, or property without due process of law
 President Johnson attacked the amendment – Johnson thought the Amendment was too
liberal and would alienate the South
Military Reconstruction
 Violence erupted in the South over the passage of the 14th Amendment  Military Reconstruction Act (1867) – which essentially wiped out Johnson’s programs
 Confederacy divided into 5 military districts
 New state conventions had to create constitutions acceptable by Congress
 Suffrage had to be extended to all adult male citizens regardless of race
 14th Amendment had to be ratified before states could elect people to Congress
Johnson Impeached
 Congress passed Tenure of Office Act to prevent Johnson from firing Republican policy
supporter and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton – required all orders from the president
through the Senate - they knew that Stanton agreed with their program and would
enforce it
 Johnson fired Stanton anyway – Stanton barricaded himself in his office and refused to
leave for 3 days
 House then impeached Johnson for “high crimes and misdemeanors” – They charged that
Johnson had broken the law by refusing to uphold the Tenure of Office Act
 Senate came up one vote shy of removing Johnson from office - The senate put the
president on trial – needed 2/3s vote to be found guilty and removed 35 to 19
Election of 1868 – Ch 12, S 2
 President Johnson chose not to run – after the impeachment process
 Ulysses S. Grant became the favored Republican candidate – popular war hero
 Union troops in South enabled African Americans to vote in large numbers
 Grant elected - Grant won six Southern states and most of the Northern states
 15th Amendment: Right to vote “shall not be denied on account of race, color, or previous
condition of servitude.” 1870