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RECONSTRUCTION (1865-1877) READING
Aftermath Of Civil War
01. The Constitution had no parts to it that addressed secession, how a state may “reenter”
the Union, or which branch of government was responsible for rebuilding a region of the
United States had it seceded.
02. Northern politicians would ultimately decide:
a. how to readmit the southern states to the Union.
b. how to treat ex-Confederates.
c. the make-up of new southern state governments.
d. the political status of slaves.
e. what legislation would be appropriate to financially help slaves -and- southern whites.
Congressional Make-Up
01. Radical Republican minority --> Desired harsh treatment toward the South
(Senator Charles Sumner, Representative Thaddeus Stevens)
02. Democrat Party minority --> Desired lenient treatment toward the South
03. Republican Party conservative minority --> Same as 02
04. Moderate Republican majority --> Preferred leniency, but were concerned about a lack
of southern remorse; served as the “swing group”
Reconstruction Proposals (**Wade-Davis Bill --> Lincoln pocket veto)
Abraham Lincoln------------Radical Republicans------------Andrew Johnson*
President in charge
Congress in charge
President in charge
Individuals rebelled
States rebelled
Individuals rebelled
Each southern state must: declare secession is illegal
declare slavery is illegal (13th Amendment)
swear allegiance to the Union
refuse to collect Confederate debts
disenfranchisement of Confederate leaders
10% of voters agree
to terms
Majority vote agrees
to terms**
Representatives in
state convention
agree to term
Pardon those who agreed to
terms except war criminals,
Confederate officials (*changed
his mind), and individuals worth
more than $20,000
If pardoned, a person could vote and run for office
If admitted, states could hold elections for Congress
Presidential Reconstruction Victory...Temporary!
President Andrew Johnson, chosen by Abraham Lincoln to be his running mate in 1864
as a gesture of unity, supported Lincoln’s “Ten Percent Plan” with modifications (see chart).
A Democrat from Tennessee who overcame an impoverished background to rise through the
ranks of politics, Johnson was the only Senator from a seceding state who remained loyal to the
Union. He was heard saying, “Damn the Negroes, I am fighting those traitorous aristocrats,
their masters.”
On December 6, 1865, Johnson announced that the southern states, with the exception of
Mississippi, had met his conditions for Reconstruction (secession is illegal, slavery is banned,
swear allegiance to the Union), and in his opinion the Union was now restored. As it became
clear the design of the new southern state governments was remarkably similar to the
Confederate governments, moderate and Radical Republicans became increasingly angry. When
Congress convened later than month:
01. Republicans immediately refused to seat those southern Democratic Party
members who were prominent, former Confederate officials.
02. Republicans called for a special committee on Reconstruction to form, which
promptly declared that:
a. southern states had forfeited “all civil and political rights”.
b. Johnson’s deal was overturned pending further investigation.
03. Republicans denounced southern states who had passed “black codes”--essentially,
former slaves could not vote, serve on a jury, lease or rent land, carry firearms,
or move from place to place without permission. Furthermore, former slaves were
required to enter annual labor contracts with their former masters.
04. Republicans overrode Johnson’s veto of the 1866 Civil Rights Act, which granted
citizenship and political rights to former slaves. Johnson had argued this law came
into conflict with a states’ right to make its own laws and that an amendment was
required in this case.
Then...
05. Republicans “waved the bloody shirt” during their mid-term election campaigns
in 1866; moderate Republican voters were swayed by the positions of Radicals.
06. Congress passed the 1867 Reconstruction Act over Johnson’s veto which:
a. divided southern states into five military districts, each led by a general and
a standing army to uphold the law;
b. required southern states to hold constitutional conventions with black male
participation -andc. required southern states to gain reentry into the Union when they:
++ratified the 14th Amendment, which granted due process and equal protection
under the laws to citizens
++ratified the 15th Amendment, which guaranteed voting rights for blacks
++refused to collect Confederate war debts
++prohibited Confederate officials from holding elective office unless they
received a Congressional, not executive, pardon
07. Congress passed a law to ensure the generals in each military district must follow
the orders of the General of the Army (Grant), not the Commander-In-Chief
(Johnson) -and- passed a law forbidding the president from dealing directly with
the military governors in the South.
1868 Impeachment Of Johnson
01. 1867 Tenure Of Office Act
a. The President was prohibited from removing any official who had been approved by
Congress without its approval
b. Johnson, believing this law was unconstitutional, fired Secretary of War Edwin Stanton,
who had consistently sided with Radical Republicans and ignored Johnson’s orders
02. The House voted to impeach Johnson for “high crimes and misdemeanors”.
03. The Senate failed to remove Johnson. The vote was 35-19, one vote shy to convict.
Senator Edmund G. Ross (KS) cast the deciding vote, which ruined his political career.
Southern Infrastructure After 1865
The Confederacy in 1861 had 297 towns and cities with a combined population of
835,000; of these areas, 162 locations with 681,000 total residents were at one point
occupied by Union forces. Eleven cities, which accounted for 115,900 people, or roughly 14%
of the urban South, lay in ruins or were severely damaged, including Atlanta, Georgia;
Charleston, South Carolina; Columbia, South Carolina; and Richmond, Virginia. Courthouses
were burned, factories were torched, farm and plantations were abandoned, and livestock was
killed. Over two-thirds of the South's rails, bridges, rail yards, and repair shops were
systematically destroyed. In the aftermath, tens of thousands of southern whites and blacks
moved to reunite with families or seek their fortunes in other locations. In response,
Republican-led southern governments raised taxes and secured loans to grant contracts to
companies dedicated to the cause of rebuilding the South. Thousands of blacks and whites were
put to work, lured by higher wages. By 1877, textile factories, modern railway stations, and
public buildings such as courthouses, hospitals, and schools were constructed. As a result, new
businesses sprung up, spurring the local economy as goods were purchased by consumers.
Post-Civil War Southern Politics
Black males throughout the South seized the opportunity to organize as a result of the
passage of the Fifteenth Amendment. The freedmen affiliated themselves with the Republican
Party, and hundreds of black delegates participated in statewide political conventions. They
developed a network of political clubs devoted to campaigning for Republican candidates. While
black females did not have the right to vote, they invested time and effort into promoting the
goals of “Lincoln’s Party”. Nearly 600 African-American men served as state legislators;
hundreds more served as mayors, judges, and sheriffs. Between 1868 and 1876 at the federal
level, 14 black men served in the House of Representatives and two black men served in the
Senate--Hiram Revels and Blanche K. Bruce, both born in Mississippi and educated in the
North. The freedmen’s involvement in politics created controversy in the South, where the idea
of former slaves holding office was considered to be unimaginable. The top positions with the
most power in southern state governments, however, were held by the freedmen’s white
Republican allies. By 1877, southern white Democrats had regained control of state
governments and passed new black codes designed to legally segregate the races.
Freedmen’s Bureau
01. Congress passed legislation in March 1865 to provide practical aid to 4,000,000 newly
freed black Americans, as well as hundreds of thousands of displaced southern whites.
02. Headed by Major General Oliver G. Howard, this federal welfare agency:
a. created more than 1,000 black schools;
b. spent $400,000 to establish teacher-training institutions;
c. distributed abandoned lands to freedmen for agricultural use;
d. settled contracts between white landowners and the black labor force -ande. provided food and clothing to displaced blacks and whites.
03. The results were mixed. On one hand, people received direct assistance. On the other hand,
this agency failed to unify blacks and whites in the South as anticipated.
04. Congress terminated the bureau in July 1872, in part due to the anticipation that southern
state governments would continue with these reforms.
Post-Civil War Southern Education
01. Blacks acquired new rights and opportunities, such as equality before the law and the
rights to own property, be married, attend schools, enter professions, and learn to read
and write.
02. Former slaves took advantage of educational opportunities afforded to them by the new
Radical Republican state governments.
03. Nearly 600,000 black students, from children to the elderly, were in southern schools by
1877. Although state Reconstruction officials tried to prohibit discrimination, the new
schools practiced racial segregation, and the black schools generally received less funding
than white schools. Literacy increased to 88 percent for the native white population and
50 percent for the southern black population.
04. Black-run churches, northern white missionaries, and philanthropists donated money and
time to equip and maintain southern black schools.
05. A black middle class emerged in the South, in part due to the creation of higher learning
institutions (Howard University) and agricultural and mechanical colleges (Tuskegee
Institute).
Sharecropping/Tenant Farming
01. Southern cotton was in high demand after the Civil War ended. Former plantation owners,
however, lacked the financial means to offer wages to employees to work in the fields. As a
result, a system of labor developed.
02. Some freedmen became tenants. They rented the land from a former plantation owner.
Using their own equipment, the tenants planted and harvested crops and paid off their
debts at the end of the growing season. Most black tenants struggled to make ends meet
due to crop failures, low prices, ill health, or poor management of resources.
03. The majority of tenants became sharecroppers. Refer to the visual.
04. In the decades after Reconstruction, low crop yields and unstable crop prices led increasing
numbers of poor white and black farmers into a perpetual cycle of debt. By 1890, one in
three white farmers and three in four black farmers were tenants or sharecroppers. By
1935, nearly half of white farmers and 77 percent of black farmers in the country were
landless.
Post-Civil War Southern Economy
Following the Civil War, southern political leaders diversified their economy. Tobacco,
rice, and sugar production ramped up and became critical elements of the South’s agrarian
movement. With the textile industry beginning to boom and industrialization in full force, the
number of cotton mills in the South increased from 161 to 400 after the Civil War. Cotton
consumption increased from 182,000 bales to 1,479,000 bales per year in the late 1800’s.
Iron, limestone, and coal production increased, as northern companies hired southern whites
and blacks to extract these resources. Clay, glass, wood, and stone products were in high
demand. Finally, vegetables that were not sold fresh were processed at one of several canneries
in the South.
Rise Of Hate Groups
Secret vigilante organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan—an organization sworn to
perpetuate white supremacy—had arisen quickly after the war's end and used lynching, physical
attacks, house burnings, and other forms of intimidation to keep African Americans from
exercising their political rights. Although the first Klan was disrupted by prosecution by the
federal government in the early 1870’s, other groups persisted. Congress had passed a series
of Enforcement Acts (1870-1871) to enable the executive branch of government intervene
when state authorities failed to protect citizens from racial violence.
By the mid-to-late-1870s, elite white Southerners created increasing resistance to the
altered social structure. Paramilitary organizations such as the White League in Louisiana
(1874), the Red Shirts in Mississippi (1875) and rifle clubs, all "White Line" organizations,
used organized violence against Republicans, blacks and whites, to turn Republicans out of
office, repress and bar black voting, and restore Democrats to power.
**Fighting For Control Of Southern State Governments, 1868-1877
Carpetbaggers --> Northern teachers or business owners who came to South to
help rebuild; there was a tendency for a number of individuals
to “take advantage” of the situation
Scalawags --> Southerners who joined the Republican Party
Citizens who had secretly supported the Union during the Civil War
Poor white farmers who desired land and opportunities
Businessmen who hoped to profit from state government contracts
Redeemers --> Southern Democrats, including ex-Confederate officials, who seek
to remove Republicans from state government positions. In essence,
they desired local control. As a result of their propaganda efforts,
they gradually gain control of state politics and pass laws to undercut
the political and economic gains made by former slaves.
Reconstruction Ends!
01. Grant Administration (1868-1877)
In 1868, Ulysses S. Grant, Civil War hero, won the presidency in part due to
widespread support by African-Americans. He was a poor judge of character,
however, and his administration suffered a series of scandals, none of which he
was directly linked. Some Republicans received bribes from railroad companies for
favorable legislation, defrauded the government of federal tax money, and sold
federal trading post rights to their friends.
As a result, honest Republicans began to question the motives of the administration,
and the Democrat Party worked to convince citizens that their opposition were
generally corrupt. By 1876, the Democrats gained control of the House and narrowed
the gap in the Senate.
02. Panic Of 1873
Unchecked expansion of factories, railroads, and farms, along with a reduction in the
money supply, triggered a recession. Over 15,000 businesses filed bankruptcy.
There was widespread unemployment and a slowdown in factory and railroad building.
As a result, increasing numbers of whites pressured their representatives in
Congress to pass legislation to assist them financially rather than freedmen.
03. Death Of Prominent Radical Republicans
Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens died by the early 1870’s. Together, they
formed a powerful duo by putting pressure upon their fellow Republican colleagues
to ensure the political and economic rights of the freedmen. In addition, increasing
numbers of white Americans believed that Reconstruction legislation was
accomplishing its intended goals.
As a result, the general public put less of an emphasis on the plight of the former
freedmen.
04. Supreme Court Rulings (Refer to “Plessy vs. Ferguson”)
05. Democrats Regain Control Of Southern State Politics**
Congressional moderates recognized southern state concerns about a lack of white
leadership. As a result, a law was passed (1872 Amnesty Act) that enabled some
ex-Confederate officials to run for office. This legislation helped Southern Democrats
to regain control of state governments and work to remove reconstruction reforms
through “home rule”.
06. Election Of 1876
Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel J. Tilden favored civil service
reform and conservative rule in the South. Their campaigns turned into mud-slinging.
On Election Day, Tilden garnered 184 electoral votes--only one short of the majority
needed--and nearly 300,000 more popular votes than Hayes.
There were 20 disputed electoral votes from Oregon, Florida, Louisiana, and South
Carolina. The Constitution, however, had no provisions outlined for this situation,
so in January 1877, Congress set up a special electoral commission consisting of
15 men from the Senate, House, and Supreme Court.
The electoral commission, by the partisan result of eight Republicans to seven
Democrats, gave the Republicans the electoral votes. Prominent Democrats,
however, threatened to go to great lengths to prevent this decision from being
voted on in the House. Behind closed doors, Republicans and Democrats met to
hammer out a compromise. Republicans agreed to pass legislation to construct
railroad lines in the South, remove federal troops from the South, and consented
to offer the position of Postmaster General to a southern white in exchange for the
presidency.
As a result, Tilden bitterly contested this “deal” to no avail -and- the “bayonetbacked” Republican governments in the South finally collapsed, as their leaders
would be voted out of office by 1880. Reconstruction officially came to an end.
Over the next three decades, the civil rights that blacks had been promised during
Reconstruction crumbled under white rule in the South.