Download Reconstruction in Louisiana

Middle/Upper School Lesson Plan
Reconstruction in Louisiana: The Louisiana Constitution
of 1864 and the Reconstruction Acts of 1867
Above: Governor Michael Hahn, by John Genin, c. 1865.
Hahn was the first governor of Louisiana after the state was
readmitted to the Union. From the Louisiana State Museum.
Right: Reconstruction! Grand March, by Charles Young,
1868. Many people became disillusioned with the progress
of Reconstruction. Gift of the Honorable John M. Wisdom,
From the Louisiana State Museum.
Benchmarks:
• Explain the causes, effects, or impact of a given historical event in U.S. history (H-1A-M3).
• Explain how a given historical figure influenced or changed the course of U.S. history (H1A-M3).
• Describe the successes and failures of Reconstruction, as well as its impact on the South (H1B-M13).
• Propose and defend potential solutions to past and current issues in Louisiana (H-1A-M5).
• Trace and describe various governments in Louisiana’s history (H-1D-M2).
Goals:
• Students will understand the development of the Constitution of 1864.
• Students will write a persuasive letter.
• Students will understand the events that led Congress to pass the Reconstruction Acts of
1867.
• Students will critique the Reconstruction Acts of 1867.
• Students will consider possible alternatives for the reconstruction of Louisiana.
Materials:
• Copies of documents and images for each student or group of students
The Louisiana State Museum @ http://lsm.crt.state.la.us
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Opening Activity:
Have students look at the sheet music cover of Reconstruction! Grand March (see page 1). Ask
students to describe the images that they see. How is the composition divided? What characters
and animals are in each section? What are the people in the illustration doing? What does the
top section represent? What does the bottom section represent? What does this document tell
them about the status of Reconstruction by 1868?
The Constitution of 1864: Background
Louisiana was readmitted to the Union in 1864 under Lincoln’s “10% Plan.” This plan required
that 10% of the population (as determined by the voting registers of 1860) take a loyalty oath to
the Union. After readmission, a German-born immigrant named Michael Hahn was elected
governor. Hahn and a constitutional convention met to rewrite the Louisiana constitution. Hahn
was opposed to slavery, but was also opposed to any form of political equality for emancipated
blacks. The following is a transcription of a letter from President Lincoln to Governor Hahn that
is in the collection of the Louisiana State Museum archives:
Private
Executive Mansion
Washington
March 13,
1864
Hon Michael Hahn
My dear Sir:
I congratulate you on having fixed your
name in history as the first free-state Governor of
Louisiana. Now you are about to have a Convention
which, among other things, will probably define the
elective franchise. I barely [?] suggest for your private
consideration, whether some of the colored people may
not be let in – as, for instance, the very intelligent, and
especially those who have fought gallantly in our ranks.
They would probably keep, in some trying time to come,
to keep [sic] the jewel of liberty within the family of
freedom. But this is only a suggestion, not to the public,
but to you alone.
Yours truly
A. Lincoln
1. What tone does Lincoln use in this letter? Why do you think he does this?
2. What major issue does Lincoln argue needs to be addressed in the new Constitution?
3. What qualifications did Lincoln propose to allow limited enfranchisement of blacks?
(Explain to your students that emancipate means to set free or release from bondage.)
The Louisiana State Museum @ http://lsm.crt.state.la.us
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4. The constitutional convention was composed primarily of working class whites and yeoman
farmers. Do you think that most of the delegates had owned slaves before the Civil War?
5. About 350,000 blacks were emancipated in Louisiana. There were about 18,000 blacks who
had been free prior to the war. The black population in 1864 slightly outnumbered the white
population. How do you think this influenced the men who were a part of the constitutional
convention?
6. Why do you think the delegates were opposed to black suffrage? (Suffrage means the right to
vote, especially in political matters.)
7. Do you think the large population of free blacks in New Orleans who had been educated and
owned property before the war affected considerations of black suffrage in Louisiana? Why
or why not? Should it have affected considerations of black suffrage?
8. Lincoln suggests that black Union veterans should be allowed to vote. Do you think
Confederate veterans should have been given the right to vote? Why or why not?
Activity: Writing a Persuasive Letter
Pretend that you are President Lincoln. Write a persuasive letter to Governor Hahn arguing who
you think should be allowed to vote. Should freed blacks be allowed to vote, and if so, should
there be any qualifications of the types Lincoln suggested? Should blacks who were free before
the war be allowed to vote? Should Confederate veterans be allowed to vote? Be sure to support
your arguments.
Answering the following questions before you start will help you organize your letter:
1. What is your position on suffrage?
2. Who is your audience?
3. What is your audience’s point of view?
4. What possible objections might your audience have to your position?
5. What possible questions might your audience have about your position?
6. What benefits will your audience gain by taking your position?
A successful persuasive letter anticipates any opposition to your position and answers possible
criticisms. For example, Governor Hahn may be concerned that any freedmen who are illiterate
will not be qualified to vote. If you believe that illiterate freedmen should be allowed to vote,
you will need to convince Hahn that they will be qualified.
The Reconstruction Acts of 1867: Background
Despite Lincoln’s letter, the convention that drew up the 1864 Louisiana constitution did not
enfranchise freed blacks. While many Republicans, even in the North, did not favor
enfranchising blacks, the increasing violence against blacks in the South and the impunity with
which it was carried out turned more and more Republicans against the Southern governments.
Northerners began to believe that one of the elements of protecting black people’s lives and
property had to be to grant them the vote. A particularly gruesome event that called national
attention to violence against blacks in Louisiana was the New Orleans Riot of 1866.
The Louisiana State Museum @ http://lsm.crt.state.la.us
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“The Riot in New Orleans,” Harper's Weekly, August 25, 1866.
In 1866 Republicans in Louisiana wanted to recall the constitutional convention that had met in
1864. Democrats opposed recalling the convention because they feared that the Republicans
would successfully revise the Constitution to provide suffrage for blacks. The convention met in
the Mechanics’ Institute (then used as a state building), but many of the Democratic delegates
from 1864, fearing violence, did not attend. A mob of Democrats and policemen assembled
outside the Mechanics’ Institute. When a small group of black Republicans crossed Canal Street
carrying the American flag which was to preside over the convention, a white man in the crowd
fired a revolver at the group. No one was hit and the black men were able to proceed to the
Mechanics’ Institute. However, they were followed by an angry mob of Democrats and
policemen who opened fire on Republican supporters (primarily black) gathered in the street.
Chaos ensued and by the end of the riot over 30 black men and 3 white men had been killed, and
about 120 black men and 17 white men had been injured.
This event and others like it across the South convinced the United States Congress that the lives
of freedmen were not being protected in the former Confederate states. In 1867 Congress passed
the Reconstruction Acts of 1867 over President Johnson’s veto (Lincoln had been assassinated in
1865), which began the era known as Military Reconstruction.
Bibliography: Joe Gray Taylor, Louisiana Reconstructed. Louisiana State University Press: Baton Rouge (1974).
Activity: Reconstruction Act of 1867
The following is a transcription of the first Reconstruction Act of 1867. Underline the main
point in each section.
The Louisiana State Museum @ http://lsm.crt.state.la.us
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An Act To Provide For The More Efficient Government Of The
Rebel States
Whereas, no legal State governments or adequate protection for life
or property now exists in the rebel States of Virginia, North
Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama,
Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas; and whereas, it is necessary that
peace and good order should be enforced in said States until loyal
and republican State governments can be legally established;
Therefore Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled, That said rebel
States shall be divided into military districts and made subject to
the military authority of the United States as hereinafter
prescribed; and for that purpose Virginia shall constitute the first
district; North Carolina and South Carolina the second district;
Georgia, Alabama, and Florida the third district; Mississippi and
Arkansas the fourth district; and Louisiana and Texas the fifth
district.
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the
President to assign to the command of each of said districts an
officer of the army not below the rank of brigadier general, and to
detail a sufficient military force to enable such officer to perform
his duties and enforce his authority within the district to which he
is assigned.
Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of each
officer assigned as aforesaid to protect all persons in their rights of
person and property, to suppress insurrection, disorder, and
violence, and to punish, or cause to be punished, all disturbers of
the public peace and criminals, and to this end he may allow local
civil tribunals to take jurisdiction of and to try offenders, or, when
in his judgment it may be necessary for the trial of offenders, he
shall power to organize military commissions or tribunals for that
purpose, and all interference, under color of State authority, with
the exercise of military authority under this act, shall be null and
void.
Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That all persons put under
military arrest by virtue of this act shall be tried without
unnecessary delay, and no cruel or unusual punishment shall be
inflicted; and no sentence of any military commission or tribunal
The Louisiana State Museum @ http://lsm.crt.state.la.us
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hereby authorized, affecting the life or liberty of any person, shall
be executed until it is approved by the officer in command of the
district, and the laws and regulations for the government of the
army shall not be affected by this act, except in so far as they
conflict with its provisions; Provided, That no sentence of death,
under the provisions of this act, shall be carried into effect without
the approval of the President.
Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That when the people of any one
of said rebel States shall have formed a constitution of government
in conformity with the Constitution of the United States in all
respects, framed by a convention of delegates elected by the male
citizens of said State twenty-one years old and upward, of whatever
race, color, or previous condition, who have been resident in said
State for one year previous to the day of such election, except such
as may be disfranchised for participation in the rebellion, or for
felony at common law; and when such constitution shall provide
that the elective franchise shall be enjoyed by all such persons as
have the qualifications herein stated for electors of delegates; and
when such constitution shall be ratified by a majority of the
persons voting on the question of ratification who are qualified as
electors for delegates; and when such constitution shall have been
submitted to Congress for examination and approval, and
Congress shall have approved the same; and when said State, by a
vote of its legislature elected under said constitution, shall have
adopted the amendment to the Constitution of the United States
proposed by the Thirty-ninth Congress, and known as article
fourteen; and when said article shall have become a part of the
Constitution of the United States, said State shall be declared
entitled to representation in Congress, and senators and
representatives shall be admitted therefrom on their taking the
oath prescribed by law; and then and thereafter the preceding
sections of this act shall be inoperative in said State; Provided,
That no person excluded from the privilege of holding office by said
proposed amendment to the Constitution of the United States shall
be eligible to election as a member of the convention to frame a
constitution for any of said rebel States, nor shall any such person
vote for members of such convention.
Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That until the people of said rebel
States shall be by law admitted to representation in the Congress
of the United States, any civil government which may exist therein
shall be deemed provisional only, and in all respects subject to the
paramount authority of the United States at any time to abolish,
The Louisiana State Museum @ http://lsm.crt.state.la.us
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modify, control, or supersede the same; and in all elections to any
office under such provisional governments all persons shall be
entitled to vote, and none others, who are entitled to vote under
the fifth section of this act; and no person shall be eligible to any
office under any provisional governments who would be
disqualified from holding office under the provisions of the third
article of said constitutional amendment.
Reprinted on the Official Website of the Alabama Legislature. Accessed July 13, 2004.
http://www.legislature.state.al.us/misc/history/constitutions/1868/1868enablinginst.htmlT.
The Louisiana State Museum @ http://lsm.crt.state.la.us
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Answer the following questions:
1. Why were the Reconstruction Acts of 1867 enacted?
2. Who was allowed to vote under these Acts? Who wasn’t allowed to vote? Do you think this
was what Lincoln had wanted in 1864?
3. Under these acts, who governs the former Confederate states? How are those governors
chosen?
4. How can the former Confederate states gain full readmission to the Union?
5. What specific conditions that led to the New Orleans Riot of 1866 are countered by the
Reconstruction Acts of 1867?
6. What happened to local governments in the former Confederate states under the
Reconstruction Acts of 1867?
7. How do you think Republicans reacted to the Reconstruction Acts of 1867?
8. How do you think Democrats reacted to the Reconstruction Acts of 1867?
Activity: Revising the Reconstruction Acts of 1867
Work with a partner or in a group to write your own Reconstruction Acts. Think of any
problems you anticipate with the Acts as they are written above or of any problems that you have
learned about in class. The following questions should help you organize your thoughts:
•
•
•
•
•
If you had been a United States Senator in 1867, what other rights for freedmen would you
have wanted included in the Reconstruction Acts?
Would you have organized the government of the former Confederate states in the same
way? Why or why not?
Would you have required the former Confederate states to go through the same steps to gain
readmission to the Union? Why or why not?
Would you have provided any compensation to freedmen? To Union veterans? To
Confederate veterans?
Are there any other elements that you believe are lacking from the Reconstruction Acts?
Closure and Assessment
Have students share some of the elements of their revised Reconstruction Acts of 1867. Discuss
the pros and cons of the revisions presented.
The Louisiana State Museum @ http://lsm.crt.state.la.us
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