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History 271
Devine
Spring 2015
Reconstruction of the Union
Port Royal Experiment 1862
Black slaves work small farms in coastal SC
Establish schools w/ white and black teachers from the North
Establish black church that becomes a quasi-government
Residents prosper but have no legal rights
War ends; whites return; blacks forced to leave – experiment fails, but it did
provide a model for how southern society could have been “reconstructed.”
Lincoln vs Congress 1863-1865
1863 – Emancipation Proclamation frees all slaves in areas held by the
Confederacy (but not slaves in areas held by the Union.)
Lincoln  lenient; 10% plan; if 10% pledge loyalty, agree to abolish
slavery, and repudiate Confederate debt, the state can re-enter the Union.
President hopes to convince southern states to give up the fight if they
could get back in the Union easily.
Congress  Who says the president gets to decide? Congress should
determine the course reconstruction takes.
Radical Republicans in Congress support a tougher policy to punish rebels;
Wade-Davis Bill  50% (not 10%) must pledge loyalty, etc.
Freedom for the slaves – “Day of Jubilee”
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Some blacks move – better to trust a stranger than someone familiar who
still thought of you as a slave.
Many blacks leave the plantations to look for family members.
Some blacks stay where they are because there are employment
opportunities and they have no cash or access to credit to move.
Blacks can’t buy land – no capital; their only skills are low wage skills; no
way to save; no access to credit. Black poverty becomes an endemic
problem in the region.
(Even by 1880 per capita income in the South is 1/3 the national average.)
The national government must answer several questions:
1. How were seceded states to return to the union?
2. How to rebuild the southern economy?
3. How were defeated rebels to be dealt with?
4. How to assure black freedom?
5. What is the status of the freedman?
Lincoln assassinated, April 1865
Was there a conspiracy or a coup d’etat? After the assassination,
Northerners are more hostile to the South and so Radical Republicans see
a chance to pursue a harsher reconstruction policy. At first, they believe the
new President will support them.
Johnson – hates planters but likes to see them grovel. He issues 13,000
pardons in two years.
Johnson mistakenly believes the Confederates have learned their lesson
and that the planter elite will be replaced in leadership positions by people
like himself – small business men and small farmers who are looking to
make money and put the war behind them
Dec 1865  13th Amendment
Why an amendment and not just a law passed in Congress?
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In the South, Planter leadership remains in power; “Black codes” dust off all
the old laws governing slaves and replace “slave” with “freedman”
Blacks are non-citizens; can’t vote; serve on juries; testify against whites;
annual labor contracts tie them to one plantation.
In some states employers can whip employees; vagrants given back to
former owners.
Black codes precipitate angry reaction from Congressional Republicans.
Southern planters seem to be reversing the Northern victory in the Civil
War by reinstituting slavery under another name.
14th amendment
Grants citizenship to all persons born in the US
Guarantees due process of law and equal protection of the laws
If southern states mistreat freedmen, the federal government can intervene.
If vote denied to blacks, the state gets reduced representation in Congress
(never enforced)
Southern states readmitted to the Union only if they ratify the amendment;
most wait to see what happens in the 1866 election
Radical Republicans win; Johnson embarrasses himself during the
campaign and loses credibility.
Now in control, Radical Republicans want to Reconstruct the South (and
not just restore it).
They are radical because they suggest redistributing power – take land
away from those at the top of society and give it to those at the bottom.
Most Americans were not ready for such radicalism.
Blacks want land -- why don’t they get it? – precedent; fear of government
power.
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If the federal government can take land away from planters and give it to
freedmen, what’s to stop the government from taking away others’ land in
the future?
Who will enforce the laws? Troops can occupy the South to ensure
compliance, but this costs money and most Northerners don’t want higher
taxes. In any case, they want their tax money to benefit them, not to be
used policing the South.
Status of Blacks, 1866-1876
In the South blacks have political rights but no economic power; whites
have economic power but no political rights.
Did radicals want to divide whites and blacks to bury the south and insure
northern dominance?
1867 Reconstruction Act – military occupation of the South
5 military districts; 20,000 troops.
Radicals depend on an unstable alliance of blacks and unionist whites.
Blacks want publicly funded education; whites don’t want their property
taxes to pay for it.
With blacks and poor whites divided, Planter elite quickly gains the upper
hand.
White economic power trumps black political power
1868 election  Republican Grant barely wins; Democrat Seymour gets
majority of white vote.
Radicals fear losing power and push for 15th amendment (1870)
But VIOLENCE and TERROR trumps all
Assassinations; lynchings; riots; intimidation; arson.
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