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Chapter 22- The Ordeal of Reconstruction 1865-1877
1. Questions facing the nation after the war
1. How to formally bring the South back into the Union ? (Reconstruction)
2. Who will direct Reconstruction ? the Southern States ? the President ? Congress?
3. What to do with Confederate (govt) leaders ?
[were at first imprisoned, but later released – - 1868 = pardoned, but stripped of US citizenship]
4. How to enable liberated slaves to be treated as free citizens ?
5. How to rebuild the devastated South ? (no economy)
2. Conditions in the South after the war
economic & social structure are GONE banks = broke
factories = shut down (no workers)
no transportation system
agriculture = hopelessly crippled
planters - $2 Billion+ in investments (slaves) = evaporated
many in the south still believed that the war was justified & they were just the victims of bad luck – a few breaks here &
there and they could have won – not a good attitude for Reconstruction
3. Freedman's Bureau and the problems facing newly emancipated slaves after the war
set up in 1865 – to teach the untrained, unskilled, & uneducated, money-less & property –less freed slaves how to survive as free people
problems –much persecution –some that left farms were hanged in nearby areas many planters resisted emancipation – believed
only Congress or Supreme Court could enact emancipation – freedom will be a very gradual process (equal rights will take about 100
years to be gained)
Bureau –provided food, clothing, shelter, training & EDUCATION – **biggest success
taught 250,000+ former slaves to read
– they were incredibly eager to learn after being denied the opportunity all their lives
other areas – much corruption – were promised 40 acres per man – much was given over to private investors--- many former slaves were
convinced (tricked/conned) to sign labor contracts w/ former masters – became basically indentured servants bound by legal contract the
Bureau was disbanded in 1872
4. Andrew Johnson, maverick president - strengths and weaknesses
Union party member, but in reality was more a southern democrat – grew up very poor- was self-educated
Spent many years in Congress – was the Congressman from a Confederate state not to leave when the South seceded
had a VERY short temper – was a strict constructionist & states’ righter
since he was from Tennessee, he never earned the trust of the North & after the war he never regained the confidence of the South ( viewed as
a bit of a traitor)
5. Plans for Reconstruction (note chart on page 487)
a. Lincoln's 10% plan clashes with the Wade-Davis bill
1863 – Lincoln believed that the South’s secession had been illegal, therefore they had never ‘officially left’ (saw it more like
a separation than a divorce)–proposed: a state could come back if 10% of its voters took an oath of allegiance & pledged to honor
emancipation
1864 – Wade-Davis Bill – radical Republicans feared a restoration of the planter aristocracy- new govts in Arkansas,
Tennessee, & Louisiana were severely restricting the rights of newly freed slaves – called for 50% to oath & pledge & state that they did not
believe in the Confederate cause Lincoln enacted a ‘pocket veto’ When Louisiana met Lincoln’s requirements under the 10% plan, Congress
refused to seat its new representatives
b. Philosophical differences between Lincoln and the congressional Republicans
many in Congress believed the southern states had forfeited ALL rights & should be treated as conquered territory –these will become the
Radical Republicans –they were worried the South would re-enslave the blacks – in addition to punishment, they wanted the newly freed blacks
protected by federal power (some of these were glad about Lincoln’s assassination – he was seen as too sympathetic to the south)
c. Johnson's revisions to Lincoln's plan
generally agreed w/ Lincoln (that the South had never legally left)
May 1865 – plan - - 1. any Confederate leaders w/ $20,000 in taxable property would be disenfranchised (not allowed voting rights)
they could also later apply for pardons – which Johnson almost universally granted
2. states must hold conventions –repeal secession laws, void Confederate debts, & ratify the 13th Amendment
they could then be re-admitted to the Union
d. Congressional attitudes towards reconstruction
(NOTE: the impact of the enacting of black codes in the south & the impact of these on Congress)
Southern states passed laws – Black Codes- to regulate the freed slaves – they varied by state, but most were aimed at keeping control of a
stable labor force
Whites needed to keep as much control over the freed slaves as possible to quickly rebuild the southern economy
there were penalties for ‘jumping’ labor contracts
many other restrictions: no jury service, couldn’t rent/lease land, NO VOTE
these were eventually repealed, but nothing helped the blacks economically - most were forced to become sharecroppers – they had become
economic slaves instead of legal, physical ones – they were driven deeper & deeper into debt - the same thing happened to most of the
landless whites (became sharecroppers)
This generated much resentment in the North – blacks were practically re-enslaved – All those union deaths… for what ? Didn’t the NORTH
win the war ?
Also- when many southern states came to be reconstructed in Dec 1865, they elected many former Confederate leaders to Congress, further
angering the North (during the war, while the south was gone, northern politicians virtually ran the country) --had passed much legislation that
had favored the North, such as the Morrill Tariff, the Pacific Railroad Act, and the Homestead Act
Northerners also realized that the south could now be even stronger politically- freed slaves now equal 5/5 of a person (no longer 3/5) –
meaning that the South’s gained in population which equaled MORE representatives in Congress
e. Johnson and Congress clash
1. Feb 1866 – Johnson vetoed a Congressional bill extending of the Freedman’s Bureau (it was later re-passed over his veto)
2. passed the Civil Rights Bill, granting citizenship to blacks & eliminating some of the Black Codes – Johnson vetoed, but Congress overrode
his veto
3. proposed the14th Amendment –
gave citizenship rts to blacks
reduced a state’s Congressional representation if blacks were denied the vote
disqualified from federal office former Confederate leaders
guaranteed federal debts & voided all Confederate debts
Many Radical Republicans were disappointed in no guarantee of the right to vote—agreed that states
should have to ratify it for readmission
f. Congressional elections of 1866 give the radical Republicans a two-thirds majority in congress
By 1866, Republicans would not allow Reconstruction to be carried on without the 14th Amendment, and as election time
approached, Pres. Johnson wanted to lower the amount of Republicans in Congress, so he began a series of ‘Round the Circle’
speeches.
However, as he was often heckled by the audience, and he hurled back insults, and generally denounced the radicals, and in the
process, the Republicans gained more men in Congress than they had before (a 2/3 majority)—the opposite of Johnson’s
original intention.
Now, the Republicans had a veto-proof Congress and nearly unlimited control over Reconstruction, but moderates and radicals
still couldn’t agree.
Senate - leader of the radicals was Charles Sumner (finally recovered from his caning) and in the House, the radical leader
was Thaddeus Stevens, an old, grouchy man who was an unswerving & determined supporter of rights for freed slaves
The radicals wanted to keep the South out of the Union as long as possible and totally change its economy, and the
moderates favored a quicker Reconstruction-- what happened was somewhere between the two extremes.
g. Military/Radical Reconstruction (1867) devised and put into effect over President Johnson's veto
The Reconstruction Act of March 2, 1867 divided the South into five military zones, temporarily disfranchised tens of thousands
of former Confederates, and laid down new guidelines for the readmission of states (Johnson had announced the Union
restored, but Congress had not yet formally agreed on this):
1. All states had to approve the 14th Amendment, making all Blacks citizens.
2. All states had to guarantee full suffrage of all male former slaves.
The 15th Amendment, passed by Congress in 1869, guaranteed Blacks their right to vote.
By 1870, all of the states had complied with the standards of Reconstruction, and in 1877, the last of the states were given their
home rule back, and Reconstruction ended.
6.
th
13 – abolished slavery
ratified Dec 1865
th
14 -- guaranteed US citizenship (& equal protection under the law) to former slaves
th
15 – gave free black males the right to vote (but no women voters)
ratified July 1866
ratified Feb 1870
many women’s rights groups opposed the 15th – not that opposed black voting, but because it contained the restriction
’male’ in its wording
7. Realities of "Reconstruction"
a. Black voting/office holding
began to organize politically – formed the Union League – a network of political clubs to educate its members on their civic duty (esp. to vote)
Hiram Revels 1st African American in Congress – elected as Senator in 1870 (1 of only six African-Americans to ever serve in the US Senate)
Blanch Bruce – elected to Senate in 1875– served until 1881 – 1st African-American senator to serve a full term
** Both of these men were elected from MISSISSIPPI
b. "carpetbaggers" – Northerners who came south to take advantage of the poor southern economy (generally thru corruption in
government)
and "scalawags" – Southerners who pretty much did the same thing
the corruption was the worst in S. Carolina & Louisiana –
one carpetbagger governor managed to save, in ONE year, $100,000 on a salary of $8,000
c. Rise of the Ku Klux Klan
formed in Tennessee in 1866, by Nathan Bedford Forrest – “Invisible Empire of the South” – purpose was to terrorize blacks thru the use of
violence to prevent them from exercising their rights
8. Attempts to remove Johnson
by 1867 Radicals were angry with President Johnson, and they decided to try to get rid of him.
Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act, which provided that the president had to secure the consent of the Senate before removing his
appointees once they had been approved by the Senate -one reason was to keep Edwin M. Stanton, Secretary of War & a Radical Republican
‘spy’, in office
the Tenure act will be repealed in 1887 & in 1926, the Supreme Court declared it UNconstitutional, even though it had been repealed
almost 40 years earlier
a. Impeachment
Johnson fired Stanton anyway, and was impeached by the House
b. Trial and verdict (NOTE: historical significance very important)
in the Senate trial, the vote to remove Johnson from office fell short by ONE vote of the 2/3 majority – seven Senators decided to vote on legal,
rather than political grounds – they were never again elected to another office, but they didn’t mind – they had upheld the spirit of the
Constitution ( because NOTHING in the Constitution requires the Pres. to get Senate approval to fire cabinet members, only to appoint them)
9. Purchase of Alaska
In 1867, Secretary of State William H. Seward bought Alaska from Russia to the United States for $7.2 million, but most of the
public jeered his act as “Seward’s Folly” for buying such “worthless” land
Only later, when oil and gold were discovered (eventually valued at 100s of Billions of $$), did Alaska prove to be a huge
bargain.
10. Assessment of reconstruction overall
Many Southerners regarded Reconstruction as almost worse than the war , as they resented the upending of their social and
racial system.
The Republicans, though with good intentions, failed to improve the South, and the fate of Blacks would remain bad for almost
another century before the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s secured their rights
They would have been much better off if grouchy old Thaddeus Stevens’ program had been implemented