Download The Ordeal of Reconstruction - Anderson School District One

The Ordeal of Reconstruction
1865 - 1877
The Problems of Peace
1 in 20 Southerners were
either wounded or killed
Yankees had either taken, destroyed, or burned
anything they could find that might
have been useful to the Confederates
2/3 of the Southern railroad system
was unable to operate because of damage
Inflation was as much as 300% & Confederate
issued war bonds were worthless
Agriculture in the South
Hopelessly crippled
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Slave-labor had collapsed
Seed was scarce
Livestock had been driven out by Yankees
Gov’t confiscated any cotton
left in warehouses
Planter aristocrats were
reduced to proud poverty
Freedmen Define Freedom
13th Amendment (1865) freed ALL slaves

Resisted by slaveowners
Master-Slave Relationship

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Loyalty caused some to stay while others left
immediately
Some violence
Many blacks began traveling to test their
freedom
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Searched for family members
Looked for economic opportunities
Many changed their names
Life for the Freedmen
Exodusters (1878 – 1880) 25,000 blacks from
Louisiana, Texas, & Mississippi went to Kansas

Slowed only when steamboat captains refused to
transport black migrants across the Mississippi River
Church became the focus of black community

Set up their own churches
Education became very important
Established societies for
self-improvement

Raise funds to purchase land,
build schools, & hire teachers
The Freedmen’s Bureau
Created by Congress on March 3, 1865
Controlled by the War Dept.
Developed to help ex-slaves who were
uneducated, unskilled, without money or
property, & with little knowledge of how to
survive as free people
Primitive welfare agency

Provide food, clothing, medical care, & education
both to freedmen and white refugees
Lead by General Oliver O. Howard

Founded Howard University, Washington,D.C.
The Freedmen’s Bureau
Purpose
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Helped find homes & jobs
Negotiated labor contracts
Built hospitals
Set up schools & provided teachers
Provided legal help
Provision stated that land confiscated from
former Confederates would be given to former
slaves -- “forty acres and a mule”
Pres. Johnson vetoed bureau & returned all land
to former owners
President
Andrew Johnson (D)
Never attended school
Champion of the poor whites
Elected to Congress (Tenn)

Refused to secede with his own state
Nominated for the Vice Pres to ensure
support from War Democrats & other
pro-Southern elements
Dogmatic champion of state’s rights
& the Constitution
Description p. 481
Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan
10% Plan (1863)

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10% of each states’ voters had to
take an oath of allegiance to the US
New state gov’t with emancipation
Goal: rapid readmission of the southern states

Based on forgiveness
 Most ex-Confederates would be granted amnesty after
oath was taken
 High-ranking ex-Confederates would have to ask the
president personally for pardon
Lincoln believed that the South had never
actually seceded
Republican
Reconstruction Plan
Wade-Davis Bill (1864)


Required 50% of state’s voters take an oath of
allegiance
Demanded stronger safeguards for emancipation
Pocket-vetoed by Lincoln
Republicans believed that the states should be
admitted as “Conquered Provinces”

Based on punishment
Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan
May 1865
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Supported Lincoln’s policy but required more
Disfranchised certain leading Confederates
with property over $20,000
 However, they could petition to the
President personally for pardon
 Pardons were granted in abundance
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Special state conventions – required to
repeal the ordinances of secession
Repudiate all Confederate debts
Ratify the 13th Amendment
Pardoned all rebel leaders 12- 1868
The Baleful Black Codes
Laws to regulate the affairs of ex-slaves
Nov. 1865 – Mississippi passes the first codes

Varied in severity from state to state
Purpose: Ensure stable & subservient labor force

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Penalties for those who “jumped” their labor contracts
Codes aimed at restoring the race relations to pre-Civil
War
 Forbade blacks from serving on juries, from renting or leasing
land, & voting
Results of the Black Codes
Thousands of former slaves became
sharecroppers (landless whites also)

Became slaves to the soil and to their creditors
Not favored in the North

Was the war pointless?
Congressional Reconstruction
Southern states presented themselves in the
Capitol in Dec. 1865

Voters in the South had reelected former statesmen
 Many were Confederate leaders

Republicans were infuriated by “whitewashed
rebels”
Republicans feared that the South
would be stronger than ever

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Slaves would now count as one whole person
12 more votes in Congress & 12 more electoral
votes
Republican Fears
South would join with Northern Democrats &
win control of Congress & the White House
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Virtually re-enslave the blacks
Dismantle the economic program
Reroute the transcontinental railroad
Repeal the Homestead Act
Republicans were alarmed that
Johnson announced on
Dec. 6, 1865 that the Union
had been restored
Johnson Clashes
with Congress
Feb. 1866 – Johnson vetoed bill extending life
of the Freedmen’s Bureau (later re-passed)
March 1866 – Congress passed the Civil Rights
Bill

Citizenship for African Americans
Johnson vetoed on constitutional grounds
April 1866 – Congress overrode veto
Congress pushes to add the Civil Rights Bill to
the constitution as the 14th Amendment
14th Amendment
4 parts:
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Citizenship & civil rights to freedmen
When a state denies citizens the vote, its
representation shall be reduced
Disqualified Confederate leaders from holding office
Debts incurred in aid of rebellion were made void
Ratification was required in order for states to
reenter into the Union
*** Did not grant the right to vote ****
Johnson
Summer of 1866 -- “Swing ‘round the circle”
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Series of speeches given by Johnson accusing the
Radical Republicans of planning riots & murder in
the South
Goal was to take votes away from radicals in
Congress
 DID NOT WORK!!
Republicans won 2/3 majority
in both houses
Republican Principles
& Programs
Republicans now had a veto-proof Congress &
control over Reconstruction
Radicals in Congress

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Charles Sumner – Senate
Thaddeus Stevens – House
Radicals - social & economic transformation of
the South
Moderates - policies that prevented violations
of citizens’ rights
Both wanted black suffrage
Military Reconstruction
map page 490
Reconstruction Act – March 2, 1867
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Divided the South into five military districts
Each district was commanded by a Union
general & policed by soldiers
Temporarily disfranchised former Confederates
States required to ratify the 14th Amendment & give
full suffrage to black adult males
Radicals were still concerned that the South
would be readmitted & then withdraw black
suffrage
Results of
Military Reconstruction
15th Amendment – Ratified in 1870

Gave suffrage to all black males
By 1870, all Southern states had reorganized
their governments & had been accorded full
rights
1877 – All of the federal troops were removed
from the South

However, once the troops were
removed, the white “Redeemers”
took control again
What About The Women?
Women were upset because they were left out
of the Reconstruction amendments
Susan B. Anthony & Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Many women were fighting for slaves & their rights
Woman’s Loyal League – helped
petition for the 13th Amendment
14th Amendment used the
word “male”
15th Amendment did not include
the word “sex”
Realities of Radical
Reconstruction
Black suffrage

Both Lincoln & Johnson proposed limited black vote
 Education, property ownership, or military service

15th Amendment was hypocritical
 Before it, North denied blacks the vote. After it
women still couldn’t vote.
Blacks began to organized politically

Union League – assisted by Northern blacks
 Taught civic duties & campaigned for Republicans
 Later built churches & schools, helped with grievances, &
recruited militias to defend black communities
Blacks Get Elected
Some were elected as delegates to state
constitutional conventions
Between 1868 – 1876:
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14 black congressmen
2 black senators:
 Hiram Revels
 Blanche K. Bruce
1890 – complete disfranchisement of blacks in
the South/ literacy test used
Scalawags & Carpetbaggers
Scalawags – Southerners were former
Unionists & Whigs/ supported Republicans
Carpetbaggers –Northerners who had moved
South to seek personal power & profit
Outcomes of Reconstruction
Radical Legislatures:
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Took steps toward adequate public schools
Tax systems were streamlined
Launched public works
Property rights guaranteed to women
Corruption
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Used politically inexperienced
blacks as pawns
Ku Klux Klan
Many whites resented the success & ability of
black legislators as much as they resented
alleged “corruption”
“Invisible Empire of the South”
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Founded in Tenn in 1866 by Nathan Bedford Forrest
Successful in intimidation
Purpose was to keep blacks in their place
Force Acts of 1870 & 1871 passed by Congress
Johnson’s Impeachment
1867 – Congress passes the Tenure of Office Act

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Required president to have the consent of the Senate
before removing appointees once they had been
approved
Purpose was to keep Edwin M. Stanton in office
Johnson violated Act when he dismisses Stanton
in 1868
House voted to impeach for
“high crimes & misdemeanors”
May 1868 – Senate failed to convict
by 1 vote
Purchase of Alaska
1867 – Russia wanted to sell Alaska to US
US did not want to offend Russia
Sec of State William Seward signed treaty
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Purchase price - $7.2 million
“Seward’s Folly”
“Seward’s Icebox”
Territory was rumored to have
furs, fish, & gold

Found to be full of natural resources - oil