Download Reconstruction

Chapter 12 Review
American History
Andrew Johnson:
1. Vice President under Abraham Lincoln
a. Become president following Lincoln assassination
2. Political career began in Tennessee
a. Governor
b. Congressman
c. U. S. Senator
d. Vice President
e. President
3. He was the only senator from a Confederate state that remained loyal to the Union.
a. Other southern senators saw him as a traitor to his region
4. Supported abolition
a. Former slave owner
5. Favored strong state rights
6. Hated wealthy planters from the south
a. He held them responsible for dragging poor whites into a civil war
7. Did not favor former slaves gaining voting rights
8. He originally endorsed a harsh punishment for Confederate leaders
a. As president he had to decide the fate of Confederate leaders
i. Punish?
ii. Pardon?
9. Had the job of how to bring Confederate states back into the Union.
a. Announced his “Presidential Plan for Reconstruction” in May 1865.
i. Remaining Confederate states could be readmitted to the Union after
meeting certain conditions.
1. Withdraw its secession
2. Swear an allegiance to the Union
3. Annul Confederate war debts
4. Ratify the 13th Amendment
a. Abolition of slavery
10. His plan had some proponents different from Lincoln’s
Reconstruction Plan
a. Wanted to prevent most high-ranking Confederates and wealthy southern
landowners from taking the oath needed to satisfy privileges
b. Failed to address the needs of former slaves
i. Land
ii. Voting rights
iii. Protection under the law.
11. He vetoed the Civil Rights Act and the Freedman’s Bureau
Act which ended his Presidential Reconstruction.
12. Brought up on Impeachment charges by the Radical
Republicans
a. Radical Republicans felt he was not carrying out his constitutional obligations to
enforce the Reconstruction Act.
i. Removed military officers that tried to enforce the Act.
ii. Failed to comply with the “Tenure of Office Act”
1. Fired Edwin Stanton as Secretary of War
b. Radical Republicans failed to get the votes necessary to Impeach Johnson.
Reconstruction:
1. The name given to the period when the United States rebuilt
following the Civil War.
a. This lasted from 1865 through 1877.
2. Refers to the process the federal government used to re-enter
Confederate states back into the Union.
3. There were problems with Reconstruction.
a. Lincoln, Johnson and Congress all had different ideas of how the Confederates
reentry should be handled.
i. Lincoln’s plan was based on the premise secession was constitutionally
impossible; therefore the Confederate states never left the Union.
1. Believed individuals not the states had rebelled so he wanted
the following
a. Wanted lenient reconstruction policy
b. Wanted Southern states to return to the Union as fast as
and easily as possible
ii. Introduced a Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction in December
1863.
1. Also called the “Ten Percent Plan”
Ten Percent Plan:
1. Also known as the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction
a. Government would pardon all Confederates with the exception of high ranking
Confederate officials
i. Included officials and military officers who were accused of crimes
against prisoners of war
b. After 10% of the citizens on the 1860 voter list took the oath of allegiance could
form a new state government and gain representation in Congress.
Radical Republicans:
1. Congressional Republicans that believed they needed to
destroy the political power of former slaveholders.
a. Most of the members of the Radical Republicans
wanted African Americans to have full rights as
citizens.
b. Wanted to ensure African Americans have the
right to vote.
2. Thaddeus Stevens was one of the two leaders of the Radical
Republicans.
a. His partner was Charles Sumner of
Massachusetts.
3. The group was against Lincoln’s “Ten Percent Plan”
a. Introduced the “Wade-Davis Bill” in July 1864.
i. Proposed that Congress should be
responsible for reconstruction.
ii. Rules for Confederate states government
to return to the Union had to adhere to the
4.
following criteria:
1. A majority not 10% of eligible
voters of 1860 would have to take
an oath of allegiance to the Union.
Lincoln pocket vetoed the Wade-Davis Bill.
a. Radical Republicans were outraged by the veto.
i. Declared Congress not the President had supreme authority over
Reconstruction.
ii. Setup a showdown between Congress and the President.
Thaddeus Stevens:
1. Radical Republican leader from Pennsylvania.
2. Known for his wit and sarcasm.
3. Practiced law before being elected to Congress
a. Defended runaway slaves
4. Hated slavery
a. Hated white southerners
i. Believed anyone who would permit slavery
was a traitor to liberty and God.
Freedmen’s Bureau:
1. Established by Congress in 1865.
a. Passed a law to continue and enlarge the bureau in
1866
2. Purpose was to help southerners in need
a. Distributed clothing
b. Distributed food
c. Setup more than forty hospitals
d. Setup approximately four thousand schools
e. Setup sixty-one industrial institutes
f. Setup seventy-four teacher-training centers
Black Codes:
1. They were discriminatory laws that severely restricted African
Americans lives after the Civil War.
a. These laws were passed beginning in 1865.
a. Mississippi
b. South Carolina
2. Codes restored many of the restrictions of slavery.
g. Restricting the right to carry weapons
h. Not allowed to serve on a jury
i. Not able to testify against whites in a trial
j. Prohibited from marrying whites
k. Had to have travel permits
l. Some states outlawed African Americans from being landowners.
3.
4.
Some Congressional members believed passing Black Codes as an effort to keep African
Americans as slaves.
Andrew Johnson created a battle between his position as President and Congress over
black codes.
a. Vetoed two major legislations stating they went beyond Constitutional authority.
i. Civil Rights Act
ii. Freedman’s Bureau Act
b. Vetoes alienated moderate Republicans
i. They were trying to improve his Reconstruction Plan
c. Angered Radical Republicans
i. His action appeared to support Southerner’s right to deny full rights to
former slaves.
Fourteenth Amendment:
1. Provided a constitutional basis for the Civil Rights Act
2. Made “all persons born or naturalized in the United States”
citizens of this country.
3. Entitled everyone to equal protection under the law.
4. No state could deprive a citizen of Life, Liberty, or Property without due process of
law.
5. Did not give African Americans specifically the right to vote
a. Did specify that if any state preventing any males of a specific position from
voting the state would lose a percentage of its Congressional seats.
i. Loss would be equal to the percentage of citizens kept from the polls.
6. Bared most of the Confederate leaders from holding federal or state offices.
a. The exception was if they were permitted to do so by two-thirds majority vote
by Congress
7. President Johnson believed the amendment treated former Confederate leaders too
harshly.
a. Thought it was wrong to force states to accept the amendment that legislators
had no input in the original draft.
b. Advised Southern states to reject the amendment
8. All but the Southern state of Tennessee rejected the amendment
a. It was not ratified until 1868
Impeachment:
1. The process of accusing a public official of wrong doing
followed by formal charges and a hearing for misconduct.
2. Radical leaders felt President Johnson was not carrying out
his constitutional obligations of Reconstruction.
a. Removing military officers who tried to enforce the Reconstruction Act.
3. Wanted to charge Johnson with misconduct in office.
a. He was referred for Impeachment.
Fifteenth Amendment:
1. Introduced in 1868.
a. Introduced by Radicals in Congress.
i. Feared pro-Confederate Southern whites might
try to limit black suffrage.
b. The amendment stated no one can be kept from voting because of race, color, or
previous conditions of servitude.
i. This also affected the North.
1. At time they also barred Blacks from voting
c. Ratified in 1870
d. Some Southern states refused to enforce the law
i. Used violence to prevent Blacks from voting
e. Enforcement Act of 1870 was passed by Congress in response to the violence in
the South.
i. Gave federal government more power to punish those who tired to
prevent Blacks from exercising their right to vote
Scalawags:
1. White Southerners who joined the Republican Party during
Reconstruction.
a. Some members hoped to gain political offices with the help of the Black vote.
a. Used the offices for financial gain
b. Believed the Republican government offered the best opportunity for the South
to rebuild and industrialize.
a. Majority were small farmers
i. Wanted to improve their position
1. Economically
2. Politically
a. Wanted to prevent former wealthy planters from regaining power.
Carpetbaggers:
1. Northerners who moved south after the Civil War.
a. Name refers to the belief Northerners arrived in the
south with so few belongings everything fit into a
Carpetbag suitcase.
2. Southerners believed Carpetbaggers wanted to exploit the
South’s postwar turmoil for profit.
a. There were mixed motives among the Carpetbaggers.
i. Some that went south felt they had a moral duty to help former
slaves.
1. Freedman Bureau agents
2. Teachers
3. Ministers
ii. Others wanted to buy land
1. Hoped to start a new industry legitimately
iii. Others were dishonest business people
Hiram Revels:
1. First African American Senator from Mississippi.
2. Had many professions.
a. Ordained minister in the African Methodist
in Baltimore, Maryland
b. A Barber
c. Chaplin of a Negro regiment in the Civil War
3. Established a school for Freedman in St. Louis in 1886.
4. Elected alderman in Natchez, Mississippi in 1886
5. Elected to State Senate in 1870
6. Elected to the United States Senate in 1870
a. After his credentials had been challenged
7. First African American Secretary of State
a. Interim of Mississippi in 1883.
8. President of Alcorn Agricultural College
a. 1876-1882
Sharecropping:
1. System where landowners divide their land in to specific
plots.
a. Gave each worker a few acres of land to plow, seed
and tools.
b. In return, workers gave a share of the crop to the
landowner.
i. Usually half the crop
2. In theory, sharecroppers who save a little and bought their
own tools would be able to seek a better bargain with
landowner.
a. Seldom worked that way
b. Might rent land for cash and keep all the harvest
i. System is known as “Tenant Farming”
c. Eventually they would improve their economic
stature to landowner.
3. Reality of tenant farming.
a. Arrangement seldom worked in practice
i. Most did purchase supplies on credit
ii. Most rarely harvested enough to pay the
rent and the debt for supplies and purchase
new supplies
b. End result was few made enough money to purchase
land
Ku Klux Klan:
1. Originally founded as a social club for Confederate
Veterans
a. Started in Tennessee in 1866
i. Rapidly spread though out the South
b. Many of the new chapters turned into terrorist
organizations
i. Used violence
ii. Wanted to prevent African Americans from exercising their
political rights.
2. “Between: 1868-1871” the Ku Klux Klan along with
other secret groups killed thousands of people
a. The vast majority were African American
i.
Burned churches
ii.
Burned schools
iii.
Burned property
b. Whites who tried to help the African Americans
were also victims.
i.
Renting them land
ii.
Purchasing their corps
iii.
Trying to educate them
3. Objective was to turn Republican’s that established the
Reconstruction government out of power.
a. Assassinated government officials who were
supported by African Americans.
4. Concealed their identity when they would attack
5. Terrorist campaigns frightened the majority of African
Americans away from voting polls
a. Preventing Republicans from being elected.
6. Klan along with other secret organizations tried to
prevent economic and political gains by African
Americans.
a. African Americans who were property owners
or worked in other occupations were subject to
attacks and property destruction.
Panic of 1873:
1. A series of financial failures that triggered a five year
depression.
2. Resulted from over investing in businesses without
enough profit to pay off debts.
a. Small banks closed
b. Stock market temporarily collapsed
i. Eighty-nine railroads went broke in a
year
ii. 18,000 plus companies folded by 1875
iii. Three million lost jobs
Redemption:
1. A term used by Southern Democrats for their return to
power in the South in 1870’s
a. Resulted in the end of Congressional Reconstruction
Rutherford B. Hayes:
1. Republican candidate for President in 1876.
2. Governor of Ohio
a. Considered stodgy
3. Unable to get legislative support for his idea of Civil
Reform even from his own party
a.
b.
Did what he could through executive orders
and appointments
Named able independents to his cabinet
i. One set up a merit system in his
department.
ii. Another fired clerks that were not
performing well enough
Samuel J. Tilden:
1. Governor of New York
2. Democratic candidate for President in 1876.
a. Ran against Rutherford B. Hayes
3. Known to have been instrumental in “cleaning up”
graft in New York City under Boss Tweed’s Ring.
4. Was the popular vote in the 1876 election by less than
250,000 votes
a. Lost the electoral vote to Hayes
Compromise of 1877:
1. Democrats controlled the House of Representatives during
the election of 1877 when they had to decide on the election.
a. The election results in four states were challenged.
i. Florida
ii. Louisiana
iii. Oregon
iv. South Carolina
c. An electoral commission set up to rule on the validity of the returns
i.
Gave Hayes the presidency by one vote
ii.
Democrats in the House of Representatives protested.
2. To defuse the crisis, Republicans and southern
Democrats struck a deal.
a. The Compromise of 1877.
b. Agreement’s exact terms are today in
dispute but it is known that in return
for the Democrats acceptance of Hayes
as president Republicans agreed not to
use the military to enforce
Reconstruction legislation.
i. Reconstruction government fell as a result of the agreement.
ii. Redeemers rewrote state
constitutions and overturned
many of the Reconstruction
government’s reforms.
3. Democrats wanted federal money for:
a. A railroad from Texas to the West coast
b.
Improvements on southern rivers,
harbors and bridges.
4. Democrats wanted Hayes to appoint a
Conservative Southerner to his cabinet.
Home rule:
1. Election disputes in Louisiana and South Carolina’s elections in 1876
a. Elections resulted in two rival state governments in both states.
2. After Hayes was inaugurated he removed federal troops from both states Democrats
took over.
a. Part of the agreement in the Compromise of 1877
3. Voting returns in question went to the state supreme court
a. Ruled in favor of Democrats
b. Republicans no longer controlled any of the southern state governments.
4. Democrats had achieved the goal of running their state governments without federal
intervention
a. Referred to as “Home rule”
5. Redeemers had set out to rescue the South from what they considered Northern
mismanagement.
a. Included Republicans and African Americans
6. Immediately they restructured African American rights.
a. Stopped social programs
b. Cut taxes
c. Dismantled public schools
Return to Gold Standard:
1. Economic depression that resulted from the Panic of 1837 also fueled arguments over
currency.
a. Dispute went back to the Civil War
i. Money was being printed without being backed by gold
2. End of the war, economic experts recommended taking the greenback out of
circulation
a. Return to a currency backed by gold
b. Reduce the numbers of dollars in circulation
3. Southerners, Western farmers and manufacturers wanted more money put in
circulation
a. Easy money would help them pay off their debts
4. Congress passed the Specie Resumption Act in 1875.
a. Promised to go back to the gold standard
b. Sparked debate over monetary policies
i. Died down as the economy recovered
c. Debate over money in the 1870’s took the focus off Reconstruction
Scandals and Money Crises Hurt Republicans:
1. Republican Party weakened in the early 1870’s
a. Widespread political corruption in the federal government
i. During Grant’s administration
ii. Took attention away from conditions in the South
Fraud and Bribery:
1. Grant’s administration was riddled with scandal
a. Appointees were friends and acquaintances of Grants
i. Chose them for friendship not their ability
ii. Group was very dishonest
2. Scandal from Grant’s administration became public in 1872.
a. Exposed Credit Mobilier Affair
i. Construction company skimming off large profits from government
railroad contract
ii. Involved several leading Republicans and Grant’s vice president
1. Schuyler Colfax
Republican Unit Shattered:
1. Republicans angered by corruption formed the Liberal Republican Part in 1872.
a. Called for an honest and efficient government
b. Hoped to remove Grant from office in the next election
2. Held separate conventions for 1872 election from other Republicans
a. Chose Horace Greely as their candidate
i. Editor of New York Tribune
ii. Vocal pre-Civil War abolitionist
iii. Supported Radical Republican causes
1. Broke from Radical Republicans when called for universal
amnesty for Confederates
2. Wanted to end military rule in the South
a. Believed Reconstruction government’s had achieved
its goal
b. Felt former slaves should find fend for themselves
b. Democrats also nominated Greely
i. Wanted to get rid of Grant
c. Greely lost the election to Grant by a large margin
d. Died a few weeks after the election
i. Before the electoral college made his defeat official
3. Liberal Republicans weakened Radical Republicans even though they lost the
election
a. Break down of the party’s unity made it more difficult for Radicals to
continue their Reconstruction Plan in the South
4. Scandals and corruption continue with Grant’s administration
a. Whiskey Ring in 1875 was exposed
i. Internal Revenue collectors and other officials were accepting bribes
from whiskey distillers
1. Wanted to avoid paying taxes on their product
a. Defrauding the government of millions of dollars
2. Indictments of 238 persons
a. Included Grant’s personal secretary
i. General Orville E. Babcock
3.
5.
6.
7.
Grant refused to beehive Babcock‘s guilt
a. Helped him escape conviction
Another investigation in 1876, found Secretary of War accepted bribes.
a. William W. Belknap took money from merchants trading in Indian territory
i. Wanted to keep the profitable business
ii. Belknap impeached by the House of Representatives
1. he immediately resigned
Secretary of Navy took bribes from shipbuilders.
Secretary of Interior questionable dealings with land speculators.