Download The Ordeal of Reconstruction

Chapter 22
The Ordeal of
Reconstruction
The Problems Of Peace
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Major questions facing the
country
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How would the liberated Blacks
be converted to free citizens
How would southern states be
reintegrated into the Union
Who would direct reconstruction,
the President or Congress
What to do with confederate
leaders?
Presidential Reconstruction
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Lincoln’s 10% Plan.
One, CS state could rejoin the union
when 10 percent had taken an oath of
allegiance to the U.S. and pledged to
abide by emancipation.
Two, formally elect a state government.
Also, a state legislature could write a
new constitution,
Three, abolish slavery forever.
By 1864, Louisiana, Tennessee, and
Arkansas had established fully
functioning Unionist governments.
This policy was meant to shorten the
war by offering a moderate peace plan.
Congress Reacts
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Congress disagreed with Lincoln’s
approach.
Congressional Republican theory?
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Who in charge of readmission?.
Radical Republican Goals.
Congress passes the Wade-Davis Bill
in 1864
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Re-admittance for former Confederate
states - a majority in each state to take the
Ironclad oath to the effect they had never in
the past supported the Confederacy
Major Problems In The South
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Social and economic system had
collapsed.
Key Southern cities were devastated.
Banking system had collapsed under
run-away inflation.
Factories were destroyed
Transportation system completely
broken down
Agriculture, major economic force of the
south, totally collapsed.
Southern rich were suddenly much
poorer.
Many Southerners were beaten but still
defiant and were not yet emotionally
prepared to reintegrate with the north.
Freedmen Define Freedom
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Immediately after war, freedom for Blacks depended on where the
army was
Some in South rejected validity of Emancipation Proclamation
Reaction of Blacks
Blacks hit the road
Black schools
Black churches
The Freedmen’s Bureau
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Congress creates the Freedmen’s Bureau March, 1865.
Purpose?
Gen Oliver Howard
Greatest success?
Failed to provide land, as authorized
Blacks and labor contracts
Freedmen’s Bureau School
Johnson: The Tailor President
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He had started from very
humble beginnings.
Never attended school.
Enters politics in Tenn.
Champion of poor whites and
mountain whites.
Slaveholder and Unionist
Hero in North he refused to
secede with Tenn.
Forced to flee Tennessee
Honest, uncompromising, hated
planter class
Johnson: The Tailor President
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Appointed War Governor after
Tenn. partially redeemed by
Union Army.
Appointed VP when Lincoln
needs to cement the Union Party
and keep the vote of border states
and Union democrats.
Dogmatic believer in State’s Right
and the Constitution.
Hero Andy Jackson.
Johnson’s Pan for Reconstruction
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Johnson agreed with Lincoln’s 10% plan. He
recognized several 10% governments.
Introduced his plan 8/1865.
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Disenfranchised southerners with property over
$20,000.
They could petition him for a pardon
called for special state conventions
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to repeal declarations of secession,
repudiating confederate debts and
ratifying 13th Amendment prohibiting slavery
How does Congress React? Why?
Black Codes
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New states passed Black Codes
To control the labor, migration
and other activities of newlyfreed slaves.
Reflected the unwillingness of
whites to accept blacks as equals
and their fears that freedmen
would not work unless coerced
Consequences
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For blacks
politically
Congressional Reconstruction
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1865. States readmitted by Johnson
start sending Congressmen to
Washington.
Many are former Confederate
politicians and Generals.
Republicans outraged by the
“whitewashed Confederates”
Republicans do not want to share
power,
Passed Homestead Act
 Morrill Tariff
 Pacifci Railway Act
 Legal Tender Act
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This sets up a monumental showdown with Johnson
Johnson Clashes With Congress
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Johnson reacts strongly to Congress
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What is his concern?
Johnson announces that South had satisfied
his conditions and Union was restored.
Vetoed extension of Freedman’s Bureau.
Civil Rights Act.
the act proclaimed "that all persons born in the
United States ... are hereby declared to be citizens
of the United States." Second, the act specifically
defines the rights of American citizenship:
Such citizens, of every race and color, and without
regard to any previous condition of slavery or
involuntary servitude, ... shall have the same right
in every state and territory in the United States,
Johnson vetos the bill.
Fourteenth Amendment
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Congress overrides the veto
Congressional Radical Republicans moved
quickly to establish black civil rights in an
amendment to the Constitution. (1866)
The Fourteenth Amendment became a
bundle of civil rights initiatives.
The soul of the amendment declared that
"all persons born or naturalized in the
United States" were citizens, that no state
could alter "the privileges or immunities of
citizens" nor could they deprive "any
person of life, liberty, or property, without
due process of law.“
Southern states (except Tenn refuse to
ratify)
Johnson’s Back-firing Campaign
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1866 Johnson and Congress battle over
whether reconstruction would continue with or
without the 14th Amendment.
The battle-ground became the Congressional
elections.
Johnson hoped for a majority in favor of his soft
approach.
 Republicans sought a congress that was vetoproof.
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Johnson goes on a “give-‘em-hell” campaign
swing to try to marshal votes.
Johnson’s efforts backfire.
After the 1866 elections, the Radicals generally
controlled Congress. Johnson vetoed 21 bills
passed by Congress during his term, but the
Radicals overrode 15 of them, including the
Reconstruction Acts and Force Acts, which
rewrote the election laws for the South and
allowed blacks to vote, while prohibiting most
leading whites from holding office.
SWINGING AROUND THE CIRCLE WITH
JOHNSON
Republican’s In Charge
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Republicans now in the driver’s
seat, but split between the radicals
and the moderates.
Radicals led by Charles Sumner in
the Senate and Thaddeus Stevens in
the house.
The Republican Congress wants to
insure a base of support in the
South – four million black votes.
Congress moves to insure former
CS leaders are kept out of power.
Military Reconstruction
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Reconstruction Act (March
1867)
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Disenfranchised many white
southerners
Stringent conditions for the
readmission of the seceded
states
State Constitutions rewritten
States required to ratify
Fourteenth Amendment to
come back in
State constitutions must
guarantee vote for slaves
Stopped short of giving blacks
land or requiring education.
Military Reconstruction Act
Fifteenth Amendment
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Proposed 1869; ratified 1870
The 15th Amendment forbids both
the Federal and State governments
from denying citizens the right to
vote on the basis of race, color, or
"previous condition of servitude,"
The amendment left the use of poll
taxes and property or literacy tests to
discourage blacks from voting, but
northern states valued those
qualifications for use against
immigrants and indigents.
Radical Reconstruction In The South
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Blacks voting, but many whites weren’t.
Union Leagues – Republican party
14 Black Congressmen; 2 Black Senators.
Height of black political power until mid 20th
Century.
Radical Regimes
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Armed State Militias (Black Troops)
Constitutional conventions
Public education
Public works
Graft
Carpetbaggers and Scalawags.
“Redeemer governments”
Black elected Officials in the South
Ku Klux Klan
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KKK (Invisible Empire of the South)
Used intimidation, fear and force to
intimidate clacks and carpetbaggers
Undermined the civil rights given to
blacks.
Force Act
 The government banned the use of
terror, force or bribery to prevent
people from voting because of their
race. Hundreds of KKK members
were arrested and tried as common
criminals and terrorists.
 The first Klan was all but eradicated
within a year of federal prosecution.
Johnson Impeachment
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Radical Republicans
frustrated with Johnson and
out for his hide.
Tenure in Office Act (1867).
Provisions?
Johnson wants to fire Edwin
Stanton
Constitutionality of act?
House vote for impeachment
Factors impacting the Senate
vote
The Purchase Of Alaska
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One of Johnson’s few
successes was the purchase of
Alaska.
Why were Russians looking
to unload Alaska?
Sec. of State Seward agrees to
purchase for 7.2 Mil in 1867.
Dubbed Seward’s Folly.
Why was US willing to
purchase?