Download Reconstruction

Reconstruction
1865-1877
Rebuilding Southern states and
gluing the north and south back
together
Three major Issues
1. Who should be in charge: the President or
Congress?
2. How should Southern states that had left
the Union and become Confederate be
treated? What requirements should be
given to them?
3. What to do with freed blacks. What laws
should be made? Should the Constitution
be changed?
Lincoln = lenient
• Plan was VERY lenient. He didn’t focus on
punishment, he focused on rebuilding: “with
malice toward none and charity for all…”
• Immediately following the Civil War, Congress
sent Northern troops to occupy Southern states.
They did this to ensure that black people were
protected, and stayed until the states had created
new Constitutions that formally accepted the 13th
amendment (emancipation).
If you want your precious
South back in the Union,
then each has to accept
the 13th Amendment:
slaves are FREE
Lincoln’s “10 Percent” Plan
Amnesty = pardon for offenses and welcome back to the Union
• Lincoln proposed amnesty (official pardons) for
Southerners under two conditions:
1. They must take an oath of loyalty to the United States
government (formally give up the Confederacy)
2. They must accept the legality of the 13th amendment
(emancipation of slaves – ratified Dec. 6, 1865).
• After 10 percent of voters in a state had taken the
oath, they were given permission to form a
government that abolished slavery. Only then
could they rejoin the Union.
Freedmen’s Bureau
• Although blacks were now free, they had no
money and no job.
• Lincoln and Congress created the Freedmen’s
Bureau to feed and care for needy blacks, to
educate them, help them find jobs, and protect
them from discrimination.
– The Freedmen’s Bureau started more than 4,000
elementary schools in the south.
– The Freedmen’s Bureau helped many poor white, not
just black, families in the South.
40 Acres and a Mule
• One Republican Congressman – Thaddeus
Stevens – petitioned Congress to break up
Southern plantations and give freedmen forty
acres and a mule as payment for years of
slavery.
• Congress refused, saying that taking property
without payment would violate people’s
rights.
TOO LENIENT!
Some Republicans in
Congress (Radical
Republicans) thought
Lincoln’s plan was too
lenient.
Seriously,
Abe? 10
percent??
Johnson’s Plan
Johnson stepped into office after Lincoln was killed. At first, his
plan seemed great:
1. Majority of voters had to take a loyalty oath
before the state could seek readmission.
2. Each new government had to outlaw slavery by
ratifying (officially accepting) the Thirteenth
Amendment.
3. High Confederate officials and army officers and
people with more than $20,000 in taxable
property had to receive a presidential pardon
before being allowed to vote or hold office.
• Under Johnson’s plan, most Southern states
ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, and it
became law in December 1865.
• However, Southern voters elected a number of
former Confederate leaders and wealthy planters
to Congress. Despite Johnson’s dislike for the
wealthy, he was willing to be generous to those
who personally came and asked for his pardon.
These actions greatly angered Congress.
Although Johnson was proud of his plan,
Congress refused to seat the Confederate
leaders and was getting ready to take over.
Black Codes
• With racist Southern states in office, southern
states began passing black codes to discriminate
against the former slaves. Although blacks were
free, they were not citizens, couldn’t vote, and
had no protected rights.
– In some states, they could not testify against whites in
court, vote in elections, or join the army.
– The codes promoted segregation and forced freedmen
to work only as servants or as farm laborers.
– Black codes also made unemployment a crime for
which black men could be fined or jailed.
Congress vs. Johnson
• The same Radical Republicans in Congress
wanted to create laws that guaranteed personal
freedom for former slaves. This included full
voting rights.
• Johnson thought that states should decide those
kinds of laws – just as they did before the Civil
War when northern states could be “free” and
southern states could be “slave states”. He
thought that was a good system and didn’t want
the government to determine citizen and voting
rights.
I am a racist Democrat
who uses state rights as
a way to mask my
prejudice. I was opposed
to slavery because it
benefitted the rich (and I
hate the wealthy), not
because I sympathized
with the black race.
Johnson goes too far
• The tension between Congress and Johnson
escalated when he vetoed two bills that had
passed with strong Republican support:
1. Extending the life of the Freedmen’s Bureau,
which assisted the lives of Freedmen.
2. Civil Rights Act of 1866, which guaranteed
blacks citizenship and “full benefit of all laws
as enjoyed by white citizens”
Did he really?
He really
did.
Some
nerve, that
Johnson.
Congress and the 14th
• Congress “upped the ante.” In response to
Johnson vetoing the Civil Rights Act, (a mere law,)
Congress proposed making a Fourteenth
Amendment (permanent change) to the
Constitution. The 14th Amendment would
mandate:
– All people born in the U.S. are citizens
– All citizens are guaranteed equal protection of the
laws
– No state could deprive anyone of life, liberty, or
property, without due process of law.
– Racial discrimination is illegal.
Johnson Opposes, Congress gains
power.
• Johnson felt that the 14th Amendment denied
states the right to manage their own affairs.
• He urged the Southern States to reject it, which
they did (except for Tennessee).
• The midterm elections of 1866 elected more
Republicans in Congress and gave them a 2/3
majority. This meant that they had enough votes
to override any of Johnson’s veto. It also meant
that American voters were making their voices
heard, and they agreed with Congress (NOT
Johnson)
Johnson believed that since the war was over,
there was no more need for the Freedmen’s
Bureau. He also believed that citizenship to
blacks should be left to the states.
I’ve said it before and I’ll
say it again. I’m not
prepared to lift a finger for
those Freedmen, darn it!
Congressional Reconstruction
Congress takes over Reconstruction and
immediately divides the south (except Tennessee,
who had ratified the 14th) into five military
districts under the control of a Union general
with federal troops at his command.
Congressional or Radical
Reconstruction
Congress also decides:
• Former Confederate officials are NOT able to hold
office
• New state constitutions giving blacks the right to
vote must be drafted.
• New state constitutions had to be ratified by
voters and then approved by Congress.
• The new state constitutions must ratify the 14th
amendment (guaranteeing right to citizenship)
Fighting back and forth…
• Johnson responded to Congress’s bold move
by firing a few individuals who sympathized
with Radical Reconstruction.
• Congress struck back by passing laws to limit
the President’s authority over Reconstruction,
such as:
– The Tenure of Office Act (preventing the President
from firing officials without Senate approval)
Johnson goes too far
• Johnson decides to test the limits by ordering
General of the Army Ulysses S. Grant to replace
the Secretary of War (a Radical Republican
remaining from Lincoln’s staff). Grant refused to
obey because he wanted to run for President in
the next election.
• Johnson appointed a new Secretary of War and
the House of Representatives voted to impeach
him for violating the Tenure of Office Act.
Johnson stays but Congress wins
• After he was impeached, Johnson went on
trial before the senate. He was one vote away
from being found guilty.
• Although Johnson remained in office, the trial
ensured that Congress was in charge and that
Reconstruction would proceed as Congress
intended.
• Johnson finished his remaining months with
little to no influence.
15th Amendment
• Congress proposed the Fifteenth Amendment,
prohibiting governments from denying the
vote of anyone “on account of race, color, or
pervious condition of servitude.”
• This is the last of the Reconstruction
Amendments.
• Did it solve everything?
NO!
• Literacy tests and poll taxes were applied to
new voters in the South. In theory these
applied equally to blacks and whites and
therefore did not violate the 15th Amendment.
• HOWEVER, whites were excused from both by
a “grandfather clause” in the laws, saying that
any man whose father or grandfather could
vote on January 1, 1867 was exempted.
Supreme Court Agrees
• When challenged in court, the Supreme Court
ruled that the new voting “laws” did not
violate the fifteenth amendment because they
did not deny anyone the right to vote on the
basis of race.