Download Reconstruction - Wando High School

Reconstruction
A New Battle Begins
• The South had been devastated by the war
• How would the Confederate states rejoin
the Union
• Lincoln wanted a general amnesty
• Radical Republicans did not want to
reconcile
• South would gain more seats in the House
th
13
Amendment
• Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude,
except as a punishment for crime whereof
the party shall have been duly convicted,
shall exist within the United States, or any
place subject to their jurisdiction.
Lincoln’s Plan
• Reconcile not punish
• Proclamation of Amnesty
–
–
–
–
Amnesty/general pardon
Oath of loyalty
Had to accept proclamations concerning slavery
After 10% took oath they could est. a new gov’t
Radical Republicans
• Revolutionize the South
• Prevent the Confederate leaders from
returning to power
• Wanted a strong southern Republican party
• Wanted the federal government to help
African Americans achieve political
equality by guaranteeing voting rights
Wade-Davis Bill
• Moderate Republicans were in the middle
• Majority of men in the South would have to
take an oath of loyalty
• The state then would hold a constitutional
convention to create a new state gov’t
• Each state had to: abolish slavery, reject all
debts, Confederate officers and officials
could not vote or hold office
• Lincoln pocket vetoed the bill
The Freedmen’s Bureau
• Freed slaves followed Sherman
• Freedmen’s Bureau est. by Congress to help
the refugees
• Provided: schools, paid teachers, helped est.
colleges, food, clothes, work help, pay and
hour negotiations
• 40 acres and a mule
• Booker T. Washington – Tuskegee Institute
• Andrew Johnson
• Moderate policy
towards the South
• Pardoned all former
Confederates who
took an oath of
loyalty
• Excluded: officers,
officials, wealthy
• These people could
ask for a personal
pardon
Johnson’s Plan
• Pardoned all citizens who took an oath of
loyalty and returned their property
• Excluded former CSA officers/officials and
those who's property was worth > $20K
– These ppl had to ask the president personally
for a pardon
• N.C.: call a constitutional convention,
revoke, secession, ratify 13th Amend., reject
all Civil War debts
Black Codes
• Election of former CSA leaders angered
Republicans
• Black Codes:
– Limited African Americans rights
– Enter into annual labor contracts
– Children had to accept apprenticeships where
they could be beaten
– Licenses to work nonagricultural jobs
Radical Republicans Take Charge
• Civil Rights Act of 1866
– Citizenship to all persons born in the U.S.
except Indians
– African Americans could own property and be
treated fairly in court
– U.S. gov’t could sue those who violated these
rights
th
14
Amendment
• Granted citizenship to all persons born or
naturalized in the U.S.
• No state could deprive any person of life,
liberty, or property without “due process of law”
• No state could deny any person “equal
protection of the laws”
• Overturned Dred Scott Case
Military Reconstruction Act
• Threw out Johnson’s reconstruction
programs
• Divided the South and placed generals in
charge
• States had to hold a constitutional
convention and write a Congress approved
constitution
• After they wrote a constitution, ratified the
14th Amendment, granted voting rights to all
adult males, they could elect people to
Congress
Command of Army Act & Tenure of
Office Act
• Congress was concerned Johnson would not
follow the M.R.A.
• C.A.A. all commands by the president had
to go through general headquarters first
before being passed onto the South
• T.O.A Senate had to approve the dismissal
of anyone they had previously approved
into office
Stanton and Impeachment
• Sec. of War Edwin M. Stanton agreed with
the newer reconstruction plans
• Johnson fired him and was impeached
• After two months the Senate fell one vote
shy of removing him form office
• Even though Johnson was not impeached he
retained very little power and did not run for
re-election
• Ulysses S. Grant
• Easily won the 1868
election with African
American voters in
the South
• Congress also kept
the Republican
majority in this
election
• This helped them
pass the 15th
Amendment
th
15
Amendment
• Section 1. The right of citizens of the
United States to vote shall not be denied or
abridged by the United States or by any
State on account of race, color, or previous
condition of servitude.
• Section 2. The Congress shall have power
to enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
Republican Rule in the South
• By 1870 all Confederate states had rejoined
the Union
• Carpetbaggers
• Scalawags
• African Americans began to play a major
role in Southern politics
• Joseph Rainey
• Born in
Georgetown, SC
• First African
American in the
House of
Representatives
• Was re-elected 4
times
• Hiram Revels
• First African
American in the
Senate
• Served for the
state of
Mississippi
• Served a little
over a year b/c
of credential
concerns
Republican Reforms
•
•
•
•
Repealing Black Codes
Making more state offices elective
Establishing public schools
Southerners had to borrow money or raise
taxes to pay for reforms
• Grafting in politics became common in both
the South and the North
African Americans
• Began to attend schools
• Created a network of African American
colleges and universities
• Established churches, which served as the
center of communities
• Numerous other organizations and help
groups were established
Enforcement Acts
• Passed in 1870 and 1871
• Federal crime to interfere with a persons
right to vote
• Federal elections were under the
supervision of federal marshals
• Ku Klux Klan Act made their actions illegal
Division of the Republicans
• Grant had coasted into office b/c of the
Civil War
• Weakened the presidency
• Congress worked on promoting commerce
and industry in the South
• Congress: kept high tariffs, tightened
banking regulations, increased spending on
RR, ports and the postal system
Division of the Republicans
(cont’d)
• Sin Taxes
• Democrats attacked Republicans claiming
these acts benefited the wealthy
• Liberal Republicans agreed and broke away
to join the Democrats
• Horace Greeley
• Democrat and
Liberal Republican
presidential
nomination
• Lost to Grant in the
1872 election
Scandals
• William Belknap
• Secretary of War
• Accepted bribes
from merchants
operating at
Western army
posts
• Impeached, but
resigned before
trial
• Whiskey Ring
Scandal
• Whiskey
Ring
Scandal
Panic of 1873
• Jay Cooke and Company went bankrupt b/c
of bad RR investments
• Caused other banks to close
• Caused stock market to drop
• Businesses closed
• Thousands were out of work
• The panic and scandal catapulted
Democrats into power in the H of R
Reconstruction Ends
• Democrats fought for:
– Regaining control of state and local gov’t
• They did this through:
– Militia intimidation
– Election fraud
– Appealing to white racism
• By 1876 Democrats controlled most of the
Southern state legislatures
Election of 1876/Compromise of 1877
• Rutherford B. Hayes (R)
• Samuel Tilden (D)
• Neither won a majority and there was a
mass amount of voter fraud
• Congress appointed commission gave the
win to Hayes
• Compromise: Hayes president=troops out of
the South
• Troops removed & Reconstruction ended
New South = Old South
•
•
•
•
Hayes wanted to end regional differences
New South = strong industry
Most of the South was still agrarian
The end of reconstruction marked an old
south return for African Americans
Problems for African Americans
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Tenant Farmers
Sharecroppers
Furnishing Merchants
Crop Liens
Debt Peonage
Jim Crowe Laws – legal segregation
Poll Taxes, Literacy Tests
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
African American Response
• Ida B. Wells: brought attention to lynching
• Booker T. Washington
– Economic goals rather than political
– Atlanta Compromise
– Prepare educationally and vocationally for
equality
• W.E.B. Du Bois: The Souls of Black Folk,
need for political and voting rights
– NAACP