Download Section 1—Problems after the War

American History—Chapter 12
Reconstruction
Problems after the War

Human—What do you do with all the new
slaves? All the people that died?
 Political—What do you do with all the
Southern states? What about Lincoln’s
death?
 Constitutional—Does the President or
Congress have the right to chose which plan
will work to fix the South
Reconstruction

1867-1877: Time period in which the
United States tried to rebuild after the Civil
War.
 Also is the name for the process that the
North allowed the South to come back to
the United States.
 Critical Period in United States History
Lincoln’s Plan
Didn’t blame individuals in the South—
blame the Southern leaders for leaving
 Wanted to restore the Union as QUICK as
possible
 Amnesty--To pardon (forgive) people for
crimes against the government
 Lincoln’s Plan never took place

Lincoln’s Plan cont..

Pardon (forgive) all confederates who swear
allegiance to the Union


This did not include high ranking people in the Confederacy
(generals, politicians, POW)
States could form their own government if 10% of
voting population swore allegiance to the Union
 This made many people in the North mad because
they felt it let the South off the hook
Radical Republicans

Radicals Republicans—people from the
North who wanted to make Reconstruction
difficult for the South
 Thaddeus Stevens—Radical Republican
leader in Congress, wanted to punish the
South for what they had done
Wade-Davis Bill

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Bill designed to counter Lincoln’s Plan
Congress would be responsible for Reconstruction
Majority (over 50%) in a state would have to
swear allegiance to the Union for the state to be
readmitted
Lincoln killed this bill with a pocket veto
Pocket Veto—When the president ignores a bill
passed by Congress (within the last 10 days) the
bill will fail
Johnson’s Plan


Andrew Johnson became President after
Lincoln was killed (Johnson was a Democrat)
Johnson’s Plan for Reconstruction
1.
2.
3.
4.
Any state could be readmitted if they declared secession
illegal
Swear Allegiance to the Union
Promise to pay back their debts
Pass the 13th Amendment (no slavery)
Johnson’s Plan cont..

Very easy terms for the South—within a month
every state (but Texas) had passed all the
requirements and was sending representatives to
Congress
 Problem—Johnson pardoned (forgave) all the
people responsible for causing the war
 Result—58 Congressman, 6 Confederate Cabinet
Members and 4 Confederate Generals were in the
new US Congress.
Congressional Elections

In 1866 the Radical Republicans won most
of the Congressional Seats.
 After the election, over 2/3 of Congress was
made up of the Republican Party who was
opposed to Johnson.
 Now Congress could pass a law and then
override the Presidential Veto…this started
Congressional Reconstruction
Congressional Reconstruction

Freedman’s Bureau


Civil Rights Act of 1866


Gave blacks citizenship and forbade states from passing black
codes (laws that limited freedom of black)
14th Amendment


Assisted former slaves and free whites in the South (food,
schools, hospitals)
Gave Civil Rights to all people born or naturalized in the USA
(Citizenship). Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness
15th Amendment


No one can be kept from voting b/c of race or color
Helped ensure that Republicans would stay in power
Congressional Reconstruction

Reconstruction Act of 1867

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Abolish all governments created under
Lincoln/Johnson Plans
Divided the South into 5 military districts
Blacks males go the right to vote
Must ratify the 14th amendment to be readmitted
into the Union
Vetoed by Johnson—Congress was able to
override his veto
Response to 1st
Reconstruction Acts

Stunned the Southern Whites (how could
they be equal to the blacks?)
 20,000 federal troops went to the South to
make sure things went as ordered.
 Now Congress turned their attention to
getting rid of Johnson
Tenure of Office Act

Tenure of Office Act

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Law passed by Congress to try to bait Johnson into
doing something illegal. (How to get him out of
office)
President could not remove any cabinet member
without 2/3 Senate vote.
Johnson was willing to test this new act and
kicked out his Sec. Of War (Stanton)
Impeachment

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Impeachment—Bring to trial!
House of Reps voted to Impeach Johnson on the
following charges
1. Tenure of Office Act—the problem was that Stanton
was appointed by Lincoln, not Johnson, so the law
didn’t apply.
2. Radicals accused him of being a disgrace—this was
not a crime that could get the president removed
Result

The Senate voted 35 to 19 for Johnson to be
kicked out of office (1 vote shy of the needed
majority)
Election of 1868

Democrats ran a guy named Seymour
 Republicans ran Ulysses S Grant
 Grant won

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Almost all of the 500,000 blacks voted for Grant
Radicals decided to pass the 15th
amendment which said no one could be kept
from voting based on race
Section 2
Reconstructing the South
Problems for the South

Physical Conditions
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Economic Conditions
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Much of the South was destroyed
Sherman alone had caused more than 100 million dollars worth
of damage to Georgia
Buildings, Bridges, Roads and Farms all need to be rebuilt.
No property value, Confederate bonds failed, poor
South was forced to pay for most of the rebuilding
Human

Over 1/5 of all white men in the South died in the Civil War
Scalawags/Carpetbaggers

Scalawags—White Southerners who joined the
Republican Party

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Wanted the South to industrialize quickly
Did not want former slave owners back in power
Most were considered traitors by the South
Carpetbaggers—Northerners who moved to the
South after the war
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Some were teachers/priest (wanted to help)
Some were old soldiers who wanted to live in warmth
Most were businessmen who wanted to make money off the
rebuilding process in the South (some dishonest)
New Freedoms for African
Americans (1865-1877)

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Travel---move new places, etc…
Re-unite with family/marry
Education---more African American Teachers and
Schools (80% illiterate b/f Civil War)
Religion—Methodist/Baptist
Politics---More involved in Politics

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Hiram Revels—1st black Senator
16 Blacks were elected to Congress
De-Segregation Laws
Economic Problems

Problem: Lots of poor people needed work
and many of the old slave owners needed
people to work in their fields
 Sharecropping/Tenant Farming
– Old Landowners divided their land
– Gave each worker land, seed, tools.
– When the crops were harvested, 2/3 of the
profit went back to the landowner
Sharecropping

Good
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Bad
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Blacks could keep some of what they produce
In theory they could save up enough money and buy their own
land
By the time they harvested crops and paid for the supplies—
they were in debt
Heavy production hurt the soil—didn’t produce enough goods
Results—Poor white and black farmers were still
in debt…..temporary solution to the problem
Section 3
People who opposed
Reconstruction

Whites blamed the blacks for many of their
problems (economic and social)
– Ku Klux Klan—Began in Tennessee (1866)
 Nathaniel Forrest was their leader
 Initially tried to prevent blacks from voting
 Eventually turned violent
 Wanted to make sure that the Republicans lost
political power
White Supremacy

Gradually Southern Whites took control of
the government.
 Poor whites had a hard time accepting
equality because of the competition for jobs
 This led to a variety of political restrictions
Political Restrictions

Blacks faced discrimination, especially in
the voting process.
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Literary test—Blacks who voted Republican would
get a hard test, blacks who voted Democrat would
get an easy one (what is your name?)
Poll Taxes—pay $ before they vote
Grandfather Clause—a person could fail the literacy
and poll taxes and still be allowed to vote if his
grandfather had been able to vote (allowed poor
whites the opportunity to vote)
Separate But Equal?

Jim Crow Laws—laws that established the
idea of “separate but equal”

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Basically separate blacks and whites in a variety of
places (Schools, hospitals, etc)
Plessy vs Ferguson—a Supreme Court
Decision that said separate but equal was
legal; just as long as the facilities were
equal.
Response to Problems

Force Acts—Act from Congress to lessen the
activity/influence of the Klan
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Troops would supervise elections
Amnesty Act—Gave the right to vote to 160,000
former Confederates
 Eventually people in the North got sick of
Reconstruction and started to allow old leaders to
come back into power
Weakening of Republicans

North got sick of dealing with problems in
the South
 Radicals were losing influence over the
Republican Party
 North didn’t really want full equality in the
North
 Business in the North wanted a stable
governments in the South
Grant’s Administration

Grant was honest, people around him were
not.
 Scandals
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Whiskey Ring—IRS was not taxing whiskey, govt.
employees were getting kickbacks from this
William Belknap—Sec. Of War that took bribes
from merchants in the west
Depression of 1873

Economy was booming after the Civil War

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Manufacturers had to borrow so much money to
rebuild the South that the banks could not cover the
loans that they were putting out.
Major Banks went bankrupt
 Result: 3 million workers lost their jobs
Election of 1876

Rutherford B Hayes (Rep) vs. Samuel
Tilden (Dem)
 Tilden won the popular vote and was
leading the electoral college vote 184-165.
 20 votes were in dispute (Florida)—Tilden
should have gotten those votes and won the
presidency.
Election of 1876

A special commission was made to investigate the
votes in Florida (more Republicans than
Democrats on commission)
 They decided that Hayes won Florida therefore he
won the election by 1 vote
 Democrats were mad—they made a deal with the
Republicans.
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Fed. Troops had to leave the South
Give the South money to build railroads
Hayes must have a Southern Democrat in his cabniet
Results of Reconstruction

Good
– Political and Social Conditions Improved
– Blacks could now vote
– Didn’t have to own property to be in
government
Results cont..

Bad
– Segregation started to appear
– Had a hard time rebuilding everything (no $
available)
– State funded projects got terrible loans from
government
– High taxes kept farmers in debt
– Graft—People in the government who took
bribes from construction projects