Download Chapter 12 Reconstruction

Chapter 12 Reconstruction
Reconstruction
What is it?
What problems did these groups face after the
Civil War?:
Former slaves?
the North?
the South?

Human toll: The North lost 364,000 soldiers; The
South lost 260,000 soldiers.

Freedmen (freed slaves) were starting out their new
lives in a poor region with slow economic activity.



1865-1877, Reconstruction:
Plantation owners lost slave labor worth $3 billion.
Poor white Southerners could not find work because of
new job competition from Freedmen.

two thirds of the South’s shipping industry and about
9,000 miles of railroad were destroyed
South after war 1
Lincoln vs. Thaddeus Stevens
Lincoln’s Reconstruction
The 10% Plan
• Sooner the nation
reunited, sooner the South
could rebuild
• A southern state could
form a new government
after 10% of its voters
swore an oath of loyalty to
the Union
• State must abolish slavery
• Could then take part in
national government again
• Amnesty or pardons to
those who swore their
loyalty
The Wade-Davis Bill
• Proposed and passed in
1864 by the Republican
Congress in response to
Lincoln
• Over 50% of white men in
each state had to swear
loyalty to Union
• Denied the right to vote
or hold office to anyone
who had volunteered to
fight or hold Confederate
office
• Lincoln vetoes the bill for
being too harsh
Presidential Pardons
Lincoln Assassinated 1865!!!
•Southerner who remained
loyal to the Union during
the Civil War.
•Lincoln chose him as his VP
to help with the South’s
Reconstruction.
•Supported Lincoln’s Plan
•Engaged in a power
struggle with Congress over
who would lead the country
through Reconstruction.
•Would be impeached but
not removed from office.
Plans compared
See the chart on the next
page: “Major
Reconstruction
Legislation, 1865-1870”
Thaddeus Stevens
Charles Summner
•Wanted to see the South punished.
•Advocated political, social and economic equality
for the Freedmen.
•Would go after President Johnson through the
impeachment process after he vetoes the Civil
Rights Act of 1866.
Thaddeus Stevens, in Congress, 1866
“Strip a proud nobility of their bloated
estates, send them forth to labor and you
will thus humble the proud traitors.”
Thaddeus Steven, in Congress, 1867
“I am for Negro suffrage in every rebel
state. If it be just, it should not be denied:
if it be necessary, it should be adopted: if
it be a punishment of traitors, they
deserve it.”
Quotes of Radicals
•Similar to Slave
Codes.
•Restricted the
freedom of movement.
•Limited their rights as
free people.
 As southern states were restored to the Union under
President Johnson’s plan, they began to enact black codes,
laws that restricted freedmen’s rights.
 The black codes established virtual slavery with provisions
such as these:
 Curfews: Generally, black people could not gather after sunset.
 Vagrancy laws: Freedmen convicted of vagrancy– that is, not
working– could be fined, whipped, or sold for a year’s labor.
 Labor contracts: Freedmen had to sign agreements in January
for a year of work. Those who quit in the middle of a contract often
lost all the wages they had earned.
 Land restrictions: Freed people could rent land or homes only
in rural areas. This restriction forced them to live on plantations.
Mississippi Governor, 1866:
“The Negro is free”
“Whether we like it or not; we
must realize that fact now and
forever. To be free, however, does
not make him a citizen or entitle
him to social or political equality
with the white man.”
Gov of Miss
St. Landry’s Parish,
Louisiana, 1865
Section 1: Be it ordained by the police
jury of parish of St. Landry, That no
negro shall be allowed to pass within
the limits of said parish without a
special permit in writing from his
employer. Whoever shall violate this
provision shall pay a fine of $2.50, or
in default thereof shall be forced to
work four days on the public road or
suffer corporeal punishment.
Black codes 2
St. Landry’s Parish,
Louisiana, 1865
Section 4: Be it further ordained,
No Negroes shall be allowed to
congregate in public meetings
between the hours of sunset to sunrise
and by special permission of the police
chief may a public meeting of Negroes
occur. However, church services are
not included in this law. Pay a fine of
$5.00, work 5 days on the road crew
or receive corporeal punishment
Black codes 3
•President Johnson
vetoed the Civil Rights
Act of 1866
•Gave $$$$ to
Freedmen’s Bureau for
schools and granted
citizenship to the
Freedmen
•Congress believed
Johnson was working
against Reconstruction
and overrode his veto.
•Pres. Johnson
impeached
•Led to the 14th
Amendment
An inflexible President, 1866: Republican cartoon shows
Johnson knocking Blacks of the Freedmen’s Bureau by
his veto.
Johnson’s Veto
Impeachment: Bringing charges against
the President. Two steps involved……
1st Step: U. S. House of Representatives hold
hearings to decide if there are crimes committed.
They then vote on the charges and if there is a
majority, then, charges are brought against the
President.
2nd Step: U.S. Senate becomes a courtroom.
The President is tried for the charges brought
against him. The Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court is the judge. Once trial is completed,
Senators must vote to remove President with a
2/3’s vote.
Impeachment process
Brought up on 11 charges of
high crimes and misdemeanors.
Tenure in Office Act: Law
Congress passed. President
can’t fire any of his cabinet
members without consulting
Congress.
fired Edwin Stanton
Missed being removed from
office by 1 vote
 Presidency would suffer as
a result of this failed
impeachment.
 President would be more of
a figure-head.
 Saved the separation of
powers of 3 branches govt.
•13th Amendment
Abolished slavery
(1865)
•14th Amendment Provided
citizenship & equal protection
under the law. (1868)
•15th Amendment Provided the
right to vote for all men which
included white and black men.
(1870)
revolutionary……..A victory for democracy!
“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.”
The Congress shall have power to
enforce by appropriate legislation, the
provisions of this article.
14th
“All persons born in the U.S. are
citizens of this country and the state
they reside in. No state shall make or
enforce any law which deprives any
person of life, liberty, or property,
without due process of law, nor deny
to any person within its jurisdiction to
the equal protection of the laws.”
The Congress shall have power to
enforce by appropriate legislation, the
provisions of this article.
“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”.
The Congress shall have power to
enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
•Women rights
supporters refused
to support the 14th
Amendment giving
African American
Men citizenship
unless women were
added to it.
•Abolitionists would
not support
women’s rights
Abolitionists vs Women’s rights
The Taste of Freedom
 Freedom of movement: Enslaved people often walked away from
plantations upon hearing that the Union army was near.
 Exodusters: moved to Kansas and Texas
 Freedom to own land: Proposals to give white-owned land to freed
people got little support from the government. Unofficial land
redistribution did take place, however.
 Freedom to worship: African Americans formed their own churches
and started mutual aid societies, debating clubs, drama societies, and
trade associations.
 Freedom to learn: Between 1865 and 1870, black educators founded 30
African American colleges.
First Black
Senators and
representatives
in the 41st and
42nd Congress.
Senator Hiram
Revels, on the
left was elected
in 1870 to replace
the seat vacated
by Jefferson
Davis.
Black Congressmen
“I felt like a bird out of a cage.
Amen. Amen. Amen. I could
hardly ask to feel any better
than I did that day…….The
week passed off in a blaze of
glory “Men are taking their
emancipation
wives and children, families
which had been for a long time
broken up are united and oh!
Such happiness. I am glad I am
here.”
“The end of the war, it come just
like that---like you snap your
fingers….Soldiers, all of a sudden,
was everywhere---coming in
bunches, crossing and walking and
riding. Everyone was a-singing.
We was all walking on golden
clouds. Hallelujah! Everybody
emancipation
went wild. We all felt like heroes,
and nobody had made us that way
but ourselves. We was free. Just
like that, we was free.”
emancipation
“Right off colored folks
started on the move,
recalled a freedman.
“They seemed to want to
get closer to freedom, so
they’d know what it was--like it was a place or a
city.”
1865, Congress created the Freedman’s
Bureau to help former slaves get a new
start in life. This was the first major relief
agency in United States history.
Bureau’s Accomplishments
Built thousands of schools to educate Blacks.
Former slaves rushed to get an education for
themselves and their children.
Education was difficult and dangerous to gain.
Southerners hated the idea that Freedmen
would go to school.
Letter by a Teacher teaching freedmen
on the importance of education, 1869:
“It is surprising to me to see the amount of
suffering which many of the people endure
for the sake of sending their children to
school. Men get very low wages here---from
$2.50 to $8.00 month usually, while a first
rate hand may get $10.00, and a peck or two
of meal per week for rations-----and a great
many men cannot get work at all.
The women take in sewing and washing, go
out by day to sour, etc. There is one woman
who supports three children and keeps them
at school; she says, “ I don’t care how hard I
has to work, if I can only send Sallie and the
boys to school looking respectable.”
Importance of Educ to freedmen
Freedmen’s Bureau 3
Freedmen’s Bureau
4
Letter to the Editor of the National Era
Creswell, Texas, November 29, 1867
W.V. Tunstall, School Board, Houston, Texas
Letter for teachers 1
To the Editor:
We need immediately 500 teachers for colored
schools in Texas. The colored people in this state
cannot supply the demand. There are but a few
white Republicans who can engage in the
profession of teaching and Rebels (Southern whites)
will not teach them.
Therefore, our only prospect is to get teachers
among the educated colored people of the North or
Christian white people who are willing to endure
privations among the heartless whites of the “sunny
South.” The late elections have opened the South, I
trust, for the introduction of civilization. Send us
teachers…….
Forsyth, Georgia, July 22, 1867
Dear Sir,
I write to inform you of a most cowardly outrage that
took place last Saturday night. Our teacher whom
we have employed here was shot down by a crowd
of Rebel Ruffians for no other cause than teaching
school. General, this is the second teacher that has
been assaulted.
The rebels make their brags to kill every Yankee
teacher that they find. We do not know what we may
do if the military does not assist us. The Freedmen
are much excited at such an outrage.
George H. Clower, William Wilkes, Freedmen
Once
Johnson is
impeached,
Congress passes
Reconstruction Act
of 1867.
The
South would
be reconstructed
under the Radical
Republicans plan.
Republicans
would elect Grant
as their President
and he would carry
out the Radical
Reconstruction.
“The Strong
Government”,
1869-1877. Grant
enforcing the
Reconstruction Act
of 1867 and
“forcing” the South
to change.
Military
Reconstruction
Each number indicates the Military
Districts
New South
•Becomes
industrialized
•Cities rebuilt
•Railroads
•Schools, over
a thousand
•Hospitals, 45
in 14 states
•Diversify
economy.
Funding Reconstruction
 Rebuilding the South’s infrastructure, the public property and
services that a society uses, was one giant business
opportunity.
 Roads, bridges, canals, railroads, and telegraph lines had to
be rebuilt.
 Funds were also needed to expand services to southern
citizens. Following the North’s example, all southern states
created public school systems by 1872.
 Congress, private investors, and heavy taxes paid for
Reconstruction. Spending by Reconstruction legislatures
added another $130 million to southern debt.
South’s Backlash
kkk
During Radical Reconstruction, the Republican
Party was a mixture of people who had little in
common except a desire to prosper in the postwar
South. This bloc of voters included freedmen and
two other groups: carpetbaggers and scalawags.
Northern Republicans who moved to the postwar
South became known as carpetbaggers.
Southerners gave them this insulting nickname, which
referred to a type of cheap suitcase made from carpet
scraps.
Carpetbaggers were often depicted as greedy men
seeking to grab power or make a fast buck.
White southern Republicans were seen as traitors and
called scalawags.
This was originally a Scottish word meaning “scrawny
cattle.”
Refers to one who is a “scoundrel”, reprobate or
unprincipled person.
Some scalawags were former Whigs who had opposed
secession.
Some were small farmers who resented the planter
class. Many scalawags, but not all, were poor.
Ku Klux Klan refers to
a secret society or an
inner circle
Organized in 1867, in
Polaski, Tennessee by
Nathan Bedford Forrest.
Represented the ghosts
of dead Confederate
soldiers
Disrupted
Reconstruction as much
as they could.
Opposed Republicans,
Carpetbaggers,
Scalawags and
Freedmen.
KKK
Spreading Terror




The Ku Klux Klan
The Klan sought to eliminate the
Republican Party in the South by
intimidating voters.
They wanted to keep African
Americans as submissive laborers.
They planted burning crosses on
the lawns of their victims and
tortured, kidnapped, or murdered
them.
Prosperous African Americans,
carpetbaggers, and scalawags
became their victims.




The Federal Response
President Grant’s War On
Terrorism.
The Enforcement Act of
1870 banned the use of
terror, force, or bribery to
prevent people from voting.
Other laws banned the KKK
and used the military to
protect voters and voting
places.
As federal troops withdrew
from the South, black
suffrage all but ended.
Sharecroppers were Freedmen
and poor Whites who stayed in
the South and continued to
farm.
Freedmen signed a work contract
with their former masters .
Picked cotton or whatever crop the
landowner had.
Freedmen did not receive “40 acres
and a mule”
•Sharecropping is primarily
used in farming
•Landowner provided land,
tools, animals, house and
charge account at the local
store to purchase necessities
•Freedmen provided the labor.
•Sharecropping is based on the
“credit” system.
Sharecroppers
Advantages
Disadvantages
Part of
a business
venture
Raised their social
status
Received 1/3 to 1/2
of crop when
harvested
Raised their self
esteem
Sharecroppers
Blacks stay
in South
Some
landowners
refused to honor the
contract
Blacks poor
debt
and in
Economic slavery
6. Sharecropper
cannot leave the
farm as long as he
is in debt to the
landlord.
1. Poor whites and
freedmen have no
jobs, no homes, and
no money to buy
land.
2. Landowners need
laborers and have no
money to pay
laborers.
3. Hire poor whites
and freedmen as
laborers
5. At harvest time,
the sharecropper is
paid.
•Pays off debts.
•If sharecropper
owes more to the
landlord or store
than his share of the
crop is worth;
4. Landlord keeps track
of the money that
sharecroppers owe
him for housing, food
or local store.
•Sign contracts to
work landlord’s land
in exchange for a
part of the crop.
Sharecroppers
1876 Election
•Tilden did not receive
enough electoral
votes.
*
•Special Commission
gives votes to Hayes.
•Hayes wins the
election
•Democrats refuse to
recognize Hayes as
President
*Disputed
Electoral votes
164
369 total electoral votes, need 185 to win.
Rutherford B. Hayes
Samuel Tilden
The election of 1876 and the Compromise of 1877 are
referred to as the Corrupt Bargain.
The Democrats and Republicans work out a deal to
recognize Hayes as President
In return, President Hayes must end Reconstruction
and pull the Union troops out of the South.
Once this happens, there is no protection for the
Freedmen and the South will regain their states and go
back to the way it was.
Agreement between
Democrats and
Republicans
•Hayes pulls the troops
out of the South.
•Southerners take over
their state governments
called “REDEEMERS”
•Successes Freedmen
would be lost because
Southerners would take
over their state
governments.
•Jim Crow laws kept
Blacks from voting and
becoming equal
citizens.
Reconstruction Ends
There were five main factors that
contributed to the end of Reconstruction.
•Corruption: Reconstruction legislatures & Grant’s administration symbolized
corruption & poor government.
•The economy: Reconstruction legislatures taxed and spent heavily, putting the
southern states deeper into debt.
•Violence: As federal troops withdrew from the South, some white Democrats used
violence and intimidation to prevent freedmen from voting. This tactic allowed white
Southerners to regain control of the state governments.
•The Democrats’ return to power: The pardoned ex-Confederates combined with
other white Southerners to form a new bloc of Democratic voters known as the Solid
South. They blocked Reconstruction policies.
•The Country: The Civil War was over and many Americans wanted to return to what
the country was doing before the war.
Successes and Failures of
Reconstruction
Successes
Failures
Union is restored.
Many white southerners bitter
towards US govt & Republicans.
South’s economy grows and new
wealth is created in the North.
14th and 15th amendments
guarantee Blacks the rights of
citizenship, equal protection
under the law, and suffrage.
The South is slow to
industrialize.
After US troops are withdrawn,
southern state governments and
terrorist organizations effectively
deny Blacks the right to vote.
Freedmen’s Bureau and other
organizations help many black
families obtain housing, jobs,
and schooling.
Many black and white
southerners remain caught in a
cycle of poverty.
Southern states adopt a system of
mandatory education.
Racist attitudes toward African
Americans continue, in both the
South and the North.
Quote by Frederick Douglass 1
Quote by Frederick Douglass 2