Download Reconstruction

Which statement is grammatically correct?
• The United States is at war in Iraq
• The United States are at war in Iraq.
Question of the Day…
• Now that the war is over, what should we do
to bring the country back together?
The Ordeal of Reconstruction
1865-1877
“With malice toward none; with charity for all;
with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see
the right, let us strive on to finish the work we
are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for
him who shall have borne the battle, and for his
widow, and his orphan--to do all which may
achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace,
among ourselves, and with all nations.”
Lincoln’s 2nd Inaugural
The problems of peace
• Lots of questions…
– How would the south be rebuilt?
– How would the liberated blacks be integrated?
– How would the south be re-integrated into the
union?
– Who would direct the process?
– What should be done with Confederate leaders?
Andrew Johnson
• Southern Democrat from
Tennessee
– Just put on the ticket to
get more votes for Lincoln
• He was a self-made man
who despised the wealthy
planters who seceded
• He owned some slaves
and was very racist
• He agreed with the
principles of Lincoln’s 10%
plan and sought to readmit states quickly
Johnson wanted to admit states based on the amnesty plan and
Congress rejected it
-He wanted all Southern citizens to swear a loyalty oath and barred many former
Confeds and elite from taking the vow, so they were on the outs. Once they
swore the oath, they were pardoned.
-He said that once states called special conventions to amend their constitutions
and ratify the 13th amendment (no suffrage, though), they could be back in
-He gave out many pardons and the wealthy were eventually back in power.
-Black codes were enacted
-former Confeds were elected back to Congress…among them was Alexander
Stephens!
-Congress refused to recognize these governments and even shut the door on
them!
• In the meantime, the South had begun handling it themselves by enacting
“Black Codes”
• Read primary source
Black Codes were enacted
“The ex-slave was not a freeman; he was a free Negro.”
• These “codes” were loosely based on the slave codes
and restricted freedom of African Americans
• Existing marriages were recognized, but interracial
marriages were prohibited
• Testimony of blacks was accepted in legal cases
involving blacks and in some states in ALL cases
• Blacks could own property
• Blacks could sue and be sued
• Could not own farmland in Mississippi or city lots in SC
• Were required to enter into ANNUAL labor contracts
The Republicans in Congress were
distraught with these developments, so
they attempted to take control of
Reconstruction
Most
Republicans
were rather
moderate, but
were pushed to
the radical side
with these
developments
in the South
Thaddeus Stevens was the radical
leader in the House
Charles Sumner was the
radical leader in the Senate
Can we blame the South for the
war?
• The radicals thought we could
Those punks
stared it, now
we’re going to
finish it!
The Republicans wanted to keep
control of Congress
• What would happen if these Southerners started voting
Democratic?
• They needed to retain a super-majority in order to be able to
overturn any vetoes by Johnson (52% of his vetoes overturned).
• So they started advocating for voting rights for AA’s
• By 1866 Congress and Johnson started fighting over
Reconstruction measures
– Congress passed Civil Rights legislation to combat the Black Codes and
Johnson vetoed…but was overturned by Congress
• To prevent this from being overturned, 14th Amendment was passed
– 14th Amendment stated-guaranteed citizenship to all born or naturalized here.
» Also stated that you cannot deny someone due process, or other citizen rights
– Congress also extended the Freedman’s bureau
So, what happened once the slaves
were free?
“He had neither money, property, nor friends. He was
free from the old plantation, but he had nothing but the
dusty road under his feet…he was turned loose, naked,
hungry, and destitute to the open sky.”
Frederick Douglass
Where would they go?
What would they do?
Republicans keep control in 1866
elections
•Johnson’s work to rally support actually hurts him!
•Former Confeds are denied vote
•Radicals get 2/3 majority and are able to override Johnson
vetoes
•Pass key acts
•Military Reconstruction Act -turned states into militarycontrolled zones, said how states could come back into
Union…must ratify 14th Amendment, and AA’s could vote
•Tenure of Office Act -Cabinet positions could not be
changed w/o consent of Senate.
By 1868 Radicals wanted Johnson
out!
“Johnson is an aching tooth in the national jaw, a
screeching infant in a crowded lecture room.”
Horace Greeley
•House voted in favor of
impeachment and then it went
to trial in the Senate.
•Fell 1 vote short!...why?
Part of the deal was Johnson’s
willingness to allow Congress to
control Reconstruction
Now the Reconstruction process can
really go on with the Radical
Republican agenda
Most states were back in by 1868
• Georgia was kicked out again
– They expelled 28 A.A. elected officials
– State was compelled to ratify the 15th amendment
• 15th Amendment-right to vote-ratified in 1870.
• Union League was working in the South
– Organiz. Set to keep AA enfranchised and recruit loyal whites
– Carpetbaggers and scalawags
• Former slaves were gaining political influence and voting in
large numbers
Freedmen turned to churches as
independent institutions
•They left the white churches and formed their own.
Hence, the role of minister became more and more
influential as the churches became more than just places
of worship
•Also began establishing schools and colleges (Howard,
Fisk, Morehouse, etc.)
•Many migrated west to Kansas and beyond
•Most Freedmen became Sharecroppers or tenant
farmers…ended up in debt
•By 1880, only 5% had become independent landowners
Laws Fail to Protect Freedmen
The increasing violence against them as the fall 1867 election approached caused the African
American citizens of Calhoun, Georgia, to request protection from federal troops of the
Third Military District.
Calhoun, Georgia, August 25, 1867
General:
We the Colored people of the town of Calhoun and County of Gordon desire to call your
attention to the State of Affairs that now exist in our midst.
On the 16th day of the month, the Union Republican Party held a Meeting which the Colored
people of the County attended en masse. Since that time we seem to have the particular
hatred and spite of that class who were opposed to the principles set forth in that meeting.
Their first act was to deprive us the privilege to worship any longer in the Church. Since we have
procured one of our own, they threaten us if we hold meetings in it.
There has been houses broken open, windows smashed and doors broken down in the dead
hours of the night, men rushing in, cursing and swearing and discharging their Pistols inside
the house. Men have been knocked down and unmercifully beaten and yet the authorities do
not notice it at all. We would open a school here, but are almost afraid to do so, not knowing
that we have any protection for life or limb.
We wish to do right, obey the Laws and live in peace and quietude but when we are assailed at
the midnight hour, our lives threatened and the Laws fail to protect or assist us we can but
defend ourselves, let the consequences be what they may. Yet we wish to avoid all such
collisions.
We would respectfully ask that a few soldiers be sent here, believing it is the only way we can live
in peace until after the Elections this fall.
Insert the KKK here
• The 3rd phase of Reconstruction was known as
“redemption”
– The radical reconstruction of Congress began to fizzle
• Secret societies sprang up to terrorize the freedmen
and prevent them from full citizenship.
– Burned buildings, flogged and murdered people
• Congress responded in 1870 and ’71 with Force Acts
• But, by 1872, most Northerners were ready for it all
to end…passed Amnesty Act for most Confeds.
• Hence, the state gov’ts looked very similar to pre-war
The Compromise of 1877
• Financial panic hit the country in 1873
• Congress goes to Democrats in 1874
• Most northerners were ready for troops to
come home and for money to stop being
spent of Reconst.
• Election of 1876…Rutherford Hayes v. Sam Tilden
– Tilden was a democrat and Hayes was a Repub…no victor
in Electoral college…behind the scenes deal given to Hayes
So, what was really “Reconstructed”
• Most freedmen had basically no rights
– Stuck in sharecropping or tenant farming
• Democrats in control in the South (and stay
that way for nearly 100 years)
• Federal gov’t was supreme, but states reasserted their sovereignty as the North lost its
steam.
So, Who really “won” the war?
Pre-Civil War Slave Quarters
Georgia
Sharecroppers
Today