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Reconstruction
• 1865-1877
• Civil War ends in 1865
• Nation is embarking on a period known as
the Reconstruction – essentially rebuilding
the United States after the Civil War
• Attempts were now also being made to
readmit the South to the Union.
Reconstruction cont’d
• Reconstruction brought forth the 14th and 15th
Amendments.
•
14th Amendment – prevented states from
denying rights and privileges to any U.S. citizen, now
defined as “all persons born or naturalized in the United
States.” This was intended to overrule and nullify the
Dred Scott decision.
•
15th Amendment – states that no one can be
prevented from voting because of “race, color, or
previous condition or servitude.” It was ratified by the
states in 1870 and was a big victory for the Radicals.
Reconstruction – Freedman’s
Bureau
• FREEDMAN’S BUREAU:
• Freedmen’s Bureau: was the Bureau of the
Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands;
established by Congress (specifically the War
Department, in March, 1865) to provide food,
clothing, hospitals, legal protection and
education for former slaves and poor whites in
the South in 1865. The Bureau also assumed
custody of confiscated lands or property in the
former Confederate States, border states,
District of Columbia, and Indian Territory.
Freedman’s Bureau – Case #1
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[Gordonsville, Va., August 16–September 13, 1865]
Case #1: Edmund Taylor & Anderson Strauder Colored vs Mr Jas.
Newman Aug. 16th 1865.
Two boys state that they have been whipped without just cause–that Mr
Newman refuses to allow them to remain on his place unless they will agree
to remain permanently with him and allow him to whip them when he thinks
proper; refuses to recognize the authority of the Bureau, approves of the
boys having been whipped.
Action– Mr Newman summoned to answer the complaint–required to
appear to-day.
Decision– The evidence adduced shows these boys to have been lazy &
insolent– They were instructed that such pratices were not to be continued–
admonished to work earnestly & be respectful. Mr Newman was instructed
that the practice of whipping was to be entirely discontinued & that the
people on his plantation were to have their freedom acknowledged in every
respect; these boys especially to be kindly treated & provided for. The boys
returned to Mr Newman's plantation.
Case #2
• Fannie Fortune–Coled. vs. Thos. Newman August 16th 1865
• Complains that on Saturday, Aug. 12th 1865, she was struck both
by Mr Newman & his wife, without any provocation–that since that
time till to-day she has not been allowed anything to eat; that Mr
Newman requires her to leave his place without making any
provision for her.
• Action.– Mr Thos. Newman summoned to answer the Complaint
• Decision.– Girl required to return to her home; the evidence
indicating impertinence on her part; she is cautioned against such
conduct. Her employer required to abstain from all punishment, to
furnish proper food and quarters, and to retain her on the plantation.
Both parties dissatisfied with the result.
Case #3
• Alfred Goffney Cold versus Widow Strange Aug
27 1865
• States that he was Employed by Mrs Strange at
$5.00 per month– That he is now ordered away
without any pay being given him– That Mrs
Strange this morning threatened to shoot him if
he did not leave and got a pistol and pointing it
at him ordered him to leave at once or she
would blow his brains out
• Adjustment– Mrs Strange paid the wages
Earned $5.20
Politics of Reconstruction
• Lincoln, Andrew Johnson and members of
Congress all had their own ideas about
how to reconstruct the United States.
Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan
• Lenient Reconstruction Policy
• 1863 – Proclamation of Amnesty and
Reconstruction (a/k/a the Ten Percent Plan):
Gov’t would pardon all confederates who would
swear allegiance to the Union, except high
ranking officials and those accused of crimes
against prisoners of war. As soon as 10% of
voters from 1860 took this oath of allegiance, a
Confederate state could form a new state
government and send representatives and
senators to Congress. 4 states did so:
Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee and Virginia.
Lincoln cont’d
• Plan angered minority of Republicans in
Congress called Radical Republicans.
They were led by Senators Charles
Sumner of Massachusetts and
Representative Thaddeus Stevens of
Pennsylvania. These men wanted to
destroy the political power of former
slaveholders. They wanted African
Americans to be given full citizenship and
the right to vote.
Lincoln cont’d
• BUT – Lincoln gets assassinated on April
15, 1865, before his plan is fully carried
out.
Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan
• Vice-President, Johnson, announces his own
plan in 1865.
• Similar to Lincoln’s plan, but he tried to break the
planters’ power by excluding high-ranking
Confederates and wealthy Southern landowners
from taking the oath.
• Johnson did, however, pardon more than 13,000
former Confederates because he believed that
“white men alone must manage the South.”
Remember, he was a Tennessee governor and
senator.
Johnson cont’d
• The remaining 7 ex-Confederates states agree
to Johnson’s terms. All these states, except for
Texas, set up a new state government and elect
representatives for Congress. In December,
1865, they arrive in Washington, D.C., but
Congress refuses to admit them.
• Republicans push for new laws to help remedy
weaknesses in Johnson’s plan.
Johnson cont’d
• 1866 – Congress votes to enlarge
Freedman’s Bureau and passed the Civil
Rights Act of 1866 (gave African
Americans citizenship and forbade states
from passing discriminatory laws called
black codes, that severely restricted
African Americans’ lives). JOHNSON
VETOED THEM BOTH!!!!!
Congress’ Reconstruction Plan
– Congress was angered by Johnson’s actions
– Moderate and radical Republicans decide to
work together to shift control to legislative
branch
– 1866 – they overrode the President’s vetoes
of Civil Rights Act and Freedman’s Bureau
Act.
Congress cont’d
They also drafted 14th Amendment
• 14th Amendment – prevented states from denying
rights and privileges to any U.S. citizen, now
defined as “all persons born or naturalized in the
United States.” This was intended to overrule and
nullify the Dred Scott decision.
Congress cont’d
• They passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867
which DID NOT recognize state governments
formed under the Lincoln and Johnson plans
(except for Tennessee).
• Reconstruction Act divided former Confederate
states into 5 military districts. States were
required to grant African American men the right
to vote and to ratify the 14th Amendment in
order to reenter the Union.
• Johnson vetoed this Act, but Congress quickly
overrode the veto.
Congress cont’d
• Johnson then gets impeached because he
violated the Tenure of Office Act when he
removed cabinet member Edwin Stanton in
1868. The House impeached him, but he
remained in office because the Senate voted
NOT TO CONVICT.
• 1868 Presidential Election – Ulysses S. Grant –
Civil War hero – won by a narrow margin. Most
southern African-American men voted for U.S.
Grant.
Congress cont’d
– 15th Amendment passes
• states that no one can be prevented from voting
because of “race, color, or previous condition or
servitude.” It was ratified by the states in 1870 and
was a big victory for the Radicals.
Reconstructing Society
• By 1870, all states were back in the Union.
Republicans wanted to make economic changes
in the South so they wanted to continue the
process of Reconstruction.
 South was devastated economically from the
War: farms ruined, soldier died in War.
 Republican Party in the South divided in 3
different groups: Scalawags, Carpetbaggers
and African Americans.
Scalawags
• Scalawags: white Southerners; small
farmers who didn’t want former wealthy
planters to regain power. Most did not
want civil rights for African Americans
Carpetbaggers
• Northerners who moved South after War.
What’s in a name??? Negative name
came from misconception that they arrived
with so few belongings that they carried
everything in small traveling bags made of
carpeting.
African Americans
o African-Americans: LARGEST group, gained
voting rights after passage of the 15th
Amendment. 9 out of 10 supported the
Republican Party and were eager to exercise
their voting rights.
NO UNITY
o All 3 groups had differing goals so no unity.
• Former slaves improve their lives by founding
their own churches which they fully controlled.
These ministers became influential community
leaders.
• Southern school systems were also established
by the Reconstruction governments. These new
churches which were aided by missionaries from
Northern churches and by $6 million from the
Freedman’s Bureau, helped to run the schools.
 After War, African Americans took an
active role in the political process. They
not only voted, but held political office as
well. But they still remained in the
minority politics-wise. Out of 125
Southerners elected to U.S. Congress,
only 16 were African American. Hiram
Revels was 1st African American senator.
 Although promises were made to former
slaves of General Sherman that they
would each get 40 acres of property, this
did not happen. In fact, many plantation
owners in the South retained their land
and it wasn’t redistributed.
Sharecropping
• Sharecropping: no land = no ability for African
Americans or poor whites to grow and sell crops
so they became sharecroppers.
– System of sharecropping – landowners divided their
land and assigned each head of household a few
acres, along with seed and tools. Sharecroppers kept
a small share of their crops and gave the rest to the
landowners. In theory, “croppers” who saved a little
might even rent land for cash and keep all their
harvest in a system known as tenant farming.
• Website with Sharecropper Agreement:
http://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/336h
amer.html
Collapse of Reconstruction
 While most white Southerners were able
to come to grips with African-Americans
participating in government, some whites
refused to register to vote and still others
formed vigilante groups and used violence
to intimidate African Americans.
Opposition to Reconstruction by
KKK
• Ku Klux Klan – most widespread Southern vigilante
groups. Goal was to destroy the Republican Party,
throw out Reconstruction governments and most of all to
prevent African Americans from exercising their political
rights. They (among other groups) killed approximately
20,000 men, women and children. They also refused to
do business with African Americans who voted
Republican. So Congress passed a series of
Enforcement Acts of 1870 and 1871 for federal
supervision of election in Southern states and giving the
President power to use federal troops in areas where the
KKK was active.
• Congress later weakened the power of the
Republican Party in the South by passing
the Amnesty Act in 1872, giving 150,000
former Confederates the right to vote and
hold federal and state offices.
• Congress also allowed the Freedman’s
Bureau to expire.
• SO – Southern Democrats now regain
political power.
Support for Reconstruction Fades
• Because there was lack of Republican
unity, the Radicals couldn’t continue to
impose their Reconstruction plan on the
South.
• How else does support fade???
Support for Reconstruction Fades
• Bank failures known as the Panic of 1873
triggered a 5 year depression so now the North
was not paying as much attention to the South
as it should have been.
• Supreme Court started undoing some of the
workings that the Radicals had made.
• So political violence continued and African
Americans were denied civil and political rights.
• Republicans slowly retreated from the policies of
the Reconstruction.
Democrats Redeem the South
 Southern Democrats now begin to regain control
of the region.
 Election of 1876 – Democratic candidate Samuel
J. Tilden wins popular vote, but was one vote
short of electoral victory. So Southern
Democrats in Congress agreed to accept Hayes
if federal troops were withdrawn from the South.
(part of the Compromise of 1877). SO:
Republican leaders agreed, Hayes was elected
and Reconstruction ended in the South.
End of Reconstruction
• Reconstruction ended without much real
progress in the battle against
discrimination. But 13th, 14th and 15th
Amendments remained part of the
Constitution.
Effect on Slavery
• In 1882, Ex-slave Frederick Douglass probably put it best when
he wrote: “Though slavery was abolished, the wrongs of my
people were not ended. Though they were slaves, they were not
yet quite free. No man can be truly free whose liberty is
dependent upon the thoughts, feeling, and actions of others,
and who has himself no means in his own hands for guarding,
protecting, defending, and maintaining that liberty. Yet the
Negro after his emancipation was precisely in this state of
destitution. He was free from the individual master but the
slave of society. 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 free from the old quarter that
once gave him shelter, but a slave to the rains of summer and
the frost of winter. He was in a word, literally tuned loose,
naked, hungry, and destitute to the open sky.”
• It was not until the late 1960’s that
African-Americans in the South would
achieve the legal rights, and not until
the 1980’s that they would regain the
political power they had obtained under
Reconstruction.
http://www.historycentral.com/rec/Endo
fRec.html