Download Reconstruction 1863

Reconstruction 1863-1877
“THOUGH SLAVERY WAS ABOLISHED, THE
WRONGS OF MY PEOPLE WERE NOT ENDED.
THOUGH THEY WERE NOT SLAVES, THEY
WERE NOT YET QUITE FREE. NO MAN CAN
BE TRULY FREE WHOSE LIBERTY IS
DEPENDENT UPON THE THOUGHT, FEELING,
AND ACTION OF OTHERS, AND WHO HAS NO
MEANS IN HIS OWN HANDS FOR GUARDING,
PROTECTING, DEFENDING, AND
MAINTAINING HIS LIBERTY.”
FREDERICK DOUGLAS, 1882
Concerning Slavery’s End…
“So far from engaging in a war to perpetuate
slavery, I am rejoiced that Slavery is abolished. I
believe it will be greatly for the interest of the South.
So fully am I satisfied of this that I would have
cheerfully lost all that I have lost by the war, and
have suffered all that I have suffered to have this
object attained.”
General Robert E. Lee, 1870
General Lee Before and After
President Lincoln’s Policy
 As early as 1863, President Lincoln set up a lenient
process of political reconstruction for southern state
governments – he feared the results of the upcoming
presidential election in 1864.
 The president’s Proclamation of Amnesty and
Reconstruction provided the following:
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full presidential pardons for most southerners who took an
oath of allegiance to the Union and the Constitution, as well as,
accepted the emancipation of slaves.
state governments could be reestablished and accepted as
legitimate by the U.S. president according to the “10% Plan.”
This policy was designed to shorten the war and add emphasis
to the Emancipation Proclamation.
Wade Davis Manifesto (1864)
 Republicans argued that President
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Lincoln’s plan would allow disloyal
secessionists to maintain power
within their states.
Senator Wade of Ohio and
Representative Davis of Maryland
push the bill through Congress and
passes July 2, 1864.
The Wade Davis Bill looked to the
past, while President Lincoln’s
looked to the future.
President Lincoln pocket vetoes
the bill after Congress adjourns.
It threatens to destroy the delicate
coalition he was creating between
Northern and Southern moderates.
 Details of the bill:
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The Provisional governor of the
state would enroll all white men.
Required 50% of the voters of a
state to take the “Ironclad
Oath.”
No one who voluntarily served
in the Confederate army , in any
capacity, would be allowed to
vote for the new state
constitutional convention.
Confederate civil and military
leaders would lose their U.S.
citizenship.
Private property of leaders of
the Confederacy would be
distributed.
States were required to give
freed slaves the right to vote.
A New Set of Problems
 How would the South rebuild its shattered society and
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economy after four years of war?
What would be the place in that society of four million
freed blacks and what role would the federal government
take in their assimilation?
How should the former Confederate states be treated?
Under what conditions should the former Confederate
states be accepted as coequal partners in the restored
Union?
Who had the authority to decide the answers to such
critical questions – Congress or the President?
The Freedman’s Bureau
 Created in March 1865 by Congress as the Bureau of
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Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands
Acted as welfare agency
Originally had authority to resettle freed blacks on
confiscated land in the South
Greatest achievement was in education
Under General Oliver O. Howard it established
nearly 3,000 schools for freed blacks
Taught an estimated 200,000 African Americans to
read up until 1870
Presidential Reconstruction under Johnson
 In May 1865, President Johnson introduces his plan for the
restoration of the seven southern states without reconstructed
governments into the Union.
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Almost all southerners who took the oath would be pardoned and receive
amnesty, and all property would be restored except slaves.
State conventions would have to repudiate debts incurred during the
rebellion and ratify the 13th amendment.
Confederate and civil officers would be excluded from taking the oath
and voting.
President Johnson went further by punishing wealthy Southern planters
– or anyone with over $20,ooo of taxable property – rewarding those
decoyed into the rebellion.
In spite of this tough stance, President Johnson hands out pardons –
over 13,000 of them.
When the 39th Congress convenes in December 1865, it refuses to seat
the delegates from the ex-confederate states – Article I, Section 5.
Presidential Reconstruction Continued
 Just eight months after taking office in 1865, all 11
ex-confederate states qualify for readmission
 They all included the following:
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Repudiation of secession
Negation of the debts of the Confederacy
Ratification of the 13th Amendment
 None enfranchised African Americans – as had been
suggested by the Radical Republicans
 Many former Confederate leaders were elected back
to the U.S. Congress – Senator Alexander Stephens
from Georgia
Presidential Reconstruction Continued
 Republicans become further disillusioned by President
Johnson as southern state legislatures adopt Black Codes
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Prohibited them from renting land
Forced them to sign work contracts – semi-bondage
Prohibited against testifying in court against whites
 Republicans begin to ask, “Who won the war?”
 Rift widens between President Johnson and Northern
Republicans, who refuse to seat Congressmen from the
South in early 1866
 President alienates moderates with veto of two important
bills
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A bill increasing services and protections of the Freedmen’s Bureau
A civil rights bill that nullified the Black Codes and guaranteed
citizenship and equal rights to blacks
The Election of 1866
 President Johnson attacks Congressional opponents
 Speeches appeal to racist whites
 says guaranteeing rights to African Americans will lead to an
“Africanized” society
 Republicans respond by “waving the bloody shirt”
 After the election President Johnson’s enemies get
 two-thirds majority needed to override a veto
 In the House and the Senate
 This election marks the beginning of Congressional
Reconstruction, which would not end until 1877.
Congressional Reconstruction
 Civil Rights Act of 1866
 Congress overrides veto, but still not a permanent solution
 Fourteenth Amendment (ratified in 1868)
 Declared that all persons born or naturalized in the U.S. were
citizens
 Guaranteed “equal protection” and “due process of law”
 Reconstruction Clauses
Disqualified ex-Confederate leaders from state and federal offices
 Repudiated Confederate debt
 Penalized states’ representation for voting restrictions
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Congressional Reconstruction
 Report of the Joint Committee
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Congress officially denounces presidential reconstruction
Decides eleven states readmitted under presidential reconstruction
should not be seated
 Reconstruction Acts of 1867
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Three laws passed over President Johnson’s veto requiring:
Military occupation
 Ratification of the 14th Amendment
 Enfranchisement to all males guaranteed by state constitution
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 Tenure of Office Act of 1867
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Passed over President Johnson’s veto
Congress wanted to protect Secretary of War Edwin Stanton
President Johnson impeached in 1868, but not convicted
The Election of 1868
 Republicans nominate General Ulysses S. Grant
 Democrats nominate Horatio Seymour
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So Johnson was finished politically either way!
 Votes of 500,000 freed blacks give Grant victory
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margin of only 300,000 votes
 Republicans quickly act to federally protect the black
vote in the South – 15th Amendment (1869)
 Grant administration riddled with corruption – although
he is never personally indicted
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Fisk and Gould corner the gold market
Credit Mobilier
Whiskey Ring
Election of 1872
President Grant is reelected in a landslide victory
 Congress passes Amnesty Act of 1872
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Allowed southern conservative democrats to elect “Redeemers”
 Civil Rights Act of 1875
 Guaranteed equal accommodations
 Protected blacks from discrimination by courts
 Law was poorly enforced - Northern Republicans fear backlash
 Reconstruction would be abandoned in two years
The Election of 1876
 Federal troops remained only in three states
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South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana
 The Democrats had returned to power in all the other
Southern states
 Republicans nominate Rutherford B. Hayes
 Democrats nominate Samuel Tilden – who almost wins
the election – needed one more electoral vote
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Republicans challenge election returns in three states
Electoral commission awards votes to Republicans – 8/7 vote
Democrats threaten filibuster and send election to House
The Compromise of 1877 solves the situation
End of Military Reconstruction in the South
 Transcontinental Railroad for the South
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