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Reconstruction: 1865-1877
THE AFTERMATH
PROBLEMS
PRESIDENT ANDREW JOHNSON
POWER STRUGGLE: JOHNSON V. CONGRESS
Reconstruction Introduction
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Human toll of the Civil War:
 The North lost 364,000 soldiers.
 The South lost 260,000 soldiers.
1865-1877: the federal government carried out a program
to repair the damage to the South and restore the southern
states to the Union. This program was known as
Reconstruction.
Freedmen (freed slaves) were starting out their new lives in
a poor region with slow economic activity.
Plantation owners lost slave labor worth $3 billion.
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Poor white Southerners could not find work because of
new job competition from Freedmen.
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The war had destroyed two thirds of the South’s shipping
industry and about 9,000 miles of railroad
Tredegar Iron Works: Leading
armaments producer during
war
Confederate White House, Richmond, VA
Lincoln’s Second Inauguration Speech
 “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 do all which may
achieve and cherish a just and
a lasting peace, among
ourselves, and with all
nations.”
President Andrew Johnson
 Remained loyal to Union
during Civil War
 Chosen VP to help with
Reconstruction after war
 Engaged in power struggle
w/ Congress as to who
would lead Reconstructive
efforts
 Did not favor Southern
elite, but pardoned many
after war
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Land given back to
plantation owners
Presidential Reconstruction
 Considered too gentle- soft on Confederate ‘traitors’
 Proclamation of Amnesty & Reconstruction: 1863
 Amnesty: Presidential Pardon
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Write new State Constitutions:
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Rebels sign an oath of allegiance
10% of population
Even high-ranking Confederate officials
Approve the 13th Amendment
Reject secession and state rights
Submit to U.S. gov’t authority
No mention of:
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Education for Freedmen
Citizenship and voting rights for Freedmen
Southern Governments: 1865
 All 11 of ex-Confederate states
qualified for President’s
Reconstruction Plan
 State governments wrote new
Constitutions, repudiated
secession and ratified 13th
Amendment
 No gov’t extended voting rights
to blacks
 Former leaders of Confederacy
were elected seats in Congress

Example: Alexander
Stephens (Confederate
V.P.) was elected Senator
from Georgia
Congressional Reconstruction
 Reconstruction Act of 1867-1876 (harsh)
 Amnesty: Presidential Pardons
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Write new state Constitutions
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Oath of allegiance- 50%
High ranking Confederate officials included
Lose voting rights if not signed
14thAmendment
Reject secession and state rights
Submit to U.S. authority
Help for Freedmen
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Freedmen Bureau of Education
40 acres and a mule
Divide South into 5 military districts
Mississippi Govenor, 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.”
Black Codes
Similar to Slave Codes
Restricted the freedom of movement
Limited blacks’ rights as people, as humans
Southern States enacted Black Codes as they were restored to the
Union
 Curfews:
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In general, blacks could not gather after sunset
 Vagrancy Laws:
 Freedmen convicted of vagrancy (not working) could be whipped, fined or sold for
a year’s labor
 Labor Contracts:
 Freedmen had to sign contracts in January; if they quit they had to give back all
earned wages
 Land Restrictions:
 Freedmen could rent or own homes only in rural areas; forced them to live on
plantations
Black Codes: St. Landry’s Parish- Louisiana, 1866
 Section I: 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.
 Section IV: 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
Radical Republicans
Thadeus Stevens to Congress, 1866: “Strip a proud
nobility of their bloated estates, send them forth to
labor and you will thus humble the proud traitors.”
•Wanted to see the South punished
•Advocated social, political and
economic equality for Freedmen
•Proposed military rule over South
•Seek to impeach President Johnson
after he vetoed Civil Rights Act of 1866
Charles Summner to 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.”
Enacting the Radical Program
 Civil Rights Act (1866)
All African-Americans were pronounced citizens of U.S.
 This decision repudiated the Dred Scott decision
 Attempted to give legal shield against Black Codes
 Feared Act could be repealed if/when Democrats took control of
Congress
 Fourteenth Amendment
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Declared all persons born or naturalized in U.S. were citizens
Obligated the states to respect rights of U.S. citizens; provide equal
protection under the law
First time: States, not Federal gov’t, required to uphold Constitution
Other Clauses of 14th Amendment:
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Repudiated debts of defeated governments of the Confederacy
Penalized state’s representation in the electoral college if it kept any eligible person
from voting
President Johnson’s Impeachment
 President Johnson vetoed
Civil Rights Act of 1866
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This would have increased
the Freedmen Bureau’s $$
This bill would have
granted citizenship to
Blacks
 Congress believed Johnson
was working against
Reconstruction- overrode
his veto
 President Johnson
impeached
 This led to 14th amendment
Reforms after Grant’s Election
 Democrats nominated Horatio Seymour at
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their convention (Johnson’s presidency
would have ended regardless of
impeachment)
Republicans turned to war hero (Ulysses S.
Grant)
Grant won only 300,000 more popular
votes in North (500,000 freed blacks voted
for Grant)
15th Amendment (1869): protect all citizens’
right to vote
Civil Rights Act 1785:
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guaranteed equal accomodations in public
places (hotels, railroads, theatres)
African-Americans could not be prohibited
from juries
Poorly enforced:
 Northern politicians frustrated with
having to ‘reform’ unwilling South and
losing white votes in the North
Reconstruction in the South
 Republican party dominated in ex-Confederate states
 Each state was under military protection starting in 1867
(until Gov’t satisfied Reconstruction criterion were met)
 Whites were majority in southern state governments
 Scalawags: southern Republicans
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Southern whites (Republicans) were former Whigs who had
interest in economic development
 Carpetbaggers: northern newcomers
 Northerners who came south for investment purposes,
missionaries, teachers and to plunder
 African-American Legislators: Educated land holders;
took moderate stance on issues
Reconstruction in the North
 North’s economy driven by Industrial Revolution and pro-business policies of
Republicans
 Greed & Corruption
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Rise of spoilsmen:
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Political leadership passed from reformers to manipulators (Stevens, Sumner & Wade out- Roscoe
Conklin and James Blaine in)
Gave jobs and gov’t favors to supporters
Corruption of Business & Gov’t
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1869: Wall Street financiers (Jay Gould & James Fisk) got help from Pres. Grant’s brother-in-law
to corner the gold market
Treasury Dept. broke the scheme but Gould made fortune
Credit Mobilier Affair:
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Whiskey Ring:
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Insiders gave gov’t officials stock to hide the large profits they made from the Trans-Continental Railroad
Federal Revenue agents conspired w/ liquor industry to defraud gov’t of millions in taxes
Local Politics:
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William Tweed- Democratic Party boss in New York
Tweed found ways to steal from New York tax payers ($200 million)
Scheme discovered and Tweed was put in prison (1876)
Evaluating Republican Record
 Accomplishments:
 Liberalized state constitutions
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Universal male suffrage, property rights for women, debt relief,
modernized penal codes
Promoted building of roads, bridges, railroads
Established hospitals and asylum for handicapped
State supported public schools in the South
Tax systems overhauled, bonds introduced
 Failures:
 Greed and wasteful spending
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Kickbacks and bribery from contractors business in state programs
No demographic or geographic section of U.S. immune to general
decline in ethics
Adjusting to Freedom
 Building Communities:
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Freedom to southern blacks- reuniting families, reading & writing,
migrating to cities, emancipation
Independent black churches founded after War
Baptist and African Methodist Episcopalian Churches grew in stature
Black colleges: Howard & Morehouse were established to train black
teachers and ministers
 Sharecropping:
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Compulsory labor force was gone
White landowners adopted a system of tenancy & sharecropping
Landlords provided seeds and supplies in return for a share of the harvest
By 1880 only 5% of southern blacks were independent landowners
Sharecropping was a new form of servitude
Sharecropping in the South: post Civil War
End of Reconstruction
 White Supremacy & KKK:
 Secret societies to intimidate black and white
reformers
 Nathaniel Forest Bedford founded KKK (1867)
 Burned black-owned buildings, flogged,
murdered, lynched freedmen
 Force Act (1870 & 1871): federal authority to
stop KKK violence
 Amnesty of 1872:
 Last restrictions of ex-Confederates passed
 Reduced high Civil War tariffs
 Election of 1876
 Federal troops w/drawn from ex-Confed.
states (except S. Car, Florida & Louisiana)
 Democrats returned to power except in these
three states