Download Reconstruction the Union

Reconstruction of the Union
An issue of reconstruction –
Who had the authority to take charge
of reconstructing the Union –
the President or Congress?
Difficulties of Reconstruction
Should former
slaves be
allowed to
vote?
Should the
Government protect
the rights of former
slaves?
Should the
Government give
assistance to
former slaves?
Did the South
actually secede?
How to Rebuild
the Union
What role should
states play in
regard to
free slaves?
Should Southerners
be pardoned
or punished?
How should
governments of
Southern states
be formed?
Presidential Reconstruction 1865-1867
 Lincoln’s Plan
 Leniency/forgiveness
 Pardon all supporters of the
Confederacy-except high
officials
 10% of pre-war voters take a
loyalty oath - establish a state
government and reapply for
admission
 New state constitutions must
prohibit slavery
 Publicly endorsed limited black
suffrage
Radical Republicans
Led by congressman
Thaddeus Stevens from
Pennsylvania
Senator Charles Sumner
from Mass
Insisted
black
suffrage necessary for
Reconstruction
South
treated as
conquered territories
Wade-Davis Bill 1864
Passed by Congress because they felt
Lincoln’s plan was too lenient
 50% of voters to take a loyalty oath
 States must prohibit slavery
 States must guarantee equality before
the law = equal rights, rights to a fair
trial for all citizens
 Lincoln’s uses “pocket veto”

Henry Davis
Benjamin Wade
Freedmen’s Bureau
 Help
freedmen adjust from slavery
 Lincoln creates bureau
 Provides education, medical care, opportunities to
lease land for farming
 Bureau also available for poor whites
13th Amendment (1865)
Abolished Slavery
President Andrew Johnson








Democrat from Tennessee
Anti-Southern aristocracy
Indifferent to slave issue
Own reconstruction plan
shaped while congress on
vacation
Reconstruction Plan:
a. general amnesty except for
those in leadership class
b. States must ratify 13th
Amendment
c. emancipated slaves agree
to work for former owners –
not take interest in politics
Congressional Reconstruction
(Radical)
Presidential Reconstruction a failure
 New Southern State Governments passed:
black codes = laws designed to regulate lives of former
slaves
 a. Blacks have limited rights
 b. Blacks barred from serving on juries, testifying
against whites, cannot bear arms, cannot vote.
 c. must show written evidence of employment every
January 10th of each year or face arrest

Civil Rights Act (1866)
 All
persons born in U.S. are citizens guaranteed
legal rights, except the right to vote
 Civil rights do not include Indians
 Bill passes Presidential veto because Southern
congressmen not seated – locked out of congress
14th Amendment
 All
native born or naturalized persons are citizens
of U.S. and their state
 Prohibits states from denying citizens equal
protection under the law
 10 out of 11 Southern states reject amendment
Tenure of Office Act
 Congress
passes to limit Johnson’s ability to
interfere with its Reconstruction Plan
 Barred President from removing officeholders
without consent of Senate
 Johnson tries to remove Edwin Stanton because he
is ally to Republicans
 House votes to impeach Johnson – fails by 1 vote
Ulysses S. Grant
Elected President 1868
 Republican
 Had strong support from
black South
 Lacks political experience
– was a war hero
 Presidency noted for its
corruption

15th Amendment
Prohibits states from limiting vote
because of race
Radical Reconstruction
Lasted 10 years - 1867-1877
 During time Democrats regain control of South
 African Americans finally elected to higher office at state
and national level
 Hiram Revels and Blanch Bruce – Representatives in
Mississippi Senate

Radical Reconstruction
Carpetbaggers = Northerners came South during and after
war to reap spoils of public office – carried belongings in
luggage called carpetbags.
 Many were former soldiers, investors, or volunteers
coming to help freedmen
 Scalawags = native born Southerners who joined
Republican party, negative term, most were white farmers
hoping to recover wartime economic losses – hated by
Confederates

South Fails to Develop Prosperous Economy
Most slaves do not own land
 Few employment opportunities:
 Sharecropping – lease/land: Family rents land, crops
then divided between landowner and sharecropper –
farmers exploited by landowners and tied to land in debt
 Crop Lien System : Farmers forced to borrow and
pledge against future crops – merchants insist that
borrowers grow cotton not food crops
 South not develop a prosperous and diverse economy

Ku Klux Klan
 Formed
in an effort to restore white supremacy
 Used violence, terror, beatings, lynching, and mass
murder to further cause
 African Americans, scalawags, and Northerners
victims
Enforcement Acts
 Aimed
at Ku Klux Klan (KKK)
 Outlawed terrorist societies
 Authorized the use of the Army against them
Rutherford B. Hayes






Elected in 1876
Republican
Ran against Tilden a Democrat
Tilden wins popular vote
Election contested by
Republicans who claim blacks
were denied the vote in
Florida, South Carolina,
Louisiana
Parties agree to compromise
Compromise of 1877
 Hayes
is declared winner of election
 As winner, Hayes will declare the end of
Reconstruction
 Federal troops withdraw from the South
 Reconstruction officially ends!
The South After The War
Radical Reconstruction
1867-1877
•First public schools
•African American
suffrage
•Civil rights laws
•Black codes
repealed
•Railroads and
industry financed
Economics
•Sharecropping
•Crop-lien system
•Cotton dominates
Social Issues
•Racist societies (KKK)
•Racial violence
•US Army arrests
terrorists
•North loses interest
in the south
Reconstruction Timeline
Lincoln
2nd
Term
1864
14th
Amend.
1866
War
Ends
Lincoln
Killed
13th
Amend.
Johnson
Impeachment
1868
Tenure
of Office
Act
15th
Amend.
1870
Grant
Takes
Office
Grant
Re-elect.
1872
Depres
-sion
1874
Hayes
Elected
1876
Violence
Resumes