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The Ordeal of Reconstruction
1865-1877
The Tasks at hand
– How would the south be rebuilt
– How would the liberated Blacks be converted
to free citizens
– How would southern states be reintegrated into
the Union
– Who would direct reconstruction, the southern
states, the President or Congress
– What to do with confederate leaders?
Problems of Peace
• Economic and Social
structure of the south is
destroyed
• Key Southern cities were
devastated, (Charleston,
Savannah, Richmond)
• Banking system had
collapsed under run-away
inflation.
• Factories were destroyed
Problems of Peace
• Transportation system
completely broken down
• Agriculture, major
economic force of the
south, totally collapsed.
• Southern rich were
suddenly much poorer.
• Many Southerners were
beaten but still defiant and
were not yet emotionally
prepared to reintegrate with
the north.
Fate of “freedmen”
• Freedmen = blacks
after the war
• South ignores the
EofP.
• Slaves in a tricky
position, some
remained loyal, some
joined and helped
union army
Fate of Freedmen
• South eventually
accepts EofP
• Black Exodus 18781880
• Leave the deep south,
flood to Kansas
Church and School
• Church = center
(focus) of black
community
• Huge increases in
membership for Black
Baptists, African
Methodist Episcopal
Church
Church and School
• Previously denied
educational rights
becomes a focus
• Problem- no qualified
black teachers
• American Missionary
Movement- northern
women who take
teaching positions
Freedmen’s Bureau
• Established in 1865
• Basically a welfare agency
• Provide food, clothes,
medical care, education
• Headed by Oliver Howard
• Success in education
• Failure in economic
opportunity
• Supposed to give freedmen
40 acres from ex
confederate ldrs, but often
worked with locals to either
expel blacks, or force them
to sign unfair contracts
Andrew Johnson “Old Andy”
• Humble background
• Man of the poor, against aristocracy
• Congressmen of Tennessee, refused
to secede with the state.
• Selected to be the vice presidentneeded War democrat votes, and
attractive to southern elements
• No friends = Southerner who didn’t
understand the N, South distrusted
him, democrat not accepted by Reps.
• Advocated States’ rights, and the
Constitution
• Hothead, stubborn
Presidential Reconstruction
• Abe “10%
reconstruction plan”
• 10% of votes must
take oath of allegiance
to US, and promise to
abide by emancipation
• Then set up new state
government
Wade Davis Bill
• Republicans worried
that Abe’s plan will
just recreate same
problems
• WDB-50% of state
voters take oath
• Abe vetoes bill
Division Among Republicans
• Abe- south never legally withdrew from the Union
• Most in congress felt south left union, forfeited
rights as republican states
• Should be treated as conquered provinces, only to be
readmitted on terms made by congress
Division Among Republicans
• Moderate Republicans –
agree with Abe,
reconstruction should be
swift and simple
• Radical Republicans
(minority)- south should be
painfully punished for their
sins, punish aristocracy,
uproot social order, federal
protection for freedmen
Andrew Johnson and Reconstruction
• Johnson agreed with Lincoln’s 10% plan. Recognized
several 10% governments.
• Introduced his plan 8/1865.
– Disenfranchised southerners with property over $20,000.
– They could petition him for a pardon
– called for special state conventions
• to repeal declarations of secession,
• repudiating confederate debts and
• ratifying 13th Amendment prohibiting slavery
Black Codes
• Johnson supported
governments pass black
codes
• Ensure second class
citizenship
• Keep stable and
subservient labor force
• Done to keep race relations
the same as before the
ACW
Black codes
• Eventually repealed
• Still no economic
gains
• Most forced to do
sharecropping ( poor
whites as well)
• “Debt slavery”
• Most slaves worked
for former masters
Congressional Reconstruction
• Dec 1865- many ex
confederate leaders return
to office
• Alexander Stephens – ex
vice president
• Reps are outraged, enjoyed
a democrat free congress
• Passed, Morrill Tariff,
Pacific Railroad Act, and
Homestead act
Congressional Reconstruction
•
•
•
•
South grows stronger
No more 3/5ths clause
12 more votes in HOR
12 more electoral college
votes
• Major problem- S. Demos
could work together with
N. Demos and restore the
nation to pre ACW days
Johnson clashes with Congress
• Feb 1866 Johnson vetoed
bill to extend life of
Freemen’s Bureau (later
repealed)
• March 1866- Civil Rights
Bill- blacks get
citizenship
• AJ vetoes it, congress
overrides the veto
• “Andy Veto” “Sir Veto”
Civil Rights Bill
• 14th amendment
– Conferred Civil Rights except the vote on Freedmen.
– Reduced representation in Congress of states that did not give the freedmen the
vote.
– Disqualified from federal and state office former confederates who had
previously sworn oath to Const. of the US and, thus, had violated it.
– Repudiated the confederate debt.
– Extended Due Process to all citizens.
• Johnson tells southern states to reject it
• “Sinful 11” only Tennessee accepts it initially
Southern Song – “And I don’t want no pardon for
what I was or am, I won’t be reconstructed and I
don’t give a damn”
Johnson’s Back-firing Campaign
• 1866 Johnson and Congress battle over whether
reconstruction would continue with or without the
14th Amendment.
• The battle-ground became the Congressional
elections.
– Johnson hoped for a majority in favor of his soft
approach.
– Republicans sought a congress that was vetoproof.
• Johnson goes on a “give-‘em-hell” campaign swing
to try to marshal votes.
Johnson’s Back-firing Campaign
• People don’t react well,
heckle him
• Not the best speech writer
• “You be damned” “Don’t
get mad Andy”
• Lost all respect, drinking
problems resurface
• Republicans get 2/3rds
majority in both houses
Swing Around the Circle
Republican Principles and Programs
• Reps have veto proof
congress
• Still spilt between
moderates and radicals
• Radicals led by
Charles Sumner in the
Senate and Thaddeus
Stevens in the house.
Goals of the Radicals and Moderates
• Radicals
– Keep southern states
out as long as possible
– Use federal power to
bring about drastic
social and economic
transformation
• Moderates
– Honor states’ rights
and self government
– Prefer policies that
restrain the states from
affecting citizens’
rights
• Both agree on
enfranchising African
Americans
Reconstruction by the Sword
• Reconstruction Act 1876
– Divided the south into 5 military districts
– Temporarily disenfranchised many
southerners—10,000
– Stringent conditions for the readmission of the
seceded states
– States required to ratify Fourteenth Amendment
to come back in
– State constitutions must guarantee vote for
slaves
– Stopped short of giving blacks land or requiring
education.
Reconstruction by the Sword
• Black suffrage is biggest dagger to the south
• Shows Moderates influence
• States have to accept black suffrage before reentering the union
• Radicals still worried about possible amendments
made to state constitutions
• 15th Amendment 1870- suffrage for all adult males
Reconstruction by the Sword
• 1870 all south state govts
adopt new constitutions
• “blue bellies” stayed until
new republican regimes are
established
• South called them radical
regimes
• Federal troops leave,
“Redeemers” (or homerule)
take over governments
• Usually democratic- called
the “solid south”
What about the ladies
• Huge for abolition
movement
• Woman’s Loyal Leaguepetitioned congress to pass
amendment for abolition
• Stanton and Anthony
fought against 14th
amendment and 15th
• Frederick Douglas saidthis was the “Negro's hour”
Realities of Recon. In the South
• S. blacks organize
politically
• Union League- pro-Union
organization in the N.
• Turned into political club,
educating members in
civic duties, later went to
establishing schools and
churches
Realities of Recon. In the South
• 14 Black Congressmen; 2
Black Senators. Height
of black political power
until mid 20th Century
1868-1876
• Former masters are pissed
• Whites who help blacks
are called
• Scalawags- southerners
• Carpetbaggersnortherners, who come to
the south to make
financial gains
The “New South”
• Public schools start
getting money
• Taxes = public works
• Property rights for
women
• Some corruption in
new governments
Ku Klux Klan
• 1866 in Ten.
• KKK (Invisible Empire
of the South)
• Used intimidation, fear
and force to get upstart
Blacks and carpetbaggers
to get back in their place.
• Undermined the civil
rights given to blacks.
Ku Klux Klan
Congress passes Force Acts
of 1870, 71
By this time the KKK is an
established secret society
1890- disfranchisement of
blacks is underway
– Literacy Test
– Poll Taxes
– Grandfather clause
Johnson and Impeachment
• Radical reps sick of the
“drunken tailor”
• Tenure of Office Act 1867president has to secure the
consent of the Senate
before h could remove his
appointees once they had
been approved by that body
• Done to keep Stanton as
sec. of war
Johnson and Impeachment
•
•
•
•
Johnson dismissed Stanton
Impeachment passes in the HOR
Doesn’t pass in Senate, 1 vote short
Why
– Fears of creating a destabilizing precedent
– Most hate potential replacement Benjamin Wade
• Johnson promises to stop vetoing everything
Purchase of Alaska
• Russians want to sell it
– Could bring war to Great
Britain
– Land has been over furred
• Sec. of State Seward agrees
to purchase for 7.2 Mil in
1867. Dubbed Seward’s
Folly.
• Russia also was a friend to
N. during the ACW
• “Frigidia, Walrussia,
Seward’s Polar Bear
Garden”
Heritage of Reconstruction
• South resents N. for trying
to change it’s social and
economic standing
• Shows nobody really
thought about post war
results
• Despite republican efforts,
the old south was in many
ways resurrected not
reconstructed