Download Reconstruction 1865-1877

Reconstruction
1865-1877
Lincoln’s Plan for Reconstruction
• Written in 1863
• Amnesty to all who take an oath of loyalty
– Amnesty  Pardon
– Oath  Pledge to accept the Union’s proclamation
concerning slavery
• When 10% of a states voters took oath, could
than organize a new state government
– Also known as the Ten Percent Plan
• Members of the Federal Government who had
left posts to aid Confederacy would not receive
amnesty
Wade-Davis Bill
• Republicans rejected Lincoln’s Bill
– Allow for “reconstructed” state governments to be
lead by disloyal secessionists
– Offer an alternative  Wade-Davis Bill
• Wade- Davis Bill
– Required 50% of the voters in a state to take a loyalty
oath
– Permitted only non-Confederates to vote for a new
state constitution
• Lincoln refused to sign it, used a pocket veto
Freedmen’s Bureau
• March 1865 Congress created
the Bureau of Refugees,
Freedmen, and Abandoned
Lands
– AKA Freedmen’s Bureau
• Early welfare agency:
– Provided food, shelter, and
medical care for those
made destitute by the war
• Both blacks and whites
Freedmen’s Bureau
• Started to resettle freed blacks on confiscated
Confederate land
– Worked until President Johnson pardoned the owners
of the confiscated lands
– Courts than restored the land back to it’s original
owners
• Greatest success was in education
• Established nearly 3,000 schools for freed blacks
including several black colleges
• About 200,000 learned how to read
Lincoln’s Last Speech
• April 11, 1865 gave a speech
about accepting Louisiana as a
state
– Also addresses the question of
whether freedmen should be
granted the right to vote…
– Suggested that, had he lived, he
probably would have become
more progressive or Radical
Republicans
Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan
• Took over after the assassination of
Lincoln
–
–
–
–
From Tennessee
Started off as a tailor
Southern Democrat
Only senator who remained loyal
• Was welcomed by Congress
– Thought that he hated the Southern
Aristocrats
• Rose in politics by championing the
interests of poor whites
President Andrew
Johnson
Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan
• Johnson’s Plan
– Lincoln’s plan +…
– Lost the right to vote and hold office if you were:
• Former office holder in the CSA
• Owned $20,000 in taxable property
• President could grant individual pardons to disloyal
southerners
• Escape clause for the wealthy planters
• Johnson used it often
• Resulted in many former confederate leaders back in
office by fall of 1865
Southern Governments of 1865
• Eight months after Johnson took office all 11 exConfederates were ready to rejoin the Union
– All had constitutions that repudiated secession
– Negated the debts of the Confederate government
– Ratified the 13th Amendment
• None extended voting rights to blacks and
former leaders of the Confederacy were allowed
to sit in Congress as if nothing happened
Disillusionment With Johnson
• Republicans became further disillusioned with
Johnson when he allowed the Southern states
to adopt the Black Codes (1865):
– Restricted the rights and movements of the newly
freed blacks
– Prohibited blacks from renting land or borrowing
money to buy land
– Placed freedmen into a form of semi bondage by
forcing them to sign work contracts
– Prohibited blacks from testifying against whites in
court
• Republicans wonder who won the war?
Disillusionment With Johnson
• Johnson alienated even more
Republicans when, in early 1866 he
vetoed two important bills:
1.
A bill increasing the services and
protection offered by the Freedmen’s
Bureau
• Freedmen’s Bureau Act
2. A civil rights bill that nullified the
Black Codes and guaranteed full
citizenship and equal rights to blacks
•
Civil Rights Act
The Election of 1866- Congressional
• Johnson’s tactics for the election of 1866 was the
infamous “swing around the circle,” speaking tour
– Went around the United States August – September 1866
trying to gain support for Democrats
– Appealed to the racial prejudices of whites by arguing
that equal rights for blacks would result in an
“Africanized” society
The Election of 1866- Congressional
• Republicans respond by calling Johnson a
drunkard, and a traitor
– “Waved the Bloody Shirt”
• inflamed the hatreds of northern voters by
reminding them of the hardships of war
– Branded the Democratic party as a whole rebellious
and treasonous
• Election gave republicans an overwhelming
victory
– More than a 2/3rd majority In both house and Senate
Congressional Reconstruction
• Three rounds of reconstruction
1.
2.
3.
•
1863-Sping 1866  Lincoln & Johnson
Congressional Reconstruction
Reforms under President Grant
Two types of Republicans
–
Moderate
• Concerned with economic gains for the white middle
class
– Radical
• Championed civil rights for blacks
•
Most became Radical Republicans in 1866 mostly out of
fear that the Democratic Party might become dominate
Radical Reconstruction
• With modifications, Republicans were able to
override Johnson’s veto of the Freedmen’s
Bureau Act & Civil Right’s Act
• Civil Rights Act 1866
– All African Americans were citizens
• Repudiating Dred Scott decision
– Equal protection under the law to African
Americans
First time legislation was passed over a
presidential veto!
Radical Reconstruction
• Republicans fear it may be repealed if
Democrats ever take power
• 14th Amendment
– Passed in late 1866 and ratified in 1868
– Declared that all persons born or
naturalized in the United States were
citizens
– Obligated the states to respect the
rights of U.S. citizens and provide them
with “equal protection of the laws” and
“due process of law”
th
14
Amendment
“All persons born or naturalized in the United States,
and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of
the United States and of the state wherein they reside.
No state shall make or enforce any law which shall
abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the
United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of
life, liberty, or property, without due process of law;
nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the laws.”
Radical Reconstruction
• Other parts of the 14th Amendment applied
just to Congress’ plan of Reconstruction
– Disqualified former Confederate political leaders
from holding either state or federal offices
– Repudiated the debts of the defeated
governments of the Confederacy
– Penalized a state if it kept any eligible person
from voting by reducing that state’s proportional
representation in Congress and the electoral
college
Reconstruction Acts of 1867
• Congress passed over Johnson’s Veto three
reconstruction acts in 1867
1.
2.
Placed the South under military control
Former Confederate states were split into 5 military
districts each under the control of the Union Army
3. Increased requirements for gaining readmission to
the Union
•
Had to ratify the 14th Amendment and place guarantees in
its Constitution for granting the right to vote to all adult
males, regardless of race
Tenure of Office Act
• Passed over Johnson’s veto
• Tenure of Office Act
– Prohibited the president from removing a federal
official or military commander without the approval
the Senate
– Purpose was to protect Radical Republicans in his
cabinet (from Lincoln) such as Sectary of War Edwin
Stanton
• Johnson believed this to be unconstitutional
so he challenged it by dismissing Stanton
Impeaching Johnson
• Congress refuses to approve the suspension,
Johnson removed him from office
• House of Representatives voted to Impeach
President Johnson
– Formally charging the President with
wrongdoing
– Charged him with 11 “high crimes and
misdemeanors”
– 1st time a president was impeached!!
Impeaching Johnson
• Began in March 1868 and lasted 3 months
• Johnson Says:
– Was exercising his right to challenge laws he
considered unconstitutional
– Impeachment is politically motivated and thus not
in spirit of the Constitution
• Congress Says:
– Should retain the Supreme Power of making the
laws
– Johnson was using the Veto as a remedy to fix
policies that he didn’t like
Impeaching Johnson
Impeaching Johnson
• The Senate voted 35-19 to convict the
president
– One vote shy of the 2/3rds required by the
Constitution
• Moderate Republicans voted not
guilty
– Didn’t think a president should be
removed from office because of political
differences
• Remains in office for the rest of the
term 1869
Election of 1868
• Democrats nominated Horatio
Seymour
– Wanted Johnson’s presidency to
end with or without
impeachment
– War time governor of New York
Horatio Seymour
• Republicans nominated
Ulysses S. Grant
– War hero
– No political experience
Ulysses S. Grant
Election 1868
•
Votes of 500,000 blacks gave the victory to the Republicans
15th Amendment
• Election proved to Republicans that
they needed to protect the vote for
African Americans
• Work quickly to pass the 15th
Amendment
– Prohibited any state from denying or
abridging a citizen’s right to vote, “on
account of race, color, or previous
condition of servitude.”
– Added to the Constitution March 1870
Civil Rights Act of 1875
• Civil Rights act of 1875
– Last of the acts in the Reconstruction Era
– Guaranteed equal accommodations in public places
– Prohibited courts from excluding African American
from Juries
• Was poorly enforced because Republicans
became frustrated with trying to reform an
unwilling South
• Didn’t want to loose votes in the North
Composition of Republican Governments
• In every Southern state government, whites
and Republican were the majority of both
houses
– Except for South Carolina
• Freedmen controlled the Lower House
• Members of the White Republican
governments consisted of : native-born
white southerners, and recently arrived
northerners
Composition of Republican Governments
• Southerners had special names for people in these
new “Southern” governments
• White Southern Republicans  Scalawags
• An old Scotch- Irish term for weak, underfed,
worthless animals
• Some were former Whigs
• Some were small farmers who didn’t want wealthy
planters in charge
• Some were business men who favored Republican
plans for developing the South’s economy
Composition of Republican Governments
• Northerners who moved to the South
were called  Carpetbaggers
– Arrived with suitcases made of carpet fabric
– Believed to be exploiting the war torn
South for their own personal gain
– Had mixed motives:
• Some were members of the Freedmen’s
Bureau
• Some wanted to buy cheap land and
start a new industries
• Some were dishonest business people
Carpetbagger Political Cartoons
Editorial
cartoon by
James Albert
Wales
African Americans in Government
• Most blacks who held elective
office in the reconstructed state
governments were
– Well educated
– Property holders
– Moderates
Hiram Revels
• South sent two black senators to
Washington
– Hiram Revels  Mississippi, seat was
once held by Jefferson Davis
– Blanche K. Bruce  Mississippi
Blanche K. Bruce
African Americans Adjusting to Freedom
• South’s agricultural economy was
in shambles
– Work force was gone
• Landowners tried to force freed
blacks into signing contracts
– Basically bound the signer to
permanent and unrestricted labor
• Blacks pushed for more autonomy,
South adopted a systems of tenancy
and sharecropping
African Americans Adjusting to Freedom
• African Americans had two options when it came to
work:
• Sharecropping
– Landowners divided their land and gave each worker, a few
acres, along with seeds and tools
– At harvest each worker gave a share of his crop to their
landowner (usually half)
– Workers could save money, buy own tools make money
• Tenant Farming
– Rent land from farmers, keep harvest and profit.
– Usually remained in debt to land owner or merchants
Ku Klux Klan
• Started in Tennessee in 1866
(Nathaniel Bedford Forrest)
• Social club for Confederate
Veterans
• Dressed up  Ghosts of
Confederate soldiers
– "The kind of thing that men are afraid
or ashamed to do openly by day, they
accomplish secretly, masked, and at
night.“
• Restore white Supremacy
Ku Klux Klan
• Membership in the group grew, new chapters
turned from fun to violence
• 1868 Klan existed in every southern state
• 1868 - 1871 burned schools, churches and
property
• Targeted:
– African Americans
– Whites who supported blacks
– Republicans
Legislative Response to the KKK
• Enforcement Acts in 1870 and 1871
– Federal crime to interfere with a citizen’s right to vote
– Federal elections were put under the supervision of
federal marshals
– Gave president to use federal troops in areas where the
Klan was active and outlawed their activities
• Under this act, 3,000 Klan members throughout
the South were arrested
– Only 600 were convicted
Problems With Grant’s Administration
• Grant was an honest but inexperienced
man
• Didn’t think that people would use him
• Appointed friends to important
positions
– Not qualified for positions
– Spoils System returns in all branches of
the government
• Grant didn’t profit from the scandal, but
it tarnished his reputation
Problems With Grant’s Administration
• While the South is struggling to reorganize
the North’s concern is for railroads, steel, and
money
– Political power in the Republican party changes
to political manipulators
– Corruption took hold in politics in the North as
well as in Grant’s Administration
• Material interests took the place of Lincoln’s
idealism and crusade for civil rights
Credit Mobilier Scandal
• Credit Mobilier was a construction company
working for the Union Pacific Railroad
– Gave stock to influential members of Congress to avoid
an investigation into their profits
• High ranking Republicans as well as the VicePresident (Schuyler Colfax)
– Getting subsidies as high as 348% for building the
transcontinental Railroad
• 72 million was given for a railroad that cost 53
million to build
Downfall of the Republicans
• Amnesty Act 1872
– Returned the right to vote and hold
federal office to former Confederates
• Would vote for Democrats
• Congress also allowed the
Freedmen’s bureau to expire
– Fulfilled its purpose
• Shift in power from Republicans
to Southern Conservative
Democrats
Election of 1872
• Scandals of the Grant Administration
caused a lot of Republicans to leave the
party to form the Liberal Republicans
– Nominated Horace Greeley  Editor of the
New York Times
– Advocated civil service reform, end of rail
road subsidies, withdrawal of troops from
the South, reduced tariffs, and free trade
– Joined by the Democrats who also
nominated two other candidates
Horace Greely
Election of 1872
• The “Regular Republicans,” just “waived the
bloody shirt,” again
– Nominated Grant again
Economic Turmoil
• Panic of 1873
– Series financial failures that triggered a
five-year depression in the U.S.
– Too many people borrowed too much
money to invest in the economy of the
South as well as new businesses
– Over spending on projects such as the
railroad
• Triggered a depression
– A period of reduced business activity and
high unemployment
Currency Dispute
• Greenbacks (paper money) during the civil war
were issued without gold backing
– When war ended, financial experts wanted to
withdraw the greenbacks and return the nation to the
gold standard
– Reduce number of dollars in circulation
• Southern and Western farmers and
manufacturers wanted to print MORE
– Reduce debt, give them more money
• Congress decided to go back on the gold standard
1874
Whiskey Ring
• Whiskey Ring 1875
– IRS collectors accepted bribes
from whiskey distillers who
wanted to avoid paying taxes
on their product
– Ripped the government off by
millions of dollars
• Sectary of War, Navy and
Grant’s personal sectary
were all convicted
Supreme Court Decisions Under Grant
• 1870’s Supreme Court
– Undermine 14th and 15th Amendments
– User in time period known as “Jim Crow South”
• Slaughterhouse Cases
– 1873
– Federal government only protected citizens rights that
had to do with traveling on high seas or interstate
travel
– Basic civil rights come from the state
– Goes against 14th Amendment
Supreme Court Decisions
• U.S. v. Cruikshank
– 1876
– 14th Amendment did not give the federal government
the right to punish individual whites who oppressed
blacks
• U.S. v. Reed
– Ruled in favor of officials who had barred Blacks from
voting
– 15th Amendment did not give the right to suffrage to
anyone
– Only lists grounds on which you can not deny it.
Election of 1876
• Republicans
– Rutherford B. Hayes
– Governor of Ohio
– Untouched by Grant’s
fraudulent Administration
Rutherford
B. Hayes
• Democrat
– Samuel J. Tilden
– Governor of New York
• Took on the Boss Tweed Ring
Samuel
Tilden
Election 1876
Election 1876
• Tilden won the popular vote
• Hayes Lost the electoral vote
he was one vote short
– 20 are disputed
– Congress appoints
commission to deal with issue
• Mostly Republicans
• Presidency goes to Hayes
Compromise of 1877
• BUT… the nomination has to be approved by the
House of Representatives
– Mostly Democrats
• Willing to accept him… if they could get
something in return
1. Withdraw Union troops from Louisiana and South
Carolina
2. Federal money to rebuild Southern railroads, bridges,
harbors etc.
3. Hayes must appoint a Southern conservative to his
cabinet
• Was approved and called the Compromise of
1877
Home Rule in the South
• Compromise 1877 ended Reconstruction
– Upon inauguration, he withdrew the rest of the troops
from the South
• South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida
• Democrats achieved their goal of home rule
– Ability to run state governments without federal
intervention
• Passed laws that restricted the rights of blacks,
social programs gone, slashed taxes, and
dismantled public schools
– Return to the “Old South”
Legacy of Reconstruction
Mistakes by Radical Republicans
– Assumed that giving civil rights to freed persons
enabled them to protect themselves
– Didn’t fully understand the racism in the South
Successes
– Passed 14th and 15th Amendment
– African Americans were able to participate in the
government
– African Americans founded many black colleges
– Percentage of literate blacks had increase
– State Constitutions provided universal male suffrage