Download America`s History Seventh Edition

James A. Henretta
Eric Hinderaker
Rebecca Edwards
Robert O. Self
America’s History
Eighth Edition
America: A Concise History
Sixth Edition
CHAPTER 15
Reconstruction
1865–1877
Copyright © 2014 by Bedford/St. Martin’s
I. The Struggle for National
Reconstruction
A. Presidential Approaches: From Lincoln to Johnson
1. Lincoln
-Offered a Ten Percent Plan. Confederate states
rejected the plan. Congress proposed Wade-Davis
Bill. Lincoln pocket Vetoed Wade-Davis.
2. Johnson
-Common man from Tennessee. Loyal to Union
during the war. Offered amnesty to Southerners
who swore allegiance except for CSA leaders;
provisional governors for South and asked for
ratification of 13th amendment. Enacted Black
Codes in the South.
I. The Struggle for National
Reconstruction
B. Congress Versus the President
1. Freedmen’s Bureau
-Anti-black violence increased in South.
1865 Freedmen’s Bureau established by Congress to
assist former slaves. Civil Rights Act of 1866 declared
former slaves were citizens granting equal protection
and rights. Bills vetoed by Johnson, but Congress
overrode his decision. Violence increases.
2. Radical Republicans and the Fourteenth
Amendment
-Stated “all persons born or naturalized in
US were citizens.” 1866 congressional elections gave
Republicans 3-1 majority; Senator Charles Summer.
I. The Struggle for National
Reconstruction
C. Radical Reconstruction
1. The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
-Aug 1867 Johnson suspends Secretary of War
Edwin Stanton, a Radical, and replaces with
Ulysses Grant. Grant criticizes Johnson and
resigns to Stanton could resume his position. Crisis
within administration. House introduced articles of
impeachment against president. Failed by 1 vote.
2. Election of 1868 and the Fifteenth Amendment
-Grant a hero b/c of war and dislike of Johnson.
Wanted reconciliation between states. Republicans
produce 15th Amendment granting African
Americans right to vote.
I. The Struggle for National
Reconstruction
D. Woman Suffrage Denied
1. The movement splits
-Frustration in women’s movement when black men
granted suffrage. Northern men opposed women’s
suffrage. Equal Rights Convention revealed women’s
frustration
2. National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA)
-Lucy Stone and Julia Ward Howe organized
American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) to
support Republicans’ efforts for black men; Stanton and
Susan B. Anthony created NWSA to advocate for a
suffrage amendment for women. States could deny
women suffrage. Wyoming grants women suffrage in
1869.
II. The Meaning of Freedom
A. The Quest for Land
1. Freed Slaves and Northerners: Conflicting Goals
-Northerners believed wage labor would overtake
South. Instead former slaves wanted land.
Republicans didn’t want to confiscate land but former
slaves feel entitled to it.
2. Wage Labor and Sharecropping
-Many former slaves had to work for former owners
receiving (very low) wages. Black men want their
wives out of the field as not to be sexually harassed
by white men. Sharecropping system arose. Many
sharecroppers permanently in debt.
II. The Meaning of Freedom
B. Republican Governments in the South
1. Rejoining the Union
-All southern states rejoined Union between
1868-1871. Republican governments included
African Americans, not accepted by exConfederates. In late 1860’s southern Republican
Party included whites and blacks. Union League
pressured Congress for freedmen’s causes.
Freedmen’s Bureau created colleges for African
Americans.
2. Scalawags and carpetbaggers
II. The Meaning of Freedom
B. Republican Governments in the South
1. Rejoining the Union
2. Scalawags and carpetbaggers
-Ex-CSA men referred to southern whites
supporting Reconstruction as “scalawags”;
denounced northern whites as “carpetbaggers.”
Many came to south for economic opportunity.
Southerners who supported the Republican Party
wanted to get rid of the planter-elite aristocracy.
Many blacks elected to office throughout south with
hopes of abolishing Black Codes and corporal
punishment.
II. The Meaning of Freedom
C. Building Black Communities
1. Churches
-Black churches grew quickly w/ help of northern
missionaries + teachers. Became center of black life in
South. Joined black congregations in North to create
National Baptist Convention and African Methodist
Episcopal Church.
2. “Race uplift”
-Teachers and charity leaders wanted to build
businesses + institutions to serve black Americans. Sen.
Sumner argued for desegregation in 1870. Civil Rights
Act of 1875 required “full and equal” access to jury
service, transportation, and public accommodations,
irrespective of race.
III. The Undoing of Reconstruction
A. The Republicans Unravel
1. The Depression of 1873
-Global economic crisis triggered in part by
Northern Pacific Railroad declaring bankruptcy. ½
all railroads bankrupt. Republican policies (like
freedmen’s bureau) become too expensive.
Northern and foreign investors don’t have money to
ensure success of reforms. Corruption in
industries. Failure of Freeman’s Savings and Trust
Company (est. 1865) had worked to help former
slaves, new churches, and charities in South.
2. The Disillusioned Liberals
III. The Undoing of Reconstruction
A. The Republicans Unravel
1. The Depression of 1873
2. The Disillusioned Liberals
-Revolt emerged within Republican Party; led by
“classical liberals”; formed the Liberal Republican
Party in 1872; the second Grant administration had
numerous financial scandals, including Crédit
Mobilier, a sham corporation set up by Union
Pacific Railroad shareholders to profit on grants
from the federal government.
III. The Undoing of Reconstruction
B. Counterrevolution in the South
1. “Redemption” and Nathan Bedford Forrest
-Efforts by ex-Confederates to take back
the South from the Republican Party intensified amidst
economic crisis; terror campaign. Forrest, a decorated
Confederate general; gained wealth through cotton
industry; was known for participating in the slaughter
of black Union troops at Fort Pillow, TN.
2. Ku Klux Klan
3. Enforcement laws
III. The Undoing of Reconstruction
B. Counterrevolution in the South
1. “Redemption” and Nathan Bedford Forrest
2. Ku Klux Klan
-Organization of ex-Confederates who
joined together in 1866; led by Forrest in Tennessee to
target Republicans in the state; tied to the Democratic
Party; campaign of murder and terror throughout the
South
3. Enforcement laws
-Congress passed laws to control the spread
of violence; U.S. troops occupied part of South Carolina to
stop outbreak of violence; Republican Party began to suffer
political losses in the South as fear and violence increased.
III. The Undoing of Reconstruction
C. Reconstruction Rolled Back
1. The Supreme Court Rejects Equal Rights
-Slaughter-House Cases (1873): Court
diminished the power of the Fourteenth Amendment
arguing that it offered only a few federal protections;
civil rights violations were viewed as state issues, not
within the federal government’s jurisdiction; 1883 Court
struck down the Civil Rights Act of 1875
2. The Political Crisis of 1877
III. The Undoing of Reconstruction
C. Reconstruction Rolled Back
1. The Supreme Court Rejects Equal Rights
2. The Political Crisis of 1877
-Gov. Rutherford Hayes (R-OH) versus Gov.
Samuel Tilden (D-NY); Tilden called for “home rule” for the
South; Tilden led popular vote, Democratic Party fraud
claimed, Republicans and Democrats argued over who
won; Congress had to debate two sets of electoral votes
for the three states; commission gave Hayes the
presidency. Hayes offered federal money for education,
economic growth, internal improvements in the South.
Hayes ordered Union troops out of the South;
Reconstruction ended.