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Chapter 22
The Ordeal of Reconstruction
1865-1877
The Problems of Peace
How would the South be rebuilt?
 How would the liberated blacks fare
as freemen?
 How would the South be
reintegrated back into the Union?
 Who would direct the process?
 What should be done with the
Confederate leaders?
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Jefferson Davis had
been captured and
imprisoned for 2
years
Finally released
Virginia people
would not convict
them
Pardoned by
Johnson
South had collapsed
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economic and social
South’s cities destroyed
Economic life halted
runaway inflation
factories silent
transportation destroyed
Agriculture
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Cotton plantations
destroyed
Slave labor system
collapsed
Took until 1870 for
South to produce as
much as in 1860
Planter Aristocracy Humbled
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Lost their land and investments
wealth evaporated with emancipation
Many southerners still remain defiant
would not pray for Johnson
“your government”
Freedmen Define Freedom
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Uneven emancipation for slaves
Emancipated then enslaved again
Some attacked as they went to freedom
Some were lynched
Many had to work to get free
Responses to Emancipation
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Some slaves resist freedom out of
loyalty to master
Others became violent against their
masters
Joined Union in pillaging plantations
Some punished and whipped their
masters
Masters Forced to Recognize
Freemen
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Many broke off and ran away
emancipation strengthened the black
family
formalized marriages
some moved to work in towns in black
communities
Exodusters
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Many groups moved to Kansas from 18781880
came from Texas and Louisiana
Stemmed when captain refused to steamboat
more immigrants across the Mississippi River
Church a Focus in the Black
Community
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Formed their own churches
grew quickly after the war
Bedrock of black community life
Gave rise to other benevolent,fraternal,
and mutual aid societies
Helped protect some of their freedoms
Education for Many Blacks
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Was denied before the war
Societies to make these improvements
Very few qualified Black teachers
Northern white women sent by
American Missionary Association
helped educated blacks
The Freedman’s Bureau
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Established March 3. 1865
What to do with freedmen without skills to
survive on their own
Kind of a primitive welfare agency
General Oliver O. Howard headed the Bureau
Great Success in Education
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20,000 blacks taught to read
Read the word of God and close gap
with whites
Other areas of Accomplishment
Meager
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Little land actually made to
hands of blacks to settle
Confederate lands
Helped moved blacks into
forced labor contracts
South resented it as
meddling in local affairs
President tried to kill the
Bureau
Johnson: The Tailor President
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Tennessean
Former tailor
Born in North Carolina
Self taught
Champion of poor whites
against the planters
Owned a few slaves
Refused to secede with his
state
War governor of Tennesse
Needed to Attract from war
Democrats and Pro-South Element
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Democrat
States rightist
Did Not Understand the North
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Distrusted by the South
Democrat never accepted by the
Republicans
Wrong man in the wrong place at the
wrong time
Presidential Reconstruction
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Lincoln’s 10% Plan- 1863
South could never have legally left the
Union
Reintegrated into the Union with 10% of
its 1860 voters- must take an oath of
allegiance and abide by emancipation
Formal erection of state governments
Recognized by Lincoln
Reaction from Congress
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Republicans feared a restoration of
planter aristocracy
Possible enslavement of the blacks
again
Push through the Wade-Davis Bill of
1864
Wade Davis Bill of 1864
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50% of voters take oath of allegiance
Stronger safeguards for emancipation
Pocket vetoed by Lincoln
Outraged Republicans
Refused to recognize Louisiana
delegates after they met Lincoln’s 10%
Plan in 1864
Differences in Lincoln and WadeDavis
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Congress insisted that seceded states
that had left the Union “committed
suicide” and forfeited all their rights
Readmitted as conquered provinces
Differences among Republicans
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Majority agree with Lincoln-moderates
But on Congress’s terms, not Lincoln
Minority radical group believed the
South should atone for its sins
Want to uproot the social structure of
the South, punish planters,protect
freedmen
Johnson Recognizes Lincoln’s
10% Plan but...
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Disenfranchises certain Confederate
leaders but could petition him for a
personal pardon
State conventions
Repeal ordinances of secession
Repudiate Confederate debts
Ratify 13th amendment
Johnson gives out pardons
The Baleful Black Codes
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Designed to regulate the affairs of emancipated
blacks
Mississippi in 1865
Varied in severity
1. Ensure a stable and subservient labor force
2. Penalties for those who jumped labor contracts
3. Sought to restore as close as possible the pre War
race relations
Forbade to serve on a jury
Renting or leasing land
Punished for idleness
Could not vote
Mocked Freedom paid for by
Blood
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Terrible burdens on blacks and families
Would continue on for decades
Blacks lacked capital and slipped into
role of a sharecropper
Became slaves of soil and debt
Black Codes left ugly impression on
North
Slaves were being re enslaved
Congressional Reconstruction
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1865- Congress saw former Confederate
leaders waiting to take a seat in Congress
like nothing had ever happened
South had instinctively returned its former
leaders
Generals, government leaders of a “lost
cause”
Even South’s Vice president Alexander
Stephens was reelected while under
indictment
Republicans didn’t want to
Return on these terms
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Had a free hand in passing needed legislation
Most were Democrats
Did not want to lose the political power
Shut the Southern Democrats out
With free slaves counting as a whole person,
South entitled to 12 more electoral votes
South strengthened by the loss of war
Who won the war???
Afraid Southern and Northern
Democrats would join to together to
gain control of Congress
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1. Could re enslave blacks- keep Black
Codes alive
2. Dismantle economic gains made
during the war
Johnson announces conditions met and
reconstruction is over
Johnson Clashes with Congress
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Johnson vetoes extension extending the life
of Freedmen’s Bureau
Congress passes 1865 Civil Rights Bill
gave blacks citizenship
vetoed by Johnson
overrode his veto
“Andy veto”
Congress assumes role of running the govt.
Congress wants to Rivet Civil
Rights Measures
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14th Amendment
1. Conferred citizenship for Blacks
2. Reduced proportional representation in Congress
or electoral college if denied Blacks to vote
3. Disqualified from the Federal office those who
swore to support the Confederacy
4. Guarantee federal debt but repudiate Confederate
debt
Congress agreed that states must first ratify 14th
amendment to get back into the Union
Johnson urges defiant 11 to reject it and all but
Tennessee did
Swinging Round the Circle with
Johnson
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Issue around Johnson’s 10% plan and
the passing of Black Codes
Congress had tried to temper this with
Freedmen’s Bureau and Civil Rights Bill
Reconstruction with or without the 14th
amendment
Off Year Elections of 1866
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Johnson tries to gain support and unseat
certain Congressmen
Makes speeches in route to Chicago to help
bolster his position
Johnson’s speeches were met with hecklers
Speechmaking got votes for radical
Republicans in Congress
Republicans had a 2/3 majority in both
houses
Republican Principles and
Programs
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Republicans have veto proof control of Congress
Still disagreed over best course for South
Radicals-Led by Charles Sumner in Senate- want
freedom and black equality
Led by Thaddeus Stevens in House
Friend of the black
Defended runaway slaves
Wants to be buried in a black cemetery
Hated rebellious white southerners
Leader of Joint Committee on Reconstruction
Want to keep South out as long as possible
Want drastic social and economic change
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Moderates not supportive of full radical
programs
Want to restrain states from abridging
individual rights rather than involving the
federal government
In the end both groups get some of their
ways
Both groups want to enfranchise the
blacks
Reconstruction by the Sword
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Congress passes the Reconstruction
Act of 1867
Divides South into 5 military districts
Commanded by a Union general
Disfranchised former Confederates
State Requirements
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Ratify the 14th amendment
Give full suffrage to former slaves
Fell short of giving them land or
education
Moderates want to create electorate
that would vote state back into the
Union and free federal govt. of
responsibility of protection of blacks
Radicals Still Worried
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Afraid readmitted states would adjust their
constitutions to hurt blacks
Safeguarded black suffrage by passing the
15th amendment (right to vote) 1870
Military Reconstruction
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Usurped presidential power and set up
martial regime of dubious legality
Ex parte Milligan
1866-Military tribunals could not try civilians
where civilian courts open
Military rule in peacetime was contrary of
spirit of Constitution
Military states forced to comply
Remained until it seemed radicals were
entrenched by government
When left, they returned to white rule by 1877
No Women Voters
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Women felt disappointed that they didn’t get
the vote with the 15th amendment
Felt their struggle for basic rights was the
same
Had given up their struggle to help the blacks
gain their freedom
14th amendment
Women shocked they were left out
Douglas-this is the Negroes hour
Campaigned against it
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Wanted sex added
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The Realities of Radical
Reconstruction in the South
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Lincoln and moderates proposed giving
blacks the right to vote in stages
14th amendment did not give them the
right to vote
Want to enfranchise blacks while whites
could not vote
Hypocritical
Many Northern states didn’t let blacks
vote
Union League
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Blacks organize
quickly
Educated members
in their civic duty
Then expanded to
build black
churches, schools,
represent black
grievances and
recruited militia to
protect blacks
Black Women
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Denied the right to
vote
Attend rallies and
parades and
assembled mass
meetings
Participate in the
national convention
Black delegates
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At state constitutional conventions hold
political power
New state constitutions with whites
Allowed universal male suffrage
Black political participation expands
Hiram Revels and Blanche Bruce of
Mississippi served in DC
Served in local and state govt. positions
Scalawags and Carpetbaggers
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Freedmen’s white allies so named by
former masters
Scalawags were Southerners accused
of plundering State
Carpetbaggers were sleazy Northerners
who came to seek fortune at the
expense of the South
Actually most wanted a role in shaping
the New South
How did the radical regimes
rule?
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Passed needed legislation
Public schools
Tax systems streamlined
Public works
Property rights for women
Graft ran Rampant in Radical
Governments
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Blacks used as pawns for experienced
whites
One carpetbag governor saved
$100,000 on an $8,000 salary
Not necessarily confined to the South
The Ku Klux Klan
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“Invisible Empire of the South”
Resented success or measures of
radical rule
Wore bed sheets to cover identity and
scare victims
Helped to keep blacks and
carpetbaggers in their black
Kept them away from voting
Refuge for bandits
Force Act of 1870 and 1871
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Federal troops able
to stamp out much of
lash law
Too late, damage
had been done
Continued on in
other disguises
South Flaunted the 14th & 15th
Amendments
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Intimidation and fraud
Literacy tests unfairly administered
Goal of white supremacy justified deeds
Johnson Walks the Impeachment
Plank
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Radicals accused Johnson of maintaining a
harem in White House
Decided to get rid of him altogether and
replace him with Ben Wade
Tenure of Office Act of 1867
Johnson veto overridden
Required president to get Senate consent
before removing appointees
Want to freeze into Cabinet Edwin Stanton
who was a spy for radicals
Johnson Dismisses Stanton
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House votes 126-47 to impeach
Johnson
A Not Guilty Verdict for Johnson
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Trial in the Senate
Johnson argues that Tenure of Office
Act unconstitutional and he was testing
it
House prosecutor Ben Butler and
Thaddeus Stevens had a hard time
building the case
May 16, 1868
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Senate fails by one vote to gain 2/3
majority for removal
7 Republicans jumped their party
What shaped the outcome?
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1. Destabilizing precedent or abusing
Constitution
2. Successor would have been Ben Wade
(radical) who was disliked
3.Johnson’s attorney said he would stop
obstructing Republican policies to remain in
office
Country accepts verdict with political maturity
Would have weakened one branch of the
government
Johnson’s greatest crime was to stand in
radical path
The Purchase of Alaska
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Russia wants to sell Alaska
Over extended itself
War with England means they would
lose it anyway
Alaska had been furred out and was
economic liability
Want to sell US to strengthen barrier
against Britain
Seward’s Folly
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William Seward signs treaty to buy
Alaska for $7.2 million
Called Seward’s Folly and Seward’s
Icebox
Many were anti-expansionists
William H.
Seward
Why did it pass?
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Russia had been
friendly to the US
during the Civil War
Did not want to offend
new friend
Rumored to have
great number of furs
The Heritage of Reconstruction
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Southerners resented reconstruction as
much or more than war
Left long lasting scars
Resent upending social, economic, and
political system
Insulted by federal intervention
It’s a wonder Reconstruction was not far
worse for the South
No clear plan after the war
Republicans want to Protect
Freed slaves and Promote their
Party
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Backfired badly
Few benefits to the blacks
Republican party gone from the South
Moderate Republicans never
appreciated the extensive effort
necessary to bring liberty to freed
slaves
Never understood the length the South
would go to preserve their domination
Deep Racism
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Ingrained American resistance to
tampering with property rights, and
loyalty to self government
Along with indifference in the North to
plight of blacks too much to make
successful
South resurrected more than
reconstructed