Download The Reconstruction Era

The
Reconstructio
n
Era
1865-1877
LINCOLN’S VIEW OF
RECONSTRUCTION
• A matter of restoring
legitimate state governments
• Federal government should
NOT punish the South
–“with malice towards none,
with charity for all…to bind
up the nations wounds…”
LINCOLN’S
RECONSTRUCTION PLAN
• Proclamation of Amnesty and
Reconstruction – Dec. 1863
–Pardons for oath of allegiance
• 10% Plan
–May form state gov’t as soon
as 10% take oath of
allegiance
RADICAL REPUBLICANS’
PROPOSAL
• Wade-Davis Bill – Congress
responsible for Reconstruction not
the President
• Majority of voters must take oath of
allegiance not 10%
• Lincoln pocket vetoed the bill
• Radicals angry – want to punish
the south for secession
Lincoln’s Reconstruction
Plan does not go into effect
• Assassinated by John Wilkes
Booth
• Andrew Johnson becomes
president – Southern democrat–Continues Lincoln’s plan
• Radical Republicans challenge
Johnson’s plan
PRESIDENTIAL
RECONSTRUCTION
• Re-admission requirements
–Declare secession illegal
–Swear allegiance to the Union
–Do not pay Confederate debts
–Ratify 13th Amendment
• All southern states except TX
readmitted by Dec. 1865
STEPS TAKEN TO HELP
FORMER SLAVES
• Congress organized the
Freedman’s Bureau to help
blacks find jobs, protect rights,
establish hospitals and schools
• 13th Amendment passed
prohibiting slavery
Southern Whites Limit the
Freedoms of Ex-Slaves
• White-controlled state
governments pass laws called
“BLACK CODES”
–Allow worker exploitation
–Allow whipping
–Limit speech, travel, deny voting
rights, imprisonment and bar court
testimony against whites
Southern Whites Limit the
Freedoms of Ex-Slaves
• White-controlled state
governments pass laws called
“BLACK CODES”
–Allow worker exploitation
–Allow whipping
–Limit speech, travel, deny voting
rights, imprisonment and bar court
testimony against whites
Southern Whites Limit the
Freedoms of Ex-Slaves
• In the first two years after the
Civil War, 5000 AfricanAmericans are murdered by
whites- often by lynching
• Secret organizations, such as the
Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, are
founded by whites to intimidate
Blacks
CONGRESSIONAL
RECONSTRUCTION
• Northern Republicans are convinced
that Johnson’s Plan is not working
– Black Codes, the KKK, and Confederate
officials still in office at state and
federal levels cited as evidence
• Radical Republicans are the most
critical
• Thaddeus Stephens (PA) is the most
vocal critic- leads the Radical
Republicans
The Reconstruction Act of 1867
is passed. Known as Radical
Reconstruction or
Congressional Reconstruction,
this act clearly was designed to
punish the South for the Civil
War, increase the rights of
African-Americans, disfranchise
ex-confederates, and delay the
readmission of states until
republican governments
established
CONGRESSIONAL
RECONSTRUCTION PLAN
• Require the majority of voters in a
secessionist state to take an oath
of loyalty and a second “Iron-clad”
oath stating that they did not
support the Confederacy
• Individual governments had to
outlaw slavery
• Former confederate officials were
banned from voting for state
legislators
CONGRESSIONAL
RECONSTRUCTION PLAN
• Pass the 14th Amendment
• All qualified voters, blacks
included were to elect a
governor and a state legislature
• Other Reconstruction Acts will
follow to strengthen
enforcement of the first act.
JOHNSON VETOS THE ACT
• Unfair to the South
• Congress over-rides the veto
• Invalidate the state governments
re-admitted under the Lincoln and
Johnson Plans. Only Tennessee
will escape because they ratified
the 14th Amendment before the Act
was passed
TEN STATES UNDER MARTIAL
LAW
• States that had not ratified the
14th Amendment were divided
into five military districts
• Military will oversee elections
concerning new state
constitutions and governments
• Once conditions met
Reconstruction will be complete
IMPEACHMENT CRISIS
• Johnson uses executive power
to impede Congressional
Reconstruction.
–Replaced sympathetic radical
military officials with
conservatives
–Defied the Tenure of Office Act
and fires Secretary of War
Stanton, a radical sympathizer
IMPEACHMENT CRISIS
• House of Representatives voted to
impeach Johnson
• Senate trial held- Johnson’s
lawyers argue that Tenure of Office
Act is unconstitutional and not
guilty of a crime indictable in court
• Johnson remains in office- The
vote fell one vote short of the twothirds needed to remove him from
office
RECONSTRUCTION
GOVERNMENTS
• Most states are re-admitted by
1870.
• Republicans will control the
South until 1877
–President U.S. Grant will uphold
tough reconstruction policies
–Carpetbaggers and Scalawags
–Southern Blacks
RECONSTRUCTION ENDS
• Use of violence keeps blacks away
from the polls
• Northerners lost interest in
Reconstruction
• Compromise of 1877- Rutherford
B. Hayes is awarded the
Presidency in exchange for a
promise to removed federal troops
from the south. Some troops
remain but do not serve a political
function
ACHIEVEMENTS OF
RECONSTRUCTION
• States restored to the Union
and rebuilding begun.
• Public schools established
• 14th and 15th Amendments
passed
Reconstruction Amendments
• 13th Amendment- Abolished
slavery
• 14th Amendment- Blacks are
citizens of the United States
– Intended to strengthen 1866 Civil
Rights Act
• 15th Amendment- Prohibited denial
of suffrage because of race, color,
or previous condition of servitude
Reconstruction’s Failures
• Failed to solve the problems of
blacks
–Too poor to afford land, many
former slaves are exploited
under the sharecropping system
–Southern economic expansion is
slowed by westward expansion
–“Jim Crow” laws passed to limit
the rights of blacks
“Jim Crow”
• Southern state governments
passed laws forcing segregation
and creating barriers to voting
rights, such as poll taxes and
grand-father clauses.
• The Supreme Court will uphold
“Jim Crow” in 1895 by its ruling in
Plessy vs. Ferguson
Black Resistance to “Jim Crow”
• Ida B. Wells- anti-lynching crusader,
appealed to the federal government
to stop lynching
• Booker T. Washington- equality via
vocational education- accepted social
segregation
• W.E.B. DuBois- education is
meaningless without equality- strive
for higher education (college)
– Founded the NAACP
Because Reconstruction was
implemented by
Republicans, white
southerners voted for
Democratic candidates.
This created a Bloc known
as the “Solid South.”