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Reconstruction 1865-1877

Reconstruction 1865-1877. Mr. Owens. Essential Questions. To what extent were the political, economic, and social effects of the Civil War and Reconstruction revolutionary? What were the short-term successes and long-term failures of Republican-lead Reconstruction from 1865 to 1877?

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Reconstruction 1865-1877

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  1. Reconstruction1865-1877 Mr. Owens

  2. Essential Questions • To what extent were the political, economic, and social effects of the Civil War and Reconstruction revolutionary? • What were the short-term successes and long-term failures of Republican-lead Reconstruction from 1865 to 1877? • What constitutional changes emerged due to the Civil War and how were American identity, national purpose, and definitions of citizenship altered?

  3. Lincoln’s Reconstruction Lincoln’s 10% Plan: • “Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction” (December 1863) • Presidential Pardons to: 1) took loyalty oath to the Union and Constitution & 2) agreed to emancipation. • When 10% of the voting pop. in the 1860 election were “loyal” the state could be reestablished. Wade-Davis Bill (1864) Benjamin Wade (OH) & James Davis (MD) • 50% of the number of 1860 voters to take oath • “Iron-clad Oath” only non-Confederates could vote only if never voluntarily aided the rebellion. • Enacted specific safeguards of freedmen’s liberties. • Lincoln “pocket” vetoed it. Freedmen’s Bureau (March 1865) welfare agency providing food, shelter, & medical aid for former slaves (& homeless whites) • Led by General Oliver Howard • Created 3,000 schools that educated 200,000 freedmen • Attempts to settle blacks on confiscated lands blocked (“40 acres and a mule”)

  4. Johnson’s Reconstruction • Andrew Johnson (TN) Jacksonian Democrat, added to Lincoln’s ticket in ‘64 to lure pro-Union Democrats, white supremacist who clashed with Republican goals Presidential Reconstruction: • Similar to Lincoln’s plan • Disenfranchised Confederate civil and military officers & wealthy ($20,000 or more) States had to ratify 13th Amendment. • Johnson granted 13,500 special pardons. • None of the new state constitutions extended voting rights to blacks - result? • 1866 Northern Republicans refused to seat ex-Confederates including former VP Alexander Stephens Black Codes: restricted rights of former slaves Including: 1. couldn’t rent land or borrow $ 2. Forced “vagrants” into contract-labor 3. Couldn’t testify against whites in court Johnson Vetoes: Freedmen’s Bureau re-charter & Civil Rights Act to nullify black codes, but Congress overrides both in 1866 - 29 vetoes but 15 overridden by Republican Congress

  5. “Radical” Republicans • Radical Republicans led by Charles Sumner in Senate & Thaddeus Stevens in House wanted to punish the South & extend rights to former slaves • Civil Rights Act of 1866 – all blacks were citizens & attempted to eliminate black codes • 14th Amendment (June 1866 – ratified by states 1868) • Citizenship Clause: All persons born or naturalized in U.S. are citizens (including former slaves) • Due Process & Equal Protection Clause: States can’t deny rights, “equal protection” or “due process” to any U.S. citizen • Disqualified former Confederate political leaders from holding state or fed. office. • Confederate states must pay off debts. • Punished states that denied black suffrage by reducing members of Congress & electoral college

  6. Radical Reconstruction & Impeachment • Johnson’s “Swing Around the Circle” 1866 midterm campaign backfired – Republicans gained 3 to 1 majority in Congress Reconstruction Acts of 1867 • Required new state constitutions, including black suffrage and ratification of the 13th and 14th Amendments. • Divide the 10 “unreconstructed states” into 5 military districts “Military Reconstruction” Johnson Impeachment: • Command of the Army Act& Tenure of Office Act: Pres. couldn’t remove Generals or officials [esp. Cabinet] without the Senate’s consent. • Johnson fires Sec. of War Edwin Stanton claiming laws unconstitutional • Johnson Impeached in 1868 but 1 vote shy of removal in 3 month Senate trial

  7. Election of 1868 & Grant Election of 1868: Ulysses S. Grant victory over Horatio Seymour in ugly campaign “waving the bloody shirt” due to in part victory in South – lesson? 15th Amendment: • Passed in 1869 - Ratified in 1870. • The right to vote can’t be denied by the fed or state government“on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” • Congressshall enforce it. • Women’s rights groups were furious – why? Civil Rights Act of 1875 • Guaranteed equal accommodations in public places & forbid courts from banning blacks from juries • Law was poorly enforced & ignored • No significant Civil Rights legislation for 89 years

  8. Reconstruction in the South • Republican government dominated South during Military occupation • Democrats attempted to undermine Republicans as “Carpetbaggers” & “Scalawags” • African American legislators: Freedmen controlled lower house in South Carolina & 2 black senators from Mississippi: Hiram Revels (1870) & Blanche Bruce (1875) & 20 blacks served in House of Reps – Next black Senator from South? • Myth of “Colored Rule” – undermined support Building Black Communities: • Reunited with families, many moved to cities. • Rise of Negro Baptist and American Methodists Episcopal (AME) churches • New black colleges - Howard, Atlanta, Fisk, Morehouse - train black ministers & teachers • Rise of Sharecropping (tenant farming) landlord seed & supplies in exchange for ½ of the harvest, by 1880 less than 5% were landowners

  9. The North During Reconstruction • Rise of “Spoilsmen” – Republican leadership shifted from reformers to Party Bosses like Sen. Roscoe Conkling & James Blaine • Corruption: • Jay Gould & James Fisk corner the Gold Market in 1869 • Credit Mobilier Scandal – profiteering & graft from transcontinental railroad • Whiskey Ring – Fed agents & distillers defrauded gov. of millions • “Grantism” • Boss Tweed Ring of Tammany Hall urban politcal machine corruption in NYC • Election of 1872: despite scandals Grant defeats reform-minded Horace Greeley editor of NY Tribune • Panic of 1873: overspeculation & overbuilding by railroads led to high bankruptcy, unemployment & debt

  10. End of Reconstruction • Radical Republicans in decline & northern focus on economic issues • White supremacy reigns in South • Ku Klux Klan “invisible empire” founded in 1867 by Nathan Bedford Forrest lynchings & violence to suppress black votes • Force Acts in 1870 & 1871 use of federal military to crush Klan operations • Amnesty Act of 1872: pardon all Confederates except top leaders. Led to white Southern Democrat “Redeemers” regaining control of South • Election of 1876: Republican moderate Rutherford B. Hayes of OH vs. NY reform governor Dem Samuel Tilden. Disputed result but Tilden appeared in lead. • Compromise of 1877: • Hayes gets the presidency • Immediate end of military Reconstruction in South • Support for Southern transcontinental railroad “Ruther-fraud Hayes” “His Fraudulency”

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