“Radical Reconstruction”???

1. “Radical Reconstruction”??? Failure to implement truly radical measures during reconstruction failed to truly help southern Blacks while thoroughly angering and alienating southern whites.

2. I. After Appomattox: The Ultimate Questions • How do you reconstruct the Union? • How far should the federal government go to insure Black freedom and civil rights?

3. II. Philosophies of Reconstruction • Presidential --quick restoration with minimal protection for southern Blacks • Congressional -- “loyal” southern governments to replace ex-confederates --Southern Blacks need basic rights of American citizenship

4. III. Presidential Reconstruction • Lincoln’s 10% plan • Battle over who had the power to reconstruct the Union • Andrew Johnson’s background --hated southern planters --no friend of Blacks • Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan (May, 1865)

5. IV. Radical Republicans Gain the Upper Hand • Johnson’s controversial vetoes • Johnson’s opposition to the 14th amendment • The “Swing Around the Circle” (1866) • Republicans won veto-proof majorities in the 1866 election

6. V. Congressional Reconstruction (Begins in 1867) • Reconstruction Act of 1867 • Military rule of the south • Readmission of states with guarantees of Black suffrage • Exclusion of ex-Confederates from government office • Radicals wanted redistribution of land to Blacks—too radical

7. VI. The Impeachment Crisis • Johnson tries to obstruct congressional reconstruction with executive privilege • Tenure of Office Act • Johnson tries to remove Secretary of War Stanton • Impeachment and Trial in the Senate • Process neutralized Johnson

8. VII. Reconstruction in the South • A Condition of Ruin • “Forty Acres and a Mule” • Blacks resist gang labor after the War • Development of Sharecropper system • Black Codes • The Segregated South • Freedmen faced violence if they tried to vote

9. VIII. The Southern Republican Party • Hastily organized for 1868 elections • Three constituencies: --southern Blacks --northern businessmen --poor, white farmers • Some success, some corruption • Blacks held only limited political offices in the south

10. IX. The Fifteenth Amendment • Highpoint of Reconstruction era • Ratified in 1870 • Ambiguous wording allowed the future use of literacy tests, poll taxes, and property requirements • Worked to divide the feminist movement

11. X. Grant and the Retreat from Reconstruction • Rise of the Ku Klux Klan between 1868-1872 • Inconsistent use of federal troops to protect Black voters • Northern disenchantment with “propping up” corrupt southern state governments • Open southern appeal to white supremacy after 1872

12. X. Retreat from Reconstruction (cont.) • Grant administration facing charges of corruption -- Credit Mobilier scandal • Radical Republicans dying or out of office • Civil service reform replaces Black civil rights as the major political issue of the time

13. XI. The Compromise of 1877 • The election of 1876 • Tilden vs. Hayes • Disputed votes in the electoral college • Electoral commission fell under Republican control • Hayes’ victory in exchange for southern “home rule” • Eliminates Republican party in the south

14. XII. The “New South” • Redemption governments • Laissez-faire policies and white supremacy • Northern industry attracted to no taxes and low wages for workers • Corrupt governments

15. XII. “The New South” (cont.) • Lynchings common • Poor whites neglected just as much as Blacks • Some Blacks continue to vote until the 1890’s • Supreme Court decisions between 1875-1896 gutted Reconstruction --Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

16. XII. “The New South” (cont.) • Signs of sectional healing: Battlefield reunions • Sectional reconciliation made possible by northern abandonment of Black rights • “Lost Cause” myth also helps reconcile the two regions • Blacks bore the burden of sectional reconciliation