Reconstruction

1. Reconstruction

2. Reconstruction • 1865-1877 • Very complicated period of time during which the US: • Began to rebuild after Civil War • Readmitted southern states • Lots of disagreement on process

3. Lincoln’s plans • Intended to be lenient to southerners & southern states • If states weren’t legally allowed to secede, they never actually did • People rebelled, not states • Individual people can be pardoned by the president

4. Lincoln’s 10% Plan • Proclamation of Amnesty & Reconstruction (Dec 1863) • All rebels pardoned except: • High ranking Confederate officials • Accused of mistreatment of POWs • State could rejoin union if 10% of 1860’s voters swore allegiance

5. Dissent to Lincoln’s Plan • Radical Republicans wanted to: • Seize former slaveholders’ property • Redistribute seized property to freed slaves • Give former slaves full citizenship • Allow former slaves to vote

6. Radical Republican leaders Thaddeus Stevens (PA) & Charles Sumner (MD)

7. Andrew Johnson (TN) • 17th president • Took over after assassination • Dem – picked by Lincoln to be VP for national unity

8. Andrew Johnson (TN) • Only southern senator to remain loyal to US • Strong abolitionist • Hated plantation owners – thought war was their fault

9. Andrew Johnson (TN) • Universally hated • Southerners hated him – traitor • Radical Reps hated him – dirty southerner

10. Presidential Reconstruction • Johnson’s plan for reconstruction • States would be readmitted if they: • Withdraw secession • Swear allegiance to union • Cancel war debts against US gov • Ratify 13th amendment

11. Presidential Reconstruction • Not included in plan: • Land rights for freed slaves • Voting rights for freed slaves • Legal protection for freed slaves • Radical Republicans were upset that these were missing

12. Presidential Reconstruction • Southern states quickly followed his instructions • Held conventions: • Wrote new state constitutions • Set up new state governments • Elected new Congressmen

13. End of Pres Reconstruction • Congress refused to admit new southern congressmen • Almost all of them were either former CSA congressmen or CSA military officers

14. Freedmen’s Bureau • Congress proposed bill to continue & increase work of FB • Assisted former slaves & some poor whites in south • Distributed clothes & food • Built hospitals & schools

15. Civil Rights Act of 1866 • Congress proposed bill to give freed slaves basic rights • Would make freedmen citizens • Would outlaw discriminatory laws like Black codes

16. Black Codes • Postwar laws in south restricting rights of blacks: • Ownership of property • Carrying weapons • Interracial marriage • Serving on juries • Testifying against whites • Ability to move or travel

17. Johnson’s vetoes • Andrew Johnson vetoed: • Freedmen’s Bureau law • Civil Rights Act • Angered moderate Republicans who had been on his side

18. Congressional Reconstruction • Moderate & Radical Republicans joined forces • Overrode veto of Civil Rights Act • Wrote 14th Amendment

19. 14th Amendment • Everyone born within the boundaries of US is a citizen • Citizens have equal protection of the law • Did not include right to vote

20. 1866 Congressional election • Johnson campaigned for congressional candidates who would support him • Campaigned with Ulysses Grant • Public loved Grant, hated Johnson

21. 1866 Congressional election • Race riots erupted all around south • Fear that national government would step in to protect former slaves • Republicans won huge majority in Congress • Could override president’s vetoes

22. Reconstruction Act of 1867 • Abolished new state govs formed in former CSA • Divided south into 5 military districts headed by union generals • States had to guarantee blacks’ voting rights to be readmitted

23. Reconstruction Act of 1867 • Johnson vetoed act • Congress overrode Johnson’s veto • Johnson vowed not to enforce act

24. Impeachment • Radical Republicans wanted to impeach Johnson for not enforcing Reconstruction Act • Was formally accused of misconduct in office

25. Tenure of Office Act • Congress passed law saying: • President can’t fire a former president’s cabinet member unless Senate ok’s it • Johnson fired Secretary of War Edwin Stanton

26. Impeachment • House impeached Johnson • Accused him of wrongdoing • Senate did not have the 2/3 vote required to expel Johnson • 1 vote away from kicking him out

27. 15th Amendment • Passed in 1870 • No one can be denied suffrage because of: • Race • Color • Previous condition of servitude

28. Postwar in the South • By 1870, all southern states readmitted to union • State govs were all Republican • Dems & Confeds were not given positions of power

29. Physical & economic conditions • Property values plummeted • Land was destroyed • People who held CSA bonds or held CSA $ were out of luck • All southerners (exc freedmen) poorer than before war

30. Public works programs • Congress did all this stuff: • Built roads, railroads & bridges • Built orphanages, public schools & hospitals • Expected states to help pay for projects • But they couldn’t afford it

31. Politics in postwar south • Scalawags • Southern insult for southerners who joined the Republicans • Many trying to get ahead economically • Small farmers looking for a way to get a leg up on wealthy planters

32. Politics in postwar south • Carpetbaggers • Southern insult for yankees who came down to exploit poor southerners • Some worked for Freedmen’s Bureau & came to help • Some wanted to start new businesses & industries in area

33. African American voters • 90% of Black voters Republican • Large numbers of blacks registered to vote • Sometimes outnumbered whites

34. Changes in voting • High # of blacks voting alarmed scalawags • Many didn’t believe in civil rights and started voting for Democrats

35. Republicans react • Republicans gave jobs to some Democrats • Trying to convince southern whites to vote Republican • Didn’t convince them, just alienated black voters

36. Education • 80% of freedmen had been illiterate • Had been illegal to teach them to read • Many early professors & teachers were northern whites • Schools & colleges formed by Freedmen’s Bureau & churches • Like Morehouse College in ATL

37. Hiram Revels (R, MS) • 1st black senator • 1 of 16 black Congressmen during Reconstruction • Minister • Had served as captain in union army

38. Restoration of plantations • People who wanted to restore plantations to original owners: • Planters whose land was taken • Northern textile merchants who did business with them • Poor southern whites wanting to stay superior to blacks

39. Sharecropping • Landowners subdivided land into small plots • Gave workers land, seed, tools • Owners took ~50% of crops

40. Tenant farming • Farmers pay rent for the land, keep all of the crops • Only if they can save up the $ • Very few sharecroppers could

41. Economic depression • Demand for cotton dropped • Dropped prices • Foreign countries found other sources for cotton they needed • Southern planters overreacted & planted too much cotton • Drove prices down even more

42. Economic depression • Planters couldn’t repay loans • Banks failed • No $ available for new loans • People couldn’t buy land, tools, start businesses, etc. • People stayed poor

43. Opposition to reconstruction • Some southern whites violently opposed Republicans & blacks • Most southern whites just went about their business

44. KKK • Originally a social club for former confederates • Expanded rapidly through south • Some local groups became violent terrorist organizations

45. KKK • Used intimidation – stop blacks from exercising political rights • Threatened whites who helped or did business with blacks too

46. KKK in southern elections • KKK’s intimidation so bad that most blacks didn’t vote at all • Dems eventually won elections for control over south • Then changed voting laws to restrict black voting

47. Congress vs. the KKK • Enforcement Acts 1870-1871 • Southern elections monitored • President could send troops to put KKK down

48. KKK’s decline • Declined because they mostly got what they wanted • Dems got back total control • Blacks had rights taken away • No need to keep fighting

49. Amnesty Act (1872) • Allowed 150,000 former confederates to vote again • Mostly voted for Democrats

50. U.S. Grant’s Scandals • President Grant was one of the worst presidents in history • Put corrupt people in positions under him – personal friends • Left them alone to ruin things