Reconstruction (1865-1876)

1. Reconstruction (1865-1876)

2. Key Questions 1. How do webring the Southback into the Union? 4. What branchof governmentshould controlthe process ofReconstruction? 2. How do we rebuild the South after itsdestruction during the war? 3. How do weintegrate andprotect newly-emancipatedblack freedmen?

3. President Lincoln’s Plan • 10% Plan • Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (December 8, 1863) • He didn’t consult Congress regarding Reconstruction. • Pardon to all but the highest ranking military and civilian Confederate officers. • When 10% of the voting population in the 1860 election had taken an oath of loyalty and established a government, it would be recognized.

4. President Johnson’s Plan (10%+) • Offered amnesty upon simple oath to all except Confederate civil and military officers and those with property over $20,000 (they could apply directly to Johnson) • In new constitutions, they must accept minimumconditions repudiating slavery, secession and state debts. • Named provisional governors in Confederate states and called them to oversee elections for constitutional conventions.

5. Black Codes • Purpose: • Limit rights of newly freedmen. • Keep whites in power. • Forced many blacks to become sharecroppers[tenant farmers].

6. Freedmen’s Bureau (1865) • Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. • Many former northern abolitionists risked their lives to help southern freedmen. • Helped with schools, training and legal support for rights

7. Radical (Congressional) Reconstruction

8. 14th Amendment • Ratified in July, 1868. • Provide a constitutional guarantee of the rights and security of freed people. • Southern states would be punished for denying the right to vote to black citizens!

9. Military Reconstruction Act • Restart in the 10 Southern states that refused to ratify the 14th Amendment. • Divide the 10 “unreconstructed states” into 5 military districts. • Required new state constitutions, includingblack suffrage and ratification of the 13th and 14th Amendments. Reconstruction Acts of 1867

10. Northern Support Wanes • “Panic of 1873 [6-yeardepression]. $ fears • Concern over westwardexpansion and Indian wars. • Key issues: • Tired of dealing with South. • Believed all that could be • done for African-Americans had been done.

11. The Civil Rights Act of 1875 • Crime for any individual to deny full &equal use of public conveyances andpublic places. • Prohibited discrimination in jury selection. • Shortcoming lacked a strong enforcement mechanism. • Declared unconstitutional in 1883

12. Election of 1876 • Election of Republican Rutherford Hayes comes with support from Southern states. • Hayes “agreed” to end Reconstruction in order to get votes. • 1877 – Federal government begins to end most Reconstruction actions • By 1890, South is mostly segregated again, with whites in power at all levels.

13. Plessy v Ferguson 1896 • Homer Plessy, who was legally an African-American, sat in a “Whites only” section of a train. • He was convicted of violating state segregation law. • Case appealed to the Supreme Court, saying that he was being denied 14th Amendment “equal protection”. • Court ruled that separate facilities do not equal discrimination. • “Separate but equal” lasts till Brown (1954)

14. The West . . . Where is that? • The Great Plains –Rockies to Missouri, Canada to Texas • Climate and Terrain During the 1820s, called “The Great American Desert.” • Rainfall=15 inches annual • Cold/Hot, lack of timber • Indian Removal zone designated here because of those features

15. Ok … So why go then? • Personal- opportunity, adventure, and better land versus a better life. Safety Value?? • Intellectual- Manifest Destiny. Its my destiny, give it to me. • Practical- Government Actions • Transcontinental Railroad = economic Reality in 1862 • Land- Homestead Act, Morrill Land Grant Act, Timber Culture Act of 1873 • Cheap to buy, tough to stay 2/3 fail, many perish • Motives???

16. Who am I? Why am I here? • Waves/ Ebb and Flow 1849-1890, think push/pull concept, who comes/goes and when. Mining Frontier 1849 California, subsequent strikes go east • Comstock Lode ’59 • Colorado ’59 • Black Hills 1874 • Boom Town to Ghost Town • Settlement to Statehood – Nevada, Idaho, Montana • Money and wealth, but limited on the Manifest Destiny Idea

17. Who am I? Why am I here? • Farming Frontier 1862-1890, key to settlement/conquering • NE farmers, Southern Whites, “Exodusters,” and soon other trades • Technology = Steel Plow, Wind Mill, barbed wire, and RR make it viable • Reciprocal Relationships built on Difficult Journey, hard daily life.

18. Who am I? Why am I here? • Cattle Frontier 1867-1887 • Pre-civil war = unprofitable, Demand, transportation, and “Texas Fever” • Post Civil War- Joseph McCoy, Abilene Kansas, RR outside regulation • 10 times price increase =$$$ • Who-White 20+% African American and Hispanic • Wild West/ open Range = Land and Money Pressures

19. We Were Here 1st, Mostly! • Native Americans – Who?? • 1) Relocated : Cherokee, Chippewa • 2) Plains: Sioux, Cheyenne, Blackfoot, Crow • Lifestyle – What ? • 1) Nomadic hunters – horse/bison • 2) Government: Clan/band = chief & council • 3) War: Brief w/purpose, Coup • 4) Division of labor = gender respect ?

20. Government PoliciesA History of Broken Promises • 4 Historical Attempts to deal with the • “Indian Problem” • 1) Plains as a reservation 1820-1850 • a) Why ?

21. Perpetuity Means What ? • 2) Reservations Proper 1850 – 1860’s • a) Triggered by clashes caused by overland travel and settlement • b) Land granted “in perpetuity” • c) Natives stay in, supplemented by gov’t food/supplies. Whites stay out !! • d) Black Hills as exemplar

22. “Kill and Scalp them all …” • 3) War – Massacres back and forth: Minnesota: Sioux 1862 Sand Creek 1864 Fetterman 1866 Little Big Horn 1876

23. Make Them White ! • 4) Dawes Act 1887: • a) Land to individuals • b) Tribal governments dissolved • c) Youth sent to “Indian schools” – training to be contributing members • d) Corruption and racism cripple • e) Status ???