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Chapter 16

Chapter 16 . The Crises of Reconstruction, 1865-1877. Reconstruction Politics, ’65-68. For nation & blacks, end of war = turning point & uncharted possibilities Union sought reunion, not military conquest Constitutional amendments A presidential impeachment

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Chapter 16

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  1. Chapter 16 The Crises of Reconstruction, 1865-1877

  2. Reconstruction Politics, ’65-68 • For nation & blacks, end of war = turning point & uncharted possibilities • Union sought reunion, not military conquest • Constitutional amendments • A presidential impeachment • Ambitious legislation: Reconstruction Acts of ’67-68 • Enfranchisement of black men: unexpected • Supported by R. Republicans • Charles Sumner (MA) & Thaddeus Stevens (PA)

  3. Lincoln’s Plan L issued Proclamation of Amnesty & Reconstruction in ’63 • 10% of 1860’s voters take oath of allegiance • Exclude Conf. Officials & officers: must apply for prez. Pardoned • Excluded blacks • Wanted to woe southern Unionist, also former Whigs, and to build southern Repub. party

  4. Radical Republican’s plans • Wanted to bar more ex-Conf. fr. Politics • Wade-Davis bill passed in ’64 • Former Conf. states ruled by military governor • ½ eligible voters take oath of allegiance • Delegates to state convention must repeal secession & abolish slavery • “ironclad” oath: never voluntarily supported Conf • Excluded blacks (supported by small Radicals) • Differ fr. L’s plan: delay readmission indefinitely • L pocket-vetoed it: failed to sign w/in 10 days Congress’ adjournment • Causing impasse between Congress and L

  5. Andrew Johnson: prez by accident Andrew Johson (NC) was military governor of TN in 62-64 • Strong anti-Conf. & anti- s. aristocrats • Self-educated; a taylor • Enter politics as spokesman for nonslaveholding • Owned 8 slaves • Neither adopted abolitionist ideals nor challenged racist views • Lifelong Democrat but was added to Republican ticket

  6. Pres. Reconstruction under Johnson His plan while Congress was out of session • AL, FL, GA, MI, NC, SC, TX = 7 states still x/out reconstruction gov’t to be readmitted • Almost all who took oath got pardoned & properties restored • Oath takers repudiates state debt during war & ratify 13th Amendment • Disqualified all rich Ex-Conf • Differ fr. L’s plan: Conf. officers were excluded • Result by ’65: all 7 restored civil gov’t as in prewar • GA sent Alexander Stephens (Conf VP) as senator

  7. Black Codes in 7 states To ensure labor from landless, dependent black • Black codes replaced slave codes • Retain basic rights (13th Amend): marry, own property, make contracts, testify against blacks Codes restricted behavior • No intermarriage, no jury by blacks, can’t testify against whites, • Barred former slaves from leaving plantations • Special liscense for non-agricultural job • Arrest as vagrants: required annual contract between landowners and black workers • Lawbreaker (failed to sign): involuntary servitude • Union Army & Freemen’s Bureau helped stop enforcement of black code

  8. Congress vs. Johnson Johnson’ plan—sneaky– alienated moderate Republicans Moderate & Radical cooperated to invalidate black codes • Voted to extend the Freemen’s Bureau fro 3 yrs. But Johnson vetoed it • Congress overrode by Supplementary Freemen’s Bureau • Johnson also vetoed the civil rights bill but Congress overrode & it became the Civil Rights Act of 1866

  9. The 14th Amendment, ’66: firestorm Adopted in April 1866 • born or naturalized in US = citizens of nation & state • Nullified Dred Scott decision on ’57 • If state denies suffrage to male citizen, it’ll lose representation in Congress • Disqualified all prewar officeholders who supported Conf. • Repudiated Conf. debt & validated federal debt • 1 national effort to limit state control of civil & political rights

  10. Congressional Reconstruction, ’66-67 Republicans overrode Johnson’s vetoes to enact series of Reconstruction act to refine & enforce the first one • Invalidate state gov’ts (except TN) formed under L & Johnson • Enfranchise black males & disenfranchise many ex-Conf. • Provided only temporary military rule • Didn’t prosecute Conf. leaders for treason • No confiscation or redistribution of property • Thaddeus Stephens wanted to give 40 acre to former slaves & crush s. aristocracy

  11. The Impeachment Crises, ’67-68 • Johnson suspended Secretary of War Stanton & replaced him w/ Gen. Grant • Senate refused to approve so Johnson placed Lorenzo Thomas instead of Grant • The House approved 11 charges of impeachment • Mainly for violating the Tenure of Office Act of 67 • Act prohibited prez from removing civil officers w/out Senate consent • But Senate voted against impeachment 39 to 19 due to distrust of Benjamin Wade (would be prez.)

  12. The 15th Amendment • 15th Amend (1870): prohibited the denial of suffrage by the states to any citizen on account of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude” • VA, MISS, GA, TX must ratify for reunion • Democrats apposed the 15th: say it violates states’ right • Loopholes: no guarantee black officeholding; doesn’t prohibited restrictions---property required, literacy test

  13. & Women Suffrage ’69-70 • Abolitionists sought to revive women’s rights • Rad. Rep & F. Douglass: black men deserve priority • E. C. Stanton & S. B. Anthony disagreed • “male” included in 14th disabled women • 15th failed to prohibit the denial of suffrage on account of sex…increased women’s disadvantages • Promoted federal women suffrage • Women split:1. American Woman Suffrage Ass (Boston, suffrage in states) by Lucy Stone & Julia Ward Howe…2.Nat’l Woman Suffrage Ass. In NY • Wyoming & Utah in ’69 & 70: enfranchised women • Minor vs. Happersett (’75) ruled: state could deny women the vote

  14. Reconstruction gov’ts Republican rule was short : 5-10 yrs. • Opposition fr. Southern democrats • Unique: black men including ex-slaves participated. • Black men got democratic political rights: no other liberated society (Haiti nor Carribbean) granted that to them

  15. A New Electorate Reconstruction laws of ’67-68 disenfranchise 10-15% of white voters & enfranchised 700TH freedmen; outnumbering whites by 100Th = majority in 5 states Republicans got a base in the South for 1st time • Carpetbaggers: northerners w/ so few possessions, seeking wealth • Diverse people: teachers, missionaries, Freemen Bureu’s agents • Southern scalawags: “poor & ignorant whites’ • Entrepreneurs who embraced nat’l banking & tarrifs • Rich planters—former Whig– apposed succession • Most were small farmers fr. NC, GA, AL, Ark = indifferent about black rights/suffrage • Many later switched back to Democratic Party • Freemen: “manipulated by Republicans” • Backbone of S. Rupublicanism, which lasted longest in SC, MISS, AL, & LA

  16. Freedmen & officeholding • Backbone of S. Rupublicanism but held 1 in 5 political offices at most • Served in all southern legislatures: majority in SC (60% black pop.) • Filled many high posts in LA, MiSS, & SC • No black governor • 2 senators: Hiram Revels and Blanche K. Bruce in Miss • House of Rep: 6% of members were black (1/2 fr. SC) • State level: elite, 43% of SC’s black legislators were mulattoes; secondary & higher education • Local level: more ex-slaves, not as educated

  17. Republican Rule • Republican admin. Began reforms after power shifted from fed. Army to new state gov’ts. • Roads, bridges, public buildings, institutions for orphans, insane, & disabled, • Expanded state bureucracies, raised salaries for gov’t employees, formed state militia (heavily black) • Created public schools…almost non-exsistent in the S • Needed $$$, so levied tax on land properties & poll tax…Southerners saw Republican rule as punishment

  18. Counter Attacks • Democrats assailed Republican delegates of NC Consitutional convention“Ethiopian minstrelsy..baboons, monkeys, mules… and other jackasses” • GA Dem. Challenged black legislator’s eligibility & expelled them causing Fed. To establish military rule in GA • Woed scalawags • Intimidate freed blacks by: shooting, rape, arson, roasting, severe and inhuman beating • Knights of the White Camelia in LA • KKK: by 6 ex Conf. vets in TN; existed everywhere in the South by 1868 • Widespread terrorist movement • Violent instrument of the Democratic party

  19. The Ku Klux Klan & vigilantes • Goals: suppressed black vote, establish white supremacy, & topple the Reconstruction gov’ts • Targets: Freemen’s Bureau’s officials, white Republicans (AL), black militia units, successful blacks, schools (Miss)& black voters • Gen. Nathan Bedford Forest: massacred black soldiers in Fort Pillow in TN

  20. The Ku Klux Klan & vigilantes • Enforcement Act in ’70 by Congress to protect black voters • Witness afraid to testify against vigilantes • Local juries refused to convict them • 2nd Enforcement Act in ’71: fed supervision of s. elections • 3rd Enforcement Act or KKK Act (2 months later): strengthen prez. Power • Send fed. Troops & suspend habeas corpus; most terrorists escaped conviction • Fed. Gov’t never provided military presence large enough to suppress vigilantism; Fed power diminished • Freemen’s Bureau died in ’69 • Enforcements Acts = dead!!

  21. The Impact of Emancipation: Confronting Freedom • Emancipation caused migration w/in the S • To areas of needed labor & high wages • To towns & cities: Urban black pop. Rose 75% in 60s • To find family members: 1870 eight out of 10 families in S. were 2-parent families… same as whites

  22. Black Institutions • Emancipation increased churches • African Methodist Episcopal church • Founded by Philadelphia blacks in 1790s • Negro Baptist originated fr. Plantation “prayer meetings” • Churches: relief, funds schools, supported Republican policies, political leaders, pillar of authority • School: Eager to learn, Freedmen’s Bureau suppervised, American Missionary ASS. Helped found Howard, Atlanta, & Fisk universities • Education limited: lack of access. & KKK, underfunded, & segregation, black codes,

  23. Labor, Land, & Sharecropping • “40 acres & a mule” originated in ’64 when Gen. W.T. Sherman set aside land on the SC Sea Islands for black settlement • Land signifies independence & security • black landownership failed to materialize • neither Congress nor states imposed large scale land reform • Attempts: Southern Homestead Act in ’66 by Congress • 44M acres land in 5 S. states for freemen, but soil was poor • Whites limited black mobility & independence to ensure labor on plantations through black codes • Sharecropping: new system includes division of plantation into tenancies (30-50 acres) rented to blacks for a share of crop • Both shared risk of loss of crop • whites (1/3 of w. farmers) became sharecroppers & outnumbered blacks

  24. Toward a Crop-Lien Economy • Sharecroppers relied on local merchants for credit • Merchant put lien on next crop w/ interest rates of 50%+ … high debt • Illiterate tenants as victim • Debt forced tenants to be tied to land, cotton, and sharecropping • Grew only easily marketable cash crops • Erod soil, no capital to invest in tech., locked S into poverty • Freedmen lost independence, had no land, stuck in debt & sharecropping, lost political rights, no protection from fed. Gov’t, northern politicians had their own problems

  25. New Concerns in the North: Grantism • Grant ran as war hero against Dem. Horatio Seymour • Grant: passive prez.; scandals plagued his admin • Brother in law: ruined investors & saved his own forturne • VP Schyler Colfax linked to fraudulent Credit Mobilier • Private secretary Orville Babcock took $ fr. Whiskey ring • Secretary of War William E. Belknap took bribes to sell Indian trading posts in OK • Grantism means fraud, bribery, corruption, evils that spread beyond DC • Democratic boss William Tweed, leader of Tammy Hall, led a ring that looted NYC’s $200M in kickbacks. • Mark Twain & Charles D Warner coauthored & term “Gilded Age” • William H. Seward negotiated w/ Russia & got Alaska for $7.2M + “Seward’s Ice box”

  26. The Liberals’ Revolt Critics of Grants became Liberal Republicans • Free trade, gold standard, law of supply & demand; demanded civil service reform • Accused regular Republicans as corrupt by barring ex Conf. • Believed freedmen now have enfranchisement; more concerned about Grantism & corruption • Nominated prez. Candidate Horace Greeley against Grant • Grant won by 56% pop. Vote • Greeley died a few weeks after election • Grant & Regular Republicans passed Amnesty Act • Southerners rose to power during Grant’s 2nd term

  27. Panic of 1873: 5 yr. depression Critics of Grants became Liberal Republicans • 1869 at Promontory Point, Utah: Union Pacific & Central Pacific lines joined • 1st transcontinental railroad (Northern Pacific) headed by Jay Cooke, a Philad. banker • Sold securities but company failed to meet obligations & Cooke’s bank closed • Led to unemployment & industrial violence replaced sectional conflicts • Depression fed currency dispute since ’65 • Republican Congress issued Public Credit Act ’69 (engineered by John Sherman) to repay debt in gold or silver • Also dropped silver dollar but it got partially restored • Democrats ’75 demanded expansion of currency by more greenbacks (Greenback Party)

  28. Reconstruction & the Constitution Supreme court weakened N. support for Reconstruction during 1870s • Ex Parte Miligan ’66 doomed military court to enforce the Supplementary Freemen’s Bureau Act • Texas vs. White ‘69: Reconstruction process is const’l…BUT • Slaughterhouse cases of 1873 almost nullify the 14th (to secure freedmen’s rights against state encroachment) • Issued doctrine of “dual citizenship”; fed protects only fed. Citizen, not rights under state protection • 2 cases ‘76: US v. Reese & US v. Cruikshank • Undercut effectiveness of the Enforcement Act

  29. Republicans in Retreat Liberal Republican revolt erode Rad. Rep Democrats controlled House in 1874 • Reconstruction now a liability • Rad. Rep. disappeared: Sumner & Stevens dead Tired of “Negro” and “Southern” questions Lacked egalitarian spirit Demise of Reconstruction

  30. Reconstruction Abandoned, 76-77 Democrats woed formerly apathetic voters • Bourbons Demo(old planter) for agrarian • Some Dem. Envisioned industrial South • Goal: oust Republicans from office • IN LA “White League” = vigilante • In Miss ’74 = 300 blacks slaughtered by rampaging whites • Scare tactics to deprive Rep. of black votes: intimidate Republicans, dispersed meetings, patrolled voter-registration places, marched through black areas • Labor contract bars political meetings; planters threatened eviction • No fed protection, intimidation & economic pressure succeeded

  31. Redemption: Democratic power • cut taxes, expenses, & social programs • limits rights of tenants & sharecroppers • Ensured black labor by vagrancy laws & rewriting criminal laws • County w/ more blacks restricted hunting, fishing, gun carrying, & dog owning: curtailed daily life of freedmen • Wrongly taking crop = up to 5 yrs. hard labor • By the end of Reconstruction, a large black convict work force had been leased out to private contractors at low rates • Black exodus spread through Miss, TN, TX, LA; Exodus to North & Midwest got no momentum until the 19th century

  32. Election of 1876: Rutherford Hayes • Republican: Hayes favored home rule in S & civil & political rights for all • Democrats: Samuel Tilden campaigned against fraud &waste • 20 electoral votes in contention: Fraud • Republicans discarded legit Demo ballots • Dem illegally prevented freedmen from voting • Special electoral commission gave Hayes, but Dem. Controlled House…delayed approval of ele. Vote (filibuster) • Compromise if Hayes as prez: Fed. Troops out of FL, LA, & SC; S. states treat freedmen fairly; fed. Support for internal improvement in S.

  33. Conclusion • Postwar: S. controlled by R. Repu. • Black enfranchisement; S. economy’s new labor system replaced slavery • Postwar N.: industrial growth, labor unrest, & financial crises • N. Politicians abandoned Reconstruction • S. Controlled by the Democrats • Reconstruction died, nationalism & reunion celebrated • Historians now see Reconstruction as a democratic experiment that didn’t go far enough • Some blamed its failure due to lack of landownership by freedmen & to lack of military support by fed.

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