reconstruction and its legacies

1. Reconstruction (1865-1877)

2. Important Terms • Reconstruction – a period of rebuilding of relations between North/South, lasting from 1865-1877 • Freedman – freed Southern blacks • Carpetbaggers – Northern blacks who migrated to the South • Scalawags – white Southerners who supported Reconstruction

3. Why was Reconstruction Needed? • South was in financial and military ruin • 600,000 soldiers dead • Atlanta and Richmond in ruins • Southern inflation at 9,000% • Rail infrastructure in South destroyed • What to do with Confederate Leadership? • A new society not based on slavery was needed • Strong negative feelings by both sides still existed

4. A Difference of Opinion • Different political parties disagreed as to how to deal with the South • Radical Republicans (Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumner) – wanted to punish South (Wade-Davis Bill) • Lincoln (Moderate) – wanted speedy elections with generous terms (“10% Plan”) – determined to find a course that united the South w/o alienating it • Southern Democrats – wanted a return to ‘the old days and the old ways’

5. President Lincoln’s “10% Plan” • Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (December 8, 1863) • Replace majority rule with “loyal rule” in the South. • Didn’t consult Congress – wanted to run Reconstruction himself. • 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.

6. Effects of Lincoln’s “10% Plan” • 1864  “Lincoln Governments” formed in LA, TN, AR • Formed prior to end of War • Created bitter opposition by Radical Republicans • Led to Wade-Davis Bill of 1864

7. Wade-Davis Bill (1864) • Required 50% of the number of 1860 voters to take an “iron clad” oath of allegiance (swearing they had never voluntarily aided the rebellion ). • Enacted specific safeguards of freedmen’s liberties. CongressmanHenryW. Davis(R-MD) SenatorBenjaminWade(R-OH) PocketVeto PresidentLincoln Wade-DavisBill

8. Assassination • Lincoln’s assassination casts doubt on Reconstruction and gives the Radicals a chance to punish the South • A political tug-of-war ensued with new president Andrew Johnson • Who would run Reconstruction now? • How should Democracy run in the South? • Citizenship of Confederate men? • Citizenship of Freedmen?

9. Punishment of the killers and conspirators Lincoln’s assassination moved the Union to harsher measures in occupying the southern states. In addition to hanging those who had helped Booth (and some who didn’t even know what he had done), the new Federal government arrested Confederate officers who had possibly mistreated Union prisoners, brought Jefferson Davis to trail for treason, and planned for military governments in the defeated states.

10. New “Black Codes” • Fearing that emancipation would ruin agriculture and create a system of social equality, Southern state leaders created codes for legal segregation while banks and merchants used debt to force black families into sharecropping

11. Congress vs. the president • Congress barred SouthernCongressional delegates. • Joint Committee on Reconstruction was created. • In February,1866, the presidentvetoed the Freedmen’s Bureau bill. • In March,1866, Johnsonvetoed the 1866 Civil Rights Act. • Congress passed both bills over Johnson’s vetoes. No override had been successful before.

12. The 14th Amendment • This was ratified by Congress and northern states in July, 1868 to counter Johnson’s leniency. The amendment: • Provided a constitutional guarantee of the rights and security of all citizens. • Insured against neo-Confederate political power. • Repudiated the debt of the CSA. • Would US troops and officials in the South risk their safety to enforce this?

13. Johnson’s “Swing around the Circle” Johnson takes to the stump • A referendum on Radical Reconstruction. • Johnson made an ill-conceived propaganda tour around the country to push his plan. • Republicanswon a 3-1majority in both houses and gained control of every northern state.

14. Johnson Impeached Johnson was inclined to accept the “Lincoln plan” for reconstructing the South. He granted pardons to many Confederate officers. The Congress, fearing that he would forge an alliance with the South for the 1868 elections, rejected his plans and imposed military occupation on the South. Johnson resisted.

15. Trial in the Senate • Johnson removed Stanton in February, 1868. • The House impeached him on February 24 by a vote of 126–47

16. Acquittal In an 11 week trial, Johnson was attacked brutally, but acquitted on a vote of 35 to 19 (one short of required 2/3rd vote).

17. 1868 Election “Public opinion” was hard to measure in 1868, but most voters in the North likely wanted Johnson removed from office. He was not a candidate for the 1868 election. Grant, the Republican nominee, won easily – many white southern voters could not vote.

18. Election results

19. 1872 Election • Rumors of corruption during Grant’s first term discredited the Republicans. • Horace Greeley ranas a Democrat/LiberalRepublican candidate. • Greeley was attacked as a fool and a crank. • He died on November 29, 1872, just after the election.

21. The 15th Amendment Ratified in 1870, this stated that “the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” The Congress was enjoined to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. Although the amendment was praised in the North, women’s rights groups were furious that they were not granted the vote. Leaders like Susan B Anthony took steps to express their disappointment.

22. The reality • Core black voters were military veterans. • Most blacks had little (if any) political experience, but the Black representatives were capable. • Blacks could register and vote in states, but violence was used to deter them from doing so. The 15th Amendment guaranteedFederal voting rights, but it was hard to enforce.

23. Voting Rights Act, 1875 • It was a crime for any individual to deny full &equal use of public conveyances andpublic places. • The act prohibited discrimination in jury selection. • Enforcement relied on a strong Attorney General and honest Federal marshals. • No further major civil rights acts were passedfor over 80 years (1957).

25. The “late unpleasantness” The military occupation of the South ended in 1876, when the last states (Louisiana, Florida, and South Carolina) were allowed to send representatives and senators back to Congress. After Union troops were removed in early 1877, most southern states used “Jim Crow” laws to block voting rights for most ex-slaves. Segregation laws to restore white domination and prevent economic progress for African Americans were passed. As the years when by, the former enemies mellowed. Grant, Sherman, and others attended gatherings with former Confederate generals, politicians made deals, and writers began referring to the war as “the late unpleasantness” -- an unfortunate family quarrel.

26. Rebuilding • Economic Devastation – destruction of labor force, end of plantation system, small amount of infrastructure ruined, extreme poverty, hyperinflation, worthless currency, source of wealth (slaves) erased, land values plummeted • Social Changes – destruction of planter aristocracy, 1/5 of all white males dead • White Desires – reimplementation of slave, gang labor/wage labor with blacks in fields, removal of federal troops and northern encroachment in labor contracts and regulations Charleston, South Carolina (1865)

27. Legacies of Reconstruction • The impoverishment and underdevelopment of the South until the 1950s (crop liens, cotton lock, debt peonage, tenant farming and sharecropping) • Better education for blacks (public schools, increased literacy rates), more autonomous black institutions (Baptist over AME churches), own reform orgs. (e.g. Union League – pol. awareness club) • 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments (at least in place, if not enforced) • Black congressional representation ( 14 H.o.R. and 2 senators from 1868-1876)

28. Results of Reconstruction • Most historians agree as to its failure • Failure of gov’t to enforce protections for blacks, rise of white supremacy, and allowing Radicals to run Reconstruction • Blacks do not see significant legislation again until 1965 Civil Rights Act • “The slave went free; stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery.” (W.E.B. DuBois)