Reconstruction: 1865-1877

1. Reconstruction: 1865-1877

2. Lincoln’s Plan • 1. Pardon any Confederate who swore allegiance to the Union and accepted the end of slavery • 2. Confederate military and government officials were excluded • 3. When 10% of a state’s population had sworn allegiance the state could write a constitution endorsing the 13th amendment. The state would then return to its place in the Union.

3. Johnson’s Plan • 1. Followed many of Lincoln’s basic ideas. • 2. Granted pardons to those who swore the oath of allegiance ( 13,000 in 1865). • 3. Each state’s constitution would have to void secession, abolish slavery, ratify the 13th Amendment, and void war debts

4. Johnson Vs. Congress – Radical Reconstruction • 1. Pres. Johnson and Congress disagreed on how to respond to southern resistance to Reconstruction. • 2. March 1866 - Congress passes the Civil Rights Act to ensure equal rights for former slaves......Johnson vetoes it.........Congress overrode the veto! • 3. 14th Amendment passes: 1868 - Every naturally born individual in the U.S. was a citizen......no state could restrict his/her rights! • 4. Military Reconstruction Act of 1867 - provided for the occupation of the South by Union soldiers. The South was divided into 5 military districts, each to be governed by a General.

5. Johnson Vs. Congress…continued • 5. Congress passes the Tenure of Office Act, limiting the power of the President in hiring and firing of government officials. • 6. Pres. Johnson attempts to fire Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, a Radical Republican interested in punishing the South.

6. Johnson Impeached! • 7. The House of Representatives argued that Johnson’s actions were unconstitutional. They voted to impeach him ( charge him formally with wrongdoing while in office). • Impeached officials are tried by the Senate. • Johnson was tried by the Senate in 1868. • Congress fell one vote shy of the number needed to convict Johnson.

7. 8. 15th Amendment passes: 1870 - guaranteed the right to vote for African Americans, and equal rights in public places. • Southern Blacks joined the Republican Party • Southerners feared losing power to Republicans

9. Attempts to Restore the Old Ways • 1. Black Codes - Laws which severely restricted the rights of former slaves. These laws included curfews, vagrancy laws, and labor contracts. • 2. Carpet Baggers - Northern Republicans who moved to the South after the Civil War. The name referred to the type of suitcase they carried. They were mainly Union Army officials or Freedmen’s Bureau officials. • 3. Scalawags - Southern whites who became Republicans. Interested primarily in Economic development. Many were poor.

11. 4. Debt Peonage - Labor Contracts which required former slave to owe more and more money to white, southern landowners. • 5. Sharecropping - Allowed former slaves to work on a piece of land. they had to give 1/3 to 1/2 of their crop to the land owner. • 6. Tenant Farmers - paid rent for a piece of land • 7. Ku Klux Klan - began in Tennessee. Members took an oath to “defend the social and political superiority of whites.” • They promised to vote only for white candidates who they believed would further their cause. • Used fear and terror to intimidate blacks and white sympathizers. • 8. Radical Republicans - Republicans in Congress who wanted to punish the South.

12. Reconstruction Ends 1877 • 9. Rutherford B. Hayes - Lost the popular vote in the election of 1876 to Samuel Tilden. • The electoral vote was in dispute. He agreed to end the occupation of the south by Federal troops. In return Congress would award him the amount of Electoral voted needed to win the presidency. • This became known as the Compromise of 1877. This became the official end of Reconstruction