Reconstruction (1865-1876)

1. Reconstruction (1865-1876) Libertyville HS

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 newlyemancipatedblack freedmen?

3. Republican Conflict • President Lincoln view • Saw war as “rebellion of individuals” • Believed Southern states never legally left Union (unconstitutional act) • Second Inaugural address • Republican Congress view • “Radical Republicans” • Saw war as rebellion of states • Moral dimension to war: ending slavery • Punish the South!

4. Radical Congressional Republicans • Sen. Thaddeus Stevens • South committed “state suicide” • Sen. Charles Sumner • Southern states were “conquered provinces”

5. Wartime Reconstruction

6. President Lincoln’s 10% Plan • Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (December 8, 1863) • Replace majority rule with “loyal rule” in the South • 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. • Lincoln didn’t consult Congress regarding Reconstruction

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 ) • Required a state constitutional convention before the election of state officials • Enacted specific safeguards of freedmen’s liberties. SenatorBenjaminWade(R-OH) CongressmanHenryW. Davis(R-MD)

8. Wade-Davis Bill (1864) PocketVeto PresidentLincoln Wade-DavisBill Pocket veto: if Congress sends a bill to President within 10 days of adjournment, and President does not act on the bill, it automatically dies

9. Freedmen’s Bureau (1865) • “Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands” • Purpose = help black freedmen adjust to freedom (food, clothing, schools) • Congress authorized Bureau for one year only; it existed from 1865-1868 (Johnson killed it) • Northerners who came to help (or profit) from effort called “carpetbaggers” by white southern Democrats (INSULT!) • “Scalawags” = white, southern Republican

10. Freedmen’s Bureau School

11. Assassination of Lincoln • Civil War ended April 9, 1865 • Lincoln attended Ford’s Theater on April 14, 1865 • Assassin: John Wilkes Booth • Background • Conspiracy • Death of Booth • Lincoln died April 15, 1865

12. President Andrew Johnson • Jacksonian Democrat • Slave owner • Anti-Aristocrat • White Supremacist • Only Southern Democrat senator to remain in Congress after secession • Agreed with Lincolnthat states had neverlegally left the Union • Picked to be VP by GOP in 1864 as reward, appeal to Democrats

13. Presidential Reconstruction

14. 13th Amendment • Ratified in December, 1865. • Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction. • Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

15. President Johnson’s Plan (10%+) • Johnson became President while Congress was in recess, for 8 months • His plan was VERY generous to South • Offered amnesty upon simple oath to all except Confederate civil and military officers • Civil, military officers and Southerners with property worth more than $20,000 had to apply to give loyalty oath to Johnson, directly • Allowed special congressional elections, in 1865

16. President Johnson’s Plan (10%+) • Named provisional governors in Confederate states and called them to oversee elections for constitutional conventions (NO 10% loyalty requirement) • In new constitutions, States had to accept minimum conditions: rejecting slavery, secession and state debts 1. Disenfranchised certain leading Confederates. 2. Pardoned planter aristocrats were brought back to political power to control state organizations. EFFECTS? 3. Republicans were outraged that planter elite were back in power in the South!

17. Growing Northern Alarm! • Southern states met Johnson’s easy requirements to re-join union • Johnson granted 13,500 special pardons to Southern white leaders • Revival of southern defiance: white leaders passed laws to restrict African Americans’ rights BLACK CODES

18. Black Codes • Purpose (for White South) • Guarantee stable labor supply now that blacks were emancipated • Restore pre-emancipationsystem of race relations • Effect: re-establish slavery (curfews, labor ks, only live in rural areas = plantations) • Forced many blacks to become sharecroppers[tenant farmers]

19. Congress , President Split • Congress refused to seat Southern congressional delegations in early 1866 • Joint Committee on Reconstruction created • February, 1866: President vetoed continuing the Freedmen’s Bureau bill • March, 1866: Johnson vetoed the 1866 Civil Rights Act, designed to overturn Black Codes • Congress passed both bills over Johnson’s vetoes: 1st in U. S. history!!

20. Radical (Congressional) Reconstruction

21. 14th Amendment • Ratified in July, 1868. • Declared all persons “born or naturalized” in US citizens • Prohibited states from making laws interfering with rights of citizens • Also prohibited states from depriving any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process • Assured equal protection of laws to all citizens • Southern states would be punished for denying the right to vote to black citizens • Confederates disenfranchised

22. Johnson’s “Swing around the Circle” The 1866 Congressional Election • A referendum on Radical Reconstruction • Johnson went on a propaganda tour around the country to push his reconstruction plan (bad idea) • Republicanswon a 3-1majority in both houses and gained control of every northern state.

23. The Balance of Power in South

24. Radical Plan: Reconstruction Acts of 1867 • 1866 - Southerners had rioted against blacks, killing hundreds • Congress: civil authorities (police, etc) in the South were subject to military supervision • Required new southern state constitutions to include black suffrage and ratification of the 13th and 14th Amendments • In March, 1867, Congress authorized the military to enroll eligible black voters to begin the process of constitution making • White Southerners disenfranchised

25. Reconstruction Acts of 1867 • Military Reconstruction Act • Restarted political Reconstruction in the 10 Southern states that refused to ratify the 14th Amendment (Tennessee excepted) • Divided the 10 “unreconstructed states” into 5 military districts.

26. Reconstruction Act of 1867: Southern Reaction • Southerners resented Reconstruction governments • Graft • Corruption • Southerners couldn’t fight back with ballots, chose violence • Knights of the White Camellia • Ku Klux Klan

27. Increasing Tension • Congress prepared for showdown with President • Command of the Army Act • The President was required to issue all Reconstruction orders through the General in Chief, Ulysses Grant • Tenure of Office Act • The President could not remove any officials, esp. Cabinet members, without the Senate’s consent, if the position originally required Senate approval • Designed to protect radicalmembers of Lincoln’s government. • Unconstitutional act Edwin Stanton

28. President Johnson’s Impeachment • Johnson removed Stanton in February, 1868 (as secretary of war, Stanton in charge of military in south) • Johnson replaced generals in the field who were more sympathetic to Radical Reconstruction • The House impeached him on February 24, before even drawing up the charges by a vote of 126 – 47!

29. The Senate Trial • 11 week trial • Impeachment political • Johnson acquitted 35 to 19 (one short of required 2/3 vote)

30. The Election of 1868 • Johnson cast aside by GOP • They enlist U.S. Grant instead • GOP strategy • “Wave the bloody shirt”: draw connection between democrats, CSA • “Vote as you shot” • And the winner is… Results Grant: 214 ECV / 3,012,833 Seymour: 80 ECV / 2,703,249 500,000 freedmen voted! Note: “Unreconstructed states” had not met Congressional requirements to participate in elections

31. The Grant Administration (1868-1876)

32. President Ulysses S. Grant • Born in OH • West Point graduate, 1843 • Career military until 1854 • He and his wife owned five slaves (released one, 1859) • Worked for dad in leather shop in Galena, IL until CW • Lincoln promoted Grant, rose quickly in Western theater • Became General in Chief, 1864 • Difficult relationship with Johnson Grant and his family

33. Grant Administration Scandals • Grant presided over an era of unprecedented growth and corruption • Credit Mobilier Scandal • 1867-68: trans-continental RR stock and bond swindle (Grant’s VP, cabinet involved) • 1872 “Salary Grab”: 50% Congressional pay raise, retroactive two years prior!

34. Grant Administration Scandals Politicians • “Treasury Department Scandal” (Whiskey Ring) • Profiteering on overdue taxes • Erie Railroad Scandal (NY state) • Bribes to state legislators • City scandals • “Tammany Hall Ring” • William Marcy Tweed • Big city machine corruption Labor Business

35. 1872 Presidential Election • Many GOP disgusted by corruption of Grant • Eight candidates, including splinter party, Liberal GOP (Greely) • Democrats also nominated Greely! • Greely dies Nov. 24 • Grant re-elected

36. The Panic of 1873 • Raised “the money question” • Debtors seek inflationarymonetary policy bycontinuing circulation of greenbacks (paper $) • Creditors, intellectuals support hard money (primarily gold coinage) • 1875: Specie Redemption Act • Country put back on hard money basis • Favored creditors

37. Blacks in Southern Politics • Core voters were black veterans • Blacks were politically unprepared • Blacks could register and vote in states since 1867 • The 15th Amendment guaranteedfederal voting.

38. 15th Amendment • Ratified in 1870. • 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 shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. • Women’s rights groups were furious that they were not granted the vote!

39. Black Senate & House Delegates, 1872

40. The Abandonment of Reconstruction

41. The Failure of Federal Enforcement • Enforcement Acts of 1870 & 1871 • First protected freedmen voters • Second allowed federal supervision of southern elections • Third increased penalties vs. attacking blacks & their voting rights – Pres. Could suspend habeus corpus (KKK Act) • Amnesty Act of 1872 • Allowed re-enfranchisement of all but 500 top Confederate leaders • Allowed white home rule (white supremacy) • “Solid South” voted Democratic in reaction to Radical GOP Reconstruction, for 90+ years

42. The Failure of Federal Enforcement • Result of Amnesty Act • Poll tax • Literacy tests • “Grandfather clause” • Collectively known as “Mississippi Plan” • Jim Crow laws • Segregation of races in public places • Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) (Separate but equal upheld)

43. Emergence of the “New South” • Diversified farming • One crop economy broken • Tenant farming • Sharecropping

44. Tenancy & the Crop Lien System

45. Triumph of Segregation • Barriers such as poll taxes, etc resulted in disenfranchisement of Blacks • Blacks economically powerless to resist • Booker T. Washington • “Atlanta Compromise” • Emphasis on economics, not politics • Rejected as “Uncle Tomism”

46. 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 • No new civil rights act was attempted for 90 years 16 African American Senators, Reps in 1875

47. Northern Support Wanes • “Grantism” & corruption • Panic of 1873 [6-yeardepression] • Concern over westwardexpansion and Indian wars • With Civil Rights Act, North • felt job in South was done • Key monetary issues • Should the government retire $432m worth of “greenbacks” issued during the Civil War? • Should war bonds be paid back in specie orgreenbacks?

48. 1876 Presidential Election • One of the most disputed & vicious elections in history • Democrat: Sam Tilden • GOP: Rutherford Hayes • Issues in election • End corruption • End Reconstruction • Civil Service reform • Rampant fraud in FL, LA, & SC (total 19 ECV)

49. The Political Crisis of 1877 • Each party announced it • won the disputed states • All votes went to Hayes • after bitter dispute • Back room deal to end • dispute • In return for Southern • states votes, GOP • agreed to pull troops • out of south • Referred to as • “Compromise of 1877” Reconstruction was over!