World Class Education

1 Topic 6

 The Union was preserved – the doctrine of secession was dead  Slavery as an institution is dead 2

 What is the legal status of the former Confederate states?  What were the conditions for the return of the Confederate states to the Union?  Punishment of ex-rebels. Trials? Property confiscation?  What will be the political, economic, educational, and social status of the freed slaves?  Should there be fundamental (revolutionary) changes in the South or a quick restoration of the South to the Union  Who should determine Reconstruction policy – the President or Congress? 3

 Wartime Reconstruction – Lincoln ( )  Post-war Reconstruction - Andrew Johnson ( )  Radical Reconstruction – Congress ( ) 4

 The rebel states had never left the union – rebellion the work of individuals not states  The issue of the exact legal status of the former rebel states is a “pernicious abstraction”  It was the responsibility of the President (executive branch) to determine policy  The political restoration of the Union should be relatively quick  Moderate approach  No harsh punishments for treason  No property confiscation 5

 Pardon all ex-rebels (except leaders) who take oath of future allegiance to US  When 10% of the voters of the state take the oath they can form a new state government  Must accept certain conditions – wartime executive actions / emancipation actions so far initiated  “Radical Republicans” oppose the plan – Wade-Davis Bill and Wade-Davis Manifesto  Lincoln’s plan stalls in Congress 6

Andrew Johnson  Pro-Union Democrat (but Lincoln’s VP)  Continues Lincoln’s policies  Extensive use of presidential pardon  Quick restoration – ex- Confederates back in power and in Congress  Alienates Republicans 7

Radical Republicans Radical Republicans Thaddeus Stevens - HouseCharles Sumner - Senate 8

 Repudiate Johnson’s actions  Southern states – “conquered provinces” or “territorial” status  Only Congress can readmit states  Harder policy – more “revolutionary”  Ensure Republicans remain in control of federal government and Reconstruction policy  Protection for blacks  Establish Republican- controlled Southern state governments 9

 Civil Rights Act, 1866  Freedmen’s Bureau, 1866  Fourteenth Amendment, proposed 1866  First Reconstruction Act, 1867 – military districts, new state constitutions, ratify 14 th Amendment  Force Act, 1870 – use of US Army to maintain order and protest black rights 10

Impeachment of Andrew Johnson 1867  Violated Tenure of Office Act, 1867  Other “High Crimes and Misdemeanors”  Trial before Senate  Found not guilty but now powerless Admission Ticket to Trial 11

Reconstruction Governments in the South  Carpetbaggers  Scalawags  Blacks  Criticism – corrupt, incompetent, debt….  A “Tragic Era” Popular Image of the Carpetbagger 12

 Ratification of liberal constitutions – civil liberties, universal manhood suffrage, abolish imprisonment for debt  Begin rebuilding of economic infrastructure of war-torn South  Free, compulsory public school system  Graft and corruption evident – no worse than in the North 13

South Reacts to Radical Reconstruction  Threats and terrorism – KKK, rifle clubs….  Social ostracism of Southern white collaborationists  Political opposition - Southern Democrats 14

 Southern opposition wears down supporters  Removal of voting disqualifications of remaining ex- rebels  North retreats on the issues - gets tired of constant trouble in the South  Lack of deep support for black rights in the North  Contested Presidential Election of 1876 and Compromise of

 “ Here was government by the most ignorant and vicious part of the population …. vulgar, materialistic, brutal….” John W. Burgess, 1902  “Hostile and biased historical interpretation of Reconstruction as a tragic era of black supremacy became part of the justification for the South's new system of white supremacy.” “Not until the mid-twentieth century would the nation again attempt to come to terms with the political and social agenda of Reconstruction.” Eric Foner,

 13 th, 14 th, and 15 th Amendments  Lays the basis for future civil rights advancement  Bitter memory for many white Southerners – comes to dominate the historical interpretation of the period until the 1950s 17

 John Hope Franklin, Reconstruction after the Civil War – classic work  Eric Foner, A Short History of Reconstruction  Leon Litwack, Been in the Storm So Long: The Aftermath of Slavery 18