1. Reconstruction

2. Key Concept 5.3: The Union victory in the Civil War and the contested reconstruction of the South settled the issues of slavery and secession, but left unresolved many questions about the power of the federal government and citizenship rights.
Essential Questions:
What problems did Reconstruction aim to address?  How did the Radical Republican’s plan for Reconstruction differ from President Lincoln’s and Johnson’s plans? 
To what extent did executive, legislative and judicial decisions strengthen the power and authority of the federal government over the states during Reconstruction?
How and why did Reconstruction end? 
To what extent did newly freed African Americans benefit politically, socially and economically from the reconstruction of the South?

5. Document A
Thomas Nast, “Franchise, And Not This Man?”. Cartoon, Harper’s Weekly, August 5, 1865

6. Document B
Thomas Nast, “Colored Rule in a Reconstructed (?) State”. Cartoon. Harper’s Weekly, March 14, 1874.

8. Reconstruction
The period in United States history immediately following the Civil War in which the federal government set the conditions that would allow the rebellious Southern states back into the Union.

9. Reconstruction
Peace existed only on the battlefields. North faced job of reuniting the nation, coming to terms with abolition of slavery, and reconstructing a resentful South.
Many questions needed quick answers—
Should Confederate leaders be tried for treason? How should new governments be formed?
How and at whose expense was the South’s economy to be rebuilt?
Should debts incurred by Confederate state governments be honored?
Who should pay to rebuild the South’s railroads and public buildings?
What was to be done with freed slaves? Were they to be given land? Social equality? Education? Voting rights?

10. Southern Economy in Ruins
Towns and cities burned or damaged
Land value depreciated due to destruction
Confederate money was now worthless
Bridges, railroads, manufacturing had been destroyed
Slaves freed, so laborers now had to be paid

11. Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan
Moderate Reconstruction plan-desired a policy of reconciliation, not punishment
Lenient--Issued “Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction” (Dec. 1863)
General pardon to all Southerners who took an oath of loyalty to the US and who accepted an end to slavery
Once 10% of voters in a state had taken the oath, the state would be readmitted to the Union and could organize a new government and elect members of Congress (Ten Percent Plan)

12. Radical Republicans’ Goals were different than Lincoln’s Goals
Wanted terms that would be much more difficult for southern whites to accept by ensuring African American rights.
Wanted to “Revolutionize Southern institutions, habits, and manners” Representative Thaddeus Stevens
Goals:
1. Prevent the leaders of the Confederacy from returning to power after the war.
2. Republican Party to become a powerful institution in the South.
3. Federal government to help African Americans achieve political equality by guaranteeing their right to vote in the South.

13. The Radical Republicans
Thaddeus Stevens
Charles Sumner

14. The Wade-Davis Bill
1864-First attempt by Republican congressmen to take control of Reconstruction away from the President
Demanded that a majority of adult white males in a state must take oath of loyalty before a state was to be readmitted
Each state must abolish slavery and guarantee African American equality
Each state must not allow former Confederate officials or military officers the right to vote or hold public office

15. Lincoln’s reaction Lincoln pocket-vetoed the Bill
In his final public address, April 11, 1865—pronounced that Confederate states never left the Union. States were simply “out of their proper practical relation with the union,” and the object was to get them “into their proper practical relation.”
Lincoln wanted no radical reconstruction of southern social and economic life—“no persecution, no bloody work”; assassination four days later

16. Lincoln’s Assassination
Walt Whitman poem
Ken Burns Video

17. Andrew Johnson
a Southern Democrat loyal to the Union, ran as Abraham Lincoln's vice presidential candidate in 1864 and took over as seventeenth President of the United States
humble origins like Lincoln; born in Raleigh, NC moved to Greeneville, Tennessee as a youth; proprietor of tailor shop; self educated with help of his wife; effective orator; mayor, congressman, governor, and senator
military governor of Tennessee b/4 vice-presidency.

18. Andrew Johnson
large planters—“a bloated, corrupted aristocracy”; “Damn the Negroes…I am fighting those traitorous aristocrats, their masters.”
Was loyal to the Union based on strict adherence to Constitution and belief in limited government; thought states should be quickly brought back into the Union because the states and the Union were indestructible.
Did not believe in giving the right to vote to blacks

19. Thirteenth Amendment ratified
Dec. 6, 1865
Officially ended slavery throughout the United States
Ratification of the 13th Amendment was one of the prerequisites for Confederate states to be readmitted to the Union

20. Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan
Issued a new Proclamation of Amnesty (May 1865)
Pardoned all former citizens of the CSA who took oath of loyalty except anyone with taxable property worth more than $20,000; believed that wealthy planters, bankers, and merchants were responsible for secession
But, those in the excluded group could directly petition the president for a pardon—led to 13,000 pardons
a native unionist would become governor of the state;
state conventions would abolish slavery by ratifying the 13th Amendment
like Lincoln, he encouraged states to adopt limited black suffrage to those with military service and education, but State conventions hesitated

21. Fallout from Johnson’s Plan
Southern voters disregarded northern feelings—new southern legislative members to Congress included Georgia’s Alexander H. Stevens, former vice president of the Confederacy, four Confederate generals, eight colonels, and six cabinet members
Congress in turn began to deny membership to those from the former eleven Confederate states.

22. Black Codes
Laws passed in Southern states to limit the rights of African Americans
Black codes varied from state to state
Required to enter into annual labor contracts with landowners
Black children forced to go into apprenticeships
Required blacks to buy special licenses to work in non-agricultural jobs
Blacks could not meet together after sunset, could not own weapons, could not live inside town limits
interracial marriages prohibited;
testimony of blacks accepted in legal cases involving other blacks but not against whites
of fire arms without a license; unemployed or vagrant blacks subject to fine and imprisonment—if unable to pay, forced to labor in fields

23. Radical Republicans’ Response
Radical Republicans moved to take Reconstruction out of the president’s control
believed in “forfeited-rights theory”—the states continued to exist but by the acts of secession and war, they had forfeited ‘all civil and political rights under the constitution. And Congress, not the president, was the proper authority to determine how such rights might be restored.
Moved to give African-Americans full citizenship rights
Required that a majority of a state’s population must pledge allegiance to US before readmission

24. Congressional Reconstruction
Freedmen’s Bureau Bill | March 1865 originally Extended Feb 1866 (vetoed), overridden July 1866
Civil Rights Act 1866 [over veto]
14th Amendment (1868)
Military Reconstruction Act (1867) [over veto]
Tenure of Office Act/Impeachment of Andrew Johnson (1868)
15th Amendment (1870)

25. The Freedmen’s Bureau
Created in 1865, actually called the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands
First federal relief agency in US History
Provided clothing, medical attention, meals, education, and some land to freed blacks
Helped freedmen negotiate employment contracts
Johnson argued that since there was no war that the Bureau was unnecessary. Because it was no longer valid as a war measure, the bill violated the Constitution
Tried to veto it’s extension and Congress overrode the veto
Still, the Bureau lacked popular support (some believed it did too much, others, not enough) and closed in 1869

26. Civil Rights Act of 1866
Gave citizenship rights to all persons born in US except Indians – could own property, must be treated equally in court
Also gave federal government the authority to sue anyone who violated those rights
Johnson argued that this act went beyond federal powers of government and it would cause “discord among the races”. Johnson vetoed the bill, but Congress overrode the veto.
Still, concern remained about the Supreme Court possibly declaring the law unconstitutional

27. The Fourteenth Amendment
passed Congress on June 16, 1866; ratified by the states on July 28, 1868
went beyond the Civil Rights Act of 1866
Amendment reaffirmed state and federal citizenship for persons born or naturalized in the U.S.,
Amendment forbade any state to change the “privileges and immunities” of citizens, to deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without “due process of law” or to deny any person “the equal protection of the laws.”
Tennessee, Johnson’s home state, was the first state to ratify the 14th Amendment. Radical Republicans had gained control of state. State’s governor in reporting the results of ratification—“Give my respects to the dead dog of the White House”
May and July, 1866, Race riots in Memphis and New Orleans

28. Military Reconstruction Act
March 2, 1867—Military Reconstruction Act—gave new conditions under which the formation of southern state governments should begin all over again
Tennessee was exempt from act b/c it had already ratified the 14th Amendment
Other 10 states divided into 5 military districts, commanding officer of each was authorized to keep order and protect the rights of persons and property; military tribunals could replace civilian courts
New state constitutions were to be framed in conventions elected by male citizens 21 and older “of whatever race, color, or previous condition”
Once constitution was ratified by a majority of voters, the state legislature had to ratify the 14th Amendment, once the amendment was part of the state’s constitution, it was entitled to representation in Congress

29. Military Reconstruction Act

30. Tenure of Office Act
By 1868, RR felt Johnson had to be removed from office.
Horace Greeley, editor of New York Tribune, called Johnson “an aching tooth in the national jaw, a screeching infant in a crowded lecture room.”
Congress passed this act to limit the Presidents ability to hire and fire government officials.
If the office had been approved (ratified) by the Senate the firing had to be approved by the Senate.
Removed the President’s power to build an administration of his own liking.
President Johnson challenged the Tenure of Office Act as a clear infringement of the independence of the Executive Branch of Government.
Johnson fired Secretary of War Edwin Stanton (a Radical Republican).

31. Johnson Impeached
Congress saw this as a violation of the Tenure of Office Act.
Feb. 24, 1868
House drew up articles of impeachment
The Senate acted as the Jury in the trial and the Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase presided.
Johnson went on trial in the Senate and escaped impeachment by only 1 vote
Trial crippled his presidency. Lost Democratic nomination for president in 1868 to New York governor Horatio Seymour, who then lost to Republican Ulysses S. Grant
Johnson’s final act as president was to pardon Jefferson Davis

32. The Fifteenth Amendment
Radical Republicans insisted on added requirement of states to be readmitted into the Union—adoption of 15th Amendment
Ratified in Feb. 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.

33. Ulysses S. Grant 1822 – 1885 18th President (1869–77) Republican
Won election easily, despite having no political experience
Extremely popular president but reputation tarnished by the many scandals in his administration
Died of throat cancer

34. Carpetbaggers & Scalawags
Carpetbaggers = Northerners who moved into the South during Reconstruction, either to help or to take advantage of new opportunities
Scalawags = Southerners who supported the Republican Party and Reconstruction
Both groups were very unpopular in the South

35. African-Americans in Politics
“Black Republicans”
Many were educated blacks from the North who went South and ran for office
Thousands of freedmen took government jobs
16 would serve in Congress during the Reconstruction Era

36. Reforms help African-Americans
Black Codes repealed
Built state hospitals, orphanages, mental institutions
Rebuilt roads, railroads, bridges
Built public schools – 200,000+ freedmen attended and attendance rates for black children was 40% (High for time)
Paid for through high property taxes

37. Increasing Racial Violence in South
Many Southern whites resented the Republican governments and the newly won rights of the freed slaves
Struck out violently, but usually anonymously, by burning houses, schools, and churches and by lynching black leaders and white carpetbaggers and scalawags

38. Ku Klux Klan
Founded in 1866
Original goal was to drive out carpetbaggers and restore control of state governments to the Democratic Party
Grew to terrorize African-Americans because of their support for the Republican governments
Engaged in acts of terror, including lynchings

39. The Enforcement Acts 3 Congressional Acts
1) Made it a federal crime to interfere with a citizen’s right to vote
2) Placed federal elections under the supervision of federal marshals
3) The Ku Klux Klan Act: outlawed the activities of the KKK and similar groups – led to arrests, but only 600 convictions

40. Grant’s Troubled Presidency
Split in Republican Party over taxes and spending
Scandals in customs collection, postal contracts, and with Grant’s Secretaries of the Interior, War, & Navy as well as his Attorney General and personal secretary
The Whiskey Ring: over 100 members of Grant’s administration were taking part in a scheme to steal millions of dollars in taxes on whiskey; although not personally involved, Grant interfered in the investigation and trials to protect his friends

41. Panic of 1873
Bad investments caused the collapse of one of US’ biggest private banks
This triggered the failure of smaller banks and thousands of small businesses, putting many out of work
This plus scandals destroyed Grant’s popularity and chances for a third term

42. Election of 1876
Democrats nominated Samuel Tilden, a “law-and-order” former governor of NY
Republicans declined to run Grant again and instead ran Rutherford B. Hayes, governor of Ohio
Election was so close that Congress had to decide who was president

43. Compromise of 1877
Supposedly, Southern Democrats pledged to support Hayes as president if the Republicans promised to remove federal troops from the South and end Reconstruction
No “formal” agreement was ever recorded, but once Hayes took office, Reconstruction was ended!
The South regained “home rule”

44. Rutherford B. Hayes 1822 – 1893 19th President (1877-81) Republican
Chosen over Pres. Grant for the Republican nomination
Did not run for re-election
Became heavily involved in charitable works after leaving the presidency

45. Reconstruction Ends
With the withdrawal of federal troops and the final readmission of all former Confederate states, the South was once again free to begin discriminating against the freedmen

46. The “New South”
The idea that the South needed to abandon its reliance on cash crops like cotton and tobacco and industrialize
New railroads were built
Steel industry, cotton mills, and cigarette factories all opened
Still, most Southerners remained in farming

47. Sharecropping & Tenant Farming
Tenant farmer: rented land from a large landholder for a set cash fee
Sharecropper: rented land from a large landholder for a percentage of their crop
Both systems kept most blacks and many poor whites deeply in debt and with no hope of ever owning their own land

48. “Jim Crow” Laws Laws that established segregation in the South
Laws designed to prevent freedmen from voting:
Literacy tests – must be able to read to vote
Poll taxes – must pay a fee to vote
Grandfather clauses – can’t vote unless your grandfather was eligible to vote

49. The “Solid South”
Southern states would continue to vote – and vote Democrat -as a block in presidential elections for decades to come, blocking Republican initiatives for reform
*Compare to today-South-Solid Republican