Reconstruction

1865-1877

Punish or Pardon the South?

• Should the South be punished for their actions, or be forgiven and allowed to recover quickly?

• What is best for the South, what is best for the North, and what is best for the entire nation?

Lincoln’ 10% Plan

• Denied pardons to Confederates who had killed African American P.O.W.s

• Permitted states to hold conventions and create new constitutions only after 10% of voters in each state swore allegiance to Union

“Radical Republicans”

• Republican Factions Emerging– Moderates – siding with Lincoln– Radicals – want to punish South

Andrew Johnson (1865-1869)

• Senator, then military governor of TN during war

• Ran as VP with Lincoln in 1864 on National Union Party ticket

• Lincoln killed in April, 1865

Lincoln Assassinated, Johnson Becomes President

• Shot by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865• Johnson, former slave-owner and Democrat

from South, now overseeing Reconstruction• Congress adjourns in Spring• “Presidential Reconstruction”

13th Amendment

• Ratified Dec, 1865• Abolished Slavery• “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.”

Freedom for Freedmen

• Freedom of movement – where do they go?

• Freedom to own land – with what money?

• Freedom to worship • Freedom to learn– In what schools?

Freedmen’s Bureau

• March, 1865 - 1872• Helped black southerners adjust to freedom• 1st major federal relief agency• Food, schools, orphanages, clothing, medical

supplies, etc.• Over 250,000 former slaves received first

formal ed. in bureau schools

Black Codes

• Established a “virtual slavery” in the South– Curfews– Vagrancy laws– Labor Contracts– Land Restrictions

• By 1866, Johnson had overseen return of civilian gov. to Southern states and was ready to announce Presidential Reconstruction ended

• Congress disagreed, and began “Radical Reconstruction”

1866 Civil Rights Act

• Outlawed Black Codes• Johnson vetoed it• Congress overrode his veto

• Congress the passed 14th Amendment– Attempt to guarantee rights of freedmen– Ratified in 1868

14th Amendment (1866/68)• TURNING POINT in AMERICAN HISTORY• “All persons born or naturalized in the U.S.

and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the U.S. and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the U.S.; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

14th Amendment Cont.

• Overruled Dred Scott n. Sandford (1857)• Apportionment of Reps for “all citizens” living

in a state• If citizens 21+ can’t vote, they won’t be

counted (never enforced)• No person can be elected to federal/state

office who “engaged in rebellion”– Could be overruled by 2/3 vote of Senate and

House

Reconstruction Act 1867

1. South put under military rule– Divided into 5 districts

2. Ordered Southern states to hold elections for delegates to create new constitutions

3. Required states to allow all qualified male voters to participate

4. Barred those who had held Confederate postions

5. Required Southern states to guarantee equal rights to all citizens

6. Required states to ratify the 14th Amendment

First Impeachment

• 1868, Johnson tried to fire Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, a Lincoln appointee– Didn’t want Stanton, friend of radical republicans, to

oversee military rule of South under new Act

• Did not receive approval from Senate– Violated 1867 Tenure of Office Act

• Feb ’68, House voted firing was unconstitutional• Senate found him innocent (by 1 vote, need 2/3)

Ku Klux Klan

• 1866, 6 former Confederates in Pulaski TN• Ghosts of dead Confederate soldiers• Led by the “Grand Wizard”– Nathan Bedford Forrest

• Goal: limit power of blacks in the South

Terror in the South

• 1868 alone, Arkansas Klansmen killed over 300 Republicans, including a Congressman

• In Louisiana, over 1,000 murdered in 1868• In New Orleans, nearly ½ adult white male

population belonged to the Klan• 1870, Enforcement Act Passed– Banned use of terror, force, bribery to prevent

voting– Troops, cavalry, and courts wiped out KKK by 1871

Election of 1868

• Ulysses S. Grant (R) ran against Horatio Seymour (D)

Grant Seymour

Electoral vote 214 80States carried 26 8Popular vote 3,013,650 2,708,744Percentage 52.7% 47.3%

Grant’s Presidency

• Enforced Radical Reconstruction of South

• Plagued by rampant nepotism and scandal

• North tired of supporting expensive Reconstruction

• “Now that the good Ship Union has safely passed through the Sea of Trouble into peaceful Waters, shall the Helmsman be thrown overboard?”

15th Amendment (1870) • U.S. and States can not deny/impede the right

to vote of any citizen

• Section 1. 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.

• Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Reconstruction Amendments

• 13th (1865) – Abolished Slavery

• 14th (1868) – All people born in U.S. are citizens (excluded Native Americans)

– All citizens will receive due process under law (equal rights/treatment)

• 15th (1870) – No state can deny/impede a citizen’s right to vote

Carpetbaggers and Scalawags

• Carpetbagger – Northerners who moved south for economic or political gain

• Scalawag – White Southern Republicans

• Both were despised by Southerners

A Carpetbagger (From Wisconsin to Missouri)

• “…joined with the quest for profit, however, was a reforming spirit, a vision of themselves as agents of sectional reconciliation and the South's "economic regeneration." Accustomed to viewing Southerners—black and white—as devoid of economic initiative and self-discipline, they believed that only "Northern capital and energy" could bring "the blessings of a free labor system to the region.“

– Historian Eric Foner on Carpetbaggers

Tuscaloosa, Alabama Independent Monitor 1868

Changes in the South

• By 1872, all but 500 ex-Confederates had been pardoned. Combined with other white voters to form new bloc of Democratic voters– “Solid South”– Voted to block many federal Reconstruction policies– Reversed may reforms of Reconstruction legislatures

• Panic of 1873 – Over-speculation of RR Industry

Election of 1876• Rutherford B. Hayes (R) lost popular vote to

Democrat Samuel Tilden (D)• Tilden had support of “Solid South”

Compromise of 1877

• Electoral vote disputed due to scandal• Congress established commission to settle

dispute (mostly Republicans)• Selected Hayes as President, but had to

compromise– President would have to remove all federal troops

from the South– Subsidies to Southern Railroads, money for levees

Compromise cont.

• Comp. of 1877 opened way for Democrats to regain control of Southern politics

• Marked the end of Reconstruction

Reconstruction Successes

• Union is restored• Southern economy grew and new wealth created• 14th and 15th amendments guaranteed citizenship,

equal protection under law, and suffrage• Freedmen’s Bureau help blacks to obtain housing

and schooling• Southern states adopt policy of mandatory public

education

Failures

• White Southerners bitter toward federal govt and Republican party

• South is slow to industrialize• After troops withdrew, state govts and

terrorist groups denied blacks the right to vote• Many black and white Southerners caught in

cycle of poverty• Racist attitudes continued in North and South