1863 to 1877. 2 to gain an understanding of Reconstruction; the various policies towards the...
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Transcript of 1863 to 1877. 2 to gain an understanding of Reconstruction; the various policies towards the...
1863 to 1877
2
to gain an to gain an understanding of understanding of
Reconstruction; the Reconstruction; the various policies towards various policies towards the defeated states of the defeated states of the Confederacy after the Confederacy after
the Civil Warthe Civil War
Purpose
SpecificallySpecifically. . . .. . . .
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1.Federal Reconstruction policies and reactions to them:
– Presidential Reconstruction
– Congressional Reconstruction
4
2.The situation of freedmen in the South
3.The efforts of Reconstruction state governments in the South
4.White resistance to Reconstruction in the South
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5.Economic and social developments in the South
6.The end of Reconstruction
7.judicial conservatism and a changed political situation in the North.
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- Union Generals confiscate lands and distribute to former slaves in order to
1863-1865
punish rebelshinder South’s economygive restitution to slaves
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–General Sherman issues Special Field Order #15Gives Confederate land to freedmen
40,000 freedmen settle in Sea Islands of SC & GA
they believed FED. GOVT. gave it to them
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–Should Confederate states be re-formed or returned to former status?
–Who should be in charge—the President or Congress?
Debate in Washington
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Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plans
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~ During the War, Lincoln plans reintegration of the South (a quick re-Union
~ 1863-formulates the “Ten Percent Plan”~ former states would be
readmitted if 10% of white voters took an Oath of Loyalty to the Union
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Radical Republicans oppose Lincoln’s plan as too easy
demand much more stringent measures in the
Wade-Davis Bill
Congressional Congressional Reaction & Reaction &
PlanPlan
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Provisional governors in the South until the end of the War
re-establish civil governments after ½ of male white citizens take Oath of Loyalty
Conf. officers colonel or above, and civil officers above minister are excluded from amnesty
Wade Davis Bill
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Lincoln refuses to sign:–It was placed on his desk just before Congress adjourned
–Did not want to be “inflexibly committed to any single plan of restoration”
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Effectively Lincoln and Congress block each other’s plans until Lincoln’s death.
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Andrew Johnson‘s Reconstruction
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Johnson (Tennessee): small farmer‘s advocate with a hatred for big plantation owners.
outlines relatively restrictive policy, excluding rich Southerners from political involvement
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1. Amnesty to most southerners
2. Restoration of former property if they take the Oath of Allegiance
Johnson’s Plan
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3. Exclusion from amnesty:–high ranking Confederate officials
–military officers– large plantation owners
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Johnson undermines his own policy by liberally pardoning Southerners, even high office-holding politicians of the Confederacy
Alexander Stephens (former Vice-President of the CSA) is re-elected to Congress in 1865
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ResultsSouthern states quickly take up Johnson‘s
plan by summer of 1865, seven
states set up new governments and elected U.S. Rep.’s & Sen.’s
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pass highly restrictive “black codes“ to keep freedmen under control and bound as agricultural labor
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Republicans in CongressRadicals & Conservatives
are outraged. refuse to seat the new
delegates quickly pass laws to
repudiate black codes
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effectively block
Johnson‘s policy.
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Pushed into alliance by Johnson‘s policies and outright support of Democratic party goals
start formulating a reconstruction policy of their own
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Congressional Reconstruction
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The 14th Amendment1866: first cornerstone of
Congressional Reconstruction
repudiates Dred Scott & gives citizenship and due process of law to all persons born in the US.
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fairly conservative document (esp. Section 1), shows the influence of Conservative Republicans.
still a central part of US constitutional thought.
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1. US citizenship for all persons born in the US;
--equal protection and due process of law for all citizens in all states.
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2. 3/5ths clause abolished.
States may exclude blacks from voting but will have representation in Congress decreased if they do.
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3. Confederate officeholders are excluded from being elected into political office.
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4. Confederate debt is
repudiated.
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Reactions to the 14th Amendment
Andrew Johnson
v.
Thaddeus Stevens
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President Johnson and Democrats denounce the document and lobby vigorously against it.
No ex-confederate state except Tennessee ratifies it. (Ratification did not take place until 1868.)
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Republicans of both factions came to realize that only Republican control of the South would achieve meaningful change.
A strong sentiment emerged in the North that supported harsh sanctions against the former Confederacy.
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The Reconstruction Act of 1867
The Reconstruction Act of 1867 was the high point of
Congressional Reconstruction.
It dissolved Southern state governments and temporarily
reimposed military rule.
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It enfranchised the freedmen and required new state constitutions drafted by conventions elected by both blacks and whites.
It required state legislatures to ratify the 14th amendment and get a final ok from Congress to fully reenter the Union.
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Military districts in the South
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Impeaching Andrew Johnson
The implementation of the 1867 Act brought relations between Congress and president to a boiling point.
Congress passed several laws to bring Johnson under control.
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1867: Congress passes Tenure of Office Act to keep Johnson from firing Secretary of War Edwin Stanton who supported Republican goals.
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Johnson fires Stanton anyway.
Republican leaders start impeachment proceedings
against Johnson for violating the Act – this was more a political than a criminal
offense.
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Johnson’s conviction is narrowly defeated.
(35-19: 1 vote short of 2/3 needed to convict)
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Impeachment remained a tool to
punish criminal wrongdoings rather than political ones.
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The 15th AmendmentLast major piece of Congressional
Reconstruction legislation.
Prohibits the exclusion of male adults(21) from the vote on the basis of race or former condition of servitude.
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Designed to make sure that freedmen franchise would remain.
Passed by Congress in 1869, its ratification became a precondition for reentering the Union; it was ratified in 1870.
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The Freedmen’s
Situation
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A Freedmen‘s school
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The newly freed slaves universally cheered their freedom.
For many, finding displaced family members became the first priority.
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Black institutions, most importantly churches, were established.
The freedman were hungry for education.
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The Freedman‘s Bureau set up over 4,000 elementary schools.
By 1877, over 600,000 African Americans were enrolled.
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Economic Ambitions
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Most freedmen wanted to get enough land to start subsistence farming.
Reconstruction laws did not include land reform, which was opposed by Conservative Republicans and Democrats alike.
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Southern whites tried to keep blacks from owning land.
Freedmen lacked money.
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As a result, very few freedmen were able to realize this very Jeffersonian dream.
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Political Involvement
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Blacks participated in Reconstruction
legislatures – universally as Republicans.
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members of the South Carolina legislature
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Some (16) black Representatives
and Senators were sent to Washington.
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Extra Credit!
Who was the first black governor in the U.S.?
From what state was he elected, and in what
year?
3 pts.
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In state legislatures freedmen politicians normally pursued a policy of reconciliation with white Southerners – to no avail.
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At the same time, they tried to achieve key demands such as a land reform and full social equality.
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Reconstruction in StatePolitics
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As the Republicans had hoped, the freedman vote gave them a temporary advantage in the South.
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However, instead of vigorously defending the interests of their main constituency – freedmen – Republicans tried very hard to attract white Southern voters.
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These efforts were ultimately doomed as the vast majority of whites remained Democrats and rejected Republican policies outright.
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Most Reconstruction governments lasted only a few years; as the 1870s progressed, white Democrat governments regained power in the South.
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Carpetbaggersand
Scalawags
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a sheet music cover
showing a carpetbagg
er
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As hard times hit the South, most white Southerners blamed Republican reconstruction governments and their alleged corruption.
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White Northerners who immigrated to
the South were called
“carpetbaggers”.
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White Southern Republicans --
called
“scalawags”
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Accused of (coming to the South) only to use black votes to gain political power and money.
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Perception was actually ungrounded:
most C’s & S’s were middle class professionals who saw opportunities in the South.
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Many C’s actually moved to the South before enfranchisement.
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ViolentResistance
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Many white Southerners resisted
reconstruction efforts with
violence.
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Vigilante groups intimidated, attacked, and killed freedmen
[lynchings] and white supporters, and destroyed black
institutions.
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The best-known such group was the Ku Klux Klan, but others such as
the White League and the Order of the White
Camelia also were active.
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1871: The KKK was outlawed but little else was done to
protect the freedmen.
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A Thomas Nast cartoon criticizing the oppression of
freedmen by white supremacist
terrorist groups
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Sharecropping
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As the post-war years continued, a new labor system emerged in the cotton economy.
Both blacks and whites became sharecroppers.
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Sharecroppers rented land and paid the owner with a share – usually 50% - of the crop.
They also paid the owner for seed and supplies at a price determined by the owner.
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Despite some advantages, the system led many sharecroppers into a state of perpetual debt because of the need to often take loans based on future harvests.
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The Supreme
Court
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Reconstruction was less than successful in practice, and the Supreme Court removed its legal basis with a series of rulings.
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The Slaughterhouse
Cases(1869)
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effectively made the citizenship rights of the 14th amendment worthless by distinguishing between a protected, but limited national citizenship and an unprotected state citizenship.
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United Statesv.
Reese(1876)
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allowed the disenfranchisement of blacks on grounds other than race, thus dismantling the 15th Amendment
Soon Southern legislatures set up voting requirements that freedmen could not meet.
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Plessy v.
Ferguson(1896)
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Allowed for facilities that were “separate but equal”
The final point of a string of decisions that allowed racial segregation in practically all areas of public life
Along with the changing political situation they allowed white Southerners to construct a segregation system
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“Jim Crow” laws
disenfranchised blacks and kept them unequal
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Loss of Republican
Support
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As the 1870s progressed, Radical Republicans lost influence and the
Republican party turned away from
reconstruction.
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Ulysses S. Grant (1869 – 1877)
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Administration was riddled with corruption scandals that proved to be a difficult political liability.
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“Liberal Republicans” break away from the party in protest to the corruption scandals and take several Radical Republicans with them who now demand public service reform, not reconstruction.
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Democrats make important inroads in Congress, further weakening reconstruction advocates
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1873: severe depression breaks out, making economic problems the main political issue in the North.
Interest in reforming the South, or even treating the former Confederacy harshly, wanes
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The Electionof
1876
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Rutherford B. Hayes(R., OH)
Samuel J. Tilden(D., NY)
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Tilden: 184 E.V.Hayes: 185 E.V.
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Initial results indicate narrow victory for Tilden(D), but Republicans contest results in three Southern states (+ OR)
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8(LA)
1 (OR)
4(FL)
7(SC)
Total contested = 20
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The Compromise
of 1877
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Implicit compromise:–Democrats accept Hayes as President
–Republicans cease any resistance to white Democrat “home rule” in the South
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Reconstruction was over.
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Conclusions
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Reconstruction was an ambitious effort to effect
profound social and political change in the
South, giving the freedmen political and civic rights and end Democratic domination
of the South.
112
However, support for Reconstruction was based on
a shaky coalition between Conservative and Radical Republicans on the federal
level and problematic efforts to attract white voters in the
southern states.
113
As Reconstruction governments proved
ineffective, the Supreme Court intervened and the issues of federal politics were transformed, and
support for reconstruction subsided.
114
In the South, “home rule” quickly turned
into a racially segregated, highly unequal, society.