American History—Chapter 12American History—Chapter 12

Reconstruction

Problems after the WarProblems after the War

Human—What do you do with all the new slaves? All the people that died?

Political—What do you do with all the Southern states? What about Lincoln’s death?

Constitutional—Does the President or Congress have the right to chose which plan will work to fix the South

ReconstructionReconstruction

1867-1877: Time period in which the United States tried to rebuild after the Civil War.

Also is the name for the process that the North allowed the South to come back to the United States.

Critical Period in United States History

Lincoln’s PlanLincoln’s Plan

Didn’t blame individuals in the South—blame the Southern leaders for leaving

Wanted to restore the Union as QUICK as possible

Amnesty--To pardon (forgive) people for crimes against the government

Lincoln’s Plan never took place

Lincoln’s Plan cont..Lincoln’s Plan cont..

Pardon (forgive) all confederates who swear allegiance to the Union

This did not include high ranking people in the Confederacy (generals, politicians, POW)

States could form their own government if 10% of voting population swore allegiance to the Union

This made many people in the North mad because they felt it let the South off the hook

Radical RepublicansRadical Republicans

Radicals Republicans—people from the North who wanted to make Reconstruction difficult for the South

Thaddeus Stevens—Radical Republican leader in Congress, wanted to punish the South for what they had done

Wade-Davis BillWade-Davis Bill

Bill designed to counter Lincoln’s Plan Congress would be responsible for Reconstruction Majority (over 50%) in a state would have to

swear allegiance to the Union for the state to be readmitted

Lincoln killed this bill with a pocket veto Pocket Veto—When the president ignores a bill

passed by Congress (within the last 10 days) the bill will fail

Johnson’s PlanJohnson’s Plan

Andrew Johnson became President after Lincoln was killed (Johnson was a Democrat)

Johnson’s Plan for Reconstruction1. Any state could be readmitted if they declared secession

illegal

2. Swear Allegiance to the Union

3. Promise to pay back their debts

4. Pass the 13th Amendment (no slavery)

Johnson’s Plan cont..Johnson’s Plan cont..

Very easy terms for the South—within a month every state (but Texas) had passed all the requirements and was sending representatives to Congress

Problem—Johnson pardoned (forgave) all the people responsible for causing the war

Result—58 Congressman, 6 Confederate Cabinet Members and 4 Confederate Generals were in the new US Congress.

Congressional ElectionsCongressional Elections

In 1866 the Radical Republicans won most of the Congressional Seats.

After the election, over 2/3 of Congress was made up of the Republican Party who was opposed to Johnson.

Now Congress could pass a law and then override the Presidential Veto…this started Congressional Reconstruction

Congressional ReconstructionCongressional Reconstruction Freedman’s Bureau

Assisted former slaves and free whites in the South (food, schools, hospitals)

Civil Rights Act of 1866 Gave blacks citizenship and forbade states from passing black

codes (laws that limited freedom of black)

14th Amendment Gave Civil Rights to all people born or naturalized in the USA

(Citizenship). Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness

15th Amendment No one can be kept from voting b/c of race or color Helped ensure that Republicans would stay in power

Congressional ReconstructionCongressional Reconstruction

Reconstruction Act of 1867 Abolish all governments created under

Lincoln/Johnson Plans Divided the South into 5 military districts Blacks males go the right to vote Must ratify the 14th amendment to be readmitted

into the Union

Vetoed by Johnson—Congress was able to override his veto

Response to 1Response to 1stst Reconstruction ActsReconstruction Acts

Stunned the Southern Whites (how could they be equal to the blacks?)

20,000 federal troops went to the South to make sure things went as ordered.

Now Congress turned their attention to getting rid of Johnson

Tenure of Office ActTenure of Office Act

Tenure of Office Act Law passed by Congress to try to bait Johnson into

doing something illegal. (How to get him out of office)

President could not remove any cabinet member without 2/3 Senate vote.

Johnson was willing to test this new act and kicked out his Sec. Of War (Stanton)

ImpeachmentImpeachment Impeachment—Bring to trial! House of Reps voted to Impeach Johnson on the

following charges1. Tenure of Office Act—the problem was that Stanton

was appointed by Lincoln, not Johnson, so the law didn’t apply.

2. Radicals accused him of being a disgrace—this was not a crime that could get the president removed

Result The Senate voted 35 to 19 for Johnson to be

kicked out of office (1 vote shy of the needed majority)

Election of 1868Election of 1868

Democrats ran a guy named SeymourRepublicans ran Ulysses S GrantGrant won

Almost all of the 500,000 blacks voted for Grant

Radicals decided to pass the 15th amendment which said no one could be kept from voting based on race

Section 2Section 2

Reconstructing the South

Problems for the South Problems for the South

Physical Conditions Much of the South was destroyed Sherman alone had caused more than 100 million dollars

worth of damage to Georgia Buildings, Bridges, Roads and Farms all need to be rebuilt.

Economic Conditions No property value, Confederate bonds failed, poor South was forced to pay for most of the rebuilding

Human Over 1/5 of all white men in the South died in the Civil War

Scalawags/CarpetbaggersScalawags/Carpetbaggers

Scalawags—White Southerners who joined the Republican Party

Wanted the South to industrialize quickly Did not want former slave owners back in power Most were considered traitors by the South

Carpetbaggers—Northerners who moved to the South after the war

Some were teachers/priest (wanted to help) Some were old soldiers who wanted to live in warmth Most were businessmen who wanted to make money off the

rebuilding process in the South (some dishonest)

New Freedoms for African New Freedoms for African Americans (1865-1877)Americans (1865-1877)

Travel---move new places, etc… Re-unite with family/marry Education---more African American Teachers and

Schools (80% illiterate b/f Civil War) Religion—Methodist/Baptist Politics---More involved in Politics

Hiram Revels—1st black Senator 16 Blacks were elected to Congress

De-Segregation Laws

Economic ProblemsEconomic Problems

Problem: Lots of poor people needed work and many of the old slave owners needed people to work in their fields

Sharecropping/Tenant Farming– Old Landowners divided their land– Gave each worker land, seed, tools.– When the crops were harvested, 2/3 of the

profit went back to the landowner

SharecroppingSharecropping

Good Blacks could keep some of what they produce In theory they could save up enough money and buy their own

land

Bad By the time they harvested crops and paid for the supplies—

they were in debt Heavy production hurt the soil—didn’t produce enough goods

Results—Poor white and black farmers were still in debt…..temporary solution to the problem

Section 3Section 3

People who opposed People who opposed ReconstructionReconstruction

Whites blamed the blacks for many of their problems (economic and social)– Ku Klux Klan—Began in Tennessee (1866)

Nathaniel Forrest was their leader Initially tried to prevent blacks from voting Eventually turned violent Wanted to make sure that the Republicans lost

political power

White SupremacyWhite Supremacy

Gradually Southern Whites took control of the government.

Poor whites had a hard time accepting equality because of the competition for jobs

This led to a variety of political restrictions

Political RestrictionsPolitical Restrictions

Blacks faced discrimination, especially in the voting process.

Literary test—Blacks who voted Republican would get a hard test, blacks who voted Democrat would get an easy one (what is your name?)

Poll Taxes—pay $ before they vote Grandfather Clause—a person could fail the literacy

and poll taxes and still be allowed to vote if his grandfather had been able to vote (allowed poor whites the opportunity to vote)

Separate But Equal?Separate But Equal?

Jim Crow Laws—laws that established the idea of “separate but equal”

Basically separate blacks and whites in a variety of places (Schools, hospitals, etc)

Plessy vs Ferguson—a Supreme Court Decision that said separate but equal was legal; just as long as the facilities were equal.

Response to ProblemsResponse to Problems

Force Acts—Act from Congress to lessen the activity/influence of the Klan

Troops would supervise elections

Amnesty Act—Gave the right to vote to 160,000 former Confederates

Eventually people in the North got sick of Reconstruction and started to allow old leaders to come back into power

Weakening of RepublicansWeakening of Republicans

North got sick of dealing with problems in the South

Radicals were losing influence over the Republican Party

North didn’t really want full equality in the North

Business in the North wanted a stable governments in the South

Grant’s AdministrationGrant’s Administration

Grant was honest, people around him were not.

Scandals Whiskey Ring—IRS was not taxing whiskey, govt.

employees were getting kickbacks from this William Belknap—Sec. Of War that took bribes

from merchants in the west

Depression of 1873Depression of 1873

Economy was booming after the Civil War Manufacturers had to borrow so much money to

rebuild the South that the banks could not cover the loans that they were putting out.

Major Banks went bankruptResult: 3 million workers lost their jobs

Election of 1876Election of 1876

Rutherford B Hayes (Rep) vs. Samuel Tilden (Dem)

Tilden won the popular vote and was leading the electoral college vote 184-165.

20 votes were in dispute (Florida)—Tilden should have gotten those votes and won the presidency.

Election of 1876Election of 1876

A special commission was made to investigate the votes in Florida (more Republicans than Democrats on commission)

They decided that Hayes won Florida therefore he won the election by 1 vote

Democrats were mad—they made a deal with the Republicans.

Fed. Troops had to leave the South Give the South money to build railroads Hayes must have a Southern Democrat in his cabniet

Results of ReconstructionResults of Reconstruction

Good– Political and Social Conditions Improved– Blacks could now vote– Didn’t have to own property to be in

government

Results cont..Results cont..

Bad– Segregation started to appear– Had a hard time rebuilding everything (no $

available)– State funded projects got terrible loans from

government– High taxes kept farmers in debt– Graft—People in the government who took

bribes from construction projects