Following Lincoln’s Assassination (April 14 th, 1865), Andrew Johnson, a Southern Democrat, became...
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Transcript of Following Lincoln’s Assassination (April 14 th, 1865), Andrew Johnson, a Southern Democrat, became...
Following Lincoln’s Assassination (April 14th, 1865),Andrew Johnson, a Southern Democrat, became president
We must continue Lincoln’s policy of
“malice towards none”
Loyalty Oaths
10% Plan
Presidential pardons for high ranking
Confederates and wealthy southerners
Allow former Confederates to keep
their personal property
Johnson would appoint provisional governors after goals were met:
What were these goals,
you ask?
- 10% Plan was met
- State Constitution guaranteed respect of the 13th Amendment
- Plans to continue Lincoln’s policy of “malice towards none”
- Respected Loyalty Oaths and 10% Plan
- Presidential Pardon required for high ranking Confederate officials and wealthy southerners
- Former Confederates could keep property
- Executive (Johnson) would appoint provisional governor after goals were met
- 10% Plan met
- Establish State Constitution respecting 13th Amendment (end of slavery)
- Union troops stationed in the south to guarantee smooth transition
Established in Southern state constitutions to severely restrict the rights of freed blacks
Known as “Jim Crow Laws”
after Reconstruction
Prohibits slavery in the United States
The Freedmen’s Bureau was established to provide:
And…Forty acres and a mule.
This part never really happened.
Hooray Freedmen’s Bureau! We should pass some
legislation to continue the program indefinitely!
Veto!
Suckers!
2/3 majority override fool!
- Black Codes established in Southern state constitutions
- Severely restricted rights of blacks- Known as Jim Crow….
- 13th Amendment ratified: ends slavery
- Freedmen’s Bureau
- Distributed land and supplied food, teachers, legal aid, and horses to freed slaves
- Congress passes legislation to extend the organization’s existence indefinitely
- Johnson vetoes
- Congress overrides veto
We don’t want you running Reconstruction anymore!
We are establishing a Joint Committee to control
Reconstruction!
Guess what else! We are going to pass this CRAZY law called the
Civil Rights Act!
?
Except Native Americans
2/3 majority override fool!
Veto!
Suckers!
No ex-Confederate may hold office without Congressional Pardon (2/3 majority) and no
compensation forlost property (slaves)
Andrew Johnson decided that Congress
was basically a bunch of meanies so he decided
to go on a speaking tour promoting a kinder,
gentler Lincolnesque Reconstruction.
This made Congress hate him even more than
they already did!
- Congressional Joint Committee established to take over Reconstruction from the executive
- Civil Rights Act passed over presidential veto
- Full citizenship to all persons born in the U.S. except Native Americans
- Supposed to guarantee blacks the same rights as whites
- 14th Amendment ratified
- Citizenship for blacks; overturned Dred Scott decision
- Permanent constitutional protection of civil rights for all citizens
Some groups in the South worked hard to limit the rights of Freedmen
Ex-Confederate soldiers led by former General Nathan Bedford Forest unite and
begin brutal attacks on Freedmen
Voting became a privilege for the rich again
Dividing districts to decrease black representation
Wealthy landowners give supplies to Freedmen in exchange for a % of the crop
Freedmen were forever indebted to the landowner - Defacto Slavery
1867
- No compensation to former slave holders…
- Southern resistance to Reconstruction increased
- Ku Klux Klan
- Established by former Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forest
- Joined by many southerners, especially former Confederates
- Goal was to terrorize blacks and ensure white supremacy
- Poll Taxes
- Kept free blacks and poor farmers from voting
- Voting became a privilege for the wealthy
- Gerrymandering
- Organizing voting districts to limit representation of blacks and Republicans
- Sharecropping
- Wealthy landowners gave supplies to Freedmen in exchange for a percentage of crop
- Freedmen indebted to landowner
- Impossible to break out of the cycle: defacto slavery
Senate42 Republicans11 Democrats
House143 Republicans
49 Democrats
We can override any presidential veto!
HUZZAH!
- Veto-Proof Congress
- Republicans held advantage in Congress
- Senate: 42 Republicans, 11 Democrats
- House: 143 Republicans, 49 Democrats
- Could override any presidential veto (requires a 2/3 majority of Congress)
The south was dividedinto military zones of control
Note that TN is excludedbecause it has already
approved the 14th Amendmentand been readmitted as a state
- New Constitutional Convention had to be called; no ex-Confederates allowed
- Had to approve the 14th Amendment
- No ex-Confederates could vote without a Congressional pardon
- First Reconstruction Act
- South divided into military zones (except TN which had ratified the 14th and was readmitted)
- New qualifications for reentry of states established
- New Constitutional Convention had to be called; no ex-Confederates allowed
- Had to approve the 14th Amendment
- No ex-Confederates could vote without a Congressional pardon
How about instead of bickering with him we just impeach the jerk!
But he hasn’t really violated any laws…
Who cares?
We still don’t like him!
Well…maybe we can find another way to
screw him over!
Congress passed the Tenure of Office ActThe president could not remove his own Cabinet
appointments without Congressional approval
That doesn’t make any sense!
I think I will test their mettle…
maybe I will fire a Lincoln appointee:
Secretary of WarEdwin Stanton
- Johnson Impeachment (1st Attempt)
- Fall 1867 - House Judiciary Committee brought a bill of impeachment against Johnson
- Charges were not legal arguments so much as they were a list of complaints
- Vote for trial failed: 108-57
- Tenure of Office Act
- prohibited the President from dismissing any Cabinet member without Congressional approval
- Johnson decided to test the act by firing Secretary of War Edwin Stanton
Secretary of War Edwin Stanton was a pretty important guy
So…when Andrew Johnson fired him he
refused to leave office...knowing
Congress and the Radical Republicans would support him!
Let’s try to impeach that jerk…again!
For violating the Tenure of Office Act?
Can you even do that?
- Stanton refused to leave after being dismissed by Johnson
- Congress claimed Johnson violated the Tenure of Office Act
- Johnson Impeachment (2nd Attempt)
- House brought charges of impeachment for violation of Tenure of Office Act
- Questionable whether it was an impeachable offence and if the law was Constitutional
- Johnson may not have technically violated the act as Stanton was a Lincoln appointment
- Wording of the law was unclear on that point
- 1926 the Supreme Court ruled the Tenure of Office Act was not Constitutional
Guilty353535
Not Guilty191919
PHEW!
Radical Republican Senator Benjamin Wade
Darn!I wanted to be
president!
- Three separate votes held in Senate
- Each time, vote was the same
- 35 voted Guilty
- 19 voted Not Guilty
- 2/3 majority required; 1 vote short each time
- Guilty verdict would have set a dangerous precedent: removal of president for political differences not “high crimes or misdemeanors”
General Grant rode his status as a military hero to the presidency in the
election of 1868.
As a symbol of the Union victory, and a staunch opponent of Andrew Johnson, Americans hoped he would lead
Reconstruction with the same strength and vigor
with which he led the Union Army.
He did neither… in fact, he did
just about nothing!
Grant’s administration was filled with corruption…and rather than
fight that corruption he pretty much let it happen…
- General Ulysses S. Grant (Republican) elected president (1869-1877)
- Administration filled with corruption, especially among his appointees
- Grant never took a firm stand against the corrupt official, even after their guilt was firmly established
-Grant apparently never profited from the corruption
The 15th Amendment – Voting rights for all citizens
But…what if the South will not follow the newly passed
laws?
Aha!!
The Enforcement
Act!
The Federal government could use troops to protect
citizens from terror.This began the downfall of
the Ku Klux Klan.
- 15th Amendment ratified
- Right to vote guaranteed to all citizens
- Enforcement Act
- Violators of 14th and 15th Amendments could be prosecuted
- Force Acts
- Federal government could use troops to protect citizens from terror
- Began the downfall of the KKK
Despite the Force Act, in the South lynchings were rarely prosecuted.When they were, they often failed in the face of all white juries in racist towns.
The KKK Act made it illegal to
dress up and terrorize citizens.
It also gave control of lynching
trials to the federal
government which eliminated the problems of
state enforcement and allowed for
multi-racial juries.
The KKK disappeared until around 1915when a strong resurgence occurred
- Ku Klux Klan Act
- Lynchers were rarely prosecuted
- Prosecutions often failed: all white juries
- Made it illegal to dress up and terrorize citizens
- Gave control of lynching trials to the federal government
- Eliminated problems with state enforcement
- Allowed for multi-racial juries within federal courts
- KKK disappeared until around 1915
Northern politicians who went south to fill political jobs
Southern Republicans who supported Reconstruction
- Democrats visited Republican political rallies and incited riots
- During riots, “Rifle Clubs” gunned down innocents and political leaders
WOW!
This is getting bad!
- The Mississippi Plan
- Widespread terror against- Blacks
- Carpetbaggers (Northern Republicans who went South to work)
- Scalawags (Southern Republicans who supported Reconstruction)
- Democrats visited Republican political rallies and incited riots
- During riots, “Rifle Clubs” gunned down innocents and political leaders
- Turned an 1874 election Republican majority of 30,000 to a Democratic majority of about the same number in 1875
- President Grant refused to send in federal troops; feared being accused of “bayonet rule”
- Plan mirrored by other Southern states
Samuel J. Tilden (D) v. Rutherford B. Hayes (R)
Hayes, a northerner, lost the popular election to Tilden
With 20 electoral votes still to count, Tilden needed only one to win
Sorry Mr. Tilden, I have promised this dance to Mr. Hayes
There were accusations of impropriety in the South (mostly
as a result of the Mississippi Plan) and all of the votes were
initially given to Hayes.
Later, those votes were all tossed out and a special
committee composed of 8 Republicans and 7 Democrats
was formed to decide the elections.
Clearly, Hayes had an advantage.
- Hayes elected president on the guarantee that he would not run for reelection
- Union troops removed from the South
- Southerners allowed to handle race relations as they saw fit
The Irish, Southerner,and northern Big Businesscoming together to keep
down the black population
- Election of 1876 - Samuel J. Tilden (D) v. Rutherford B. Hayes (R)
- Conflict:
- Hayes (Northerner) lost the popular election to Tilden (Southerner)
- With 20 electoral votes still to count, Tilden needed only one to win
- Accusations of impropriety in the Southern states (Mississippi Plan)
- All votes given to Hayes
- Later, votes were tossed out
- Special committee was formed to decide:8 Republicans, 7 Democrats
- Compromise of 1876:
- Hayes elected President but would not run for reelection
- Union troops removed from the South
- Lack of troops meant little protection for African‑Americans in South
- Southerners could handle race relations as they saw fit
- Ended Reconstruction - North was tired of Reconstruction anyway; not working out very well