Reconstruction1863-1877

Wartime Reconstruction, 1863-1865Lincoln’s 10% Plan• Goal was to end the war quickly by making reunion

attractive

• encourage Southern unionism

• Dec. 1863: once 10% of a state’s voters took an oath to uphold the Constitution and disavow slavery, they could write a constitution and apply for readmission

• only Confederate govt. officials and high-ranking officers barred from politics

Congress’ Response: the Wade-Davis Bill • Republicans in Congress rejected Lincoln’s plan

• thought it was too weak – wanted to punish the South

• believed reconstruction was a matter for Congress, not the president

• Passed a law requiring that a majority of a state’s voters swear allegiance before the state could apply for readmission

• only those who swore an “ironclad oath” that they had never supported the Confederacy could participate in govt.

• Lincoln pocket-vetoed the bill

Wartime ReconstructionLincoln’s Vision• as quick and painless a reunion as possible• “with malice toward none and with charity for

all”

• yet recognized the need to guarantee freedom to freedmen• privately pushed limited black suffrage in

Louisiana• April 1865: publicly supported limited black

suffrage

• Definite plans unknown at his death in April 1865

Aftermath of the WarThe South was decimated by the war

• massive destruction• many areas were left a wasteland• over 20% of white men killed; countless

others disabled

• emancipation• demolished the South’s social system• demolished the South’s labor system• plantation slavery was the basis of the entire

economy

• dissolved $4 billion in private property

The federal govt. faced key questions

• What to do with the rebellious states?• punishment? constitutional status?

• What to do with the 4 million former slaves?• economic support? civil & political rights?

Presidential Reconstruction, 1865Andrew Johnson• Plan: follow Lincoln’s example – rapid

reunion• two conditions: renounce disunion and

renounce slavery• liberal policy toward pardoning of

Confederates• had no sympathy for former slaves – deeply

racist• by fall 1865, every state was back in the

Union• and promptly reelected

antebellum/Confederate leaders

Black Codes• Summer 1865: Southern states reinstated

old slave codes, only without slavery• laws against blacks assembling• mandated that they have a labor contract• required to travel with a pass and obey a

curfew• race riots, 1865-1866

Congressional Reconstruction, 1866Northern response to Johnson’s Reconstruction unhappy – nothing seemed to have changed

big planters were still in power, and slavery still existed in all but name

Northerners wanted to remake Southern society blamed slave society (esp. the planters) for the war

wanted to remake South in image of North: free-labor society

Congress, 1865-1866 determined to (A) control the process and (B) ensure a free-

labor society rejected delegates from former Confederate states renewed and expanded the Freedmen’s Bureau

wartime, Army-run agency to help refugees and former slaves transition to peacetime

passed a Civil Rights Act to counteract the Black Codes Johnson vetoed both laws, and Congress overrode his veto

1866 state and congressional elections Johnson’s disastrous speaking tour decisive Republican victories = veto-proof majorities in both

houses

Fourteenth Amendment black citizenship (all people born in the US were US citizens) protection of citizenship rights – “due process” and “equal

protection”Reconstruction Act of 1867

divided the South into five military districts set stringent requirements for states’ readmission, including: new constitution allowing black suffrage and rejecting ex-

Confederate suffrage ratification of the 14th Amendment

“Radical Reconstruction”? Radical Republicans pushed for:

1. period of military rule2. black suffrage3. land confiscation & redistribution4. federal aid for schools for blacks and poor whites

moderate Republicans blocked 3 & 4, and passed 1& 2 with great reluctance despite Southern mythology, the Radicals were never in charge

Congressional Reconstruction, 1867

Johnson did all he could to undermine “Radical Reconstruction” e.g., replacing army officers who carried out Republican

agenda tried to replace Secretary of War Stanton, a radical

Republican Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act to prevent this Johnson violated it by firing Stanton

March 1868: the House voted to impeach Johnson May: the Senate acquitted him by one vote

November: Grant elected in a close electionFeb 1869: Congress passed the 15th Amendment (ratified 1870) all male US citizens can vote (i.e. black suffrage) motives:

to allow freedmen to protect their own rights to protect the Republican Party in the South

Struggle for Power, 1867-1868

Competing definitions of black freedom most Southern whites:

slaves as laborers and second-class citizens, but paid (a little)

most Northern whites: slaves as paid laborers with basic rights

the freedmen: legal & social equality and freedom from white

control

Freedmen’s steps to give meaning to freedom legalize marriages and gather scattered family

members get educated

especially children, but also adults Freedmen’s Bureau Schools

learn about government and vote Union Leagues black Republican officeholders

start their own churches, with their own preachers

own their own land (and not grow cotton on it!) very few succeeded in this

Reconstruction in the South

Reconstruction in the South

The heart of Congress’ plans lay in encouraging Republican state governments in the former slave statesalliance of blacks, pro-business whites, carpetbaggers, & poor white farmers

very activist state governments encouraged RR construction, industrialization

also govt. services, esp. public school systems and hospitals, orphanages, asylums, etc.

led to the highest state expenditures ever in South produced greater state taxes & debt than ever

before

“Redemption”1870s: Democrats recaptured Southern state govts. Democrats – party of (a) white supremacy & (b) political reform

racist appeals to white solidarity pointed to high taxes & debts of Republican govts. – blamed

corruption in the Upper South, enough white voters sided with them to

ensure victory but legal Redemption was impossible in Deep South – too many

black voters used terrorism: violence, intimidation, economic pressure

the Ku Klux Klan terrorist wing of the Democratic Party targeted Republicans, esp. black party activists

this failed only where federal troops remained

Northern Response to Redemption Northerners protested, but did little to protect

Southern blacks as the war receded, they grew tired of the Southern

problem had their own concerns depression, industrialization, immigration, etc.

thought civil rights (14th) and suffrage (15th) were enough

further rights/benefits would be special treatment The election of 1876 brought an official end to

Reconstruction 1877: federal govt. removed troops from last four

Southern states where Democrats immediately regained power

by the 1880s, blacks voted in small numbers & had little power

1880s-1890s: “Jim Crow” system restored the white supremacy of the slavery era

as the Black Codes had tried to do after the war in 1865-1866