CHAPTER 12 Reconstruction 1865 1877 Freedmens Bureau 1865

CHAPTER 12 Reconstruction 1865 -1877

Freedmen’s Bureau (1865 -1866) �Organized under the War Department to help Southern blacks who were homeless and jobless �The Bureau • Helped find them jobs and a home • Negotiated labor contracts • Built schools and hospitals • Sherman’s Special Field Order 15 � “ 40 acres and a mule”

Lincoln’s Plan �Ten Percent Plan • 1/10 of 1860 voters must swear an oath of allegiance �High ranking ex-Confederates would have to ask the president for a pardon �The new state constitutions must abolish slavery �Lincoln’s Second Inaugural • “With malice toward none and charity for all. ”

Congress’s Plan � Wade-Davis Bill • Place the South under military rule • A majority of 1860 voters must take oath • Only those whites who did not fight voluntarily can vote/ attend their state’s constitutional conventions • New constitution must ban slavery • Former Confederate officials cannot vote

Congress’s Plan �Lincoln will pocket-veto Wade-Davis • Passive veto / 10 days �Congress disagrees with Lincoln’s plan • 10% is not harsh enough • Reconstruction was Congress’s job • Southern white electorate would become Democratic

Radical Republicans �Republicans in Congress that favored harsh reconstruction terms for the South and expansion of rights for those emancipated �Thaddeus Stevens, PA

President Andrew Johnson

Andrew Johnson’s Plan � Johnson believed that the small Southern farmer would remake the South into a democratic region • Amnesty offered to all former Confederates except high officials and those w/ $20, 000 in property • These men could not hold state / federal office unless they ask for and receive presidential pardon • War ordinances of secession must be revoked • States must ratify 13 th Amendment • Annul (cancel) Confederate war debts

39 th Congress �No states had provided voting rights former slaves �Former Confederate politicians elected to U. S. Congress • Alexander Stephens, GA (former VP of CSA)

40 th Congress �Hiram Revels, Mississippi Senator �First African-American Senator

Black Codes � Passed by Southern legislatures in 18651866 in response to the Freedmen’s Bureau and the 13 th Amendment � Allowed former slaves to: marry fellow blacks, own personal property, sue and be sued � Forbade former slaves to: serve on juries, vote, carry weapons, hold public office, own land, travel without a permit, be out after curfew, assemble in groups w/out a white person present � Designed to limit the rights of freed blacks

Black Codes �Required a former slave to buy a license to work in a craft �Authorized the arrest and fining of unemployed blacks �Allowed for an employer to pay fines in exchange for the person’s labor

Civil Rights Act of 1866 �Granted citizenship to all people born in the United States and gave African Americans the right to: • • Testify in court Own land Make contracts Exercise all the rights of white Americans

14 th Amendment �Johnson vetoes the Civil Rights Act, Congress overrides his veto and passes the 14 th Amendment to protect the Civil Rights Act from a court battle. • • Citizenship Due process Equal protection under the law Targeted former Confederate officials

15 th Amendment �Suffrage will not be denied on the conditions of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude” �Gender? �Age?

Reconstruction Act (1867) �Tennessee exempt (ratified 14 th Amendment) �Military districts • 10 remaining Confederate states divided into 5 military districts • U. S. Army will oversee and enforce the law / protect the rights of former slaves

Johnson’s Impeached �Johnson made enemies among Republicans in Congress (Radicals especially) �Congress impeaches Johnson for violating the Tenure of Office Act • President “could not remove cabinet officers…” • Edwin Stanton / U. S. Grant �Johnson escapes removal by a single vote: (35 -19)

�Scalawags • Southerners sympathetic to Republican Reconstruction policies �Carpetbaggers • Northerners who migrated to the South for opportunity �Sharecropping and Tenant Farming • Land owners (whites) rent land to freed African Americans. High rent kept freed blacks in a cycle of poverty

“Croppers”

Grant’s Elected � 1868 US Grant is elected President of the United States �Grant’s Presidency: • Corruption �Whiskey Ring • Panic of 1873 �Gvt. Securities fail • Enforcement Acts �Protection against KKK • Liberal Republican opposition �H. Greeley in 1872

Rise of the KKK �Ku Klux Klan �Formed 1866 �Former Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest is the first “Grand Wizard” �KKK’s goals were to: • • Restore white supremacy Incite fear among African Americans Obstruction of black suffrage Destroy support for the Republican Party

Southern Redemption �Southern Democrats take back control of the South �“Redeemers” benefitted by the actions of the KKK

Election of 1876 � Rutherford B. Hayes defeats Samuel Tilden, Democratic Governor of New York � Hayes loses the popular vote, but wins the electoral college through ignominious means � Disputed electoral votes: SC, LA, OR, FL � Electoral Commission • 15 members (8 Republicans, 7 Democrats) award election to “Rutherfraud” B. Hayes � http: //www. presidency. ucsb. edu/showelection. php ? year=1876

Compromise of 1877 �Democrats will drop Tilden’s claims in exchange for: • • End of Reconstruction in the South Withdrawal of federal troops (SC, LA) Federal subsidies for infrastructure “Home Rule”