Reconstruction 1863 1877 APUSH Lecture 4 D covers

Reconstruction, 1863 -1877 APUSH Lecture 4 D (covers chapter 15) Ms. Kray Some slides taken from Susan Pojer

The Problem of Peacemaking “Presidential Reconstruction”

A Devastated South and the Process of Re-Integration #1 - How do we bring the South back into the Union? #3 - How do we integrate and protect newly emancipated black freemen? #2 – How do we rebuild the South? #4 – Which branch of government should control the reconstruction process?

Lincoln’s 10% Plan, 1863 �Based on Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction � Full presidential pardons to most southerners who � (1) took an oath of allegiance to the Union and the U. S. Constitution � (2) accepted the emancipation of slaves (13 th Amendment) � A state government could be reestablished and accepted as legitimate by the U. S. president as soon as at least 10% of the voters in that state took the loyalty oath � Deliberately lenient in order to shorten the war �Wade-Davis Bill, 1864 � Radical Republicans in Congress thought Lincoln’s plan was too lenient � Required 50% of voters to take loyalty oath and permitted only non -Confederates to vote for a new state constitution � Lincoln pocket vetoed

Conservative vs. Radical Republicans Conservatives � Insisted that the South accept the abolition of slavery but had few other conditions Radicals � Led by Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner � Punishment for civil &military leaders of the Confederacy � Disenfranchisement of Southern whites � Protection of black legal rights � Confiscate property of wealthy white Southerners who had aided the confederacy to be distributed to freedmen. � Some even favored granting blacks the right to vote.

Lincoln Assassinated, 1865 �Lincoln’s reconstruction plans ended when he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth �His VP, Andrew Johnson, now president

Andrew Johnson’s 10%+ Plan �Johnson was a former Democrat and Tennessee governor �White supremacist � “Damn the negroes! I am fighting these traitorous aristocrats, their masters!” �Disliked Southern planter aristocracy �Johnson’s Plan �Kept original components of Lincoln’s 10% plan plus a few other ideas �High-ranking Confederate officials and any southerner with property worth more than $20, 000 were disenfranchised �President could pardon “disloyal” southerners

Freedman’s Bureau, 1865 � Acted as a welfare agency for blacks and whites � Had authority to resettle blacks on land confiscated from “disloyal” Southerners � Freedmen promised 40 acres and a mule � Greatest Success: Education � Established more than 3, 000 schools � Taught 200, 000 Freedmen and women to read � Freedmen’s Bureau Through Southern Eyes – “Plenty to Eat and Nothing to Do”

“Who Won the War? ” Growing Northern Alarm VP of Confederacy, Alexander Stephens became Senator Alexander Stephens of Georgia � 8 months after Johnson 10% plan announced all 11 Confederate states qualified to re-enter the Union � Johnson had granted 13, 500 pardons; planter aristocracy back in power � Southern Defiance: The Black Codes � Passed by Southern state legislatures � Intended to place limits on socioeconomic opportunities and freedoms open to Black people � Prohibited blacks from renting or borrowing money to buy land; from testifying against whites in court � System closely resembled slavery

“Radical” Reconstruction, 1866 -1872 Congress Takes Command

Congress Breaks with Johnson � Congress bars Southern Congressional delegates from taking office � Late 1865: Joint Committee on Reconstruction est. � Asserted Congress not the President had authority over Reconstruction � Johnson vetoes Freedman’s Bill (1866) & Civil Rights Act (1866) � Congress passes both over his veto – 1 st time ever � Mid-Term Election of 1866 � Johnson campaigns against the Radical Republicans and appeals to racial prejudice in his “swing around the circle campaign” � Plan backfires � Radical Republicans gain a 2/3 majority in both Houses by “waving the bloody shirt”

The Congressional Plan, 1867 � Military Reconstruction Act � Former Confederate states under military occupation � Black suffrage and ratification of the 13 th and 14 th Amendments required in all new state constitutions � Later 15 th Amendment added as well � Punishment of Confederate leaders became policy � Tenure of Office Act � Placed restrictions on the power of President Johnson � Not allowed to fire a cabinet member w/o permission of Congress � Command of Army Act

President Johnson Impeached, 1868 �Feb. 1868: President Johnson fires Sec. of War Edwin Stanton �House of Representatives votes to impeach Johnson before charges have even been drawn up! �Trial lasted 11 weeks � Johnson acquitted by one vote � 7 Republicans join with the Democrats to prevent expulsion � Did not want to set the precedent of removing a president for political reasons

The Radical Republican’s Legacy: The Reconstruction Amendments � Radical Republicans feared much of what they had done could be repealed looked for a more permanent solution – Southern states must accept amendments before readmitted to the Union � 13 th Amendment � Prohibited slavery � 14 th Amendment � Declared all persons born or naturalized in the U. S. were citizens � Provided for equal protection of the laws for all citizens � Enforced congressional legislation guaranteeing civil rights former slaves � 15 th Amendment � Prohibited any state from denying or abridging a citizen’s right to vote on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude � Congress given the power to enforce this article � Women’s rights groups furious they were not included

The South in Reconstruction

Southern Reconstruction Governments �The Republican party organized and dominated the government’s of the ex. Confederate states �Scalawags � Southern Republicans who supported the Reconstruction governments �Carpetbaggers � Northern newcomers who came to lead the Reconstruction governments � Accused by Southerners of corruption �Southern strongly resented this Northern interference

The Myth of “Negro Rule” �African American freedmen made up the largest block of Republican voters in the South �Freedmen begin being elected to state legislatures and to Congress � 2 U. S. Senators and more than a dozen U. S. Congressmen �White southerners unprepared to give freed blacks political power �Complained about “negro rule” �No such thing existed in any southern states � No black governors, no black control of state legislatures

Evaluating the Reconstruction Governments Accomplishments Failures ü Liberalized state const. provided for universal suffrage, prop. rights for women, debt relief, & modernized penal codes ü For years, era of Republican rule in the South depicted as utterly wasteful & corrupt ü Promoted building of roads, bridges, railroads, & other internal improvements ü While instances of graft & wasteful spending did occur it was no worse than corruption practiced anywhere else around the country during this time. ü Est. needed state institutions like hospitals and asylums ü Est. state-supported public school systems ü paid for it by overhauling the tax system & issuing bonds

Reconstruction for African Americans �Huge improvements in education � By 1876 more than 50% of all white children and 40% of all black children were attending schools � Efforts at integration failed schools remained segregated � Several “black academies” created to offer advanced education: Fisk, Morehouse �Efforts to rebuild family structures � Attempted to locate lost relatives � Rush to have marriages legalized � Move away from slave cabins

From Slaves to Sharecroppers � Radical Republicans and Reconstruction governments wanted to reform landownership in the South; they failed � By 1880 less than 5% of black were independent landowners � Sharecropping System Developed � Usually entered sharecropping arrangements with their former masters � Led to a cycle of debt and depression � Poor whites also involved in sharecropping

The Crop-Lien System Furnishing Merchant § Loan tools and seed up to 60% interest to tenant farmer to plant spring crop. § Farmer also secures food, clothing, and other necessities on credit from merchant until the harvest. § Merchant holds “lien” {mortgage} on part of tenant’s future crops as repayment of debt. Tenant Farmer Landowner § Plants crop, harvests in § Rents land to tenant in autumn. exchange for ¼ to ½ of tenant farmer’s future crop. § Turns over up to ½ of crop to land owner as payment of rent. § Tenant gives remainder of crop to merchant in payment of debt.

The Abandonment of Reconstruction, 1872 -1877

Reconstruction in the North The Grant Administration, 1869 -1873 � 1868: Republican Ulysses S. Grant becomes president � Won by a very small margin -- 500, 000 black voters in the South made the difference � 15 th Amendment: guaranteed black voting rights �Grant’s Presidency � Material interests of the age replaced the idealism of Lincoln’s generation – main concerns seemed to be RRs, steel, labor problems, and currency debate � Plagued by scandals � � Whiskey Ring – treasury officials and distillers falsified reports of tax revenues Credit Mobilier Scandal – construction company defrauded the federal government of millions of dollars

Why Did Northern Support Wane? �Mounting economic and political problems the country turned away from Reconstruction’s idealistic goals and the overriding Republican goal became continued political dominance � Panic of 1873 � Rise of the Spoilsmen �Concern over westward expansion & the Indian Wars �Social Darwinism argued for inferiority of blacks �General fatigue w/Reconstruction

Rise of the Redeemers �By the end of Grant’s presidency 8 of the 11 Confederate states had been “redeemed” by Democrats �The Invisible Empire of the South �Secret societies like the Ku Klux Klan arose � Used violence and intimidation to exercise white supremacy and to exclude freedmen from exercising their political rights �Congress tried to stop KKK w/Enforcement Acts of 1870 & 1871 � but they were poorly enforced

The End of Reconstruction: The Election of 1876 � A Disputed Election Result � Democrat Samuel Tilden polled more popular votes than Rutherford B. Hayes � Tilden won 184 of the 185 electoral votes needed for election � There were 20 disputed votes in four states, 3 of which were in the South � Special Electoral Commission formed � In a straight party vote 8 -7, the commission gives all 20 disputes votes to Hayes � Democrats in the Senate threaten to filibuster the results

The End of Reconstruction: The Compromise of 1877 �The Democrats agreed that Hayes would take office �The Republicans agreed to withdraw federal troops from the South �Hayes promised to appoint at least one Southerner to his cabinet �The Republicans agreed to support internal improvements in the South �Republicans abandoned their commitment to racial equality � Civil Rights Act of 1875 not enforced � Guaranteed equal accommodations in public places and prohibited racial discrimination in jury selection � Later declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1883