Reconstruction 1865 1877 Problems with Reconstruction Physical Toll

Reconstruction 1865 – 1877

Problems with Reconstruction • Physical Toll – 2/3 of southern shipping and 9, 000 miles of railroad destroyed – Value of southern farmland fell 70% • Human Toll – North – 364, 000 soldiers dead – South – 260, 000 soldiers dead (20% white male population) • Economic Toll – Confederate $ worthless • Emotional Toll – White southerners and the “Lost Cause”

Problems with Reconstruction • Why can’t Lincoln create a treaty with the Confederacy to end the war? • Why can’t Lincoln readmit the southern states in to the Union as if nothing happened? • Why would Republicans not want to readmit southern states?

Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan (10% Plan) • Created in 1863 • Pardons to most southerners (except high officials) • Each state could hold a constitutional convention after 10% of people signed an oath to the USA • Suffrage to blacks who were educated, owned property, and had served for the Union • States could resume elections and rejoin the Union after the convention • Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee completed in 1864

Republican Congress’ Response to Lincoln’s Plan • Republican Response – Denied representatives from 3 “reconstructed” states – Feared loss of power • South would vote in more Democrats – Did not think Lincoln’s plan was strong enough • Radical Republicans – wanted to reorder society to guarantee black people true equality

Wade-Davis Bill • July 1864 • Provisional governor in each state • Majority of white males must swear oath to create state constitution • Abolish slavery, disenfranchise Confederate civil and military leaders • Lincoln uses “pocket veto” to kill the bill

Johnson’s Plan (Presidential Reconstruction) • One time slave owner • Pardoned Southerners who signed an oath to the USA • Permitted each state to hold constitutional conventions • States were required to void secession, and ratify 13 th Amendment • States could then hold elections and rejoin the Union

Presidential Reconstruction • Lasted until the end of 1865 • All states had met guidelines • Radical Republicans did not recognize Johnson’s state governments

Black Codes • Laws to restrict freedmen’s rights in the south – Curfews – Vagrancy laws – Labor contracts – Limits on women’s rights – Land restrictions • Rent land only in rural areas • Forced to live on plantations

Radical Republicans vs. Johnson • Freedmen’s Bureau – First federal relief agency in U. S. history (“welfare”) – Gave out food, clothes, medicine – Educated African Americans – For a short time, gave confiscated Confederate lands to farmers – Dismantled in 1869 • Civil Rights Act (1866) – Blacks were citizens and federal government could intervene to protect rights (Black Codes) • Johnson vetoes both and Congress overrides both vetoes

14 th Amendment • 14 th Amendment – First constitutional definition of citizenship – Everyone born or naturalized in the U. S. were citizens and entitled to equal protection under state and national law – Also included penalties for denying votes to black males and former Confederates • 1866 – Midterm election gave a majority of Republicans in the House and Senate – Race riots in many southern cities (Memphis and New Orleans) – Tennessee only southern state to ratify

Radical Reconstruction • Reconstruction Act of 1867 – South under military rule – Ordered southern states to hold elections for new state governments – Required all states to allow all black males to vote – Temporarily barred southerners who had supported the confederacy from voting – Required southern states to guarantee civil rights – Required ratifying the 13 th and 14 th Amendments – 2 year delay on re-entering government

Congress and the President • Johnson vs. Radical Republicans • Johnson tries to fire Secretary of War Stanton – Violated the Tenure of Office Act • Johnson Impeached – Never removed from office • Grant elected president in 1868

15 th Amendment • No citizen may be denied the right to vote • Ratified in March of 1870 • With federal troops in the south, black men were able to vote – P. B. S. Pinchback – Hiram Revels, first African American elected to the Senate – 1874, Former slave Blanche Bruce elected to Congress

Republican South • At first 1/4 th whites in South could not vote or hold office • Carpetbaggers – Northern Republicans who moved south • Scalawags – White, southern, Republicans • Republicans in control

Reconstruction Governments • Known for corruption and running up high debts (true in the north as well) • Education – Schools former slaves started – Advanced Education (Morehouse, etc. ) – Public education system in the south (segregated) • Land Ownership – “ 40 acres and mule”? – Limited success • Income and Credit – % of income made by blacks goes up, but hours worked and amount of southern goods go down

Changes in Farming • Could not find people willing to pick cotton • Better pay for workers in the cities • Planters had land, but no labor and freedmen had labor, but no land • Sharecropping – Family farms a portion of a planter’s land – Family gave between 1/3 and 1/2 their harvest – Planter provided housing • Tenant Farming – Rented their land – Grow whatever crops they wanted and work when they wanted

Effects on the South • Changes in the labor force – 90% of cotton picked by slaves to 40% picked by white tenant farmers • Emphasis on cash crops – Grew cotton, tobacco, and sugar cane – Grew more cotton than before the war – Had to import food! • Cycle of debt – Southern Homestead Act (1866) – 1 in 20 African American families owned land • Rise of merchants – Got rich off tenant farmers – Sold on credit