Reconstruction Mr Giesler American History Reconstruction 1865 1877

Reconstruction Mr. Giesler American History

Reconstruction: 1865 -1877 TTYN: What is freedom? According to former president James Garfield, “it is the bare privilege of not being chained. ”

Small Group Activity Resolved: The problem of political reconstruction arose, in theory at least, as soon as the Civil War began, because neither President Lincoln nor the Republican majority in Congress ever doubted that the South would be defeated. …as to what is to be the course of the government towards the southern states, after the rebellion shall have been suppressed. - Abraham Lincoln Your Task: In respect to the knowledge you gained during our unit on the Civil War, consider the following: q How should the South be reconstructed? q How should the Union be reconstructed? q Punitive? Legal Issues? Monetary Compensation? Slaves? Land? q Legal Participation? Cast yourself as the president of a member of the Republican majority, how should the Union be reconstructed?

K-W-L What I Know about Reconstruction What I Want to Learn about Reconstruction What I Learned About Reconstruction

What was Reconstruction? Reconstruction- the process (politically, economically, socially, and morally) of readmitting the former Confederate states to the Union after the conclusion of the Civil War Status of the South q Cities, towns, farms…ruined q Remember Sherman’s March to the Sea? ? q High food prices + crop failure = starvation q Confederate money is now worthless q Southern economy on brink of total collapse. q Banks failed & merchants went bankrupt q People were unable to pay their debts q White dismay q. Submit to Northern demands

Negroes And The Meaning of Freedom What did freedom mean to the former slaves? q Escaping the injustices of slavery q Identity q Family; reconnection with sold-off and displaced family members q Church – abandoned white churches; redrew the religious map q Education

Negroes And The Meaning of Freedom What did freedom mean to the former slaves? Political Freedom q “Slavery is not abolished until the black man has the ballot. ” - Frederick Douglas Political Participation q Held mass meetings as a method to demonstrate their liberation from the regulations of slavery q 13 th, 14 th, and 15 th Amendments

Negroes And The Meaning of Freedom Personal Freedoms q Free from white supervision, acquired dogs, guns, and liquor – all bared under slavery q No longer required to obtain a pass to travel q Left plantations in search of better jobs q Marriage

Negroes And The Meaning of Freedom Land q Value of land as a measure of a mans freedom q Many former slaves insisted that through their unpaid labor they had acquired a right to the land ”was nearly all earned by the sweat of our brows”

Political Freedom

Northern Vision for the South Free Labor Vision q Emancipated blacks enjoying the same opportunities for advancement as northern workers q Combining Northern capital, migrants, and emancipated blacks – the Southern economy would be energized q The South would come to resemble a “free society” Bureau agent as a promoter of racial peace in the violent South

Reconstruction Wartime Reconstruction q Lincoln’s 10% Plan (1863) “…not ideal, but a beginning, a rallying point to attract others” q Amnesty and full restoration of rights, including property except for slaves, to all white southerners q Loyalty Oath – supporting emancipation q When 10% of the voters of 1860 had taken the oath, they could elect a new state government

Lincoln’s Plan q. To Lincoln, restoring the old relationship between the southern states and Union was the essence of reconstruction q. Believed the task of reconstruction was the task of the President, not to Congress q. To help re-establish loyal states, Lincoln sought the co-operation of the minority if white Southerners who remained faithful and to those who returned to their former allegiance

Lincoln’s Plan q States needed to re-establish loyal state governments q. Army would be withdrawn as soon as state governments were formed q. Election of respectable citizens to Congress, not a “a parcel of Northern men…. elected at the point of the bayonet” q Abolish slavery q No role in politics for blacks q Goal of Plan: Shorten the War

Reconstruction Radical Republicans Respond Wade-Davis Bill (1864) q A majority (not one-tenth) of white male southerners to pledge support for the Union before Reconstruction could begin in any state, and guaranteed blacks equality before the law. q “ironclad oath” – oath that a Southerner had to take, which affirmed that he had never voluntarily given support to the Confederacy q Lincoln responds with a pocket veto

The Second Confiscation Act Formation of loyal state governments in South presented several issues q What to do with those who had voluntarily supported the Confederate government q Arrests, indictments, and trail for treason? ? q Neither Lincoln nor Congress had the stomach for a season of mass trials and executions Confiscation Act - 1862 q Engaging in rebellion or insurrection – whose penalty was a fine, imprisonment, and confiscation of property, including slaves q Would have resulted in a vast social revolution

Radical Republicans What they wanted q To make the process of political reconstruction relatively slow and complicated q Keep Southerners out of Congress a while longer in order to reduce their political influence q Consolidate their power within the Republican Parry q Use federal power to extend civil and political rights to Southern Negroes

Johnson Takes Control q Believed that reconstruction was the responsibility of the Executive Dept. q Announced that he would continue with Lincoln’s plan, but with a few changes q Kept the oath of allegiance q Take the oath and you would receive: q All rights to property (except slaves) q Amnesty and pardon q Civil and political rights q Immunity from prosecution for treason or conspiracy q Exemption from the Confiscation Act TTYN: What do you think the Radical Republicans response to Johnson’s initiative would be? In favor? Against? Explain

Johnson Takes Control q 1865, Johnson ordered nearly all land in federal hands returned to its former owners q Confrontations – Army forcibly evicts blacks who settled on “Sherman Land” No land distributions q Majority of rural freed people remained poor and without property q No alternatives – work on white-owned plantations q Confined to farm work, unskilled labor, and service jobs q Low wages – little or no wealth accumulation q For most blacks, freedom was a word not a reality

The Radicals vs. The Johnsonian's q From 1865 – 1868, Radical Republicans and Andrew Johnson would differ on the proper course for the South q Johnson contends that the Southern states were never out of the Union and therefore needed only restoration of loyal governments q The Radicals contend that they secede, and were conquered provinces and subject to the liabilities of a vanquished foe q Presidential Power vs. Congressional Power to restore/re-establish the South q Conflict of what to do with the Negro q The Radicals believed that the South should be reconstructed in accordance to the Declaration of Independence: “This is not a white man’s government”

Reconstruction q Andrew Johnson (1865) outlines his plan for reuniting the nation q Series of proclamations – it is with these proclamations that officially marked the beginning of the Presidential Reconstruction q Pardon to nearly all white southerners who took an oath of allegiance q Restored political and property rights, except for slaves q Legislation designed to control the Negroes

Reconstruction The Black Codes Regulate lives of former slaves q Legalized marriage q Ownership of property q Access to courts q Denied the right to testify against whites q Serve on juries q. Serve in state militias q Can’t vote q Required that the freedpeople be required to work on plantations q Sign a yearly labor contract

Reconstruction The Black Codes TTYN: Did the black codes truly resemble the death of slavery? q Not designed to help the Negro during transition from the status of slave tot hat or a responsible freeman q Not intended to prepare him for a constructive role in the social, political, and economic life of the South q Designed to keep the Negro, as long as possible, exactly what he was: a rural laborer under strict control, without political rights, and with inferior legal rights q To put them in a kind of twilights zone between slavery and freedom

“The freedmen were sent away empty handed, without money, without friends, and without a foot of land to stand upon. Old and young, sick and well, they were turned loose to the open sky, naked to their enemies. ” – Frederick Douglas

Radical Reconstruction Radical Republicans React Who Were they q. Tended to represent constituencies in New England the “burnedover” districts of the rural North q Abolitionists “The whole fabric of southern society must be changed. Without this, this Government can never be, as it has never been, a true republic” Thaddeus Stevens, Rep, PA

Reconstruction Radical Republicans React What they wanted q Revenge – to punish the South q A larger role for government q Maintain Republican control q. Pro-business q Support/fund the railroad q Liberal policies for settlers q dissolution of Johnson’s Black Codes q. Give black men the right to vote “The whole fabric of southern society must be changed. Without this, this Government can never be, as it has never been, a true republic” Thaddeus Stevens, Rep, PA

Northern Vision for the South The Freedmen’s Bureau (1865 -1870) q Congressional Act q Responsible for social policy q Establish schools q Provide aid to the poor q Settle disputes between white and blacks Bureau agent as a promoter of racial peace in the violent South

The “Great Constitutional Revolution” Congressional Reconstruction q Congress proceeds to adopt its own plan of Reconstruction q 14 th Amendment Proposed– the principle of citizenship for all persons born on the U. S. q Prohibits the states from abridging the “privileges and immunities” of citizens or denying them the “equal protection of the law” q At Johnson’s urging, every southern state but Tennessee refused to ratify Reconstruction Act q Congress adopted q Temporarily divided the South into five military districts q Called for the creation of new state governments, with black men given the right to vote

Radical Reconstruction The Origins of Civil Rights 1866, Two bills proposed q Extend the Freedmen’s Bureau q Civil Rights Bill, which defined all persons born in the U. S. as citizens regardless of race q No longer could states enact laws like the Black Codes q Right to make contracts, bring lawsuits, or enjoy equal protection of one person or property

Radical Reconstruction The Origins of Civil Rights TTYN: What is missing? Johnson reacts q Vetoed both bills q Congress fails to override presidential veto of Freedmen’s Bureau by one vote…Civil Rights would happen in 1866…stay tuned q Suggested he would centralize power in the national government; deprive states of the authority to regulate their own affairs q Suggested that blacks did not deserve the rights of citizenship q Created a breach between the president and the Republican party

Naturalization is the process by which people can become citizens of a country hey were not born in. The United States Constitution grants Congress the power "to establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization" (Article I, section 8, clause 4). Soon after the Constitution was ratified Congress passed the Naturalization Act of 1790 (1 Stat. 103). The act provided that: any alien, being a free white person, who shall have resided within the limits and under the jurisdiction of the United States for the term of two years, may be admitted to become a citizen thereof, on application to any common law court of record, in any one of the States wherein he shall have resided for the term of one year at least, and making proof to the satisfaction of such court, that he is a person of good character, and taking the oath or affirmation prescribed by law, to support the Constitution of the United States

13 th Amendment

The “Great Constitutional Revolution”

The “Great Constitutional Revolution” Impeachment 1867, Congress adopts the Tenure of Office Act q barring the president from removing certain officeholders, including cabinet members, without the consent of Senate q Johnson considers this an unconstitutional restriction on his authority q 1868, he removed the Secretary of Defense, an ally of the Radicals

The “Great Constitutional Revolution” Impeachment 1867, Congress adopts the Tenure of Office Act q For the first time in American history, a president is placed on trial for “high crimes and misdemeanors. ” q Congress fails to get the two-thirds q Johnson promises he would stop interfering with Reconstruction policy q Republican’s nominate Ulysses S. Grant

Impeachment q Jan. 7, 1867 q The House adopted a resolution to inquire about the conduct of the president q Considered charges that Johnson had q illegally returned property to southern rebels q pardoned men who were still traitors q abused his veto power q That he was implicated in the plot to assassinate Lincoln q Escapes impeachment by one vote

The “Great Constitutional Revolution”

The “Great Constitutional Revolution” 15 th Amendment q 1868, Grant Wins q Wins by a very slime margin, which causes congress to act…. WHY? q 15 th Amendment Adopted q prohibits the federal and state governments from denying any citizen the right to vote because of race. q Ratified in 1870 q Did not extend the right to vote to women, which marked the culmination of four decades of abolitionist agitation q. Stanton and Anthony opposed the amendment

Reconstructed South q 1870, All Confederate states readmitted to the Union q Nearly all were under Republican control q New state constitutions drafted with black representation q State-funded public schools q. State constitutions guaranteed equality of civil and political rights q Abolished practices such as whipping as a punishment for crime q Property qualifications for office-holding Hiram Revels

Reconstructed South Blanche K. Bruce q No more imprisonment for debt q Black voters provide the bulk of the Republican Party’s support q highest office remained almost entirely in white hands q 2000 African-Americans occupied public office q Revels and Blanche K. Bruce – first black Senators q Since 1875 only two African-Americans have served as Senators Hiram Revels

K-W-L What I Know about Reconstruction What I Want to Learn about Reconstruction What I Learned About Reconstruction

Reconstructed South Carpetbaggers and Scalawags q The New Southern government brought power to new groups q Many Reconstruction officials were from the north q Their opponents dubbed them “Carpetbaggers” and “Scalawags”

Reconstructed South Carpetbaggers q Carpetbagger – a term that was applied to recent northern settlers in the South who actively supported radical Republicans q They were not all poor men who carried their possessions with them as the name may and the definition may suggest q They were a heterogeneous group who moved to the South for a variety of reasons q They were not all ignorant; they view the South as a land of opportunity q They were not all corrupt; they hoped to buy cotton lands or enter legitimate enterprises: to develop natural resources, build factories, promote railroads, and/or to engage in trade q A large percentage of the carpetbaggers were veterans of the Union Army who were pleases with the southern climate

Reconstructed South Carpetbaggers q. However, there was a small minority that…. q There were many who were disreputable opportunities and corruptionists who went south in search of political and economic plunder or to gain public office q Their goal: expel the South’s experienced statesmen and natural leaders and replace them with untrained men who were almost uniformly incompetent and corrupt “Everybody who was anybody in the good old days was nobody in the radical regimes” – Margaret Mitchell Author of Gone With the Wind

Reconstructed South Who were these Scalawags? ? A Scalawag by definition is a scamp; White Southerners who collaborated with the radicals joined this particular group q James A. Longstreet q Membership: Confederate Army q West Point Grad q One of Lee’s ‘main men’ q Moved to N. O. q Co-Owner of a cotton factory and Insurance Company q Argued that the “vanquished must accept the terms of the victors. ” q Joined the Republican Party and endorsed radical reconstruction q Supported Grant for president

Reconstructed South Who were these Scalawags? ? q Joseph E. Brown q Georgia’s Civil War Governor q Brown would claim that he “had sense enough to know when he was defeated” q Quit the Democratic Party and urged Southerners to accept the radicals’ terms q Made a fortune as a capitalist during the era of reconstruction q When the radicals were overthrown in Georgia, Brown, once again, switched sides…helped organize a powerful Democratic party. q Would eventually represent Georgia in the U. S. Senate…. as a Democrat

Reconstructed South Scalawags q Former Confederates reserved their greatest scorn for Scalawags q. Native white Southern politicians who joined the Republican party after the war q Advocated the acceptance of and compliance with congressional Reconstruction q Unprincipled group of traitorous opportunists who had deserted their countrymen and ingratiated themselves with the hated Radical Republicans for their own material gain. q Most scalawags were non-slaveholding white farmers (but not all) q Many had been Unionist and sided with the Republicans in order to prevent “rebels” from returning to power

The Overthrow of Reconstruction Who? q South Traditionalists (planters, merchants, and Democrats – bitterly opposed the new governments Why? q Republicans in their view = “Black Supremacists” q Most white southerners could not accept the idea of former slaves voting, holding office, and enjoying equality before the law

The Overthrow of Reconstruction How? “A Reign of Terror” q Civil War ended in 1865, but pockets of violence continued q Blacks were assaulted and murdered for refusing to give way to whites q Secret Societies, which were aimed at preventing blacks from voting and destroying the organization of the Republican Party by assassinating local leaders

The Overthrow of Reconstruction KKK q Served as the military arm of the Democratic Party in the South q. Tennessee, 1866 q. Led by planters, merchants, and Dems q. Attacked white and black q Anyone who defied White Supremacy

Carpetbaggers and Scalawags

A Reign of Terror q Southern governments appeal to Washington for help q Enforcement Acts q outlawing terrorist societies q allow the president to use the army q These laws continued the expansion of national authority during Reconstruction q Terror lasted until 1872

A Reign of Terror

A Reign of Terror

The North’s Retreat q Liberal Republicans – a new flock of Northern politicians increasingly felt that the South should now be able to solve its own problems without the help from Washington q In their opinion – the gov’t had fed the slaves, made them citizens, and given them the right to vote. Now, blacks should rely on their own resources, not demand further assistance

The North’s Retreat q A new Republican Party formed – Liberal Republicans q Believed that men of talent and education had been pushed aside q They were convinced that the “best men” of the South had been excluded from power q Believed ignorant votes controlled politic q Capitalism q Rise of the Northwest q Business interests shift to the Northwest q Republicans now dominate this area of the country q Despite loss of South equilibrium achieved, both financially and politically

The Redeemers q 1876, the South falls to the Southern Democrats q 1877, Rutherford B. Hayes withdraws the last federal troops q Called themselves Redeemers q Redeemed – to white Democrats, it meant the federal government had renounced responsibility for reconstruction, abandoned the Negro, and turned over the political, social, economic processes to the South q Claimed to have redeemed the white South from corruption, misgovernment, and northern and black control

What’s Next for the South q Race Demagoguery q “White Men’s Club” q The Ultimate Goal – To hurt the Negro q The Ku Klux Klan- white social club started in 1866 q Sole purpose -terrorize and prevent Negroes, Scalawags, and Carpetbaggers q Prevent the Negroes from exercising their new freedoms and voting. q Institute Sharecropping – Negroes and the poor white of the South would work on a pro-south farm for a small share of the crops as payment. (seen as an alternative to slavery) …. Remember Feudalism? ? q Tenant Farming- farmers that paid cash to farm a portion of a plantation owners farm.

What’s Next for the South q Literacy Tests- reading test that needed to be completed in order to vote. q Grandfather Clause (a workaround) – exemption to the literacy test if your grandfather had voted before 1867. q. This allowed many illiterate whites to still vote; however Negroes fail the test and lose the vote…. so much for the 15 th amendment q Jim Crow Laws – Hello Segregation q Local Laws throughout the South, which allowed for segregation in such places as schools, restaurants, hospitals, hotels, train, etc. q As mentioned earlier – The Black Codes- local laws in the South that required blacks to have curfews and chaperones around town.

K-W-L What I Know about Reconstruction What I Want to Learn about Reconstruction What I Learned About Reconstruction

To be continued during our next unit…. The New South

Unit Assessment In short-answer format Answer each of the following topics q Compare and contrast Lincoln’s Plan the plan of the Radical Republicans regarding reconstruction for the South q Describe the role of a carpetbagger and a scalawag during the Era of Reconstruction. Additionally, compare and contrast each faction q Describe the events that led to the impeachment of President Johnson q Explain whether you believe or not if the American Slave achieved freedom, true freedom, as a result of the Civil War and the enacted policies during the Era of Reconstruction See rubric for grading attributes