SSUSH 10 Identify legal political and social dimensions

SSUSH 10 Identify legal, political, and social dimensions of Reconstruction

• SSUSH 10 Identify legal, political, and social dimensions of Reconstruction. • a. Compare and contrast Presidential Reconstruction with Congressional Reconstruction, including the significance of Lincoln’s assassination and Johnson’s impeachment. • b. Investigate the efforts of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (the Freedmen’s Bureau) to support poor whites, former slaves, and American Indians. • c. Describe the significance of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth amendments. • d. Explain the Black Codes, the Ku Klux Klan, and other forms of resistance to racial equality during Reconstruction. • e. Analyze how the Presidential Election of 1876 marked the end of Reconstruction

Introduction • Reconstruction refers to the period of United States history immediately following the Civil War, from 1865 to 1877. • The economy and infrastructure across most of the South had been utterly devastated by the war, and even prior to the end of the war, Lincoln and other politicians had been working on the problem of re-incorporating the southern states into the Union.

10. a- Compare and contrast Presidential Reconstruction with Congressional Reconstruction, including the significance of Lincoln’s assassination and Johnson’s impeachment. • • • Lincoln’s plan for Reconstruction was one of reconciliation. Fearing resistance and a prolonging of war, Lincoln did not want to impose harsh terms on the South. In late 1863 the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction promised a full pardon to Confederates who promised to take an oath of allegiance to the United States, and accept the end of slavery. Resistance to the presidential plan surfaced immediately in Congress among a faction that came to be known as the “Radical Republicans. ” Led by long-time abolitionists Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner, the Radical Republicans thought Lincoln’s plan too soft. They wanted to treat the South as conquered country, to “revolutionize Southern institutions, habits, and manners, ” by barring former Confederates from public office and ensuring full suffrage and political equality for freed slaves. Derided as “Black Republicans” by many- the radicals were unable to persuade the moderate Republican majority in Congress. The moderate Republicans tried to produce a compromise between the presidential and radical plans (Wade-Davis Bill), but Lincoln blocked it with a pocket veto. Lincoln’s assassination only days after Lee’s surrender threw Reconstruction policy into complete turmoil. Vice President Andrew Johnson stuck to Lincoln’s plans with a lenient policy that allowed Southern states to quickly reform their governments and rejoin the Union. Many Confederate officials, even the CSA’s vice-president , were able to retain political power in state governments. This, along with the passage of Black Codes across the South convinced many moderate Republicans to join the Radicals in hoping for a more stringent readmission program for the former states. The election of 1866 gave the Radicals a majority in Congress, thus ending Presidential Reconstruction, and beginning the so-called Radical Reconstruction.

Andrew Johnson’s Impeachment • The political battle over the direction of Reconstruction policy resulted in the first presidential impeachment proceedings in U. S. history. • After the Radical Republicans passed the Military Reconstruction Act, their only real obstacle was the possibility of Johnson refusing to execute the law by deploying the army. In order to prevent Johnson from replacing his Secretary of War (Edwin Stanton, an ally of the Congress), they passed the Tenure of Office Act. The law was intended to prevent the president from dismissing an appointee that required Congressional approval. • When Johnson tried to derail militarization of the South by firing Stanton, Congress brought charges to impeach Johnson for refusing to enforce the Tenure of Office Act. • Johnson was spared a conviction by one vote, but was stripped of what little political influence he had left. He finished his lame duck term and did not seek reelection. • As discussed, Johnson was succeeded by another Republican who was more than willing and able to direct a military occupation of the recalcitrant South- U. S. Grant- hero of the Civil War.

Radical Reconstruction • • • The radicals in Congress refused to seat the Southern members attempting to rejoin under Johnson’s plan. They also immediately sought to combat the Black Codes with the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which attempted to grant freed slaves equality under law. To further reinforce the Civil Rights Act, they also proposed the 14 th Amendment. Many in Congress pushed to have ratification of the amendment requisite for readmission. Violence erupted in the spring of 1866 - most notoriously when a white mob attacked Black communities in Memphis- burning churches and schools, and killing 46. Despite some opposition to the Radical agenda, Republicans emerged a clear majority from the election of 1866 and began to implement their plan for Reconstruction. In March of 1867, Congress passed the Military Reconstruction Act, which divided the South into five military districts, to be administered by the U. S. Army. Each state would now be required to reconvene a constitutional convention, approve universal male suffrage, and ratify the 14 th Amendment as a condition of readmission. By late 1868, six former Confederate states had met the requirements and had been readmitted. The Republican Congress neutralized any opposition from Johnson with his impeachment. Union war hero U. S. Grant was the near unanimous choice for president in the election of 1868. Grant won easily and with the backing of a supportive president, Military Reconstruction continued. Congress introduced the 15 th Amendment- which was intended to guarantee suffrage regardless of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude. ” By March 1870, the 15 th amendment had been ratified, and Reconstruction entered yet another phase, as Republican sponsored governments in the South attempted to introduce major reforms.

Radical Reconstruction • With the aid of federal bayonets, the Republican-controlled state governments across the South instituted reforms that sought to enact the spirit of the 14 th and 15 th amendments by ensuring that African Americans had full political equality. • Under Republican rule, African-Americans were elected to state legislatures and local offices across the South. 14 African-American House Members and 2 Senators were elected to the federal Congress. Meanwhile, resistance to such reforms took the form of terror, by hooded “night riders” of the KKK and other secret anti. Black organizations. • Throughout the 1870 s Southern Democrats worked to regain political control and “redeem” Southern governments from Republicans. • Although Grant had been reelected in 1872, his second term was plagued by scandal and a declining economy that hurt support for the Republicans nationwide. As will be shown in SSUSH 10. e Republicans following Grant would be forced to abandon military reconstruction to retain power.

10. b- Investigate the efforts of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (the Freedmen’s Bureau) to support poor whites, former slaves, and American Indians. • • During Reconstruction some Radical Republicans proposed to confiscate Confederate plantations and re-distribute the land among the slaves who had toiled on them. Some experiments with redistributing land of abandoned plantations along the South Carolina and Georgia coasts were undertaken to assist the 40, 000 refugee freemen following Sherman’s “March to the Sea. ” The crisis prompted Lincoln to organize the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands- better known as the Freedmen’s Bureau. The Freedmen’s Bureau organized immediate relief for war refugees with rations and clothing. The Bureau also oversaw efforts to provide education to freedmen and their children by establishing schools across the South. The Bureau also promoted advanced education, helping to establish institutions such as Howard University and Morehouse College, among others. Although the Freedman’ s Bureau made some gains for African-American communities across the South, the idea of confiscating land for redistribution never had enough support to be implemented on a wide scale. Opponents of land redistribution argued that the sanctity of private property rights could never be infringed upon and the idea slowly fell from the picture of Reconstruction altogether.

10. c- Describe the significance of the 13 th, 14 th and 15 th amendments • The three “Civil War” amendments deal with the end of slavery, citizenship/equal protection, and voting rights, respectively. • Section 1 of the 14 th Amendment, containing the “due process” clause, and the “equal protection” clause remains one the most important areas of Constitutional law.

Amendment 14 (July 28, 1868) 14 th Amendment Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State. Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice. President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two thirds of each House, remove such disability. Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void. Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

15 th Amendment (March 30, 1870) Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude-Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

10. d- Explain Black Codes, the Ku Klux Klan, and other forms of resistance to racial equality during Reconstruction • Under Presidential Reconstruction, Southern leaders took advantage of the leniency to enact a series of laws, known as “Black Codes, ” that sought to severely limit the rights of freedmen, including in some cases the right to own property, contract for wages, or work in any jobs outside of agriculture. • Radical Republicans countered the Black Codes with the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the 14 th and 15 th Amendments, but resistance to these efforts remained high across the South. Throughout the Reconstruction era, groups such as the Ku Klux Klan used terror tactics to prevent Blacks, Scalawags, Carpetbaggers, and Republicans from political participation. • Southern propagandists encouraged open resistance to “Black Republican” rule, and one-by-one, the Democrats regained power in state governments until the final “redemption” after the Compromise of 1877.

Andrew Johnson

10. e- Analyze how the Presidential Election of 1876 marked the end of Reconstruction • The outcome of the presidential election of 1876 led to the final undoing of Reconstruction. The Republicans nominated Rutherford B. Hayes, while Democrats nominated Samuel Tilden had more popular votes, and led in the Electoral College, but was one vote shy of a majority, due to 20 disputed Electoral votes in three southern states- which just happened to be the last three “unredeemed” southern states still controlled by Republicans. • Congress appointed a commission to investigate the election in Louisiana, South Carolina and Florida and determined that Hayes should receive the electoral votes in question, which allowed him to win the election. • Although no irrefutable “smoking gun” has ever been identified, it is widely assumed by historians that Hayes and the Republicans struck a deal with Democrats in the House to give the election to Hayes in exchange for withdrawing the army and ending southern reconstruction. In any event, Hayes did withdraw federal troops and the last of the Republican governments in the South collapsed. The “Redeemer” governments then systematically disenfranchised southern African Americans, who would be forced to endure nearly a century of segregation and oppression before their votes were effectively restored.

Rutherford B Hayes