Title Reconstruction Johnsons Impeachment Original Plans of Reconstruction

Title: Reconstruction & Johnson’s Impeachment

Original Plans of Reconstruction: Lincoln’s Plan Opposition • The Proclamation of Amnesty • Wade-Davis Bill and Reconstruction, – In 1864, Congress wrote its December 1863, gave own plan. forgiveness to those who pledged Union loyalty and – Majority of white male citizens support for emancipation. would be required to take a loyalty oath before elections • When 10% of voters had could be held. taken the oath, a new state government could be organized. The new government was required to ban slavery. • This plan for readmission was • Lincoln killed the bill using a known as the Ten Percent pocket veto (it passed in the last Plan. 10 days of the legislative session)

Lincoln’s Assassination • The president did not live long enough to test his wartime popularity against Congress for control of Reconstruction plans. • Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater on April 14, 1865, and died the next morning. • John Wilkes Booth was part of a conspiracy, and others were supposed to kill Vice President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William Seward. • A grief stricken nation mourned Lincoln’s death. • White southerners were concerned. Lincoln’s death meant a change in Reconstruction plans and a new president. Some disliked Andrew Johnson and felt he was a traitor.

At war’s end, two major questions faced the reunited nation. • 1) What would be the status of blacks in the postwar nation? • 2) Under what conditions would the Southern states be readmitted to the Union? • The newly liberated slaves, called freedmen, were primarily interested in the chance to earn wages and own property. • Black leaders hoped that their service in the military would earn blacks equal rights.

Vice-president Andrew Johnson assumed the presidency • Johnson, a Southern Democrat, had opposed secession and strongly supported Lincoln during his first term • In return, Lincoln rewarded Johnson with the vice-presidency • When the war ended, Congress was in recess and would not reconvene for 8 months. • That left the early stages of Reconstruction entirely in Johnson’s hands.

Johnson’s Reconstruction plan called for the creation of provisional military governments to run the states until they were readmitted to the Union • The states would have to write new constitutions eliminating slavery and renouncing secession. • Required all Southern citizens to swear a loyalty oath before receiving amnesty for the rebellion • Many of the former Southern elite (including plantation owners, Confederate officers, and government officials) were barred from taking that vow, thus prohibiting their participation in the new governments. • Johnson did not require the states to enfranchise African Americans

The plan did not work because Johnson pardoned many of the Southern elite who were supposed to have been excluded from the reunification process • After the states drafted new constitutions and elected new governments, former Confederate officials were again in positions of great power • Furthermore, many of their new constitutions were only slight revisions of previous constitutions

Southern legislators also passed a series of laws defining the status of freedmen. • These laws, called black codes, which: – Limited freedmen’s rights to assemble and travel – Restricted their access to public institutions – Instituted curfew laws – Passed laws requiring blacks to carry special passes • In the most instances, state legislatures simply took their old slave codes and replaced the word “slaves” with “freedmen”

When Congress reconvened in Dec 1865, the new Southern senators included the vicepresident of the Confederacy and other Confederate officials. • Northern Congressmen were not pleased • Invoking its constitutional right to examine the credentials of new members, Congress voted not to seat the new Southern delegation • In many Southern states at the time, all Republicans agreed that Johnson’s Reconstruction needed some modification.

Congress was divided into three “Republican” sections: • Conservative Republicans: Generally agreed with Johnson’s plan • Radical Republicans: Wanted to set up a Reconstruction that punished the South – Confiscate land from the rich and redistributed it among the poor (including the freedman) – Extend democratic rights in the South • Moderates: Large enough contingent to swing a vote in one or the other direction

• Freedman’s Johnson refused to work with Bureau: the Radicals and vetoed a Government program compromise package that established in 1865 to help newly would have extending the life liberated African of the Freedman’s Bureau Americans and enforced a uniform civil establish a place in postwar society rights code on the South. – Helped with immediate problems of survival (food, housing) and developed social institutions, such as schools

In response, the Radicals drew up the plan that came to be known as Congressional Reconstruction, which included the 14 th Amendment. • The amendment: • (1) prohibited states from depriving any citizen of “life, liberty, or property, without due process” – meant to override the effect of the black codes • (2) gave states the choice either to give freedmen the right to vote or to stop counting them among their voting population for the purpose of Congressional apportionment – aimed to force states to either extend suffrage to black men or lose power in Congress • (3) barred prominent Confederates from holding political office • (4) excused the Confederacy’s war debt.

• The new Congress quickly passed the Military Reconstruction Act of 1867. In the Congressional election of 1866, the North voted for a – It imposed martial law on Congress more heavily the South weighted toward the – Called for new state constitutional conventions radical end of the – Forced states to allow political spectrum. blacks to vote for convention delegates – Required each state to ratify the 14 th Amendment and to send its new constitution to Congress for approval

Aware that Johnson would oppose the new Reconstruction, Congress then passed a number of laws designed to limit president’s power. • Conflict reached its climax when the House Judiciary Committee initiated impeachment proceedings against Johnson • When he fired the Sec. of War (Edwin Stanton), they accused him of violating the Tenure of Office Act • They stated that the President had to secure the consent of the Senate before removing his appointees once they’d been approved by that body • Real reason for impeachment: He was getting in the way of Reconstruction.

Although impeachment failed (by one vote), the trial revealed that the power of impeachment could not be abused, and he served the last few months of his presidency and retired. • With a new president, Ulysses S. Grant, in office, Congress forged ahead in its efforts to remake the South. • The 15 th Amendment, proposed in 1869, finally required states to enfranchise black men • Ironically, the 15 th Amendment passed only because Southern states were required to ratify it as a condition of reentry into the Union • A number of Northern states opposed the amendment