Reconstruction lecture notes

Roland BurrisUnited States Senator, Illinois

January 2009 - November 2010

Barack ObamaUnited States Senator, Illinois

January 2005 - November 2008

Carol Moseley Braun

United States Senator, IllinoisJanuary 1993 – January 1999

Edward BrookeU.S. Senator, MassachusettsJanuary 1967 – January 1979

Racial Composition of US Senate

US Senators, 1789-2012

African-American (six)

Caucasian, Hispanic, or Asian (1,925)

Blanche BruceU.S. Senator, Mississippi

March 1875 – March 1881

Hiram R. RevelsU.S. Senator, Mississippi

February 1870 – March 1871

APRIL 9, 1865

APRIL 11, 1865

By these recent successes the re-inauguration of the national authority – reconstruction --which has had a large share of thought from the first, is pressed much more closely upon our attention.

It is fraught with great difficulty. Unlike a case of a war between independent nations, there is no authorized organ for us to treat with. No one man has authority to give up the rebellion for any other man.

We simply must begin with, and mould from, disorganized and discordant elements. Nor is it a small additional embarrassment that we, the loyal people, differ among ourselves as to the mode, manner, and means of reconstruction.

From Lincoln’s final public address

APRIL 14, 1865

APRIL 15, 1865

APRIL 15, 1865

What happens to the South?

Question 1: Land

Is South in abeyance?Abeyance: a state of

expectancy when the right to property is not vested in any one person, but awaits the appearance or determination of the true ownerShould plantations and farms in the South be return to their former owners?

Is the former Confederacy a conquered province?

Question 2: Repatriation

Are confederates traitors?

What rights do rebels maintain?

How should soldiers, suppliers, and supporter of the rebellion be punished, if at all?

By what process do people regain citizenship? Is it automatic?

How do states “rejoin” the union?

Question 3: Rebuilding

Who pays for material reconstruction?

Not much debate on territory: Union would pay for the rebuilding of railroads, cities

What about “property” lost due to 13th Amendment?

What cultural, economic, political changes will result?

Lincoln’s plan

Oath of allegiance = pardonSouthern states would write new constitutions

Abolition of slavery a requirement of reinstatementMany northerners thought Lincoln was too lenient

Who should make the rules: Congress or the president?

Johnson’s plan

Largely similar to Lincoln’s

Wanted restoration as much as true reconstructionMade it easy for South to be reinstated

No real punishment

Alexander Stevens, CSA VP, returns to the US Senate

Radical Republican planWanted revolution more than reconstruction

Advocated full civil and voting rights for all freedmenClaimed Confederate states had committed “political suicide”

Thought Congress should set conditions of reinstatement

Reconstruction Acts (1867)

Established military districts in all southern states except TennesseeTN had ratified 14th Amendment

Passed over presidential veto

Required congressional approval of all state constitutionsGave the vote to all freedmen