EOC Review

Reconstruction Review

The 13th Amendment

The 14th Amendmento Despite reluctantly acceding to the core requirements

for readmission to the Union, many of the former Confederate states began passing laws – the so-called "Black Codes" – that disenfranchised the former slaves economically and politically. This drove the Republicans who controlled Congress to undertake stronger measures to impose their will on the defeated Southern states. The first of these came in the form of the 14th Amendment, a more detailed set of restrictions on the states than either of the other Civil War amendments.

o "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside."

o Section 1: No state may abridge the privileges and immunities of any of its citizens, or deny them due process of law or equal protection of the laws.

o Section 2: When any state denies the right to vote at any election to any of its male citizens of voting age, its representation in elections for national offices will be reduced in the same proportion. (Basically, if a state excludes African Americans, then it will be given proportionally fewer seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and fewer votes in the presidential electoral college.)

o Section 3: No person who has engaged in or supported insurrection or rebellion against the United States may hold public office.

o Section 4: All debts incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States and all compensation claims made for emancipation of any slave will be held as illegal and void.

o Congress proposed the 14th Amendment on June 13, 1866. More than two years later on July 28, 1868 the U.S. Secretary of State certified that it had been ratified by twenty-eight of the thirty-seven states. In the intervening time, the Congressional elections of 1866 added to the strength of the Republicans, giving them the two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress needed to override any presidential veto. The Republicans began the new session in March 1867 by passing additional reconstruction laws (over President Johnson's veto), inaugurating a new period of much firmer treatment of the South known as the Radical Reconstruction. Congress divided the South into military districts and required the states to adopt new constitutions, provide for black suffrage, and ratify the (still un-ratified) 14th Amendment.

For the Past 150 years since its ratification, this Amendment has frequently been used to stop states from treating some of its citizens differently, and thus worse, than the majority of its citizens.

The 14th Amendment

The 15th Amendment

o 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.

o Section. 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

This unsigned Harper’s Weekly cartoon shows an elated black man casting his vote under the authority of the Fifteenth Amendment, as he shoos away the irritating "flies" of states which voted against its ratification.

In the early years of the American republic, free black men had been able to vote in some Northern states. In the first half of the 19th century, though, states removed property requirements for voting as they applied to white men, but kept or increased those or other restrictions on the voting rights of black men.

With the abolition of slavery in 1865, voting rights for black men became an important and controversial political issue. In the spring of 1867, Congress required the former Confederate states to enact black manhood suffrage as a stipulation for readmission to the Union. With 10-15% of the white electorate disfranchised for past Confederate affiliation, black men made up the majority of voters in several Southern states, with 70-90% casting ballots. They were the key Republican constituency in the South. In the North, black men could vote only in four Midwestern states and five of the six New England states (not Connecticut).

The 15th Amendment

10 Years to Rebuild USA

oRadical Republicans Rush to Rehabilitate Rebels for Readmission to Republico Stateso Individualso 14th & 15th Amendments

oConquered South Dividedo 5 military districtso Carpetbaggerso Scalawags

Congress vs. The President

oCongress = Radical Republicanso Rejected Lincoln’s 2nd Inaugural

o “With malice towards none . . .”o Passed Wade-Davis “50% Iron-Clad Oath” bill

oDesire to punish SouthoWanted to grant blacks the right to voteo Lincoln vetoed bill in favor of a 10% loyalty plan

oAndrew Johnson was a loyal SoutherneroLincoln assassinated & replaced by Johnson in ’65oWanted to forgive most rebels and repudiate the

South’s war debtso Impeached, but escaped conviction by 1 vote!

Congress vs. The President

oCongress = Radical Republicanso Rejected Lincoln’s 2nd Inaugural

o “With malice towards none . . .”oDesire to punish SouthoWanted to grant blacks the right to voteo Lincoln vetoed bill in favor of a 10% loyalty plan

oAJ was a loyal SoutherneroLincoln assassinated & replaced by Johnson in ’65oWanted to forgive most rebels and repudiate the

South’s war debtso Impeached, but escaped conviction by 1 vote!

Post-Slavery South

o13th, 14th & 15th AmendmentsoBlack CodesoShare Cropping oKKKoHayes/Tilden Election of 1876oCompromise of 1877oReconstruction EndsoWhites regain supremacy

Reconstruction Wrap Upo Successes

o Former slaves get citizenship and equal protection under the laws by the 14th amendment.

o 15th Amendment grants black men the right to vote.

o Union was restored and federal government is supreme.

o Freedmen’s Bureau established to assist freed slaves.

o African Americans can own property.o 40 Acres & a Mule?

o Some Southerners try to modernize a New South by promoting industry.

Failureso States pass laws forcing citizens to

pass literacy tests, pay poll taxes , or prove a relative had voted in the past in order to vote.

o Jim Crow laws segregated blacks and whites.

o KKK terrorized African Americans to reassert white social, economic and political supremacy.

o Former slaves forced into permanent debt through the sharecropping system.

The American West

o 1865-1890

Manifest Destiny Defined:The belief that Americans were destined by God to expand from coast to coast. This concept was used as a justification for westward expansion.

Factors in Settling the WestRole of the Physical EnvironmentRole of the Federal GovernmentRole of “Big Business” like RailroadsRole of Native AmericansRole of the Individual Settler (Miners, Ranchers, Farmers, etc)

The Physical EnvironmentThe “West” is difficult to define, but most use the Mississippi River as a dividing line between East and WestThe West has a diverse physical environment: vast plains, arid deserts, rugged mountains, lush valleys, and thick forestsLand and natural resources were abundant in the WestLack of water and difficulty in accessing the natural resources are problems faced by those that settled thereThe lure of the physical environment drove people west, and also made life difficult for many who settled in the west

The Federal GovernmentAfter the Civil War, the Federal Government promoted settlement of the WestThe Federal Government was, and still is, the largest landowner in the West: several important laws were passed like the Homestead Act of 1862 that sold cheap land to settlers if they lived and improved on it for five yearsThe Federal Government passed laws like the National Reclamation Act of 1902 to aid in irrigation of arid farmlandThe Federal Government aided in Railroad construction and removed Native Americans

Examples of homesteads

Big Business: The RailroadsThe Railroads were essential in the settlement of the WestThe Transcontinental Railroad, begun during the Civil War, became an artery for travel out west and for products coming back eastThe Federal Government gave land grants to railroads, which they could then sell, in order to help finance their constructionNative Americans were highly opposed to the building of these permanent “iron roads.”

The Transcontinental Railroad

Role of Native AmericansNative Americans were largely considered “savages” who did not use land efficientlyMajor conflicts erupted as settlers broke previous treaties and moved into the hunting grounds of plains Indians like the SiouxKey Events:The Battle of Little Bighorn, Massacre at Wounded Knee, Trail of Tears Dawes Severalty Act of 1887 created the modern reservation system and tried to assimilate Native Americans into “modern” society.

Role of Miners, Ranchers, and FarmersMiners were one of the first groups to travel west in search of gold and silver: major strikes such as in California led to a “gold rush” in 1849

Role of Miners, Ranchers, and FarmersRanchers capitalized on access to railroads and high demand for beef; cattle drives from Texas north to places like Abilene, KS popularized cowboys and “buffalo soldiers.” The invention of barbed wire and increasing numbers of homesteads ended this era by 1880’s.

Role of Miners, Ranchers, and FarmersHomesteading farmers traveling west in covered wagon trains struggled at times to break the prairie sod, gain access to capital, deal with a lack of water and improve the land. A “populist movement” of small farmers developed in the 1890‘s. Massive “bonanza farms” were a stark contrast to these small 160 acre plots.

The Closing of the Frontiero Historian Frederick Jackson Turner claimed the frontier closed in 1890

(2 people per square mile) and wrote about its significance.o The Turner Thesis:

o “The existence of an area of free land, its continuous recession, and the advance of American settlement westward, explain American development.”

o The Turner Thesis claimed that the development of the frontier as settlers moved west created and spread democratic values: in other words, there is a material condition for democracy to exist.

o Critics of Turner claim his history does not include women, African Americans, or Spanish-Americans, focuses too heavy on individualism and ignores aspects of communalism, and glosses over the destruction of Native American life.

o These historians focus on the “Three C’s” of the West: o Continuity, Convergence, and Conquest.

The Gilded AgeAmerica’s Industrial Growth

After the Civil War

To be “Gilded”

o to cover with Goldo to provide an attractive but deceptive external

appearanceo Mark Twain The Gilded Age (1873)o time period of big business, materialism and

major political corruption

Big Business

oNorth won Civil War - won govt. support for business

o Examples: 1. low taxes 2. few laws – environment, labor, etc. 3. cheap loans

o Increased gap between rich and pooro Companies became very powerful, influential

Two business models

Vertical Integration

Horizontal Integration

•Andrew Carnegie and U.S. Steel - • bought companies that all contributed to a final product

•John D. Rockefeller and Standard Oil • bought all competing companies that made the same thing

Andrew Carnegie’s Vertical Integration of the U.S. Steel Industry

Paul’s goodtime juice

$1.00$1.25

$1.50

$1.50$2.00 $1.75

Economic growth

o During the Gilded Age, the economy grew quickly

o However, it benefited a small minority; not everyone was happy - therefore, the

o Immigration - constant labor supply of workerso Urbanization - people continued to move to

cities

Progressive Era

Social DarwinismDarwin: natural selection

Social Darwinism: applied Darwin’s scientific ideas to society• Suggested human society evolved via competition• no government involvement• conquer former colonies / evidence of advancement

survival of the fittest?fit - live in an environment

The Labor Movement

o Workers were not happy (conditions, pay, etc.), so they wanted to join together to form

o Owners did not like workers to join together in unions because it would take away from their profits

o Conflict in American society:

UNIONS

CAPITALISM vs. LABOR

Owners vs. Workers