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Reconstruction
Chapter 22
Essential Questions?
• How are civil liberties challenged during times of conflict?
• How have changes during Reconstruction made a lasting impact on America?
• Which changes of the Civil War and Reconstruction era were short lived and which have had a lasting impact?
• To what extent have the issues surrounding the Civil War yet to be resolved?
Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address, Mar. 4, 1865
16th president of US (1809 - 1865)
• With malice toward none, with charity for all, ...let us strive on to finish the work we are in, ...to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.
Questions to Ponder?
• How would the South, physically devastated by war and socially revolutionized by emancipation, be rebuilt?
• How would liberated blacks fare as free men and women?
• How would the Southern states be reintegrated into the Union?
• Who would direct Reconstruction – the Southern states themselves, the president, or Congress?
A Peace Worth Having?
• Confederate leaders captured
• Jeff Davis: 2 years in prison, never tried
• Most leaders were pardoned by President Johnson
• Southern cities, transportation, and agriculture destroyed.
• Slave labor system gone, along with $2 billion worth of slaves.
• Southern belief in the “lost cause” of the Civil War
Freedmen
• Emancipation not instant, slow process.
• Many freedmen remained loyal to former owners, began to sharecrop and tenant farm.
• Others sought revenge for years of bondage
• New liberties– Change of name– Travelled– Search for relatives– Officially get married– Move west (Exodusters)– Change religious
affiliation– Sought education
Freedmen’s Bureau
• Former slaves were often unskilled, uneducated, property-less, and broke.
• Congress created the FB as an early form of welfare.– Taught literacy– Feed and clothed– Basic healthcare
• 1865 to 1872• Often plagued by
corrupt officials who swindled freedmen out of money and property
• Hated by southern whites
Andrew Johnson
• Born in NC, orphaned • Never went to school,
apprenticed with a tailor• Champion for poor whites
and the Constitution• Southerner that did not
secede; Lincoln picks him to balance the ticket on 1864.
• Not trusted by North or South, Democrats or Republicans
Johnson Administration Timeline
• 1865– Johnson becomes 17th
president– Freedmen’s Bureau
established– Black Codes appear– 13th Amendment ratified
• 1866– Override of Civil Rights
Bill veto– 14th Amendment created
• 1867– Reconstruction Act– Tenure of Office Act– US buys Alaska
• 1868– Johnson impeached
Presidential Reconstruction
• Lincoln’s Plan: stats readmitted when 10% pledge allegiance to US and emancipation.
• Johnson follows 10% Plan and disenfranchised Confederate leaders.
• Leaders asked Johnson for pardons.
Black Codes
• Under Presidential Recon, many states sought to force freedmen back into a subservient status.
• Laws passed that kept AA from voting, juries
• Forced many to work or be punished
• Sharecropping: with no capital to buy and run their own farms, many AA went into debt working for former slave owners.
• AA would work a portion of a farm and “share” the profit with the landlord.
Congressional Reconstruction
• Also known as Radical Reconstruction
• 50% of state population• New state constitutions• Wade-Davis Bill: vetoed
by Lincoln• Much harsher on South• Congress and the
president had very different views
• During the war, Republicans controlled Congress
• Radical Republican leaders feared the re-admittance of the Democrat-South.
Radical RepublicansCharles Sumner Thaddeus Stevens
Johnson v Congress
• Johnson vetoed the Freedmen’s Bureau and the Civil Rights Bill of 1866.
• Congress overrides both!• 1866 Republicans get 2/3rd majority in Congress• 14th Amendment– Created to fight black codes– Equal protection to all citizens– Disqualified Confederate officials from voting.
Military Reconstruction
• RR wanted to punish South for War and Black Codes
• Reconstruction Act: 1867, allowed military to govern South by martial law.
• States now only readmitted when they elected Republican leaders, ratified 14th, allowed AA the vote.
• South resents measures!
Military Reconstruction
Military Reconstruction
• Ex parte Milligan: 1866, Supreme Court rules that military can’t try civilians during peace.– Makes Military Reconstruction somewhat
unconstitutional.• When military is removed (1877) the South
goes back to its old ways.• Solid South: From 1877 to 1970 South always
votes Democrat – result of Reconstruction.
“The Negro’s Hour”, Not Women
• Women played a huge role in abolition.• With the 14th and 15th Amendments, women
hoped to be included in citizenship, but weren’t.
• Women tried using the 14th Amendment as the basis for court cases, but failed.
Politics During Military Reconstruction
• Southern AA seized opportunity• Organized churches and schools• Elected to office: State legislatures, US House,
and US Senate.• Often helped by northerners that came south
(Carpetbaggers) and Southern Republicans (Scalawags).
• Inexperience often lead to corruption, which was common everywhere throughout the Gilded Age.
Ku Klux Klan
• Group that attempted to disenfranchise and intimidate AA from voting and other rights.
• Terrorist group often beat and murdered to make example in AA communities.
• Many AA did avoid exercising rights out of fear.
• Military in South often overlooked (corruption)!
KKK
Congress Goes After a President
• Tenure of Office Act: 1867, provided that the pres. Couldn’t fire cabinet members without Congressional approval.– Not really constitutional!
• Meant to protect Lincoln’s cabinet members that Johnson hated.
• Johnson fires Sec. of War to test act.
• House votes to impeach Johnson.
• 1st time ever for presidential impeachment (2nd in 1998, Clinton)
President on Trial
• Tensions ran high as Senate held impeachment trial.
• Johnson remained in office by 1 vote!
• Could have set a dangerous precedent and upset the checks and balances for future times.
• Showed the maturity of our government (sort-of)
The Purchase of Alaska
• 1867: Russia wants to sell Alaska.
• Secretary of State William Seward buys for $7.2 million.
• Public outraged over waste of $ (Seward’s Folly)
• Later proved to be highly rich in resources (fur, gold, timber, oil, natural gas)
Heritage of Reconstruction
• Some considered it worse than the war.
• For southern whites it seemed the north was forcing AA equality and the Republican Party upon them.
• AA rights in the south would not last once the military was withdrawn.
• Also, Republican support in the south vanishes after Reconstruction.
• Reconstruction will officially end in 1877 (next chapter), but AA rights and the Republican party will not return to the South for another 90 years!