ReconstructionReconstructionThe time following the The time following the

War Between the StatesWar Between the Statesin which the defeated southern in which the defeated southern

states were reorganized and states were reorganized and readmitted to the Unionreadmitted to the Union

The Problems of ReconstructionThe Problems of Reconstruction

A. How do we create a government for the states of the Union?

B. How do we re-establish the political process of the Union?

C. What is going to take the place of the plantation system in the south?

D. What is going to be done about the status of the Freedman?

E. How is the black man going to make the transition from slave labor to free?

F. How is the government going to protect the Freedman because he will become the scapegoat for the war?

The Control of ReconstructionThe Control of Reconstruction

A. The Liberal RepublicansA. The Liberal Republicans

Leadership: Abraham Lincoln

View of the South: secession was an “evil theory” that was necessarily stopped, but the war was over and the southern states must be restored to their regular place in the Union

…With malice toward none, with charity for all…

Their Plan:

Amnesty and restoration of private property to all southerners except the Confederate leadership

Ten Percent Plan: recognize the “new” states when 10% of the voters of 1860 …

…elected a new state convention to write a new state constitution

…recognized the 13th amendment

…taken an oath of allegiance to support the federal constitution and the laws of Congress

I,___ , do solemnly swear or affirm in presence of Almighty God that I will

hereafter faithfully support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Union thereunder, and that I will in like

manner abide by faithfully and support all laws and proclamations which have been made during the existing rebellion with

reference to the emancipation of slaves. So help me God.

Military officers above the rank of colonel, naval officers above the rank of lieutenant, governors, judges of courts, civil officers of the Confederate government, citizens worth over $20,000X

APPLY FOR PARDON

Failure of the Plan

1. Assassination of President Lincoln (April 14, 1865)

2. Andrew Johnson lacked the strong leadership to overcome the opposition to the plan

3. The “Black Codes” in the South put limitations on the civil rights of the Negroes, trying to re-enslave the blacks

. ..Sec. 1. Be it ordained by the police jury of the parish of St. Landry, That no negro shall be allowed to pass within the limits of said parish without special permit in writing from his employer. Whoever shall violate this provision shall pay a fine of two dollars and fifty cents, or in default thereof shall be forced to work four days on the public road, or suffer corporeal punishment as provided hereinafter. . . . …Sec. 3. . . . No negro shall be permitted to rent or keep a house within said parish. Any negro violating this provision shall be immediately ejected and compelled to find an employer; and any person who shall rent, or give the use of any house to any negro, in violation of this section, shall pay a fine of five dollars for each offence….…Sec. 7. . . . No negro who is not in the military service shall be allowed to carry fire-arms, or any kind of weapons, within the parish, without the special written permission of his employers, approved and indorsed by the nearest and most convenient chief of patrol. . . .

The “Jim Crow Laws” dealt with vagrancy, courts, ownership of property and the poll tax

1866: One of a number of highly racist posters issued as part of a smear campaign against PA Republican gubernatorial nominee John White Geary

by supporters of Democratic candidate Hiester Clymer. Indicative of Clymer's white-supremacy platform, the posters attack postwar

Republican efforts to pass a constitutional amendment enfranchising blacks. Artist: Reynolds NY

Another in a series of racist posters attacking Radical Republican exponents of black suffrage, issued during the 1866

PA gubernatorial race.

Sign in Virginia, posted in the 1920s. Note

that the term "Lynch law"

begain during the American

Revolution and that it described punishment for

somewhat political

offenses even then.

4. Opposition in Congress

The plan did not punish the South

Leadership afraid the Republicans would lose control of the federal government

The Plan did not protect the Freedman

B.Radical Republicans

Leadership: Thaddeus Stevens (H) and Charles Sumner (S)

View of the South: because the South had started the war, they must be treated as conquered territory and punished

The Plan

Wade-Davis Bill (1864)

Required military governance

Denied political rights to Confederate leaders

Refused to pay Confederate War debts

Freedman’s Bureau (1865)

A relief agency that provided food, clothing, and fuel for the black man (and some poor whites)

President Johnson vetoed the bill, but Congress overrode the veto

Civil Rights Act of 1866 gave Negroes the same rights as whites – passed over the veto of Johnson

Reconstruction Act of 1867

•10 states rejected the 14th Amendment (gave former slaves citizenship; equal protection under the law)

•Divided the states into 5 military districts with a general to keep and enforce martial law

•Each state had to hold an election, open to Negro and white voters, for delegates to a constitutional convention

•Each new state constitution had to guarantee Negro suffrage and receive the approval of voters, as well as of Congress

•State legislatures elected under the new constitution had to ratify the 14th amendment

Tenure of Office Act (1867) prohibited the president from dismissing, without prior consent of the Senate, any officer appointed by him with the Senate’s consent

The Impeachment Trial of Pres. Johnson

•Johnson removed Secretary of War Stanton, whom he accused of cooperating with the Radical Republicans

•The House voted for impeachment charges for violating the Tenure of Office Act

•The Senate acquitted him by 1 vote

The Effects of ReconstructionThe Effects of Reconstruction

A. In The South

1. Government by Northerners

a. Carpetbaggers: Northerners who went south after the war hoping to take advantage of the poor conditions; corrupt, wild spenders, dishonest; disliked by Southerners

b. Scalawag: white Southerners who worked with the Northern Reconstructionists; pro-Union

2. Ku Klux Klan

Secret society whose purpose is to restore white supremacy

Tried to restrict the activities of the blacks; used terror and intimidation to accomplish their goals

3. Amnesty Act of 1872 restored the votes to all whites except several hundred leaders of the Confederacy

4. Sharecropping: method of farming where the landowner paid the

worker in goods, not cash; it was almost the same as slavery

5. Redemption: refers to the “end” of northern Reconstruction and the beginning of southern Reconstruction

a. Federal troops removed by 1872

b. Southerners permitted partial control of local governments

c. Generous spending for internal improvements

B. In the North

1. Fisk-Gould Gold Scheme: attempt to control the gold market

2. Tammany Hall: Secret political organization led by William “Boss” Tweed in New York City; designed to control the city by channeling public funds to private individuals

3. Credit Mobilier. Padded the costs of railroad construction with some of the profits going to Congressmen who agreed to prevent investigation of corruption

4. Whiskey Ring. Treasury officials accepted bribes not to collect taxes from distillers

5. Election of 1876

Rutherford B. Hayes (R) vs Samuel Tilden (D)

a. Two sets of electoral college votes sent to Congress

b. A special election commission determined Hayes won the electoral vote; Tilden won the popular vote

The Results of ReconstructionThe Results of Reconstruction

A.The South became solidly Democratic

B.“Reconstruction” Amendments established legal status of the Freedman

1. 13th: ended slavery

2. 14th: granted citizenship

3. 15th: received franchise

C. Increased bitterness toward the North

D. Segregationist policies produced a migration of Blacks to northern urban areas

E. Sharecropping, combined with the devastation of the war, left the South economically

disadvantaged