Reconstruction (1865-1876)

1
Reconstruction (1863-1877)
Ms. Susan M. PojerHorace Greeley HS Chappaqua,
NY With additional slides and information by Bob
Daugherty
2
Key Questions
?
4. What branchof governmentshould controlthe
process ofReconstruction?
1. How would the Southern States be re-admitted
in the South?
2. How do we rebuild the South after
itsdestruction during the war?
3. How do weintegrate andprotect
newly-emancipatedblack freedmen?
3
Jeff Davis Under Arrest
What should be done with Jefferson Davis?
4
He was sent to Ft. Monroe prison He served only
two years in prison due to the efforts of his
wife Varina His citizenship was not returned
until the 1970s when he and lee were pardoned by
President (and Southerner) Jimmy Carter
5
Robert E. Lees Arlington home had been
expropriated by the government during the
war Soldiers from the Civil war were buried there
so that he would never return
Today it is ARLINGTON CEMETERY
6
Wartime (LINCOLN) Reconstruction
ROUND 1
7
President Lincolns 10 Plan

• Predicated on Lincolns belief that the Southern
  states HAD NEVER REALLY LEFT THE UNION
• Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction
  (December 8, 1863)
• Replace majority rule with loyal rule in the
  South.
• He didnt consult Congress regarding
  Reconstruction.
• Pardon to all but the highest ranking military
  and civilian Confederate officers.
• When 10 of the voting population in the 1860
  election had taken an oath of loyalty and
  established a government, it would be recognized.

8
President Lincolns Plan

• 1864 ? Lincoln Governments formed in LA, TN, AR
• loyal assemblies
• They were weak and dependent on the Northern
  army for their survival.

9
Wade-Davis Bill (1864)

• Required 50 of the number of 1860 voters to take
  an iron clad oath of allegiance (swearing they
  had never voluntarily aided the rebellion ).
• Required a state constitutional convention before
  the election of state officials.
• Enacted specific safeguards of freedmens
  liberties.

SenatorBenjaminWade(R-OH)
CongressmanHenryW. Davis(R-MD)
10
Wade-Davis Bill (1864)

• Iron-Clad Oath.
• State Suicide Theory of
• MA Senator Charles Sumner
• Conquered Provinces Positionof PA Congressman
  Thaddeus Stevens
• Revealed deep differences between President and
  Congress

PocketVeto by Lincoln
PresidentLincolns 10 Plan
Wade-DavisBill
11
Presidential (JOHNSON) Reconstruction
ROUND 2
12
President Andrew Johnson

• Jacksonian Democrat.
• Only Southern Democrat to remain with the Union
• Selected by Lincoln to balance the Union
  ticket.
• Hated Southern Planter aristocracy.
• White Supremacist.
• Agreed with Lincoln that states could not leave
  Union and tried to do what he thought Lincoln
  would do
• Did not know how to compromise or bend when
  necessary

Damn the negroes! I am fighting these
traitorous aristocrats, their masters!
13
President Johnsons Plan (10)

• Offered amnesty upon simple oath to all except
  Confederate civil and military officers and
  those with property over 20,000 (they could
  apply directly to Johnson)
• In new constitutions, they must accept
  minimumconditions secession and state debts.
• Had to ratify 13th Amendment (ending slavery)
• Named provisional governors in Confederate states
  and called them to oversee elections for
  constitutional conventions.

1. Disenfranchised leading and rich Confederates.
2. Disenfranchised had to beg for pardons
EFFECTS?
3. Republicans were outraged that planter elite
were back in power in the South!
14
13th Amendment

• Ratified in December, 1865.
• Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except
  as punishment for crime whereof the party shall
  have been duly convicted, shall exist within the
  United States or any place subject to their
  jurisdiction.
• Congress shall have power to enforce this article
  by appropriate legislation.
• Not ratified by Mississippi until the 1990s!

15
Freedmens Bureau (1865)

• Primitive welfare agency that would provide food,
  clothing, medical care and education to freedmen
  and white refugees
• Many former northern abolitionists risked their
  lives to teach help southern freedmen.
• Headed by O.O. Howard (who later founded Howard
  University
• Greatest success in education!

16
Freedmens Bureau Seen Through Southern Eyes
Plenty to eat and nothing to do.
17
Another View of the Freedmens Bureau
18
Freedmens Bureau School
19
Growing Northern Alarm!

• Many Southern state constitutions fell short of
  minimum requirements.

• Johnson granted 13,500 special pardons.
• New Governments elected many former Confederate
  cabinet members and officers

• Revival of southern defiance and belief in noble
  Lost Cause.

BLACK CODES
20
Black Codes

• Purpose
• Guarantee stable labor supply now that blacks
  were emancipated.
• Restore pre-emancipationsystem of race
  relations.
• Had to commit to employer for one year (if
  violated contract could be forced to work)
• Idle blacks could be forced to work on a chain
  gang
• Could not own or rent land or own a gun
• Could not serve on juries or testify against
  white people
• Forced many blacks to become sharecroppers
  tenant farmers.

21
Slavery is Dead?
Who really had won the war?
22
Congress Breaks with the President

• Congress bars SouthernCongressional delegates
  many of whom are former Confederates
• Joint Committee on Reconstruction created.
• February, 1866 ? Presidentvetoed the
  FreedmensBureau bill.
• March, 1866 ? Johnsonvetoed the 1866 Civil
  Rights Act.
• Congress overrides both Johnson vetoes and passes
  first Civil Rights Bills in in U. S. history!!

Former CSA Vice-President Alexander Stephens
23
Johnson the Martyr / Samson
If my blood is to be shed because I vindicate
the Union and the preservation of this government
in its original purity and character, let it be
shed let an altar to the Union be erected, and
then, if it is necessary, take me and lay me upon
it, and the blood that now warms and animates my
existence shall be poured out as a fit libation
to the Union. (Andrew Johnson
February 1866)
24
Radical (Congressional) Reconstruction
ROUND 3
25
14th Amendment

• Ratified in July, 1868. passed because Congress
  was afraid that Southerners would someday repeal
  the Civil Rights Acts
• Conferred citizenship and Civil Rights (but note
  vote) on Freedman (and anyone born in the US
  regardless of circumstances)
• Southern states could be punished for denying the
  right to vote to black citizens!
• Enshrined the national debt while repudiating
  that of the Confederacy.
• Former Confederate officers could not serve in
  state or federal office
• Later would serve as the basis for guaranteeing
  the Bill of Rights by the States and for the
  Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s

26
The Balance of Power in Congress
State White Citizens Freedmen
SC 291,000 411,000
MS 353,000 436,000
LA 357,000 350,000
GA 591,000 465,000
AL 596,000 437,000
VA 719,000 533,000
NC 631,000 331,000
27
The 1866 Midterm Election

• A referendum on Radical Reconstruction.
• Johnson made an ill-conceived speaking tour
  around the country to push his plan and to
  campaign against the Radical Republicans
• He was frequently heckled and took to drinking
• Republicanswon a 3-1 majority in both houses
  and gained control of every northern state.

• This gives them a veto proof majority!

28
Radical Plan for Readmission of States

• Civil authorities in the territories were subject
  to military supervision.
• Required new state constitutions, including black
  suffrage and ratification of the 13th and 14th
  Amendments.
• In March, 1867, Congress passed an act that
  authorized the military to enroll eligible black
  voters and begin the process of constitution
  making.
• Purpose was to get blacks to get the state back
  in the Union and free the federal government from
  responsibility for protecting black rights

29
Reconstruction Acts of 1867

• Military Reconstruction Act
• Restart Reconstruction in the 10 Southern states
  that refused to ratify the 14th Amendment.
• Divides the 10 unreconstructed states into 5
  military districts commanded by a Union general
  and occupied by Union soldiers

30
The Fifteenth Amendment (1869)

• Radicals were fearful that White Southerners
  would take away the franchise (vote) from blacks
  when they regained power
• Therefore the right had to be guaranteed by an
  amendment
• States 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.
• Women (who had played a big role in the abolition
  movement) were very upset because they had NOT
  been included in either the 14th or 15th Amendment

31
Susan B. Anthony

• I will cut off this right arm of mine before I
  will ever work or demand the ballot for the Negro
  and not the woman!

It would be 50 years more before the 19th
Amendment gave women the right to vote
32
Reconstruction Acts of 1867

• Command of the Army Act
• The President must issue all Reconstruction
  orders through the commander of the military.
• Tenure of Office Act
• The President could not remove any officials
  esp. Cabinet members without the Senates
  consent, if the position originally required
  Senate approval.
• Designed to protect radicalmembers of Lincolns
  government.
• Was this law Constitutional?.

Edwin Stanton
33
The Union League

• Originally a Pro Union NORTHERN organization
• Educated black men in duties and campaigned for
  Republican candidates
• Built black churches and schools
• Represented black employee and government
  grievances
• Recruited black militias to protect against White
  retaliation

34
Elected Black Officials

• Between 1868-1876 14 black Congressmen and 2
  black senators were elected to the US Congress
• Hiram Revels and Blanche Bruce were the first two
  Black Senators
• Though no black until Douglas Wilder of Virginia
  was elected as a state governor many served as
  lieutenant governors and state representatives as
  well as mayors and sheriffs in local government

Hiram Revels
35
Accomplishments of Reconstruction Governments

• For much of American history the Dunning School
  has portrayed Reconstruction governments as
  inefficient and corrupt
• However, there were many accomplishments
• For the first time public education was made
  available to poor whites (as well as blacks)
• Necessary infrastructure (bridges and roads)
  improvements were made
• Property rights for woman were guaranteed
• Though taxes did go way up, tax incidence was
  made more fair
• Necessary prison and mental asylum reform took
  place
• Hospitals were built
• There are, however, many (often justified)
  allegations of corrupt government
• However, it does not seem to be any worse than
  the corruption occurring in the North at the time

36
White Southern Anger Grows

• Grew angry at former slaves being elected to
  office while in many cases they could not even
  vote
• Northern whites who came down to South to take
  advantage of Southerners to make a buck were
  called carpetbaggers
• White Southerners who became Republicans were
  known as scalawags
• The most famous was former CSA General James
  Longstreet who was eventually blamed for losing
  the Civil War!

37
The Ku Klux Klan

• Formed by six CSA veterans in Tennessee as a
  social club
• Most were Scottish (hence the term clan)
• They chose the Greek word kyklos (??????) for
  circle
• Initially they used theatrical techniques to
  intimidate blacks but soon turned more violent
• CSA General Nathan Bedford Forrest was asked to
  be their first leader
• Blacks, scalawags, and teachers were whipped,
  beaten, mutilated or killed

38
DEATH (AND REBIRTH) OF THE KLAN

• Klan members were hard to punish because of their
  anonymity and the fact that local all white
  juries were afraid (or unwilling) to convict them
• Eventually Congress and Pres. Grant passed the
  Force Acts and Ku Klux laws
• Forrest ordered the Klan to disband
• In 1915 William Simmons re-created the Klan
• Membership was slow to grow
• UNTIL.

39
DW GRIFFITHS BIRTH OF A NATION (1915)
First blockbuster full length movie directed by
film pioneer DW Griffith (Cost 100,000 but made
millions) Caused riots in many cities for its
portrayal of blacks as lazy, lusty and murderous
(In many cases blacks in the movie were actually
white men in black face!) The film was the first
ever shown in the White House President Wilson (a
devout Southerner) supposedly said it is like
writing history with lightning. And my only
regret is that it is all so terribly true!
40
The Philosophy of the Film

• The film propounds the Dunning School of
  Reconstruction which persisted until the 1950s
  and Kenneth Stampps scholarship
• According to the film (and school)
• Reconstruction was a disaster, blacks could never
  be integrated into white society as equals
• the violent actions of the Ku Klux Klan were
  justified to reestablish honest government
• the Ku Klux Klan restored order to the post-war
  South, which was depicted as endangered by
  abolitionists, freedmen, and carpetbagging
  Republican politicians from the North