Reconstruction

1
Reconstruction

• 1863-1877

2
Basics

• Reconstruction evolves out of the conduct of the
  war
• The experience of freed-people central to
  understanding Reconstruction
• Reconstruction a restructuring of Southern
  society

• Reconstruction also restructured the nation
• Reconstruction had some real accomplishments
• Reconstruction was at best incomplete and the
  real changes come much later

3
Two Broad Periods

• Presidential Reconstruction, 1863-1867
• Congressional (Radical) Reconstruction, 1867-1877

4
Two approaches

• Ten Percent Plan
• President as Commander-in-Chief
• Quick-paced war measure
• Wade-Davis Bill (1864)--
• Congress asserts itself
• More punitive
• During wartime, Lincolns view prevails
• Right Lincoln in 1865

5
Lincolns death complicates matters

• Andrew Johnson
• Background
• Republicans think they have assurances
• Johnson talks tough
• Johnson has his own agenda
• Thinking ahead to 1868
• Right Andrew Johnson, by Matthew Brady, ca. 1860s

6
Southern reactions to defeat

• Initially willing to accept Norths terms
• No doubt who won
• Come to see themselves as being able to bargain
• Johnson largely to blame
• Liberal pardon policy
• Continues Ten Percent Plan

7
South takes its mile

• Southern legislators and national representatives
  largely same people that started war
• Black Codes
• Violence against freed blacks

• Memphis and New Orleans riots, 1866
• Refusal to repudiate rebellion
• Confederate debts
• Ratify 13th Amendment
• No contrition

8
Election of 1866

• Johnson tries to boost Democrats
• Swing Around the Circle
• Election a disaster for Democrats
• Expression of Norths revulsion at developments
  in South
• Republicans have veto-proof majorities
• Demands for firmer treatment of the South

9
Radical Reconstruction

• Long time coming
• Part of discontent with moderate policies during
  war
• Take a firmer line
• Idealism and vengeance both
• Bent on transforming South and nation
• Embrace of racial equality
• Not nearly as bad as Southerners later portrayed
  it

10
Reconstruction Act (1867)

• Martial law
• Existing state governments dissolved
• Start over again, but
• African American men vote
• Others subject to iron clad oath

• New governments will allow readmission
• Will lead to biracial Republican state
  governments
• Clock is ticking

11
Southerners resist

• Ku Klux Klan formed in Tennessee in 1867
• Region-wide violence against African Americans
  and white Unionists intensifies
• More than the army can handle
• Right Mississippi Klansmen, Harpers Weekly,
  July 1872

12
North loses interest

• Panic of 1873
• Economic collapse
• Foreign investors desert US economy
• High unemployment, low prices
• Great Railroad Strike (1877)
• Nationwide labor unrest
• Response to panic
• Reveals the problems of free labor ideology

• Economic and social implications
• Do we break down class distinctions?
• Threat to private property inherent in
  Reconstruction
• Really fixing the South will require breaking
  planters power
• Northern view of black Southerners changing
• Racism still a part of American society

13
Election of 1876

• Rutherford Hayes v. Samuel Tilden
• Reconstruction an issue
• GOP backing away
• Democrats promise an end
• Redemption underway in South and this could help
  Tilden
• Right Rutherford B. Hayes, ca. 1876, Library of
  Congress

14
Deadlock

• Disputed results in LA, FL, and SC
• Two versions of events
• Congress cant reconcile
• Special commission
• Favors Republicans
• Democrats threaten war

15
Compromise of 1877

• Smoke-filled room
• South trades presidency for home rule
• Republicans sell-out Southern blacks South sells
  out Tilden
• South left to deal with its own racial problems
  its own way
• Slow to move
• Eventually leads to disfranchisement and
  segregation

16
Balance Sheet

• Accomplishments
• Public education
• Infrastructure
• 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments

• Problems
• Reconstruction reforms largely dismantled in
  South
• Real solution to race problems deferred
• Southern elites still in control
• The rest is for HIS 122