Title: Consolidating a Triumphant Union
1Consolidating a Triumphant Union
2The United States in 1865
- At the end of the war, Lincolns official
position was that the South had never left the
Union - Lincolns opponents argued that by declaring war,
the Confederacy had broken their Constitutional
ties and reverted to a territory status - The North was stronger than ever, the South lay
in ruins
3Hopes Among the Freed people
- Blacks tested their new freedom gradually
- Most freed slaves made education a priority
- Many left their plantations in search of a family
member who had been sold - The primary goal for these freed people was to
secure jobs and land - They expected a new economic order and some
compensation for their years in slavery
4Rehearsals for Post-War Restoration
- Nov., 1861 Union forces occupy Sea Islands, SC
- Aim was to guide blacks from slave to free
lives - Teachers, missionaries as well as investors from
Boston saw this area as opportunity - Investors wanted to establish wage labor to grow
cotton to supply textile mills directly - Blacks opposed to this and favored barter system
and subsistence farming - Union officials in Louisiana forced blacks to
work in plantations for wages instead of as a
slave - Blacks protested by going on strikes, demanding
higher wages and refusing to work
5Rehearsals for Post-War Restoration
- Dec. 1863 Lincoln introduces the Ten Percent
Plan to Congress - This allowed Confederate states to form new state
governments if 10 of those who had voted in the
1860 presidential election, renounced slavery and
pledged allegiance to the Union - Congress resents Lincolns effort to control the
situation and instead passes the Wade-Davis Bill - This bill required a majority of Southern voters
to pledge allegiance to the United States - Lincoln vetoes this Bill but approves the
creation of the Freedmans Bureau (Mar. 1865)
6Freedmans Bureau
- Established on Mar. 3rd, 1865
- Also known as the Bureau of Refugees
- It was a federal agency that was formed to aid
distressed refugees who had been loyal to the
Union, after the Civil War (blacks as well as
poor whites) - It was initiated by Lincoln and was intended to
last for one year after the end of the Civil War - The bureau helped set up schools, supervised
labor contracts, settled domestic disputes and
legalized marriages that had taken place under
slavery - Served as an early employment agency for African
Americans
7Presidential Reconstruction 1865-1867
- April, 1865 Lincoln assassinated by John Wilkes
Booth - Andrew Johnson (VP) takes over as President
- He had his own agenda for Reconstruction in the
South - He appeared to support poor, white farmers in
opposition to rich planters - Republicans initially support Southern Democrat
Johnson as enemy of planter class - Johnson, Republicans split on Reconstruction
8Presidential Reconstruction 1865-1867
- Poor whites could have the right to vote if they
met at special state conventions - The Conventions had to renounce secession,
repudiate Confederate debt, and ratify the
Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery - They also had to elect new state officials and
members of Congress - Johnson believed that former slaves had to
continue their job as field laborers - He did not support granting voting rights to
slaves, contrary to Lincolns ideas of granting
them voting rights
9Black Codes
- Republicans opposed to Johnsons policies and
thought they were too lenient - Southern states used his policies to pass the
Black Codes - They were unfair laws aimed at blacks
- Any blacks violating the Black Codes were
imprisoned or forced into labor - By these codes
- Blacks that were not working in fields could be
imprisoned (vagrants) - No voting rights
- Could not own land
- Could not serve in juries
- Could not carry weapons
- Could not leave jobs unless justified in doing so
10Inter-Party Political Tensions
- Johnson approves Black Codes
- Republicans vehemently opposed to the codes
- Rift between Johnson and Republicans
- Jan. 1865 Congress approves the Thirteenth
Amendment which abolished slavery - 1866 Johnson vetoes two bills
- extension of Freedmens Bureau
- Civil Rights Bill to overturn Black Codes
- Congress overrides both vetoes
11Inter-Party Political Tensions
- June, 1865 Congress passes the Fourteenth
Amendment - Promised perpetual protection of the civil rights
of black Americans by legally defining them as
citizens - Granted suffrage to black males in the South
- Punished states that denied blacks voting rights
- Voided Confederate debts
- Declared former rebels ineligible for federal and
state office positions - Johnson vetoes amendment and rift between him and
Congress widens
12Carpetbaggers
- This was the term used to describe Northern
whites who migrated south, after the Civil War,
to invest in land and become planters - Derogatory term whites who quickly threw some
belongings into bags made of carpet scraps, and
left to go South, to take advantage to of the
post-war devastation, and confusion - They employed blacks to work in the cotton fields
and extended the idea of slavery
13Ku Klux Klan
- 1866 A secret society consisting of white
supremists was set up called the KKK - Used terrorism, violence, and lynching of blacks
to spread terror in the South - Eventually died out in 1871
- Caused the death and disappearance of hundreds of
blacks in the South
14Post-War Labor Problems in the South
- White landowners continue to regard blacks as
only fit to work in the fields - Blacks aspire to be their own boss and not work
under any white - Freedmans Bureau works as liaison between freed
people and southern whites - Free labor system with annual contracts
- Blacks would be employed in exchange for monthly
wage, a share of the annual crop, or a
combination of both - Many blacks, specially women, went about
legalizing marriage vows and taking care of
family, both of which they had been denied as
slaves
15Post-War Labor Problems in the South
- Many blacks in South Carolina and Georgia want to
stay where their ancestors had lived and died - They urge Gen. Sherman to confiscate land owned
by rebels in this area - 1865 Gen. Sherman issues Field Order Number 15
- By this, the Sea Islands and coastal region South
of Charleston, was to be divided into 40 acre
parcels and issued to freed men and their
families - Each family would also receive a mule to help
them work the fields - Came to be known as the 40 acres and a mule
Rule
16Post-War Labor Problems in the South
- 20,000 former slaves begin cultivating
Confederate land in response to Shermans ruling - But at the end of the war, the War Department,
under pressure from Southern white landowners,
revoked the 40 acres and a mule rule - War Dept. provides military support to whites in
the South until they could re-occupy their land
17Sharecropping
- This system became very popular in the years
following the Civil War - By this system, poor blacks as well as whites,
could enter into annual contracts with white
landowners - In exchange for labor, the white landowner would
advance crop seed, mules, farm implements, food
and clothing to the poor workers - At the end of the year, if the debt was yet
unpaid, they continued to work in hope of
re-paying the debtvicious cycle - Landowner could evict laborers and his families
if he was displeased with his work
18Building Free Communities
- After the war, blacks attempt to organize
themselves into social and political groups to
benefit their own people - Divided into two groups according to class
literate and light-skinned blacks vs. illiterate
blacks who worked the fields - Blacks unanimously believed that freedom from
slavery also should give them full citizenship
rights, including voting rights, rights to
education, owning land, holding office etc.
19Building Free Communities
- Freed people set up self-help organizations and
committees to raise funds to set up schools for
blacks and hire teachers - Money raised with difficulty and at great
sacrifice of the people - Extended family ties became stronger among blacks
- Poor but Rich!
- Southern whites angry at attempts of blacks to
build a community - Resulted in blacks choosing to segregate
themselves from whites - Increased incidents of KKK activities
20Radical Reconstruction
- Coalition of radical Republicans led by Charles
Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens push Congress to pass
Reconstruction Act of 1867 - purpose to purge the South of disloyalty one and
for all - former Confederates lost voting rights
- Confederate states would not be re-admitted to
Union until 14th Amendment was ratified, new
constitution granting black men voting rights,
was written - South (Tennessee exempted) to be divided into
military districts - Federal troops stationed in South to protect
Union leaders and restore political and economic
order - Congress passed 2 more acts
- Aim was to get more power than the president
21Radical Reconstruction
- Tenure of Office Act restricted presidential
appointment powers in light of Johnsons
aggressive racism and determination to foil any
reconstruction process aim was to prevent
President from firing Sect. of War Edwin Stanton,
who supported the radical Republicans - Command of the Army Act required the president
to seek approval for military orders from Ulysses
S. Grant, who also supported the Republicans - Both acts violated Separation of powers doctrine
of Constitution - Both Acts caused national crisis
- 1868 Johnson violates Tenure of Office Act and
fires Stanton to defy Congress - Congress moves to impeach Johnson
22The Impeachment Crisis
- South under military rule until black suffrage
fully secured - Johnson moves to obstruct Reconstruction
- February, 1868 Congress impeaches Johnson
- Senate refuses to convict Johnson, because they
are 1 vote short of two-thirds majority, in
Senate, to do this - Radical Republicans seen as subversive of
Constitution, lose public support - End of political career for Johnson
- Ulysses S. Grant becomes President in Election of
1868
23Becoming One, Once Again!
- 1868 Arkansas, North Carolina, South Carolina,
Louisiana, Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida meet
all conditions of Congress and join the Union
once again - 1869 Fifteenth Amendment passed granting all
black men right to vote - 1870 Mississippi, Virginia, Georgia, and Texas
re-join the Union - 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act passed by Congress to
punish atrocities of KKK members against blacks
24Campaigns Against Indians
- 1867 and 1868 Treaties signed between Indians
(Comanche, Kiowa, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Plains
Apache) and U.S. government - Indians had agreed to allow railroad workers,
surveyors, and supply caravans into Indian
territory, in exchange for food and supplies - Now Indians violated the treaty by attacking
railroad workers - 1871 U.S. revokes treaties and embarks on full
attack of Indians - 1874 Gold discovered by whites in sacred Sioux
land, Black Hills, resulting in influx of miners - Sioux leaders, Red Cloud, Spotted Tail, and
Sitting Bull, refuse to sell the land to U.S. - 1876 Custer attacks Sioux and Cheyenne at Little
Big Horn River - He is defeated by Indians
25Central Pacific Railroad
- Owners of CPR wanted to build railroad trestles
from California to the east - Aim was to aid easy passage of people
- Acute labor problems
- Irish laborers demanded higher wages and left
upon news of gold being located nearby - Solution was to import cheap Chinese labor from
Guangdong province, China - Chinese laborers worked under grueling conditions
to finish railroad - Many settled in California
26Post-War Womens Suffrage Movement
- War encourages women to want to participate in
nations politics - Women wanted the right to vote because they
deserved it - 1866 Equal Rights Association is created by
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and
Lucy Stone - Aim was to link rights of white women with
African American women
27Womens Suffrage
- 1867 Kansas rejects a proposal for joint
suffrage for both blacks and white women - Many feel it would be better if suffrage was
granted to blacks first and then approach the
matter for womens suffrage - 1869 Women reformers split into 2 groups
- Radical group with Anthony and Stanton denounce
the 15th Amendment, since it gave suffrage only
to black men - They create the National Woman Suffrage
Association which favored liberalization of
divorce laws, married womens property rights,
setting up of colleges and trade schools for
women, and most importantly, the right to vote
28Womens Suffrage
- Joined for a brief period of time by Victoria
Woodhull - 1872 Anthony is arrested for attempting to vote
in the presidential election of 1872 and later
tried and convicted for the crime - NWSA later joins up with AWSA and focuses mainly
on voting rights for women - The second group under Lucy Stone and her
husband, Henry Blackwell, set up the American
Woman Suffrage Association, which favored the
15th Amendment and focused only on the issue of
voting rights for women, and worked on
state-by-state campaigns to get suffrage for
women
29Workers Organizations
- Many changes in U.S. economy during post-War Era
- Main boost in railroad building, mining and heavy
industry - Brought forth managerial class in urban areas
- Negative effect of economic growth debt
- Southern farmers forced to take loans from banks,
and forced to start growing cotton instead of
corn or other staple crops - 1867 National Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry
(the Grange) set up by Oliver Kelly, to form
cooperatives to market their crops and challenge
rates that favored big businesses
30Workers Organizations
- 1869 Knights of Labor formed to unite industrial
and rural workers, blacks and whites, men and
women, wage earners and businessmen - 1873 Economic depression in the country
- Farmers who had huge debts could not pay them
off as a result many banks closed down - Many small businesses went out of business
- National Labor Union closed as a result of this
depression - 1878 Greenback Labor Party created
31Political Corruption Decline of Republican
Idealism
- Corruption rampant in post-war time
- Bribes, kick-backs very common
- During this time newspapers received importance
because they exposed many of the schemes to the
public - 1870s A political organization in New York City
called Tammany Hall was notorious for bribery and
extortion - William Boss Tweed was the head of Tammany Hall
and was tried and convicted for his crimes and
schemes to milk common people - 1872 Credit Mobilier scandal exposed by the New
York Sun where many politicians were involved in
receiving company stocks in the company
32Political Corruption Decline of Republican
Idealism
- Presidential Election of 1872 Ulysses S. Grant
is Republican candidate and Horace Greeley is
Democratic candidate - Grant wins election
- 1875 Civil Rights Act is passed granting blacks
equal access to public accommodation and
transportation - Presidential Election of 1876 Both party
candidates get almost the same number of
electoral votes, but Rutherford B. Hayes
(Republican) wins against Democrat Samuel Tilden
by one vote
33Conclusion
- Reconstruction process very slow and painful for
both sides - Party politics and personal ideology of leaders
decided the outcome of how things were to be done - Southern white supremacists gained control of
local and state governments, and denied blacks of
basic citizenship rights - Republicans controlled national economic policy