Reconstruction Chapter 121

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ReconstructionChapter 12-1
Charleston, SC, 1865
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President Andrew Johnson

• The war is over, Lincoln is dead, the country is
  still divided and over 600,000 soldiers are dead.
  Hundreds of thousands have life-long
  wounds
• The country needs a strong leader
• Instead, they got Johnson

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Lincolns Reconstruction Plan

• Before his assassination, Lincoln had moderate
  plans to admitting the seceded states back into
  the Union
• Many radical Republicans in Congress thought his
  plan was too generous

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Lincolns Reconstruction Plan

• Lincolns plan called for
• States were admitted as soon as 10 of the
  voters swore an oath of allegiance to America
• Radical republicans wanted the South punished and
  not admitted until 50 pledged allegiance

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Who were the Radicals?

• Thaddeus Stevens
• Charles Sumner
• William Seward
• They wanted to give blacks political power and
  positions while stripping all power away from
  planters

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Wade-Davis Bill

• In response to Lincolns 10 Plan, the radicals
  passed the Wade-Davis bill which
• Wanted Congress to control reconstruction
• 50 of the voters had to swear an oath of loyalty
  before they were re-admitted into the Union

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Wade-Davis Bill

• Lincoln allowed the bill to die with a pocket
  veto
• The radicals were irate
• Before any further conflict occurred, Lincoln was
  assassinated in April 1865

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Johnsons Plan

• The radicals thought Johnson would be easier to
  work with
• He frequently spoke of his distain for Southern
  planters
• As a southerner who stayed loyal to the Union,
  the radicals felt he would be harsher than
  Lincoln

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Johnsons Plan

• Johnsons plan was actually more moderate than
  Lincolns
• He pardoned confederate officers
  and planters
• He allowed generous terms for
  re-admittance

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Johnsons Plan

• Under President Johnson, soon the South looked
  very similar to the South of 1860
• Blacks were tied to the cotton fields and had no
  freedoms
• Whites, including former CSA officers, had all
  the power

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Johnsons Plan

• Some states didnt even ratify the 13th Amendment
  but were allowed to return to the Union
• Johnson declared Reconstruction complete
• The radical republicans disagreed

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Freedmans Bureau

• Started before the war ended, the organization
  provided food, housing, jobs, education, located
  family members, married couples and helped freed
  slaves adjust to freedom

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Freedmans Bureau

• In 1866 Congress voted to approve expanding and
  continuing the Freedmans Bureau
• Surprisingly, Johnson vetoed the bill

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Civil Rights Act, 1866

• In 1866 Congress also voted to approve a Civil
  Rights Act to prevent discrimination and give
  blacks citizenship
• Surprisingly, Johnson vetoed this bill too

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Black Codes

• Since the South seemed to have a friend in the
  White House, they began passing black codes
• Exactly like slave codes, they prevented blacks
  from having any freedoms

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Black Codes

• Black codes made it illegal to loiter (hang out
  with no money)
• Blacks were arrested and made to pay off their
  fines by working the fields just as
  they did in 1860

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Moderate and Radical Republicans

• Johnsons actions cause the more moderate
  republicans to join forces with the radicals to
  override Johnsons vetoes

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14th Amendment

• Congress drafted the 14th Amendment giving all
  people citizenship
• It also provided equal protection, no state could
  deprive a person of life, liberty or property
  without due process

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14th Amendment

• It took away the privilege of holding elected
  office for former Confederate leaders unless 2/3s
  of Congress agreed
• Johnson advised Southern states to reject the
  amendment and all did but TN

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1866 Mid-term Elections

• Johnson campaigned against the radical
  republicans
• Grant, the war hero, campaigned for them
• Voters turned away from Johnson and his platform
  and republicans increased their seats in Congress

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Reconstruction Act, 1867

• With the votes they needed in Congress,
  Reconstruction began in 1867
• The new Reconstruction Act refused to recognize
  southern state governments (except TN)
• Johnson vetoed the bill and it was overridden

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(No Transcript)
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Reconstruction Act, 1867

• Voters, mostly blacks, voted for new
  Congressional representatives

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Reconstruction Act, 1867

• Fed up with Johnson, Congress looked for a way to
  impeach him
• They passed the Tenure of Office Act which made
  it unlawful for him to fire any member of his
  cabinet
• To challenge the law, Johnson fired his Sec. of
  War Edwin Stanton

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Impeached Prez

• It was Congress opinion that if they approved of
  the appointment, they should be the ones to
  approve his removal
• Johnson faced 11 charges of impeachment
• It was the OJ trial of 1867

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Impeached Prez but not Removed

• Johnson beat removal by 1 vote

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1868 Election

• Johnson was not nominated by his party
• The Democrats nominated Horatio Seymour
• The Republicans nominated war hero Grant

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1868 Election

• Grant won a decisive victory in
  the electoral college
• He won an overwhelming number of African American
  votes
• This makes the Republicans push for the 15th
  Amendment
• Blacks will back republicans until 1932

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15th Amendment

• To prevent the South from ever taking the vote
  from blacks, they passed the 15th Amendment in
  1870
• It did not prevent the South from enacting
  literacy tests and poll taxes

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ReconstructionChapter 12-2
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Republican Control

• Once the radical republicans controlled Congress,
  African-Americans held many public offices in the
  South
• Congress worked on improving the economic
  conditions of the devastated South

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Public Works Programs

• Road and rail construction
• School system
• Orphanages
• Health care establishments
• Very expensive projects which the north was
  hesitant to spend money to accomplish

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Public Works Programs

• Fraud and corruption
• With the federal government funding, these
  projects were filled with graft, paybacks and use
  of illegal laborers

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Carpetbaggers and Scalawags

• Many northerners came to the South to re-build
• Others came to make money quick
• They became known as carpetbaggers for the cheap
  bags they brought with them

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Carpetbaggers and Scalawags

• Many southerners also took advantage of the poor
  southern economy
• They bought land cheap when owners could not pay
  their taxes
• They were called scalawags

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15th Amendment

• Republicans gave freedmen the right to vote.
• They backed Grant and their votes assured his win
• In some areas, they had up to a 90 turnout
  (today, we get about 30-40)

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Freedmen

• One of the first things that newly freed slaves
  did was find their family members
• They also got legally married

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Freedmen

• Not restricted by slave codes, freedmen took
  advantage of their new freedoms by traveling
• They left their former plantations to the cities
  to look for work

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Freedmen

• Freedmen flocked to schools
• Classrooms were filled with adults learning how
  to read
• Hampton Institute was opened for black students
• Initially, most teachers were white women from
  the north

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Freedmen

• Black churches were always important to the black
  community
• They now assumed an active role in politics,
  employment and financial support

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Freedmen

• During Reconstruction, a total of 16 black
  representatives were elected to Congress
• Hiram Revels was elected to the seat once held by
  Jefferson Davis

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Freedmen

• The Republican Congress abolished all black codes
  but the black community segregated themselves to
  build their own churches, political organizations
  and leadership

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Freedmen

• Economically, blacks remained poor
• Lacked money to buy land
• Did not get the 40 acres and a mule like some
  heard they were entitled to

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Freedmen

• The Southern Homestead Act, 1866 set aside land
  for former slaves, but it was not suitable for
  farming
• Planters still needed labor
• Soon they would find a way to get it

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Sharecropping

• Former slaves had little choice but to sign labor
  contracts with the landowners, sometimes their
  former owners
• Freedmen farmed for low wages and were forced to
  do as they were told

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Sharecropping

• During the growing season, the sharecroppers
  bought food, seed and equipment on credit
• After the harvest, they gave a share of the crops
  to the landowner, paid back their loans and kept
  the profits

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Sharecropping

• In reality, after paying back the loans and high
  interest, there was nothing left over
• When they didnt make enough to pay off their
  debts, they were indebted to the landowner and
  forced to work their land until the loans were
  paid

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Tenant Farmers

• Some had a little money to lease land
• With their own tools and equipment it was hoped
  they could move up the economic ladder
• Landowners made sure it never happened

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Tenant Farmers

• Freedmen who worked the fields, stayed in the
  fields
• The price of cotton fluctuated so badly, farmers
  grew more to sell more
• Which drove up the supply and drove down the
  prices

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Tenant Farmers

• Freedmen who worked the fields, stayed in the
  fields
• The price of cotton fluctuated so badly, farmers
  grew more to sell more
• Which drove up the supply and drove down the
  prices, so theyd plant more the next year

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White Southerners

• From 1866, whites lost economic and political
  power
• The reacted violently

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Reconstruction12-3
Thomas Nast Cartoon
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Ku Klux Klan

• Nathan Bedford Forrest and other Confederates
  formed the KKK in Pulaski, TN in 1868

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Ku Klux Klan

• Their goals were to frighten blacks away from
  voting, taking away any freedoms given by the
  Republicans and putting them
  back in pre-war conditions

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Ku Klux Klan

• The Klan killed freemen, burned homes and farms,
  killed supporters of black rights
• They concealed their identities with hoods and
  robes

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Enforcement Acts, 1870, 1871

• Congress and Pres. Grant passed laws to stop the
  violence
• None were effective and the USSC found one to be
  unconstitutional

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Amnesty Act, 1872

• Congress passed the Amnesty Act which returned
  the vote to most white men
• They also allowed the
  Freedmans
  Bureau to expire

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Amnesty Act, 1872

• By the early 1870s, northerners were becoming
  tired of Reconstruction
• It was expensive and they did not see the need to
  keep financing southern rebuilding and the
  betterment of freedmen

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Panic of 1873

• Poor management and over construction of
  railroads drove the country into a panic
• This further removed Northern interest in the
  South reconstruction

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Corruption in the Grant Administration

• Grant was honest but naïve about others in power
• His administration was plagued with corruption

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Crédit Mobilier

• A construction company was found to have taken
  profits from federal railroad construction
  projects
• Grants VP, Schuyler Colfax, was involved
• Grant had no knowledge of this

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Election of 1872

• Republicans re-nominated Grant
• Democrats nominated NY Tribune editor, Horace
  Greeley
• Grant won decisively and Greeley died a few weeks
  after the election

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Election of 1872
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Whiskey Ring Scandal

• In 1875, Grant was caught in another corruption
  scheme
• Revenue collectors and government officials took
  bribes from whiskey makers to avoid paying taxes
• It cost the treasury millions of dollars

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Scandals Continue

• In 1876, Grants Sec. of War was caught accepting
  bribes
• Grants Sec pf the Navy was caught taking bribes
• Grants Sec of the Interior also was involved in
  some shady land dealings

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Scandals Continue

• Although Grant was never involved in any of the
  schemes and it is unlikely that he was even aware
  of them, he did not seek re-election in 1876.

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Panic of 1873

• Cities and states were eager to fund railroad
  construction
• They loaned money to risky construction firms
• Their bankruptcies caused a panic
• Banks closed and railroads went broke

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Panic of 1873

• The economy floundered for the next 5 years with
  3 million people unemployed
• Some wealthy entrepreneurs, including William
  Vanderbilt, began buying the railroads and will
  later create a monopoly

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Currency Issues

• Lincoln began using currency, greenbacks, during
  the Civil War
• After the war, many wanted to call in the
  greenbacks and only allow currency backed by gold
• This would mean less money in the economy

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Economics 101

• When less money is available
• Only people with excellent credit get loans
• Loan interest rates rise
• Prices fall
• Bankers and industrialists wanted this

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Economics 101

• When more money is available
• Lenders are eager to loan money
• Interest rates are low
• Prices go up
• Farmers wanted this so their crop prices would go
  up and it would be easier to pay off loans

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Specie Resumption Act, 1875

• The government decided to pull the greenbacks out
  of the economy
• The economy was beginning to improve (after the
  Panic of 1873) so the issue died for a short time

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Reconstruction Lets get it over already

• By 1875, Reconstruction had been going on for 9
  years
• People, north and south, were tired of it and
  wanted it to end
• The USSC made decisions that took power from the
  14th and 15th Amendments

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Slaughterhouse Cases, 1873

• The USSC decided that most rights of citizens
  come from their state, not the country,
  therefore, the Court did not protect any denied
  state right

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US v. Cruikshank, 1876

• The USSC decided that the federal government did
  not have the right to punish whites who oppressed
  blacks

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US V. Reese, 1876

• The USSC decided that the 15th Amendment only
  gave the minimum requirements to allow blacks to
  vote, states could use other methods to deny
  suffrage
• Each of these decisions would later be
  overturned, but in the mid 1870s, they were law

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Northern Reaction to Reconstruction

• Northerners were tired of the Negro question
• Many radical republicans, Stevens and Sumner, are
  dead
• Republicans started to back away from
  reconstruction and monitoring Southern actions

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Election of 1876

• Republicans nominated Hayes
• Democrats nominated Tilden
• Because of irregularities, there were questions
  about votes in3 southern states
• Although never proven, it appeared that a deal
  was agreed upon

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Compromise of 1877

• Rutherford B. Hayes was given the presidency
• He immediately began pulling troops from the South

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Redeemers Take Control

• Democrats, called Southern Redeemers, took over
  official positions throughout the South
• Black codes were put in place,
  violence escalated,
  lynchings increased and southerners
  got home rule

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Redeemers Take Control

• The redeemers passed laws that wiped out almost
  every freedom given to freedman
• Blacks were arrested for minor infractions and
  made to labor to pay off their fines

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Was Reconstruction a Failure?

• Historians still disagree over this question
• Yes, blacks given too many freedoms to fast
• No, many institutions established set the basis
  for later programs and slavery was over forever