Chapter 2 Reconstruction

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Chapter 2 Reconstruction
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Section 1The Problems of Peacemaking
4 Main Parts of Reconstruction
1. Physical rebuilding the structures destroyed
2. Economic helping to pull the poor, freed
slaves and jobless out, rebuilding the economy
3. Government putting people in charge that are
going to change, how should the US treat them
since they left the union
4. Social how to protect and give rights to
freed slaves should laws be passed on the
national level
Amnesty general pardon for past offenses
against a government
Freedmens Bureau An agency set up to feed and
care for needy blacks and whites
1. Main goal was to find former slaves jobs and
protect them from discrimination
2. Provided education, set up 4,000 elementary
schools and colleges like Howard University And
Hampton Institute
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Congressional Actions on the South
Radical Republicans
1. Republicans that believed that the South
should be punished
2. Many in Congress didnt want to give freed
slaves equality or trusted the former
confederates
3. Congress refused to accept President Lincolns
ideas and instead passed the Wade-Davis bill
required that 50 of voters must take an oath of
loyalty before forming a new government in the
South gave the federal courts the power to
enforce emancipation
a. Lincoln used a pocket veto to let the bill die
and it didnt become law
Lincoln assassinated soon afterward
Vice President Andrew Johnson takes over (hes a
democrat, Lincoln was a republican)
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President Johnson
1. Johnson had plans to bring southern states
back into the union
a. Majority of voters had to take a loyalty oath
b. High Confederate offices and Army officers and
people with more than 20,000 in property had to
get a presidential pardon before they could vote
or hold office
c. Wanted to keep wealthy planters from taking
part in reconstructing their state governments
d. Each new government had to outlaw slavery by
ratifying the 13th Amendment to the Constitution
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Section 2 Congress in Control
Many republicans become very upset with Johnsons
policies and his handling of Reconstruction
Black Codes Laws to govern the conduct of blacks
a. While the 13th Amendment freed the slaves, it
didnt make them citizens, give them the right to
vote, or protect their rights or interests
b. Former slaves could marry, hold property and
sue in some courts
c. In many states, freedmen couldnt testify
against whites, serve on juries, vote in
elections or join the militia
d. For many, the black codes were just another
form of slavery
Radical Republicans wanted to make former salves
full and equal citizens, especially giving them
voting rights
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President Johnson VS Congress
Disagreement over Reconstruction
1. Johnson wanted to go back to the union before
the war slavery would be illegal and states
werent allowed to secede
2. Congress wanted to punish the South, make sure
the ruling/elite not regain power or allowed to
find a new way to enslave blacks
3. Johnson vetoes a couple of key Republican bills
a. Extending the life of the Freedmens Bureau
and the Civil Rights Act of 1866
Civil Rights Act of 1866 would give blacks
citizenship and full and equal benefits that
whites got
4. Congress overrides the veto of the Civil
Rights Act
5. Congress proposes the 14th Amendment All
persons born or naturalized in the US are
citizens, gave equal protection of the law and
states couldnt deprive a person of life, libery
or property without due process.
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6. Johnson hates the 14th Amendment, because it
didnt let states manage their own affairs
7. Congress divides the South into 5 military
district, each under control of an army general
with federal troops under his command
8. Congress also establish steps for Southern
states to reenter the Union
a. Constitution conventions with both black and
white delegates former confederate officials
unable to hold office couldnt vote for delegates
or be delegates
b. State constitutions had to include giving
blacks the right to vote
c. State legislatures had to ratify the 14th
Amendment
9. Johnson continued to block Congress programs
a. Johnson is impeach for abusing his powers
b. Johnson is aquitted by 1 vote
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Civil War Hero Ulysses S. Grant is elected
President
1. 15th Amendment proposed by Congress,
prohibited federal and state governments from
denying the right to vote based upon race, color
or previous condition of servitude
a. Ratified in 1870, last of the Reconstruction
Amendments (13th, 14th and 15th)
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Section 3 Governing the South
Replacing Confederate Leaders
1. Carpetbaggers people from the north that
went to the south after the war
a. Thought they could get rich quick
b. Many teachers and ministers
2. Scalawags southerners who participated in
reconstruction governments
New Systems of Labor
1. Contract system

1. Working for a specific time period for a specific
   wage
2. Often abused system, some werent paid at the end
   of the contracted time

2. Sharecropping the right to work a piece of
ground without white supervision for a share of
the profits of the field (money or crops)

1. Led to abuses sharecroppers ending up in debt
   becoming almost slaves again
2. Landowners rented/sold the tools, seeds, etc to
   the sharecroppers, many times at prices they
   couldnt afford

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White Resistance to freed blacks
1. Ku Klux Klan used terror to oppose
Reconstruction and return to white supremacy

1. Formed by Nathan Bedford Forrest
2. Used beatings, tarring and feathering and
   lynching to instill fear in freed blacks
3. Only a minority of whites joined the KKK
4. Came to also hate Catholics and Jewish people

2. The US government passed to Force Acts to
counter-act the terrorist activities of the Klan

1. Made it a federal crime to interfere with voting
   rights
2. Established ways for the federal government to
   supervise elections
3. Gave the president the right to use army troops
   to stop revolts
4. Gave the president the right to suspend the writ
   of habeas corpus

1. The Writ of Habeas Corpus your rights when you
   are arrested
2. The right to remain silent
3. Have an attorney
4. Know the charges
5. Speedy trial

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Section 4 The End of Reconstruction
Ulysses S. Grant Presidency
1. Scandals

1. Credit Mobilier biggest scandal
2. Construction company
3. Used by the Union Pacific Railroad to cheat
   stockholders
4. They overcharged the government to lay tracks
5. Took the excess profits and kept it rather than
   pass it off to investors
6. Covered it up by paying bribes to members of
   Congress
7. Most influential being Schuyler Colfax
8. Speaker of the House and later Vice President
9. Second Term Scandals
10. Whiskey manufacturers and public officials
    cheated the government out of tax payment
11. Bribes were paid to Grants personal secretary to
    try and cover it up
12. Secretary of War was caught taking bribes for the
    sale of Indian trading posts
13. Resigned before he could be convicted

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Rutherford B. Hayes wins the election at the end
of Grants 2nd term

• Compromise of 1877
• a. Because of a dispute in the election between
  Hayes and Tilden, Congress had to decide a winner
  of the election.
• Democrats agreed not to block the election of
  Hayes as long as the last federal troops were
  withdrawn from the South and the southerners were
  allowed to govern their own affairs
• Black voters at the time were associated with the
  Republican party while the Democratic party was
  the choice of Southern whites
• Southern states became known as the Solid South
  a 1 party system of Democratic rule for many years

2. Reconstruction Scars a. While reconstruction
left a bitter taste in many Southerners mouth,
there were some positives 1. Provided free
education and care for the needy 2. Rebuilt
roads, bridges and railroads 3. Lowered taxes
and cut spending b. Still, blacks lost many
freedoms and began a long struggle for equality
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Section 5 Reunion and the New South
New Leaders in the South 1. Redeemers leaders
who came to power in the South at the end of
Reconstruction 2. 2 goals white supremacy and
economic progress a. Control the black vote by
stuffing ballot boxes, throwing away votes that
went against their ideas, and reported totals
that were lies b. Allowed for free development
of industry without government interference
Stirrings of Industry 1. Alabama important
iron and steel center 2. Textile mills with
up-to-date machinery elsewhere 3. Railroad
growth in Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas 4.
Northern investment in Southern industries
(again, the hope to make money) 5. For the
workers, they received little pay and had a hard
time staying out of debt
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Southern Agriculture 1. Still a bit part of the
Southern economy 2. Crop-lien system Merchants
had a claim on a farmers crop before it was
harvested a. Because of poverty and
debts b. Farmers received loans at high rates
for equipment, seed and supplies c. Because
they couldnt repay the loan, the merchant could
take the crops as payment 3. Cash crops
crops that could be sold quickly and for lots of
money a. Relying on one crop could really hurt
farmers b. Could be sharp price changes 4.
Cotton was still king a. New farming methods
and machinery increased production b. More
fields opened for cotton farming c. Long
growing season
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Loss of Black Rights 1. Political rights a.
Used to control black voters, and poor
whites b. Literacy tests voter had to be
able to read and explain a passage a. Usually
a difficult passage b. Anyone that failed
couldnt vote c. Poll taxes voters were
charged to vote a. Most blacks were poor and
could pay, thus not vote b. Same for poor
whites d. Grandfather Clause anyone could
vote, without taking a test or paying to vote,
if they could vote on or before January 1, 1867,
or whose father or grandfather could vote a.
This applied to most whites but not blacks
Rise of Jim Crow 1. Jim Crow Laws laws passed
in the south that targeted blacks a. Segregated
blacks from whites in restaurants, hotels,
theaters and public places b. Also, applied
to public transportation.
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c. Detailed how blacks must live apart from
whites a. Children had to attend different
schools and used different textbooks d.
Strictly enforced in the South a. Fined many
people, threw a lot in jail and sometimes even
lynched them b. Though not often, this did
happen in the North e. Blacks tried to use the
Federal Courts and the US Supreme Court to
challenge the laws a. The challenges
failed b. Plessy v. Ferguson the US Supreme
Court ruled that segregation wasnt
necessarily discrimination as long as separate
accommodations were made. This is know as
separate but equal f. These would stay in
place for another 50 years.