Abraham Lincoln – 1861-1865

• Political Party - Republican

Election of 1860

• Lincoln campaigns on the fact that he will not disturb slavery where it already existed, rather he sought to limit its expansion

• Lincoln wins 4 way race for the presidency, results were sectional

• Between the time of the election in November and the inauguration scheduled for March 1861, 7 states from the Lower South had seceded

• Jefferson Davis, a senator from Mississippi, was named President of the Confederate States of America

• Lincoln claims that states had agreed to the sovereignty of the federal government with their ratification of the Constitution, therefore they were unable to secede

Crittenden Compromise

• Senator John Crittenden of Kentucky– Proposal included a series of constitutional

amendments to guarantee slavery– Sought to prohibit Congress from abolishing the slave

trade in Washington D.C.– Also sought to prohibit Congress from interfering in the

slave trade– Protected slavery south of the Missouri Compromise

line– Lincoln does not support plan and it is ultimately

rejected by a Republican controlled Congress

War

• Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, S.C.• April 12, 1861• Fort Sumter was a federal installation that needed to

be re-supplied• Confederacy attacks on supply ships• Border States – Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and

Missouri• Confederate States – Virginia, North Carolina, South

Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida

War

• Conscription Act of 1863 – mostly volunteer army, act required military service

• Secretary of War – Edwin Stanton• Law allows for draftees to hire substitutes at the

rate of $300• Only 7% of all those drafted actually served as a

result of substitutes, dodgers, and exemptions• New York City – July 1863, riot breaks out where

105 people were killed

War - Economic Issues

• “Greenbacks” – paper currency that was used during the war, “legal tender”

• First income tax passed to finance the war effort

• Resurrected the national bank system destroyed by Andrew Jackson

• War bonds

Dissent on the Home Front

• Peace Democrats oppose Lincoln’s conduct of the war– Opposed banking system, tariffs, draft, martial law,

talk of emancipation– Become known as the “Copperheads”– Lincoln suspends the writ of Habeas Corpus– Between 15,000 and 20,000 citizens, mostly from

border states, were arrested

Issue of Slavery

• Lincoln supported colonization efforts for African-Americans

• Lincoln against the spread of slavery• Promised not to interfere with slavery in order to

maintain the status of the border states• Once war begins, thousands of slaves leave the

South to migrate North• Once the war begins, Lincoln begins to turn towards

eventual emancipation of the slave population

Emancipation Proclamation - 1863

• Lincoln announced to his cabinet on that he would ultimately issue the Emancipation Proclamation

• Shifted the war to a “moral” war on the issue of slavery• With the Union victory at Antietam in September 1862,

Lincoln announces his preliminary proclamation to take effect on January 1, 1863

• “All persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free”

Western Expansion

• Homestead Act of 1862 – any head of family could obtain 160 acres of land for a small fee, provided they remain on the land for 5 years

• Sets the stage for post-Civil War expansion West

• Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862 – federal lands sold to the states for the development of agricultural and mechanical arts colleges

Foreign Policy

• Focus on preventing England and France from becoming involved in the war

• The English had been a major purchaser of Southern cotton

• No European nation formally recognizes the Confederate States of America

Legacy of Lincoln

• Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia on April 9, 1865

• Lincoln shot on April 14, dies on April 15 1865• Preserved the Union• Ended the institution of Slavery• Transformed the power of the presidency

Andrew Johnson – 1865-1869

• Political Party – Democrat

• Lincoln’s Vice President assumes the presidency following Lincoln’s assassination

• One of only two presidents in U.S. history to be impeached

Reconstruction

• Following Lincoln’s death, an increasingly radical group of Republicans emerged in Congress, expecting to dominate Johnson’s presidency

• Questions to consider during Reconstruction– What is the status of the former Confederate states?– What rights will be given to former Confederate

officers?– How will the rights of the newly freed slaves be

protected?

Presidential Reconstruction

• Johnson appointed governors to the South• Called for Southern states to call special conventions to

draft constitutions abolishing slavery and renouncing secession

• Following this, states would be allowed back into the Union

• Called for an oath of loyalty, with the exception of Confederate officers, wealthy, political leaders – these groups had to personally appeal to Johnson

• Southern states begin to pass “Black Codes” designed to keep former slaves in slave-like conditions

Congressional Reconstruction

• When Congress reconvenes in December 1865, they refuse to admit states that had followed Johnson’s plan

• Congress focuses on guaranteeing full social and political equality for former slaves

• Johnson vetoes and extension of the Freedmen’s Bureau

• Johnson vetoes the Civil Rights Act of 1866• Johnson’s determination to block civil rights led to

the passage of the 14th Amendment – civil rights

Congressional Reconstruction

• Reconstruction Act of 1867– Divided the South into 5 military districts– States required to hold new constitutional

conventions using universal male suffrage– State governments must ratify the 14th

amendment– Congress reserves the rights to determine status

of states applying for readmission to the Union

Impeachment

• Tenure of Office Act – March 1867 – prohibited the President from removing certain federal officials without Senatorial approval

• Johnson dismisses Secretary of War Stanton on August 12, 1867, while Congress was out of session

• Congress refused to accept Johnson’s decisions, Johnson dismisses Stanton once again

• February 24, 1868 – the House voted to impeach Johnson• Votes fails by one, Johnson is not removed from office• Demonstrates that Congress does not have the power to

remove the President from office for difference of opinion

Foreign Policy

• Secretary of State – William Seward – Purchase of Alaska “Seward’s Folly”

U.S. Grant – 1869-1877

• Political Party – Republican

• General of the Union Army during the Civil War

Issues of Reconstruction

• Attempts to continue Lincoln’s policy of reconciliation towards the South

• Believed in a federal system• Democrats gain control of many Southern

state governments• Republicans begin to focus on the North

Economic Issues

• Panic of 1873– Nation-wide depression– Economic depression in Europe– Rapid industrial growth– Overexpansion of railroads– Led to failing banks, increased unemployment,

lack of credit

Scandals

• 1872 – Credit Mobilier Scandal– Railroad companies overcharging for government

contracts, making huge profits– When Congress was originally going to investigate

in 1867, railroad companies bribed government officials to avoid an investigation

– Grant removes Schuyler Colfax, his vice president, from the presidential ticket in the 1872 election as a result of his connection to the scandal

Scandals

• Whiskey Ring – 1875– Federal government seizes distilleries in St. Louis, Chicago,

Evansville, and Milwaukee– Attempts by whiskey distillers to cheat the government

out of excise taxes, bribing of local officials– Grant’s personal secretary, Orville Babcock, put on trial,

Grant ultimately pardons– Grant not personally accused in either scandal, however

both scandals put forth the idea that the administration is corrupt

– Grant recommends the first Civil Service Commission

Foreign Policy

• Attempts to acquire Cuba from Spain• Attempt to annex Santo Domingo, now the

Dominican Republic, for naval purposes

Rutherford B. Hayes – 1877-1881

• Political Party – Republican

Election of 1876

• Republican Hayes against Democrat Samuel Tilden of New York

• Disputed results in Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina

• Tilden wins the popular vote, but fails to secure the majority of electoral votes

• Election results determined by Congressional Committee

Compromise of 1877

• Democratic leaders agree to the election of Hayes under the following conditions:– Withdrawal of federal troops from the South– Provide federal funding for internal developments

in the South– Appoint prominent Southerner to Hayes cabinet– Federal government could no longer intervene in

southern affairs– Formally ends Reconstruction

Domestic Affairs

• Great Railroad Strike of 1877 – First major rail strike, sets the stage for later labor movements in the

1880’s and 1890’s– Response to the Panic of 1873 – railroad companies begin cutting

wages and benefits– Blockade of freight trains– Mostly centered in Maryland, West Virginia

• Hayes advocated the use of “hard” money• Attempts at reform of Civil Service• Increased the power of the presidency in terms of political

appointments• Removal of Natives in eastern Oregon and the Dakota territory

Foreign Policy

• Attempts to revise the numbers of Chinese immigrants to the West Coast of the United States, sets the stage for the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882

• Discussions of Latin American canal construction

James Garfield - 1881

• Political Party – Republican

• “Dark Horse” candidate for the presidency

• Assassinated 100 days after inauguration

Domestic Policy

• Assassinated by Charles Guiteau, an emotionally disturbed individual, who killed Garfield because of his refusal to appoint him to political office

• Led to Civil Service reform under Garfield’s successor, Chester A. Arthur

Chester Arthur – 1881-1885

• Political Party - Republican

Domestic Policy

• 1883 – Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act– Established a bi-partisan 5 member examination

board– Banned salary kickbacks– Apportioned federal appointments amongst states– New employees begin at the bottom, work their

way up through merit exams– Exempted vast majority of federal employees and

all municipal and state workers

Domestic Policy

• Focus on tariff reduction• Vetoed a proposed Chinese Exclusion Act,

thought the 20 year ban was excessive• Congress lowered the ban to 10 years, Arthur

signs into law• Extensive renovation of the White House

Foreign Policy

• Construction of a modern Navy• Known as the “Father of the Steel Navy”• Established the Naval War College and the

Office of Naval Intelligence• Signed several treaties with Mexico, Santo

Domingo, and Spain

Grover Cleveland 1885-1889, 1893-1897

• Political Party – Democrat

• Only president in U.S. history to serve 2 non-consecutive terms

Domestic Policy

• Content to leave most matters to Congress• Opposition to Temperance• Opposed integration of races• Limit Chinese Immigration• Assimilation of Native Americans• Supported the Dawes Act of 1887 –

assimilation, division of tribal lands

Dawes Act of 1887

• On February 8, 1887, Congress passed the Dawes Act, named for its author, Senator Henry Dawes of Massachusetts. Also known as the General Allotment Act, the law allowed for the President to break up reservation land, which was held in common by the members of a tribe, into small allotments to be parceled out to individuals. Thus, Native Americans registering on a tribal "roll" were granted allotments of reservation lands.

Domestic Policy

• Panic of 1893– Most severe depression in U.S. history to that

point– 18% unemployment– 1 out of 10 banks closed– Railroad construction decreased by 50%– Coxey’s Army – unemployed march to Washington

D.C., to appeal for public works and relief

Pullman Strike• 1894

– Pullman company produced “sleeping cars” for railroads to use on cross-country travel

– Pullman workers had to live in the company town, shop at the company store– 1893 – depression – factory wages cut, no decrease in rents of prices at stores– May 1894 – 3000 “Wildcat” workers go on strike without permission of the

union– 150,000 railroad workers strike in support of Pullman Car workers, begin to

prevent the movement of railroads throughout the country– Cleveland sends in federal troops to break the strike – July 1894– Some workers return to their jobs, no changes in wages– Others are “blacklisted”– Cleveland’s actions alienated many workers from supporting the Democratic

Party

Pullman Car

Foreign Policy

• Conflict with Germany over the Samoan Islands

• Internal rebellion throughout Hawaii• Interference in Venezuelan border dispute– Conflict with Great Britain

Benjamin Harrison – 1889-1893

• Political Party – Republican

• Only grandson of a president, William Henry Harrison, to serve as President of the United States

Domestic Policy

• McKinley Tariff of 1890 – highest protective tariff in American history

• Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 – spurred production of silver, driving prices down

• Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 – antimonopoly legislation– Weak law passed at the time, strengthened by

later presidents

Sherman Antitrust Act• The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 was the first measure passed by the U.S.

Congress to prohibit trusts. • It was named for Senator John Sherman of Ohio, who was a chairman of the

Senate finance committee and the Secretary of the Treasury under President Hayes. The Sherman Antitrust Act was based on the constitutional power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce.

• The Sherman Act authorized the Federal Government to institute proceedings against trusts in order to dissolve them. Any combination “in the form of trust or otherwise that was in restraint of trade or commerce among the several states, or with foreign nations” was declared illegal.

• Persons forming such combinations were subject to fines of $5,000 and a year in jail. Individuals and companies suffering losses because of trusts were permitted to sue in Federal court for triple damages. The Sherman Act was designed to restore competition but was loosely worded and failed to define such critical terms as “trust,” “combination,” “conspiracy,” and “monopoly.”

Foreign Policy

• Pan-American Conference – 1889• Appointed Frederick Douglass minister to Haiti• Threat of war with Chile• Supported expansion of the Navy• Did not achieve annexation of Hawaii• Launched the nation of the road to empire