Chapter 12

Reconstruction and its Effects

The Politics of Reconstruction

• Reconstruction- term used to describe the period from 1865-1877.

• Lincoln’s Plan for Reconstruction-• Wanted lenient treatment of the south to

integrate them more rapidly.• Since states never left the Union, only

individuals, he as president could pardon them.

• Pardon all confederates except high ranking confederate officials and those accused against POWs. Who would sign an oath of allegiance.

• After ten percent of registered voters signed the oath a former confederate state could form a state government and gain congressional representation.

• Under these terms four states moved toward readmission: Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee and Virginia.

• Radical Republicans led by Thaddeus Stevens (PA) and Charles Sumner (MA) were against it. They said it was too lenient and wanted to punish the south.

• They also wanted to destroy the political power of former slave holders.

• They wanted full citizenship and the right to vote by former slaves.

• July 1864 Congress passes Wade-Davis Bill- said that congress not the president was responsible for Reconstruction. It also said that a majority of voters must sign allegiance oath not 10%.

• Lincoln used the pocket veto to kill the bill.

• Johnson’s Plan: After Lincoln’s assassination President Johnson came up with his own plan.

• He favored harsh punishment so south hated him.• Radical Republicans did not trust him because he

was a southerner- so they hated him.• His plan (implemented during a congressional

recess) said:• Remaining Confederate states would be readmitted

if:– withdraw bill of secession, – swear allegiance to the Union,– annul Confederate war debts and – ratify the 13th amendment which abolished slavery.

• Remaining states, except Texas quickly accepted and quickly organized state governments and representatives to congress.

• Mississippi did not ratify the 13th amendment until much later.

• Despite this by Dec 1865 newly elected legislators showed up in Washington to take their seats in congress.

• Included were:• 58 who had served in the Confederate

congress• 6 had served in Davis’ cabinet• Four had been Confederate generals

• Johnson pardoned them all- angered the radical Republicans and African- Americans felt betrayed.

Presidential Reconstruction comes to a Standstill

• Stevens, leader of the Radical Republicans disputed Johnson’s claim that Reconstruction was at an end.

• Said, south was just as it was before.• Continued the Freedman’s Bureau- begun in the

last year of the war to assist former slaves and poor whites with food and clothing.

• Set up 4,000 schools• 61 industrial institutes and 74 teacher training

centers

• This alienated moderate Republicans who were trying to help Johnson improve his plan.

• Further alienated Radical Republicans who saw him as trying to aid his fellow Southerners in denying African Americans their full rights.

• As a result of this impasse, Reconstruction came to a halt.

Civil Rights Act of 1866• Gave African Americans citizenship and forbade

states from passing discriminitory laws. (Black Codes)

• Black Codes- restored restrictions of slavery could not carry weapon, serve on juries, testify against white, marry white, travel without permits. In some states, even to own land.

• **** Johnson vetoed Freedman’s Bureau Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1866 said: went beyond the intentions of the writers of the Constitution.

Congressional Reconstruction• Moderate Republicans and Radical

Republicans united to override Johnson’s veto.• So the Civil Rights Act and the Freedman’s

Bureau Act passed.• First laws passed over a Presidential veto.• Congress drafted the 14th Amendment as a

constitutional basis for the Civil Rights Act.

14th Amendment• Guaranteed:– Citizens are all persons born or naturalized in the U.S.– Equal protection under the law for all– No state can deprive a person of life, liberty or

property due process of law.– If a state kept males from voting, it would lose

congressional representation in proportion to those kept away from the polls.

– Kept former Confederate leaders from holding Federal or State offices unless approved by a 2/3 majority of Congress.

• Congress adopted the amendment and sent it to the states for ratification.

• Johnson advised southern states to reject the amendment (felt it was too harsh)

• All but Johnson’s Tennessee did reject it and it was not ratified until 1868.

1866 Congressional Elections• Issue: Who should control Reconstruction?

President or Congress?• Johnson and Grant went on speaking tour to gain

support for his plan of reconstruction. Johnson jeered…. Grant cheered.

• 1866 elections: Moderate and Radical Republicans won in a landslide vote over the Democrats. Now they could override any presidential action.*****

Reconstruction Act of 1867• Radicals felt Johnson was not enforcing the

law: He removed military officers who enforced the law.

• Looked for grounds to impeach Johnson• 1867- Tenure of Office Act: said president

could not remove cabinet officer appointed by the current president without consent of the Senate. (designed to protect Sec of War Stanton- friend of Radical Republicans.)

• Johnson felt that this law was unconstitutional.

• So he fired Stanton.• Impeached in the House• Trial in the Senate- Not guilty by one vote

short of the 2/3 majority needed.

Election 1868• Democrats knew that they could not win with

Johnson- so they nominated NY Gov. Horatio Seymour.

• Republicans ran U. S. Grant- Gran wins in a landslide in electoral college, but close in popular vote.

• After Grant’s election_ Radicals feared Southerners would try to limit African American vote so passed the 15th Amendment.

• Also they passed the Enforcement Act of 1870. Gave Fed. Gov’t. right to punish those trying to limit the rights of African Americans.

“Civil War Amendments”

• 13- Freed Slaves• 14- defined citizenship and guaranteed rights• 15- Right to vote for African American males

12/2 Restructuring Society• Conditions in the Post war South• State constitutional conventions met• Southern voters elected Republican

dominated governments• By 1870 all former confederate states had re-

entered the Union.• Even with this, Reconstruction did not end

because Republicans wanted to make economic changes in the south.

• War fought mainly in the south, therefore that is where most of the damage was needed to rebuild the physical south.

• Economic effects:– Property values dropped dramatically.– Confederate bonds were worthless- many lost

everything– Farms were ruined.– Per capita income $18,000 before war to $3000

after the war

• Population devastated: 20% of adult white men died during the war.

• Public Works Programs:– Republican state governments build roads, bridges and

railroads.– Established orphanages, hospitals etc. especially for

mentally ill.• Very expensive- northerners were reluctant to

invest in the South.• So the South raised taxes further delaying the

recovery.

• Scalawags- White southern politicians who joined the Republican Party- Hoped to improve their standing and gain some of the African American vote.

• Carpetbaggers- Northerners who went south.– Most Southern whites believed that carpetbaggers wanted

to exploit the south.– Not all: they included Freedman’s Bureau agents,

ministers, teachers. Some wanted to help rebuild the south.

– Some were indeed dishonest looking to rip people off.

• African Americans as voters:• African Americans made up the largest group

of Southern Republicans• They gained voting rights via the 15th

amendment even though few could read or write.

• As many as 90% of eligible African American voters voted even when harassed and threatened.

Political differences• In Republican Party disunity grows• Few scalawags shared their view on Civil

Rights and African American voting view held by the Republicans

• Many of these scalawags withdrew their support of the Republican Party and returned to the Democrats.

• Republican governors appointed white Democrats of office. This was an effort to get more whites to vote Republican.

• This tactic did not work:• Few whites changed party• African Americans felt betrayed.• Many whites refused to accept the new status of

African Americans and resisted equal rights.• Many southerners abandoned the South- went

to Europe, Mexico and Brazil.

Former Slaves face Challenges• Cautious about testing their newly found

freedoms• Few skills, no land, tools, income• How were they to survive?• Urban black population in the south doubled

between 1865 and 1870

Reunification of families

• Slavery had split up families• Freedman’s Bureau worked toward

reunification• Now African Americans could marry legally

• Education:• 80% of African Americans over 20 were

illiterate• Most sought education now for the first time.

• Institutions of higher learning• Hampton Institute- • Many white responded violently to African

Americans becoming educated.• Despite this by 1877, 600,00 were enrolled in

elementary school.

Churches and volunteer groups• During slavery, slaved attended religious

services with their masters• Resented message to obey masters• Set up their own forms of worship “praise

meetings”• After the war, many founded their own

churches• Usually Baptist or Methodist- similar to praise

meeting

• Churches became principal institutions and center of life for former slaves

• From these churches community leaders emerged

• Also formed thousands of volunteer organizations

• These offered African Americans experience in leadership position that had been denied them as slaves.

• Politics and African Americans• During Reconstruction African American

involvement in politics grew.• Began to hold elected office• These elected officials were a minority except in

South Carolina.• No state elected a black governor

During Reconstruction only 16 of the 125 southerners elected to congress were African Americans. Hiram Revels- first African American Senator.

• Laws against segregation:• By 1866 most states had repealed their “Black

Codes”• Next step- pass laws to desegregate public

transportation. Texas was first• Many of the anti segregation laws were not

enforced.• Separate orphanages, hospitals- separate

facilities

• African Americans were more focused on building up their own communities than worrying about total integration.

Changes in the southern economy

• 40 acres and a mule: Gen Sherman promised freed slaves 40 acres and the use of an Army mule.

• 400,000 acres in SC and GA were given away.• President Johnson ordered that it be returned to the

owners.• To placate the African Americans congress passed

the Homestead act of 1866- gave freed blacks and poor whites land in swamps unsuited for farming (in short, it was no help.)

• Also: they had no tools, seed or horses to successfully farm

• Restoration of Plantations:• Northern textile mill owners wanted

plantations restored to gain large cash crops like cotton.

• Plantation owners said they need complete control over laborers for this to work.

• Labor shortage: killed in war, refused to work in the fields again, some said it was too much like a return to slavery

• Former slaves worked on railroads and in mills.

• Sharecropping- Former slave or poor white would work a portion of land and pay the owner a percentage of the profit from the sale of crops sold.

• Tenant Farming- Former salve or poor white would rent the land from the owner and keep the profit for himself.

• Cotton no longer king.• England had other sources: Egypt and India• Price for cotton dropped over 50%.• Southerners then grew more cotton which drove

down the price even more.• To diversify, in south textile mills were established

and a shift to tobacco growing was renewed.• This raised the average worker’s wage, but it was

still much lower than that of their northern counterparts.

12/3 The Collapse of Reconstruction

• Opposition to reconstruction:– KKK started in Tennessee in 1806– Restore white supremacy– Prevent African Americans from exercising political

rights• Between 1868 and 1871- thousands were

killed- African Americans and whites who helped them– Also: So. Democrats used intimidation and attacked

Republicans- Kept Blacks from the polls- result: 1876 elections Democrats were retaking the south.

Economic Pressure

• Klan also tried to prevent African Americans from making any economic advances.

• Any work other than agriculture- attacked and property destroyed

• If African Americans voted Republican- whites refused to do business with them.

• By 1880- Klan had managed to restore white supremacy in the south

• Fear of economic reprisals kept many African Americans from voting.

Legislative Response• To deal with the intimidation, congress passed

the Enforcement Acts in 1870 and 1871– Provided for federal supervision of elections in the

south– Gave the president the power to use federal

troops in areas where the Klan was active.• Grant did not use the acts.• Supreme Court ruled that they were

unconstitutional

Shifts in Political Power• Enforcement Acts were to shore up the power of

the Republican party• Congress passes laws that limit Republican power

in the south– Amnesty Act- returned the right to vote and to hold

federal and state office to 150,000 former confederates who lost that right under the 14th amendment.

– Freedman’s Bureau was allowed to expire• Result: Southern Democrats regained their lost

power

Scandals and Money Crises Hurt Republicans

• Scandals plague Grant Administration• Fraud and Bribery• Grant was honest, but those under him were

not.• Credit Mobilier- construction company

skimmed off profits from government railroad contracts- Many implicated including the Vice President- Schuyler Colfax

• Republican Unity Shattered• Angered by the corruption- some Republicans left

and formed the “Liberal Republican Party”• Chose Horace Greeley editor of NY Tribune and pre

war abolitionist as their candidate in 1872• He supported Radical Republican causes:• Abolition• 14th and 15th amendments• He broke with Radicals by calling for universal

amnesty and for an end of military rule in the South.

Election 1872

• Grant defeated Greeley by a large margin.• Greeley died a few weeks after the election• Liberal Republicans did weaken the Radical

Republican’s hold over the party.

• Continued Scandals• Whiskey Ring: IRS collectors accepted bribes

from distillers to avoid paying taxes. Grant’s private secretary General Orville Babcock was indicted. Grant helped him escape conviction.

• Sec of War, William Belknap accepted bribes from merchants who wanted to keep their trade concessions in Indian Territory. House impeached Belknap who resigned before trial.

• Sec of Navy accepted bribes from ship builders• Sec on Interior had shady dealings with land

speculators.• As a result of this: Grant did not seek re-

election in 1876

Economic Turmoil• Panic of 1873- economy had been expanding since

the end of the war.• Many borrowed to take advantage of opportunities

in the south.• Philadelphia banker Jay Cooke- borrowed heavily to

build railroad- few investors- went bankrupt. His bank was nations largest dealer in government securities- set off a series of bank and business failures.

• This triggered a five year depression- Three million lost jobs.

• This depression fueled a currency dispute• During the war fed govt began issuing

greenbacks- not backed by gold. Many wanted to withdraw the greenback, but that would have meant too little currency in circulation.

• Southern and westerners wanted the govt to issue more greenbacks. (this would help them pay off their debt with cheap dollars)

• 1875 Specie Resumption Act- Promised to put the country back on the gold standard.

Judicial and Popular support fades

• By 1874- Radical Republicanism is fading• Supreme Court Decisions:• Began to take away some of the protections of

African Americans that congress had granted.

• Slaughterhouse case of 1873- said 14th amendment only granted certain rights to citizens. Most rights were the responsibility of the state.

• US vs. Cruikshank 1876- 14th amendment did not give the government the right to punish individual white who oppressed blacks.

• US vs Reece- ruled in favor of officials who barred African Americans from voting. They said the 15th amendment did not confer the right of suffrage on anyone.

• All of these were later overturned, but the damage was done.

• Northerners grew indifferent to things in the south.

• They had other things to worry about• Desire for reconciliation between sectors of

the country increased

Democrats redeem the south

• Between 1869 and 1875- democrats recaptured the state governments in 8 southern states- known as the ‘redemption’

• Election 1876• Grant did not run for a third term• Republican Rutherford B. Hayes- Ohio• Democrat Samuel J Tilden- NY• Tilden won the popular vote- one vote short

of winning- 20 votes were disputed

• A commission was formed to resolve the disputed votes issue

• Commission was a majority Republican and gave the election to Hayes-

• First time president had lost the popular vote and won the election.

• Deal made- Republicans controlled commission- Democrats controlled the House- they had to approve the result

Compromise of 1877

• Withdrawal of Fed troops from SC and LA• Fed money for railroads in the south from

Texas to the west coast• Hayes appoint a southern conservative to his

cabinet

Home Rule• Series of disputed results ended up with a few

states having two governments.• Troops left and the Democrats took over the

state governments• HOME RULE- THE ABILITY TO RUN STATE

GOVERNMENTS WITHOUT FEDERAL INTERVENTION.

• Now new laws were passed to restrict rights of African Americans, wiped out social programs, slashed taxes and dismantled school.