RECONSTRUCTION

1865-1877

Abraham Lincoln John Wilkes Booth

Ford’s Theater, Washington, DC

Lewis Payne, Booth’sassociate

The hanging ofthe Lincoln conspirators

The South After the War• Was poorer than North before the War

• Land was physically destroyed by the War

• Land and farms

• Railroads, bridges, other infrastructure

• Population & work capacity lost

• Slaves were freed

• 10% of all males were dead

• Hundreds of thousands more injured

Richmond, Virginia—1865

“Reconstruct” What?

• The unified government of the nation

• The psychological notion of one, unified people

• The land and infrastructure of the South

Questions to Be Resolved

• What must Southern states do to be readmitted?

• Reparations?

• Can ex-rebels vote? Or hold office?

• War crimes or treason trials?

• Who rebuilds the South?

• Is slavery over?

• Equal rights for blacks?

• Economic help for blacks?

• Who supervises Reconstruction?

• The Lincoln Plan

• The Johnson Plan

• The “Radical Republican” Plan

• December of 1863

• During middle of War

• An attempt to get the South to surrender under easy terms

• Slavery to end

• 10% of whites in a state must sign a loyalty oath

• Otherwise no restrictions upon former rebels

• No specific voting or civil rights for freed slaves

• But came to consider some rights and protections

• No economic help for former slaves

• The Freedman’s Bureau

• Modest health & education help for former slaves

WADE-DAVIS BILL:

•Harsher Reconstruction Program

• Demanded 50% of Southern whites sign a loyalty oath

• Equal rights & voting for blacks

• Limited participation of ex-rebels

•Vetoed by Lincoln

• Said he didn’t want to restrict himself to one particular path

After Lincoln’s assassinationin April of 1865, Vice-

President Andrew Johnson became President

• Only Southern Senator to stay with the Union

• Rewarded with Vice-Presidency

• From a very poor background

• Racist, anti-Black, no sympathy for slaves

• But hated the rich plantation owners even more

a general pardon, especially for those who have committed political crimes

amnesty

• The end of slavery

• A general amnesty for all Southerners

• A few very wealthy aristocrats would have to ask for a personal pardon from Johnson

• Absolutely no protection of black civil or voting rights

• “Old South” allowed to pretty much return to what it was

• Black Codes

• No testifying against whites or serving on juries

• No voting

• Any white can arrest any black

• No travel without a pass

• Blacks must sign a one year labor contract, wages payable at the end

• Punishment was usually unpaid, forced labor on a plantation

IN OTHER WORDS…IN OTHER WORDS…

BLACK CODES

MEANT

VIRTUAL SLAVERY

• Presidential Reconstruction (1865-1867)

• Dominated by President Johnson

• A return to the Old South

• No improvement for freed blacks

• Radical Reconstruction (1867-1877)

• Radical Republicans had enough members of Congress to override Johnson’s vetoes

• Major changes in the South with blacks voting, and civil rights

“King Andrew” Johnson Radical Republicans

• Extension of Freedmen’s Bureau

• Civil Rights Act of 1866

• Equal rights to all citizens

• Before the 14th Amendment

• Reconstruction Acts of 1867

• Divided the South into 5 military districts

• To enforce the new laws

• New state constitutions had to include equal civil and voting rights

• A law needs a majority vote of House & Senate and

• The president’s signature

• If president vetoes, Senate can enact law with a 2/3 majority

• Next Congress can overturn law in same way

• Requires 2/3 vote of House and Senate

• AND approval of ¾ of all states

• Only happened 27 times in 220 years

• Only one amendment has been repealed

Laws Amendments

• 13th (1865)

• Banned slavery forever

• 14th (1868)

• Gave equal civil rights to all

• 15th (1870)

• Guaranteed all male citizens the right to vote, regardless of color

• Different views of Reconstruction

• Johnson vetoed most Reconstruction bills

• Radical Republicans had a 2/3 majority in the Senate as of 1867

• Allowed them to override Johnson’s vetoes

• Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act in 1867

• The President cannot fire a cabinet member without Congress’ approval

• CLEARLY an unconstitutional law

• Johnson violated the law by firing his Secretary of War

• Congress impeaches President Johnson

impeach

to accuse an official of an offense: to charge a serving government official with serious

misconduct while in officeNOTE: to impeach means only to accuse. After

the Congress votes to impeach a president,

the Senate must then vote to convict him, orhe remains in office.

• Johnson is impeached (formally accused) by the House of Representatives for violating the Tenure of Office Act

• The Senate held a trial to decide whether or not to remove Johnson

• A 2/3 vote is needed for removal

• Senate votes to convict him by only 35-19

• NOT a 2/3 majority

• Johnson remains in office

far-reaching, dramatic, extreme

radical

Rep. Thaddeus Stevens of PA.:

abolitionist who married a black

woman and was buried in an integrated cemetery

Sen. Charles Sumner of MA:Longtime abolitionist

senatorWho survived a Senate

floor Beating in 1856

• End of slavery

• 50% of a state’s voters must sign a loyalty oath for that state to be readmitted

• Confederate leaders and army officers denied the right to vote or hold office

• Equal civil and voting rights for freedmen

• Division of large plantations among the freed slaves

• Sincere belief in the equality of all people

• Thaddeus Stevens as an example

• Desire to change Southern Society

• Response to the Black Codes

• Revenge upon the South

• Political votes

• If blacks vote, they vote REPUBLICAN

Ulysses S. Grant & Reconstruction

Ulysses S. Grant, 1869-1877

• 15th Amendment

• Equal voting rights for all men

• Enforcement Acts of 1870 & 1871

• Used federal troops to break up the Ku Klux Klan

• “Carpetbaggers”

• Southern whites’ name for Northerners who came South during Reconstruction

• “Scalawags”

• Southern whites’ name for Southerners who supported Reconstruction changes

• African-Americans

• Nearly all voted Republican

Major African-American political figures

• Widespread black voting

• 14 black members of House of Reps.

• 2 black Senators

• Hiram Revels & Blanche K. Bruce

• Thousands of black state and local officials

• Southern blacks played the pivotal role in Grant’s election in 1868

• Northerners grew tired of the issue

• Lack of genuine concern for blacks

• Impact of white violence in the South

• KKK, etc.

• $$$

• Especially after a depression hit in 1873

• Election of 1876

•Contested presidential election

•Democrats let Republican win, if Republicans promised to withdraw all Northern troops

Why did Reconstruction (1865-1877)End?

• Founded in 1867 by Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forest

• Used violence and intimidation to prevent the Reconstruction laws from being followed

• Destroyed by Grant’s use of US troops in 1871

• But other groups remained

• Corruption

• This was a corrupt era in the whole country

• No economic reform for freed slaves

• Sharecropping kept them close to slavery

• 13th, 14th, 15th Amendments ignored after 1877

• Jim Crow Laws reinstated “virtual slavery”

• Blacks in South did not vote or have equal rights until 1960’s

• White violence reinstated white control

• Passage of Amendments

• Perhaps the only time this could have happened

• Creation of South’s 1st public school system

• Set up hospitals, orphanages, etc.

• Expanded right to vote

• For blacks AND poor whites

• Some rebuilding of the South

• Successfully reunited the country

• Most agree that Grant was personally honest

• However, he hired poorly, trusted foolishly, administered badly

• Credit Mobilier Scandal

• Railroad company was overcharging the US government and giving bribes to govt. officials

• Whiskey Ring Scandal

• Govt officials taking bribes to assist whiskey sellers break the law

• Overall, a very corrupt period

• Not just Grant Administration