Reconstruction 1865-1877

Reconstruction

·          1865-1877

·          Rebuilding social, political, and economic structures of the South.

·          Despised by most southerners

Lincoln’s 10% Plan

·          Plan to unify the U.S. after war

·          Must ratify the 13^th Amendment to rejoin the U.S.

·          10% oath of loyalty

·          Was never implemented

Andrew Johnson

• Who: 17th President, Southern Democrat, Lincoln's successor.

• What: Clashed with Congress over Reconstruction after the Civil War.

• When: 1865-1869 (Presidential Reconstruction era).

• Where: United States, focused on the defeated Confederacy.

• Why: His leniency toward the South and racism undermined racial equality, leading to his impeachment and the rise of Radical Reconstruction.

Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan

* Who: President Andrew Johnson, white Southerners seeking pardons, freed African Americans.

* What: A lenient, rapid plan for readmitting Southern states. It required loyalty oaths and ratification of the 13th Amendment, but allowed states to govern themselves, leading to "Black Codes."

* When: 1865-1867, immediately after Lincoln's assassination.

* Where: The former Confederate states.

* Why: Its failure to protect freedmen's rights and empower ex-Confederates angered Congress, leading to the takeover of Reconstruction by Radical Republicans.

Black Codes

• Who: Southern state legislatures, freed African Americans.

• What: Laws designed to restrict the freedom of African Americans and force them into a labor system similar to slavery.

• When: 1865-1866, immediately after the Civil War.

• Where: Former Confederate states.

• Why: They demonstrated the South's defiance and the failure of Johnson's Reconstruction, convincing Congress that federal intervention was necessary.

Radical Republicans

• Who: A faction in Congress led by Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner.

• What: Republicans who wanted to aggressively reform the South, grant full citizenship and civil rights to freedmen, and punish ex-Confederates.

• When: 1860s-1870s, during and after the Civil War.

• Where: Based in Congress (Washington, D.C.), focused on the South.

• Why: They drove the passage of the 14th and 15th Amendments, the Reconstruction Acts, and the impeachment of Andrew Johnson, defining the most transformative phase of Reconstruction.

Thaddeus Stevens

• Who: A powerful Radical Republican Congressman from Pennsylvania.

• What: A fierce advocate for racial equality and harsh punishment of the ex-Confederate South during Reconstruction.

• When: 1792-1868 (prominent during Civil War and Reconstruction).

• Where: U.S. House of Representatives.

• Why: He was the leading architect of Radical Reconstruction, pushed for land redistribution ("40 acres and a mule"), and was a key manager of Andrew Johnson's impeachment.

Wade-Davis Bill

• Who: Sponsored by Radical Republicans Senator Benjamin Wade and Representative Henry Winter Davis.

• What: A Congressional bill that required a majority of white male Southerners to swear an "Ironclad Oath" of past loyalty for a state to be readmitted.

• When: 1864, during the Civil War.

• Where: Proposed in Congress for the Reconstruction of the Confederate states.

• Why: It represented Congress's stricter alternative to Lincoln's lenient "10% Plan," showing the early conflict over Reconstruction policy and leading to Lincoln's "pocket veto."

Freedmen’s Burea

• Who: Created by Congress, led by Union General Oliver O. Howard, aiding freed slaves and poor whites.

• What: A federal agency providing food, medical care, schooling, and help with labor contracts.

• When: 1865-1872.

• Where: The defeated Confederate states and border states.

• Why: It was the first major federal relief agency and established the precedent for public education in the South, but was underfunded and dismantled too early.

Amnesty act of 1872

• Who: U.S. Congress, former Confederates barred from office under the 14th Amendment.

• What: A law that pardoned most former Confederates and restored their right to vote and hold office.

• When: 1872.

• Where: Applied nationally, but effect was strongest in the Southern states.

• Why: It significantly weakened Radical Reconstruction by returning political power to pre-war white Southern elites, aiding the Democratic Party's "Redemption."

Civil Rights Amendments

• Who: U.S. Congress (Radical Republicans), ratified by the states, affected freed slaves and all citizens.

• What: The 13th (abolished slavery), 14th (granted citizenship and equal protection), and 15th (granted voting rights regardless of race) Amendments.

• When: Ratified in 1865, 1868, and 1870 respectively.

• Where: United States Constitution.

• Why: They legally abolished slavery, defined citizenship, and aimed to protect the rights of freedmen, forming the constitutional basis for civil rights and equality.

13th Amendment

Abolishment of slavery

14th Amendment

granted citizenship and equal protection to African Americans

15th Amendment

Granted voting rights to African American men

Military Reconstruction Act

• Who: Passed by Radical Republicans in Congress over President Johnson's veto.

• What: Divided the South into 5 military districts, required new state constitutions guaranteeing black male suffrage, and required ratification of the 14th Amendment for readmission.

• When: 1867.

• Where: The 10 "unreconstructed" former Confederate states (excluded TN).

• Why: It began Radical Reconstruction, dismantled the Johnson-era state governments, and was the most direct federal intervention to enforce political rights for freedmen.

Hiram Revels

First African American to serve in the US Congress
1870-1871
His election symbolized the dramatic potential of Radical Reconstruction, representing a direct political result of the 15th Amendment and black suffrage.

Scalawags

• Who: Southern white Republicans during Reconstruction.

• What: A derogatory term for Southerners who supported the Union and cooperated with Northern Republicans and freedmen.

• When: Reconstruction Era (roughly 1865-1877).

• Where: The former Confederate states.

• Why: They were crucial to the coalition that briefly gave the Republican Party power in the South, but were seen as traitors by white Southern Democrats.

Carpet Baggers

• Who: Northerners who moved to the South after the Civil War.

• What: A derogatory term implying they carried all their belongings in cheap carpetbags and came to profit from the South's misery or gain political power.

• When: Reconstruction Era (roughly 1865-1877).

• Where: The former Confederate states.

• Why: They were a key part of the Southern Republican coalition (with freedmen and scalawags), but were resented as opportunistic outsiders by white Southern Democrats.

share croppers

• Who: Landless farmers (mostly freedmen and poor whites).

• What: A system where families farmed a plot of land in exchange for a share of the crop, often becoming trapped in debt to the landowner.

• When: Predominantly from the late 1860s through the early 20th century.

• Where: Primarily the agricultural South.

• Why: It replaced slavery with an exploitative economic system that kept laborers in poverty and debt, limiting the economic independence promised by emancipation.

tenant farmers

• Who: Farmers who rented land from a landowner for cash.

• What: A system where farmers paid a fixed cash rent to use land, retaining more control and a larger share of their crop than sharecroppers.

• When: Post-Civil War era onward.

• Where: Primarily the agricultural South and Midwest.

• Why: Though slightly more independent than sharecroppers, most tenant farmers still lived in poverty and economic insecurity, showing the limited economic progress for freedmen and poor whites after slavery.

Peonage System

• Who: Landowners/employers and laborers (often freedmen).

• What: A coercive labor system where a debtor was forced to work for a creditor to pay off a debt, effectively a form of debt slavery.

• When: Emerged after the Civil War, persisted into the 20th century.

• Where: Primarily the Southern United States.

• Why: It was a legal loophole used to circumvent the 13th Amendment and trap African Americans in a cycle of involuntary servitude akin to slavery.

Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

• Who: A secret terrorist organization of white supremacists, often ex-Confederates.

• What: Used violence, intimidation, and murder to oppose Reconstruction and restore white Democratic rule in the South.

• When: First founded in 1865, most active during Radical Reconstruction (1867-1877).

• Where: The former Confederate states.

• Why: Their campaign of terror successfully suppressed Black political and economic power, directly contributing to the end of Reconstruction and the establishment of Jim Crow segregation.

Knights of the White Camelia

• Who: A white supremacist terrorist organization, similar to the KKK.

• What: A secret society that used violence and intimidation against freedmen and their white Republican allies to restore white Democratic political control.

• When: Founded in 1867, active during Reconstruction.

• Where: Primarily the Southern United States, strongest in Louisiana and Texas.

• Why: Like the KKK, it was part of a broader campaign of paramilitary terror that successfully undermined Reconstruction and black civil rights.

Force Acts of 1870-1871

• Who: Passed by the U.S. Congress (Republican majority).

• What: Federal laws designed to combat KKK terrorism by protecting Black citizens' right to vote, hold office, and serve on juries.

• When: 1870 and 1871.

• Where: Targeted primarily the Southern states.

• Why: They authorized President Grant to use military force to suppress the Klan, leading to thousands of arrests and temporarily curbing Klan violence, representing the peak of federal commitment to protecting Reconstruction.

Tenure of Office Acts

• Who: Passed by Radical Republicans to limit President Andrew Johnson.

• What: A law forbidding the president from removing certain officeholders, including Cabinet members, without Senate approval.

• When: 1867.

• Where: U.S. federal government.

• Why: It was a deliberate trap set by Congress to limit Johnson's power and protect Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. Johnson's violation of the act was the primary charge used to impeach him.

Compromise of 1877

• Who: Republican Rutherford B. Hayes, Southern Democrats, a special electoral commission.

• What: An informal, unwritten deal to resolve the disputed 1876 presidential election.

• When: Finalized in early 1877.

• Where: United States, with the key effect in the South.

• Why: Hayes became president in exchange for withdrawing the last federal troops from the South, effectively ending Reconstruction and allowing "Redemption" (Democratic white supremacist rule) to triumph.

Poll Tax

• Who: Imposed by Southern state governments, affected poor voters (Black and white).

• What: A fee required to vote, used alongside literacy tests and grandfather clauses.

• When: Late 19th century, after Reconstruction, until 1964.

• Where: Primarily Southern states.

• Why: A key Jim Crow tool to disenfranchise African American voters (and many poor whites) by creating an economic barrier to voting.

Literacy Test

• Who: Administered by Southern state registrars to prospective voters.

• What: A reading and interpretation test used to qualify voters, often applied unfairly.

• When: Late 19th century to the mid-1960s.

• Where: Primarily Southern states.

• Why: A primary Jim Crow tool to disenfranchise African Americans, as officials could give impossible tests to Black applicants while waiving them for whites via grandfather clauses.

Grandfather Clause

• Who: Southern state legislators and white voters.

• What: A legal loophole that exempted men from voting restrictions (literacy tests, poll taxes) if their ancestors could vote before 1867.

• When: Enacted in the 1890s and early 1900s; struck down in 1915.

• Where: Southern states.

• Why: It effectively allowed poor and illiterate whites to vote while systematically excluding nearly all African Americans, solidifying white Democratic political power after Reconstruction.

Jim Crow Laws

• Who: Enacted by Southern (and some border) state and local governments.

• What: State and local statutes that legalized racial segregation in all public facilities.

• When: Enforced primarily from the 1890s to the 1960s.

• Where: Across the United States, but most pervasive and rigid in the South.

• Why: They created a permanent system of "separate but equal" racial caste, disenfranchised Black citizens, and institutionalized economic and social inequality for nearly a century.

Civil Rights cases of 1883

• Who: U.S. Supreme Court (8-1 decision).

• What: A group of cases where the Court ruled the Civil Rights Act of 1875 (which banned discrimination in public accommodations) was unconstitutional.

• When: 1883.

• Where: Supreme Court decision applied nationally.

• Why: It declared the 14th Amendment only prohibited discrimination by states, not by private individuals or businesses, gutting federal power to protect civil rights and opening the door for Jim Crow segregation laws.

Plessy V. Ferguson

• Who: Homer Plessy (a Black man) vs. the state of Louisiana; Supreme Court Justice Henry Billings Brown wrote the majority opinion.

• What: Landmark Supreme Court case that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the "separate but equal" doctrine.

• When: 1896.

• Where: Supreme Court decision applied nationally; originated in Louisiana.

• Why: It provided the legal foundation for Jim Crow segregation for over 50 years, until it was overturned by Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.