Reconstruction and the Failure of Reconstruction

How was the South affected by the war?

It was devastated after the war--lost 1/3 of its horses, cattle and hogs.

Roads, bridges, railroad tracks and fencing were destroyed

What did people die from after the war?

Chronic food storages, particularly for African Americans, left many in poor health and susceptible to epidemic diseases

What did Abraham Lincoln believe?

That the Southern states could not constitutionally leave the Union and they were a disloyal minority (rebelling)

Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction

1863

full presidential pardons wld be granted to most Confederates if they took an allegiance to the Union + U.S. Constitution and accepted emancipation of slaves

state gov’t cld be reestablished and accepted as legitimate by U.S. pres. as soon as 10% of the voters in that state took the loyalty oath

What was Lincoln’s 10% Plan designed to do?

Shorten the war and give added weight to the Emancipation Proclamation

Why didn’t Republicans like the 10% plan?

Because it wld allow supposedly reconstructed state gov’ts to be dominated by disloyal secessionists

Wade-Davis Bill

1864

Required 50% of voters of a state to take a loyalty oath and permitted only non-Confederates to vote for a new state constitution

Was pocket-vetoed by Lincoln

Freedmen’s Bureau

March 1865, created by Congress

acted as a welfare agency-- provided food, shelter and medical aid for destitute Black and White Americans

had authority to resettle freedpeople on confiscated farmlands in the South but frustrated once Johnson gave pardoned the owners and land was restored

greatest success: education, established nearly 3,000 schools and taught around 200,000 African Americans how to read

Who was Andrew Johnson?

Only senator from Confederate state who remained loyal to Union, later appointed to TN governor

Southern Democrat but picked by Republicans in order to encourage pro-Union Democrats to vote for Republicans

Why was Johnson initially welcomed in Congress?

b/c of his animosity towards Southern aristocrats who led the Confederacy

What was Johnson’s Reconstruction plans?

May 1865

Loss of right to vote and hold office for all former leaders and officeholders of the Confederacy + Confederates with more than $20,000 in taxable property

What was the escape clause for wealthy planters?

President could grant individual pardons to disloyal southerners

as a result, many former Confederate leaders were back in office by fall 1865

What 2 bills did Johnson veto that alienated even moderate Republicans?

the Freedmen’s Bureau bill that increased services and protection'

the civil rights bill that nullified Black Codes and guaranteed full citizenship and equal rights to African American

What sides were the Republicans divided into and what were they concerned about?

Moderates-- concerned with economic gains for White middle class

Radicals-- championed civil rights for Black citizens

Who were the leading Radical Republicans in Congress?

Senate: Charles Sumner of MA and Benjamin Wade of OH

Congress: Thaddeus Stevens of PA

13th Amendment

December 1865

abolished slavery officially

freed 4 million people (3.5m in Confederate and 500k in border states)

Civil Rights Act of 1866

pronounced all African Americans were U.S. citizens (nullified Drew Scott decision) and attempted to provide legal shield against Black Codes

What did the Civil Rights Act of 1866 lead to?

14th Amendment because Republicans were afraid Democrats would repeal if they won control

14th Amendment

ratified 1868

declared all persons born/naturalized in U.S. were citizens

obligated states to respect rights of U.S. citizens and provide them with “equal protection of the laws” and “due process of law”

disqualified former Confederate political leaders from holding state/federal office

repudiated debts of defeated Confederate gov’ts

penalized state if it kept anyone from voting

What was the punishment if a state kept anyone from voting?

Reduced proportional representation in Congress and Electoral College

Report of the Joint Committee

June 1866

declared reorganized Confederate states were not entitled to representation in Congress--elected South senators and representatives sldn’t be permitted to take their seats

Congress, not pres., had authority to determine the conditions for allowing reconstructed state back into the Union

What did the Joint Committee Report do?

rejected Presidential Plan of Reconstruction

What did Johnson do in the election of 1866?

not able to work w/ Congress-- attacked opponents

speeches appealed to racial prejudices of White citizens, argued that equal rights for Black Americans would = “Africanized” society

How did Republicans counterattack in the election of 1866?

accused JOhnson of being drunkard and traitor

appealed to anti-Southern prejudices by “waving the bloody shirt” which remained Northern voters of hardships of war

branded Democrats as party of rebellion and treason

What was the election results of election of 1866?

Republicans had more than 2/3 majority in the House and Senate

Reconstruction Acts of 1867

placed South under military occupation

divided former Confederate states into 5 military districts each under control of Union army (under military general as military governor)

increased requirements for gaining readmission to the Union: had to ratify the 14th Amendment and place guarantees in its constitution to grant right to vote to all adult males

Tenure of Office Act

over Johnson’s veto

prohibited president from removing federal official or military commander w/out Senate approval

How did Johnson get impeached? What were the results?

still removed Edwin Stanton, Secretary of War, without Senate approval

barely acquitted-- one vote short of 2/3 vote majority needed to remove him

Who did Democrats nominate for the election of 1868? Republicans?

Democrats- Horatio Seymour

Republicans- General Ulysses S. Grant

What made moderate Republicans realize they need to protect voting rights of freedmen?

Grant only won 300k more popular votes and the 500k votes of Black people gave its margin of victory

led to 15th Amendment

15th Amendment

ratified 1870

prohibited any state from denying/abridging a citizen’s vote on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude

Civil Rights Act of 1875

guaranteed equal accommodations in public places and prohibited from excluding African Americans from juries

poorly enforced

What legislature did freedmen control majority in one of the houses?

SC, the only one

What were scalawags? Carpetbaggers?

Scalawags- Southern Republicans, “scoundrels”

Carpetbaggers- Northern Republicans who went down to the South

Who were African American legislators?

were mostly educated property holders + moderate on most issues

Republicans sent Blanche K. Bruce and Hiram Revels to Senate and more than a dozen African Americans to the House

Revels elected in 1870- took seat of Jefferson Davis- caused bitter resentment among ex-Confederates

How did freedpeople view emancipation?

viewed it as opportunity to achieve independence from white control

What did the drive for autonomy from freedpeople lead to? Drive for education?

autonomy- led to the establishment of churches and Black ministers emerged as leaders

education- establishment of independent schools and paid African Americans to be their teachers,

What was the scheme in 1869?

Jay Gould and James Fisk obtained help of President Grant’s BIL to corner gold market

Treasury Department broke the scheme but Gould make huge profit

What was the Credit Mobilier affair?

insiders gave stock to influential members of Congress to avoid investigation of profits they were making (348%) from gov’t subsidies for building transcon. railroad

What was the Whiskey Ring?

fed. revenue agents conspired w/ liquor industry to defraud gov’t millions in taxes

What was the Tweed scheme?

William Tweed, boss of local Democratic Party stole $200m from NY’s taxpayers before NYT and Thomas Nast exposed Tweed and brought his arrest

Who were the Liberal Republicans?

scandals from Grant administration caused Republican party to break-- Liberal Republicans, and selected Horace Greeley (same as Democrats)

civil-service reform, end to railraod subsidies, withdrawal of troops from South, reduced tariffs, freer trade

How did Republicans win the election of 1872?

by “waving the bloody shirt” again

What caused the Panic of 1873?

Overspeculation by financiers and overbuilding by industry and railroads which led to widespread business failures and depression

What was the result of The Panic of 1873?

Grant adopted ideas of Eastern bankers and creditors which set new trend for Republicans

Black Southerners = biggest losers b/c this drew away attention from what was happening in the South

How did women’s roles change during the Civil War?

they took the jobs of men in factories and fields

operated farms and plantations

played critical role as military nurses and volunteers in soldiers’ aid societies

How did this role change contribute to women’s suffrage movement?

boosted demands for equal voting rights for women

What did Lincoln’s last speech imply?

that he would have gone towards a more progressive, radical Republican position

What were the accomplishments of Republican legislatures?

provided universal male suffrage, property rights for women, debt relief, modern penal codes

promoted building of railroads, roads, bridges + other internal improvements

established hospitals, asylums, homes for disabled

provided state-supported public-school systems

paid for all of this by overhauling the tax system + selling bonds

What were the failures of Republican legislatures?

Republican politicians took advantage of their power

corruption however occurred throughout the whole country

Who were Southern conservatives? What did they do with State governments?

redeemers

took control of state governments one by one, finished in 1877

political program: states’ rights, reduced taxes, spending social programs, White seupremacy

Who were the Ku Klux Klan?

secret societies that was formed in 1867 by former Confederate general, Nathaniel Bedford Forrest

burned Black-owned buildings, flogged and murdered several thousand freedment to prevent them from voting

What were the Force Acts of 1870 and 1871?

in response to Ku Klux Klans

gave federal authorities the power to stop the Ku Klux Klan violence and to protect the civil rights of civilians

What were Black Codes?

laws that restricted the rights and movements of African Americans

What are examples of Black Codes?

African Americans could not rent land or borrow money to buy land

could not testify against Whites in court

had to sign work agreements or they cld be arrested for vagrancy

Why was it dangerous for African Americans to commit any type of crime?

because the 13th Amendment allowed slavery if it was a punishment, and so even a person w/ a minor or made-up offense cld be rented from gov’t by landowner/business and used as slave labor

How did sharecropping happening?

South’s agriculture economy = in shambles after war b/c landowners lost compulsory labor force

at first, tried to force freedpeople into signing contracts to work fields but the contracts resembled slavery

Freedpeople insisted on autonomy + w/ other changes in postwar economy, led to use of sharecropping

What was sharecropping?

The landlord provided seed + farm supplies in return for a share of the harvest

What were the consequences of sharecropping?

freedpeople remained dependent on landowners + were in debt to local merchants

Southern economy cld never grow

Amnesty Act of 1872

1872

removed last restrictions on ex-Confederates except for top leaders

political consequence= allowed Southern conservatives to vote for Democrats + take control of staet governments

Election of 1876

Democrats returned to power in all former Confederate states

Republicans = Rutherford B. Hayes

Democrats= Samuel J. Tilden

Democrats won clear majority but in 3 Southern states, votes were contested and commission gave all the votes to Hayes

Compromise of 1877

Democrats wld allow Hayes to be president if he ended federal support for Republicans in the South and support the building of Southern transcontinental railroad

\-- after election, Hayes fulfilled his end of the dael and removed federal military

What was the consequence of removing federal military troops?

Freedpeople left vulnerable and their rights could be easily undermined