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Reconstruction (1865-1877)
Process of rebuilding the South after the Civil War.
Generally recognized as the period from 1865-1877 and broken into 3 different phases.
Lincoln’s Plan/Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction/Ten-Percent Plan (1863)
Full presidential pardons would be granted to most southerners who (1) took an oath of allegiance to the U.S. and the U.S. Constitution AND (2) accepted the emancipation of slaves
Pardons all Confederates who swore allegiance to the U.S. unless you harmed POW’s.
State could form a state government and federal election if 10% of the people who voted in 1860 swore an oath to the Constitution.
Wade-Davis Bill (1864)
Radical Reconstruction plan that called for:
a. 50% of the people in a state swear they NEVER supported the CSA and uphold the Constitution.
b. Permitted only non-Confederates to vote for a new state constitution
Forwarded by Republicans in Congress; pocket-vetoed by Lincoln.
Pocket Veto
President doesn’t say no to a law, he just “forgets about it” and it expires.
Pocket veto can only occur at the end of a congressional session. If the President does not sign the bill within 10 days AND Congress adjourns within those 10 days, the bill dies and must be reintroduced when Congress reconvenes.
Lincoln does this with the Wade Davis Bill
13th Amendment (1865)
Bans slavery in the U.S.
Freedmen’s Bureau
a. helped ex-slaves get employment, education, and emergency assistance in the form of clothing and food
b. an extension of the bureau was vetoed by Johnson in 1866; but overridden by Congress
Some historians claim is the first, federal welfare program in U.S. history
General Oliver O. Howard
Head of Freedman’s Bureau
Helped to establish nearly 3,000 schools for freed blacks, including several black colleges
Before federal funding was stopped in 1870, the bureau’s schools taught an estimated 200,000 African Americans how to read
Andrew Johnson
Democrat senator from Tennessee who becomes Lincoln’s 2nd V.P. and successor.
Only Southern senator to stay loyal to the Union
Picked as Lincoln’s running mate in order to encourage pro-Union Democrats to vote for the Union (Republican) party
Johnson HATED the Southern aristocracy; he championed poor white’s cause
Johnson’s Plan
Basically Lincoln’s plan continued but included 2 clauses:
1. disenfranchisement (loss to vote) to all former Confederate leaders and officeholders (and Confederates with more than $20,000 in taxable property)
2. Any Southern state had to ratify the 13th Amendment to come back into the Union.
3. granted many more pardons to former C.S.A. members
Many former Confederate leaders were back in office by the fall of 1865 (ex: Alexander Stephens becomes a U.S. senator from Georgia)
None of new Southern constitutions granted voting rights to blacks
Black Codes
(later known as Jim Crow Laws) — Southern laws meant to restrict freed slaves access to Southern life and services including:
Voting; testifying against whites; sitting on a jury; carrying weapons; working in certain occupations; and traveling with a permit
Southerners argued these codes were necessary to maintain order
This appalled Radical Republicans in Congress; began a rift between Johnson and Congress
Republicans in Congress began to challenge the results of elections in the South
They refuse to seat A. Stephens and other duly elected representatives and senators from ex-Confederate states
Radical Republicans
Championed civil rights for blacks
Most Republicans were moderates, but they shift towards the Radical position in fear that the Democrat party would rise again to become dominant
Thaddeus Stevens
a. Radical Republican leader in the House of Reps who rejected Johnson’s Reconstruction plans and refused to seat any of the new Congress
b. Said Congress was in charge of Reconstruction
c. wanted to revolutionize southern society via extender period of military rule in which blacks would exercise their civil rights, would be educated in schools operated by the federal government, and would receive lands confiscated from the planter elite.
Civil Rights Act of 1866
a. passed to go against the Black Codes
b. granted freedmen all the rights and benefits of U.S. citizens and that federal troops would enforce these rights (helped enforce the Thirteenth Amendment)
c. vetoed by Johnson, but overrode by Congress
14th Amendment (1868)
Provides citizenship, due process, and equal protection under the law to ALL people of the U.S.
Replaced vetoed Civil Rights Act of 1866. Initially rejected by the states in the South partially because of Johnson’s recommendation.
Redefined who is a citizen because of Dred Scott Case.
Reconstruction Act(s)
(aka Radical Reconstruction/Military Reconstruction)
a. All southern states except Tenn. (who had accepted the 14th Amendment) were divided into 5 military districts, each controlled by a general / Union army
b. must ratify the 14th Amendment to gain readmission into the Union
c. Must drafted a new state Constitution that gave African Americans the right to vote to gain readmission into the Union
Vetoed by Johnson, overridden by Congress.
Tenure of Office Act (1867)
President must get 2/3rds of Senate to approve before he removes any member of his Cabinet or a military commander
Johnson vetoed, overridden by Congress.
Johnson fires Secretary of War Stanton to intentionally violate the act = he thought it was unconstitutional
Congress impeaches Johnson, falls one short of removal
7 moderate Republicans join the Democrats against Johnson’s conviction because they thought it was a bad precedent to remove a president for political reasons
Impeach
charging a public official of a crime done while in office
Election of 1868
a. Ulysses S. Grant becomes President in an election where some Southern States not allowed to vote.
b. Republican Grant defeats NY Democrat Horatio Seymour
Won only 300,000 more popular votes than Seymour
Votes of 500,000 black voters gave the win to Grant
15th Amendment (1869)
a. No American could be denied the right to vote because of “race, color, or previous conditions of servitude”
b. Effectively grants voting rights to (only male) African Americans.
Civil Rights Act of 1875
a. called for full equality in public accommodations (such as hotels, RR’s, and theaters), for all races, and prohibited the exclusion of African Americans from juries
b. declared unconstitutional in 1883; Congress would not pass another round of civil rights legislation until the 1960s
poorly enforced; many northern whites grew tired of Reconstruction, and Democrats did not support it
Carpet Baggers
Northerners who went to the South to profit from available land and Reconstruction.
Some were teachers
Scalawags
Southern Republicans who supported Reconstruction/Reconciliation with the North.
Uncle Tom’s / traders to the South
Usually former Whigs who were interested in economic development for their state & peace between the sections
Hiram Revels & Blanche K. Bruce
First 2 African American members of Congress; elected from the South
Revels from Mississippi elected while Radical Reconstruction was going on in the South.
Sharecropping
a. Southern system where freed slaves would work part of the land of a former plantation
b. The owner would provide the tools and the seed and the share croppers would do the work and give between 1/2-2/3rds of what was grown back to the owner
c. many become indebted to landowners or to local merchants
d. evolved into a new form of servitude
By 1880, less than 5% of southern blacks were independent landowners
Redemption (Redeemers)
Refers to the White southerners taking back control of their governments in the South after Congressional Reconstruction ended for good.
3rd phase of Reconstruction
Ku Klux Klan (KKK)
a. founded in 1867 by ex-Confederate general Nathaniel Bedford Forrest
b. Radical Southern group opposed to equal rights
Claimed to be ghosts of past Confederates
The “invisible empire” burned black-owned buildings and flogged and murdered freedmen tot keep them from exercising their voting rights
Force Acts of 1870 & 1871
a. gave President Grant the power to declare martial law in any Southern state with Klan activity & to protect the civil rights of citizens in the South
b. Meant to curtail KKK violence
Amnesty Act of 1872
Allowed Confederate officials back into the governments of the South and allowed them to vote in elections
Election of 1876
a. contested election between Rep. Rutherford B. Hayes (Ohio) v. Dem. Samuel J. Tilden (NY)
b. Tilden wins clear majority and needs 1 electoral vote from the contested states of South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana (military still in these states ONLY)
c. special commission gives ALL votes to Hayes
d. Democrats threaten to filibuster the results and send the election to the House, which they controlled
Compromise of 1877
Hayes would become President on 2 conditions:
1.) immediately end federal support for the Republicans in the South = military leaves
2.) support the building of a transcontinental RR in the South
this ends Reconstruction
Poll Taxes, Literacy Tests, Grandfather Clauses
Methods by which Southern governments from keeping African Americans from voting
Initiated thoroughly after the Compromise of 1877 (because of the contested Election of 1876 between Republican Rutherford B. Hayes (Ohio) and Democrat Samuel Tilden (NY)
