US History - Chapter 11

Reconstruction

Years of ‘Reconstruction’

1865-1877

Freedmen

people who were formerly slaves

Ten Percent Plan (Lincoln’s plan for reconstruction)

1. a military governor would be assigned to each captured state (the ones that rebelled)

2. ten percent of citizens who voted in the 1860 election had to pledge loyalty to the Union so that the governor could re-establish a civilian government

3. states were encouraged to pass laws recognizing the permanent freedom of slaves and providing for their education

4. provided amnesty (a general pardon) and the restoration of property to those who had supported the Confederacy (does not apply to high-ranking Confederate officers or government officials)

Radical Republicans

• Republicans who opposed Lincoln’s plan for reconstruction and wanted punishment for the South

• mainly led by Thaddeus Stevens (Pennsylvania) and Charles Sumner (Massachusetts)

Wade-Davis Bill

• proposed by the Radical Republicans

• required military governors for each Southern state until over half of all adult white males signed an oath of allegiance

• a state would also have to abolish slavery, give up claims for the federal government to pay its war debts (they were on their own), and prohibit former Confederate political or military leaders from voting or holding office

• only those who swore that hey had never voluntarily bore arms against the US or aided the Confederacy could participate in electing delegates to their state’s constitutional convention

• (passed both houses of Congress but vetoed by Lincoln)

The Three Reconstruction Amendments

• 13th Amendment - Abolished slavery

• 14th Amendment - Freedmen are given full citizenship and full protection of the law

• 15th Amendment - A person’s right to vote cannot be denied on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude

Andrew Johnson’s Plan for Reconstruction

• ten percent oath of allegiance

• amnesty to Southerners who would swear loyalty to the Union except for those whose property was worth more than $20,000

• unpardoned Southerners could not vote, hold office, or reclaim property seized by the government

• each former Confederate state was required to hold a state convention to draft a new state constitution that would revoke its declaration of secession, refuse to pay Confederate debts, and ratify the 13th Amendment

Black codes

laws that severely limited the rights of black Americans and kept them in a condition similar to slavery

Reasons why the Radical Republicans believed that Johnson’s Plan was failing:

1. black Americans should not only be free from slavery but also given equality and the full rights of citizenship (Black codes showed that Congress would have to act)

2. it gave Southern states more political power in the national government as the full population of freedmen was now counted in the census

3. Southern states that reinstituted their governments under the plan were electing former Confederates to office

Freedmen’s Bureau (Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands)

• issued rations of surplus army food and clothing and attempted to locate jobs for the freedmen and prevent employers from exploiting them

• established hospitals and schools for black people of all ages

• helped freedmen negotiate fair work contracts

• established special courts to protect the rights of freedmen

• (was almost vetoed by Johnson, but Congress overrode his veto)

Civil Rights Act of 1866

• granted citizenship to black Americans, giving them “full and equal benefit of all laws”

• intended to protect blacks from the black codes and other discriminating laws

14th Amendment

1. Black Americans were granted full citizenship and equal protection of the law

2. All former slaves were to be counted to determine representation in Congress

3. Former government officials who supported the Confederacy could not hold office. Congress could remove this restriction by a two-thirds vote

4. Neither federal nor state governments could pay any of the Confederate debts or provide any compensation to former slaveholders for the loss of their slaves

Reconstruction Act of 1867

• ordered the army to ensure that the South complied with congressional mandates

• divided the South into 5 military districts, each governed by a Union general

• gave black Americans the right to vote and hold office

• Southern states wanting to reenter the Union had to hold conventions that included both black and white voting delegates

Hiram Revels

the first black man elected to the US Senate (from Mississippi)

“carpetbaggers”

• Northerners who came down to the South to take control of Southern politics

• Some desired to help freed slaves; others wanted to make their fortunes

“scalawags”

• means “scoundrel” or “worthless person”

• Southerners who supported the new Reconstruction governments

• hated by other Southerners

Tenure of Office Act (1867)

it was illegal for the president to remove any appointee who had been approved by the Senate unless the Senate also approved the dismissal

The process of Impeachment

1. the president must face trial in the Senate after being accused of charges

2. two-thirds of the Senate must declare the president guilty for him to be removed from office

Election of 1868

• Ulysses S. Grant (Republican) vs. Horatio Seymour (Democrat)

• U.S. Grant - “Let us have peace”

• Seymour - “This is a White Man’s Country; Let White Men Rule”

• Ulysses S. Grant won

William “Boss” Tweed

• ran the Democratic Tammany Hall

• responsible for the political corruption during the 1860s-1870s

• diverted city funds into his own pockets, increasing NYC’s debt to $136 million from $36 million

• bribed people to vote for Democrats

Thomas Nast

• a cartoonist who opposed Boss Tweed

• a man of firm principles with a fierce sense of right

• defended President Grant, despite the scandals

Enforcement Act of 1870

outlawed using force to prevent people from voting and gave the president power to use federal troops to enforce this legislation

Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871

• imposed heavy penalties against terrorist groups like the Klan

• thousands of Klansmen were arrested and hundreds were convicted for their actions

The Election of 1876

• Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican) vs. Samuel J. Tilden (Democrat)

• No one was sure who would win the election until March, when a compromise was made

• Rutherford B. Hayes won

Compromise of 1877

• Democrats would accept the election of Hayes and Reconstruction Amendments (13, 14, 15 Amendments)

• Republicans would withdraw all remaining federal troops from the South

Sharecropping system

• Sharecroppers farmed small plots owned by planters and paid an annual rent for seed, tools, a mule, a cabin, and the use of the land

• paid rent with a share of the crop they grew, which would typically be one-half or more of the harvest

• landlord provides the loan for sharecroppers to buy provisions for their family

Crop-lien system

people borrowing money pledged future crops as security for the loan

“New South”

an idea that the economy would be based on manufacturing and industry, not just agriculture, but also be built on a view of white superiority and the denial of black political rights

Results of Reconstruction

1. black Americans gained civil rights for the first time, but some states made it more difficult for blacks to vote by requiring poll taxes

2. black Americans received greater opportunities for education, which brought up many colleges

3. a stronger, more centralized federal government emerged

4. white Southerners, who opposed Republicans because of Radical Reconstruction, embraced the Democratic Party (“Solid South”

Redeemers

white Southern Democrats who wanted to save their state governments from “Black Republican” rule

Ku Klux Klan (KKK)

• a secret society that was organized to place black people firmly under white control

• targeted successful black businessmen and landowners and intimidates white people who did business with blacks

Election of 1872

Grant became president again

Panic of ‘73

• six-year depression during Grant’s 2nd term

• stock market fell, and unemployment increased to 14%

General Amnesty Act of 1872

removed the restrictions of Section 3 of the 14th amendment for all but a few hundred former Confederate leaders