reconstruction

Post–Civil War Context

• South devastated: cities burned, farms destroyed, railroads ruined, property values collapsed, slavery-based wealth eliminated.

• North strengthened: passed wartime legislation without Southern opposition.

  • Morrill Land Grant Act (1862) → land for colleges.

  • Transcontinental Railroad → northern/western economic growth.

• Result: sectional inequality intensified.

Emancipation and Black Codes

• 13th Amendment (1865): abolished slavery nationwide; Congress given enforcement power.

• Black Codes (Southern laws):

  • Restricted Black freedom (labor contracts, vagrancy laws, apprenticeships).

  • Forced labor through fines, debt, and unemployment penalties.

  • Designed to recreate slavery in practice.

Reconstruction Debate

Key Positions

• Presidential Reconstruction (Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson):

  • States never legally left the Union.

  • Reconstruction should be lenient and fast.

• Congressional Reconstruction:

  • Moderate Republicans: Congress, not president, should control Reconstruction.

  • Radical Republicans: punish the South, protect freedmen, enforce equality, reshape Southern society.

Lincoln’s Plan vs. Congress

• 10 Percent Plan (1863):

  • State readmitted when 10% of 1860 voters swore loyalty + accepted emancipation.

  • Goal: rapid reunion.

• Wade–Davis Bill (1864):

  • 50% loyalty oath.

  • Leaders must swear they never supported Confederacy.

  • Lincoln pocket-vetoed it.

• Lincoln assassinated → shift in power.

Andrew Johnson’s Reconstruction

• Southern Democrat, Unionist, strict constitutionalist.

• Johnson’s Plan:

  • Confederate leaders barred (but pardoned ~13,000).

  • States must ratify 13th Amendment.

  • No Black suffrage.

• Outcome:

  • Former Confederates regained control.

  • Congress refused to seat Southern delegates.

  • Joint Committee on Reconstruction formed.

Johnson vs. Congress

• Johnson vetoed:

  • Freedmen’s Bureau extension.

  • Civil Rights Act of 1866.

• Congress:

  • Overrode veto (first time in U.S. history).

  • Reauthorized Freedmen’s Bureau.

• Johnson isolated politically → impeachment later.

Radical Republican Leadership

• Thaddeus Stevens (House):

  • South = conquered provinces.

  • Congress controls Reconstruction.

• Charles Sumner (Senate):

  • Advocated Black suffrage, civil rights.

  • States committed “state suicide” by secession.

Reconstruction Amendments

• 13th (1865): ends slavery.

• 14th (1868):

  • Birthright citizenship.

  • Due process + equal protection.

  • Reduced representation if states denied male suffrage.

  • Barred ex-Confederates from office.

• 15th (1870):

  • Voting rights cannot be denied due to race.

  • Did not include women → split reform movements.

Military Reconstruction

• Reconstruction Acts (1867):

  • South divided into 5 military districts.

  • States must:

    • Ratify 14th Amendment.

    • Guarantee Black male suffrage.

    • Write new constitutions.

• By 1870, all Confederate states readmitted.

Political & Social Changes

• Black political participation increased.

  • Example: Hiram Revels (1870).

• Republican governments expanded:

  • Public education.

  • Civil rights protections.

Economic Reconstruction

• Sharecropping:

  • Farmers worked land for a share of crops.

  • Cycle of debt and poverty.

  • By 1880: majority of Southern Black families trapped in system.

• Improvement over slavery but limited mobility.

Black Institutions

• Families reunited; marriage legalized.

• Churches central to community life.

• Education expanded:

  • Freedmen’s Bureau + Northern aid.

  • HBCUs founded (Howard, Fisk, Hampton).

  • Example: Mary McLeod Bethune (educator, reformer).

Carpetbaggers & Scalawags

• Carpetbaggers: Northerners who moved South.

• Scalawags: Southern Unionists.

• Dominated Reconstruction governments.

• Accused of corruption → fueled white backlash.

Reaction and Collapse of Reconstruction

• Rise of white supremacist violence:

  • Ku Klux Klan used terror to suppress Black voting.

• Enforcement Acts (1870–71) + KKK Act (1871):

  • Federal intervention allowed.

  • Poor enforcement.

• Northern fatigue + corruption scandals.

• Democrats regained Southern control.

• Freedmen’s Bureau ended (1872).

• Reconstruction effectively collapsed by mid-1870s.

Big APUSH Takeaways

• Presidential Reconstruction = lenient, failed to protect freedmen.

• Congressional Reconstruction = constitutional gains but weak enforcement.

• Reconstruction redefined citizenship, but equality was temporary.

• Civil rights struggle resumed in 20th century.