Comprehensive Study Notes on Reconstruction and the Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
Post-Civil War Landscape and the Crises of Reintegration
Total Casualties: The American Civil War resulted in approximately deaths.
State of the South: The southern infrastructure was completely devastated; it appeared as an almost unrecognizable landscape due to the level of destruction.
Societal Challenge: A primary concern was how to reintegrate northern and southern families who had spent four years killing one another and how to rebuild half of a massive country that had attempted to leave the Union.
Presidential Transition: President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated and succeeded by his Vice President, Andrew Johnson.
Andrew Johnson's Background: A former tailor from Tennessee. He built his career by standing up to elite southern planters and reportedly disdained slave owners.
The Lincoln Death Photo: There is only one known photograph of Lincoln after his death; it is characterized by being difficult to see clearly, though his beard is visible at the top.
The Republican Party Split and Political Ideologies
Republican Dominance: Following the war, Republicans held significant power nationally, while Democrats maintained local control in the South.
The Republican Factions:
Moderate Republicans: This wing held the attitude that the war was over and the country should simply return to work through a metaphorical "group hug."
Radical Republicans: This group aimed to establish Republican power bases in the South for the first time. They sought to:
Remove former Confederates and "secessionists" from positions of power.
Ensure Republican candidates appeared on southern ballots.
Expand Republican influence at the expense of the established southern order.
Johnson's Early Stance on Punishment: Radical Republicans initially believed Andrew Johnson would be their ally. When one suggested hanging ten or twelve rebels to show loyalty, Johnson reportedly responded: "How are you going to pick out so small a number? Robbery is a crime. Rape is a crime. Treason is a crime, and crime must be punished."
The Freedmen's Perspective on Freedom and Reintegration
Definition of Reconstruction for Freedmen: While politicians viewed Reconstruction as a political term, for former slaves (termed "freedmen"), it was an exploration of freedom.
Freedmen's Priorities: The primary goals were finding families, securing fair wages, finding fair employers, and ensuring safety and mobility.
Secondary Political Goals: While politicians discussed the vote and land distribution (e.g., "40 acres and a mule"), these were less central to the immediate, mundane, everyday concerns of the newly freed.
The African American Reaction to Freedom: The transcript recounts a diary entry from a South Carolina plantation owner. Her "grandmammie" (an enslaved woman) reacted to the news of freedom by yelling, "I'm free. I'm free. Ain't got to work for you no more. You can't put me in your pocket and sell me now," before running off the plantation.
The Disconnect of White Southerners: Many plantation mistresses were shocked to find that the enslaved people they considered "friends" actually had no desire to be there.
Reconstruction 1: The Johnson-Stanton Plan
The Architects: Reconstruction Phase 1 was managed primarily by President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of War Edwin Stanton.
Edwin Stanton: Described as having a "five-bird beard."
The Plan for Rebel States:
Federal Control: Rebel states were placed under federal military occupation.
Appointed Governors: The President assigned a governor to each state (modeled after the Northwest Ordinance).
Constitutional Requirements: Governors served until a new state constitution was ratified by the state legislature and approved by the federal government.
The Constitutional Clauses: Every new state constitution had to include:
Clause 1: Invalidate Secession: States had to legally declare that they could not secede from the Union.
Clause 2: No Slavery Law: States had to write the prohibition of slavery into their own constitutions to prevent future nullification attempts.
Amnesty and Pardons:
Southerners had to swear an oath of loyalty to the United States on a Bible to receive a pardon.
Special Exceptions (The 1%): Certain groups had to apply personally to the President for a pardon to avoid land confiscation and loss of political rights:
Graduates of West Point or Annapolis who fought against the government.
High-ranking Confederate officers.
Politicians who voted for the war.
Southerners owning over worth of property.
The Failure of Reconstruction 1: Johnson ended up pardoning almost everyone. By December , many original leaders of the secession Movement were back in the halls of Congress.
Black Codes and the Rise of Vigilante Terror
The Black Codes: Southern states revised their law books by substituting the word "freedmen" for "slave."
Restrictions: Freedmen were subjected to curfews, forced to live on plantations, denied access to public schools, medical care, and orphanages, and required to carry passes.
Terrorist Groups: The first Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was founded in Tennessee in by Confederate Army veterans.
Vigilante Methods: Targeted newly freedmen and their allies (Radical Republicans) with threats, violence, and murder to prevent the establishment of a Republican base.
Black Suffrage in the North: Despite the push for rights, the public in northern states rejected black suffrage on the ballot:
Connecticut: Refused.
Wisconsin: Refused.
Minnesota: Refused.
Reconstruction 2: The Radical Republican Plan
The Shift in Power: Radical Republicans, disillusioned by the return of secessionists to power and the Black Codes, declared Reconstruction 1 a failure and took over from the executive branch.
Constitutional Reasoning: While Lincoln viewed the South as an "open insurrection" (where they never actually left), Radical Republicans declared the Union had been dissolved and the South was a "conquered country."
Implication: By treating the South as a conquered foreign territory, the victors could impose their will without being restricted by the constitutional rights of the inhabitants.
The 14th Amendment: Consisted of four parts:
Debt: Confederate debt was nullified.
Office Holding: Prominent Confederate leaders required a two-thirds approval by Congress to hold federal office.
Citizenship: Citizenship was conferred upon all freedmen. States were prohibited from taking life, liberty, or property without due process, aimed at ending Black Codes.
Suffrage-Linked Representation: Provided a proportional loss of congressional representation for any state that denied suffrage to male citizens. If they did not allow the black people to vote, those people would not count toward the population for House seats.
Military Reconstruction Act of 1867:
Parceled the South into five military districts.
The military remained until states ratified the 14th Amendment within their new constitutions.
The Crisis of Power and Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
Legislative Overreach: Congress attempted to limit Johnson's power through two acts:
Tenure of Office Act: Prohibited the President from firing cabinet members without Senate approval (designed to protect Edwin Stanton, who supported the Radicals).
Army Appropriations Act: Attempted to remove the President's power as Commander in Chief by requiring military orders to come through a top general, preventing Johnson from removing troops from the South.
The Impeachment: Johnson challenged these acts by firing Stanton. The House Judiciary Committee drew up articles of impeachment for violating the Tenure of Office Act.
The Trial: Lasted three months. Johnson did not appear or defend himself.
The Prosecution's Argument: Claimed impeachment was a "political trial" and guilt of actual crimes was not necessary.
The Verdict: The Senate fell one vote short of the votes needed to convict. The final tally was to .
Precedent established: Impeachment cannot be used as a political tool; actual crimes must be proven.
The 15th Amendment
Suffrage: Passed in , it extended suffrage to all men.
Protections: Prohibited denying the vote based on "race, color, or previous condition of servitude."
Ratification: The amendment passed because Virginia, Texas, Mississippi, and Georgia were required to ratify it as a condition for rejoining the Union.
Questions & Discussion
Question (Student): Was a general or his secretary of war?
Answer (Speaker): He was the Secretary of War. Edwin Stanton.
Question (Student): Is this what the Supreme Court recently overturned?
Answer (Speaker): No, the speaker clarifies that while people brought it up during that specific court case, it is not the same thing.
Question (Student): Was the Army Appropriations Act unconstitutional?
Answer (Speaker): The speaker notes that the constitutionality was vague, though it did directly challenge the President's role as Commander in Chief.
Question (Student): Does the 15th Amendment include women?
Answer (Speaker): No, it only extended suffrage to all men.