Reconstruction

Goals

  • What did Northern politicians want to see done during reconstruction? - equal rights for formerly enslaved people, restore working democracy in the South, restore loyalty to the Union,

  • Why did we talk about these goals from a northern perspective? - North won and South was still not part of the Union

  • What was the large disagreement among Northerners? - how far to take reconstruction, what to require of Southerners

  • Whose opinions on this matter were important besides the people’s? - Lincoln, Johnson, radical republicans

    • What allowed a state to be considered reconstructed under Lincoln’s plan? - governments could be recognized if 10% of white male voters took an oath to swear loyalty to the union, new state constitutions banned enslavement, ratify the 13th amendment, public schools were opened, some black men gain the right to vote
    • What qualified a black person to vote? - had to be male over 21, had to be upstanding citizens
    • Why didn’t Lincoln require more of the Southern states? - wanted to preserve the Union and would not have gotten that if he required more
    • What allowed a state to be considered reconstructed under Johnson’s plan? - reject secession, stop paying war debts, ban slavery in state constitutions
    • What did the radical republicans want to require for reconstruction? - all freedmen to get the vote, majority of voters to take a loyalty oath, had to ratify the 14th and 15th amendments, new state constitutions had to be approved by congress, ex-confederates could not vote and could not be congressional delegates

    Outcomes

    • What supports the idea of the Radical Republicans’ strategy not working? - violence in the South shows that resentment runs deep, military will be effective in enforcing changes but they can’t stay there forever and all gains will be lost when they leave, Southern resistance has succeeded before and they could gain concessions, not changing fundamental ideas,
    • What supports the idea of the Radical Republicans’ strategy working? - 14th and 15th amendments ratified which might allow black people to become elected officials, South really needed to rejoin so they might be willing to do whatever it takes to do so

  • What incentive did the Southern states have to rejoin the Union? - representation

  • What were some successes of reconstruction by 1876? - amendments, union repaired, rebel states readmitted, new constitutions in the South banned slavery and eliminated race-based voting requirements, civil rights acts of 1866 and 1875 which added legal protections for black southerners, black people elected to office

  • What were some failures of reconstruction by 1876? - Democrats close to getting home rule, Democrats declare themselves the “white man’s party”, black people are vulnerable and could easily lose citizenship in the south, elections provoke violence, KKK creates terror, social and economic inequalities remain in the South, if Northern troops depart then limited gains could be lost

  • Which three states had more violent responses to elections? - Florida, South Carolina, Louisiana

Wormley House 1877

  • What could the Republicans gain from this deal? - won the presidency, Democrats give up threat of delay
  • What could the South gain from this deal? - North stops using army to protect collapsing Republican governments in key Southern states, turning them over to Democrats
  • What is the deadline that is looming and puts pressure on this meeting? - inauguration day is March 4
    • What does the constitution say should be done if there is no president-elect by inauguration day? - doesn’t say anything about it
  • Did the compromise pass? - yes