Reconstruction Notes

Reconstruction (1863-1877)

What is Reconstruction?

  • Period of American history from 1863-1877.
  • Specific steps were taken to restore the Union.
  • Set terms for defeated Southern states to re-enter the United States after the Civil War.
  • Other tasks included:
    • Reorganizing and implementing society post-slavery.
    • Redefining the role and rights of African Americans.

Importance of the Reconstruction Period on American History

  • Impact on 20th-century government and reform.
  • Redefinition of economy.
  • Reconstruction policies led to long-term effects.
  • Explains the necessity of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s.
  • Understanding the failure of the government to protect Black rights.

Three Stages of Reconstruction

  • Textbook defines three periods within Reconstruction:
    • Wartime Reconstruction: Policies enacted while the war was still being fought.
    • Presidential Reconstruction: Early stage as the war was winding down and finishing.
    • Congressional Reconstruction: Final stage, also known as “Radical Reconstruction.”

Revisiting the Civil War

  • Why was the Civil War fought?
  • Early interpretations were sympathetic towards the South.
    • States' rights.
    • Brother fighting brother reluctantly.
  • Much more complicated than that.
  • Decades of conflict between Northern and Southern states.
  • Things worsened in the 1850s after the Mexican-American War.
  • A decade of conflict and bloodshed ended with the Civil War itself.

Civil War Devastation

  • Death totals over 620,000.
  • Much of the South was razed to the ground after 4 years of fighting.
    • Atlanta, Savannah, Charleston—important Southern cities—were all but destroyed.
  • Thousands of displaced slaves.

Cleanup After Civil War

  • Cleanup was costly and a huge undertaking.
  • The sheer number of dead bodies was unthinkable to clean up.
  • How do you bury 620k bodies, and where?
  • Many former slaves were used to clean up bodies months later.

Wartime Reconstruction

  • As soon as Union victory seemed possible in 1863, Reconstruction policies were considered.
  • Conflict between Lincoln and Congress.
  • It was unclear who should set the terms.
  • The war was still being fought.
  • Policies during these times were unstructured, inconsistent, and highly problematic.

To be Lenient or Punitive?

  • Lincoln’s Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (or his 10% Plan):
    • Offered a full pardon and restored property (except slaves).
    • 10% of the Southern population in a state had to declare loyalty to the Union.
    • Accept the 13th Amendment.
    • Viewed as being too lenient without protections for newly freed slaves.
  • In contrast, Congress proposed stricter terms.
    • Influenced by more radical members.
    • Wanted to see the South punished.

Wade-Davis Bill (July 1864)

  • Influenced by Abolitionists.
  • Demanded 50% of voters take an oath of allegiance.
  • Banned ex-Confederates from drafting the new state constitutions.
  • Guaranteed freedmen equality under the law.
  • Showdown between Lincoln and Congress as 4 states accepted Lincoln’s terms.

The Problem of Ending Slavery—Wartime Reconstruction

  • “Compulsory Free Labor” and other labor codes mimicking slavery.
  • Unclear title to land seized by the Union Army.
  • Establishment of the Freedman’s Bureau (March 1865).
    • Created to assist the transition from slavery to freedom.
    • Services benefitted both White and Black Southerners.

Presidential Reconstruction

  • Lincoln’s assassination in April 1865 left Andrew Johnson responsible for Reconstruction.
  • Johnson was a Southerner.
  • Johnson’s Plan:
    • Blamed the planting class for secession.
    • “Damn the negroes…I am fighting those traitorous aristocrats, their masters.”
    • Lenient plan for Reconstruction on everyone but Southern elites.
    • Returned confiscated lands to pardoned ex-Confederates, even if in the hands of freedmen.

Johnson’s Reconstruction (Cont.)

  • Continued 10% Plan and 13th Amendment.
    • Once accepted by the states, Reconstruction was complete.
  • Ignored Southern transgressions.
    • Failed to revoke secession from their new constitutions.
    • New Black Codes.
  • Congressional Reaction: Pushed towards black equality in retaliation.

Congressional Reaction—Punishment

  • The Republican Party and equality for Blacks.
  • Majority of Republicans and Northerners were racists.
    • Not committed to equal rights.
  • December 1865, refused to seat the Southern representatives.
  • Passed 2 Bills: Freedmen’s Bureau Bill and Civil Rights Act in 1866.
    • Extended the life of the bureau despite resistance.
    • Nullified Black Codes.
    • Guaranteed Black Americans the right to “full and equal benefit” of citizenship.
  • Johnson vetoed both bills—his vetoes were overridden.

Power Struggle Between Executive and Legislative Branches

  • Demonstrates the extent of Northern resentment towards the South.
  • Northerners were racists.
  • Opposition to the 13th Amendment in 1865.
  • Now they were voting for black equality to punish the South.
  • Civil Rights Examined Constitutionally—the 14th amendment, passed June 1866, ratified 1868:
    • “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside…”

Radical Congressional Reconstruction

  • March 1867, Military Reconstruction Act:
    • Divided Southern states into 5 military districts.
    • Military enforcement of black equal rights.
  • Johnson vetoed the bill—his veto was overridden.
  • Still some argued it wasn’t enough to guarantee black citizens freedom or equal protection.

Johnson Impeached!

  • What is impeachment?
  • His crime: Dismissed Edwin M. Stanton from his cabinet.
  • Tenure of Office Act.
  • Went to trial but could not remove him from office.
  • Fell one vote short of removal.
  • Johnson called a truce by refraining from stopping congressional reconstruction in his last 10 months.

What is Impeachment?

  • Common myth: Impeachment is removal from office.
  • Truth: Impeachment can result in removal from office, but now 3 presidents have been impeached in American history, and none have been removed from office.
  • Pop Quiz: Which 3 presidents have been impeached in US history?
    • Andrew Johnson
    • Bill Clinton—his crime was perjury or lying about his “sexual relations with that woman.”
    • Donald Trump
  • Contrary to popular belief, Nixon was never impeached. He resigned before they could impeach him, and Ford pardoned him.

Suffrage Revisited

  • February 1869—Congress passed the 15th Amendment:
    • “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
  • Split alliances between women’s suffrage groups and black suffrage supporters.
  • With the 15th Amendment, Republicans considered Reconstruction and black equal rights finished.

Tensions in the South

  • Carpetbaggers—Northern whites who sought opportunity in the South after the war.
  • Resented as opportunists.
  • Many were women coming to the South as teachers.
  • Scalawag—resentful name for Southern Republicans.
  • 1 in 4 White Southerners voted Republican.
  • Many small farmers who never owned slaves.
  • Those who benefitted from Republican policies.

Sharecropping

  • Planters divided plantations into small farms.
  • Debt slavery.
  • The biggest beneficiary = country merchant who exploited the situation of sharecroppers needing credit.
  • Many whites locked into sharecropping along with black families.

The KKK

  • Black exercise of civil rights met with resistance and violence through the Ku Klux Klan.
  • Began as a social club of Confederate veterans.
  • Exercised terror and southern Democrat agenda by preventing blacks from voting Republican or from voting at all.

The End of Reconstruction

  • By 1870, the North wanted to move on.
  • Radical Republicans were replaced with new business-minded Republicans.
  • Northern commitment to black freedom eroded, while southern commitment to white supremacy intensified.
  • Ulysses S. Grant’s troubled presidency:
    • Whiskey Ring Scandal.
    • Favored military buddies who happened to be involved with scandals—colored the Republicans negatively.
  • Republicans split by 1872 to address the corruption.

Turns Out We Don’t Really Want to Make Blacks Equals Because We Are Racists…—the North

  • Northerners stopped being supportive of black equality.
  • Inherent racism in the North.
  • Grant largely ignored the issue as president.
  • The Supreme Court began to interpret the equal protection in a relaxed manner.
  • 1874, Democrats gained control of the House of Representatives for the 1st time in 18 years.
  • Enforcement of black equality fell by the wayside.

Contrast Northern Opinion of Reconstruction

  • By Thomas Nast, an illustrator employed by Harper’s Weekly, a popular news magazine
  • Early Reconstruction:
    • Lady Equality gestures towards a black soldier, presumably wounded in the war. The picture is entitled “Franchise,” implicating this man deserves the right to vote.
    • Look at how Nast depicts the black soldier and compare it with another of his illustrations.

Late Reconstruction Nast/Northern Opinion

  • This image is titled “Colored Rule in a Reconstructionist State.”

  • It depicts a state legislature dominated by black politicians. How are they acting compared to the one white southerner depicted in the center?

  • How does the way Nast portrays African Americans differ in the two sets of pictures?

  • How do you think this reflects Northern perspectives on Reconstruction?

White Supremacy in the South

  • The Republican government in the South became the target for violence in the 1870s.
  • “Redeemers”—southern Democrats who promised to destroy Reconstruction policies, particularly military rule and black equality.
  • Polarized parties around color.
  • Exploited the economic devastation of white farmers.
  • Used terror and intimidation to eliminate black rights.
  • By 1876, Redeemers had gained control of all but 3 southern states.

Election of 1876

  • Symbolized the end and failure of Reconstruction.
  • Tilden v. Hayes
  • No clear winner—extremely close election.
  • Problem with electoral vote count in Republican Southern states of South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida.
  • No clear winner in Electoral College.
  • Fight between Republicans and Democrats in Congress as each voted strictly along party lines.

The Compromise of the Election and the End of Reconstruction

  • Informal agreement between the 2 parties.
  • Hayes became president in exchange for an agreement that the government would end Reconstruction Resolved with Compromise of 1877.
  • Any Black congressmen—were recalled and intimidated.
  • To date, only 8 black senators in United States history—Anyone guess who was one of the most recent? Without Hayes' support, LA, FL, and SC fell to the Democrats.

The Impact on African Americans

  • The end of Reconstruction had important impacts on the rest of American history.
  • Onset of segregation.
  • Voter rights suppression.
  • Lynching.
  • Intimidation of black citizens.
  • Impact on the Great Migration.
  • As a result, the Civil Rights Movement—Reconstruction explains the necessity of the movement, to regain lost Constitutional rights of African Americans.

History Redefined—The Blame for the Failure of Reconstruction

  • Trying to explain the failure in history.
  • Conscious attempt to identify and define blame for the war and the failure of Reconstruction in terms favorable to the South.
  • The Civil War as a war for states' rights.
  • Slavery was a preferred condition by whites and blacks alike.
  • Reconstruction failed because blacks were incapable of equal rights.
  • Abolitionists became the villains.
  • Black Americans were victims, too mentally inferior to realize they were being used by the abolitionists.

The Birth of a Nation, 1915

  • Demonstrated a new narrative.
  • The celebrated story of the KKK.
  • Basic premise:
    • White South admitted defeat.
    • Wanted to quickly be reinstated and do right by their newly freed slaves.
    • Lincoln and Johnson attempted to help the South in these goals.
    • Radical Republicans, out of an “irrational” hatred for the South, attempted to secure political domination by pushing black suffrage.
    • The KKK are heroes!

The Birth of a Nation (Cont.)

  • Basic premise continued:
    • Sordid period of Reconstruction.
    • The KKK is portrayed as white southerners' defense of virtue.
  • President Wilson quoted in the film.
    • Described it as the most accurate depiction of reconstruction to date.
  • The same narrative was used up until the Civil Rights movement.

History’s Redefinition

  • The new narrative allowed the North and South to put the conflict aside.
  • Opened focus to new goals of colonization, expansion, and economic pursuits.
  • Negative impact on African Americans and African American activism.
  • Narrative re-revised after the Civil Rights Movement.
  • Present interpretation in chapter.