500,000 deaths, representing 2% of the population.
An equal number of serious wounds.
Sherman’s March in 1864 involved the burning of everything in the Union army's path.
Entire cities were ruined.
In the South:
Two-thirds of railroads were destroyed.
At least one-third of the livestock was destroyed or disappeared.
The South in Dire Straits:
The Reconstruction process was rooted in answering several key questions:
How would 4 million former slaves be reincorporated into American society?
What was the political and legal status of the former Confederate states?
How should the nation rebuild the war-torn South?
The initial focus was on the readmission of the South to the Union.
Presidential Reconstruction - Lincoln:
Lincoln's Ten Percent Plan:
Even before the war ended, Lincoln began planning for Reconstruction.
On December 8th, 1863, he issued the “Ten Percent Plan”.
Southerners could reinstate themselves as US citizens by taking a loyalty oath.
When 10% of those who voted in the 1860 election in any state took the oath, they could set up a state government.
Governments must:
Be republican in form.
Recognize the “permanent freedom” of slaves.
Provide education for freed blacks.
Congress's Response - Wade-Davis Bill:
Radical Republicans viewed Lincoln’s plan as too moderate.
Even though Tennessee, Louisiana, and Arkansas reestablished loyal governments meeting Lincoln’s criteria, Congress refused to admit representatives from these states.
In July 1864, Congress passed the Wade-Davis Bill.
Required a majority of southerners to take a loyalty oath.
Confederate officials and those who had voluntarily borne arms against the United States were barred from voting.
Lincoln pocket-vetoed this bill by leaving it unsigned.
Lincoln's Assassination:
April 5th, 1865: Lincoln visited Richmond.
April 9th, 1865: The South surrendered.
April 14th, 1865: Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater.
Booth, a supporter of slavery, believed Lincoln would overthrow the Constitution and destroy the South.
Lincoln died early the next morning.
Vice President Andrew Johnson became president.
Presidential Reconstruction - Johnson:
Andrew Johnson believed Reconstruction was an executive branch matter and sought the rapid restoration of the former Confederate states.
Johnson took the oath of office when Congress was in recess, putting him in charge of Reconstruction from April to December.
Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan called for Southern states to:
Withdraw its secession.
Swear allegiance to the Union (with a higher threshold than Lincoln’s 10%).
Ratify the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery.
Johnson pardoned over 13,000 former Confederates, angering Radical Republicans.
By December 1865, all seceded states had formed new governments under this lenient plan and awaited Congressional approval.
Congressional Reconstruction:
Congress's Turn:
When Congress reconvened on December 4th, 1865, they refused to recognize the southern delegates.
The Radical Republican Congress asserted control over Reconstruction.
In February 1866, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866.
Declared Blacks were citizens and could not have their rights to property restricted.
It gave teeth to the 13th Amendment.
Johnson vetoed the act, but it was passed over his veto on April 9th, 1866.
It was the first major law passed over a presidential veto.
The passage of this bill effectively announced that the national government had the responsibility of protecting the rights of citizens, not states.
Massacre in Memphis:
From May 1st to May 3rd, racial violence ignited in the wake of political, social, and racial tensions during Reconstruction.
White mobs roamed the streets, hunting for Black people.
Three months later, forty more were killed in a similar massacre in New Orleans.
This southern violence sparked a push for the creation and passage of the 14th amendment.
Early Reconstruction Amendments:
13th Amendment (1865):
The 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery, had been ratified in December 1865.
14th Amendment (1868):
The 14th Amendment guaranteed citizenship to anyone born in the United States, regardless of race.
Effectively overturned the 1857 Dred Scott decision.
Struck at discriminatory legislation like the Black Codes.
No law can “abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States”.
Passed by Congress in June 1866, after the Memphis Massacre.
Three-fourths of the states needed to ratify the amendment.
Every southern state at the time had an all-white state legislature and refused to ratify the amendment, except for Tennessee.
Military Reconstruction:
The Structure:
In 1866, every former state, except Tennessee, remained out of the Union, having no say in federal elections.
The 1866 midterms resulted in significant Republican majorities.
173 seats in the House of Representatives compared to 47 for the Democrats.
This gave Congress the two-thirds majority to overrule any presidential veto.
Johnson was effectively neutralized.
By the spring of 1867, the Radical Republicans were firmly in control.
On March 2nd, 1867, Congress passed the Military Reconstruction Act (over Johnson's veto).
Separated the southern states into 5 military districts, each overseen by a Union military general.
Congress laid out strict new terms to reenter the Union:
The rebel states had to adopt new constitutions.
They had to give black men the right to vote.
They had to elect new state governments.
They had to ratify the 14th Amendment.
Southerners called this “bayonet rule”.
Enforcement:
Congress added Supplementary Reconstruction Acts.
Directed the military commanders to begin the enrollment of voters.
The provisional governments established by Johnson were swept away.
The registration of blacks and whites who had not supported secession began.
Army officers registered freedmen to vote under martial law.
Northern whites who traveled into the military districts to advance the Radical cause were called “carpetbaggers”.
White southerners who cooperated with Radical Reconstruction were labeled “scalawags”.
At the beginning of 1867, fewer than 1% of all Black men in the U.S. could vote.
By the end of 1867, that number was higher than 80%.
The vast majority of registered Black voters were Republican.
By June 1868, six of the former Confederate states were admitted, having met Congress’s requirements.
By July 1868, the 14th Amendment was officially ratified.
Johnson was impeached by the House of Representatives and escaped removal by a single vote in the Senate.
1868 Presidential Election:
By the Election of 1868, all Confederate states except Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas had met the requirements under Military Reconstruction and reentered the Union.
White gangs terrorized black voters in New Orleans and other major southern cities.
Republicans in Georgia and Louisiana had to abandon campaigning altogether.
More than 500,000 Black men cast their votes.
As a result, every southern state except Georgia and Louisiana voted for Ulysses S. Grant.
15th Amendment:
Context:
Following the election of 1868, Radical Republicans’ strength and determination were renewed.
The 15th Amendment was sent to the states for ratification in February 1869.
Forbade all states from denying the right to vote to anyone “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas had to ratify this amendment before they could be considered for readmission into the Union.
Women's Suffrage:
The 15th Amendment said nothing about denial of the vote on the basis of sex.
Caused feminists such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony significant frustration.
This and the 14th amendment split the women’s suffrage movement into two.
National Woman Suffrage Organization (NWSA):
Formed in 1869 and admitted only women.
Favored a federal solution to women’s suffrage.
Opposed the 15th Amendment, which they believed should include women.
American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA):
Favored a state-by-state effort at securing women’s suffrage.
Supported the 15th amendment and accepted both men and women members.
Ratification:
Virginia ratified the 15th Amendment in January 1870, Mississippi in February, and Texas in March.
The 15th Amendment was ratified on March 30th, 1870.
All states were officially readmitted into the Union.
However, Reconstruction was far from over.
Key Takeaways:
Reconstruction altered relationships between the states and the federal government and led to debates over new definitions of citizenship.
Especially regarding the rights of African Americans, women, and other minorities.
The 13th Amendment abolished slavery, while the 14th and 15th amendments granted African Americans citizenship, equal protection under the laws, and voting rights.
The women’s rights movement was both emboldened and divided over the 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution.
Efforts by radical and moderate Republicans to change the balance of power between Congress and the presidency and to reorder race relations in the defeated South yielded some short-term successes.