Politics of Reconstruction · Radical Reconstruction Reconstruction Act of 1867 South – 5...
Transcript of Politics of Reconstruction · Radical Reconstruction Reconstruction Act of 1867 South – 5...
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RECONSTRUCTION
Chapter 14
Aftermath of War
Confederate leaders
Southern civilization collapsedEconomy
Agriculture
Slavery
Reconstruction Question
Nothing in Constitution!
Had the South really seceded?
If so, should Congress take action?
If not, should President deal with it?
separation of powers
Politics of Reconstruction
Abraham Lincoln
10% Plan – December 186310% of 1860 voters - oath of loyalty
13th Amendment
Congress
Wade-Davis Bill – July 186450% take oath of loyalty
gov’t – no one who fought
no vote for Conf. leaders
pocket-vetoed by Lincoln
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Lincoln Resists
April 11, 1865
speech to Congressappealed for flexibility
no success
Lincoln’s last speech
Lincoln’s Assassination
April 14, 1865 – Good Friday
Ford’s TheatreJohn Wilkes Booth
Lincoln died the next morning – April 15th
Lincoln’s death terrible for the Southless cruel
more bitterness from North
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Andrew Johnson
1857 - Senator from TNJacksonian Democrat
TN seceded – refused to give up his Senate seat (only one)
1862 – TN capturedappointed military governor
iron fist
1864 – Lincoln’s VP candidateattract southern Unionists
Johnson’s Reconstruction
Recognized some 10% governments
May 1865 – proclamationprovisional governors
revoke secession
13th Amendment
Amnesty for all taking oath except top officials & wealthy planters
most gov’ts set up within months
Republicans seemed to approvetreatment of leaders
states decide civil, political rights
hoped for good treatment of blacks
Black Codes
adopted in SouthMississippi 1st
labor contracts
social discrimination
sharecropping
Republicans Furious
new Congress elected
former Confederates9 Conf. Congress
7 Conf. state gov’t
4 generals, 4 colonels
Conf. VP Alexander Stephens
Refused to seat southerners!
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Freedmen’s Bureau
created March 1865
Gen. Oliver Howard
Purpose aid, land, supplies to freed slaves
Limited successtaught 200,000 blacks to read
Failureslittle land to blacks
forced out of towns
forced into labor contracts
expired in 1872
Lyman Trumbull
civil rights billcitizenship
court access
protection of person and property
state laws nullified if no equal protection
Emancipation
Uneven freedomresistance, loyalty
Freedom at lastcelebrated freedom
took to the road
churches, schools, politics
Fight for Land
Sherman – 40 acres plots
Freedmen’s Bureauland distribution
Johnson’s amnesty plan - reclaim land
Oct. 1865 – Howard ordered to restore SC plantations
Wage Labor
Freedom?
returned to plantationslabor contracts
“dependency”
many fled to towns & cities
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whites wanted to deny all rights to blacks
blacks beaten and murdered
blacks “would be just as well off with no law at all or no gov’t”
- Freemen’s Bureau agent
Johnson Fights Congress
Johnson Vetoes
1866 - Freedmen’s Bureau recharter
Trumbull’s civil rights billquote – page 465
Congress Responds
April 1866 – Civil Rights Act passed with 2/3 Congress voteresponse to violence in South
July 1866 – renewed Freedmen’s Bureau over Johnson veto
14th Amendment
guarantee citizenship
equal protection of the laws
made Civil Rights Act constitutional
opposed 14th Amendment
Midterm Election of 1866
Campaigningbroke custom against Pres. campaigning
cost Dem seats in Congress
Rep. 3 to 1 majority
Johnson Hurts His Cause
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Radical Republicans
RadicalsSenate: Sumner (MA)
House: Stevens (PA)
“remake” southern society
full equal rights for blacks (suffrage)
Radical Reconstruction
Reconstruction Act of 1867
South – 5 military districtsexcept TN – readmitted in 1866
thousands lost voting rights
ratify 14th Amendment
guarantee black suffrage
Johnson’s Impeachment
Tenure of Office Act – 1867
Feb. 1868 - Johnson fired Sec. of War Edwin Stanton
Johnson impeached
Senate: 1 vote short of removal
Election of 1868
Republicans – Ulysses Grantcontinue military reconstruction
Democrats – Horatio Seymour
Grant won by 52.7 %500,000 black votes
Rep. majority in both houses
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15th Amendment
voting rights for blacks loopholes:poll taxesliteracy testsproperty requirements
passed Feb. 1869requirement for readmission
ratified in 1870
Women’s Suffrage
Stanton & Anthonyblacks’ rights
amendment left out women“the Negro’s hour” – radical Repub.
Republican Rule in the South
Rejoin the Union
1868 – 1871 – all met stipulations
Rep. controlled gov’ts ranged from months to years
Scalawags
Southerners who supported Reconstruction
ex-Whigs, ex-Dems, former slave owners
wanted northern capital
Carpetbaggers
Whites who came from the North
personal profit
Union army vets impressed with the South
wanted to force emancipation
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Black Leaders
elite free blacks from the South
northern blacks
ex-slaves recruited for political roles
Blacks & Reconstruction
Delegates to draft constitutions
Congress - 16
State administrations – 20
State Legislatures – over 600
Republican Achievements
modern state constitutions
Black Codes eliminated
rights for married women
hospitals, asylums, penitentiaries
road-building, RRs
Paying for Reform
Taxed planters (property)slaves as tax collectors
Huge debt – stateswasted spending
pockets of public officials
CORRUPTION!!
Schools & Churches
Schools importantRepublicans
blacks
Churches grewalso served as schools, social centers,
political meeting halls
The Quest for Land
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Land Grants
SC land commission14,000 families got farms
Southern Homestead Act of 186680-acre grants
little land available (infertile regions)
few succeeded
Sharecropping
blacks could not afford land
freedmen worked for use of land, house, seed, fertilizer, etc
Problems
1/3 to 1/2 of crops to landlord
no $ to get startedtook liens on crops (debt)
often permanent indebtedness
Undoing of Reconstruction
Counterrevolution
“redeem” the Southled by planters
resented northern involvement
restore political power – Democratsex-Confed. voting rights
oppose black rule
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Nathan Bedford Forrest
TN slave-trader
MS plantation owner
wounded at Shiloh
Fort Pillow Massacreblack troops
Ku Klux Klan
TN – late 1865 opposed Rep. governor
late 1866 – Forrest - Grand Wizard
campaign of terror against Rep. supporters
1869 – TN Gov. left for Senate
Klan disbanded in TN
Klan grew in other statesmurdered Republican politicians
burned black schools, churches
gained control across South
Federal Response
1871 – Ku Klux Klan Actenforce blacks’ rights
arrests made
PROBLEM: must be enforced at federal level!
Federal Failure
KKK prosecutions difficultwhite juries; unsympathetic judges
U.S. v. Cruikshank – 1876 state’s job to prosecute
Grant’s adm. unwilling to help
States “Redeemed”
1870 – VA, NC
1871 – GA
1873 – TX
1874 – AL, AR
1875 – MS
3 states left – LA, SC, FL
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Reconstruction Fades
1875 Civil Rights Law declared unconstitutional in 1883
Republicans losing control
concerns about jobs
North just lost interest
Election of 1872
Republicans – Grant
Liberal Republicans – Horace Greeley
Democrats – supported Greeley
Grant won
LR forced Republicans to changecivil service reform; limited gov’t
Scandal and Depression
D.C. Whiskey Ring
1875
Treasury robbed of $ millions
Grant’s secretary involved
criminals unpunished
Republicans Divided
Stalwarts – patronage Roscoe Conkling
Half-Breeds – civil service James Blaine
Election of 1876
Republicans – Rutherford Hayes
Democrats – Samuel Tilden
Results: Irregular returnsLA, SC, FL still under Rep. control
Tilden 1 vote short
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The Debate Begins
2 sets of Electoral Votes
Electoral Count ActCompromise of 1877
15 member commission
Feb. 1877 LA, SC, FL votes to Hayes
Still deadlockedHouse stalled final count (Dem)
Agreement reached3 days before inauguration
Hayes won (185–184)
Reconstruction Ended
Effects of the Election
North abandoned black equality goals
South suppressed blacks’ rightspoll taxes, literacy tests
1890s – Jim Crow Laws
1896 – Plessy v. Ferguson