Reconstruction

The Civil War

• The Civil War was much worse than anyone had imagined it would be:

– In the 1850s, the U.S. gov’t was spending

– By mid-1861, the first year of the war, the Union alone was spending

The Civil War

• The Civil War was much worse than anyone had imagined it would be:

– By the end of the war in 1865, the Union's wartime tab was about

– This was a huge sum of money in those days, especially since the word

The Civil War

• The Civil War was much worse than anyone had imagined it would be:

All told, the Union's official 1879 estimate of wartime expenses amounted to over $

In today's money, that total would be equivalent to over

The Civil War

• The Civil War was much worse than anyone had imagined it would be:

– The South spent nearly $ fighting the Civil War.

• In today’s money, that’s equivalent to about

$

The Civil War

• GDP is complicated (which is why we leave it to the economists), but at its most basic, you add up what everyone earned in a year.

The Civil War

• The Civil War was much worse than anyone had imagined it would be:

• The Civil War finally answered once and for all, the great debate that began with Jefferson and Hamilton of where power should lie; at the State or Federal level.

The Civil War

• Before the war, the South was one of the five richest societies in the world.

• But that was over…

Reconstruction

• The largest slave system in the modern world was in shambles

As the Civil War came to an end, the problem was that now the South had to rejoin the United States of America.

Reconstruction

• Issues of anger, defeat, destruction, ruined economies, ruined lives and race would all have to be solved and just as this was to begin, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.

Andrew Johnson• Democrat from

• Chosen because

Andrew Johnson• As it turned out, nobody

trusted him from either side and he was much more angry at the South for seceding than Lincoln had been.

Reconstruction

• In 1860, the Democratic party had been split and Lincoln was able to win with 40% of the votes cast.

Reconstruction

• In 1864, the South didn’t vote in the election so the Democrats lost easily.

Reconstruction

• The Republicans feared the 1868 election:

Reconstruction

• As a matter of fact, the South was politically stronger the war than they were

Reconstruction

Reconstruction

• Southerners would be in a position to

The 39th Congress

• Congress, led by Radical Republicans (because there were no Democrats) was now in a position to run Reconstruction as they saw fit.

Plans for Reconstruction

The Freedman’s Bureau

• Established by the Federal Gov’t and run by the Army, it was to help transition slaves to freedom.

Reconstruction

• From the Southern point of view, the months following the War were terrifying:

Reconstruction

• As a matter of fact, more than a few plantation owners were so delusional about slavery, that they were actually surprised to learn that their former slaves were really angry at them!

Civil Rights

• According to Merriam Webster, Civil Rights are defined as:

The rights that every person should have regardless of his or her sex, race, or religion.

Sherman’s Order #15

• Soon after the war ended, General William T. Sherman ordered roughly 400,000

Sherman’s Order #15

Sharecropping

• The South,

Sharecropping

• Since control of land was back in the hands of whites and the realities of feeding their families was the primary concern for Freedmen, deals got made.

Voting!

• A major part of the Radical Republican plan to help Freedmen was extending the right to vote to black men.

Voting!

• Schools for black children (paid for with taxes)

• Legal standing for blacks

• Recognition by the Legal system

• Black Congressmen and Senators at both Black Congressmen and Senators at both the State and Federal levelthe State and Federal level

• This was a frightening thing for most Southerners because they had in effect, lost control of what they felt was their birthright

• If the Gov’t would not defend what they felt were their rights and the lives they felt they deserved, then they would do it themselves.

Election of 1868

• Now the country, with Southern voters had to elect a new President.

Election of 1868

• Democrats ran Horatio Seymour, Governor of New York.

Election of 1868

Election of 1868

• Republicans knew if they lost this election, the gains made in the Civil War

Election of 1868

• Republicans ran an unbeatable candidate,

• Grant supported Reconstruction, but felt it was time to start bringing it to a close.

Besides…

• In the South, Reconstruction was fought at every opportunity, was growing expensive, and appeared to be having little success in changing attitudes because it was seen by whites as unfair.

• Throughout the South, violence was the preferred method by Southern whites to protest Reconstruction, and to stop the advancements made by Freedmen.

Economic Crash of 1873

• For years, the North hadn’t cared what the South thought. They had started the war, these were the repercussions.

• Then came the Economic Crash of 1873

Economic Crash of 1873

• Once the North was distracted by economic issues of their own, they became less willing to force Reconstruction on the South.

• Reconstruction had been difficult, expensive, led to great violence in the South, was beginning to cost Republicans politically and had really not benefitted the North at all.

Election of 1876

Election of 1876• The 1876 election hinged

largely on disputed votes from Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina.

• Allies of

Election of 1876

• The Democrats agreed to give Hayes the victory on the condition that he

1877

• Northern troops

• Leaving the Freedmen alone and at the mercy of a society that was determined to reclaim what it felt was their lost birthright.