Richmond, VirginiaStreet in the burned district

Questions your group needs to address:

What do you do with (now) former prisoners of war? Discuss this from both the Northern & Southern perspectives.What do you do with former Confederate Generals?What do you do with the states that seceded from the Union?How do you solve financial debt?What do you do with former slaves that are now free men?

The national debate over Reconstruction centered on three main issues: What were the terms under which the defeated Confederate states should be allowed to reenter the Union? What demands, if any, should be made upon them before they reenter? Should Congress or the president establish the terms? Should anyone be punished for the rebellion and to what extent? To what degree should the national government assist the newly freed slaves (often referred to as freedmen) in participating in the political and social life of the South?

RECONSTRUCTION

President Lincoln Congress Radical Republicans vs. moderate RepublicansPresident Johnson

RECONSTRUCTION PLANS

Thomas Nast's Original "The Union Christmas" Civil War PrintThis is probably the most touching and moving Abraham Lincoln print to come out of the Civil War era. The leaf was printed on December 31, 1864, and Thomas Nast was the artist. The print shows Mr. Lincoln standing at the door, inviting the Southern Rebels to come in from the cold and snow, and rejoin the union.

A large banquet table has been prepared, and the table has empty chairs labeled Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and so forth. The print has a large banner that reads, "The Union Christmas Dinner, Peace on Earth and Good Will Toward Men." The print has four insets, one showing Robert E. Lee offering his surrender to Grant (something that did happen a few months later. The second inset is captioned, "Lay Down your Arms and You Will be Welcome", which shows Rebel Soldiers being welcomed back into the Union. The third inset presents the Rebels as the prodigal son returning home, and the forth inset shows a soldier bowing down to accept a pardon from Lady Liberty.

For all the pain and all the loss of the Civil War, we see by the end of 1864, there were signs of hope. Nast creates this image of hope by showing a country tired of war, and willing to invite their former countrymen to once again sit at the table of fellowship and Union. Within three months of this image being made, Mr. Lincoln was dead, assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. However, Nast's vision of a country once again united did come to pass.

Lincolns _____________plan: In it all southerners, except high-ranking Confederate officials, could get a full pardon and restoration of rights after taking an oath, pledging loyalty to the Union and accepting the end of slavery. When ten percent of the 1860 voting population had taken this oath, citizens could vote in elections that would create new state governments and new state constitutions. After that the state would once again be eligible for representation in Congress and readmitted to the Union.

Group of abolitionist American politicians that proposed harsh policies towards Confederates during the Reconstruction Era.

Most well known Radicals: Senator Charles SumnerPennsylvania Representative _______________________RADICAL REPUBLICANSSenator Benjamin Wade

THADDEAS STEVENS ON RECONSTRUCTION The President assumes, what no one doubts, that the late rebel States have lost their constitutional relations to the Union, and are incapable of representation in Congress, except by permission of the Government. It matters but little, with this admission, whether you call them States out of the Union, and now conquered territories, or assert that because the Constitution forbids them to do what they did do, that they are therefore only dead as to all national and political action, and will remain so until the Government shall breathe into them the breath of life anew and permit them to occupy their former position. In other words, that they are not out of the Union, but are only dead carcasses lying within the Union. In either case, it is very plain that it requires the action of Congress to enable them to form a State government and send representatives to Congress. Nobody, I believe, pretends that with their old constitutions and frames of government they can be permitted to claim their old rights under the Constitution. They have torn their constitutional States into atoms, and built on their foundations fabrics of a totally different character. Dead men cannot raise themselves. Dead States cannot restore their existence "as it was." Whose especial duty is it to do it? In whom does the Constitution place the power? Not in the judicial branch of Government, for it only adjudicates and does not prescribe laws. Not in the Executive, for he only executes and cannot make laws. Not in the Commander-in-Chief of the armies, for he can only hold them under military rule until the sovereign legislative power of the conqueror shall give them law. Unless the law of nations is a dead letter, the late war between two acknowledged belligerents severed their original compacts and broke all the ties that bound them together. The future condition of the conquered power depends on the will of the conqueror. They must come in as new states or remain as conquered provinces. Congress . . . is the only power that can act in the matter.

Lincoln wanted to restore national unity (speedy)March 5, 1865 With Malice toward None

Issued Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (Dec. 1863):Would give a _________ ___________ to all southerners (except high-ranking Confederate leaders) who would:Restoration of rights and propertyswear allegiance to the Constitution accept emancipation

After _____% of the citizens of a southern state took that oath, the state would be readmitted.

Believed southerners should be punished harshly.

Proposed the Wade-Davis Bill (July 4, 1864): The South could set up government according to the following terms:

Governor appt. by Pres. & approved by CongressAt least _______ of voters in a conquered state take oath of allegiance.Ex-Confederates would be banned from drafting new state constitutions (IRONCLAD OATH).State constitutions must __________ slavery and grant citizenship/voting rights to freedmen

Passed Congress on July 2, 1864.

Lincoln did not sign the bill: southern states should be able to choose between both plansPunishForgive

13th Amendment: Abolished SlaveryAfter debating the amendment, the Senate passed it on April 8, 1864, by a vote of 38 to 6.

Although they initially rejected the amendment, the House of Representatives passed it on January 31, 1865, by a vote of 119 to 56.

President Abraham Lincoln then submitted the proposed amendment to the states for _______________.

Secretary of State William Henry Seward issued a statement verifying the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment on December 18, 1865.

Assassination of April 14, 1865: President Lincoln was assassinated while attending a performance of Our American Cousin at __________ Theater in Washington, D.C. The assassin, John Wilkes Booth, escaped with a broken leg, but he was shot later. Lincoln was succeeded by his vice president, Andrew Johnson.

_________________________: He was a Southern sympathizer during the Civil War, who plotted with six fellow-conspirators to assassinate Union leaders. On Apr. 14, 1865, he shot President Lincoln during a performance of Our American Cousin at Fords Theater in Washington, D.C. He escaped, but was later shot and killed.

_____________________ (1819-1892)1O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done, 2The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won, 3The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, 4While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring; 5But O heart! heart! heart! 6O the bleeding drops of red, 7Where on the deck my Captain lies, 8Fallen cold and dead. 9O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells; 10Rise up -- for you the flag is flung -- for you the bugle trills, 11For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths -- for you the shores a-crowding, 12For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning; 13Here Captain! dear father! 14This arm beneath your head! 15It is some dream that on the deck, 16You've fallen cold and dead.

17My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still, 18My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will, 19The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done, 20From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won; 21Exult O shores, and ring O bells! 22But I with mournful tread, 23Walk the deck my Captain lies, 24Fallen cold and dead. O Captain! My Captain!

Johnson Becomes President (April 1865)Began life as a poor ____________

Owned 5 slaves until 1862 (Tenn. Rebels)

Racist: inferior to the white man in point of intellectbetter calculated in physical structure to undergo drudgery and hardship.

Democratic Senator (Tenn.)

Only _________________ Senator to support the Union (held aristocratic planter class responsible for secession)

Becomes Pres. In April 1865; Congress not due in session until December

Johnsons PlanNeither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Pardoned many ex-_______________ (14,000)Returned confiscated land to ex-Confederates.Set easy terms for readmission to the Union 1. States had to ____________their acts of secession (South Carolina and Georgia) 2. States had to abolish slavery (ratify13th Amendment)

3. States had to refuse to pay Confederate government debts (this was intended to punish southerners who had financed the war)

Why did many Americans consider President Johnsons plan unfair?It allowed former Confederates to go unpunished.

It allowed former Confederates to take office and control state legislatures

It allowed for these new state governments to enact _________ _________ that restricted the rights of freedmen.

It led to ex-Confederates getting elected to Fed. Govt. (Elections of 1865)15 of 80 Senators and House of Reps had served in Confederate Army (10 were generals)Another 16 had served in judicial and civil postsAnother 9 had served in the Confederate CongressAlexander Stephens had served as VP of the Confederacy

Congress continues to Act _________ _________Was created in March 1865 to aid the millions of southerners left homeless and hungry by the war.

Distributed millions of free __________ to black and white refugees

Set up hospitals

Brought thousands of white southerners back onto farms to make a living again.

Served as an ________________ agency

Operated schools (By 1869, hundreds of schools for African Americans had been established in the South)Built schools and provided teachers to give blacks the education they had been denied under slaveryHelped establish colleges for black students, including Howard University, Hampton Institute, Atlanta University, and Fisk University

Roles of the Freedmens Bureau:

Distribute food and clothing

Served as an employment agency

Set up hospitals and schools

African American Universities: Atlanta, Howard, Fisk

Freedmens School

Johnson Vetoes BillIn February 1866 Congress passed the Freedmans Bureau Bill to extend the life of the agency

Surprisingly, Johnson ______________ the bill, citing constitutional and financial reasons:

It was never intended that the Freedmen should be fed, clothed, educated, and sheltered by the United States.

Johnson disagreed with allowing the Bureau to deal with cases involving discrimination or infringement of civil rights---(claimed this should be left to the courts)

Congress (Republicans) Vs. JohnsonRepublican-dominated Congress refused to seat the southern representatives.

In early 1866, Congress began hearings on conditions in the South.

Witness after witness presented evidence of postwar violenceAfrican Americans recounted stories of murder and the burning of____________, homes, and schools

A move was made by Republicans to extend the life of the Freedmans Bureau

Result: Former Confederates Enact Black CodesResembled pre-Civil War slave codesi.e. Mississippi only substituted the word freedman for slave

Varied from state to state

Aimed to prevent African Americans from achieving social, political, and _________ equality

Freedmens School Burns Memphis (1866)

Race RiotsMay 1, 1866 two carriages collided on the streets of Memphis

Police officers arrested the black driver but not the white driver

Blacks protested; white mob gathered

Led to a 3-day riot in which white rioters (mainly police officers and firefighters) killed 46 African Americans and burned 12 schools and 4 churches

Examples of Black CodesAfrican Americans could not hold _____________ unless whites were present

Forbade them to __________ without __________, own guns, attend schools with whites, sit on juries, etc

Reestablished white control over laborForced African Americans to return to the fieldsSome states required blacks to only work as servants; Some states required blacks to pay taxes to work in other occupations.

Several states required blacks to sign long-term labor contracts (those who refused could be arrested)

Apprenticeship laws: Most states allowed judges to bind black children to white employers if they deemed the parents unable to support them (thousands of black children worked for planters)

PRESIDENT JOHNSONS RECONSTRUCTION PLANFORMER CONFEDERATES ENACT BLACK CODESEFFECTS OF CODES ON AFRICAN AMERICANS Tried to deprive freed people of equality Re-established white control over African American laborBENEFITS TO FORMER CONFEDERATES Blanket pardon for most rebels Easy terms of readmission to the Union;: states had to nullify their acts of secession, abolish slavery, and refuse to pay war debtsEFFECTS OF PRESIDENT JOHNSONS RECONSTRUCTION PLAN ON FORMER CONFEDERATES AND THE EFFECTS OF THE BLACK CODES ON FREEDPEOPLE

Congress Passes ______ ______BillFirst Civil Rights law in nations history

Declared that everyone __________ in the U.S. was a citizen with full civil rights; however, it still did NOT guarantee voting rights

This law was written to overturn the 1857 Dred __________ ruling and to nullify the recently enacted black codes.

If the President vetoes the Civil Rights Bill, we shall be obliged to draw our swords.--Ohio senator

Not this Time!Johnson vetoes the bill, arguing that it would centralize power in the federal government.

This veto eroded any support he had had in CongressModerates and Radicals unite:

Congress __________ the veto of the Civil Rights Act.

Congress passed a new Freedmans Bureau Bill, overriding Johnsons veto yet again.

Help is on the way!!! _______________ Northern Republicans who moved South during ReconstructionRECONSTRUCTION ACT OF 1867

2. ____________- Name given to southerners who now backed reconstruction and helped with the rebuilding process

3. The Freedmen Bureau agency developed to help the homeless and the hungry

More Helpful Ideas:

Joint Committee of 15 established by Congress to examine successes and failures of reconstruction

_______________ Act divided the South into 5 military districts

The Fourteenth Amendment (Ratified 1868)Congress attempted to answer all of Johnsons Constitutional objections to the Civil Rights Bill with the 14th Amendment: 1. Required states to extend equal citizenship to African Americans and all people born or naturalized in the U.S.2. It denied states the right to deprive anyone of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.3. It promised all citizens the equal protection of the laws.

Fourteenth Amendment (Contd)DID NOT GUARANTEE AFRICAN AMERICAN VOTING RIGHTS

It did, however, reduce the representation of any state that did not allow its adult male citizens to vote.The more African American men who were not allowed to vote, the fewer representatives that state could send to Congress

If the Southern states accepted this amendment, they could enter the Union: TENNESSEE

Johnson campaigned heavily against this amendment.

Events causing Conflict b/w Johnson & Senate Vetoes Freedmens Bureau Bill

Vetoes Civil Rights Bill of 1866 which declared every one born in U.S. a full citizen with civil rights

3. 14th Amendment - Granted rights of citizenship to all people born or naturalized in the U.S.

Denied states the right to deprive anyone of life, liberty, or property without due process

At the same time the Reconstruction Acts were passed, the Tenure of Office Act is passed to limit the power of the President. The Also passed the Command of the Army Act to prevent the president from issuing military orders except through the commanding general, Ulysses S. Grant. (Who could not be removed without the approval of the Senate).

Impeachment of Andrew JohnsonReasons House impeached JohnsonReasons Senate Acquitted JohnsonArticles 1-8: Charged Johnson with illegally violating the ______________ ________________ prohibited the President from removing any appointed govt. official without Senate approval

Article 9: Accused Johnson of violating the Command of the Army Act required Johnson to issue all military orders through the General of the Army instead of dealing directly with military governors in the South

Article 10-11: Accused Johnson of making inflammatory and scandalous speeches.Weak case against Johnson

Failure to prove that Johnson was guilty of bribery, treason, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.

Personal dislike of potential presidential successor (Benjamin Wade)

Fear that impeachment would weaken future presidents and threaten checks and balances

Main Reason for Impeachment:

Violated Tenure of Office Act

(Senate must approve the removal of an official) Johnson challenged this by firing Secretary of War Edward Stanton

Article II Section 4 Conviction of treason, bribery, and any other high crime or misdemeanorStep #1 The ____________ charges president with crime by majority vote Step # 2 Certain House members act as lawyers and prosecute the president and the ___________ acts as the jury and listens to charges while the _________ __________ of the Supreme Court (Salmon P. Chase) acts as judge Step # 3 Senate votes if 2/3rds vote guilty the president is removed from office

______________________: This act was passed in Congress with nearly unanimous Republican support in March 1866, and it attempted to redress the issue of slavery by defining all persons born in the nation as citizens. It also specified the rights of citizens, the right to sue, make contracts, give evidence in court, hold, convey, and inherit property.

_________________Amendment: The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified in 1865. It prohibited "slavery or involuntary servitude except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." This amendment guaranteed freedom for African Americans.

_________________ Amendment: The Fourteenth Amendment was passed in 1868. It said that no state can make or enforce any law which "deprives any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." Also, states could not "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

_________________ Amendment: Secretary of State Hamilton Fish ratified the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of United States on March 30, 1870. This amendment explicitly forbid denial of the right to vote for citizens "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."Post Civil War

The Rise of the Ku Klux Klan

Ku Klux Klan:secret terrorist organization formed by 6 ex-confederates soldiers

The Grand Wizard: (Head of the Klan) Nathan Bedford____________

Led murders on Republicans killing many whites and blacks that sided with the Republican Party

Klansmen burned schools, homes, churches

These events led to the _________________Acts (document):designed to help protect against the KKK

KKK 3 Main Objectives: During Reconstruction

Prevent Blacks from voting

Destroy Republican Party

Frighten African Americans political leaders

Strange Fruithttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFIficim0ds http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjfGcRM35xg&feature=related Emmitt Till by Bob Dylanhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbUtL_0vAJk Martin Luther King "I have a dream"

Committee on Public InformationIt was headed by George Creel. The purpose of this committee was to mobilize people's minds for war, both in America and abroad. Tried to get the entire U.S. public to support U.S. involvement in WWI. Creel's organization, employed some 150,000 workers at home and oversees. He proved that words were indeed weapons.George Creel Journalist who was responsible for selling America on WWI and was head of the Committee on Public Information. He was also responsible for selling the world on Wilsonian war aims.suspension of habeas corpus: Writs of habeas corpus are court orders requiring that the a cause of imprisonment be demonstrated before a person is jailed. This basic civil liberty was suspended by both Lincoln and Davis during the war to deal with dissent. Lincoln used it to intimidate border states into rejecting secession. A fine line?Remember the article about the arrest of editors of newspapers as a result of the violation of the suspension during the Civil War.Office of Censorship, Office of War Information: Roosevelt wanted public opinion to be positive during the war, and in 1941, he established the Office of Censorship. It examined all written documents, including works of publishers and broadcasters, as well as all letters going overseas, in order to maintain the positive public opinion in America.

Ex parte Milligan: Ex parte Milligan was an 1866 Supreme Court limiting the authority of martial law and the suspension of habeas corpus in times of war. In this case, the court declared that "martial law can never exist where the courts are open in the proper and unobstructed exercise of their jurisdiction." Civil Rights violations - It was illegal then, why isnt it illegal in the future?

Civil Rights violations - It was illegal then, why isnt it illegal in the future?

Examples of Jim Crow laws:

1. All voters had to pay a two-dollar poll tax ( voting tax) when they registered to vote

2. Voters had to pass a test to prove their ability to read and understand documents such as the state and federal constitutions or the Declaration of Independence to register.

3. Voters were required to own land or property to register.

4. Blacks were denied the use of public parks, beaches, and picnic areas.

5. Blacks and whites could not go to school together.

Education Separate schools shall be maintained for the children of the white and colored races. Mississippi

Lunch Counters No persons, firms, or corporations, who or which furnish meals to passengers at station restaurants or station eating houses, in times limited by common carriers of said passengers, shall furnish said meals to white and colored passengers in the same room, or at the same table, or at the same counter. South Carolina

Teaching Any instructor who shall teach in any school, college or institution where members of the white and colored race are received and enrolled as pupils for instruction shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be fined in any sum not less than ten dollars ($10.00) nor more than fifty dollars ($50.00) for each offense. Oklahoma

literacy tests, poll tax: Literacy tests were given to blacks with the idea that they would be denied the right to vote since most could not read. The poll tax prevented African-Americans from voting by requiring all voters to pay a tax, which blacks could not afford. In 1966, the poll tax was outlawed in all elections. Literacy tests: Passed by Congress in 1917 in order to restrict immigration, the law enlarged the group of immigrants that could be excluded from the United States. Literacy tests were imposed on all immigrants, and any immigrant who could not pass the tests was not allowed entry into the U.S.

To Secure These Rights: The 1946 Committee on Civil Rights dramatized the inequities of life in the South and under the Jim Crow laws. It called for an end to racial discrimination and segregation, and was called "an American charter of human freedom," by President Truman.

desegregation of the armed forces, 1948: Truman ended segregation in the army to provide support during World War II to ensure victory. He was the first president to deal with the legislative civil rights since the implementation of Reconstruction and fought for many other civil rights acts but was denied."separate but equal": Enacted because of the inferiority complex given to blacks, it set forth an attempt to liberalize without losing control. The Supreme Court said that it had no place in schools, so it ordered the desegregation of schools, navy yards and veteran hospitals.

BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF TOPEKA: The Supreme Court reversed Plessy v. Ferguson in 1954 by ruling in favor of the desegregation of schools. The court held that "separate but equal" violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and was unconstitutional. Refusing to force the white south to accept the ruling, defiance toward the law sprang up. Many southerners saw it as "an abuse of judiciary power."

Felon voting bans were adopted by states in the late 1860s and 1870s as the 15th Amendment was extending voting rights to African Americans. States with larger nonwhite prison populations were more likely to ban convicted felons from voting than states where more whites were in the prison population. States with more white prisoners in the 20th century were subsequently more likely to soften or repeal these laws than states with higher African-American prison po9lulations. Southern states have been significantly less likely to repeal laws that prevent ex-felons from ever voting again.

SOURCE: State and Local Politics Institutions and Reform, Todd Donovan, Christopher Z. Mooney, Daniel A. Smith

Civil Rights Act,1957: Eisenhower passed this bill to establish a permanent commission on civil rights with investigative powers but it did not guarantee a ballot for blacks. It was the first civil-rights bill to be enacted after Reconstruction which was supported by most non-southern whites.

Civil Rights Act, 1960: Eisenhower passed this bill to appease strong southern resistance and only slightly strengthened the first measures provisions. Neither act was able to empower federal officials to register the right to vote for African-Americans and was not effective.Twenty-fourth Amendment: The 24th Amendment, adopted in 1964, gave voting rights to every American citizen, regardless of their race or religion. It also prohibited the use of the poll tax or any tax that denied the vote. The amendment gave Congress the power to enforce it with legislation.

CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964, public accommodations section of the act: Passed under the Johnson administration, this act outlawed segregation in public areas and granted the federal government power to fight black disfranchisement. The act also created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to prevent discrimination in the work place. This act was the strongest civil rights legislation since Reconstruction and invalidated the Southern Caste System.

VOTING RIGHTS ACT, 1965: The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed as a Great Society program under the Johnson administration. It prohibited the use of literacy tests as a part of the voter registration process which were initially used as a method to control immigration to the United States during the 1920s. The act enabled federal examiners to register anyone who qualified in the South, giving the power of the vote to underrepresented minorities.

Civil Rights Act, 1968: The Civil Rights Act of 1968 barred discrimination in housing sales or rentals. This act was a part of a series of new legislation that encouraged desegregation of blacks in America. The act was a key piece of legislation which ensured blacks more equal rights.

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