SSUSH10 A thru E Reconstruction

Reconstruction

Dec 1863: Lincoln’s Plan

• Establish a Moderate Policy to restore the

Southern States back into the Union:

Avoid Punishment for Treason

Offer a General Amnesty (Pardon)

Require an Oath of Loyalty

Acceptance of the 13th Amendment

• Radical Senator Thaddeus Stevens led the opposition.

Republican Resistance

Did not want to Reconcile with the South

Prevent Confederate Leaders from Returning to Power

Create a Powerful Republican Party in the South

Give African-Americans Political Equality with the Right to Vote

Reconstruction

Summer 1864: Moderate Republicans

• Lincoln was too Lenient

• Radicals were too Harsh

• Wade-Davis Bill was their Alternative Plan

Southern Men take an Oath of Allegiance to the U.S.

Constitutional Conventions create new State Governments

Abolishment of Slavery throughout the United States

Deprive Confederate Leaders from Holding Political Offices

African-Americans to be given Equality under the Law

• Document was amended with a Preamble by

Thaddeus Stevens: South is a “Public Enemy”

• President Lincoln refused to sign the Bill into

law prior to Congress’ end of Session (Pocket Veto).

Reconstruction

The Refugee Crisis

• Mar 1865: Congress Created the

“Freedmen’s Bureau.”

Tasked with feeding & Clothing

War Refugees from the South

Helping former Slaves find work

on Plantations.

Negotiating Labor Contracts

with Local Planters.

Establish Schools to Educate

freed African Americans.

• Rejected: “Forty Acres and a Mule”

Reconstruction

15 April 1865

• President Abraham Lincoln is Assassinated.

• V.P. Andrew Johnson becomes President

• New Proclamation of Amnesty:

May 1865: Johnson’s Restoration Policy Dec 1865: New Congressional Session

• Republicans angered by the South:

All former Citizens of the

Confederacy Except Military

Officers and Political Officials

• New Model to Restore the South:

New State Conventions

Revoke Ordinance of Secession

Ratify Thirteenth Amendment

Reject all Confederate Debts

Former Confederates were

elected to Congress

Confederate V.P.

A.H. Stephens (GA)

Establishment of Black Codes

Limiting the Rights of All

African-Americans in the South

Reconstruction

Dec 1865: Joint Committee on Reconstruction

• Congressional Committee to develop their own Rebuilding Program

Struggles between the President and

Congress began immediately over plans

for Reconstruction.

Feb 1866: Freedmen’s Bureau Act

• Plan to Extend the agencies existence for Two More Years

Mar 1866: Civil Rights Act

• Granting Citizenship to all persons Born in the U.S. (Except Native Americans)

June 1866: Fourteenth Amendment

• Granting Citizenship to all persons Born or Naturalized in the United States

• Equal Protection under the Law to all Citizens (Life, Liberty, and Property)

Reconstruction

• Divided Former Confederacy into

Five Military Districts .

• Each District had a Union General

with Military Control.

• Required Constitutional Conventions

to design New State Constitutions.

• Ensure the Right to Vote to all

Citizens within each state.

• Ratification of the Fourteenth

Amendment by each state.

• Compliance of all requirements

resulted in re-admittance to Union.

Mar 1867: Military Reconstruction Act

Reconstruction

Struggles between the President and

Congress continued over Reconstruction

since Republicans did not trust Johnson.

• Congress was concerned that the President would try to block their plans.

Mar 1867: Command of the Army Act

• Required all Presidential Orders to

go through the Army Commander.

Mar 1867: Tenure of Office Act

• Required Senate approval to

Remove any Government Official.

21 Feb 1868: President Johnson fired Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton

24 February 1868

• The House of Representatives voted

to Impeach Pres. Andrew Johnson.

16 May 1868

• The Senate Failed to Convict the

President of any crimes.

Reconstruction

1868 Presidential Election

• Pres. Andrew Johnson declined to rerun.

• Republicans nominated Ulysses S. Grant.

Fifteenth Amendment

(Ratified: 30 Mar 1870)

• Ulysses S. Grant was elected when Democrats were unable to unify.

• The Right to Vote “Shall Not be

Denied on Account of Race, Color,

or Previous Condition of

Servitude.

Reconstruction

Radical Reconstruction had a dramatic

impact on the Southern States.

Northern

Republicans who

went South to

help rebuild

were called:

Carpetbaggers

Southerners who

supported

Reconstruction &

help Northerners

were called:

Scalawags

Increased African-American

involvement in Southern Politics

became known in the South as:

Black Republicanism

This negative attitude was

drastically exaggerated by many

Southerners.

Reconstruction

Reconstruction efforts helped

establish African-American

Academies and Colleges.

Atlanta University

(founded in 1865)

was merged with

Clark College

(Founded in 1869)

Chartered in 1877

Augusta Institute

(Founded in 1867)

became Atlanta

Baptist College

(Renamed in 1897)

Renamed in 1913

Better educated and informed African-Americans began to

acquire political positions in the South

Race of delegates to 1867 state constitutional conventions

State White Black %

White

Statewide white

population (% in 1870)

Virginia 80 25 76 58

North Carolina

107 13 89 63

South Carolina

48 76 39 41

Georgia 133 33 80 54

Florida 28 18 61 51

Alabama 92 16 85 52

Mississippi 68 17 80 46

Louisiana 25 44 36 50

Texas 81 9 90 69

African Americans in Office 1870–1876

State Legislators Senators Congressmen

Alabama 69 0 4

Arkansas 8 0 0

Florida 30 0 1

Georgia 41 0 1

Louisiana 87 0 1

Mississippi 112 2 1

North Carolina

30 0 1

South Carolina

190 0 6

Tennessee 1 0 0

Texas 19 0 0

Virginia 46 0 0

Total 633 2 15

In 1867

No African-Americans

held political office in

the South

By 1870

15% of all men elected

were African-American

Reconstruction 24 Dec 1865

Six well-educated

Confederate

Veterans in

Tennessee formed:

Ku Klux Klan

In 1867 a

Confederate

Veteran in

Louisiana formed

the:

Rising Southern Resistance

Intense resentment by

some Southern whites

resulted in the formation

of Secret Societies. Knights of the White Camelia

Members often included

Confederate Veterans

Southern Vigilantes

Poor White Farmers

Displaced Politicians

Illegal Whiskey Makers

Members often included

Confederate Veterans

Physicians & Doctors

Newspaper Editors

Displaced Politicians

Southern Landowners

Primary Goals

• Drive out Union

Troops and

Carpetbaggers

• Regain Control

of the South

Reconstruction

Hooded, White-Robed

Groups of Klansmen

Terrorized Republican

Supporters

• Breaking up Political

Meetings

• Burning Homes,

Schools, & Churches

• Attacking Freedman’s

Bureau Officials

• Disrupting Voting

• Hanging Selected

Individuals & Officials

Many Republicans in

the South considered

the KKK to be worse

than Slavery ever was.

1870 – 1871 Three Enforcement Acts

• A Crime to interfere

with Citizen’s Voting.

• U.S. Marshals directed

to Supervise Elections.

• Outlawed Activities of

the Ku Klux Klan.

Southern Resistance

Ku Klux Klan

Collapse of Reconstruction

Presidential Election of 1876

• Republicans nominated former Ohio

Governor Rutherford B. Hayes.

Compromise of 1877

• Democrats nominated former

New York Governor Samuel Tilden.

• 7 Nov 1876: Tilden received 184 votes & Hayes received 165 votes

with 20 votes from four Southern States in dispute.

• 15 Member Congressional Committee was appointed to settle the dispute.

• 8 Republican members votes for Hayes against 7 Democrats for Tilden.

• Republicans promised to remove troops from the South to get votes.

• April 1877: President Hayes pulled Federal Troops out of the South.

Collapse of Reconstruction

Creating the New South

• Northern Financiers

helped the South:

Build Railroads Create Industries Textile Businesses

Return of the Old South

• Region Primarily Agricultural

• African-Americans lost their

Political Power

• African-Americans forced

back to work on Plantations

African-Americans

forced back to work

on the Plantations.

Those who worked

for wages and paid

rent to live on the

land were known as:

Tenant Farmers

Those who paid their

rent with part of

their crops became

known as:

Sharecroppers Many African-Americans

ended up trapped into

Debt Peonage (Bondage)

Collapse of Reconstruction

Merchants gave credit

Charged 40% Interest

Took payment in Crops

Confiscated Lands