Unit V Part 5

1. Unit VPart 5 The Reconstruction

2. The Reconstruction1865-1877 • Was seen as the only way to prevent the South from restoring their pre-war society • Was an important first step toward Civil Rights • The Constitution v Social Changes • It will fail • But it was less of a failure than first thought • (there WAS an improvement in education for black children in the South)

3. Views on Reconstruction • Lincoln The 10% Plan • Johnson The Restoration • Congress The Wade Davis Bill • Lincoln (Conservative Republican) had plans for Reconstruction before his death but battled with Congress (Radical Republicans) and THEY came to blows with Andrew Johnson (War Democrat)

4. The President(s) v Congress • While they bickered over who was in charge, Southerners had the opportunity to tie the freed Black man to the land legally. • Locally, the old order was briefly restored to the South

5. The South • The Southern economy was devastated • 258,000 white males died in the war • Many more were wounded • Many lost their land (had not been paid as soldiers) • 4,000,000 former slaves were freed • After the war they had nowhere to go

6. The new Freedmen • Often gathered around Northern occupational forces (the South will be occupied by Northern troops until the Southern States reenter the Union) • Most Blacks tended to pull out of white organizations and begin their own (Churches, etc)

7. The Freedmen’s Bureau • Established by Congress in March of 1865 to see to the needs of the Freedmen • Was the only federal agency established to aid both Blacks and poor whites after the war… • When it failed (1874), there was nothing to take its place.

8. The Freedmen’s Bureau • Was run by the Army (General Howard) • To distribute food • Establish schools (4,000 in the end) • Give medical care • Redistribute land • Settled labor disputes • Freedman’s Bureau Bank

9. The Freedman’s Bureau • Had a budget of $17,000,000 • Divide by 4,000,000 Blacks • = $4.25 each…The equivalent of a Happy Meal!

10. So Why Will Reconstruction Fail? • The Failure of the Freedman’s Bureau • Black Codes (Vagrancy laws, etc) • The KKK and other terrorist organizations • The Crop Lien System

11. Issues of Reconstruction • The North thought the South should diversify its economy • Many in the North thought the South should be punished • When the Southern states were re-admitted…they would come into the Union as a united Democratic front • Meant the end of Republican nationalist legislation.

12. So did the Republicans really want Southern states back in the Union? • Nope. • Could this be the real reason for Amendments 14 and 15? Maybe • Think…if the freed Black man could vote, which party would he vote for? The party that fought to free him or the party that enslaved him?

13. The Radical Republicans • Many WERE committed to the welfare of the Blacks in the South • Their leaders: • Charles Sumner • Thaddeus Stephens • Benjamin Wade

14. Lincoln • A Conservative Republican • Was willing to put the issue of the Freedman on the back burner for the sake of bringing the South back into the Union as easily as possible • He knew that Southern whites would resist social equality for Blacks • While alive, he was the President who led the North to victory so he was a big obstacle to the Radicals and had he lived, the Constitution may have been different…

15. After Lincoln’s Death • Andrew Johnson was undermined by the Radicals in Congress • He was just as ineffective before his impeachment as after. • The Radicals took firm control

16. Lincoln’s 10% Plan • Lincoln wanted to make it easy for the Southern states to reenter the Union • His Plan was in place by 1864 (before the war’s end) • When 10% of the # of the voters in the election of 1860 took an oath of loyalty to the U.S., then that state could enter the Union • General amnesty for most Southern Whites

17. As early as 1864 • Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee tried to reenter te Union under Lincoln’s 10% Plan • When the above states sent representatives to Congress, The Radicals in Congress refused to seat them • Radicals will form their own plan

18. The Wade-Davis Bill • The President to appoint a provisional government for each succeeded state • When a MAJORITY of the # of voters in the election of 1860 took an oath of loyalty to the U.S. the state could call for elections to a constitutional convention • Those who voted in that election had to take the Iron Clad Oath: Swear that they had never born arms against the United States

19. THEN • The new state constitutions had to: • Abolish Slavery • Disenfranchise Confederate military and civilian leaders • Repudiate debts accumulated by the state during the war

20. Lincoln • Gave the Wade-Davis Bill a Pocket Veto • (in the meantime, the old order began to reestablish itself in the South: Black codes, etc)

21. Johnson’s Restoration • Johnson was a War Democrat • His plan for reconstruction was called the Restoration • Was similar to the Wade-Davis Bill • Exception: The President could personally grant pardons to former Confederate leaders who petitioned (groveled before him) for it • Johnson never had an issue with slavery but he DID resent wealthy White guys (he was VERY poor and always felt left out while growing up)

22. Johnson v Congress • The conflict between Johnson and Congress over reconstruction was not about HOW the reconstruction would occur (because Johnson’s Restoration was so similar to the Wade-Davis Bill) • The conflict was over who would be in charge

23. When States tried to enter under Johnson’s plan • Again, the Radicals in Congress would not seat the representatives from the Southern States

24. December 1865 • Congress reconvened • The official beginning of Reconstruction • Congress established a Joint Committee on Reconstruction: • To investigate conditions in the South • To create a Reconstruction policy

25. Congressional Elections 1866 • The North disgusted with the South: • Black Codes • KKK • Race riots in the South • Radical Republicans made great gains in the election

26. The Radicals in Congress • Passed an extension of the Freedmen’s Bureau • Widened powers • More Money • Special courts for labor disputes • Thaddeas Stephens: 40 Acres and a mule • Was vetoed by Johnson

27. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 • Was passed by Radicals in Congress • Declared Blacks to be citizens of the U.S. and empowered the Federal Government to intervene to protect individual rights • Johnson vetoed this one too

28. Congress overrode the vetoes • On both the Extension of the Freedmen’s Bureau AND the Civil Rights Act of 1866 • The FIRST time in American History that a major piece of legislation became law after a presidential veto • It was so easy! They did it again and again • It was like there WAS no President

29. The 14th Amendment • April 1866 • Second of the National Supremacy Amendments • First constitutional definition of U.S. Citizenship: If you are born in the U.S. or are a naturalized citizen, you are entitled to equal protection under the law • States who denied citizens equal rights would be punished (federal funds or electors in elections

30. The 14th Amendment • Did not apply to women (race and condition of previous servitude mentioned…not gender) • Prohibited state or federal office to anyone who supported the Confederacy after taking the oath to support the Constitution (2/3 vote of Congress could pardon individuals) • Southern states could only be admitted now if they approved the 14th amendment

31. NOTE • The 14th Amendment reduced the power of ALL of the states • Tennessee DID ratify it…no other states • Amendments needed ¾ states approval for passage. Most Southerners preferred occupation by the North rather than give Blacks equal rights

32. So Congress had to change the rules • To ratify an amendment each state had to come up with a vote that represented a majority of the voters of that state • Was changed: only a majority of the actual voters was necessary…so 14th Amendment was passed

33. 1867 3 Reconstruction Bills • Johnson vetoed all 3 and Congress overrode all vetoes • The South to be divided up into 5 military districts, each headed by a U.S. General • 20,000 northern soldiers to occupy the South, register Black voters, remove the old guard from office & supervise elections for state constitutional conventions • Clarified procedures for above

34. 1870 The 15th Amendment • Gave the Freedmen the right to vote • Note: many states in the North had not done this yet! • Blacks in the South DID vote…as long as Northern troops occupied the South and supported Black and Tan Governments there • But when the South was redeemed…most Blacks were kept from the polls

35. Black and Tan Governments • State governments while the North occupied the South • Were made up of Scalawags and Carpetbaggers • Were seen as traitors by most Southern whites • Scalawags: Southerners who had never owned slaves and who believed the South should industrialize • Carpetbaggers: Northerners who saw the South as the new frontier (some had come with the Freedmen’s Bureau)

36. The 15th Amendment • How did the Southern states get around it? • Literacy Tests • Grandfather laws • Poll Taxes • Threats by white employers • Threats by the KKK

37. Also • The 15th Amendment guaranteed the right to vote…not to hold office • If Blacks were illiterate, how did they know how to vote? How did they work in State Constitutional Conventions? • The B & T’s told them how to vote and wrote the constitutions

38. When occupational troops left • The B & T’s were voted out of office and the Redeemers were voted in • AKA the Bourbons • And the South looked just like it did before the war…The Black man was still tied to the land but NOW, he had to feed, cloth, house himself and his family with token wages

39. The 15th Amendment • Split the Women’s Movement • NWSA (Anthony, Stanton, Stone) worked AGAINST the 15th Amendment…wanted a new amendment that included women • AWSA (Stone) supported the 15th Amendment and continued to work for women

40. Later • The AWSA and the NWSA will reunite to work for the 19th Amendment in 1920 • Will be called the National American Woman’s Suffrage Association (NAWSA) 1866 Equal Rights Association: worked for women’s suffrage on the state level 1868 Working Women’s Association: Feminist and labor causes

41. The Freedman’s Bureau Bank • Helped Blacks and poor whites buy land, homes • Freedman’s Bureau put its federal $ in its own bank as a investment • Panic of 1873 (Grant) Bank failed in 1874 • Freedmen’s Bureau folded too • No other agency to take its place

42. 40 Acres and a Mule • Thaddeas Stephens • 800,000 acres of land taken from Southern Whites who had held high positions (government and military) in the Confederacy • It was distributed to about 10,000 Black families who ended up losing the land after the Reconstruction…land was taken illegally

43. Education • Failed to integrate and bring education to all black BUT • It was the least of the failures of Reconstruction • Freedmen’s Bureau established 4,000 schools • Were open to black and white children but whites would not integrate in spite of the 1875 Civil Rights Act