The Rise & Fall of Reconstruction

1. The Rise & Fall of Reconstruction The Birth of the Civil Rights Movement & the Extinguishing of Civil Rights Progress

2. Reconstruction - 1865-1877 • Federal government program to repair damage to the South • Restore and re-integrate Confederate states into the Union • Hugely controversial for many reasons, and still debated today

3. Assassination of Lincoln

4. John Wilkes Booth”Sic semper tyrannis” (Thus always to tyrants) 

5. New President: Andrew Johnson • Johnson was a Southerner (and a Democrat). • Lincoln had made him his VP to keep the loyalty of the border (slave) states

6. Human Toll of War • 1.5 million combined casualties • North had 364,000 fatalities • Including 38,000 African-American soldiers • South had 260,000 fatalities • 20% of all white men in the South died • 33% of all men in South killed or severely wounded • Psychological toll was even worse

7. An estimated 60,000 amputations occurred during the Civil War

8. There was even a newspaper for amputees

9. A exhibition of writing by right-handed amputees. • To benefit disabled soldiers and sailors

10. Southern economy was destroyed • Destroyed 2/3 of South’s shipping industry, 9,000 miles of railroad • 2/3 of all livestock • Ruined bridges, canals, roads Library of Congress

11. Economic Toll • Value of southern farm property fell by 70% • Confederate money worth nothing • Labor Structure was dismantled • Slaves freed • Slave labor lost was worth about $3 billion • White men dead or seriously injured • Northern industry had boomed during war • Now it must brace for post-war decline

12. Three groups of survivors in the South • Black southerners: 4 million former slaves now free • Under slavery they had food and shelter • Now free, they had to find this on their own • Starvation and unemployment common • Many continued to work on former plantations • Some moved to the West or to the North

13. Survivors • Plantation owners: slave labor lost was worth about $3 billion • Confederate money used by landowners now worthless • Many sold off land just to survive • Psychological and physical scars of war • Poor white southerners • Psychological and physical scars of war • White laborers had new competition with slaves being set free • Mass migration westward to Texas and beyond

14. President Abraham Lincoln • Lincoln wanted the country to come back together peacefully. • Lincoln’s plan was created in 1863, about two years before the end of the war. • At the time of his death, the war was just ending and he was not able to put his ideas into practice. The Ten Percent Plan • 10% of voters in the seceded states must swear loyalty under oath to the Union. • The states that seceded must abolish slavery.

15. 13th Amendment • "Neither 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.“

16. Reconstruction “It was, perhaps, the greatest betrayal, the ultimate lost opportunity, in all of American history. The failure of Reconstruction (1865-77)—the reunion and reorganization undertaken after the Civil War—was a dark, yet briefly vibrant, moment in our collective past. This was a time of promises made but not kept, mainly promises to the newly freed slaves. The results of this lost opportunity for genuine civil rights and racial equality resonate in the present day.”

17. Andrew Johnson’s plan Disliked the planter class but also was a rac.its • Allowed for segregation of the races. Johnson Plan • The majority of white men from formerly Confederate states must swear loyalty to the United States. • Formerly Confederate states must ratify the 13th Amendment. • Former Confederate officials may hold office and vote. • In addition, Southern states control African American voting rights • Southern states quickly agree to Johnson’s deal

18. Problems: Black Codes • Passed in southern states in 1865-1866. • Gave some rights to blacks but • Limited the rights of blacks. • Blacks must abide by “labor contracts” • Excluded from certain occupations • Strict vagrancy laws, unemployed blacks could be arrested and sent out for (unpaid) labor

19. Nouveau Confederacy • Ex-Confederates still in control • Many of the newly elected southern lawmakers had been in the Confederate Congress, held a cabinet position in the Confederate government, or had been Confederate generals in the war.

20. Radical Republicans • Radical republicans, often abolitionists, represented a large part of Congress. • These Congressmen wanted to be strict with the States that had rebelled. • They also wanted to protect the newly freed slaves. Reconstruction Act • Formerly Confederate states must disband their state governments. • Formerly Confederate states must write new state constitutions. • Formerly Confederate states must ratify the 14th Amendment • Formerly Confederate states must allow African Americans to vote.

21. President Johnson and Radical Congress clash • Congress unhappy with Johnson’s soft reconstruction plan • Tried to pass a Civil Rights Act 1866, Johnson vetoed it as well as an extension and expansion of the Freedman’s Bureau (something that had never happened before to a major piece of legislation since the birth of the Republic) • Congress overrode the veto, then proposed an amendment to Constitution which will be ratified as the 14th amendment in 1868. 14th Amendment would become extremely important to the fight over civil rights in the United States

22. Bureau for the Relief of Freedman and Refugees • Passed by act of Congress 3/3/1865 • Federal agency to provide food, clothing shelter, and land to displaced Southerners (including ex-slaves) • Set up schools, and supervised labor contracts between freedman and employers, managed confiscated lands. • Underfunded, never more than 900 employees in the entire South “The Freedman’s Bureau! An agency to keep the Negro in idleness at the expense of the white man. … Support Congress & you support the Negro. Sustain the President & you protect the white man.”

23. 14th Amendment SECTION 1- All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizensof the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws

24. Additional elements of 14th Amendment • Section 2 • removed 3/5 representation clause • States would lose representation in Congress in proportion to the number of eligible males 21 and over blocked from voting • Section 3 • Blocked former politicians and military leaders who had joined the Confederacy from holding federal office again unless specifically approved by Congress • Section 4 • Confirmed concept of Federal “public” debt • Denied legitimacy (repudiated) of confederate debt

25. Congressional (Radical) Reconstruction Upset with the leniency of Johnson’s plan and the passing of black code laws in the South, Radical Republican pushed through the Reconstruction Acts of 1867. • Broke the south (except Tennessee) into 5 zones under Northern military control • Did not recognize state governments created under presidential plans and ordered states to hold new elections for delegates to create new state constitutions (exc. Tennessee) • Required states to allow all qualified male voters, including African Americans to vote (disallowed confederate leaders) • Required ratification of the 14th Amendment • Required Southern states to guarantee equal rights

27. Impeachment of Johnson • Congress and Johnson continue to clash. • Congress overrides a number of Johnson’s vetoes 1868, House of Reps votes to impeach Johnson, but Senate (by one vote) fails to convict.

28. New Civil Rights of Reconstruction • 13th, 14th , & 15th Amendments • Freedmen’s Bureau • African-American property rights • African-American political participation • African-Americans in state and local office

29. New Daily Lives of Former Slaves • Freedom of movement • Some former slaves went in search of family members. • Some moved North or West • Majority did not go far from where they had been enslaved • African-American education increase • Freedman’s Bureau help set up schools • From beginning, schools were de facto segregated • African-American political involvement • For most this meant voting alone • Some served in positions of power • In general, the most educated, often priorly free AA were elected to office

30. New Southern Agricultural System • Old plantation system was dead with the 13th Amendment, but… • New system emerged soon after the Civil War • Before 1860, 90% of cotton picked by slaves • By 1875, 40% picked by white tenant farmers • New system was broken into two categories--Sharecropping & Tenant Farming • While this new system initially gave poor whites and African-Americans MORE economic freedom, it would create “generational” poverty.

31. Republican South • Republican control of south helped continue progress in civil rights • State governments made up of freedmen, “carpetbaggers,” & “scalawags.” • Carpetbaggers~ Northern Republicans who moved to South after Civil War (Some to help—Some to profit) • Scalawags~ Southerners who joined the Republican Party.

32. “Negro Rule:” Blacks vote and serve Hiram Rhodes Revels was the first African American to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives and later the Senate. He served in Congress 1870 to 1871, representing Mississippi. 800 black men served in state legislatures from 1868-1877 More than 500,000 black men became voters in the south in the 1870s and they voted Republican (Party of Lincoln). In Mississippi, former slaves outnumbered whites and 90% (men) were registered.

33. Tenant Farming

34. Sharecropping

35. Slavery by Another Name • http://www.pbs.org/tpt/slavery-by-another-name/watch/

36. Factors Leading to the Failure of Reconstruction • Rise of the KKK • Fracture of the Republican Party • Panic of 1873 • Supreme Court refusal to support 14th & 15th Amendments • Redemption of the Southern Democrats • Election of 1876 • Rise of Jim Crow

37. 1. Rise of the Ku Klux Klan and other White Supremacy groups ~ Formed by former Confederate officers in Tennessee in 1866, initially as an open Social Club. ~ Primary goal was to stop African Americans from exerting new rights, & keep them at the bottom of the socio-economic hierarchy. ~ Used intimidation and extreme violence to stop African-Americans from voting. Also targeted White Republicans and supporters of black rights~ Terror also expanded throughout the south even outside of the KKK scope.

38. Reconstruction: Civil War II • Violence was widespread in the south during Reconstruction, The KKK was one of several white supremacy organizations operating in the South. Their common goal was the resist Republican rule and political power for African Americans and to restore the white dominated antebellum social and economic system

39. Nathan Bedford Forrest • Confederate Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest (who would later become the first Grand Wizard of the KKK). Though he would later deny it.

40. Blacks, white Republicans and Freedman Bureau employees and were targeted in the campaign of terror and intimidation This campaign was extremely brutal. In Texas 1865-1868, whites murdered more than 1000 blacks

41. U.S. Government v. KKK • In response to Klan violence Congress passed to the so-called Ku Klux Klan Act which gave the government the power to declare martial law, impose heavy penalties against terrorist organizations, and use military force to suppress the KKK • Martial law declared in parts of South Carolina. 5,000 people indicted and 1,000 convicted of violating the act.

42. Perhaps the most notorious group (other than the KKK) was the White League. Founded in Louisiana, it was responsible for killing as many as 150 freedmen defending Republican office holders in Colfax, Louisiana in 1873. WL operated as an armed wing” of the Democratic Party in many places

43. All out war in New Orleans in 1874 5,000 members of the White League attack 3,500 police and state militia. The insurrection was only put down when President Grant ordered in U.S. troops

44. Johnson Impeached • Johnson attempts to veto Congressional Reconstruction, but it is overridden • This set off a major battle between the Republican congress and Johnson • Congress passes two laws (clearly outside their scope of power) with the intent of pushing Johnson to “break” the laws • Leads to his impeachment and trial • Retains office by 1 vote in the Senate

45. 2. Scandals & Disunion of the Republican Party • Impeachment of Johnson caused tension between Republican factions • Late in Grant’s first term, several political scandals of his administration broke. • Bribery & Fraud of cabinet members • NOT GRANT • Scandals will lead to split in the Republican Party for the 1872 elections.

46. 3. “Panic” of 1873 • Post CW 33,000 miles of new railroad were laid across the country between 1868 and 1873. • Railroads were the largest employer in the US outside of agriculture, but were primarily backed on gov’t subsidies and land grants • Civil War and early Reconstruction economic balloon finally burst, triggering bank closures & stock market collapse. • This economic depression would pull Congressional focus and federal funding from Reconstruction

47. 5. Southern “Redemption” & Home Rule • Problems with the Republican party & activities of KKK will help topple Republicans in South. • Slowly in many places Southern Democrats will gain power. • The reemergence of Southern Democrat dominance was referred to as “redemption” • Would lead to Compromise of 1877 (1876 election) • Hayes became president in return for removal of troops • The combination of Southern ‘Redemption” & Supreme Court decisions ushered in an era of Home Rule in the South. • The Federal Government would no longer monitor civil rights. • States controlled all day-to day rights of their citizens • Home Rule in the South ushered in a new era of race relations that would be present for almost 100 years.

48. 6. The Rise of Jim Crow • Voting Restrictions, literacy tests, poll taxes, “Grandfather clause” • Racial Etiquette • Cultural “rules” on behavior for races • Segregation • De facto (by custom) • De Jure ( by law) • 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson • Federal Supreme Court case that established “separate but equal”- legalizing segregation • Lynching Epidemic 1880-1910 • Unchecked by local, state and federal gov’t

49. Revisionist history “Dunning School” • A school of interpretation of Reconstruction “Dunning portrayed Reconstruction as a corrupt outrage perpetrated on the prostrate South by a vicious and vindictive cabal of Northern Republican Radicals. Reconstruction governments were based on "bayonet rule." Unscrupulous and self-aggrandizing carpetbaggers flooded the South to profit from the misery of the defeated region. Ignorant, illiterate blacks were thrust into positions of power for which they were entirely unfit. The Reconstruction experiment, a moral abomination from its first moments, survived only because of the determination of the Republican Party to keep itself in power.”

50. “Lost Cause” • State rights, not slavery, was the cause of the Civil War • Confederate generals and soldiers were noble and heroic, gallantly defending their homes against overwhelming odds and North aggression. • Cruelty of Northern generals. Sherman’s March to the Sea and “Total War” • The South would have ended slavery on its own. • Contributed to the idea that the South was not really defeated—and thus to the legitimacy of efforts to crush Reconstruction.