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RECONSTRUCTION

RECONSTRUCTION. Chapter 12. Lincoln’s Plan for Reconstruction. 1865 – 1877: Period of Reconstruction Lincoln favored a lenient Reconstruction policy December 1863, Lincoln announced his Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction

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RECONSTRUCTION

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  1. RECONSTRUCTION Chapter 12

  2. Lincoln’s Plan for Reconstruction • 1865 – 1877: Period of Reconstruction • Lincoln favored a lenient Reconstruction policy • December 1863, Lincoln announced his Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction • Lincoln’s plan angered the Radical Republicans, led by Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner • Radicals responded to the Ten-Percent Plan by passing the Wade-Davis Bill • Lincoln vetoed the Wade-Davis Bill

  3. Johnson’s Plan • Lincoln’s assassination left Andrew Johnson in charge of the Reconstruction controversy • May 1865, Johnson announced his plan – Presidential Reconstruction: • Each state would have to withdraw its secession • Swear allegiance to the Union • Annul Confederate war debts • Ratify the 13th amendment • The Radicals were angry that the plan ignored former slaves in three areas: land, voting rights, and prosecution under the law • Southerners supported Johnson’s reconstruction plans • The remaining Confederate states quickly agreed to Johnson’s terms • Dec. 1865, newly elected Southern legislators arrived in Washington

  4. Presidential Reconstruction Comes to a Standstill • Congress refused to admit the newly elected Southern legislators • Moderate Republicans sought to push new laws to fix the weaknesses they saw in Johnson’s plan • Feb. 1866 – Congress voted to continue and enlarge the Freedman’s Bureau • Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866: • Gave African Americans citizenship • Forbade passing of black codes • Black codes restored many of the restrictions of slavery • Johnson shocked everyone by vetoing both the Freedman’s Bureau and the Civil Rights Act

  5. Congressional Reconstruction • Moderate and Radical Republicans came together against Johnson • Congress drafted the 14th Amendment • Congress overrode Johnson’s veto on the Civil Rights Act • Johnson urged Southerners to reject the 14th Amendment

  6. 1868 Congressional Elections • Johnson went on tour with Ulysses S. Grant to urge people to support Presidential Reconstruction • Race riots in New Orleans and Memphis resulted in over 80 African American deaths • Republicans gained 2/3 majority in Congress • Radicals and Moderated joined to pass the Reconstruction Act of 1867 • Didn’t recognize state governments formed under Lincoln or Johnson’s plans • Divided other ten former Confederate states into 5 military districts • Voters would elect delegates to draft new state constitutions • States needed to guarantee African American men the right to vote and ratify the 14th Amendment to be readmitted to the Union • Johnson vetoed the Reconstruction Plan of 1867

  7. Johnson’s Impeachment • Radical leaders looked for ways to impeach Johnson • March 1867 – Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act • Johnson fired Secretary of War Edwin Stanton • The House brought 11 charges of impeachment against Johnson • March – May 1868, Johnson’s trial before the Senate

  8. Ulysses S. Grant Elected • Democrats nominated Horatio Seymour to run in the 1868 presidential election • Republicans nominated Ulysses S. Grant • After the election, the Radicals introduced the Fifteenth Amendment • Amendment ratified in 1870 • Congress passed the Enforcement Act of 1870

  9. Conditions in the Postwar South • Congressional Reconstruction reigned supreme – by 1870 all Confederate states had been admitted back to the Union • Southern states faced the challenge of physically rebuilding a battle scarred region • Economic effects ravaged the South • Population was also devastated • Republican governments began many public works projects to help • To raise money, taxes were raised

  10. Politics in the Postwar South • Different groups in the Republican Party in the South often had conflicting goals • Democrats called white Southerners who joined the Republicans scalawags • Democrats called Northerners who moved to the South after the war carpetbaggers • African-Americans made up the largest group of Southern Republicans

  11. Political Differences • Conflicting goals among Republican Party members in the South led to disunity in the party • Many white Southerners refused to accept blacks’ new status and resisted the idea of equal rights • White Southerners also had to accept the day-to-day involvement of Northerners in their lives

  12. Former Slaves Face Many Challenges • Many slaves were cautious about testing their new freedoms • African Americans began to travel for the first time legally • From 1865 – 1870 the African American population of the ten largest Southern cities doubled • Many began to search for their family members throughout the country • The Freedmen’s Bureau worked to reunite families

  13. Education and Volunteer Groups • 1870 – nearly 80% of freed African Americans over the age of 20 were illiterate • By 1870, African Americans had spent over $1 million on education • Some white Southerners responded violently to African American education • After the war, many African Americans founded their own churches, usually Baptist or Methodist • African Americans also formed thousands of volunteer organizations

  14. Politics and Laws for African Americans • African American involvement in politics grew rapidly • African American officeholders still remained the minority in the South • Hiram Revels was only one of 16 (of 125) African American Southerners elected to Congress • African Americans proposed bills to desegregate transportation • African Americans tended to focus more on building up their community than on total integration

  15. Changes in the Southern Economy • 1865, General Sherman had promised “40 acres and a mule” to freed slaves who joined his army • Thaddeus Stevens called for the government to confiscate plantations and to redistribute part of the land to former slaves • 1866 – Homestead Act passed • Planters claimed to have the plantation system work, they needed almost complete control over their laborers • Planters faced a labor shortage • Many former slaves worked in mills or factories

  16. Sharecropping and Tenant Cropping • Without their own land, many former slaves were forced to sign contracts with planters • Sharecropping became widely used • Tenant Farming also became popular • Tenant Farming rarely worked in practice

  17. Cotton No Longer King • During the war, demand for Southern cotton began to drop • The agricultural problems led many to try and diversify the Southern economy • Falling cotton prices and mounting debts caused many Southern banks to fail • Many whites began to take out frustration on African Americans

  18. Opposition to Reconstruction • The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) started in Tennessee in 1866 • 1868 – 1871, the Klan killed thousands of men, women, and children, and burned schools, churches and property • The Klan also wanted to take way the Republicans political power in the South • Southern Democrats openly used violence to intimidate Republicans voting in Mississippi, (1875), and Florida, South Carolina, and Louisiana (1876)

  19. Further Opposition • The Klan also tried to stop African Americans from gaining economic progress • Some white Southerners refused to hire or do business with African Americans who were revealed to have voted Republican • Congress passed the Enrollment Acts in 1870 and 1871 • 1882, Supreme Court ruled the 1871 Enforcement Act unconstitutional • The Amnesty Act greatly reduced Republican power

  20. Scandals and Money Crises Hurt Republicans • Grant had no political experience and hired mostly friends to his cabinet • After many scandals, the Liberal Republican Party was formed • The Liberal Republicans chose Horace Greeley as their candidate • Although Greeley didn’t win, the Party greatly weakened the Radicals’ hold over the Republican Party • Corruption in Grant’s administration continued • As corruption continued, Grant lost more support, and Northerners were distracted from the problems in the South

  21. Judicial and Popular Support Fades • The Panic of 1873 and a currency crisis further distracted Northerners from the South • The Supreme Court issued a series of decisions that undermined both the 14th and 15th Amendments • Slaughterhouse Cases of 1873 • U.S. v. Cruikshank in 1876 • U.S. v. Reese • As both judicial and public support decreased, Republicans began to back away from their commitment to Reconstruction

  22. Democrats “Redeem” the South • 1869 – 1875, period of redemption for Democrats in the South • 1876, Republicans chose Rutherford B. Hayes to run for president • The Democrats chose Samuel J. Tilden from NY as their candidate • Tilden won the popular vote, but fell 1 electoral vote shy of the number needed • The House of Representatives held the power to approve election results • The Compromise of 1877 granted the Democrats: • Withdrawal of federal troops in Louisiana and SC • Democrats were given money to build a railroad from Texas to the West Coast • Hayes had to appoint a conservative Southerner to his cabinet • The Democrats achieved their long-desired goal of home rule • The compromise meant the end of Reconstruction

  23. Home Rule and the Legacy of Reconstruction • Reconstruction ended without much real progress in the battle against discrimination • Radical Republicans made several mistakes in their effort to help former slaves • The Thirteenth Amendment was a major success, and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments were also very important

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