Ch. 17: Reconstruction

1. Ch. 17: Reconstruction

2. Reconstruction • The time period following the Civil War • Lasted from 1865 to 1877 • Also refers to the process the federal government used to readmit the defeated Confederate states to the Union

3. 17.1: The Politics of Reconstruction

4. A. The Defeated South • Agricultural land ruined = regional wealth dropped by 50% 2. Legacy of the civil war? a. Racism/white skin privilege b. Political and social power at stake. Can you say “AmeriKKKa?” • How does the federal government now stand in relationship to the states? a. Feds power trumps state power b. The country is one nation, not a collection of states.

5. B. Lincoln’s 10% Plan (1863) • Goal: unify country as quickly as possible • Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (1863) a. 10% of voting pop. swear allegiance b. Accept EP, later the 13th Amend (1865) 3. Radical Republicans wanted to punish south = Wade-Davis Bill - 50% of voting pop pleads allegiance. 4. Special Field Order 15 5. Freedman’s Bureau

7. Lincoln assassinated • April 14, 1865 • In comes…

8. President Andrew Johnson1865-1869/Democrat Goal with Reconstruction?

9. It’s an executive issue, not legislature Very lenient on the south; 90% pardoned Supported by Northern Dem. Conservative Rep. S. Unionist Believed in White Supremacy; zero political rights for freedmen C. Johnson and Reconstruction

11. Wanted PES equality Civil Rights Act (1866 ) Grants citizenship Overturns Dred Scott 14th Amend (1868) Stronger Freedman’s Bureau 2 and 3 vetoed by Johnson; overridden by congress Black codes in the south enforced D. Radical Republicans

12. E. Congressional Reconstruction • Reconstruction Act: a. Five military districts under martial law • Adopt 14th Amend (1868) • universal suffrage • “due process” by law c. Military supervised voting polls*

15. Tenure of Office Act a. Pres. needs Senates approval to remove cabinet member; Johnson did not get it. b. Sec. of War Stanton fired by Johnson. c. Johnson impeached d. Set precedent: no guilty verdict due to no criminal action involved E. Congressional Reconstruction

16. Mary Suratt, hanged, considered conspirator in Lincoln’s assassination by Johnson

17. Mary Suratt Letter pleading for a commutation of Mary Suratt's sentence from death to life in prison, was withheld from the President by Edwin Stanton. When Johnson learned about the intentional concealment of this written appeal, he flew into a rage, and on February 21, 1868, fired Secretary Stanton. She was the mother of one of the men who plotted the murder. He flees the country.

18. F. Election of 1868 U.S. Grant

19. Passage of 15th Amend (1870) except for…

20. Elizabeth Stanton Susan B. Anthony G. Woman Suffrage and Reconstruction

21. 17.2: The Meaning of Freedom

22. Migration to southern cities Began going to school Organized their own churches; ministers became political figures Landowners & self employed; difficult to do A. Freedom

24. Sharecropping

25. Sharecropping – a. the farmer has nothing; no capital or equipment, gets everything from owner to include seeds b. Pays owner with a portion of harvest/crop Tenant farming – a. rented the land and paid owner in cash instead of crops b. Had their own equipment B. Sharecropping vs. Tenant Farming

26. Main concerns a. Civil rights b. Suffrage 2. Union League a. Promoted the Republican party in the south b. Reg. AA male voters c. Taught them about their rights C. African Americans in the Political Scene

27. 17.3: Southern Politics

28. Carpetbaggers a. Northerners who moved south b. ideology/capitalism 2. Scalawags a. white southern Republicans b. Payback from S. elite c. modernize 3. African Americans able to participate and run for offices A. Politics in the South

29. New constitutions expanding democracy Main problem in enforcing the laws of the south? Convincing whites that it was the right thing to do 3. capital for investing difficult to come by B. Reconstructing the States

30. Rise of the KKK = a. KKK Act – fed. crime to infringe on civil rights b. Suspension of habeas corpus c. Interference w/voting a fed. offense 3. Slaughterhouse cases a. Group of cases stating that the state, not the federal gov’t, controls defining citizenship b. Effect on 14th & 15th Amend? C. Resistance and “Redemption”

31. By end of war, cotton was in high demand = ? By 1880’s, sharecropping leads to influx of cotton = ? Real money makers? D. Farmers, Merchants and Cotton

32. 17.4: Reconstructing the North

33. A. The Age of Capital & Big Business • 1865-1873 production increased by 75% ; second only to GB • TRR funded by fed gov’t • Pacific RR Act 1862 - Land grants and subsidies paid out by gov’t • 10 sq. mi per one mi of track • Loans of $16,000- 48,000 depending on grade

34. Transcontinental RR

35. b. Union Pacific c. Central Pacific i. Chinese and Mex. ii. Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) limited Chinese immigrants for 10 yrs. • White/Bks/Irish immigrants

36. d. Last Spike: Promontory Summit, Utah (1869)e. Economic trickle effect of RR

37. 3. Credit Mobilier (1872) • Construction company • stockholders of Union Pacific made contracts with themselves • Paid off congressmen • Scam from start to finish • No one prosecuted • Pres. Grant in office

38. B. Liberal Republicans 1. Radical Rep. losing power scandals & focusing on big business • Laissez-faire: gov’t does not interfere in economic decisions; protects private property • Free market – supply and demand- and low taxes • Hostile towards unions

39. 5. 1872 Election: Electoral results?

40. C. Depression of 1873 • Commercial overexpansion with RR • Reversed trickle-effect • Natural business cycle

41. D. Electoral Crises of 1876:Electoral results? Samuel Tilden (Dem) v. Rutherford Hayes (Rep) • EC votes disputed a. Fl, La, SC b. No maj. w/EC 2. Let’s make a deal!

42. E. Compromise of 1877 • withdraw troops from the South • Promote industrialization in the South; TRR • appoint Democrats to positions in the South • appoint a Democrat to the president’s cabinet. • The South has been “redeemed!”

43. Exodusters