U.S. HISTORY 202, 1865-Present Reconstruction: Reuniting a Divided Nation

1. Stella Lindsey U.S. HISTORY 202, 1865-Present Reconstruction: Reuniting a Divided Nation

2. Reconstruction: 1863-1877Rebuilding a Nation • What is going on in Washington? • What is going on in the South?

3. Civil War and Reconstruction raised major questions: • Who is an American? • What does freedom mean? • What form should government take? (States’ rights vs. federal power) • How do you reunite a divided nation and who will take charge of the process?

7. Why did this nation go to war in 1861? • Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address Two Reasons…. 1. Constitutional Liberty (Contract Theory) 2. Human Equality • In other words….. 1. States have no right to leave the Union 2. Slavery must be abolished

8. Reconstruction begins in 1863Lincoln’s 10% Plan • Very lenient on the South • Southern states had to abolish slavery • 10% had to take an oath of loyalty to the U.S. • Some blacks would be allowed to vote • Three states said YES! (AR, LA, TN) • (Lenient, Presidential, quick)

9. Radical Republicans: Wade-Davis Bill, 1864 • Wanted to punish the South • South had to abolish slavery • 50% had to take loyalty oath • States had to Deal with war debts • Confederate soldiers would not be allowed to vote

10. 1861-1865 • 1861-1865 Civil War • 1863 Gettysburg Address • 1863 10% Plan • 1864 Wade-Davis Bill • 1864 Lincoln reelected • 1865-Feb House Votes on 13th Amendment • 1865 April 12 (9) Lee surrenders to Grant • 1865 WAR IS OVER! • 1865-April 14 Lincoln is Assassinated

11. The Significance of the 13th Amendment • Abolished Slavery in the US • Movie: Lincoln and the fight for the 13th Amendment

12. Ford’s Theater, Washington, D.C.

14. The War is over….

15. 1865: Legacy of the Civil War What did the war settle? QUESTIONS LEFT UNANSWERED….. How will the nation deal with 4 million freedmen? How will the Confederacy become part of the United States again? • The Union had been preserved • Slavery was abolished • Federal government had more power than the states

16. The Critical Period • 1. Perhaps the greatest political crisis in American history • 2.Social Crisis • 3. Economic Crisis • 4. Legal/ Constitutional crisis

17. Competing Notions of Freedom: For African Americans Freedom meant…. • End of slavery and freedom from white control • Hopes of owning land • Freedom to move around and look for loved ones • Freedom to set up black schools, churches, and clubs • Equal rights, the right to vote, citizenship • Legal protection • Freedom to work or not to work

18. African Americans in the Union Army African Americans fought in the Civil War. The movie, Glory, featuring Morgan Freeman, tells the story of a black battalion.

19. Freedom for white Southerners meant…. • Freedom from Northern control • Freedom to put their world back the way it was • Many embraced the “Lost Cause,” a cult of mourning and romanticizing the Old South • Fought for local control and to maintain white supremacy

20. Civil War Monument Civil War Monument, Oxford, MS

21. Freedmen’s Bureau, March 1865 • An agency of the army, the organization was set up to aid 4,000,000 African Americans and poor whites in the South • Distributed food, set up schools, and tried to settle blacks on land • An example in unprecedented government action to provide food, education, and economic opportunities for Americans • Set up for only one year • It was too small and not very effective

22. Start on Tuesday Period 1

23. Issues of Reconstruction • Both the Democrats and Republicans wanted to gain more political power through Reconstruction • 4,000,000 free blacks could provide a boost to the Republican Party

24. Four Plans for Reconstruction: • Lincoln’s 10% plan, 1863 • Wade-Davis Bill, 1864 • Johnson’s Restoration Plan, 1865 (Presidential Reconstruction) 4. Radical Reconstruction, 1866- (Congressional Reconstruction)

25. Andrew Johnson Who was Andrew Johnson and how did he become Lincoln’’s vice president?

26. Johnson’s Restoration Plan (Presidential Reconstruction) • Take Loyalty oath • Wealthy landowners had to come to him for pardon • Abolish slavery (ratify the 13th Amendment) • Johnson appointed provisional governors • Deal with war debts • Elect representatives to Congress

27. Reconstruction Video • President Johnson's Reconstruction Plan (6 Minutes)

28. Southern States Ready to Rejoin • By 1865, ALL the Southern states had formed new governments and met the requirements of either Lincoln’s or Johnson’s plan and were prepared to rejoin the Union, but the Radicals in Congress would not agree these terms. • Between 1866 and 1868 Johnson vetoed 15 Reconstruction bills presented by the Radical Republicans—more than all previous Presidents put together. Congress simply overrode his vetoes • Radical Republicans, under Leaders Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner, passed a series of Reconstruction Acts used to reconstruct the South

29. RADICAL RECONSTRUCTION(Congressional Reconstruction)

30. South Behaving Badly… • Enacted Black Codes • Formed armed militias of former Confederate soldiers • Electing former Confederate leaders to Congress • Refusing to abolish slavery (ratify 13th Amendment) • Race riots and violence in the South

31. Radical Republicans take charge of Reconstruction (Congressional Reconstruction) 1. Passed 14th Amendment, the first constitutional definition of citizenship.**** 2. Introduced a very strict plan for readmitting the Southern states to the Union 3. Set up 5 military districts in the South with military governors 4. Wanted to give freedmen land 4. Passed the 15th Amendment—which declared citizens could not be denied the right to vote based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

32. Congress also took on the President and the Supreme Court: • Stopped the Supreme Court from interfering with their plans for Reconstruction. • In Ex parte Milligan, the Supreme Court ruled that military tribunals were unconstitutional in places where civil courts were functioning. This interfered with the military governments Congress had set up in the South. • Congress threatened to limit the authority of the Court.

33. Time for Andrew Johnson to go….1868 • Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act which stripped the President of some of his power. He could not remove civil officials from office—even his own cabinet—without consulting Congress. • Johnson dismissed Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton. • In 1868 the House of Representatives brought impeachment charges against Johnson, but the Senate was ONE vote shy of a majority to convict They failed to remove Johnson from office, but he lost all political power. • By 1869-1870 all former states had been readmitted. Mississippi was the last in 1870.

34. What ‘s been going on in the South? The South in Reconstruction

35. Reconstruction Governments in the South—the Myth • For some time, the traditional view of Reconstruction in the South was one of failure and white subjugation to Republican carpetbaggers, scalawags, and black freedmen. • It is a view of government corruption and incompetence. (Gone With the Wind and Birth of a Nation have perpetuated this myth) • More recent research reveals a more accurate account of the period.

36. The Reality of Republican Rule in the South • African Americans gained access to the ballot box and elected offices, but they never dominated southern politics. 16 African Americans elected to Congress None was ever elected governor Blacks held 10-15% of state offices • Carpetbaggers and scalawags were not particularly corrupt

37. Republican Governments in the South • Southern governments were no more corrupt than governments in the North • Taxes rose and debts increased because the Republican governments had to fund schools, rebuild infrastructure, and deal with debt after the war

38. Hiram Revels United States Senator from Mississippi during Reconstruction

39. Blanche K. Bruce African American US Senator from Mississippi during Reconstruction. Lived and farmed in Bolivar County near Rosedale, MS.

40. Reasons white Southerners saw Reconstruction as a failure… • Said they were being governed by incompetent blacks • Argued that Reconstruction governments in the South were corrupt and state debts were soaring • Felt they had been denied their rights as citizens.

41. Black Southerners saw Reconstruction as a failure ….. • Argued that the state and federal governments had not acted to guarantee their basic rights of citizenship. • They had not gained access to land

42. Landownership, Tenancy, and Labor in the South • South’s agricultural economy changed dramatically. • Tenancy and sharecropping emerged in place of slavery • Global changes in the cotton market had negative impact on the South • Small farmers lost land

43. Sharecropping System in 1880 Why did the Mississippi Delta have a lower rate of sharecropping than other areas of the South in 1880?

44. African American Sharecroppers Tenant farming or sharecropping increased dramatically in the South during Reconstruction and the years that followed.

45. Sharecroppers Poor whites and African Americans turned to sharecropping during Reconstruction.

46. THE GRANT ADMINISTRATION

47. General Ulysses Grant A general for the Union army during the Civil War, he is considered a military genius by many historians.

48. Ulysses S. GrantRepublican 1869-1877 Grant’s Presidency was riddled with scandals.

49. Challenges Grant Faced as President • Reconstruction against increasing resistance and violence in the South, rise of the KKK • Scandals in his own administration: Credit Mobilier, Whiskey Ring, Indian Affairs • Economy: Panic of 1873 and monetary policy (gold standard and the greenback question) • Loss of Northern support for Reconstruction

50. Financial Crisis: Panic of 1873 • The nation entered a financial depression that lasted 4 years. • The Greenback Question: What will we base the value of our currency on? Gold? Government authority? ***This is one of the most enduring political issues of the era. • Specie Resumption Act-”greenbacks” or paper money issued during the Civil War would be redeemed and new certificates would be backed by gold.