Reconstructing America: Challenges and Solutions for Peacemaking

1. Chapter 2 Reconstruction

2. Section 1:The Problems of Peacemaking 4 Main Parts of Reconstruction • 1. Physical – rebuilding the structures destroyed • 2. Economic – helping to pull the poor, freed slaves and jobless out, rebuilding the economy • 3. Government – putting people in charge that are going to change, how should the US treat them since they left the union • 4. Social – how to protect and give rights to freed slaves; should laws be passed on the national level Amnesty – general pardon for past offenses against a government Freedmen’s Bureau – An agency set up to feed and care for needy blacks and whites • 1. Main goal was to find former slaves jobs and protect them from discrimination • 2. Provided education, set up 4,000 elementary schools and colleges like Howard University • And Hampton Institute

3. Continue Section 1… Congressional Actions on the South Radical Republicans • 1. Republicans that believed that the South should be punished • 2. Many in Congress didn’t want to give freed slaves equality or trusted the former confederates • 3. Congress refused to accept President Lincoln’s ideas and instead passed the Wade-Davis bill – required that 50% of voters must take an oath of loyalty before forming a new government in the South; gave the federal courts the power to enforce emancipation • a. Lincoln used a pocket veto to let the bill die and it didn’t become law Lincoln assassinated soon afterward Vice President Andrew Johnson takes over (he’s a democrat, Lincoln was a republican)

4. Continue Section 1… President Johnson • 1. Johnson had plans to bring southern states back into the union • a. Majority of voters had to take a loyalty oath • b. High Confederate offices and Army officers and people with more than $20,000 in property had to get a presidential pardon before they could vote or hold office • c. Wanted to keep wealthy planters from taking part in reconstructing their state governments • d. Each new government had to outlaw slavery by ratifying the 13th Amendment to the Constitution

5. Section 2 – Congress in Control Many republicans become very upset with Johnson’s policies and his handling of Reconstruction Black Codes – Laws to govern the conduct of blacks • a. While the 13th Amendment freed the slaves, it didn’t make them citizens, give them the right to vote, or protect their rights or interests • b. Former slaves could marry, hold property and sue in some courts • c. In many states, freedmen couldn’t testify against whites, serve on juries, vote in elections or join the militia • d. For many, the black codes were just another form of slavery • Radical Republicans wanted to make former salves full and equal citizens, especially giving them voting rights

6. Continue Section 2… President Johnson – VS – Congress Disagreement over Reconstruction • 1. Johnson wanted to go back to the union before the war; slavery would be illegal and states weren’t allowed to secede • 2. Congress wanted to punish the South, make sure the ruling/elite not regain power or allowed to find a new way to enslave blacks • 3. Johnson vetoes a couple of key Republican bills • a. Extending the life of the Freedmen’s Bureau and the Civil Rights Act of 1866 • Civil Rights Act of 1866 would give blacks citizenship and full and equal benefits that whites got • 4. Congress overrides the veto of the Civil Rights Act • 5. Congress proposes the 14th Amendment – All persons born or naturalized in the US are citizens, gave equal protection of the law and states couldn’t deprive a person of life, libery or property without due process.

7. Continue Section 2… • 6. Johnson hates the 14th Amendment, because it didn’t let states manage their own affairs • 7. Congress divides the South into 5 military district, each under control of an army general with federal troops under his command • 8. Congress also establish steps for Southern states to reenter the Union • a. Constitution conventions with both black and white delegates; former confederate officials unable to hold office couldn’t vote for delegates or be delegates b. State constitutions had to include giving blacks the right to vote • c. State legislatures had to ratify the 14th Amendment • 9. Johnson continued to block Congress’ programs • a. Johnson is impeach for abusing his powers • b. Johnson is aquitted by 1 vote

8. Continue Section 2…. Civil War Hero Ulysses S. Grant is elected President • 1. 15th Amendment – proposed by Congress, prohibited federal and state governments from denying the right to vote based upon race, color or previous condition of servitude • a. Ratified in 1870, last of the Reconstruction Amendments (13th, 14th and 15th)

9. Section 3: Governing the South Replacing Confederate Leaders • 1. Carpetbaggers – people from the north that went to the south after the war a. Thought they could get rich quick • b. Many teachers and ministers • 2. Scalawags – southerners who participated in reconstruction governments New Systems of Labor • 1. Contract system • Working for a specific time period for a specific wage • Often abused system, some weren’t paid at the end of the contracted time • 2. Sharecropping – the right to work a piece of ground without white supervision for a share of the profits of the field (money or crops) • Led to abuses; sharecroppers ending up in debt becoming almost slaves again • Landowners rented/sold the tools, seeds, etc to the sharecroppers, many times at prices they couldn’t afford

10. Continue Section 3… White Resistance to freed blacks • 1. Ku Klux Klan – used terror to oppose Reconstruction and return to white supremacy • Formed by Nathan Bedford Forrest • Used beatings, tarring and feathering and lynching to instill fear in freed blacks • Only a minority of whites joined the KKK • Came to also hate Catholics and Jewish people • 2. The US government passed to Force Acts to counter-act the terrorist activities of the Klan • Made it a federal crime to interfere with voting rights • Established ways for the federal government to supervise elections • Gave the president the right to use army troops to stop revolts • Gave the president the right to suspend the writ of habeas corpus • The Writ of Habeas Corpus – your rights when you are arrested • The right to remain silent • Have an attorney • Know the charges • Speedy trial

11. Section 4: The End of Reconstruction Ulysses S. Grant Presidency • 1. Scandals • Credit Mobilier – biggest scandal • Construction company • Used by the Union Pacific Railroad to cheat stockholders • They overcharged the government to lay tracks • Took the excess profits and kept it rather than pass it off to investors • Covered it up by paying bribes to members of Congress • Most influential being Schuyler Colfax • Speaker of the House and later Vice President • Second Term Scandals • Whiskey manufacturers and public officials cheated the government out of tax payment • Bribes were paid to Grant’s personal secretary to try and cover it up • Secretary of War was caught taking bribes for the sale of Indian trading posts • Resigned before he could be convicted

12. Continue Section 4… Rutherford B. Hayes wins the election at the end of Grant’s 2nd term • Compromise of 1877 • a. Because of a dispute in the election between Hayes and Tilden, Congress had to decide a winner of the election. • Democrats agreed not to block the election of Hayes as long as the last federal troops were withdrawn from the South and the southerners were allowed to govern their own affairs • Black voters at the time were associated with the Republican party while the Democratic party was the choice of Southern whites • Southern states became known as the Solid South – a 1 party system of Democratic rule for many years • 2. Reconstruction Scars • a. While reconstruction left a bitter taste in many Southerner’s mouth, there were some positives • 1. Provided free education and care for the needy • 2. Rebuilt roads, bridges and railroads • 3. Lowered taxes and cut spending • b. Still, blacks lost many freedoms and began a long struggle for equality

13. Section 5: Reunion and the New South New Leaders in the South 1. Redeemers – leaders who came to power in the South at the end of Reconstruction 2. 2 goals – white supremacy and economic progress a. Control the black vote by stuffing ballot boxes, throwing away votes that went against their ideas, and reported totals that were lies b. Allowed for free development of industry without government interference Stirrings of Industry 1. Alabama – important iron and steel center 2. Textile mills with up-to-date machinery elsewhere 3. Railroad growth in Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas 4. Northern investment in Southern industries (again, the hope to make money) 5. For the workers, they received little pay and had a hard time staying out of debt

14. Continue Section 5… Southern Agriculture 1. Still a bit part of the Southern economy 2. Crop-lien system – Merchants had a claim on a farmer’s crop before it was harvested a. Because of poverty and debts b. Farmers received loans at high rates for equipment, seed and supplies c. Because they couldn’t repay the loan, the merchant could take the crops as payment 3. Cash crops – crops that could be sold quickly and for lots of money a. Relying on one crop could really hurt farmers b. Could be sharp price changes 4. Cotton was still king a. New farming methods and machinery increased production b. More fields opened for cotton farming c. Long growing season

15. Continue Section 5 Loss of Black Rights 1. Political rights a. Used to control black voters, and poor whites b. Literacy tests – voter had to be able to read and explain a passage a. Usually a difficult passage b. Anyone that failed couldn’t vote c. Poll taxes – voters were charged to vote a. Most blacks were poor and could pay, thus not vote b. Same for poor whites d. Grandfather Clause – anyone could vote, without taking a test or paying to vote, if they could vote on or before January 1, 1867, or whose father or grandfather could vote a. This applied to most whites but not blacks Rise of Jim Crow 1. Jim Crow Laws – laws passed in the south that targeted blacks a. Segregated blacks from whites in: restaurants, hotels, theaters and public places b. Also, applied to public transportation.

16. Continue Section 5 • c. Detailed how blacks must live apart from whites • a. Children had to attend different schools and used different textbooks • d. Strictly enforced in the South • a. Fined many people, threw a lot in jail and sometimes even lynched them • b. Though not often, this did happen in the North • e. Blacks tried to use the Federal Courts and the US Supreme Court to challenge the laws • a. The challenges failed • b. Plessy v. Ferguson – the US Supreme Court ruled that segregation wasn’t necessarily discrimination as long as separate accommodations were made. This is know as “separate but equal” • f. These would stay in place for another 50 years.