Chapter 18 Reconstruction

1. Chapter 18 Reconstruction

2. 18.1 Rebuilding the Union • Reconstruction officially lasted from 1865-1877. • Lincoln’s plan called for pardoning Confederate officials and allowing southern states to quickly form new governments and send representatives to DC. • Lincoln set up the Freedmen’s Bureau to help former slaves get started with their new lives. • The Freedmen’s bureau set up schools, hospitals, gave out food, and helped the former slaves with finding a job and negotiating contracts.

3. When Lincoln was killed, Johnson (Democrat) took over. He was a former slave owner and he was cantankerous. • Johnson believed that it was the President’s job to oversee Reconstruction and that Congress should have nothing to do with it.

4. Johnson insisted that all the Confederate states ratify the 13th Amendment and also that they accept the supreme authority of the national government (no more states’ rights stuff)). • Johnson gave amnesty to most white Southerners and allowed them to have their property back IF they would pledge loyalty to the United States.

5. Rebuilding Brings Conflict • As states rebuilt their governments they tried to make them the same as before and some refused to ratify the 13th Amendment. • Southern states passed restrictive laws called Black Codes which denied the former slaves their rights. • People in the North began to suspect that the Southern states had no intention of trying to rejoin the Union the way they were supposed to.

6. In Dec., 1865 (10 months after the surrender) Congress decided to refuse to allow the South to send any representatives to DC. • Under the Constitution, Congress has that right, so instead they set up a commission to study the problems in the South and they let the President know that they were going to take a more active role. • Radical Republicans in Congress wanted the federal government to give freed slaves full and equal citizenship.

7. The Civil Rights Act • Declared all persons born in the U.S. were citizens (except Native Americans)and all citizens were guaranteed equal rights regardless of race (did nothing for women). • Johnson vetoed the bill saying that he was worried that the law would lead to centralization of power (not good in a republican democracy)…(Johnson may have had other motives) • Congress overrode the veto and the bill became law.

8. The Fourteenth Amendment (1866) • It stated that all people born in the U.S. are citizens and have the same rights. • It did not specifically give African Americans the right to vote, but said that any state denying former slaves the right to vote would lose representatives in Congress.

9. Johnson refused to sign the bill (again) and so did every southern state except Tennessee. • Moderate and Radical Republicans joined forces to pass the Reconstruction Acts of 1867 (roughly 2 years after the war was over) • This began a period known as RADICAL RECONSTRUCTION and from this point on Congress, not the President controlled Reconstruction.

10. Radical Reconstruction • The South was divided into 5 military districts run by army commanders (forget those silly state governments) • Members of the southern wealthy class (aristocracy) lost their voting rights. • Before the southern states could be admitted back into the Union they would have to approve a new state Constitution that gave voting rights to all adult men including former slaves (but not Native Americans). • States had to ratify the 14th Amendment.

11. The New Southern Governments • As the South began to set up new governments, many of the state representatives were poor white farmers because the wealthy plantation owners had had their voting rights taken away due to Radical Reconstruction. • The poor white farmers were angry at the wealthy plantation owners anyway because of the “Rich man’s war, poor man’s fight” issue.

12. The poor white farmers who were now running the state governments were called scalawags for going along with the North on Reconstruction. • Another group who helped set up state governments was the “carpetbaggers”. • These also were usually poor white men except these men had come from the North after the end of the war hoping to benefit from the political and social chaos in the South.

13. There were also African Americans helping to set up the governments. Some of them were freed slaves, but others had been free before the war. • By 1870 (five years after the war) all of the southern states had met the Reconstruction requirements, and were allowed to have voting members of Congress again.

14. Johnson is Impeached • Johnson, being a Democrat, opposed many of the parts of Congressional Reconstruction and did what he could to slow or stop it. • In 1867 Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act which made it illegal for the President to fire government officials without the approval of the Senate. • In Feb., of 1868, Johnson fired Edwin Stanton, the Sec. of War over disagreements about Reconstruction.

15. This likely had something to do with how the military districts were being run across the South. • The troops who were sent there were sometimes a bit abrasive and cruel to the southerners.

16. For the firing of Stanton, Congress voted to impeach (accuse of improper conduct while in office) Johnson, but he was not removed from office by the Senate. • Remember, the actual trial of the President occurs in the Senate. • The House (Congress) just does the investigative work.