Reconstruction Era: From Civil Rights Amendments to Freedom and Equality

1. Reconstruction1865-1877

2. Civil Rights AmendmentsPassed after the Civil War • 13th Amendment: (1865) Abolition of Slavery • 14th Amendment: (1868) African American birthright citizenship and equal protection under the law • 15th Amendment: (1870) African American voting rights

3. Questions during Reconstruction • If, how, and when to reincorporate the confederate states • They had wanted to form their own country • Under what terms and conditions would they be allowed to return to the Union • How could Congress make sure freedom would be protected?

4. Freedom at last…Asserting equality • Formerly enslaved people got up and left • 2 million people took to the roads • Struggled to find their own family members • Advertised in newspapers to find relatives • Helped by the Freedman’s Bureau • Wanted to get to the city • Women wore hats and veils, forbidden under slavery • Refused to yield the sidewalk as before

5. Freedom at last…Asserting equality • Rise of the independent black church (Baptists, Methodists) • Entered the political arena to own land and vote • Went where they wanted without a pass • Made a massive effort to educate themselves • Turned their churches into schools • Held school outdoors • Attended school with their children

6. 1st Period of Reconstruction • Dec. 8, 1863- April 15, 1865 • During the Civil War itself, Lincoln offered the “10% plan.” • This meant that he offered full pardon to anyone in the south who took an oath of loyalty to the union and supported freeing of slaves • If the number of people doing this was 10% in any state, they could begin to form a state government that was required to abolish slavery and could rejoin the union

7. Wade-Davis Plan • In opposition to Lincoln’s10% plan, Republicans in Congress proposed a 50% plan: • Southern states could be readmitted to the union only after 50% of the population took the loyalty oath • To vote or serve in a Constitutional Convention, a person in the former confederate states would have to take a second oath: the Iron-Clad Oath: that they had not voluntarily aided the rebellion • Only Unionists would have had political power • Lincoln vetoed this bill

8. End to the Civil War • April 9, 1865: Surrender at the Courthouse of Appamatox • April 11, 1865: Lincoln Assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater in DC • April 22, 1865: John Wilkes Booth killed by a Union soldier

9. Freedman’s Bureau: 1865-1870Successes • Established in 1865 by Congress to help freed slavesgain: • Land • The Charter called for 40 acres and a mule – vetoed by Andrew Johnson • Education • Labor Contracts • Settle Legal Disputes • Provide Food, Medical Care, Transportation • Find relatives

10. Freedmen’s Bureau: 1865-1870 Problems • Congress never provided enough money for it to function properly (underfunded) • Only 1000 agents at its peak • Only 12 agents in Mississippi • Very few agents were black • Exposes the fact that Congress realized freedom could not be realized by merely passing laws • Protection and aid were required

11. An 1868 engraving from the archives of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library “James Plantation School” in North Carolina. This freedmen’s school is possibly established by Horace James on the Yankee or Avon Hall plantations in Pitt County in 1866

12. A Freedman’s Bureau agent stands between armed groups of whites and freedmen in this 1868 picture from Harper’s Weekly

13. Andrew Johnson President 1865-1869 Source: Library of Congress Granted amnesty to more than 13,000 Confederates, many of whom had been combat leaders Ordered all southern land in federal hands returned to its former owners

14. 2nd Period of Reconstruction / “Presidential Reconstruction” • “Presidential Reconstruction” was a 2-year period under President Johnson: 1865-1867 • President Johnson lenient with former planter class • Granted amnesty to Confederates who took a simple loyalty test, so most ex-confederates were pardoned • Southerners liked this period of Reconstruction the most

15. Presidential Reconstruction underAndrew Johnson:1865-1867 and the Black Codes • Southern state governments and southern planters passed laws placing restrictions on black workers called the “black codes” • Meant to reinstate slavery by another name • African American marriages were legalized • “Vagrancy” laws were passed • Could not serve on juries • Could not testify against white people

16. 3rd Period of Reconstruction • Radical or Congressional Reconstruction which lasted for 10 years, from 1867-1877 • Republicans won 2/3 of both houses in the 1866 Congressional elections • Demanded the most of the 3 periods • Former confederate states: • Had to adopt universal suffrage • Had to abolish slavery • Had to approve the 14th amendment • However, economic provisions for freed slaves were not made

17. 3rd Period of Reconstruction • Expanded the role of the Freedmen’s Bureau • Greater enforcement and bigger budget • 1867Military Reconstruction Act: Placed the south under military jurisdiction • Former Southern states put into 5 military districts (except for TN because it rejoined the Union in 1866) • Military commander in control of each jurisdiction • Federal soldiers kept law and order • Black men given the right to vote which led to creation of new state governments

18. From Cal State Humboldt University

20. Republicans again Won the Congressional Elections of 1868 • Continued the5 military districts, military surveillance • Specified a process by which former confederate states were to hold State Constitutional Conventions • Voters including former slaves were required to vote for delegates to the state constitutional conventions • New state constitutions had to protect black voting rights • States were required to ratify the 14th amendment • ONLY if they did all these things, was each state allowed back into the Union; if not, could not be represented in the national congress and remained under military control

21. Radical Republicans • Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania (House) • Charles Sumner of MA (Senate) (“Bleeding Sumner”) • Benjamin Wade of Ohio • “They thought Lincoln’s lenient Reconstruction program was outrageous.” • No Southerners were in Congress, so the Republicans had a lot of power

22. 3rd Period of Reconstruction • They sought to implement a vision of political equality for the first time in history • Committed themselves to creating an interracial democracy • They declared the Black Codes illegal

23. The 14th Amendment - 1868 • Affirmed birthright citizenship to African Americans • States may not deny equal protection under the law • “No stage shall make any law that will abridge the rights of any citizen.” • States may not deprive anyone of life, liberty or property • Bill of Rights protections extended to all peoples • If any state denies suffrage to male citizens over 21, that state will be proportionately denied representation in Congress • Critics said this amendment did not guarantee men the vote • Because TN passed this law in 1866, it was allowed back into the Union and was not put under military control (districts) • Used by Civil Rights leaders during the 1960s

24. The 15th Amendment - 1868 • Congress passed guaranteeing the vote • No one could be denied the vote based on race or former servitude • This means, however, that voting could still be restricted by property or educational requirements or by fees (the southern states took advantage of this omission)

25. Republican Politics with the 1868 Congress (3rd period of Reconstruction) • Former slaves joined the Republican party • In South Carolina, former slaves dominated the state legislature • Jurors treated black testimony with respect • Republican legislatures began passing bills protecting equal access to transportation • Wanted public schools to educate poor children • Began to pass measures to eliminate vagrancy laws • South Carolina passed a program of land distribution • South Carolina extended long term credit to poor people to acquire small farms (poor whites and blacks) • Other southern states altered the tax structure

26. What Reconstruction did not achieve • Did not redistribute land • Did not provide guaranteed access to education • Did not forbid racial segregation

27. The Planter Class after the Civil War • They emerged from the war psychologically and physically dead • Massive physical destruction of the south • Resentful of what they saw as the betrayal of their slaves • Furious at having to give up their status as masters • They believed their own propaganda • They faced a labor shortage

28. The Ku Klux Klan • 1866: Founded in Pulaski, TN • Began as a social club for Confederate veterans • Where blacks could influence voting outcomes as a large minority, the KKK exerted its violence • Esp western Alabama and northern Georgia • 1870-1871: Enforcement Acts or KKK Acts • Passed in direct response to anti-black terrorism • Issued in order to protect the black vote • Reemerged in full force in 1910s

29. Hiram R. Revels of Miss. Senator 1st African American in Congress Was a Preacher, then Freedman’s Bureau Agent in 1865

30. Blanche Bruce Served as US Senator from Mississippi from 1875-1881 Served as Register of the Treasury from 1897-1898 Born in Virginia in 1841, Died in Washington DC in 1898

31. In Public Office During Reconstruction • About 2,000 African Americans held public office from the local level all the way to the Senate • 16 African Americans in U.S. Congress • 600 members of state legislatures • Hundreds in local governmental offices • 1874 Congressional elections put Democrats back into the majority • White southerners called themselves “redeemers” as they sought to retake control of their state governments between 1870 and 1877

32. Post-Civil War • 1867: Blacks Participated in the process to elect state delegates to draft new state constitutions • 10-20% of the delegates were black • Granted universal male suffrage • Formed the first statewide systems of education • Blacks organized Equal Rights Leagues to protest Andrew Johnson’s condoning of the discriminatory Black Codes, to demand suffrage and equality before the law

33. Sharecropping Replaces Slavery • Former plantation owners wantedformer slaves to take contracts for work in which pay would be given at the end of the year • However, it was alow wage and long hours • If they left early, they would lose their money • Freedman’s Bureau tried to make these contracts better, but encouraged former slaves to take them • Former slaves could thus be at odds with former masters and federal policy too • By 1900, 50% of southern whites and 75% of southern blacks were sharecroppers

34. Sharecropping • By 1870s: Dominant form of black and poor white labor organization • A contract between a family and a planter • A family responsible for a piece of land in exchange for part of the year’s crops • The formerly enslaved demanded this as a way to work more independently

35. Disadvantages of Sharecropping • Evolved to favor the planter • Emergence of a powerful merchant class • Sharecroppers were kept in perpetual debt • Tied to the landlord and the land • Planters typically resented the freed peoples’ new found autonomy

36. Instituting the Black Codes • Southern states established “vagrancy” as a crime punished by involuntary servitude • A black person walking on the road could be considered a vagrant • Laborers who left their jobs before a contract expired could be considered a vagrant and subject to arrest • If a black person did not have proof of employment for the coming year, he or she could be considered a vagrant and subject to arrest • Blacks were only offered jobs as servants or agricultural laborers • Former slaves resisted such measures / They pushed hard against the labor demands of landowners and would slack off on the job

37. Ku Klux Klan as a Continuation of the Civil War • They aimed to destroy the Republican party in the south • In AK, killed a prominent black congressman • Murdered hundreds of local political activists • Beaten for joining the Republican party • This violence gave the Democratic party more power in the south • The Civil War was still being fought during Reconstruction

38. Congress and President GrantReacted Temporarily • In 1870, Congress passed the 15th amendment • No person deprived of the vote based on color or prior condition of servitude • Did not mention property or educational requirements or fees to be charged to vote • In 1870 and 1871, Congress passed the Enforcement Acts, using federal force to make sure all citizens could vote • Grant succeeded in crushing klansmen in South Carolina • However, he did not use the Enforcement Act again • Grant did nothing some years later in Mississippi

39. Indian Policy • 1864-1874: U.S Army vs. Sioux • 1874-1875: Gold seekers to Black Hills of western Dakota (sacred place to the Sioux) • Battle of Little Bighorn in Montana Territory • Led by Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and Cheyenne allies: • Wiped out George Custer and his 225 men (419) • 1881: Helen Hunt Jackson wrote A Century of Dishonor

40. Dawes Severalty Actand Boarding Schools

41. Supreme Court Slaughterhouse Case of April 14, 1873 • Testing of the immunities clause under the 14th amendment • Slaughterhouse of New Orleans • City and State created a new slaughterhouse • Largest mass murder of Americans in U.S. History due to the Fall of 1872 elections • The Republicans won the election • White Supremacist coalition also claimed victory • A standoff took place

42. Revolutions often set off counter-revolutions

43. Ulysses Grant, President • 8 years: 1869-1877 • Corruption led to split in the Republican party • Only one major piece of legislation for Reconstruction: The Civil Rights Act of 1875: • Forbade racial discrimination in all public facilities, transportation lines, places of amusement, juries • No restrictions on private entities (individuals or corporations) • Was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of 1883 except for prohibition of discrimination on juries

44. Panic of 1873 / Recession • Lasted 4 years • Over-speculation • High post-war inflation • Thus, Congressional elections of 1874: lost 77 seats to the Democrats • Anyone voting Republican was conclusively marginalized • Prior to the presidential election of 1868: 2,000 people were killed or injured in Louisiana