560 likes | 687 Views
Unit 8 Reconstruction (1865-1877). I. Post War Problems. A. The North. 1. Economic Problems. a . 800,000 soldiers needed jobs. b . War industry was slumping off: Layoffs occurred. c . Became better within 3 years as they switched back.
E N D
Unit 8 Reconstruction (1865-1877)
I. Post War Problems
A. The North 1. Economic Problems • a. 800,000 soldiers needed jobs b. War industry was slumping off: Layoffs occurred c. Became better within 3 years as they switched back 2. Northern lands and cities were mostly intact 3. Lost more men in the war than the South
B. The South 1. Economic Problems • a. Loss of infrastructure • b. Plantations, fields, cities, railroad, • Bridges, and Telegraph destroyed • 2. Collapse of the financial system • a. Money became worthless, Banks • closed, and savings lost • b. Debts went unpaid 3. Social Changes • a. Freed slaves had to fit in • b. No land, jobs, education, or rights
II. Early Plans For Reconstruction 1863-1864
A. President Lincoln’s Plan • 1. 10% Plan • a. Goal: Fast and painless reconstruction • b. Replace majority rule with “loyal rule” in the South. • c. States had to end slavery. • d. Pardoned all but the highest ranking military and civilian Confederate officers. • e. When 10% of the voting population in the 1860 election had taken an oath of loyalty and established a government, it would be recognized.
B. Wade-Davis Bill (1864) 1. Felt Lincoln was too generous. 2. Required 50% of the number of 1860 voters to take an “iron clad” oath of allegiance. 3. Required new state constitutionals. 4. No former Rebel Volunteers in power. 5. Enacted specific safeguards of freedmen’s liberties. SenatorBenjaminWade(R-OH) CongressmanHenryW. Davis(R-MD)
C. 13thAmendment 1. Ratified in December, 1865. 2. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
D. Freedmen’s Bureau (1865) 1. Provided food, clothing, medical care, and job training for former slaves. 2. Established schools for freed slaves 3. Many former northern abolitionists and volunteers risked their lives to help southern freedmen.
Freedmen’s Bureau Seen Through Southern Eyes Plenty to eat and nothing to do.
III. A New President
A. President Andrew Johnson 1. Jacksonian Democrat. 2. Anti-Aristocrat. 3. White Supremacist. 4. Agreed with Lincolnthat states had neverlegally left the Union. “Damn the negroes! I am fighting these traitorous aristocrats, their masters!”
B. President Johnson’s Plan (10%+) 1. amnesty with a simple oath to all except Confederate civil and military officers 2. new constitutions, they must end slavery, secession, and ratify the 13th amendment. 3. Named provisional governors to oversee elections for constitutional conventions. 1. Certain leading Confederates lost power. EFFECTS? 2. Pardoned planters and they came back to political power.
C. Growing Northern Alarm! 1. Many Southern state constitutions did not meet requirements. 2. Johnson granted 13,500 special pardons. 3. Revival of southern defiance. BLACK CODES
a. Black Codes i. Purpose: • a. Create a stable labor supply. • b. Restore pre-war race relations. c. Allowed Whites to retain their power
ii. Restrictions/Advances: • a. Could not vote or serve on a jury • b. Could not own a gun • c. Limited jobs • d. Sharecropper system • e. Allowed to Legally marry • f. Could own some property
D. Congress Breaks with the President 1. Congress keeps Southernersout 2. Joint Committee on Reconstruction created. 3. February, 1866 Presidentvetoed the Freedmen’sBureau bill. 4. March, 1866 Johnsonvetoed the 1866 Civil Rights Act. 5. Congress passed both bills over Johnson’s vetoes 1st in U. S. history!!
IV. Radical Reconstruction
A. Led by Thaddeus Stevens of PA and Charles Sumner of MA B. Main goals • 1. Break the power of the southern planters • 2. Ensure the right of freedmen to vote and gain • more rights • a. Civil Rights Act made Freed slaves citizens: Vetoed 3. Enforce strict treatment of the South
c. 14th Amendment • 1. Ratified in July, 1868. • a. Provide citizenship to all people born in the USA. • b. Equal protection under the law. • c. No state can take away rights or property without Due Process. • 2. Southern states would be punished for denying the right to vote to black citizens!
d. Radical Reconstruction Plan • 1. First Reconstruction Act, March 1867 • a. Restart Reconstruction in the 10 Southern states that refused to ratify the 14th Amendment. (TN) • b. Divide them into 5 military districts.
E. Reconstruction Acts of 1867 • 1. Tenure of Office Act • a. President can’t remove any officials [esp. Cabinet members] without the Senate’s consent. • 1. Designed to protect radical appointees of Lincoln. • 2. Constitutionality of this law? Edwin Stanton
F. President Johnson’s Impeachment 1. Johnson removed Stanton in February, 1868. 2. Johnson replaced generals in the field who were more sympathetic to Radical Reconstruction. 3. The House impeached him on February 24
4. The Senate Trial a. 11 week trial. b. Johnson acquitted 35 to 19 (one short of required 2/3 vote).
V. Changes in Southern Politics
A. Scalawags: Southern Republicans 1. Businessmen who opposed secession 2. Wanted to forget the war and rebuild the south 3. Viewed as traitors by most of the white southerners
B. Carpetbaggers 1. Northerners who moved to the south to gain wealth at the expense of the southerners • 2. former union soldiers who fell in love with the • area during the war • 3. Teachers, ministers, and reformers wanting to • help the south to improve and rebuild
VI. Black "Adjustment" in the South
A. 15thAmendment 1. Ratified in 1870. 2. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged…on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. 3. All African American males over age 21 could now vote. 4. Women’s rights groups were furious that they were not granted the vote!
B. Blacks in Southern Politics 1. Core voters were black veterans. 2. Blacks were politically unprepared and had no real power. 3. The 15th Amendment guaranteedfederal voting.
VII. Resistance In the South
A. Only wanted limited change: Blacks could vote and hold some political offices B. Some planters tried to force slave back onto plantations C. Small farmers complained about the competition from Freedmen
D. The Ku Klux Klan (Means “circle clan”) • 1. Worked to keep slaves and Northerners • from gaining power 2. Try to regain the old southern power and way of life • 3. Their actions were condemned by Congress Founder: Nathan Bedford Forrest
VIII. Rebuilding the South
A. Public schools for all children B. Women could own property in some states C. Rebuilt railroads, roads, telegraph lines, bridges D. Taxes were increased to pay for the cost of rebuilding E. Some corruption in the new governments
F. Wide spread poverty in the south • 1. Planters had lost their slaves and their • plantations collapsed • 2. Freedmen had nothing but their freedom • 3. Sharecropping developed as a result • a. Planters needed workers: hired their • slaves back and other poor whites • b.Farmers used seed, tools and other • supplies given to them by the planter • c.Farmers got to keep a small share of • the crop yield, but most could not • survive on it
G. The Civil Rights Act of 1875 1. Crime for any individual to deny full &equal use of public conveyances andpublic places. 2. Prohibited discrimination in jury selection. 3. Shortcoming lacked a strong enforcement mechanism. 4. No new civil rights act was attemptedfor 90 years!
IX. The Abandonment of Reconstruction
A. Northern Support Wanes • 1. “Grantism” & corruption. • 2. Panic of 1873 [6-yeardepression]. • 3. Concern over westwardexpansion and Indian wars. • 4. Key money issues: • a. should the government retire $432m worth of “greenbacks” issued during the Civil War. • b. should war bonds be paid back in specie or greenbacks.