ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND SLAVERY

1. ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND SLAVERY • Did not go to war against the South in 1860 to abolish slavery • His primary goal was to preserve the Union • However, average northern soldiers and northern public opinion did see abolition of slavery as a major goal of the war • In addition, the freeing of slaves would deprive the South of valuable manpower in both military and civilian areas and thus cripple the Southern war effort • For both emotional and practical reasons, the demand for the abolition of slavery grew in the North while the war was still going on

2. LINCOLN ACTS • Lincoln responded to public opinion by issuing Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 • Freed all slaves in Union-occupied Southern territory • Also had Congress ratify the 13th Amendment in early 1865 • Officially abolished slavery in the U.S.

3. IMPORTANT QUESTIONS • Abolition of slavery and military defeat of South raised new questions • What to do with freed slaves? • Should they be made full-fledged citizens or made a dependent class, free but not equal? • What to do with defeated white southerners? • They had technically committed treason • Should they be treated as traitors or forgiven?

4. TEN PERCENT PLAN • Since Lincoln had always believed the prime purpose of the war had been to preserve the Union, he thought that, now that it was over, all effort should be made to restoring the Union and ending the bitterness and hatred of war years • Wanted to be lenient on the defeated South • Favored letting them reconstitute their state governments and pardoning all former Confederates except the highest leaders • Embodied his lenient position in the so-called Ten Percent Plan

5. PROBLEM • Many Northerners did not like the Ten Percent Plan • Every Southern state contained thousands of people who opposed the Confederacy--Unionists • Northerners wanted to reward Unionists and punish Rebels • Were afraid ex-Rebels would take revenge on Unionists as soon as they had the chance • Would also try to re-establish slavery and might even start a new civil war once they had regained strength

6. NORTHERN OPINION • Many Northerners did not want the South admitted as a full member of the Union as quickly or easily as Lincoln did • Wanted the South to go through a period of reconstruction first • A trial period in which the North would essentially control the South in order to make sure Southerners were sincere about re-establishing their loyalty to the Union before allowing Southern states to become free and equal members of the U.S.

7. WADE-DAVIS BILL • Congress thought Ten Percent plan was too lenient and passed its own alternative, the Wade-Davis Bill • Made it difficult for southern states to organize new state governments • Majority of adult white makes had to swear oath of allegiance to Union first • Full citizenship denied to any man who had willingly served the Confederacy • Lincoln vetoed the bill and, in response, Congress refused to implement Ten Percent Plan • Result was stalemate

8. CATASTROPHE • Congress and Lincoln still locked in stalemate when the war ended (4-9-65) and Lincoln was murdered five days later • If Lincoln had lived, he probably would have found a solution • A master politician who would have found some sort of compromise • Too smart and too ambitious to continue a fight if he knew he was going to lose • But now he was dead

9. ANDREW JOHNSON • New president, Andrew Johnson, was well-intentioned but less intelligent, flexible, and willing to compromise than Lincoln • Started off on wrong foot when he announced his own policy while Congress was in recess • As lenient as Ten Percent Plan • Pardoned all ex-Confederates as soon as they swore oath to support the Union • Created procedures to set up new Southern state governments and allow Southern states to re-enter Union • Hoped lenient measures would heal wounds of the Civil War

10. TROUBLE • When pardoned southerners went to polls in late 1865 to elect their new state governments, they often selected men who had been high Confederate officials • This upset Northerners • Wanted some assurance that the South would not try to leave Union again, but these actions did not give them any high hopes

11. BLACK CODES • Johnson did not make any provisions for freed slaves • Left their future up to new southern state governments • New southern state governments had no desire to help ex-slaves become equal citizens • All passed laws that discriminated against ex-slaves • Called the “Black Codes”

12. BAD NEWS • Prohibited blacks from testifying against whites in court • Prohibited blacks from serving on juries • Prohibited marriage between whites and blacks • Banned blacks from mixing with whites in public facilities • If a black person was arrested for vagrancy, they were hired out to whites and forced to work until their fines and court costs were paid off • Their labor was auctioned off to the highest bidder

13. NORTHERN RESPONSE • Northern Congressmen interpreted Black Codes as an effort to restore slavery in the South • Realized that Emancipation Proclamation and 13th Amendment were not enough • Blacks had to given the right to vote and hold public office so that laws like the Black Codes could not be passed in the future • Most Republicans were moderates and did not want to fight Johnson and split the party over this issue • Hoped that they would be able to reason and compromise with him and thus modify his reconstructionprogram with his cooperation

14. RADICAL REPUBLICANS • Johnson refused to compromise • Thereby strengthening the radical wing of Congressional Republicans and gave them the ammunition they needed to try to dump Johnson and impose their own Reconstruction program • Radical Republicans were a minority in Congress but they included some very able men • Rep. Thaddeus Stevens of PA • Hated the South, blamed the entire Civil War on southern slaveowners, and were devoted to establishing Negro equality • Dedicated to restructuring southern society by confiscating the property of southern slaveowners and redistributing it to ex-slaves

15. 14TH AMENDMENT • Congress passed 2 bills to protect Negro rights in the South • Johnson vetoed both bills • Not because he was a racist but because he believed Reconstruction policy should be a presidential, not a Congressional, power • Congress over-rode both • Johnson’s stubbornness gave Radical control of Congress • Passed 14th Amendment • Gave blacks equal rights and pressured southern states to give blacks full voting rights • Northern states ratified amendment but only one southern state did

16. RECONSTRUCTION ACT OF MARCH 2, 1867 • Since 14th amendment was the foundation for all future Reconstruction policies, Radicals realized that southern states had to be convinced to ratify it • Passed Reconstruction Act of March 2, 1867 to do this • Dissolved all state governments in South and divided region into 5 military districts • Each under the control of military commander charged with preserving order and protecting the rights of ALL persons • To remove itself from this situation, a southern state had to ratify the 14th Amendment and set up a state government that granted full equality and voting rights to blacks

17. DECISION TO DUMP JOHNSON • Congress also passed laws to reduce Johnson’s ability to hinder enforcement of its Reconstruction policy • Such as prohibiting him from firing an federal official with prior Congressional approval • Johnson still had enough power to get in the way and he did so as much as possible • It was at this point that Radicals made up their mind to impeach him and get rid of him once and for all

18. JOHNSON IN TROUBLE • Johnson had not committee a “high crime or misdemeanor” • But he had displayed an incredible lack of political judgment • He then began to fire federal officials friendly to the Radicals • In direct violation of the law Congress had just passed • Gave Radicals real charge to use to impeach him • This and 10 other trumped up charges were presented to and approved by the House

19. IMPEACHMENT • Impeachment trial held in Senate from March 13-May 16, 1868 • Vote very close in the end • 35 guilty/19 not guilty • One vote short of necessary 2/3s majority to impeach • Johnson hung on to his job but it didn’t matter any more • U.S.S. Grant got Republican presidential nomination • Making Johnson a lame-duck for the remaining 9 months of his term • Grant and Republicans swept the country in November 1868

20. RECONSTRUCTION IN THE SOUTH • 20,000 troops stationed in the South • Tended to stay in the background but their presence was intensely resented by white southerners • Role was generally positive • Protected Unionists and blacks when they voted • Without army, ex-Confederates would have prevented both from voting

21. CARPETBAGGERS AND SCALAWAGS • Most blacks and Unionists voted for Republicans • Often for “Carpetbaggers” (white Northerners who had moved to the South) or “Scalawags” (former white Unionists) • Contrary to myth, most were honest and sincere men who truly wanted to help the ex-slave • Not the corrupt and vicious politicians that white racist legend has portrayed them to be

22. RECONSTRUCTION STATE GOVERNMENTS • State governments set up by Republicans all aimed at overthrowing white supremacy in the South • All gave blacks the right to vote • Many reapportioned legislative districts to give blacks better representation • Property qualifications for voting and holding office were abolished • Black Codes were abolished • Institutions for caring for the sick, disabled, insane, and destitute were set up • Most set up integrated public schools

23. GOOD BUT HATED • Some elected Republican officials in the South were black • Most were white Scalawags or carpetbaggers • Most southern state administrations were liberal and aimed at guaranteeing equality and education for all and helping the unfortunate • Earned undying animosity of former conservative white planter elite • Hated every aspect of Reconstruction • Hated coalition of blacks, Unionists and northern Republicans • Resented aid to the poor • Especially hated policy of equal rights for blacks

24. BIG OBSTACLE • Former white planter elite exploited racism of poor, white southerners to undermine Reconstruction and destroy Republicans • Powerful current of racism was the major and, in the end, insurmountable obstacle that southern Republicans faced in trying to win over poor white voters • Who might have otherwise sympathized with Radical Republican policies

25. DANGEROUS TURN • White Republicans were socially ostracized • Republican businesses were boycotted • White Republicans could not rent houses, hotel rooms, or even boarding house rooms • Whites employed intimidation and violence to prevent blacks from voting • “uppity” blacks were beaten up and sometimes killed • Black leaders were threatened with assassination attempts and mob violence

26. KKK • Secret terrorist organizations were formed to terrorize blacks and control their votes • Such as the Ku Klux Klan • Public opinion was generally on the side of these organizations • White juries routinely found them not guilty • Even when the crime was murder

27. LIBERAL REPUBLICANS • Conservative Southern whites, rallying around the Democratic Party, gradually overturned Reconstruction • At the same time, the federal government was doing less and less to protect southern Republicans • National Republican Party had split over Reconstruction policy • “Liberal Republicans” argued that continued support for Negro rights in the South against powerful white opposition was costing the party more than it was worth • Favored backing off from Reconstruction

28. RETREAT • Throughout the North, many people had come to believe by 1875 that the country as a whole would be better off if the government gave up trying to impose Reconstruction on an unwilling South • In general, the Republican Party and Northerners gradually retreated from their commitment to black equality • Abandoned all efforts to defend equal rights

29. ELECTION OF 1876 • Democrat Samuel J. Tilden vs Republican Rutherford B. Hayes • Very close election • 184 electoral college votes for Tilden and 165 for Hayes • But 20 electoral college votes (19 of which were from the South) were in dispute and claimed by both candidates • If Hayes could get firm control of them, he would win, 185 to 184

30. COMPROMISE OF 1877 As a result of this deal, Hayes got his 20 votes and became president In exchange for votes, he would remove all federal troops from the South, given several key cabinet posts to southerners, and promote and finance railroad projects than would benefit southern agriculture Hayes made deal with southern politicians for 20 disputed votes

31. END OF RECONSTRUCTION • Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction in the South once and for all • Remaining white Republicans and all blacks were now at the mercy of racist Democratic local and state governments • Also created so-called “Solid South” • Region overwhelmingly voted Democratic in every election until the late 1960s • Even after Democratic Party changed its attitude towards race

32. CONCLUSION • As a result of the Compromise of 1877, South was also given a free hand to deal with blacks and other local issues with little federal interference • Result of this would be lynching, “Jim Crow” laws, segregated public facilities and schools, poll taxes, and all the other racist laws that the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s/1960s finally eliminated • The failure of Reconstruction and the Compromise of 1877 established the characteristics that the South would retain for the next 100 years • And most of them were negative