Reconstruction (1865-1876)

1. Reconstruction (1865-1876)

2. “White Man’s Government by Thomas Nast • 1868 • Irishman / Nathan Bedford Forrest / August Belmont

4. Key Questions 1. How do webring the Southback into the Union? 4. What branchof governmentshould controlthe process ofReconstruction? 2. How do we rebuild the South after itsdestruction during the war? 3. How do weintegrate andprotect newly-emancipatedblack freedmen?

5. Wartime Reconstruction

6. Theories of Reconstruction • Presidential – Secession was unconstitutional therefore states were never really out of the Union. President was going to lend aid from the government. States were to set up loyal and representative governments. LENIENT! LA, AR, and TN all applied. • State Suicide – Charles Sumner – Since the states had drafted Ordinances of Secession, they had committed felo de se (felon of himself) and therefore territories to be controlled by Congress.

7. Reconstruction Theories Cont… • Conquered Provinces – Thaddeus Stevens – states had lost ALL their rights and were to be governed as such. (Punishment) • Forfeited Rights – Southern states had never been out of the Union BUT gave up their rights and to get them restored had to petition (ask) Congress. (Punishment)

8. Post-Civil War Issues in the South • Worthless $$ -- Southern state govt’s had issued “greenbacks”(printed paper currency) backed by NOTHING • High Inflation – see • Ruined banks • No Law Enforcement • No Government • Transportation in Disarray • Slaves - $2 billion in property is lost • End of plantation agriculture as an economy

9. President Lincoln’s Plan • 10% Plan • Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (December 8, 1863) • Replace majority rule with “loyal rule” in the South. • He didn’t consult Congress regarding Reconstruction. • Pardon to all but the highest ranking military and civilian Confederate officers. • When 10% of the voting population in the 1860 election had taken an oath of loyalty and established a government, it would be recognized.

10. Bell Ringer • What was the foundation of Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan? • What was the foundation of the Radical Republican Reconstruction Plan?

11. President Lincoln’s Plan • 1864  “Lincoln Governments” formed in LA, TN, AR • “loyal assemblies” • They were weak and dependent on the Northern army for their survival.

12. Wade-Davis Bill (MAY 1864) • Required 50% of the number of 1860 voters to take an “iron clad” oath of allegiance (swearing they had never voluntarily aided the rebellion ). • MULTI-GENERATIONAL • Proposed Military Rule - South • Required a state constitutional convention before the election of state officials. • Enacted specific safeguards of freedmen’s liberties. • Vetoed by Lincoln SenatorBenjaminWade(R-OH) CongressmanHenryW. Davis(R-MD)

13. Wade-Davis Bill (1864) • “Iron-Clad” Oath (never aided the rebellion) • “State Suicide” Theory [MA Senator Charles Sumner] • “Conquered Provinces” Position[PA Congressman Thaddeus Stevens] PocketVeto PresidentLincoln Wade-DavisBill

14. Jeff Davis Under Arrest

15. Union cavalrymen arrested former Confederate president Jefferson Davis near Irwinville, Georgia, on May 10, 1865. • Suspect in the assassination of United States president Abraham Lincoln • Imprisonment at Fort Monroe in Virginia raised significant questions about the political course of Reconstruction (1865–1877). • Should Davis receive a severe punishment? Or amnesty? • When investigators failed to establish a link between Davis and the Lincoln assassins, the U.S. government charged him instead with treason. • U.S. president Andrew Johnson's impeachment hearings delayed the trial, however, and in the end the government granted Davis amnesty.

16. Freedmen’s Bureau (1865) • Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands. • Many former northern abolitionists risked their lives to help southern freedmen. • Called “carpetbaggers” by white southern Democrats. • Most successful in support of education of freedmen

17. Freedmen’s Bureau • Purpose / Goal – to help recently freed African-Americans ADJUST to their new found freedom • HOW? • 1) Food / Clothing to ALL FAMILIES • 2) Hospitals – White docs in the South often would not administer aid to black patients • 3) Sponsorship (pay) for Teachers • 4) Established colleges / elementary schools • 5) LAND – “40 Acres and a Mule” • 6) Job finders / relocators / labor contracts / arbitration

18. Freedmen’s Bureau Seen Through Southern White Eyes Plenty to eat and nothing to do. Freedmen were “lazy” and actually no longer wanted to work like slaves. DUH…...!

19. Freedmen’s Bureau School

20. Presidential Reconstruction

21. President Andrew Johnson MAY 1865 • Jacksonian Democrat. • Anti-Aristocrat. • White Supremacist. • Agreed with Lincolnthat states had neverlegally left the Union – LENIENT PLAN Damn the negroes! I am fighting these traitorous aristocrats, their masters!

22. President Johnson’s Plan (10%+) • Offered amnesty (pardon) upon simple oath to all except Confederate civil and military officers and those with property over $20,000 (they could apply directly to Johnson) • In new constitutions, they must accept minimumconditions renouncing slavery, secession and state debts. • Named provisional governors in Confederate states and called them to oversee elections for constitutional conventions. 1. Disenfranchised certain leading Confederates. 2. Pardoned planter aristocrats brought them back to political power to control state organizations. EFFECTS? 3. Republicans were outraged that planter elite were back in power in the South!

23. Slavery is Dead?

24. Growing Northern Alarm! • Many Southern state constitutions fell short of minimum requirements. • Johnson granted 13,500 special pardons. • Revival of southern defiance. BLACK CODES

25. 13th Amendment • Ratified in December, 1865. – passed while Southern congressional seats were vacant • Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction. • Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

26. Black Codes – Dec. 1865 • Passed by Southern STATE governments (in response to Congress passing the 13th Amendment) • Purpose: • Guarantee stable labor supply now that blacks were emancipated. • Restore pre-emancipationsystem of race relations. • Forced many blacks to become sharecroppers[tenant farmers].

27. Congress Breaks with the President • Congress bars SouthernCongressional delegates. • Joint Committee on Reconstruction created. • February, 1866  Presidentvetoed the Freedmen’sBureau bill. • March, 1866  Johnsonvetoed the 1866 Civil Rights Act. • Congress passed both bills over Johnson’s vetoes  1st in U. S. history!!

28. Johnson the Martyr / Samson If my blood is to be shed because I vindicate the Union and the preservation of this government in its original purity and character, let it be shed; let an altar to the Union be erected, and then, if it is necessary, take me and lay me upon it, and the blood that now warms and animates my existence shall be poured out as a fit libation to the Union. (February 1866)

29. Radical (Congressional) Reconstruction

30. 14th Amendment • Proposed in 1866 • Ratified in July, 1868. • Provide a constitutional guarantee of the rights and security of freed people. • Insure against neo-Confederate political power. • Enshrine the national debt while repudiating that of the Confederacy. • Southern states would be punished for denying the right to vote to black citizens!

31. The Balance of Power in Congress

32. Johnson’s “Swing around the Circle” The 1866 Bi-Election • A referendum on Radical Reconstruction. • Johnson made an ill-conceived propaganda tour around the country to push his plan. • Caused Republicansto win a 3-1majority in both houses and gained control of every northern state.

33. Radical Plan for Readmission • Civil authorities in the territories were subject to military supervision. • Required new state constitutions, including black suffrage and ratification of the 13th and 14th Amendments. • In March, 1867, Congress passed an act that authorized the military to enroll eligible black voters and begin the process of constitution making.

34. Reconstruction Acts of 1867 • Military Reconstruction Act • Restart Reconstruction in the 10 Southern states that refused to ratify the 14th Amendment. • Divide the 10 “unreconstructed states” into 5 military districts.

35. Reconstruction Acts of 1867 • Command of the Army Act • The President must issue all Reconstruction orders through the commander of the military – aimed at limiting Johnson’s power. • Tenure of Office Act • The President could not remove any officials [esp. Cabinet members] without the Senate’s consent, if the position originally required Senate approval. • Designed to protect radicalmembers of Lincoln’s government. • A question of the constitutionality of this law. Edwin Stanton

36. President Johnson’s Impeachment • Johnson removed Stanton in February, 1868. • Johnson replaced generals in the field who were supporting Radical Reconstruction.(harshness) • The House impeached him on February 24 before even drawing up the charges by a vote of 126 – 47!

37. The Senate Trial • 11 week trial. • Johnson acquitted 35 to 19 (one short of required 2/3s vote).

38. Black "Adjustment" in the South

39. Sharecropping

40. Tenancy & the Crop Lien System

41. Sharecropping Contract Activity • "How free is free?" • Was freedom simply the absence of bondage? • The right to obtain an education? • The right to receive healthcare? • The right to negotiate for wages? • The right to vote? • The right to tend one's own plot of land?

42. Black & White Political Participation

43. Establishment of Historically Black Colleges in the South

44. Black Senate & House Delegates

45. Colored Rulein the South?

46. Blacks in Southern Politics • Core voters were black veterans. • Blacks were politically unprepared. (Rights, Responsibilities, • Blacks could register and vote in states since 1867. • The 15th Amendment guaranteedfederal voting.

47. 15th Amendment • Ratified in 1870. • The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. • The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. • Women’s rights groups were furious that they were not granted the vote!

48. The “Invisible Empire of the South”

49. KKK / Knights of the White Camelia / etc • Founded by Nathan B. Forrest in Pulaski, TN • DEC 1865 • Originally a social fraternity then a paramilitary organization • Goals – intimidate black voters and whites who supported Reconstruction • Not originally intended to be violent in nature • Supported WHITE SOLID SOUTH DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENTS who kept blacks from voting by using poll taxes, “grandfather” clauses, and literacy tests.

50. The Failure of Federal Enforcement • Enforcement Acts of 1870 & 1871 [also known as the KKK Act or FORCE Acts] – authorizes troops to break up terrorist organizations – • Some men were brought to trial – many were not – why? US gov’t is getting tired by now of Reconstruction • “The Lost Cause.” • The rise of the“Bourbons.” – Democrats who kept poor whites and blacks subservient • Redeemers(prewarDemocrats and Union Whigs).-