Reconstruction Politics: A Complex Path to National Reunification

1. The Politics of Reconstruction • The process by which the seceding states are restored to a proper relationship with the Union. • Republican Myth – “Since there was no legal secession, there need be no readmission.” • “The Southern armed minority tricked the majority into fighting the War….so lets turn Southern gov’t over to the unarmed majority.” • African Americans were very optimistic about freedom. • However, the Southern economy was devastated by the war

2. Lincoln’s 10% Plan • Lincoln’s 10% Plan- very lenient. • Offered “amnesty” to all except high ranking Confederates, who swore loyalty to the Constitution. • Allowed a state to rejoin the union when 10% of the 1860 voting population swore loyalty to the U.S.  • This was called the 10 % Plan.

3. Wade Davis Bill • 1864- Proposed that Congress, not the President would be in charge of Reconstruction. • Said that a majority (50%) of those eligible to vote in 1860 swear a loyalty oath to support the Constitution. • Lincoln used a pocket veto to kill the bill

4. Andrew Johnson • Johnson was a Democrat, when the entire North voted Republican.  • So if he wanted any chance of getting re-elected President he had to appease (and pardon) some influential Confederates, who were most likely also influential Democrats. So, most southern leaders were pardoned after brief jail terms

5. Andrew Johnson • The only confederate congressman not to leave congress during secession. • Lincoln pick this southerner to show his support for southern states.

6. Andrew Johnson as President • His plan was similar to Lincoln's…swift readmission upon the meeting of conditions • For readmission, Southern states had to: nullify acts of secession, abolish slavery, and refuse Confederate war debts. • Wanted to punish former Confederate leaders but his policies sometimes helped them. -13th Amendment – Jan 1865 – abolished slavery but was countered with -Black Codes – resembled slave codes

7. Black Codes • For African Americans, emancipation meant the ability to freely seek out lost relatives, (although most stayed in the South doing so), to marry, to get an education, to form their own churches. • In order to keep them in check local laws “black codes were passed to limit freedoms (curfews, ban of jury service, bar on blacks to rent land, punishment for “idleness”, heavy fines for laborers who broke labor contracts) • It was done to guarantee a cheap stable (and subservient) labor supply • Northern Republicans were angry at the Black Codes. They felt it was arrogance on behalf of the South (they were continuing aspects of sla

8. Reconstruction • Congress listened to hearings (1865-1866) on the horrible conditions in the South for the blacks. Convinced the moderates to join the radicals • Freedman’s Bureau – created in 1865 to help former slaves • President Johnson vetoed a bill in 1865 to extend its life. (Republicans later overrode the veto).

9. Civil rights Act of 1866 • Said everyone born in the U.S. was a U.S. citizen with full rights. • Designed to combat the Dredd Scott decision and discriminatory state laws. • President Johnson vetoed it but Congress overrode the veto and it passed. • Both of these vetoes showed that President Johnson did not support greater rights for African Americans in the South.

10. Moderates • The majority in Congress. • Wanted some civil rights for blacks, but not suffrage or participation in gov’t. • Radicals • Lead by Thaddeus Stevens in the House of Reps. • Insisted on black suffrage. • Wanted total reform and reconstruction in the South. • Wanted land reform and distribution • The Radical Republicans believed the legislative branch of the federal government should be in charge of Reconstruction policy.

11. 14th Amendment • 1866  Made states extend citizenship to blacks.  • Made “All persons born or naturalized in the U.S.” citizens of the nation. • Has a due process of law clause with equal protection of the law. • (States have to offer all people due process and equal protection of the law.  The National government is making State governments do this). • Civil rights are now enforced by the Federal, not State, governments. WOMEN not mentioned • Did not guarantee voting rights. • President Johnson opposed it.

12. 1866 Congressional Election • Republicans win majorities in both houses on Congress (the House of Reps and the Senate). • Now Republicans in Congress can override vetoes and control Reconstruction.

13. Republicans rule Congress • With the South in secession and Republicans holding a strong majority in congress, they passed the Morrill Tariff, the Pacific Railroad Act, and the Homestead Act. • All of which were strongly opposed by Democrats and Southerners.

14. New Problems • With slavery now illegal and Blacks now counting as a full person (not 3/5 as before) the South would actually be stronger politically than before. • Republicans feared a return of the Democrats to the White House and Congress

15. On December 6, 1865, President Johnson declared that the South had satisfied all of the conditions needed, and that the Union was now restored.

16. Reconstruction Acts of 1867 • Divided the South into 5 military zones. • To be readmitted as states to the Union, they had to:      -Ratify the 14th Amendment and guarantee all men the right to vote.    - This did not include "40 acres and a mule."

17. Tenure of Office Act • Required Senate approval for the President to remove an officer earlier confirmed by the Senate. • Impeachment – Johnson tests of Tenure of Office Act by removing Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. • Congress decides to impeach Johnson on charges of:     1.  Violating the T of O Act    2.  Making scandalous speeches    3.  Exposing Congress to ridicule

18. Johnson was indeed impeached but came 1 vote  shy in the Senate of being removed from the Presidency. (some say he was not convicted because he agreed to not run again) • Johnson vetoed so many important civil rights and Reconstruction legislation, that impeachment was a way to stop him and limit his power. • In 1868 Ulysses S. Grant, a Republican, was elected President. • While Grant was not personally involved, his administration was plagued by scandals throughout his presidency.

19. 15th Amendment • No person can be denied the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

20. Reconstructing Society • Many blacks were elected to state “reconstruction” legislatures. • Republicans won majorities in most southern state legislatures. • By 1870 all of the former Confederate states had rejoined the Union. • Reconstruction was not over though.

21. Economic conditions • The South was physically destroyed: farms, roads, buildings, etc. • Per capita wealth dropped from $18,000 for white families in 1860 to $3,000 in 1870. • Everyone in the South was poorer after the war. • More than 1/5 of the adult white men in the south died in the War.

22. Postwar Politics • Carpetbaggers- Northern politicians/opportunists. • Scalawags- Southerners who were Republican or supported Reconstruction. • African Americans made up the largest group of Southern Republicans. • Gained voting rights after the 15th Amendment. • 90% of Blacks voted in the South in the late 1860s

23. For many Southerners, their worst fears came true: • The Federal Government had sovereignty over states. • Slaves were free and had equal rights (in theory). • The South was completely decimated.

24. From slavery to freedom • Most blacks were cautious about their new freedom. • For many, life was worth as they had no land, few skills, no opportunities, no education, no homes, a still racist and prejudice white majority, and no way out of the south.

25. Education • Strictly forbidden under slavery. • 90% of African Americans were illiterate after the War. • Most Blacks sought education during reconstruction. • By 1877, more than 600,000 Blacks were enrolled in elementary schools.

26. Churches • Many new churches were formed by African Americans during Reconstruction (mostly Baptist and Methodist). • Usually the only institution that Blacks could totally control themselves (important during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s as well!) • Other support groups were formed to help former slaves.

27. Politics • From 1865-1877 African Americans were elected to local, state, and national political positions. • Most states (all but S.C.) were still dominated by white legislatures. • Only 16 out of 125 Congressmen were Black during Reconstruction. • All Southern governors were white.

28. 40 Acres and a mule • Promised to freed slaves by General Sherman in 1865 if they would follow his army. • Republicans in Congress failed to pass effective land reforms. • 44 million acres was set aside to homestead in the South but most of the land was swampy and unsuitable for farming. • Few Blacks had the $ to buy land and if they did whites refused to sell to them. • Even less had the resources to farm on their own (seed, tools, horses, etc.)

29. The South faced a labor shortage • Sharecropping- the cropper works the land, pays a portion of the harvest in exchange for rent, seed, supplies. • The sharecropper does all of the work but reaps the fewest benefits. • Tenant Farming: Renting Land to farm, but the tenant owns his own tools and keeps all of his harvest which he sells for a profit (not rent). • Rarely worked out for the best for the tenant • Kept the South tied to 1 crop agriculture • Discouraged change and diversification • Kept the South dependant to the North.

30. Cotton no longer king • During the War other countries began growing cotton. • After the war the market was flooded with cheap cotton. Many farmers started growing tobacco, but the South’s economy was still frail.

31. Life gets worse • Industrialization- came very slowly • Poll Taxes and Literacy Tests – ways around the 14th and 15th Amendments. • Jim Crow Laws- made segregation possible.

32. The Supreme Court • The Civil Rights Cases (1883) – said the 14th Amendment prohibited States, not individuals or businesses from discriminating. • Plessy v. Ferguson – (1896) gave us “separate but equal”

33. KKK • (Ku Klux Klan) • To keep blacks from voting, then their goals spread. They used brutal tactics to keep blacks down.

35. The Collapse of Reconstruction • Most southern whites reluctantly accepted reconstruction and the new rights for blacks. • Some states (GA) expelled black members of their state legislatures…the U.S. congress eventually forced their reinstatement. • Some whites, turned to violence and intimidation to keep blacks down and the laws ineffective.

36. The Ku Klux Klan • Began in 1866 as a social club for Confederate veterans. • Their popularity grew and agenda turned to keep blacks down, especially politically. • Burned houses & churches, killed, raped, beat up, and bullied blacks any way possible. • Whites who helped blacks were also targets.

37. Southern Politics • Republicans were the enemy of most Southerners (including the KKK). • Democrats cheated to get the Republicans out of their state governments. • Many blacks who voted Republican were revealed and black listed (no one would hire them for a job, sell them anything, or buy their crops) • By the 1880s the Klan’s activities had worked to the point that few blacks voted and hardly any were ever elected to office.

38. Democrats return to power • The Amnesty Act, 1872 restored the right to vote and run for office to about 150,000 former Confederates (who all voted Democrat). • 1873- Congress allows the Freedman’s Bureau to expire. • Radical Republicans lost seats in Congress during the 1870s as moderates took over.

39. Grant’s two terms as President 1868-1876 were plagued by scandals. • Although never involved personally, many of his top aides, cabinet members and even V.P. were caught in scandals. • Drew attention away from Reconstruction as did bad economic conditions (The Panic of 1873 and a currency dispute over greenbacks and hard currency)

40. Reconstruction fades • The leading radicals were dead (Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumner). • Reconstruction legislation either didn’t work effectively or was overturned by the S.C. • Scandals diverted attention.

41. Reconstruction Ends • Southern Democrats “Redeemed” themselves by recapturing the state governments of AL, AR, GA, MS, NC, TN, TX, and VA by 1875..

42. Election of 1876 • Rutherford B.Hayes, Republican vs. Samuel J. Tilden, Democrat. • Tilden won the popular vote but was 1 vote shy of a majority in the electoral college…so the House of Reps gets to decide (Dems have a majority by Republicans controlled the electoral commission) • Democrats agreed to accept Hayes as President if the Republicans agreed to end Reconstruction. A sneaky deal!

43. Compromise of 1877 • The Democratic majority in the House agrees to elect Hayes (Republican) as President if: • 1. Federal troops are taken out of the South. • 2. Federal $ is spent on a railroad from TX to the West coast, and on roads, bridges, harbors, etc in the South. • 3. Hayes appoints a conservative Democrat to his cabinet. • Effectively ends Reconstruction.

44. Home Rule returns • After 1876, southern states were free to run their states as they wanted without intervention from the Federal Gov’t. • Democrats dominated every southern state. • Most of the post-civil war reforms were now gone.

45. The Purchase of Alaska • The Purchase of Alaska • In 1867, Secretary of State William H. Seward bought Alaska from Russia to the United States for $7.2 million, but most of the public jeered his act as “Seward’s Folly.” • Only later, when oil and gold were discovered, did Alaska prove to be a huge bargain.