640 likes | 906 Views
The student will identify legal, political, and social dimensions of Reconstruction. Standard 10. a. Compare and contrast Presidential Reconstruction with Radical Republican Reconstruction. . Presidential Reconstruction. Reconstruction , at its heart, was:
E N D
The student will identify legal, political, and social dimensions of Reconstruction. Standard 10
a. Compare and contrast Presidential Reconstruction with Radical Republican Reconstruction.
Presidential Reconstruction • Reconstruction, at its heart, was: • A conflict between the Radical Republicans and Presidents Lincoln and Johnson (who were moderates) • Radical Republicans wanted to punish the South severely for the Civil War • Lincoln and the moderates wanted to quickly bring the South into the Union
Presidential Reconstruction • The process of rebuilding the South began before the war ended • In 1863 Lincoln proposed the Ten Percent Plan • Called on Southern states to complete three tasks to restore to the Union • First, they had to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment. • Next states had to repudiate secession. • Finally, when ten per cent of 1860 voters had taken an oath of allegiance the state would be restored to the Union.
Presidential Reconstruction • Radical Republicans objected • Said the plan was too lenient • They proposed the Wade-Davis Bill, its stated southern states would have to: • Ratify the Thirteenth Amendment • Voters to swear that they did not support secession • Lincoln vetoed the Wade-Davis • Sadly, before Lincoln could reintroduce his plan he was assassinated
Presidential Reconstruction • Lincoln’s Vice-President, Andrew Johnson’s plan of reconstruction was similar to Lincoln’s • Rapidly reintegrate Southern states back into the Union • Appointed governors who would make the required political changes
Presidential Reconstruction • Unfortunately for the South, the election of 1866 returned a Radical Republican majority to Congress • They began pushing forward bills that favored their position • Johnson vetoed them one after another • Congress responded by attempting the impeach Johnson • They failed
Congressional Reconstruction • 1867, the First Reconstruction Act: • Divided the South into five military districts that were administered by military governors • The law turned the clock back on any Reconstruction measures passed by southern states (except for Johnson’s home state of Tennessee)
Congressional Reconstruction • To be readmitted to the Union, the Southern states were required to: • Guarantee Black suffrage • Hold open elections for both White and Black representatives to the state constitutional convention • Create a new state constitution that recognized the three Reconstruction amendments to the Constitution
Congressional Reconstruction • By 1870 all the Southern states had been re-admitted to the Union • Federal troops remained in the South to enforce the provisions and to protect African-Americans from mob violence
b. Explain efforts to redistribute land in the South among the former slaves and provide advanced education (e.g., Morehouse College) and describe the role of the Freedmen’s Bureau.
“Forty-acres and a mule” • In January 1865, Gen. William T. Sherman issued a special field order: • To settle African-American families who were following his Army • Each family was to be allotted 40-acres and a mule • From confiscated lands in the Georgia, Florida, South Carolina
“Forty-acres and a mule” • Approximately 18,000 families were to be settled in this way • Before the program could be fully implemented, President Andrew Johnson rescinded this order and returned all confiscated lands to its former owners
The Freedmen’s Bureau • In March 1865 Congress created the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (Freedmen’s Bureau) • It was in order to ease freed slaves’ transition from enslavement to freedom
The Freedmen’s Bureau • The bureau’s responsibilities included: • Introducing a system of free labor • Overseeing some 3,000 schools for freed persons • Settling disputes • Enforcing contracts between the usually white landowners and their black labor force • Securing justice for blacks in state courts
The Freedmen’s Bureau • The Bureau lacked any enforcement authority on its own • Lost its ability to carry out its mission when Federal troops were withdrawn from the South • White Southerners refused to support its objectives • Northern politicians neglected to give it financial support • The Freedmen’s Bureau ceased operation in 1872
Educational Success • The Bureau’s one notable contribution: • Creating numerous schools in the South, including: • Howard University • Hampton Institute • In Georgia • Morehouse College • Examples of a colleges created to give African-American men advanced educations
c. Describe the significance of the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments.
13th, 14th, and 15th • Three amendments ratified shortly after the Civil War expanded civil liberties and voting rights to freed slaves • These amendments forced states to recognize the protections guaranteed in the Bill of Rights • These three amendments defined and protected voter rights
13th Amendment • The Thirteenth Amendment ended slavery in the United States • Emancipating nine million African-Americans
14th Amendment • The Fourteenth Amendment defined citizenship, expanded due process to the state level, protected the right to vote of newly free men, ended the Three-Fifths Compromise, and denied former Confederates the ability to participate in electoral office until approved by Congress
15th Amendment • The Fifteenth Amendment prohibited states from denying anyone the right to vote on the basis previous condition of servitude, race, or color • Sex was not mentioned • Thus denying women the right to vote
d. Explain Black Codes, the Ku Klux Klan, and other forms of resistance to racial equality during Reconstruction.
Resistance to Reconstruction • Southerners resisted Reconstruction by: • Refusal to participate • Through the passage of harsh laws that restricted economic and political rights • By intimidation and violence
Black Codes • Enacted by many Southern states immediately after the Civil War • Black Codes were designed to regulate relations between white southerners and newly freed slaves
Black Codes • While recognizing some rights, such as: • Legalized marriage • Ownership of property • Limited access to the court • Black Codes denied African-Americans the rights to: • Testify against whites • To serve on juries or in state militias • To vote, and express legal concern publicly
Black Codes • The Codes were an attempt by plantation owners to secure the labor supply lost as a result of the Thirteenth Amendment • They required all African-Americans to provide proof of employment or be forced to work for white land owners
Black Codes • Black Codes enraged northern Congressmen and the public • Saw the laws as re-introduction of some of the aspects of slavery • The Codes were made illegal with the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment
Ku Klux Klan (KKK) • Founded in Tennessee in 1866, the Ku Klux Klan was originally a Confederate veteran’s club • Quickly became an organization closely associated with worst forms of violence and intimidation
Ku Klux Klan (KKK) • Initially, the Klan tried to scare African-Americans into compliance • When this method did not work Klan members attacked: • Northern whites who came South • Southern whites who tried to aid Reconstruction • African-Americans who were educated and participated in community affairs
Ku Klux Klan (KKK) • Eventually, anyone who Klan members disliked could be: • Attacked • Beaten • Brutally murdered • Often in front of family members
Ku Klux Klan (KKK) • Resistance to the Klan was difficult • Due to a lack of weapons among African-Americans • Also, because of the control of the court system by the white politicians
Ku Klux Klan (KKK) • Some states, notably: • Arkansas • Tennessee • Texas • Successful broke up the Klan with special police forces • The Federal government used the Enforcement Acts to break up Klan activities • By 1872 the Klan had disappeared in the South
e. Explain the impeachment of Andrew Johnson in relationship to Reconstruction.
Impeachment • President Andrew Johnson angered the Radical Republicans • He vetoed Congressional Reconstruction measures • The Radical Republicans tried to find a way to remove President Johnson from office
Impeachment • In 1867 Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act over Johnson’s veto • The law forbade the President from removing important government officials without Congressional approval • Johnson decided to test the law • He removed Radical Republican appointee, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton
Impeachment • Stanton supported Congressional Reconstruction • Brought him into conflict with President Johnson • The President fired Stanton and ordered him to vacate his office • Stanton barricaded himself in his War Department office and remained there until after the impeachment trial was over