Conflicts Over Reconstruction

1. Conflicts Over Reconstruction

2. Objectives • Explain why conflicts developed over plans for Reconstruction. • Describe the changes in the South brought about by Radical Reconstruction. • Explain how Congress tried to remove President Johnson from office. • Describe how the Ku Klux Klan and other secret societies tried to prevent African Americans from exercising their rights.

3. Terms and People • Andrew Johnson –Vice President who became President when Lincoln was assassinated • Hiram Revels –an African American senator • Blanche Bruce –an African American senator • scalawag–asouthern white who had opposed secession • carpetbagger–a northern white who went south to start a business or pursue political office

4. Terms and People(continued) • impeachment–bringing of formal charges against a public official • black codes –new laws used by southern states to control African Americans

5. How did disagreements over Reconstruction lead to conflict in government and in the South? President Andrew Johnson and Congress disagreed over plans for Reconstruction. This led to a battle for power between Congress and the Presidency.

6. Like Lincoln, President Johnson proposed a less demanding plan for Reconstruction. • He gave amnesty to most former Confederates. • He allowed southern states to organize new governments and elect representatives to Congress.

7. Johnson required states to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment. This amendment abolished slavery and forced labor. Slavery The Thirteenth Amendment gave Congress the power to make laws to enforce its terms.

8. Congress rejected Johnson’s lenient approach and began to debate a new plan. To sidestep the abolishment of slavery, some southerners supported black codes, a system of near-slavery. Anger over these developments led Radical Republicans in Congress to adopt a hard line.

9. The struggle over Reconstruction led to direct clashes between the President and Congress. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866. It gave citizenship to African Americans. Johnson vetoed the bill. Congress overturned the veto. It became law.

10. Next, Congress passed the Fourteenth Amendment. The Fourteenth Amendment All people born or naturalized in the United States are citizens. States must allow all males over 21 to vote. The Fourteenth Amendment was not fully enforced until the 1970s.

11. Radical Republicans won enough support to begin a series of reforms known as Radical Reconstruction. They passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867. The act stated that to return to the Union, southern states had to: write a new state constitution allow African Americans to vote ratify the Fourteenth Amendment

12. The act imposed military rule on states that refused to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment, dividing them into five military districts.

13. President Andrew Johnson Radical Republicans • majority of white men must swear oath of loyalty • states must ratify 13th Amendment • former Confederate officials may vote and hold office • state governments must disband • states must write new constitutions • states must ratify 13th and 14th Amendments • must allow African American men to vote Overall, the Reconstruction policies of the Radical Republicans were much stricter and more comprehensive than those of President Johnson.

14. Radical Reconstruction brought about many improvements: Southern states opened their first public schools. Taxes and voting rules became fairer for all citizens. Legislators granted women property rights. States rebuilt bridges, roads, and buildings.

15. For the first time in American history, African Americans in the South played an active role in politics. African Americans were elected to local and statewide offices. Hiram Revels and Blanche Bruce became the nation’s first African American senators.

16. The Republican Party built a strong following during this time, based on three groups. 1 Freedmen voters. 2 Scalawags, or southern whites who had opposed secession. 3 Carpetbaggers, or northern whites who came to work in the South.

17. Radical Republican power peaked in 1868. The Radicals tried to remove President Johnson from office by impeachment. Johnson received just enough votes to stay in office. Then, General Ulysses S. Grant won the 1868 presidential election. Grant was a moderate, so the Radicals began to lose power.

18. In 1869, Congress approved the Fifteenth Amendment. States had to allow African Americans to vote. Secret societies such as the Ku Klux Klan used terror and violence to keep African Americans from voting.

19. Congress responded to Klan violence in the 1870s. Congress passed laws barring the use of force against African American voters. Klan violence took hundreds of lives during the election of 1868. Although Reconstruction guaranteed rights to more Americans, huge challenges still remained.