Circumstances that the Government had to deal with during Reconstruction There were 4 million newly freed slaves that needed education (90% were illiterate), work, and wanted to know what rights they would have in this new United States.There were 4 million newly freed slaves that needed education (90% were illiterate), work, and wanted to know what rights they would have in this new United States. Former Plantations owners were concerned with repairing and planting their farms, along with their biggest two concerns: finding workers and dealing with the threat of violence from the former slaves.Former Plantations owners were concerned with repairing and planting their farms, along with their biggest two concerns: finding workers and dealing with the threat of violence from the former slaves. Poor white Southerners now had to deal with competition for work. They previously held jobs as slave overseers but now they would have to fight for a job.Poor white Southerners now had to deal with competition for work. They previously held jobs as slave overseers but now they would have to fight for a job.

President Lincoln’s Plan  10% Plan * Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (December 8, 1863) * Pardon to all regular Confederates soldiers and civilians * No Pardons offered to the highest ranking military and civilian Confederate officers. * 10% of the voting population would have to take an oath of loyalty to the United States * The states would have to establish a government which nullifies slavery, and then the state could become a fully functioning state again.

Parties fighting for representation during Reconstruction Radical Republicans were led by Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens and wanted serious reparations for African Americans along with punishment for the Confederates who they claimed started the war.Radical Republicans were led by Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens and wanted serious reparations for African Americans along with punishment for the Confederates who they claimed started the war. Democrats of the South, especially, were requesting forgiveness and pardons so that they and the rest of the South could come back into the country peacefully and be able to get their lives back on track.Democrats of the South, especially, were requesting forgiveness and pardons so that they and the rest of the South could come back into the country peacefully and be able to get their lives back on track.

Wade-Davis Bill (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 ).  Required a state constitutional convention before the election of state officials.  Enacted specific safeguards of freedmen’s liberties. Senator Benjamin Wade (R-OH) Congressman Henry W. Davis (R-MD)

Wade-Davis Bill (1864)  “Iron-Clad” Oath.  “Conquered Provinces” Position [PA Congressman Thaddeus Stevens] President Lincoln Wade-Davis Bill Pocket Veto

13 th Amendment  Ratified in December,  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.

President Andrew Johnson  Tennessee Democrat.  White Supremacist.  Agreed with Lincoln that states had never legally left the Union, but was not going to punish the South.

President Johnson’s Plan (10%+)  Offered amnesty upon simple oath to all except Confederate civil and military officers and those with property over $20,000 (they often applied directly to Johnson and he would grant them a pardon)  Johnson did not require 10% of the states to take the Oath of Allegiance. They simply had to, in new constitutions, they must accept minimum conditions voiding slavery, secession and state debts. EFFECTS? 1. Disenfranchised certain leading Confederates. 2. Pardoned planter aristocrats brought them back to political power to control state organizations. 3. Republicans were outraged that planter elite were back in power in the South!

Growing Northern Alarm!  Johnson granted 13,000 special pardons in 1865 alone (9 months total)  Revival of southern defiance. BLACK CODES

Black Codes  Purpose: * Guarantee stable labor supply now that blacks were emancipated. * Restore pre-emancipation system of race relations. * Restrictions: * Curfews- African Americans could not congregate at night. * Vagrancy Laws- African Americans could be punished if they were found jobless by summmer-time for the year. * Labor Contracts- Individuals had to sign labor contracts every single January. * Limits on Women- Women were forced to sign labor contracts as well. * Land Restrictions- African Americans could only live in rural farmland.

14 th Amendment  Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 to nullify the Black Codes, but Johnson vetoed it, so Congress attempted to strengthen their cause with an Amendment  Ratified in July, * 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!  Andrew Johnson campaigned against this 14 th Amendments, trying to get states to not ratify it.

Reconstruction Acts of 1867  Military Reconstruction Act * Placed the South under military rule with 5 districts governed by Northern Generals * Forced States to create new Constitutions and hold new elections. * All Qualified Voters, including Blacks, could now vote. * Confederates were temporarily ineligible to vote * Southern States must offer equal rights to blacks. * Once all have been done, states could finally rejoin the Union.

Reconstruction Acts of 1867  Command of the Army Act * The President must issue all Reconstruction orders through the commander of the military.  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 radical members of Lincoln’s government.  A question of the constitutionality of this law. Edwin Stanton

President Johnson’s Impeachment  Johnson removed Stanton in February,  Johnson replaced generals in the field who were Radical Republicans (a.k.a. enemies of his policies).  The House impeached him on February 24 before even drawing up the charges by a vote of 126 – 47!

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

Freedmen’s Bureau (1865)  Called “carpetbaggers” by white southern Democrats.  Assisted Freedmen with Education and job skills, actually taught 250,000 before the Bureau was ended  The Bureau was destroyed by Congress as they felt it cost the nation too much for too little improvement

Freedmen’s Bureau School

Scalawags Southerners who turned Republican were considered traitors, or “scalawags”Southerners who turned Republican were considered traitors, or “scalawags”

The 1868 Republican Ticket

Grant Administration Scandals  Grant presided over an era of unprecedented growth and corruption. * Credit Mobilier Scandal. * Whiskey Ring. * The “Indian Ring.”

15 th Amendment  Ratified in  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!

Black Senate & House Delegates In the election of 1870, 600 African Americans were selected into Southern political seats. 16 African Americans gained seats in Congress in the election of 1870

The “Invisible Empire of the South”

The Failure of Federal Enforcement  Enforcement Acts of 1870 & 1871 [also known as the KKK Act].  “The Lost Cause.”  The rise of the “Bourbons.”  Redeemers (prewar Democrats and Union Whigs).

Sharecropping

Tenancy & the Crop Lien System Furnishing MerchantTenant FarmerLandowner  Loan tools and seed up to 60% interest to tenant farmer to plant spring crop.  Farmer also secures food, clothing, and other necessities on credit from merchant until the harvest.  Merchant holds “lien” {mortgage} on part of tenant’s future crops as repayment of debt.  Plants crop, harvests in autumn.  Turns over up to ½ of crop to land owner as payment of rent.  Tenant gives remainder of crop to merchant in payment of debt.  Rents land to tenant in exchange for ¼ to ½ of tenant farmer’s future crop.

Land Ownership by African Americans in 1875 Only 1 in 20 African American families owned property by 1875Only 1 in 20 African American families owned property by 1875 The families got stuck working upon farms by sharecropping and tenant farming, never being able to produce the amount that their contract specified.The families got stuck working upon farms by sharecropping and tenant farming, never being able to produce the amount that their contract specified.

1876 Presidential Tickets

1876 Presidential Election

The Political Crisis of 1877  “Corrupt Bargain” Part II?

Alas, the Woes of Childhood… Sammy Tilden—Boo-Hoo! Ruthy Hayes’s got my Presidency, and he won’t give it to me!

A Political Crisis: The “Compromise” of 1877

Election of 1876 The election of Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876 was challenged by the Democrats since the voting in Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina was extremely close and could have involved fraudulent ballots cast. The U.S. Congress decided that Hayes would be given the Presidency over Democratic candidate Samuel Tilden but the Military must be pulled out of the Southern states, effectively ending Reconstruction.