Chapter 15, Henretta RECONSTRUCTION

Important strands in Chapter 15 How to Restore the Union? A drama in three acts. The major players… Presidents Lincoln and Johnson, who wanted to make it easy and quick for the South to rejoin the Union, while protecting the Thirteenth Amendment Radical Republicans, who wanted to create real political rights for former slaves however long it took (but didn’t recognize that political power needed economic power to make it effective) African-Americans, who were ready to take full advantage of the implied promise of land, voting rights and education Ex-Confederates, who wanted by any means to restore the power they’d lost in the Civil War

Important strands in Chapter 15 Act One: Presidential Reconstruction Presidents Lincoln and Johnson welcome back Southern states, who promptly enact Black Codes to restore slavery in everything but name. Act Two: Radical Reconstruction Radical Republicans impeached President Johnson, pushed through two more constitutional amendments and several civil rights acts, and pushed aside the Southern governments approved by Johnson. Stripping ex-Confederates of the vote and enforcing black voting rights, they ensured the election of reformist Republican governments throughout the South. These governments extended black rights … and tried to bring the North’s rapid economic development to the South.

Important strands in Chapter 15 Act Three: The Confederate Counterrevolution Ex-Confederates take advantage of scandal and weariness in the North to take back the governments of the South. The Democrats become their party; the Ku Klux Klan and other violent militias terrorize their opponents. A sympathetic U.S. Supreme Court strips the Civil War constitutional amendments of their power to protect black rights.

Important strands in Chapter 15 Epilogue: The Three Civil War Amendments Even though they didn’t accomplish much after ex-Confederates took back Southern governments, they were the later underpinning of most civil-rights gains in the 20th century 13th Amendment: abolishes slavery 14th Amendment: protects citizenship rights in several ways, particularly by guaranteeing equal protection of the laws to all citizens and forcing states to abide by the Bill of Rights (which formerly restricted only the federal government) 15th Amendment: guarantees voting rights regardless of race, color or previous condition of servitude

Important strands in Chapter 15 A new life for African-Americans Sharecropping and wage labor replace slave labor Freedmen’s Schools and black colleges Black-owned businesses for a black community African-American churches Briefly, political power in Congress and statehouses An unchanged life for women Abolitionists, the Supreme Court and the drafters of the Fifteenth Amendment tell women to wait for their rights; it’s not yet their time.