Reconstruction Adapted from a number of other power points, including Ms. Pojer’s Reconstruction PowerPoint

Humpty Dumpty? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDyayfFnH90

Which of the following was a serious constitutional question after the Civil War? the restoration of the power of the federal judiciary the legality of the national banking system the political and legal status of the former Confederate states the relationship between the United States and Britain the proposed annexation of Colombia

“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan - to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.” Abraham Lincoln  Source: March 4, 1865 - Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

“I have never desired bloody punishments to any extent, even for the sake of example. But there are punishments quite as appalling and longer remembered, than death. They are more advisable, because they would reach a greater number. Strip the proud nobility of their bloated estates; reduce them to a level with plain republicans; send them forth to labor, and teach their children to enter the workshops or handle the plow, and you will thus humble the proud traitor.” By Radical Republican Congressman Thaddeus Stevens

It is plain that an indefinite or permanent exclusion of any part of the country from representation must be attended by a spirit of disquiet and complaint. It is unwise and dangerous to pursue a course of measures which will unites a very large section of the country against another section of the country, however much the latter may preponderate.  Andrew Johnson

“[T]he most soul-sickening spectacle that America had ever been called upon to behold. Every principle of the old American polity was here reversed. In place of government by the most intelligent and virtuous part of the people for the benefit of the governed, here was government by the most ignorant and vicious part of the population for the benefit— the vulgar, materialistic, brutal benefit—of the governing set.” John W. Burgess, Reconstruction and the Constitution, 1866-1876 (New York: Scribners, 1902), 263-64.

Wartime Reconstruction

President Lincoln’s Plan Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (December 8, 1863) Replace majority rule with “loyal rule” in the South. He didn’t consult Congress regarding Reconstruction. Pardon to all but the highest ranking military and civilian Confederate officers. When 10% of the voting population in the 1860 election had taken an oath of loyalty and established a government, it would be recognized

President Lincoln’s Plan 1864  “Lincoln Governments” formed in LA, TN, AR “loyal assemblies” They were weak and dependent on the Northern army for their survival.

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. Lincoln “pocket vetoes” the bill

Taking the Oath of Allegiance These white southerners are shown taking the oath of allegiance to the United States in 1865 as part of the process of restoring civil government in the South. The Union soldiers and officers are administering the oath. (Library of Congress) Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Freedmen’s Bureau (1865) Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands.

Black teacher and students During Reconstruction, the freed people gave a high priority to the establishment of schools, often with the assistance of the Freedmen's Bureau and northern missionary societies. This photograph of a newly established school was taken around 1870, showing both the barefoot students and the teacher. (Library of Congress) Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Funeral of President Lincoln, New York, April 25, 1865 by Currier & Ives 13th Amendment Funeral of President Lincoln, New York, April 25, 1865 by Currier & Ives Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

13th Amendment Ratified in December, 1865. 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

Presidential Reconstruction

Andrew Johnson becomes President Southern Democrat Lincoln assassinated Andrew Johnson becomes President Southern Democrat Wants a quick and easy reconciliation

designed to give whites almost complete control over former slave the Black codes designed to give whites almost complete control over former slave excluded blacks from voting testifying in court against whites banned inter-racial marriage defined unemployed black as vagrant

Black sharecropping family in front of their cabin Sharecropping gave African Americans more control over their labor than did labor contracts. But sharecropping also contributed to the south's dependence on one-crop agriculture and helped to perpetuate widespread rural poverty. Notice that the child standing on the right is holding her kitten, probably to be certain it is included in this family photograph. (Library of Congress) Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Store owner's record book of debts of sharecroppers Sharecropping became an oppressive system in the postwar south. At plantation stores like this one, photographed in Mississippi in 1868, merchants recorded in their ledger books debts that few sharecroppers were able to repay. (Smithsonian Institution, Division of Community Life) Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Radical Reconstruction Civil Rights Act of 1866 declared blacks citizens of the United States and granted the federal government the power to intervene in state affairs to protect the rights of citizens. Vetoed by Johnson

Radical (Congressional) Reconstruction

Memphis Riots, May 2, 1866, Harper's Weekly In 1866, as Congress reviewed the progress of Reconstruction, news from the South had a considerable impact. Violence against black people, like the riot in Memphis depicted here, helped convince northern legislators that they had to modify President Johnson's policies. (Library of Congress) Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

King Andrew King Andrew This Thomas Nast cartoon, published in Harper's Weekly just before the 1866 congressional elections, conveyed Republican antipathy to Andrew Johnson. The president is depicted as an autocratic tyrant. Radical Republican Thaddeus Stevens, upper right, has his head on the block and is about to lose it. The Republic sits in chains. (Harper's Weekly, 1866) Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Radical Reconstruction The 14th Amendment made anyone born in the United States (or naturalized) automatically a citizen entitled to all the "privileges and immunities" guaranteed by the Constitution, including equal protection under the law by both state and national governments

Radical Plan for Readmission Civil authorities in the territories were subject to military supervision. Required new state constitutions, including black suffrage and ratification of the 13th and 14th Amendments. In March, 1867, Congress passed an act that authorized the military to enroll eligible black voters and begin the process of constitution making.

Reconstruction Acts of 1867 Military Reconstruction Act Restart Reconstruction in the 10 Southern states that refused to ratify the 14th Amendment. Divide the 10 “unreconstructed states” into 5 military districts.

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. Constitutional?

The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson Official reason: He violated the Tenure of Office Act “Treason, bribery, or other high crimes and Misdemeanors” off the hook by one vote

Carpetbaggers Scalawags white Northerners who had relocated to the South Scalawags Southern Republicans

The Fifteenth Amendment prohibited any state from denying citizens the right to vote because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude

A newly freed slave casts his first vote. (Library of Congress) The First Vote The First Vote A newly freed slave casts his first vote. (Library of Congress) Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Ku Klux Klan Formed in 1866 Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 Harper's Weekly on December 28, 1868.

Reconstruction cartoon This 1868 cartoon by Thomas Nast pictured the combination of forces that threatened the success of Reconstruction: southern opposition and the greed, partisanship, and racism of northern interests. (Library of Congress) Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Grant’s Presidency 1868-1876 Corruption and scandal Sometimes called the “era of good STEALINGS”

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

The White League The White League Alabama's White League, formed in 1874, strove to oust Republicans from office by intimidating black voters. To political cartoonist Thomas Nast, such vigilante tactics suggested an alliance between the White League and the outlawed Ku Klux Klan. (Harper's Weekly, October 24, 1874) Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

"Redeemers" Democrats managed to regain eight of the former Confederate states by 1875 Only South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida had Republican state governments by 1876.

Election of 1876 Rutherford B. Hayes Contested election

End of Reconstruction

Compromise of 1877 Hayes promised not to use federal troops to uphold the few remaining Republican governments in the South. Reconstruction ends

Hayes as a Benevolent Farmer, May 12, 1880 This cartoon by J. A. Wales Puck reveals the North's readiness to give up on a strong Reconstruction policy. According to the image, only federal bayonets could support the "rule or ruin" carpetbag regimes that oppressed the south. What do the background and foreground of the cartoon suggest will be the results of President Hayes's "Let ‘Em Alone Policy"? (Library of Congress) Copyright © Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.