Reconstruction (1865-1876)

The Big Question How should we re-build the United States after the Civil War? Should the South be punished or forgiven? How shall freed slaves be treated?

Presidential Reconstruction Lincoln was looking for “malice towards none” Lincoln’s 10% Plan & the Wade-Davis Bill • Pardon all Southerners, except leaders, if they would swear an oath to the United States • As soon as 10% of the voters in a state had taken the oath, the state was back in the Union • All states must ratify the 13th Amendment (abolishing slavery) Republicans didn’t like the plan and submitted the Wade-Davis bill (50%); pocket-vetoed by Lincoln

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.

Freedmen’s Bureau (1865) • Established to deal with problems of freedmen and war refugees • set up schools and hospitals • supposed to help freedmen find jobs and protect them from exploitation • Major influence: EDUCATION

Plenty to eat and nothing to do. Freedmen’s Bureau Seen Through Southern Eyes Plenty to eat and nothing to do.

President Johnson’s Plan (10%+) Johnson’s plan — Lincoln’s assassination brings Johnson to the presidency (white supremacy) • similar to Lincoln’s • Southern States had to write new state constitutions that voided secession and ratified the 13th Amendment • By the end of 1865, white Southerners had re-established all but one of their state governments. Additionally, the states had passed “Black codes” to ensure that the freed slaves would remain socially separate and economically dominated -- ensure a labor force for the plantations. 1. Disenfranchised certain leading Confederates. 2. Pardoned planter aristocrats brought them back to political power to control state organizations. EFFECTS? 3. Republicans were outraged that planter elite were back in power in the South!

Black Codes and Sharecropping Examples of Black Codes: forbid African-Americans to gather after sunset, carry arms, marry whites or be idle or unemployed. • Tenant Farmer -- rent land from former plantation owners; buy goods on credit until harvest comes in • Sharecropper -- uses land, gets supplies and other goods from landowner, gives landlord 1/3 of crop, usually former master

Congressional Reconstruction “Radical” Republicans (led by Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens) — The Northerners in Congress, however, did not approve of Johnson’s Reconstruction plan. Congress refused to recognize the delegation from the Southern states and would not let them have their seats. The Radical Republicans believed that • Only Congress should have the power to re-admit states • The South had seceded and be conquered and should be treated as a conquered province • Lincoln was too lenient • They would lose political power to the South AND so Congress took over reconstruction All of these acts were passed over Johnson’s veto. Some of the Radicals were truly trying to help blacks achieve equal rights; some were just trying to use the political power.

Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the 14th Ammendment Civil Rights Act of 1866 — declared African-Americans to be citizens & authorized Federal troops to enforce the law 14th Amendment — submitted 1866, ratified 1868; made the Civil Rights Act constitutional • All persons born or naturalized in the United States are citizens • They can not be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process • They are entitled to equal protection under the law

More Results of Reconstruction Military Reconstruction Act of 1867— all southern states must be “reconstructed” again • South divided into 5 military districts -- each under control of army • States MUST ratify the 14th Amendment, to rejoin the union Tenure of Office Act and Impeachment — Radical attempt to get rid of Johnson • Tenure of Office act — President must have the approval of Senate to fire appointees • Johnson fired his Sec of war (Edwin Stanton) and House impeached him; He was acquitted in the Senate by 1 vote 15th Amendment — ratified 1870 • No citizen will be denied the right to vote (suffrage) on the basis of “race, color or previous condition of servitude” (upsets women because it excludes them)

Retreating from Reconstruction African American Polititicians • Blanche K. Bruce and Hiram Revels • Accused of corruption and ignorance; a reason for white southerners to take back over Carpet-baggers and Scalawags • Carpet-baggers — Northerners who come south to “profit of the misery of the south” -- buy up plantations. etc. • Scalawags -- Southerners who supported Radical Reconstruction -- also profited Ku Klux Klan — started by Nathan Bedford Forest, to intimidate blacks and white republicans and maintain the pre-war social status

Retreating from Reconstruction Hayes-Tilden Election (or Florida causes an election problem) — (1876) -Samuel Tilden (Democrat) and Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican) ran for the presidency. -Tilden won the popular vote but the electoral votes were contested in three states (oddly enough, the only three states who still had Reconstruction governments). One of those states was Florida! Compromise of 1877 — Hayes would become president and remove the federal troops from the South; Reconstruction would be over; Hayes was referred to as “his fraudulency”