Reconstruction: North and South

Development in the North During the war, without southern opposition, US laws became more friendly to business. Devastation in the South Sherman’s March destroyed infrastructure Property Value collapse, Confederate Money useless Cotton and Rice production destroyed The War’s Aftermath

A Transformed South – Freed Slaves – White Southerners hated the North for imposing new rules Legally Free, Socially Bound – Former slaves had no property, $$ or friends – Should former slaves be given land? Few Northerners supported this. The War’s Aftermath

The Freedmen’s Bureau – Not an overly powerful group as congress did not provide the Bureau with real power. Provided clothing and food Negotiated contracts with plantation owners and freed slaves Provided medical treatment Set up some schools

© 2013 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. The Assassination of Lincoln The Assassination of Lincoln – April 14, 1865

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 could apply directly to Johnson)  In new constitutions, they must accept minimum conditions repudiating slavery, secession and state debts.  Named provisional governors in Confederate states and called them to oversee elections for constitutional conventions. 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!

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.

Growing Northern Alarm!  Many Southern state constitutions fell short of minimum requirements.  Johnson granted 13,500 special pardons.  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.  Forced many blacks to become sharecroppers [tenant farmers].

Congress Breaks with the President  Congress bars Southern Congressional delegates.  Joint Committee on Reconstruction created.  February, 1866  President vetoed the Freedmen’s Bureau bill.  March, 1866  Johnson vetoed the 1866 Civil Rights Act.  Congress passed both bills over Johnson’s vetoes  1 st in U. S. history!!

14 th 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!

© 2013 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. Reconstructing the South The Triumph of Congressional Reconstruction – Congress would then embark on a new program designed to limit the power of the president and to exert control over Reconstruction. – First, it declared that any state that had met previous guidelines to return to the Union was still in rebellion; second, it denied the power of the president to remove members of his cabinet – In order to return to the Union, states had to craft new constitutions, provide universal male suffrage, and adopt the Fourteenth Amendment, after which Congress would consider allowing them to return. Until then, all of the South would be divided into five military districts controlled by governors.

© 2013 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. The Impeachment and Trial of Johnson – Johnson and his secretary of war, Edwin Stanton, who had been appointed by Lincoln, did not get along. – In 1867, Johnson removed Stanton from that position and tried to appoint Grant. The Radical Republicans impeached Johnson on the grounds that he had violated the Tenure of Office Act, which they had passed in – He would be impeached but would fall short of being removed from office by one vote. Johnson would seek the Democrat nomination in 1868 for his own term as president but would not receive it, and Grant would win the election as a Republican. Republican Rule in the South – By the end of 1870, all of the former Confederate states had met the conditions for being readmitted, including ratifying the Fifteenth Amendment, which gave all men the right to vote. Reconstructing the South

© 2013 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. The Freed Slaves – Treatment by many Whites was still poor – Military training = Political Leaders – Churches formed foundation of African American community – Religious and Social – Marriages carried out and families set up African Americans in Southern Politics – Few freed slaves in politics – Many African American’s moved from Northern cities to work in politics Reconstructing the South

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.

Black & White Political Participation

Establishment of Historically Black Colleges in the South

© 2013 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. “Carpetbaggers” and “Scalawags” – Two groups who gained new power in the South Carpetbaggers – Northerner’s who moved South Scalawags – Southerners who supported Union The Radical Republican Record – Despite being despised by many whites in the south, the Radical Republican’s left a legacy 600,000 Black students Railroads Blacks had new rights Reconstructing the South

© 2013 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. The Grant Years The Election of 1868 – Although he had never held elected office before, Grant would be elected president of the United States in 1868, based mainly on his victory in the Civil War. He was the youngest president at the time and was often blind to the forces of politics once in office and was awestruck by the wealth of some of his supporters.

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!

The “Invisible Empire of the South”

© 2013 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. Election of 1876 – The country was in a Depression during the election of Close election between Republican, Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat, Samuel Tilden. The Compromise of 1877 – Hayes strikes secret deal with Democrats in Senate to vote him President if he removes all Federal troops from South. The Grant Years

© 2013 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. The End of Reconstruction – 1877 Hayes removes troops from Louisiana and SC. Soon after Republican governments fall. – Hayes loses legitimacy as President – Civil rights in the South takes a giant step backwards – In general, Reconstruction failed in the short term but left a legacy of the 13 th, 14 th and 15 th Amendments waiting to be upheld. The Grant Years