UNIT 5 CH.15 Reconstruction

Lincoln’s Policies Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction  Full presidential pardons to southerners who took an oath of allegiance and accepted emancipation of slaves.  State government could be reestablished as soon as 10% of voters took the oath Wade-Davis Bill  50% of voters had to take oath and only non-Confederates could vote for a new state Constitution  Lincoln pocket vetoed the bill Freedmen’s Bureau  Provided food, shelter, and medical care for those made destitute by the war (black and white)  Established nearly 3,000 schools for freed blacks Lincoln's Last Speech  Alluded to support for voting rights for blacks

Johnson and Reconstruction Johnson’s policy  Maintain Lincoln’s plan plus disenfranchisement of former Confederate leaders and confederates with over $20,000 in taxable property Southern governments of 1865  Ratified the Thirteenth Amendment  Did not extend voting rights to blacks  Former Confederate leaders were elected to Congress Black Codes  Adopted by southern legislatures  Prohibited blacks from renting land or borrowing money to buy land  Forced to sign work contracts  Could not testify against whites in court

Johnson and Reconstruction Johnson's vetoes  Vetoed a bill to increase the services and protection offered by the Freedmen's Bureau  Vetoed a civil rights bill that nullified Black Codes and guaranteed full citizenship and equal rights Election of 1866  Johnson’s campaign speeches appealed to racial prejudices by suggesting that equal rights for black would mean an “Africanized” society  Republicans reminded voters of the hardships of the war and branded Democrats as rebels and traitors  Republicans won over 2/3 of the seats in both houses of Congress

Congressional Reconstruction Radical Republicans  Charles Sumner, Thaddeus Stevens, Benjamin Wade  Supported extended military occupation of the South so blacks could exercise their rights Civil Rights Act of 1866  Pronounced all black Americans to be U.S. citizens Fourteenth Amendment  All persons born or naturalized in the U.S. were citizens  States had to respect rights and provided equal protection under the law and due process

Congressional Reconstruction Report of the joint committee  Congressional report recommending former states of the confederacy not be allowed representation in Congress.  Congress possessed the authority of determining when states could be readmitted Reconstruction Acts of 1867  Placed the south under military occupation  Increased requirements for readmission into the Union  Ratify 14 th Amendment  Enfranchise all adult males

Impeachment of Andrew Johnson Tenure of Office Act  Prohibited the president from removing a federal or military commander without the approval of the Senate  Radical Republicans didn’t want Edwin Stanton removed form office  Johnson removes Stanton and is charged with 11 “high crimes and misdemeanors”  Johnson was impeached but not removed from office Election of 1868  Republicans- Ulysses Grant  Democrats- Horatio Seymour

Grant Elected Fifteenth Amendment  Prohibited any state from denying or hindering a citizen’s right to vote “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude” Civil rights Act of 1875  Guaranteed equal accommodations in public places  Prohibited courts from excluding blacks from juries  Poorly enforced  Frustrated with trying to reform the South  Afraid of losing white votes in the North

Reconstruction Governments State Legislatures  Dominated by Republicans that included native-born white southerners, freemen, and recently arrived Northerners Scalawags and Carpetbaggers  Nicknames for southern whites who supported Republicans and the recently arrived Northerners respectively Black legislators  Most were educated property owners  Hiram Revels took over the Mississippi Senate seat that once belonged to Jefferson Davis  Disenfranchised ex-Confederates were bitter

Republican Record in the South Accomplishments  Universal male suffrage  Property rights for women  Debt relief  Modernized penal codes  Infrastructure improvements  State-supported public school system  hospitals Failures  Graft  Wasteful spending  Kickbacks  bribes

Adjusting to Freedom Building black communities  Black churches and schools were established quickly after the war  Black ministers became leading members in the black community  Howard, Atlanta, Fisk, and Morehouse Universities were established Sharecropping  Landlord provided seed and farm supplies in return for a share of the harvest  Sharecroppers usually remained dependent on the landowner

Greed and Corruption Rise of spoilsmen  Political manipulators that used the patronage system to gain wealth and power Corruption in business and Government  Grant’s presidency was notoriously corrupt  Grant himself was not involved, though he was loyal to people who were  Numerous schemes involving cities and companies included kickbacks, bribes, and the general assumption of wealth at the taxpayers expense

Election of 1872 Liberal Republicans and Democrats- nominated Horace Greeley  Supported civil service reform, end of railroad subsidies, withdrawal of troops from the south, reduced tariffs, and free trade Republicans- Ulysses Grant  Used a technique called “waving the bloody shirt” in which they reminded the country of the war’s hardships Panic of 1873  Over speculation and overbuilding by railroads led to failed businesses and a five year depression

End of Reconstruction White Supremacy  Ku Klux Klan- destroy Republican party, aid planters, and prevent the black community from exercising their political rights Force Acts of 1870 & 1871  Passed to curb KKK activities and protect the civil rights of citizens in the South Amnesty Act of 1872  Removed the last of the restrictions on ex-Confederates except for top leaders  Allowed Democrats to retake control of Southern legislatures

End of Reconstruction Election of 1876  Republicans- Rutherford B. Hayes  Democrats- Samuel J. Tilden  Democrats won the popular vote; votes were contested in 3 southern states and Tilden only need one of those votes to win in the electoral college Compromise of 1877  Southern Democrats in Congress agreed to accept Rutherford B. Hayes as president if federal troops were withdrawn and if the new government would build a southern transcontinental railroad