2. Is Reconstruction a legislative or executive power?
Constitution does not address the possibility of secession nor specify which branch of government would deal with readmitting states
This set up a bitter struggle between the legislative branch and executive branch over control of this process

3. Presidential Reconstruction
Lincoln’s 10% Plan (1863)
Goal: reunify nation
If 10% of a state’s voters took loyalty oaths to Union and they ratified the 13th amendment (ending slavery) they could rejoin the Union
Willing to grant pardons to former Confederates (except high ranking officials)

4. Congress’ Response
Republican Congress opposed the plan insisting that Confederates had committed crimes and should be punished
Passed Wade-Davis Bill in response:
majority of state’s voters had to swear loyalty to be readmitted
New governments could only be formed by those who had not borne arms against the North
Permanent disenfranchisement of Confederate leaders

5. Freedman’s Bureau (1865)
Lincoln vetoed the Wade-Davis Bill but signed the Freedman’s Bureau into law
Goal to provide food, clothing, healthcare, and education to black and white refugees in the South and help with the transition to freedom
Helped settle many newly freed slaves on lands of their former owners (40 acres and a mule)
Helped many newly freed slaves reunite their families, negotiate fair labor contracts, and get an education

6. Presidential Reconstruction: President Johnson
Goal: to restore the Southern states to the union ASAP
Pardoned all Confederates who swore allegiance (except high-ranking officials and wealthy planters)
Gave land back to pardoned ex-Confederates
Required Southern states to ratify 13th amendment and revoke ordinances of secession
Government for white people, no rights for ex-slaves

7. What happened? Vote was limited to white men
Johnson pardoned Ex-Confederate officials and many were elected to Congress
Instead of owning their own land, former slaves had to work a wage laborers for their former masters or other whites
Black Codes enforced with violence and intimidation

8. Congress’ Response
When Southern Congressmen arrived in DC, Congress refused to seat them
Congress tried to extend the Freedman’s Bureau and guarantee African Americans’ civil rights but Johnson vetoed both
“This is a country for white men, and by God, as long as I am president, it shall be government for white men.” Johnson

9. Congressional/Radical Reconstruction
Goal: to remake the South into a more equal society (take away power from planters, give more power to ex-slaves)
Civil Rights Act 1866: 1st time a presidential veto was overridden
Federal law guaranteeing African Americans civil rights by making them citizens(meaning state laws could not take them away - made Black Codes illegal)
Congress convinced Johnson’s Reconstruction wasn’t working and took it over

10. Congressional/Radical Reconstruction
14th Amendment
Everyone born or naturalized in the U.S. is a citizen with all the rights guaranteed to them
Barred ex-Confederate officials from ever holding state or federal office
Military Reconstruction Act 1867 divided South into 5 military districts to be governed by Union generals
Once states rewrote their constitutions to guarantee African American males suffrage and ratified the 14th amendment they could be readmitted

12. Johnson’s Impeachment
Congress impeached President Johnson for violating the Tenure of Office Act and came one vote shy of removing him (part of the power struggle over Reconstruction)

13. Election 1868

14. 15th Amendment
Republicans add 15th Amendment which states that the right to suffrage cannot be denied based on race, color or previous condition of servitude

15. Enforcement/KKK Act 1870
KKK used violence and intimidation to try to keep free slaves from exercising their new rights
Congress created the Enforcement Act which banned terror, force, or bribery to stop voting and sent troops to the South to enforce it - violence did go down

16. What happened?
African Americans used their political power to vote and hold office (16 black Congressmen in 1870s, not that high again until 1970s)

17. Improved Public Schools

18. Many positive changes
African Americans could now legalize their marriages, could make choices about where they lived and where they traveled, could own their own land, etc.
African Americans had more freedom and rights than at any other time in history and their rights were protected by the Union army

19. But…
Corruption ruled Radical Reconstruction as some “carpetbaggers” and “scalawags” tried to make a profit
Slow economic growth led to few opportunities (many former slaves ended up working for their old masters in slave-like conditions)
Violence was still widespread as whites tried to intimidate blacks and keep them down