1. Chapter 22 The Ordeal of Reconstruction

2. Difficulties of Reconstruction
Lincoln assassinated
Needed to decide how to bring Southern States back
After the war, Southern people continued to believe that their view of secession was correct
Many Northerners wanted to punish the South
Needed to decide how to support the newly freed African Americans

3. Reconstruction Plans

4. Congress vs. President
Disagreement between Pres. & Congress revealed differences in Republicans & two factions arose within party: 
Majority - agreed with Lincoln & believed that seceded states should be restored to Union as quickly as possible
Radical minority -  felt South should suffer greatly before its re- admittance - wanted South's social structure to be uprooted, the planters to be punished, and the newly-emancipated blacks to be protected by federal power

5. Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan
"10 percent" Reconstruction plan - 1863
State could be reintegrated into Union when 10% of its voters in the presidential election of 1860 took an oath of allegiance to US and pledged to abide by emancipation
Then, formal state gov’t would be constructed within state, and then it would be re-admitted into the Union
Due to Republican fears over the restoration of planter aristocracy and possible re-enslavement of blacks  Congress passed Wade-Davis Bill  
Required 50% of state's voters take oath and demanded stronger safeguards for emancipation
Lincoln refused to sign

6. Johnson’s Plan Strong supporter of State’s Rights
Southerner who did not understand the North and a Democrat who had not been accepted by the Republicans.
May Called for special state conventions which were required to:
repeal decrees of secession
repudiate all Confederate debts
ratify slave-freeing 13th Amendment.
States that agreed to these concessions would be re- admitted
Pardoned all rebel leaders

7. Congressional Reconstruction
December  Southern states represented themselves in Congress with former Confederate generals and colonels
This time South would have much more control in Congress due to the fact that the South had a larger population  (no more 3/5 clause)
Republicans feared South would take control of Congress
President Johnson announced  December 6, 1865 that Southern states had met his conditions and that Union was now restored
Angered Republicans  especially Radical faction

8. Republican Plan
Charles Sumner led Republican radicals in the Senate & Thaddeus Stevens led the radicals in the House
Fought for black freedom and racial equality  
Moderate Republicans, the majority in Congress
Preferred policies that restrained the states from cutting citizens' rights, rather than policies that directly involved the federal government in individual lives

9. Actual Reconstruction Plan
Military Control of South
Passing of Freedman’s Bureau
Reconstruction Acts
13th Amendment, 1865
Abolished slavery
14th Amendment ,1866
Established citizenship of all
Equal protection under the law no matter the race
Passing of 15th Amendment, 1869
African Americans the right to vote

10. Military Reconstruction
March 2, Congress passed Reconstruction Act
Divided South into 5 military districts, each commanded by a Union general and policed by Union soldiers
Required states wishing to be re-admitted into Union had to ratify 14thAmendment, and that states' constitutions allowed former adult male slaves to vote
Moderate Republican goal was to create voters in Southern states that would vote those states back into the Union and thus free the federal government from direct responsibility for the protection of black rights
Military Reconstruction of the South took control of certain functions of the president and it set up a military rule of the South
1877- last federal troops removed from South and Democracy returned to South (in theory)

11. Freedmen's Bureau
Many freedmen (people who were freed from slavery) were unskilled, without property or money, and had little knowledge of how to survive as free people
March Congress created Freedmen's Bureau 
Provided clothing, medical care, food, and education to both freedmen and white refugees
Greatest success was teaching blacks to read
Start of Black Schools and the foundation of HBCUs
Because it was despised by President and by Southerners, expired in 1872

12. Response to Reconstruction

13. New Life for Freedmen
Emancipation took effect unevenly in different parts of the conquered Confederacy
Church became focus of black community life in years following emancipation
Formed their own churches pastured by their own ministers, and they had an opportunity for education
Blacks could now learn to read and write

14. Johnson & Congress Clash
February Pres vetoed bill extending Freedmen's Bureau
In response, Congress passed Civil Rights Bill in March 1866
Gave Blacks privileges of American citizenship
Congress overruled the President's veto
Fearing Southerners might repeal Civil Rights Law, Congress passed 14th Amendment
1) Gave civil rights, including citizenship, to freedmen
2) Reduced proportionately the representation of a state in Congress and in the Electoral College if it denied blacks the right to vote
3) Disqualified from federal and state offices former Confederates who, as federal officeholders, had once sworn to support the Constitution of the United States
4) Guaranteed the federal debt, while the Union assumed all Confederate debts.
With the ability to overrule a presidential veto, Congress began to develop into the dominant role in controlling the government
All Republicans agreed that no state should be welcomed back into the Union without ratifying the 14th Amendment

15. Black Codes Series of laws designed to regulate affairs of freedmen
Mississippi passed first law  
Aimed to ensure stable and subservient labor force
Sharecropping Established  
Plantation owners rented out pieces of their land to Blacks and make cost of rent higher than the return the land produced
Renters of land were bound by contract to continue to work land until debts were repaid to the plantation owner
Unable to repay debts, blacks began to "jump" their contracts
Codes imposed harsh penalties on Blacks who "jumped" their labor contracts, some of which usually forced them to work for same employer for one year
Sought to restore pre-emancipation system of race relations
Forbade Blacks to serve on a jury or to vote
Mocked idea of freedom and imposed terrible hardships on the newly freed people
Republicans strongly opposed to Black Codes

16. The Ku Klux Klan
"Invisible Empire of the South", otherwise known as the Ku Klux Klan
Founded in Tennessee in 1866
Formed by disgruntled white Southerners who were angered by the success of black legislators
Group worked through intimidation
Congress passed Force Acts of 1870 and 1871 in response to murders that Klan had committed
Acts enabled Federal troops to stop atrocities of the Ku Klux Klan
Came too late, though, as the Klan had already intimidated many people

17. Women’s Response
Many Feminists angered that 14th and 15th Amendments gave rights to black males, but not to women
Many of most out spoken white suffragists felt betrayed and began to speak out against African Americans and 14th and 15th amendments

18. Result of Reconstruction

19. Realities of Radical Reconstruction
After gaining right to vote from 15th Amendment, African Americans began to organize politically
In first presidential election – elected Ulysses Grant in landslide vote
Strong participators in Union League, originally a pro-Union organization
Freedmen turned Union League into a network of political clubs that educated members and campaigned for Republican candidates
Also built Black churches and schools, represented black grievances before local employers and governments, and recruited militias to protect black communities from white retaliation
From Blacks began to hold major offices in government
Hiram Revels - 1st African American Senator
"Scalawags" - Southerners who were accused of plundering treasuries of Southern states through their political influence in radical governments
"Carpetbaggers" - Northerners who had come to South to seek power and profit

20. Johnson Impeachment Congress passed Tenure of Office Act in 1867
Required president to secure consent of Senate before he could remove cabinet members once they had been approved by Senate
Purpose was to keep the secretary of war, Edwin M. Stanton (a spy for the Republican party), in president's cabinet
Johnson dismissed Stanton
House of Reps voted to impeach Johnson for "high crimes and misdemeanors”
Johnson argued the Act was unconstitutional and wanted to challenge it before Supreme Court
May 16, Senate voted the president "not guilty" by a margin of one vote

21. Purchase of Alaska
1867 – Sec. of State  Seward signed treaty with Russia that gave Alaska to US for $7.2 million
Russia sold Alaska because it felt it was over-expanded in North America
Wanted to strengthen US as a barrier against Britain
Many Americans supported the purchase because Russia helped them during the War
Some did not support it  saw it as useless and removed focus from Reconstruction
Seward's Folly

22. Results of Reconstruction
Many white Southerners felt it was more painful than the war itself
Republican Party wanted to protect the freed slaves and to promote the fortunes of the Republican Party
This removed party from South for nearly 100 years
Despite good intention, it did not change the way that South treated or viewed blacks
Radical Republicans program of drastic economic reforms and extensive protection of political rights would have led to equality between the races  never enacted
Reconstruction eventually ends in 1877
Compromise of 1877 – Hayes agrees to remove troops from South if election went to him