1. Reconstruction US History

2. Reconstruction 1865-1877 Rebuilding of the country: economy and government 2 main objectives: –Readmit Southern states to Union –Grant rights to freed slaves Very political issue: competing plans for the future of the country.

3. Even before the end of the war… 1863 Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation –Freed all slaves in only Confederate areas. –Symbolic gesture, but unenforceable. –After Proclamation, number of African American troops swelled in the Union. –Proclamation lessened chances of getting aid from Europe. Look at map!

4. 3 competing plans Lincoln’s: –Assumed that southern states never really left. –Pardoned southerners who swore oaths to the US again. –Recognized new southern state govts if 10% of those who voted in 1860 took oaths AND state constitutions abolished slavery. –Open to suggestions from Congress.

5. Johnson’s Plan Vice President Andrew Johnson (now President) –Variation on Lincoln’s: –Recognized 4 southern state govts and prepared to readmit others.

6. Radical Republicans Controlled Congress. Very harsh terms for Reconstruction Johnson ignored them; Republicans tried to impeach him. –House impeached, but Senate didn’t approve it by 1 vote shy of 2/3 needed. The process castrated him politically. Henry Wilson Senate, R-MA Andrew Johnson

7. Radical Republican Reconstruction Plan South divided into 5 military districts controlled by US Army while new state govts and constitutions were set up. State govts had to give African Americans right to vote. Southern states had to ratify 14th Amendment. –Former Confed officers and govt officials could not vote.

8. State Govts during Reconstruction White southerners tried to reassert control of state and local govts. –Tried to limit the freedom and movement of former slaves. Radical Reconstruction restricted them. –Former Confed leaders (mostly Dems) were barred from office and voting. –Republicans headed state govts, supported by African Americans. –African Americans were elected to office African American Congressmen

9. Resentment White southerners resented –Radical Reconstruction. –New Reconstruction govts. –Role of African Americans in govt. New epithets (terms of abuse): –Scalawags: white southern Republicans in the Reconstruction govts. –Carpetbaggers: Republican northerners who came to the South to partake in Reconstruction.

10. New Constitutional Amendments 13th (1865): abolished slavery 14th (1868): –All native-born or naturalized--including African Americans--were citizens. –States can’t limit rights of citizens without due process –Rights of former Confed officers and govt officials were limited. –Fed govt will pay Civil War debts; Confed debts were declared void. 15th (1870): states can’t prevent citizens from voting because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

11. Grant 1868 - 1st presidential election after war –General Ulysses S. Grant ran and won (as a Republican) Great military man, but lousy politician and govt leader. Scandals galore! Corruption rampant! Business owners paid bribes in the booming economy to politicians in return for favors.

12. Scandals during Grant Administration Credit Mobilier Scandal: –railroad officials swindled stockholders then bribed Congressmen to block investigation. Salary Grab: –Congress voted itself 50% pay hike and added 2 year back pay. Repealed because of public outrage. Whiskey Ring: –Whiskey distillers paid bribes to fed tax collectors instead of paying tax on liquor.

13. End of Reconstruction Republican party was weakened by scandals. By 1870s most white southern males voted Democrat in reaction to Radical Reconstruction. –For next 100 years Democratic Party voted Democrat: the “solid South” Republican Party was still strong in North and Midwest. –Pro business and farmer; for tariffs and tight money supply,.

14. 1876 Election 1876 Presidential Election –Samuel Tilden D-NY v. Rutherford Hayes R-OH –Tilden won popular, but electoral votes were contested. –Special electoral commission “recounted the votes” and gave the election to Hayes.

15. Election Fiasco led to Compromise of 1877 Democrats went along with electoral commission in return for promises: –Fed troops had to leave the South (Reconstruction was over). –Southerner had to be named to Cabinet –Federal spending on improvements to the South. Result: North’s political victory was weakened; Southern power was restored.

16. White Control in South White southerners tried to roll back political advances of African Americans through… –Black Codes: based on old slave codes; aimed at keeping blacks in slave-like condition. [Reason why Radical Republicans took Radical approach to Reconstruction. –Secret Societies: Ku Klux Klan formed to intimidate African Americans. Feds used US Army to put down KKK. But by 1900 on the upturn…

17. White Control in South –Poll Taxes: tax on voting; if you were poor, you couldn’t vote. Affected poor African Americans. –Literacy Tests: had to prove you could read and write to vote--like interpreting the Constitution. African Americans with no schooling had hard time passing. Freedman’s Bureau of 1865 established schools, but program did not last long. Southern states forced African Americans into separate, poorly funded schools.

18. White Control of South –Grandfather clauses: exceptions for poor illiterate whites so that they could vote. If you are son or grandson of a man who voted in 1867, you didn’t have to pay poll tax or pass literacy tax. –Jim Crow laws: segregation! Separated people on basis of race. African Americans couldn’t share railroads, schools, water fountains with whites.

19. Where was the Supreme Court in all this? It didn’t interfere with white efforts to control South. –1883 Civil Rights Cases: 13th Amendment abolished slavery but didn’t prevent discrimination. 14th Amendment prevented discrimination by govt but not by individuals. –Plessy v. Ferguson (1896): Segregation was legal as long as African Americans had access to “equal but separate” facilities. Doesn’t get overturned until Brown v. Board of Ed in 1954!