The Battle Over Reconstruction

Andrew Johnson and the Radical Republicans fight for control of Reconstruction, 1865 - 1869

Passed in 1865, Congress would require every state in the former Confederacy to ratify the 13th Amendment to the Constitution before it could re-enter the Union.

The 13th Amendment to the Constitution

Andrew Johnson offered broad amnesty to most ex-Confederates. He required that they ratify the 13th Amendment, but would permit former Confederate government officials and officers to serve in the Congress.

Andrew Johnson’s Restoration

Radical Republicans in Congress wanted to provide more rights for African Americans and to reconstruct Southern Society by providing suffrage, education, and economic opportunities for Freedmen.

Many Radical Republicans also wanted to see rebellious Southerners punished for their part in the Civil War.

Why did Congress object?

Alexander Stephens, pictured to the right, was the Vice President of the Confederate States of America. He was elected to the Senate from Georgia following the Civil War, but Congress refused to allow him to take his seat.

Congress refused to seat former Confederates elected to office.

Southern Black Codes were new laws used by Southern States to control the movements and rights of recently freed African-Americans.

BLACK CODES

1. The first goal of the Radical Republicans was to protect the newly free African-Americans, their rights, and their property. Moreover, they wanted to ensure equality of opportunity under the law.

2. Preventing former Confederates from taking political power in the South was a key to protecting African-American rights. Radical Republicans wanted to prevent members of the CSA from holding office – and supported both African-American and Carpetbagger (Northerners) candidates.

The Goals of the Radical Republicans in Congress, 1860s:

Andrew Johnson and the VETO

The two laws which Johnson vetoed, but Congress passed into law by override were:

◦ 1. The Civil Rights Act of 1866

◦ 2. The Freedman’s Bureau Extension Act

Congress OVERRIDES Johnson

The 14th Amendment

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

The Fourteenth Amendment

The Fourteenth Amendment gave citizenship to any person born in the territorial United States (including both ex-Confederates and African-American enslaved persons). It also made it the business of the national government to see to it that states protected the rights of the nation’s citizens. This is how Civil Rights leaders of the 1960s challenged Jim Crow laws and segregation in the South. But it took a long time to evoke real change.

The Fourteenth Amendment

The Fourteenth Amendment

Immigration and Citizenship

Fighting Illegal Immigrants has taken on a hostile tone.

When children are born in the United States they become US Citizens automatically. Some people believe that the children of illegal immigrants should not be allowed citizenship and seek to change the Constitution.

The government of any Southern State which had not ratified the 14th Amendment was removed and replaced.

Military rule was established in five districts. The 14th Amendment must be ratified by the

new state government. The right to suffrage must be established

under the new state government for all African-American men.

Radical Republican Policies:

Hiram Revels was elected to the United States Senate by the state of Alabama. African Americans were elected to many positions, such as sheriff, mayor, judges, or Congressmen.

African American Elected Leaders

Born in Virginia into slavery, Blanche K. Bruce became a United States Senator from the state of Mississippi.

Blanche K. Bruce

Southerners who had opposed secession and now supported the policies of the United States national government to Reconstruct the South were called this pejorative term - scalawags.

Scalawags

The term carpetbagger was reserved for Northern whites who moved South to help the Reconstruction process – business leaders, politicians, or even teachers. Many ex-Confederates thought these men and women had come South to gain money or power and questioned their good motives.

Carpetbaggers

Andrew Johnson was impeached before the Senate for replacing a member of his own Cabinet – a weak charge with no Constitutional merit. He was not removed from office.

The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

President Ulysses S. Grant, Republican

President Grant Former US General

Ulysses S. Grant has a poor reputation as a President of the United States, mostly due to the corruption which was discovered under his administration. He himself, though, was honest, devoted to the rights of Freedmen and the Reconstruction of the US, and capable. The 15th Amendment was ratified which gave suffrage to African-Americans.

With the end of Reconstruction, violent hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan began to use physical intimidation and brutality in order to repress African-Americans and deny them their Constitutional rights.

The Rise of Hate Groups