Chapter 16

The Crises of Reconstruction, 1865-1877

Reconstruction Politics, ’65-68• For nation & blacks, end of war = turning point

& uncharted possibilities• Union sought reunion, not military conquest• Constitutional amendments• A presidential impeachment• Ambitious legislation: Reconstruction Acts of

’67-68• Enfranchisement of black men: unexpected

– Supported by R. Republicans– Charles Sumner (MA) & Thaddeus Stevens (PA)

Lincoln’s PlanL issued Proclamation of Amnesty &

Reconstruction in ’63• 10% of 1860’s voters take oath of

allegiance• Exclude Conf. Officials & officers: must

apply for prez. Pardoned• Excluded blacks• Wanted to woe southern Unionist, also

former Whigs, and to build southern Repub. party

Radical Republican’s plans• Wanted to bar more ex-Conf. fr. Politics• Wade-Davis bill passed in ’64

– Former Conf. states ruled by military governor– ½ eligible voters take oath of allegiance– Delegates to state convention must repeal

secession & abolish slavery– “ironclad” oath: never voluntarily supported Conf– Excluded blacks (supported by small Radicals)– Differ fr. L’s plan: delay readmission indefinitely– L pocket-vetoed it: failed to sign w/in 10 days

Congress’ adjournment• Causing impasse between Congress and L

Andrew Johnson: prez by accidentAndrew Johson (NC) was military governor of TN

in 62-64• Strong anti-Conf. & anti- s. aristocrats• Self-educated; a taylor• Enter politics as spokesman for

nonslaveholding• Owned 8 slaves• Neither adopted abolitionist ideals nor

challenged racist views• Lifelong Democrat but was added to

Republican ticket

Pres. Reconstruction under JohnsonHis plan while Congress was out of session

• AL, FL, GA, MI, NC, SC, TX = 7 states still x/out reconstruction gov’t to be readmitted

• Almost all who took oath got pardoned & properties restored

• Oath takers repudiates state debt during war & ratify 13th Amendment

• Disqualified all rich Ex-Conf• Differ fr. L’s plan: Conf. officers were excluded• Result by ’65: all 7 restored civil gov’t as in

prewar– GA sent Alexander Stephens (Conf VP) as senator

Black Codes in 7 statesTo ensure labor from landless, dependent black• Black codes replaced slave codes• Retain basic rights (13th Amend): marry, own

property, make contracts, testify against blacksCodes restricted behavior• No intermarriage, no jury by blacks, can’t testify

against whites, • Barred former slaves from leaving plantations• Special liscense for non-agricultural job• Arrest as vagrants: required annual contract

between landowners and black workers• Lawbreaker (failed to sign): involuntary servitude• Union Army & Freemen’s Bureau helped stop

enforcement of black code

Congress vs. JohnsonJohnson’ plan—sneaky– alienated moderate

RepublicansModerate & Radical cooperated to invalidate

black codes• Voted to extend the Freemen’s Bureau fro 3

yrs. But Johnson vetoed it– Congress overrode by Supplementary Freemen’s

Bureau

• Johnson also vetoed the civil rights bill but Congress overrode & it became the Civil Rights Act of 1866

The 14th Amendment, ’66: firestormAdopted in April 1866• born or naturalized in US = citizens of nation

& state• Nullified Dred Scott decision on ’57• If state denies suffrage to male citizen, it’ll

lose representation in Congress• Disqualified all prewar officeholders who

supported Conf.• Repudiated Conf. debt & validated federal

debt• 1 national effort to limit state control of civil &

political rights

Congressional Reconstruction, ’66-67Republicans overrode Johnson’s vetoes to enact series of Reconstruction act to refine & enforce the first one

• Invalidate state gov’ts (except TN) formed under L & Johnson

• Enfranchise black males & disenfranchise many ex-Conf.

• Provided only temporary military rule• Didn’t prosecute Conf. leaders for treason• No confiscation or redistribution of property

– Thaddeus Stephens wanted to give 40 acre to former slaves & crush s. aristocracy

The Impeachment Crises, ’67-68• Johnson suspended Secretary of War Stanton

& replaced him w/ Gen. Grant– Senate refused to approve so Johnson placed

Lorenzo Thomas instead of Grant– The House approved 11 charges of impeachment

• Mainly for violating the Tenure of Office Act of 67– Act prohibited prez from removing civil officers w/out Senate

consent

• But Senate voted against impeachment 39 to 19 due to distrust of Benjamin Wade (would be prez.)

The 15th Amendment• 15th Amend (1870): prohibited the denial of

suffrage by the states to any citizen on account of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude”

– VA, MISS, GA, TX must ratify for reunion

• Democrats apposed the 15th: say it violates states’ right

• Loopholes: no guarantee black officeholding; doesn’t prohibited restrictions---property required, literacy test

& Women Suffrage ’69-70• Abolitionists sought to revive women’s rights• Rad. Rep & F. Douglass: black men deserve priority• E. C. Stanton & S. B. Anthony disagreed

– “male” included in 14th disabled women– 15th failed to prohibit the denial of suffrage on account of

sex…increased women’s disadvantages– Promoted federal women suffrage

• Women split:1. American Woman Suffrage Ass (Boston, suffrage in states) by Lucy Stone & Julia Ward Howe…2.Nat’l Woman Suffrage Ass. In NY

• Wyoming & Utah in ’69 & 70: enfranchised women• Minor vs. Happersett (’75) ruled: state could deny

women the vote

Reconstruction gov’tsRepublican rule was short : 5-10 yrs.

• Opposition fr. Southern democrats

• Unique: black men including ex-slaves participated.

• Black men got democratic political rights: no other liberated society (Haiti nor Carribbean) granted that to them

A New ElectorateReconstruction laws of ’67-68 disenfranchise 10-15% of

white voters & enfranchised 700TH freedmen; outnumbering whites by 100Th = majority in 5 states

Republicans got a base in the South for 1st time1. Carpetbaggers: northerners w/ so few possessions,

seeking wealth– Diverse people: teachers, missionaries, Freemen Bureu’s agents

2. Southern scalawags: “poor & ignorant whites’– Entrepreneurs who embraced nat’l banking & tarrifs– Rich planters—former Whig– apposed succession– Most were small farmers fr. NC, GA, AL, Ark = indifferent about

black rights/suffrage– Many later switched back to Democratic Party

3. Freemen: “manipulated by Republicans”– Backbone of S. Rupublicanism, which lasted longest in SC, MISS,

AL, & LA

Freedmen & officeholding• Backbone of S. Rupublicanism but held 1 in 5

political offices at most• Served in all southern legislatures: majority in SC

(60% black pop.) • Filled many high posts in LA, MiSS, & SC• No black governor• 2 senators: Hiram Revels and Blanche K. Bruce in

Miss• House of Rep: 6% of members were black (1/2 fr.

SC)• State level: elite, 43% of SC’s black legislators were

mulattoes; secondary & higher education• Local level: more ex-slaves, not as educated

Republican Rule• Republican admin. Began reforms after power

shifted from fed. Army to new state gov’ts.• Roads, bridges, public buildings, institutions

for orphans, insane, & disabled, • Expanded state bureucracies, raised salaries

for gov’t employees, formed state militia (heavily black)

• Created public schools…almost non-exsistent in the S

• Needed $$$, so levied tax on land properties & poll tax…Southerners saw Republican rule as punishment

Counter Attacks• Democrats assailed Republican delegates of NC

Consitutional convention“Ethiopian minstrelsy..baboons, monkeys, mules… and other jackasses”

• GA Dem. Challenged black legislator’s eligibility & expelled them causing Fed. To establish military rule in GA

• Woed scalawags• Intimidate freed blacks by: shooting, rape, arson,

roasting, severe and inhuman beating• Knights of the White Camelia in LA• KKK: by 6 ex Conf. vets in TN; existed everywhere in

the South by 1868– Widespread terrorist movement– Violent instrument of the Democratic party

The Ku Klux Klan & vigilantes• Goals: suppressed black vote, establish

white supremacy, & topple the Reconstruction gov’ts

• Targets: Freemen’s Bureau’s officials, white Republicans (AL), black militia units, successful blacks, schools (Miss)& black voters

• Gen. Nathan Bedford Forest: massacred black soldiers in Fort Pillow in TN

The Ku Klux Klan & vigilantes• Enforcement Act in ’70 by Congress to protect

black voters– Witness afraid to testify against vigilantes– Local juries refused to convict them

• 2nd Enforcement Act in ’71: fed supervision of s. elections

• 3rd Enforcement Act or KKK Act (2 months later): strengthen prez. Power

– Send fed. Troops & suspend habeas corpus; most terrorists escaped conviction

• Fed. Gov’t never provided military presence large enough to suppress vigilantism; Fed power diminished

• Freemen’s Bureau died in ’69• Enforcements Acts = dead!!

The Impact of Emancipation: Confronting Freedom

• Emancipation caused migration w/in the S

– To areas of needed labor & high wages

– To towns & cities: Urban black pop. Rose 75% in 60s

– To find family members: 1870 eight out of 10 families in S. were 2-parent families… same as whites

Black Institutions• Emancipation increased churches• African Methodist Episcopal church

– Founded by Philadelphia blacks in 1790s

• Negro Baptist originated fr. Plantation “prayer meetings”

• Churches: relief, funds schools, supported Republican policies, political leaders, pillar of authority

• School: Eager to learn, Freedmen’s Bureau suppervised, American Missionary ASS. Helped found Howard, Atlanta, & Fisk universities

– Education limited: lack of access. & KKK, underfunded, & segregation, black codes,

Labor, Land, & Sharecropping• “40 acres & a mule” originated in ’64 when Gen. W.T.

Sherman set aside land on the SC Sea Islands for black settlement

• Land signifies independence & security• black landownership failed to materialize

– neither Congress nor states imposed large scale land reform– Attempts: Southern Homestead Act in ’66 by Congress

• 44M acres land in 5 S. states for freemen, but soil was poor– Whites limited black mobility & independence to ensure labor on

plantations through black codes• Sharecropping: new system includes division of

plantation into tenancies (30-50 acres) rented to blacks for a share of crop

– Both shared risk of loss of crop– whites (1/3 of w. farmers) became sharecroppers &

outnumbered blacks

Toward a Crop-Lien Economy• Sharecroppers relied on local merchants for credit• Merchant put lien on next crop w/ interest rates of

50%+ … high debt– Illiterate tenants as victim – Debt forced tenants to be tied to land, cotton, and

sharecropping

• Grew only easily marketable cash crops– Erod soil, no capital to invest in tech., locked S into poverty

• Freedmen lost independence, had no land, stuck in debt & sharecropping, lost political rights, no protection from fed. Gov’t, northern politicians had their own problems

New Concerns in the North: Grantism• Grant ran as war hero against Dem. Horatio Seymour• Grant: passive prez.; scandals plagued his admin

– Brother in law: ruined investors & saved his own forturne– VP Schyler Colfax linked to fraudulent Credit Mobilier– Private secretary Orville Babcock took $ fr. Whiskey ring– Secretary of War William E. Belknap took bribes to sell Indian

trading posts in OK

• Grantism means fraud, bribery, corruption, evils that spread beyond DC

– Democratic boss William Tweed, leader of Tammy Hall, led a ring that looted NYC’s $200M in kickbacks.

– Mark Twain & Charles D Warner coauthored & term “Gilded Age”

• William H. Seward negotiated w/ Russia & got Alaska for $7.2M + “Seward’s Ice box”

The Liberals’ RevoltCritics of Grants became Liberal Republicans• Free trade, gold standard, law of supply & demand;

demanded civil service reform• Accused regular Republicans as corrupt by barring

ex Conf.• Believed freedmen now have enfranchisement; more

concerned about Grantism & corruption• Nominated prez. Candidate Horace Greeley against

Grant– Grant won by 56% pop. Vote– Greeley died a few weeks after election

• Grant & Regular Republicans passed Amnesty Act– Southerners rose to power during Grant’s 2nd term

Panic of 1873: 5 yr. depressionCritics of Grants became Liberal Republicans• 1869 at Promontory Point, Utah: Union Pacific &

Central Pacific lines joined– 1st transcontinental railroad (Northern Pacific) headed by

Jay Cooke, a Philad. banker– Sold securities but company failed to meet obligations &

Cooke’s bank closed– Led to unemployment & industrial violence replaced

sectional conflicts• Depression fed currency dispute since ’65• Republican Congress issued Public Credit Act ’69

(engineered by John Sherman) to repay debt in gold or silver

– Also dropped silver dollar but it got partially restored• Democrats ’75 demanded expansion of currency by

more greenbacks (Greenback Party)

Reconstruction & the ConstitutionSupreme court weakened N. support for

Reconstruction during 1870s• Ex Parte Miligan ’66 doomed military court to

enforce the Supplementary Freemen’s Bureau Act

• Texas vs. White ‘69: Reconstruction process is const’l…BUT

• Slaughterhouse cases of 1873 almost nullify the 14th (to secure freedmen’s rights against state encroachment)

– Issued doctrine of “dual citizenship”; fed protects only fed. Citizen, not rights under state protection

• 2 cases ‘76: US v. Reese & US v. Cruikshank– Undercut effectiveness of the Enforcement Act

Republicans in RetreatLiberal Republican revolt erode Rad. Rep

Democrats controlled House in 1874

• Reconstruction now a liability

• Rad. Rep. disappeared: Sumner & Stevens dead

Tired of “Negro” and “Southern” questions

Lacked egalitarian spirit

Demise of Reconstruction

Reconstruction Abandoned, 76-77Democrats woed formerly apathetic voters• Bourbons Demo(old planter) for agrarian• Some Dem. Envisioned industrial South• Goal: oust Republicans from office

– IN LA “White League” = vigilante – In Miss ’74 = 300 blacks slaughtered by

rampaging whites– Scare tactics to deprive Rep. of black votes:

intimidate Republicans, dispersed meetings, patrolled voter-registration places, marched through black areas

– Labor contract bars political meetings; planters threatened eviction

– No fed protection, intimidation & economic pressure succeeded

Redemption: Democratic power• cut taxes, expenses, & social programs• limits rights of tenants & sharecroppers• Ensured black labor by vagrancy laws &

rewriting criminal laws• County w/ more blacks restricted hunting,

fishing, gun carrying, & dog owning: curtailed daily life of freedmen

– Wrongly taking crop = up to 5 yrs. hard labor– By the end of Reconstruction, a large black

convict work force had been leased out to private contractors at low rates

• Black exodus spread through Miss, TN, TX, LA; Exodus to North & Midwest got no momentum until the 19th century

Election of 1876: Rutherford Hayes• Republican: Hayes favored home rule in S &

civil & political rights for all• Democrats: Samuel Tilden campaigned

against fraud &waste• 20 electoral votes in contention: Fraud

– Republicans discarded legit Demo ballots– Dem illegally prevented freedmen from voting– Special electoral commission gave Hayes, but

Dem. Controlled House…delayed approval of ele. Vote (filibuster)

– Compromise if Hayes as prez: Fed. Troops out of FL, LA, & SC; S. states treat freedmen fairly; fed. Support for internal improvement in S.

Conclusion• Postwar: S. controlled by R. Repu.

– Black enfranchisement; S. economy’s new labor system replaced slavery

• Postwar N.: industrial growth, labor unrest, & financial crises

• N. Politicians abandoned Reconstruction• S. Controlled by the Democrats• Reconstruction died, nationalism & reunion

celebrated• Historians now see Reconstruction as a democratic

experiment that didn’t go far enough• Some blamed its failure due to lack of landownership

by freedmen & to lack of military support by fed.