LECTURE #14: THE RECONSTRUCTION

ERA(1865-1877)

byDerrick J. Johnson, MPA, JD

Lincoln’s Plan

During this period, political leaders in the North had to decide how the former states of the Confederacy would be assimilated back in to the Union.

Important related questions involved the following: What should be done with the former slaves? What should be done with the former Confederate

leaders? What form of punishment, if any, should be imposed on

the South? Nearly 1/3 of all adult males in the Confederate states had

died or were wounded during the war. Virtually the entire Southern railway system, many farms

and cities were destroyed in the war.

Lincoln’s Plan For plantation owners, whose plantations were not

destroyed, laborers had to be hired. Many free slaves roamed the countryside, looking for work, while many poor whites lived in fear that the free slaves would take their jobs.

The assassination of Lincoln further complicated matters. Lincoln had devised a plan for Confederates to rejoin the

Union, entitled Ten Percent Plan: Citizens of former Confederacy states would be given

the opportunity to swear allegiance to the government in Washington. Former high ranking Confederate officials would not qualify.

When 10% of the registered voters in the state signed this pledge, the state was afforded an opportunity to form its own state government, which had to be loyal to Washington.

Rise of the Radical Republicans Tennessee, Louisiana, and Arkansas all went through the

appropriate procedures to form loyal state governments, however, their applications for renewal were not approved by the Radical Republicans in Congress.

The Radical Republicans were led by Thaddeus Stevens and they felt that the South needed to be punished for its betrayal of the Union. They also believed that African Americans could only achieve equality by completely re-organizing the South.

The Radical Republicans saw the creation of Reconstruction policy as being the job of Congress and not the President.

The Radical Republicans were insistent on immediate voting rights for blacks in the South. They passed the Wade-Davis Act in 1864, which stated that Congress could only authorize a state government that they were not now disloyal to the Union nor that they had ever been disloyal. Under this act, it would have been nearly impossible for any state to re-enter the Union unless a large number of African American participated in the voting. Lincoln pocket vetoed the act.

However, due to the actions of John Wilkes Booth, the Radical Republicans had to deal with a Tennessee Democrat, Andrew Johnson, who had a much more lenient idea of Reconstruction than Lincoln ever had.

President Andrew Johnson Born: December 23, 1808 Died: July 31, 1875 Term in Office: (1865-1869) Political Party: Democratic

The Andrew Johnson Presidency

The Andrew Johnson Presidency

The A. Johnson Cabinet

Office Name Term

President Andrew Johnson 1865–1869

Vice President None 1865–1869

Secretary of State William H. Seward 1865–1869

Secretary of Treasury Hugh McCulloch 1865–1869

Secretary of WarEdwin M. Stanton 1865–1868, replaced ad interim by Ulysses Grant before

being reinstated by Congress in Jan 1868

John M. Schofield 1868–1869

Attorney General

James Speed 1865–1866

Henry Stanberry 1866–1868

William M. Evarts 1868–1869

Postmaster GeneralWilliam Dennison 1865–1866

Alexander W. Randall 1866–1869

Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles 1865–1869

Secretary of the Interior

John P. Usher 1865

James Harlan 1865–1866

Orville H. Browning 1866–1869

The Andrew Johnson Presidency

Supreme Court Appointments by President Johnson

None

States Admitted to the Union

Nebraska – March 1, 1867

Johnson’s Plan Johnson’s origins were humble as Lincoln’s. A

self taught tailor, he rose in Tennessee politics by championing the interests of poor whites in their conflict with the rich plantation owners.

Johnson was the only senator from a Confederate state who remained loyal to the Union.

At first, many welcomed Johnson’s presidency because of his hatred of southern aristocrats who led the Confederacy.

Johnson’s plan was simple. He believed that the U.S. Government should offer amnesty and pardon to any Southerner would swear allegiance to the Union.

Johnson’s Plan Like Lincoln, Johnson was opposed to granting

amnesty to former high ranking Confederate officials, but he also opposed amnesty for individuals whose property was over $20,000.

However, the president retained the power to grant individual pardons to “disloyal” southerners, and Johnson made frequent use of it. As a result, many of the former Confederate leaders were back in office by the fall of 1865.

Johnson v. the Republicans Just 8 months after Johnson assumed the presidency, all 11

of the ex-Confederate states qualified under Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan to become functioning parts of the Union. The Southern states had done all of the following: Drew up constitutions which repudiated succession. Ratified the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery. Negated debts of the Confederate Government.

However, none of the new constitutions gave blacks the right to vote.

The Republicans became further disillusioned with Johnson when the southern state legislatures adopted Black Codes, which Prohibited rights and movements of newly freed African

Americans. Prohibited blacks from testifying against whites in court Placed free men into a form of semi bondage by forcing

them to sign work contracts. Appalled by Johnson’s Reconstruction endeavors, the

Republicans developed a rift between the White House and Congress.

Johnson v. the Republicans They would refuse to seat ex-Confederate senators and

congressmen like Alexander Stephens (former Vice President of the Confederacy).

In early 1866, Johnson vetoed two important bills, a civil rights bill which would have nullify the Black Codes and a bill that would have increased protections offered by the Freedmen’s Bureau.

Unable to work with Congress, Johnson took to the road in the fall of 1866 in his infamous “swing around the circle” to attack the Republicans. He argued that equal rights for blacks would result in an “Africanized” society.

The Republicans countered by accusing Johnson of being a drunkard and a traitor. They appealed to anti-southern prejudice by employing the “wave the bloody shirt” tactic. They made use of the fact that most southern were Democrats and that they were the “Party of Traitors.”

The Republicans gained an overwhelming victory during the mid-term elections. They had over two-thirds majorities in both Houses of Congress.

Johnson v. the Republicans They would refuse to seat ex-Confederate senators and

congressmen like Alexander Stephens (former Vice President of the Confederacy).

In early 1866, Johnson vetoed two important bills, a civil rights bill which would have nullify the Black Codes and a bill that would have increased protections offered by the Freedmen’s Bureau.

Unable to work with Congress, Johnson took to the road in the fall of 1866 in his infamous “swing around the circle” to attack the Republicans. He argued that equal rights for blacks would result in an “Africanized” society.

The Republicans countered by accusing Johnson of being a drunkard and a traitor. They appealed to anti-southern prejudice by employing the “wave the bloody shirt” tactic. They made use of the fact that most southern were Democrats and that they were the “Party of Traitors.”

The Republicans gained an overwhelming victory during the mid-term elections. They had over two-thirds majorities in both Houses of Congress.

Congressional Reconstruction The Republicans, with their commanding majorities,

essentially took over the Reconstruction process. Also, ideologically, they moved more to the radical left.

Senator Charles Sumner was the leader of the Radical Republicans in the Senate and Thaddeus Stevens led the Radical Republicans in the House.

With their new majority, the Republicans passed the Freedmen’s Bureau Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1866 over President Johnson’s veto.

The Civil Rights Act of 1866 repudiated the Dred Scott decision by pronouncing all African Americans to be citizens.

Fearing that the law would be repealed if the Democrats ever regained control of Congress, the Republicans laid the ground work for the creation of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Fourteenth Amendment was ratified in 1868 and it stated that: All persons born or naturalized in the United States

were citizens. The states had to respect the rights of U.S. Citizens and

provide them with “equal protection of the laws” and “due process of the law.”

Congressional Reconstruction Disqualified former Confed4rate political leaders from

holding either state or federal offices. Repudiated the debts of the defeated governments of

the Confederacy. Penalized a state if it kept any eligible person from

voting by reducing their state’s proportional representation in Congress and the electoral college.

In June of 1866, a joint committee of the House and Senate issued a report that recommended that former states of the Confederacy were not entitled to representation in Congress and all elected former Confederate congressional officials were not entitled to representation.

Moreover, the report stated that Congress held the power to determine the terms of re-entry into the Union, not the president. Thus Congress officially rejected Johnson’s plan.

Over Johnson’s veto, Congress passed three Reconstruction acts in early 1867, which took the drastic step of placing the South under military occupation.

Congressional Reconstruction The acts divided the former Confederacy into five military

districts, each under the control of the Union Army. To win re-admission into the Union, each state had to ratify

the Fourteenth Amendment and place guarantees in their constitutions that all males had the right to vote, regardless of race.

The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

In 1867, over Johnson’s veto, Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act, which prohibited the president from removing a federal official or military commander without approval of the Senate.

The purpose of the act was purely political. Congress wanted to protect Radical Republicans that were in Johnson’s cabinet, like Secretary of War Edwin Stanton.

Believing that the law was unconstitutional, Johnson dismissed Stanton, who was in charge of the military governments in the South.

The House of Representatives responded by ratifying 11 articles of impeachment against Johnson, thus making him the first U.S. President to be impeached by the House. The second U.S. President to be impeached would be William Jefferson Clinton in 1998.

In 1868, after a three month trial in the Senate, the Radical Republicans fell one vote short of the necessary two-thirds majority necessary to remove Johnson from office.

The Election of 1868

The impeachment and trial of Andrew Johnson occurred in 1868, which had an impact on the presidential election.

At their convention, the Democrats nominated another candidate, Horatio Seymour, which effectively ended Andrew Johnson’s presidency regardless of the outcome of his impeachment trial.

The Republicans turned to a war hero, General Ulysses S. Grant, despite the fact that he lacked any experience.

Grant defeats Seymour with 214 electoral votes (3,013,650 popular votes) to Seymour’s 80 electoral votes (2,708,744 popular votes).

Despite Grant’s popularity, he was only able to defeat Seymour by 300,000 votes. The votes of 500,000 African Americans gave the Republicans the margin of victory. Many African Americans voted Republican because they viewed the party to be the party of Lincoln.

President Ulysses S. Grant Born: April 27, 1822 Died: July 23, 1885 Term in Office: (1869-1877) Political Party: Republican

The Ulysses S. Grant Presidency

The Ulysses S. Grant Presidency

The Grant CabinetOffice Name Term

President Ulysses S. Grant 1869–1877

Vice PresidentSchuyler Colfax 1869–1873Henry Wilson 1873–1875None 1875–1877

Secretary of StateElihu B. Washburne 1869Hamilton Fish 1869–1877

Secretary of Treasury

George S. Boutwell 1869–1873

William A. Richardson 1873–1874

Benjamin H. Bristow 1874–1876

Lot M. Morrill 1876–1877

Secretary of War

John A. Rawlins 1869William W. Belknap 1869–1876Alphonso Taft 1876J. Donald Cameron 1876–1877

Attorney General

Ebenezer R. Hoar 1869–1870Amos T. Akerman 1870–1871George H. Williams 1871–1875Edwards Pierrepont 1875–1876Alphonso Taft 1876–1877

Postmaster General

John A. J. Creswell 1869–1874James W. Marshall 1874Marshall Jewell 1874–1876James N. Tyner 1876–1877

Secretary of the NavyAdolph E. Borie 1869George M. Robeson 1869–1877

Secretary of the InteriorJacob D. Cox 1869–1870Columbus Delano 1870–1875Zachariah Chandler 1875–1877

The Ulysses S. Grant Presidency

Supreme Court Appointments by President GrantEdwin M. Stanton – 1869 (died before taking seat)

William Strong – 1870Joseph P. Bradley – 1870

Ward Hunt – 1873Morrison Remick Waite (Chief Justice) – 1874

States Admitted to the Union

Colorado – August 1, 1876

African Americans: The New U.S. Citizens

Realizing the that the post Civil War electorate was tilting farther towards the new African American voters in the South, the Republicans sought to capitalize on the emerging African American voting block.

The Republican majorities in Congress adopted a strategy to increase the voting power of the African American population by passing the Fifteenth Amendment in 1869, which prohibits any state from denying or abridging a citizen’s right to vote “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

The Civil Rights Act of 1875 was also passed, which guaranteed equal accommodations for blacks and prohibited laws that excluded blacks from juries.

However, the law was poorly enforced.

Reconstruction in the South Beginning in 1867, each Republican-controlled

government was under U.S. Army protection until such time as Congress was satisfied that a state had met its Reconstruction requirement.

In every radical, or even Republican, state government in the South except one, whites were the majority in both houses of the legislature. The exception was South Carolina, where the freedmen controlled the lower house in 1873.

Democratic opponents gave nicknames to their hated Republican rivals. They called southern Republican “scalawags” and northerners “carpetbaggers.”

Rise of the African American Congress members

Most African Americans who held elective office in the reconstructed state governments were educated property holders who took moderate positions on the issues.

During the Reconstruction era, the Republican Party sent two African American Senators (Hiram Rhodes Revels and Blanche Kelso Bruce) and a dozen black congressmen to Congress.

Hiram Rhodes Revels election in 1870 was particularly significant because he won the Senate seat that was one held by Jefferson Davis, the one time President of the Confederacy.

Rise of the African American Community

For most African Americans freedom meant many things. It meant that southern blacks had to learn how to read and write and migrate to cities where opportunities were more available.

It was during Reconstruction that African American ministers and African Methodist Episcopal and Baptist churches became a corner stone of the African American community.

Black Colleges, like Howard University, Atlanta College, Fisk College and Morehouse College.

Black insistence on autonomy combined with changes in the post war economy led to white landowners to adopt a system based on tenancy and sharecropping. Under sharecropping, the landlord provided the seed and other needed farm supplies in return for a share (usually half) of the harvest.

Even though sharecropping evolved into a new form of servitude, by 1880, no more than 5% of southern blacks became independent landowners.

Rise of the African American Community

For most African Americans freedom meant many things. It meant that southern blacks had to learn how to read and write and migrate to cities where opportunities were more available.

It was during Reconstruction that African American ministers and African Methodist Episcopal and Baptist churches became a corner stone of the African American community.

Black Colleges, like Howard University, Atlanta College, Fisk College and Morehouse College.

Black insistence on autonomy combined with changes in the post war economy led to white landowners to adopt a system based on tenancy and sharecropping. Under sharecropping, the landlord provided the seed and other needed farm supplies in return for a share (usually half) of the harvest.

Even though sharecropping evolved into a new form of servitude, by 1880, no more than 5% of southern blacks became independent landowners.

Greed is Good? During the Grant Administration, as the material interest

of the age took center stage, the idealism of Lincoln’s generation and the radical Republicans’ crusade for civil rights were pushed aside.

In the early 1870s, leadership of the Republican Party passed from reformers to political manipulators such as Senators Roscoe Conklin and James Blaine. These politicians were masters of the game of patronage – giving jobs and government favors to their supporters.

The post civil war years became notoriously known for the level of corruption in the private and public sectors. For example, two Wall Street financers, Jay Gould and James Fisk, obtained the help of President Grant’s brother-in-law in a scheme to corner the gold market.

Politically, you had the rise of party machines, like William Tweed, the boss of the local Democratic Party, who masterminded dozens of schemes for helping himself and cronies to large chunks of graft. Tweed would eventually go to prison, in 1871, for stealing $200 million dollars from the New York taxpayers.

The Ulysses S. Grant ScandalsGrant Administration Scandals and

Corrupt Activities Description Date

Black Friday Speculators corner the gold market and ruin the economy for several years. 1869

New York custom house ring

Three investigations, two congressional and one Treasury, looked into alleged corruption ring set up at the New York Custom House under two of Grant's appointments, collectors Moses H. Grinnell and Thomas Murphy.

1872

Star Route Postal RingBribery system of postal contractors, clerks, and brokers to obtain lucrative Star Route postal contracts.

1872

Salary Grab Congressmen receive a rhetro active $5,000 bonus for previous term served. 1872

Sanborn ContractJohn Sanborn collected taxes at exorbitant fees and split the profits among associates.

1874

Delano AffairSecretary of Interior, Columbus Delano, allegedly took bribes in order to secure fraudulent land grants.

1875

Pratt & BoydAttorney General George H. Williams allegedly received a bribe not to prosecute the Pratt & Boyd company.

1875

Whiskey RingCorrupt government officials and whiskey makers steal millions of dollars in national tax embezzlement scam.

1876

Trading Post RingSecretary of War William Belknap allegedly takes extortion money from trading contractor at Fort Sill.

1876

CattelismSecretary of Navy George Robeson allegedly receives bribes from Cattell & Company for lucrative Naval contracts.

1876

Safe Burglary ConspiracyPrivate Secretary Orville Babcock indicted over framing a private citizen for uncovering corrupt Washington contractors.

1876

The Election of 1872

The scandals of the Grant administration drove reform-minded Republicans to break with the party in 1872 and select Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune, as their presidential candidate.

Greeley’s platform was based on civil service reform, ending railroad subsidies, withdrawal of troops from the South, reducing tariffs and promoting free trade. In a surprise move, the Democrats joined the reform Republicans in nominating Greeley.

The mainstream Republicans re-nominated Grant, despite his administration’s scandals. Grant and his party supporters once again used the “waved the bloody shirt” tactic, which proved to be successful.

Grant defeats Greeley with 286 electoral votes (3,598,235 popular votes) to Greeley’s 66 electoral votes (2,834,761 popular votes).

The Panic of 1873

Grant’s second term began with an economic disaster that rendered thousands of laborers unemployed.

In 1873, over speculation in the financial markets lead to economic failures of businesses. An economic depression takes place.

The use of greenbacks led to inflation, and Grant was forced to side with hard money bankers and creditors who wanted a stable money supply backed by gold.

Grant vetoes a bill by Congress that would have allowed the release of additional funds.

Rise of the Ku Klux Klan

During the period of Republican controlled state governments in the South, groups of whites southerners formed secret societies to intimidate blacks and white reformers. The most prominent was the Ku Klux Klan, founded by an ex-Confederate general, Nathaniel Bedford Forrest.

In 1870 and 1871, the federal government gave federal authorities to stop the violence of the KKK.

The Election of 1876

By 1876 the Democrats had returned to power in all of the ex-Confederate states but Florida, South Carolina, and Louisiana.

At their convention, the Republicans looked for someone who was untouched by Grant’s corruption and they nominated Ohio governor Rutherford B. Hayes.

The Democrats nominated New York Governor, Samuel Tilden. Tilden had made a name for himself as a reformer who battled the corruption of Boss Tweed.

When the election was held, there was a huge problem. Tilden had defeated Hayes in the popular vote. Tilden received 4,284,020 of the popular vote to Hayes’ 4,036,572.

The Election of 1876

However, the electoral returns in three states (Florida, South Carolina, and Louisiana) are contested. Tilden wins 184 electoral votes, and he needs only one electoral vote to win the presidency. Hayes needs to win all of the dispute results to win the election.

A special election commission was formed to determine who was entitled to the disputed votes. In a straight party vote (8 to 7) the commission awards all of the votes to Hayes, giving him 185 electoral votes.

Outraged by this the Democrats threaten to filibuster the results and send the election to the House of Representatives, which they controlled.

President Rutherford B. Hayes Born: October 4, 1822 Died: January 17, 1893 Term in Office: (1877-1881) Political Party: Republican

The Rutherford B. Hayes Presidency

The Rutherford B. Hayes Presidency

The Hayes CabinetOffice Name Term

President Rutherford B. Hayes 1877–1881Vice President William A. Wheeler 1877–1881

Secretary of State William M. Evarts 1877–1881

Secretary of Treasury John Sherman 1877–1881

Secretary of WarGeorge W. McCrary 1877–1879Alexander Ramsey 1879–1881

Attorney General Charles Devens 1877–1881

Postmaster GeneralDavid M. Key 1877–1880Horace Maynard 1880–1881

Secretary of the NavyRichard W. Thompson 1877–1880

Nathan Goff, Jr. 1881

Secretary of the Interior Carl Schurz 1877–1881

The Rutherford B. Hayes Presidency

Supreme Court Appointments by President Hayes

John Marshall Harlan - 1877William Burnham Woods - 1880

States Admitted to the Union

None

The Compromise of 1877 With passions very heated, this election would go

down in history as the most contested U.S. presidential election, until the presidential election of 2000.

Despite the passions, an informal deal is made was finally worked out between the two parties. Hayes would become president on the condition that he would: Immediately end federal support for Republicans

in the South Support building of a southern transcontinental

railroad.

Shortly after his inauguration, Hayes fulfilled his part of the compromise by withdrawing the federal troops from the South.

With the absence of the federal troops in the South, the Reconstruction era would come to an ends and a new era of segregation and industrialization in the South would occur.

THE END OF LECTURE #14