Reconstruction

• 1865-1877

• Civil War ends in 1865

• Nation is embarking on a period known as the Reconstruction – essentially rebuilding the United States after the Civil War

• Attempts were now also being made to readmit the South to the Union.

Reconstruction cont’d

• Reconstruction brought forth the 14th and 15th Amendments.

• 14th Amendment – prevented states from denying rights and privileges to any U.S. citizen, now defined as “all persons born or naturalized in the United States.” This was intended to overrule and nullify the Dred Scott decision.

• 15th Amendment – states that no one can be prevented from voting because of “race, color, or previous condition or servitude.” It was ratified by the states in 1870 and was a big victory for the Radicals.

Reconstruction – Freedman’s Bureau

• FREEDMAN’S BUREAU:• Freedmen’s Bureau: was the Bureau of the

Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands; established by Congress (specifically the War Department, in March, 1865) to provide food, clothing, hospitals, legal protection and education for former slaves and poor whites in the South in 1865. The Bureau also assumed custody of confiscated lands or property in the former Confederate States, border states, District of Columbia, and Indian Territory.

Freedman’s Bureau – Case #1• [Gordonsville, Va., August 16–September 13, 1865] • Case #1: Edmund Taylor & Anderson Strauder Colored vs Mr Jas.

Newman Aug. 16th 1865. • Two boys state that they have been whipped without just cause–that Mr

Newman refuses to allow them to remain on his place unless they will agree to remain permanently with him and allow him to whip them when he thinks proper; refuses to recognize the authority of the Bureau, approves of the boys having been whipped.

• Action– Mr Newman summoned to answer the complaint–required to appear to-day.

• Decision– The evidence adduced shows these boys to have been lazy & insolent– They were instructed that such pratices were not to be continued–admonished to work earnestly & be respectful. Mr Newman was instructed that the practice of whipping was to be entirely discontinued & that the people on his plantation were to have their freedom acknowledged in every respect; these boys especially to be kindly treated & provided for. The boys returned to Mr Newman's plantation.

Case #2• Fannie Fortune–Coled. vs. Thos. Newman August 16th 1865 • Complains that on Saturday, Aug. 12th 1865, she was struck both

by Mr Newman & his wife, without any provocation–that since that time till to-day she has not been allowed anything to eat; that Mr Newman requires her to leave his place without making any provision for her.

• Action.– Mr Thos. Newman summoned to answer the Complaint • Decision.– Girl required to return to her home; the evidence

indicating impertinence on her part; she is cautioned against such conduct. Her employer required to abstain from all punishment, to furnish proper food and quarters, and to retain her on the plantation. Both parties dissatisfied with the result.

Case #3

• Alfred Goffney Cold versus Widow Strange Aug 27 1865

• States that he was Employed by Mrs Strange at $5.00 per month– That he is now ordered away without any pay being given him– That Mrs Strange this morning threatened to shoot him if he did not leave and got a pistol and pointing it at him ordered him to leave at once or she would blow his brains out

• Adjustment– Mrs Strange paid the wages Earned $5.20

Politics of Reconstruction

• Lincoln, Andrew Johnson and members of Congress all had their own ideas about how to reconstruct the United States.

Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan

• Lenient Reconstruction Policy• 1863 – Proclamation of Amnesty and

Reconstruction (a/k/a the Ten Percent Plan): Gov’t would pardon all confederates who would swear allegiance to the Union, except high ranking officials and those accused of crimes against prisoners of war. As soon as 10% of voters from 1860 took this oath of allegiance, a Confederate state could form a new state government and send representatives and senators to Congress. 4 states did so: Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee and Virginia.

Lincoln cont’d

• Plan angered minority of Republicans in Congress called Radical Republicans. They were led by Senators Charles Sumner of Massachusetts and Representative Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania. These men wanted to destroy the political power of former slaveholders. They wanted African Americans to be given full citizenship and the right to vote.

Lincoln cont’d

• BUT – Lincoln gets assassinated on April 15, 1865, before his plan is fully carried out.

Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan

• Vice-President, Johnson, announces his own plan in 1865.

• Similar to Lincoln’s plan, but he tried to break the planters’ power by excluding high-ranking Confederates and wealthy Southern landowners from taking the oath.

• Johnson did, however, pardon more than 13,000 former Confederates because he believed that “white men alone must manage the South.” Remember, he was a Tennessee governor and senator.

Johnson cont’d

• The remaining 7 ex-Confederates states agree to Johnson’s terms. All these states, except for Texas, set up a new state government and elect representatives for Congress. In December, 1865, they arrive in Washington, D.C., but Congress refuses to admit them.

• Republicans push for new laws to help remedy weaknesses in Johnson’s plan.

Johnson cont’d

• 1866 – Congress votes to enlarge Freedman’s Bureau and passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 (gave African Americans citizenship and forbade states from passing discriminatory laws called black codes, that severely restricted African Americans’ lives). JOHNSON VETOED THEM BOTH!!!!!

Congress’ Reconstruction Plan

– Congress was angered by Johnson’s actions– Moderate and radical Republicans decide to

work together to shift control to legislative branch

– 1866 – they overrode the President’s vetoes of Civil Rights Act and Freedman’s Bureau Act.

Congress cont’d

They also drafted 14th Amendment• 14th Amendment – prevented states from denying

rights and privileges to any U.S. citizen, now defined as “all persons born or naturalized in the United States.” This was intended to overrule and nullify the Dred Scott decision.

Congress cont’d

• They passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867 which DID NOT recognize state governments formed under the Lincoln and Johnson plans (except for Tennessee).

• Reconstruction Act divided former Confederate states into 5 military districts. States were required to grant African American men the right to vote and to ratify the 14th Amendment in order to reenter the Union.

• Johnson vetoed this Act, but Congress quickly overrode the veto.

Congress cont’d

• Johnson then gets impeached because he violated the Tenure of Office Act when he removed cabinet member Edwin Stanton in 1868. The House impeached him, but he remained in office because the Senate voted NOT TO CONVICT.

• 1868 Presidential Election – Ulysses S. Grant – Civil War hero – won by a narrow margin. Most southern African-American men voted for U.S. Grant.

Congress cont’d

– 15th Amendment passes• states that no one can be prevented from voting

because of “race, color, or previous condition or servitude.” It was ratified by the states in 1870 and was a big victory for the Radicals.

Reconstructing Society

• By 1870, all states were back in the Union. Republicans wanted to make economic changes in the South so they wanted to continue the process of Reconstruction.

South was devastated economically from the War: farms ruined, soldier died in War.

Republican Party in the South divided in 3 different groups: Scalawags, Carpetbaggers and African Americans.

Scalawags

• Scalawags: white Southerners; small farmers who didn’t want former wealthy planters to regain power. Most did not want civil rights for African Americans

Carpetbaggers

• Northerners who moved South after War. What’s in a name??? Negative name came from misconception that they arrived with so few belongings that they carried everything in small traveling bags made of carpeting.

African Americans

o African-Americans: LARGEST group, gained voting rights after passage of the 15th Amendment. 9 out of 10 supported the Republican Party and were eager to exercise their voting rights.

NO UNITY

o All 3 groups had differing goals so no unity.

• Former slaves improve their lives by founding their own churches which they fully controlled. These ministers became influential community leaders.

• Southern school systems were also established by the Reconstruction governments. These new churches which were aided by missionaries from Northern churches and by $6 million from the Freedman’s Bureau, helped to run the schools.

After War, African Americans took an active role in the political process. They not only voted, but held political office as well. But they still remained in the minority politics-wise. Out of 125 Southerners elected to U.S. Congress, only 16 were African American. Hiram Revels was 1st African American senator.

Although promises were made to former slaves of General Sherman that they would each get 40 acres of property, this did not happen. In fact, many plantation owners in the South retained their land and it wasn’t redistributed.

Sharecropping

• Sharecropping: no land = no ability for African Americans or poor whites to grow and sell crops so they became sharecroppers.– System of sharecropping – landowners divided their

land and assigned each head of household a few acres, along with seed and tools. Sharecroppers kept a small share of their crops and gave the rest to the landowners. In theory, “croppers” who saved a little might even rent land for cash and keep all their harvest in a system known as tenant farming.

• Website with Sharecropper Agreement: http://history.hanover.edu/courses/excerpts/336hamer.html

Collapse of Reconstruction

While most white Southerners were able to come to grips with African-Americans participating in government, some whites refused to register to vote and still others formed vigilante groups and used violence to intimidate African Americans.

Opposition to Reconstruction by KKK

• Ku Klux Klan – most widespread Southern vigilante groups. Goal was to destroy the Republican Party, throw out Reconstruction governments and most of all to prevent African Americans from exercising their political rights. They (among other groups) killed approximately 20,000 men, women and children. They also refused to do business with African Americans who voted Republican. So Congress passed a series of Enforcement Acts of 1870 and 1871 for federal supervision of election in Southern states and giving the President power to use federal troops in areas where the KKK was active.

• Congress later weakened the power of the Republican Party in the South by passing the Amnesty Act in 1872, giving 150,000 former Confederates the right to vote and hold federal and state offices.

• Congress also allowed the Freedman’s Bureau to expire.

• SO – Southern Democrats now regain political power.

Support for Reconstruction Fades

• Because there was lack of Republican unity, the Radicals couldn’t continue to impose their Reconstruction plan on the South.

• How else does support fade???

Support for Reconstruction Fades

• Bank failures known as the Panic of 1873 triggered a 5 year depression so now the North was not paying as much attention to the South as it should have been.

• Supreme Court started undoing some of the workings that the Radicals had made.

• So political violence continued and African Americans were denied civil and political rights.

• Republicans slowly retreated from the policies of the Reconstruction.

Democrats Redeem the South

Southern Democrats now begin to regain control of the region.

Election of 1876 – Democratic candidate Samuel J. Tilden wins popular vote, but was one vote short of electoral victory. So Southern Democrats in Congress agreed to accept Hayes if federal troops were withdrawn from the South. (part of the Compromise of 1877). SO: Republican leaders agreed, Hayes was elected and Reconstruction ended in the South.

End of Reconstruction

• Reconstruction ended without much real progress in the battle against discrimination. But 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments remained part of the Constitution.

Effect on Slavery• In 1882, Ex-slave Frederick Douglass probably put it best when

he wrote: “Though slavery was abolished, the wrongs of my people were not ended. Though they were slaves, they were not yet quite free. No man can be truly free whose liberty is dependent upon the thoughts, feeling, and actions of others, and who has himself no means in his own hands for guarding, protecting, defending, and maintaining that liberty. Yet the Negro after his emancipation was precisely in this state of destitution. He was free from the individual master but the slave of society. He had neither money, property, nor friends. He was free from the old plantation, but he had nothing but the dusty road under his feet. He was free from the old quarter that once gave him shelter, but a slave to the rains of summer and the frost of winter. He was in a word, literally tuned loose, naked, hungry, and destitute to the open sky.”

• It was not until the late 1960’s that African-Americans in the South would achieve the legal rights, and not until the 1980’s that they would regain the political power they had obtained under Reconstruction. http://www.historycentral.com/rec/EndofRec.html