Reconstruction1865 - 1877

What is “Historiography” ?

Did Reconstruction fail?

QUESTIONS

• Southern View• How will you/we restore the southern economy?• What rights will be guaranteed to Blacks?• Can states determine rights and privileges?• Will we be compensated for damages and loss of

property?

QUESTIONS

• Northern Perspective• How will South be punished?• Will we have to pay southern war debts?• How will freed blacks be provided with

opportunities?• How will the government respond to the changes

in demographics?

I. Problems facing the Government

as the Civil War ends

Economic How to rebuild the devastation

of infrastructure & loss of capital?

Political How do we bring Southern states back into the Union?

2nd Inaugural AddressWade-Davis Bill

LINCOLN CONFLICTS WITH CONGRESS

ON THE POLITICAL STATUS OF SOUTHERN STATES

• Majority of Republican Congress at end of Civil War sees the South as “Conquered Provinces” who committed “Suicide” by leaving the

Union

Lincoln sees the South as “Runaway Sisters” who never really left the Union

Debate on a Lenient or Strict policy to readmit the Southern States

• Lincoln proposes “10% Plan” to readmit Southern States

• “Radical Republicans” propose “50% Plan” (Wade-Davis Bill)

• Lincoln “pocket vetoes” Wade-Davis Bill in July 1864

Andrew Johnson Thaddeus Stevens

Following the re-election of Lincoln (Nov. ‘64) , end of war and unexpected death of Lincoln (April ‘65), VP (Tennessee Democrat) Andrew Johnson

becomes President and quickly expands conflict with “RadicalRepublicans” who dominated Congress lead by Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania

Video Clip #1 – Assassination of Lincoln

1866 cartoon illustrating conflict over Reconstruction policyBetween Johnson (President) & Stevens (Congress)

Film Clip: Andrew Johnson

WHY JOHNSON?VIDEO DEBRIEF: WHY HAD LINCOLN CHOSEN HIM?

Social: What will happen to the “Freedmen”?

Freedmen after the War: (Radical Republicans) voting rights, elected office, property, education

(Pres. Johnson)-States should be able to grant suffrage.-No civil rights guarantees

II. Treatment of theFormer Slaves

Freedmen’s Bureau established in 1865 to assist former slaves &enforce new federal policies.

Freedman’s Bureauheaded by Union General

Oliver Howard

Freedman’s Bureau generally successful in area of education and some social welfare assistance

Shortcomings of Freedman’s BureauPrimary Source Reading – p. 114

• “40 Acres & a Mule” promised & taken away• Lack of funding & widespread corruption

“Revolutionary” Changes for African-Americans??

13th Amendment (1865)Ends slavery

14th Amendment (1868)Establishes black citizenship &

“equal protection under the law”

15th Amendment (1870)Suffrage for all men

Black Codes passed by most Southern StatesAttempt to re-establish white supremacy

Slave Labor Gradually Replaced by Sharecropping System –

Limited economic opportunities of former slaves

Many Northerners Criticize the Freeman’s BureauVideo Clip #2 – “Carpetbaggers in the South”

Republican party backed “Union League” & “Carpet baggers” Anger White Southern Democrats

III. POLITICAL CONFLICTS & SOUTHERN RESENTMENT

GROW

“Radicals” in Congress overrideJohnson’s Veto of

Freedmen's BureauBill in 1866

“Swing Around the Circle Tour” - Congressional Election of 1866Seals Johnson’s Political Fate

Firing of Sect. of War Edwin Stanton violating Tenure of Office Act triggers impeachment

of Johnson in 1867

Former GeneralU.S. Grant elected

in 1868 &reelected

in 1872 despitepolitical

inexperience &widespread corruption

Why?

“Waving theBloody Shirt”

& 15th Amendment

“Military Reconstruction” of Grant Era Enforces Constitutional Amendments &

Angers Southern Whites

1870 Cartoon Illustrates Southern Democratic AngerVideo Clip #4 – Formation of KKK

Ku Klux Klanand other similar

“paramilitary terrorist” groups established

by Southern Democrats for“Self Protection” and to

“Redeem” the South

Primary Source p. 115

• Anti-Klan Force Acts (‘70 & ‘71)Not Effective

• KKK growth shows gradual restoration of “Home Rule”

Historiography Question: Were the KKK “terrorists” or

“freedom fighters”?

“Compromise of 1877”Ends Reconstruction

A political deal followingdisputed presidential

election of 1876.

ResultsRepublican Rutherford B. Hayes

becomes President

Federal troops pulled fromlast Southern states.

End of Federal support for Southern blacks

Republicans get Presidency

Democrats get “Home Rule”

Blacks get 100 years ofgovernment approved

discrimination

1915 “epic” filmThe Birth of a Nation

depicts KKK as “heroes”and blacks as “villains”

of Reconstruction

Interpretations of Reconstruction change

drastically followingCivil Rights era of the 1960s

Historiography constantly changing

How history is told often reveals as much about

the time it was told as about the past