Reconstruction 1865 to 1877

Thomas Hovenden artist

April 14 1865, five days after Lee Surrenders to Grant, John Wilkes Booth Shoots

Abraham Lincoln in the Head at Ford’s Theatre , Lincoln never regains

consciousness and dies April 15 1865.

Most historians speculate that this has a negative effect of the South, Because Lincoln had greater political sense than his Vice President Andrew Johnson and would have been more forgiving and more successful in negotiating with the Radical Republicans,

Lincoln desired that once Southerners agreed to ending slavery, and took an oath of loyalty, they would be restored to the union. This was known as the10%ten

percent plan. Congress had different Plans, and passed the Wade Davis Act which required a majority of the States voters to sign an oath of loyalty, That no Southern White man could vote for delegates to his State’s Constitutional

convention or be a delegate if he had fought against the Union or aided the Confederacy and it gave permanent disenfranchisement for all Leaders of the

Confederacy. • Lincoln quietly Pocket

vetoed the bill and followed up by privately talking to members of congress to see if he could change some votes and work out a compromise. When Johnson became president, he lacked the subtlety of Lincoln and was constantly butting heads with Congress.

Andrew Johnson produced his own reconstruction plan one month after Lincoln’s Death: he offered Amnesty (a pardon) to all Southerners who

took an oath of Allegiance to the Constitution. High Ranking Confederate officials and Wealthy Planters Whom Johnson held

responsible for secession could only receive a pardon if they made a personal plea to the President. Johnson appointed provisional

Governors to the Southern States, and as a condition of Restoration to the Union, required that the States repudiate the secession ordinances,

repudiate confederate debts, and ratify the 13th amendment.

• Within Months all of the former confederate states had met Johnson’s requirements and had functioning elected governments. For a Short while Republicans accepted his policies, hoping the South would be fair in their treatment of the Freed Blacks, but they were not.

• Near the end of the war General Sherman was plagued with “contraband” slaves tagging along with the troops, so as a way of getting rid of them, he gave them confiscated tracts of land along the coast in South Carolina and Georgia.

• But under Johnson’s amnesty plan Ex-Confederates were allowed to reclaim their land, and the Freedmen were compelled to leave the land or forced to work for the landowner.

Southerners held fast to the old order. To Keep Slaves tied to the land in virtual slavery they created “BLACK CODES” Exampled by Laws against

vagrancy Punishable by forced labor. Orphans could be placed into forced labor, Laws that restricted the rights of slaves to move out of the

area without permission from their “employers and laws that prohibited them from leaving if they had an unpaid debt.

In addition to all this Former confederate officeholders, Including Vice President Alexander Stephens, tried to Retake seats in Congress and the Senate, but Republicans refused to allow them to come back to Congress and instead began passing their own Reconstruction acts.

In March of 1865, before the death of Lincoln Congress established the Freedman’s Bureau to provide aid to ex- slaves during the

transition stage. In 1866, Congress voted to extend the Freedman’s bureau , give it funding, and extend its authority to investigate

mistreatment of former slaves. Johnson vetoed the bill. Johnson stated his reasons for vetoing the Freedman’s Bureau Bill;

• That the Federal government should not provide a welfare system for the indigent. The Southern states were not represented in Congress to act on an issue concerning their states, and He thought the bill was unconstitutional.

In May of 1866 a Race Riot breaks out in

Memphis Tennessee.

• White Irish Police are continually harassing Black Soldiers, and while the soldiers show great restraint, Whites are stirred up to expect retaliation and march upon and attack a Freedman Community. The Result of this riot was an increased support of Radical Republicans who were swept into office in 1866 and passed the 14th Amendment.

Senator Lyman Trumbull & the Civil Rights Act of 1866

Moderate Republicans who originally backed Johnson, came to see his policies as way too lenient on the South, and The Moderates joined in with the Republicans in taking control of Reconstruction. Moderate Republican Senator Lyman Trumbull proposed the Civil Rights act of 1866, declaring all persons born in the United States were Citizens, and granting them equal rights of contract, access to the courts and protection of person and property. This bill would nullify all state laws that deprived citizens of their rights. (all of these would be seen again in the 14th amendment) The Bill also authorized the federal government to bring violators to suit in Federal courts.

Andrew Johnson Vetoes the Civil Rights act of 1866.

• Congress had almost , but not quite been able to override the President’s veto on The FREEDMEN’s Bill, but with support for Johnson quickly dwindling, Congress attempted to override the veto on The Civil Rights act of 1866. For the first time in U.S. History Congress was able to Override a Presidential veto on a major piece of legislation. The Civil Rights act became law. Soon After the 14th Amendment is passed.

• June of 1866 Congress passed the 14th Amendment (Ratified by 3/4s of States July 1868)

• parts of the 14th Punished the South, and repudiated Debt, but Section 1 contained the parts which still have topical applications today.

• All Person’s Born or Naturalized in the United States are Citizens

• No State shall make any law which shall abridge the rights of citizens

• No state shall deprive any person of life liberty or property without due process of law.

• States cannot deny to any citizen Equal protection under the law.

• Since Southern states did not concern themselves with reduced representation and still denied Former slaves the right to vote. Congress passed the 15th amendment which guaranteed the right to vote . It did not give the right for White Women to vote, which Angered the Women’s Suffrage movement, Many of them participated in the abolition movement. Elizabeth Cady Stanton was one of them, but here she was so angry she was compelled to go down in history making a Racist remark.