Pursuing Equality for African-Americans During Radical Reconstruction

1
Pursuing Equality for African-Americans During
Radical Reconstruction
Freedmen in the South Carolina Sea
Islands http//web.gc.cuny.edu/ashp/toer/looking.h
tml
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The End of the Civil War

• When the Union won the Civil War the big
  questions were
• What should Southern states have to do to be
  readmitted to the Union?
• What should happen to southerners who
  participated in the war effort?
• What should happen to the newly emancipated
  slaves?

Jefferson Davis, President of the
Confederacy http//www.redstone.army.mil/history/i
ntegrate/chron2.htm
3
Views of Reconstruction

• Republican leaders agreed that slavery had to be
  permanently destroyed and all forms of
  Confederate nationalism had to be suppressed
• Moderates thought this could be accomplished as
  soon as Confederate armies surrendered and the
  southern states repealed secession and ratified
  the 13th Amendment
• All of this happened by the end of September 1865

General Lee surrendering to General Grant at
Appomattox Courthouse http//www.ct.gov/mil/lib/mi
l/pictures/civilwar/thesurrender.jpg
4
Johnson Alienates Radical Republicans

• President Johnson supported votes for Black army
  veterans in 1864 and 1865
• By 1866, however, Johnson broke with the moderate
  Republicans and aligned himself with the
  Democrats who opposed equality and opposed the
  Fourteenth Amendment
• Radicals attacked Johnsons policies, especially
  his 10 Plan and his veto of the Civil Rights
  Bill for the Freedmen

President Andrew Johnson http//www.army.mil/cmh-p
g/books/cgcsa/_notes/20a.jpg
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Plans for Reconstruction

• Led by Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens, the
  Radical Republicans wanted the Southern states to
  be punished for their treasonous behavior
• They called for harsh punishment of Confederate
  officers and soldiers and equal rights for
  Freedmen

http//www.msp.umb.edu/afam/AfAmResearchQuestions.
html
6
Radical Republicans Gain Control of Congress

• The election of 1866 dramatically changed the
  balance of power in congress, giving the Radical
  Republicans enough votes to overcome Johnson's
  vetoes
• Though he avoided (by one vote) the Radical
  Republican attempt to impeach him Johnson
  remained almost powerless regarding
  Reconstruction policy

Time Works Wonders by Thomas Nast http//www.har
pweek.com/09Cartoon/BrowseByDateCartoon.asp?Month
AprilDate9
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Radical Reconstruction

• Radical Republicans implemented a federal
  reconstruction plan
• They used the Army to combat the effect of black
  codes and enforce new laws that guaranteed rights
  to African Americans in Southern states
• Federal reconstruction took the vote away from
  10,000 to 15,000 white men who had been
  Confederate officials or soldiers

Radical Republican Leaders http//lfa.atu.edu/ssph
il/people/ssjw/us2/presrecon.htm
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Black Codes

• White Southerners sought ways to control newly
  freed African Americans
• They wrote Black Codes to regulate civil and
  legal rights, from marriage to the right to hold
  and sell property
• In many ways the codes guaranteed African
  Americans would continue working as farm laborers

African American men who were arrested for
vagrancy due to unemployment http//history.sandie
go.edu/gen/civilwar/16/reconstruction1.html
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The Civil Rights Act of 1866

• The Civil Rights Act of 1866 gave rights to freed
  slaves including the rights to make contracts,
  sue, witness in court, and own private property
• President Johnson vetoed the bill saying it would
  "operate in favor of the colored and against the
  white race
• Congress overrode the presidential veto in April
  of 1866
• The act declared that all persons born in the
  U.S. were now citizens, without regard to race,
  color, or previous condition of servitude,
  excluding Indians

Former Slaves and Wounded Union Veterans
Celebrating the Passage of the Civil Rights Act
of 1866 http//lincoln.lib.niu.edu/fimage/gildedag
e/image.php?id3490
10
The 14th Amendment

• In order to ensure permanent change the 14th
  amendment granted citizenship to African
  Americans
• The amendment also guaranteed the right to due
  process under the law to African Americans

http//www.fbi.gov/publications/leb/2005/june2005/
june05leb_img_29.jpg
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The 15th Amendment

• Granted African American men suffrage in 1870
• This did not guarantee African American men would
  be allowed access to their local polls
• Violence against African Americans at polling
  places was common
• Literacy tests, poll taxes and other voter
  qualification laws became common

The First Black Voters http//www.harpweek.com/09C
artoon/BrowseByDateCartoon.asp?MonthNovemberDate
14
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African Americans Vote

• Slowly Southern states held elections in which
  Freedmen voted
• These elections usually produced Republican state
  governments
• For the first time African Americans were elected
  to local, state and federal offices

Hiram Revels, the first African American elected
to the U.S. Senate http//bioguide.congress.gov/sc
ripts/biodisplay.pl?indexR000166
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The End of Radical Reconstruction

• Federal Reconstruction ended in 1876 with the
  election of Rutherford B. Hayes to the presidency
• A few weeks after taking office Hayes issued an
  order for the removal of all federal soldiers
  stationed in the South
• The end of Reconstruction led to a drastic
  reduction of rights for African Americans

President Rutherford Hayes http//www.loc.gov/rr/p
rint/list/057_pra3.html