Reconstruction (1865-1876)

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Reconstruction (1863-1877)
Adapted from original slide show by Ms. Susan M.
Pojer, Horace Greeley HS, Chappaqua, NY
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Key Questions
1. How do webring the Southback into the Union?
3. What branchof governmentshould controlthe
process ofReconstruction?
2. How do weintegrate andprotect
newly-emancipatedblack freedmen?
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Wartime Reconstruction
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President Lincolns Plan

• 10 Plan
• 1864 Lincoln Governments formed
  in LA, TN, AR.

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Wade-Davis Bill (1864)

• Required 50 of the number of 1860 registered
  voters to take an ironclad oath of allegiance
  (swearing they had never voluntarily aided the
  rebellion).
• Required a state constitutional convention before
  the election of state officials.

SenatorBenjaminWade(R-OH)
Rep.HenryW. Davis(R-MD)
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Wade-Davis Bill (1864)

• Ironclad Oath.
• State Suicide Theory.
• Conquered Provinces Position.

PocketVeto
PresidentLincoln
Wade-DavisBill
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Freedmens Bureau (March 1865)

• Many former northern abolitionists risked their
  lives to help southern freedmen.

• Called carpetbaggers by white southern
  Democrats.

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Freedmens Bureau School
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Presidential Reconstruction
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President Andrew Johnson

• Jacksonian Democrat.
• Anti-Aristocrat.
• White Supremacist.
• Agreed with Lincolnthat states had neverlegally
  left the Union.

Damn the negroes! I am fighting these traitorous
aristocrats, their masters!
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President Johnsons Plan (10)

• Offered amnesty upon simple oath to all except
  Confederate civil and military officers and
  those with property over 20,000 (they could
  apply directly to Johnson)
• In new constitutions, they must accept
  minimumconditions repudiating slavery, secession
  and state debts.
• Named provisional governors in Confederate
  states called them to oversee elections for
  constitutional conventions.

1. Disenfranchised certain leading Confederates.
2. Pardoned planter aristocrats brought back
to political power to control state organizations.
EFFECTS?
3. Republicans were outraged that planter elite
were back in power in the South.
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Growing Northern Alarm!

• Many Southern state constitutions fell short of
  minimum requirements.

• Johnson granted 13,500 special pardons.

• Revival of southern defiance.

BLACK CODES
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Black Codes

• Purpose
• Guarantee stable labor supply now that blacks
  were emancipated.
• Restore pre-emancipationsystem of race
  relations.
• Forced many blacks to become sharecroppers
  tenant farmers.

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Congress Breaks with the President

• Congress bars SouthernCongressional delegates.
• Joint Committee on Reconstruction created.
• February 1866 Johnsonvetoes the
  FreedmensBureau bill.
• March 1866 Johnsonvetoes the 1866 Civil Rights
  Act.
• Congress passes both bills over Johnsons
  vetoes 2nd 3rd ever!!

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The 1866 Election

• A referendum on Radical Reconstruction.
• Johnson made an ill-conceived propaganda tour
  around the country to push his plan.
• Republicanswon a 3-1majority in bothhouses
  andgained controlof everynorthern state.

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Radical (Congressional) Reconstruction
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Military Reconstruction Act
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Reconstruction Acts of 1867

• Military Reconstruction Act
• Command of the Army Act
• Tenure of Office Act

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The Tenure of Office Act

• The Senate must approve any presidential
  dismissal of a cabinet official or general of the
  army.
• Designed to protect radical members of Lincolns
  government.
• Unconstitutional (Supreme Court finally says
  so in 1920).

Edwin Stanton
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President Johnsons Impeachment

• Johnson removed Stanton in February 1868.
• Johnson replaced generals in the field who were
  sympathetic to Radical Reconstruction.
• The House impeached him on February 24
  before even
  drawing up the
  charges, by a
  vote of 126 47.

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The Senate Trial

• Johnson acquitted, 19 nay - 35 yea (one
  short of 2/3 required).

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14th Amendment

• Ratified July, 1868.
• Provides a constitutional guarantee of the rights
  and citizenship of freed people. (Overturns Dred
  Scott decision.)
• Insures against Confederate political power.
• Repudiates debts of the Confederacy.
• Makes Federal Bill of Rights binding on states.
• Southern states would be punished for denying the
  rights of black citizens!

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Sharecropping Replaces Slavery
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Sharecropping
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Interesting Coincidence . . . Dots represent
cotton production in 1860. Colors represent
votes in 2008 election.
http//strangemaps.wordpress.com/2008/11/15/330-fr
om-pickin-cotton-to-pickin-presidents/
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Tenancy the Crop Lien System
Merchant Tenant Farmer Landowner
Lends tools and seed to tenant farmer (at up to 60 interest) to plant spring crop. Sells food, clothing, and other necessities to farmer on credit until the harvest. Holds lien mortgage on part of tenants future crop as payment of debt. Plants crop in spring, harvests in autumn. Turns over up to 50 of crop to land owner as payment of rent. Gives remainder of crop to merchant inpayment of debt. Rents land to tenant in exchange for a percentage of tenant farmers future crop.
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(No Transcript)
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Grant's First Term
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Waving the Bloody Shirt!
Republican Southern Strategy
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1868 Presidential Election
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Blacks in Southern Politics

• Core voters were black veterans.
• Most white southerners were unprepared to give
  Blacks political power.
• Blacks could register and vote in states since
  1867.

• The 15th Amendment guaranteedvoting.

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The Balance of Power in Congressional Elections
State White Citizens Freedmen
SC 291,000 411,000
Miss 353,000 436,000
Louis 357,000 350,000
GA 591,000 465,000
AL 596,000 437,000
VA 719,000 533,000
NC 631,000 331,000
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Black White Political Participation
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Black Senate House Delegates
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Federal Enforcement against KKK

• Enforcement Acts of 1870 1871 also known as
  the KKK Act.

• 1871 Act first to classify acts against
  individuals as federal crimes. (Criminal law is
  a state responsibility under constitutional
  principle of federalism.)

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The Invisible Empire of the South
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The Election of 1872

• Spoilsmen v. reformers.
• Rumors of corruption during Grants first term
  discredit Republicans.
• Horace Greeley runsas a Democrat/ Liberal
  Republican candidate.
• Greeley is attacked as afool and a crank.

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Popular Vote for President 1872
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1872 Presidential Election
Why did so few electors vote for Greeeley?
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The Election of 1872

• Greeley died on November 29, 1872 (before
  electoral votes were cast).

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The Abandonment of Reconstruction
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Grant Administration Scandals

• Grant presided over an era of growth and
  corruption.

• Credit Mobilier Scandal
• Whiskey Ring
• Indian Ring

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Northern Support Wanes

• Panic of 1873
  (6-year depression).
• Concern over
  western expansion
  and Indian wars.
• Key monetary issues
• should the government retire 432m worth of
  greenbacks issued during the Civil War.
• should war bonds be paid back in specie
  orgreenbacks.

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Skepticism about Reconstruction Colored
Rule in a Reconstructed(?) State
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By the way . . . same artist
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The Civil Rights Act of 1875

• Crime for any individual to deny full equal use
  of public conveyances andpublic places.
• Prohibited discrimination in jury selection.
• Shortcoming ? lacked a strong
  enforcement mechanism.
• No new civil rights act was attemptedfor 82
  years (1957)!

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1876 Presidential Tickets
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1876 Presidential Election
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The Political Crisis of 1877

• Corrupt BargainPart II?

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The Compromise of 1877
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THE END