RECONSTRUCTION

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RECONSTRUCTION

• 1865 - 1877

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QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED

• Who should be in charge of Reconstruction?
• How should the southern states be treated?
• What political, economic, and social rights
  should be granted to the freedmen and how should
  these rights be enforced?

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RECONSTRUCTION PLANS
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LINCOLNS PLAN

• President should be the director
• Southern states never seceded no need to
  readmit
• Reconstruction should be lenient (easy fair)
• Southerners should be encouraged to take loyalty
  oath to the U.S. government
• 10 Plan 10 of state must pledge loyalty
  before being pardoned
• Emancipation Proclamationdead before
  Reconstruction can begin.

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JOHNSONS PLAN

• Continue Lincolns plan
• Pardon to Southerners who took oath of allegiance
  to the Union and agreed to abolish slavery
• Southern states must reject secession, separate
  from any the Confederate claims/debt.
• Southern states must ratify the 13th Amendment

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CONGRESSIONAL PLAN

• Reject Presidential plans
• Congress should direct Reconstruction
• Southern states had seceded and must be
  readmitted to the Union by the Congress
• South must be punished severely
• Republicans should remain in power and prevent
  Democrats, especially Southern Democrats, from
  regaining power
• Rights of the freedmen must be protected!

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President Johnson v. Congress

• Johnson disagreed with Congressional plans and
  vetoed key legislation
• Freedmens Bureau and Civil Rights Act of 1866
• Congress passed 2 laws to limit Johnsons
  involvement in Reconstruction
• Tenure of Office Act
• required Presidential dismissals to be approved
  by Senate
• Command of the Army Act
• limited Presidents power as Commander in Chief

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IMPEACHMENT OF ANDREW JOHNSON

• House of Representatives
• Brought up charges (11 counts) including
  violations of the Tenure of Office Act and
  Command of the Army Act
• To impeach is to accuse so President Johnson
  was impeached

• Senate
• Conducted the trial and served as the jury
• 2/3 majority vote needed to remove from office

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Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

• Decision
• Johnson was found not guilty by a 1 vote margin
• (one vote short of 2/3 votes needed to impeach)
• 7 Republicans martyred themselves by voting not
  guilty saved the President but sacrificed their
  own political futures

• Importance
• Upheld the principle of presidential independence
  of Congress, BUT it did severely restrict the
  powers of the Presidency for years to come

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CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION

• Civil Rights Act of 1866
• gave equal rights to African Americans,
  enforced by federal troops
• Freedmens Bureau Act of 1866
• provided services to former slaves food,
  clothing, medical care, education, job placement,
  reunite families
• 14th Amendment (1868)
• granted citizenship to African Americans,
  guaranteed equal protection of the laws, voided
  the Confederate debt, disqualified most former
  Confederates from holding office unless pardoned
  by Congress

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RADICAL REPUBLICAN RECONSTRUCTION

• First Reconstruction Act (1867)
• Established 5 military districts under the
  command of a military governor
• Conditions set for being readmitted to the Union
• Hold open elections for constitutional convention
• Must guarantee African American suffrage
• State legislatures must ratify the 14th Amendment
• After 1869, states must ratify the 15th Amendment

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RECONSTRUCTION GOVERNMENTS IN THE SOUTHERN STATES

• Controlled by
• Carpetbaggers
• Northerners who moved south after the war to take
  advantage of opportunities to make money
• Scalawags
• Southerners who were loyal to the Union and
  supported the Republican party
• African Americans
• Started at the top of the political ladder
  could vote and hold public office

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Criticism of State Reconstruction Governments

• Corrupt
• Graft
• Extravagant spending led to increased debt

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Accomplishments of State Reconstruction
Governments

• State constitutions guaranteed
• civil liberties,
• provided universal male suffrage,
• abolished imprisonment for debt
• Began to rebuild the South
• Introduced free, compulsory public education for
  all children

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SOUTHERN WHITES REGAINED CONTROL

• Increased number of Southern White voters
• Decreased Northern interest in problems of
  African Americans
• interests turned to industrialization and
  urbanization
• Ku Klux Klan
• frightened African Americans from exercising
  their voting rights
• Presidential election of 1876 brought an end to
  Reconstruction

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COMPROMISE OF 1877

• Disputed Electoral votes in several states
  including Florida made it impossible for the
  Electoral College to choose a President
• Compromise in House of Representatives
• The Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes
  would be President and he promised the Democrats
  that he would remove the federal troops from the
  southern states and officially end Reconstruction

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LASTING RESULTS OF THE CIVIL WAR AND
RECONSTRUCTION

• Added to the Constitution
• Amendments 13, 14, 15
• Supremacy of the Federal Government over States
  Rights
• Presidential powers
• Increased during wartime
• Development of the Solid South rejection of
  the Republican party and solid support of the
  Democratic party (until 1972 Nixon)

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Results - continued

• Economic development of the South
• diversification of agriculture (not just cotton!)
  
• development of industry the New South
• Sharecropping to fill the labor shortage
• Continued discrimination against African
  Americans under State laws (after 1877)
• Voting rights denied by poll tax and literacy
  tests
• Jim Crow laws established segregation based on
  race
• African Americans were not allowed to join the
  Democratic party or labor unions