American History—Chapter 12
RECONSTRUCTION
Problems after the War
 Human—What do you do with all the new slaves?
All the people that died?
 Political—What do you do with all the Southern
states? What about Lincoln’s death?
 Constitutional—Does the President or Congress have
the right to chose which plan will work to fix the
South
Reconstruction
 1867-1877: Time period in which the United States
tried to rebuild after the Civil War.
 Also is the name for the process that the North
allowed the South to come back to the United States.
 Critical Period in United States History
Lincoln’s Plan
 Didn’t blame individuals in the South—blame the
Southern leaders for leaving
 Wanted to restore the Union as QUICK as possible
 Amnesty--To pardon (forgive) people for crimes
against the government
 Lincoln’s Plan never took place
Lincoln’s Plan cont..
 Pardon (forgive) all confederates who swear
allegiance to the Union

This did not include high ranking people in the Confederacy
(generals, politicians, POW)
 States could form their own government if 10% of
voting population swore allegiance to the Union
 This made many people in the North mad because
they felt it let the South off the hook
Radical Republicans
 Radicals Republicans—people from the North who
wanted to make Reconstruction difficult for the
South
 Thaddeus Stevens—Radical Republican leader in
Congress, wanted to punish the South for what they
had done
Wade-Davis Bill
 Bill designed to counter Lincoln’s Plan
 Congress would be responsible for Reconstruction
 Majority (over 50%) in a state would have to swear
allegiance to the Union for the state to be
readmitted
 Lincoln killed this bill with a pocket veto
 Pocket Veto—When the president ignores a bill
passed by Congress (within the last 10 days) the
bill will fail
Johnson’s Plan


Andrew Johnson became President after Lincoln
was killed (Johnson was a Democrat)
Johnson’s Plan for Reconstruction
1.
2.
3.
4.
Any state could be readmitted if they declared secession
illegal
Swear Allegiance to the Union
Promise to pay back their debts
Pass the 13th Amendment (no slavery)
Johnson’s Plan cont..
 Very easy terms for the South—within a month
every state (but Texas) had passed all the
requirements and was sending representatives to
Congress
 Problem—Johnson pardoned (forgave) all the
people responsible for causing the war
 Result—58 Congressman, 6 Confederate Cabinet
Members and 4 Confederate Generals were in the
new US Congress.
Congressional Elections
 In 1866 the Radical Republicans won most of the
Congressional Seats.
 After the election, over 2/3 of Congress was made up
of the Republican Party who was opposed to
Johnson.
 Now Congress could pass a law and then override the
Presidential Veto…this started Congressional
Reconstruction
Congressional Reconstruction
 Freedman’s Bureau

Assisted former slaves and free whites in the South (food,
schools, hospitals)
 Civil Rights Act of 1866

Gave blacks citizenship and forbade states from passing black
codes (laws that limited freedom of black)
 14th Amendment

Gave Civil Rights to all people born or naturalized in the USA
(Citizenship). Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness
 15th Amendment
No one can be kept from voting b/c of race or color
 Helped ensure that Republicans would stay in power

Congressional Reconstruction
 Reconstruction Act of 1867
Abolish all governments created under Lincoln/Johnson Plans
 Divided the South into 5 military districts
 Blacks males go the right to vote
 Must ratify the 14th amendment to be readmitted into the Union

 Vetoed by Johnson—Congress was able to override
his veto
Response to 1st Reconstruction Acts
 Stunned the Southern Whites (how could they be
equal to the blacks?)
 20,000 federal troops went to the South to make
sure things went as ordered.
 Now Congress turned their attention to getting rid of
Johnson
Tenure of Office Act
 Tenure of Office Act
Law passed by Congress to try to bait Johnson into doing
something illegal. (How to get him out of office)
 President could not remove any cabinet member without 2/3
Senate vote.

 Johnson was willing to test this new act and kicked
out his Sec. Of War (Stanton)
Impeachment



Impeachment—Bring to trial!
House of Reps voted to Impeach Johnson on the
following charges
1.
Tenure of Office Act—the problem was that
Stanton was appointed by Lincoln, not Johnson,
so the law didn’t apply.
2.
Radicals accused him of being a disgrace—this
was not a crime that could get the president
removed
Result

The Senate voted 35 to 19 for Johnson to be kicked out
of office (1 vote shy of the needed majority)
Election of 1868
 Democrats ran Horatio Seymour
 Republicans ran Ulysses S Grant
 Grant won

Almost all of the 500,000 blacks voted for Grant
 Radicals decided to pass the 15th amendment which
said no one could be kept from voting based on race
Section 2
RECONSTRUCTING THE SOUTH
Problems for the South
 Physical Conditions
Much of the South was destroyed
 Sherman alone had caused more than 100 million dollars worth of
damage to Georgia
 Buildings, Bridges, Roads and Farms all need to be rebuilt.

 Economic Conditions
No property value, Confederate bonds failed, poor
 South was forced to pay for most of the rebuilding

 Human

Over 1/5 of all white men in the South died in the Civil War
Scalawags/Carpetbaggers
 Scalawags—White Southerners who joined the
Republican Party
Wanted the South to industrialize quickly
 Did not want former slave owners back in power
 Most were considered traitors by the South

 Carpetbaggers—Northerners who moved to the
South after the war
Some were teachers/priest (wanted to help)
 Some were old soldiers who wanted to live in warmth
 Most were businessmen who wanted to make money off the
rebuilding process in the South (some dishonest)

New Freedoms for African Americans (18651877)
 Travel---move new places, etc…
 Re-unite with family/marry
 Education---more African American Teachers and
Schools (80% illiterate b/f Civil War)
 Religion—Methodist/Baptist
 Politics---More involved in Politics
Hiram Revels—1st black Senator
 16 Blacks were elected to Congress

 De-Segregation Laws
Economic Problems
 Problem: Lots of poor people needed work and
many of the old slave owners needed people to work
in their fields
 Sharecropping/Tenant Farming



Old Landowners divided their land
Gave each worker land, seed, tools.
When the crops were harvested, 2/3 of the profit went back to
the landowner
Sharecropping
 Good
Blacks could keep some of what they produce
 In theory they could save up enough money and buy their own
land

 Bad
By the time they harvested crops and paid for the supplies—they
were in debt
 Heavy production hurt the soil—didn’t produce enough goods

 Results—Poor white and black farmers were still in
debt…..temporary solution to the problem
Section 3
People who opposed Reconstruction
 Whites blamed the blacks for many of their problems
(economic and social)

Ku Klux Klan—Began in Tennessee (1866)
Nathaniel Forrest was their leader
 Initially tried to prevent blacks from voting
 Eventually turned violent
 Wanted to make sure that the Republicans lost political power

White Supremacy
 Gradually Southern Whites took control of the
government.
 Poor whites had a hard time accepting equality
because of the competition for jobs
 This led to a variety of political restrictions
Political Restrictions
 Blacks faced discrimination, especially in the voting
process.
Literary test—Blacks who voted Republican would get a hard test,
blacks who voted Democrat would get an easy one (what is your
name?)
 Poll Taxes—pay $ before they vote
 Grandfather Clause—a person could fail the literacy and poll taxes
and still be allowed to vote if his grandfather had been able to vote
(allowed poor whites the opportunity to vote)

Separate But Equal?
 Jim Crow Laws—laws that established the idea of
“separate but equal”

Basically separate blacks and whites in a variety of places (Schools,
hospitals, etc)
 Plessy vs Ferguson—a Supreme Court Decision that
said separate but equal was legal; just as long as the
facilities were equal.
Response to Problems
 Force Acts—Act from Congress to lessen the
activity/influence of the Klan

Troops would supervise elections
 Amnesty Act—Gave the right to vote to 160,000
former Confederates
 Eventually people in the North got sick of
Reconstruction and started to allow old leaders to
come back into power
Weakening of Republicans
 North got sick of dealing with problems in the South
 Radicals were losing influence over the Republican
Party
 North didn’t really want full equality in the North
 Business in the North wanted a stable governments
in the South
Grant’s Administration
 Grant was honest, people around him were not.
 Scandals
Whiskey Ring—IRS was not taxing whiskey, govt. employees were
getting kickbacks from this
 William Belknap—Sec. Of War that took bribes from merchants in
the west

Depression of 1873
 Economy was booming after the Civil War

Manufacturers had to borrow so much money to rebuild the South
that the banks could not cover the loans that they were putting
out.
 Major Banks went bankrupt
 Result: 3 million workers lost their jobs
Election of 1876
 Rutherford B Hayes (Rep) vs. Samuel Tilden (Dem)
 Tilden won the popular vote and was leading the
electoral college vote 184-165.
 20 votes were in dispute (Florida)—Tilden should
have gotten those votes and won the presidency.
Election of 1876
 A special commission was made to investigate the
votes in Florida (more Republicans than
Democrats on commission)
 They decided that Hayes won Florida therefore he
won the election by 1 vote
 Democrats were mad—they made a deal with the
Republicans.
Fed. Troops had to leave the South
 Give the South money to build railroads
 Hayes must have a Southern Democrat in his cabinet

Results of Reconstruction
 Good
 Political and Social Conditions Improved
 Blacks could now vote
 Didn’t have to own property to be in government
Results cont..
 Bad
 Segregation started to appear
 Had a hard time rebuilding everything (no $ available)
 State funded projects got terrible loans from government
 High taxes kept farmers in debt
 Graft—People in the government who took bribes from
construction projects