REVIEW QUESTION
In their plans for Reconstruction, both President
Abraham Lincoln and President Andrew Johnson
sought to
1. punish the South for starting the Civil War
2. force the Southern States to pay reparations
to the Federal Government
3. allow the Southern States to reenter the
nation as quickly as possible
4. establish the Republican Party as the only
political party in the South
REVIEW QUESTION
In their plans for Reconstruction, both President
Abraham Lincoln and President Andrew Johnson
sought to
1. punish the South for starting the Civil War
2. force the Southern States to pay reparations
to the Federal Government
3. ALLOW THE SOUTHERN STATES TO REENTER
THE NATION AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE
4. establish the Republican Party as the only
political party in the South
CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION
• “Andrew Johnson presented a weak plan for
Reconstruction, liberally pardoning exConfederates and allowing reconstructed
governments to be dominated by proslavery forces, which passed black codes to
keep the freedmen subjugated”
• Congress reconvened in December
1865 and immediately expressed
displeasure with Johnson’s
Reconstruction plan
RADICAL REPUBLICANS
Senator
Charles
Sumner
Representative
Thaddeus
Stevens
• Sumner and Stevens, set out to dismantle Johnson’s
Reconstruction plan and to dictate Reconstruction on
Congress’s terms
• Called for
– black voting rights
– confiscation of Confederate estates, and military occupation of
the South
• NO LENIENCY!
Congressional Election of 1866
• WIDENED THE DIVIDE BETWEEN PRESIDENT JOHNSON AND
CONGRESS
• President Johnson embarked on a “swing around the circle”
tour where he gave speeches at various Midwestern cities to
rally the public around his policy of lenient Union recognition
for the southern states
• His tour was a complete failure as he exchanged hottempered insults with the critics in the crowd.
• Congressional Republicans took to “WAVING THE BLOODY
SHIRT”- appealing to voters by reminding them of the
sacrifices the Union made during the Civil War
• When the congressional election was complete, the
Republicans won more than the TWO-THIRDS MAJORITY in
the House & the Senate that they needed to override any
presidential vetoes
“Swing
around
the
circle”
tour
CIVIL RIGHTS ACT 1866
• Passed over Johnson's veto
(block)
• Weakened Black Codes
• Negroes = rights with whites
• Authorized use of federal
troops for enforcement
Freedmen’s Bureau Act 1866
• Passed over Johnson’s
veto
• Extended life of this
federal agency
• PROVIDE NEWLY FREE
AFRICAN AMERICANS
WITH
FOOD/CLOTHING/SCHOOL
ING/JOB RESOURCES
• Protected Negroes Civil
Rights
• Use of military force if
necessary
th
14
Amendment 1866
• NEGROES ARE CITIZENS (ALL PERSONS BORN
OR NATURALIZED IN THE US ARE CITIZENS BOTH
OF THE US AND THE STATE THEY RESIDE
• EQUAL PROTECTION OF THE LAWS
• Declared the Confederate debt void
• Disqualified most former Confederate leaders
from holding office unless pardoned by
Congress
• EVERY SOUTHERN STATE REFUSED RATIFICATION
(except Tennessee)
Military Reconstruction Act 1867
•
•
•
•
Passed over Johnson’s veto
SOUTH DIVIDED INTO 5 MILITARY DISTRICTS
Military governor commanded federal troops
TO REMOVE MILITARY RULE:
– Conduct election open to Blacks and Whites for delegates
to a Constitutional convention
– New State Constitutions had to guarantee African
American suffrage (vote)
– Ratification of the 14th Amendment
– 1869 – only 4 Southern states did not comply
– Act did not go as far as giving freedmen land or education
at federal expense.
th
15
Amendment 1870
• Radical Republicans
– still concerned that once the states were
re-admitted to the Union, they would
amend their constitutions &withdraw
black suffrage
– moved to safeguard their legislation by
adding it to the federal Constitution with
the 15th Amendment
• 15TH AMENDMENT PROHIBITED THE STATES
FROM DENYING ANYONE THE RIGHT TO
VOTE “ON ACCOUNT OF RACE, COLOR, OR
PREVIOUS CONDITION OF SERVITUDE.”
th
15
Amendment 1870
• 15th Amendment did not guarantee the right to vote
(SUFFRAGE) regardless of sex
– outraged feminists like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan
B. Anthony
– Equally disappointing to feminists was the fact that the
14th Amendment marked the first appearance of the
word “male” in the Constitution
– Efforts to include female suffrage in the 15th
Amendment were defeated
• Literacy tests and poll taxes were often used to
keep blacks from voting. Intimidation and lynching
were also common means to keep blacks from the
polls