Richmond, Virginia—Street in the burned district
Questions your group needs to address:
1. What do you do with (now) former prisoners of war? Discuss
this from both the Northern & Southern perspectives.
2. What do you do with former Confederate Generals?
3. What do you do with the states that seceded from the Union?
4. How do you solve financial debt?
5. What do you do with former slaves that are now free men?
RECONSTRUCTION
The national debate over Reconstruction centered on three main issues:
1. What were the terms under which the defeated Confederate states should be
allowed to reenter the Union? What demands, if any, should be made upon them
before they reenter? Should Congress or the president establish the terms?
2. Should anyone be punished for the rebellion and to what extent?
3. To what degree should the national government assist the newly freed slaves
(often referred to as freedmen) in participating in the political and social life of the
South?
RECONSTRUCTION PLANS
President Lincoln
Congress
Radical Republicans vs. moderate Republicans
President Johnson
Thomas Nast's Original "The Union Christmas" Civil War Print
This is probably the most touching and moving Abraham Lincoln print to come
out of the Civil War era. The leaf was printed on December 31, 1864, and Thomas
Nast was the artist. The print shows Mr. Lincoln standing at the door, inviting the
Southern Rebels to come in from the cold and snow, and rejoin the union.
A large banquet table has been prepared, and the table has empty chairs labeled
Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and so forth. The print has a large
banner that reads, "The Union Christmas Dinner, Peace on Earth and Good Will
Toward Men." The print has four insets, one showing Robert E. Lee offering his
surrender to Grant (something that did happen a few months later. The second
inset is captioned, "Lay Down your Arms and You Will be Welcome", which shows
Rebel Soldiers being welcomed back into the Union. The third inset presents the
Rebels as the prodigal son returning home, and the forth inset shows a soldier
bowing down to accept a pardon from Lady Liberty.
For all the pain and all the loss of the Civil War, we see by the end of 1864, there
were signs of hope. Nast creates this image of hope by showing a country tired of
war, and willing to invite their former countrymen to once again sit at the table of
fellowship and Union. Within three months of this image being made, Mr. Lincoln
was dead, assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. However, Nast's vision of a country
once again united did come to pass.
•Lincoln’s _____________plan:
In it all southerners, except highranking Confederate officials,
could get a full pardon and
restoration of rights after taking
an oath, pledging loyalty to the
Union and accepting the end of
slavery. When ten percent of the
1860 voting population had
taken this oath, citizens could
vote in elections that would
create new state governments
and new state constitutions.
After that the state would once
again be eligible for
representation in Congress and
readmitted to the Union.
RADICAL REPUBLICANS
Group of abolitionist American politicians that proposed
harsh policies towards Confederates during the
Reconstruction Era.
Most well known Radicals:
Senator Benjamin Wade
Senator Charles Sumner
Pennsylvania Representative
_______________________
THADDEAS STEVENS ON RECONSTRUCTION
The President assumes, what no one doubts, that the late rebel States have lost their constitutional relations to
the Union, and are incapable of representation in Congress, except by permission of the Government. It matters
but little, with this admission, whether you call them States out of the Union, and now conquered territories, or
assert that because the Constitution forbids them to do what they did do, that they are therefore only dead as to all
national and political action, and will remain so until the Government shall breathe into them the breath of life
anew and permit them to occupy their former position. In other words, that they are not out of the Union, but are
only dead carcasses lying within the Union. In either case, it is very plain that it requires the action of Congress to
enable them to form a State government and send representatives to Congress. Nobody, I believe, pretends that
with their old constitutions and frames of government they can be permitted to claim their old rights under the
Constitution. They have torn their constitutional States into atoms, and built on their foundations fabrics of a totally
different character. Dead men cannot raise themselves. Dead States cannot restore their existence "as it was."
Whose especial duty is it to do it? In whom does the Constitution place the power? Not in the judicial branch of
Government, for it only adjudicates and does not prescribe laws. Not in the Executive, for he only executes and
cannot make laws. Not in the Commander-in-Chief of the armies, for he can only hold them under military rule
until the sovereign legislative power of the conqueror shall give them law. Unless the law of nations is a dead
letter, the late war between two acknowledged belligerents severed their original compacts and broke all the ties
that bound them together. The future condition of the conquered power depends on the will of the conqueror. They
must come in as new states or remain as conquered provinces. Congress . . . is the only power that can act in the
matter.
Forgive
•
•
Lincoln wanted to restore national
unity (speedy)
– March 5, 1865 “With Malice
toward None…”
Issued Proclamation of Amnesty and
Reconstruction (Dec. 1863):
– Would give a _________
___________ to all southerners
(except high-ranking Confederate
leaders) who would:
• Restoration of rights and
property
• swear allegiance to the
Constitution
• accept emancipation
– After _____% of the citizens of
a southern state took that oath,
the state would be readmitted.
Punish
Believed southerners should be punished
harshly.
Proposed the Wade-Davis Bill (July 4,
1864): The South could set up government
according to the following terms:
 Governor appt. by Pres. & approved
by Congress
 At least _______ of voters in a
conquered state take oath of
allegiance.
 Ex-Confederates would be banned
from drafting new state constitutions
(IRONCLAD OATH).
 State constitutions must __________
slavery and grant citizenship/voting
rights to freedmen
Passed Congress on July 2, 1864.
Lincoln did not sign the bill: “southern
states should be able to choose between
both plans”
13th Amendment: Abolished Slavery
• After debating the amendment, the Senate passed it on
April 8, 1864, by a vote of 38 to 6.
• Although they initially rejected the amendment, the
House of Representatives passed it on January 31,
1865, by a vote of 119 to 56.
• President Abraham Lincoln then submitted the proposed
amendment to the states for _______________.
• Secretary of State William Henry Seward issued a
statement verifying the ratification of the Thirteenth
Amendment on December 18, 1865.
Assassination of April 14, 1865: President Lincoln was assassinated
while attending a performance of Our American Cousin at __________
Theater in Washington, D.C. The assassin, John Wilkes Booth, escaped
with a broken leg, but he was shot later. Lincoln was succeeded by his
vice president, Andrew Johnson.
_________________________: He was a Southern sympathizer during
the Civil War, who plotted with six fellow-conspirators to assassinate
Union leaders. On Apr. 14, 1865, he shot President Lincoln during a
performance of Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theater in Washington,
D.C. He escaped, but was later shot and killed.
O Captain! My Captain!
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
_____________________ (1819-1892)
O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done,
The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won,
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;
But O heart! heart! heart!
O the bleeding drops of red,
Where on the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;
Rise up -- for you the flag is flung -- for you the bugle trills,
For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths -- for you the shores a-crowding,
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;
Here Captain! dear father!
This arm beneath your head!
It is some dream that on the deck,
You've fallen cold and dead.
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still,
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will,
The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done,
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;
Exult O shores, and ring O bells!
But I with mournful tread,
Walk the deck my Captain lies,
Fallen cold and dead.
Johnson Becomes President
(April 1865)
• Began life as a poor ____________
• Owned 5 slaves until 1862 (Tenn. Rebels)
• Racist:
“…inferior to the white man in point of intellect…better
calculated in physical structure to undergo drudgery and
hardship.”
• Democratic Senator (Tenn.)
• Only _________________ Senator to support the
Union (held aristocratic planter class responsible
for secession)
• Becomes Pres. In April 1865; Congress not due
in session until December
Johnson’s Plan



Pardoned many ex-_______________
(14,000)
Returned confiscated land to exConfederates.
Set easy terms for readmission to the
Union
1. States had to ____________their acts
of secession (South Carolina and
Georgia)
2. States had to abolish slavery
(ratify13th Amendment)
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude,
except as a punishment for crime whereof
the party shall have been duly convicted,
shall exist within the United States, or any
place subject to their jurisdiction.
3. States had to refuse to pay
Confederate government debts (this
was intended to punish southerners
who had financed the war)
Why did many Americans consider
President Johnson’s plan unfair?
• It allowed former Confederates to go unpunished.
• It allowed former Confederates to take office and control
state legislatures
• It allowed for these new state governments to enact
_________ _________ that restricted the rights of
freedmen.
• It led to ex-Confederates getting elected to Fed. Govt.
(Elections of 1865)
– 15 of 80 Senators and House of Reps had served in Confederate
Army (10 were generals)
– Another 16 had served in judicial and civil posts
– Another 9 had served in the Confederate Congress
– Alexander Stephens had served as VP of the Confederacy
Congress continues to Act
_________ _________
• Was created in March 1865 to aid the millions of southerners left
homeless and hungry by the war.
• Distributed millions of free __________ to black and white refugees
• Set up hospitals
• Brought thousands of white southerners back onto farms to make a living
again.
• Served as an ________________ agency
• Operated schools (By 1869, hundreds of schools for African Americans
had been established in the South)
– Built schools and provided teachers to give blacks the education they had
been denied under slavery
– Helped establish colleges for black students, including Howard University,
Hampton Institute, Atlanta University, and Fisk University
Roles of the Freedmen’s Bureau:
•Distribute food and clothing
•Served as an employment agency
•Set up hospitals and schools
•African American Universities:
Atlanta, Howard, Fisk
Freedmen’s School
Johnson Vetoes Bill
• In February 1866 Congress passed the Freedman’s
Bureau Bill to extend the life of the agency
• Surprisingly, Johnson ______________ the bill, citing
constitutional and financial reasons:
– “It was never intended that the Freedmen should be
fed, clothed, educated, and sheltered by the United
States.”
– Johnson disagreed with allowing the Bureau to deal
with cases involving discrimination or infringement of
civil rights---(claimed this should be left to the courts)
Congress (Republicans) Vs. Johnson
• Republican-dominated Congress refused to seat the
southern representatives.
• In early 1866, Congress began hearings on conditions in
the South.
• Witness after witness presented evidence of postwar
violence
– African Americans recounted stories of murder and
the burning of____________, homes, and schools
• A move was made by Republicans to extend the life of
the Freedman’s Bureau
Result: Former Confederates Enact
Black Codes
• Resembled pre-Civil War slave codes
– i.e. Mississippi only substituted the word
“freedman” for “slave”
• Varied from state to state
• Aimed to prevent African Americans from
achieving social, political, and _________
equality
Freedmen’s School Burns Memphis
(1866)
Race Riots
• May 1, 1866 two carriages collided on the
streets of Memphis
– Police officers arrested the black driver but not the
white driver
– Blacks protested; white mob gathered
– Led to a 3-day riot in which white rioters (mainly
police officers and firefighters) killed 46 African
Americans and burned 12 schools and 4 churches
Examples of Black Codes
• African Americans could not hold _____________ unless whites
were present
• Forbade them to __________ without __________, own guns,
attend schools with whites, sit on juries, etc…
• Reestablished white control over labor
– Forced African Americans to return to the fields…
• Some states required blacks to only work as servants;
• Some states required blacks to pay taxes to work in other
occupations.
– Several states required blacks to sign long-term labor contracts
(those who refused could be arrested)
– Apprenticeship laws: Most states allowed judges to bind black
children to white employers if they deemed the parents unable to
support them (thousands of black children worked for planters)
EFFECTS OF PRESIDENT JOHNSON’S RECONSTRUCTION
PLAN ON FORMER CONFEDERATES AND THE EFFECTS
OF THE BLACK CODES ON FREEDPEOPLE
PRESIDENT JOHNSON’S RECONSTRUCTION PLAN

BENEFITS TO FORMER CONFEDERATES
● Blanket pardon for most rebels
● Easy terms of readmission to the Union;: states had to nullify their acts of
secession, abolish slavery, and refuse to pay war debts

FORMER CONFEDERATES ENACT BLACK CODES

EFFECTS OF CODES ON AFRICAN AMERICANS
● Tried to deprive freed people of equality
● Re-established white control over African American labor
Congress Passes ______ ______Bill
• First Civil Rights law in nation’s history
• Declared that everyone __________ in the U.S.
was a citizen with full civil rights; however, it
still did NOT guarantee voting rights
• This law was written to overturn the 1857 Dred
__________ ruling and to nullify the recently
enacted black codes.
• “If the President vetoes the Civil Rights Bill, we shall
be obliged to draw our swords.”
--Ohio senator
Not this Time!
• Johnson vetoes the bill, arguing that it would
centralize power in the federal government.
• This veto eroded any support he had had in
Congress—Moderates and Radicals unite:
Congress __________ the veto of the Civil
Rights Act.
Congress passed a new Freedman’s Bureau
Bill, overriding Johnson’s veto yet again.
RECONSTRUCTION ACT OF 1867
Help is on the way!!!
_______________
Northern
Republicans who
moved South
during
Reconstruction
2. ____________- Name given to
southerners who now backed
reconstruction and helped with the
rebuilding process
3. The Freedmen Bureau –
agency developed to help the
homeless and the hungry
More Helpful Ideas:
4. Joint Committee of 15
established by Congress to
examine successes and failures
of reconstruction
5. _______________ Act – divided
the South into 5 military districts
The Fourteenth Amendment
(Ratified 1868)
• Congress attempted to answer all of Johnson’s
Constitutional objections to the Civil Rights Bill with
the 14th Amendment:
1. Required states to extend equal citizenship to
African Americans and all people “born or
naturalized in the U.S.”
2. It denied states the right to deprive anyone of
“life, liberty, or property without due process
of law.”
3. It promised all citizens the “equal protection
of the laws.”
Fourteenth Amendment (Cont’d)
• DID NOT GUARANTEE AFRICAN AMERICAN VOTING
RIGHTS
• It did, however, reduce the representation of any state that
did not allow its adult male citizens to vote.
– The more African American men who were not allowed to vote, the
fewer representatives that state could send to Congress
• If the Southern states accepted this amendment, they
could enter the Union: TENNESSEE
• Johnson campaigned heavily against this amendment.
Events causing Conflict b/w Johnson & Senate
1. Vetoes Freedmen’s Bureau Bill
2. Vetoes Civil Rights Bill of 1866 which
declared every one born in U.S. a full citizen
with civil rights
3. 14th Amendment - Granted rights of citizenship
to all people born or naturalized in the U.S.
Denied states the right to deprive anyone of life,
liberty, or property without due process
At the same time the Reconstruction Acts
were passed, the Tenure of Office Act is
passed to limit the power of the President. The
Also passed the Command of the Army Act
to prevent the president from issuing military
orders except through the commanding
general, Ulysses S. Grant. (Who could not be
removed without the approval of the Senate).
Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
Reasons House impeached Johnson
Reasons Senate Acquitted Johnson
Articles 1-8: Charged Johnson with
illegally violating the ______________
________________ – prohibited the
President from removing any
appointed govt. official without Senate
approval
• Weak case against Johnson
Article 9: Accused Johnson of
violating the Command of the Army
Act – required Johnson to issue all
military orders through the General of
the Army instead of dealing directly
with military governors in the South
• Personal dislike of potential
presidential successor (Benjamin
Wade)
Article 10-11: Accused Johnson of
making “inflammatory and scandalous
speeches.”
• Failure to prove that Johnson was
guilty of “bribery, treason, or other
high crimes and misdemeanors.”
• Fear that impeachment would
weaken future presidents and
threaten checks and balances
Main Reason for Impeachment:
Violated Tenure of Office Act
(Senate must approve the removal of an
official) Johnson challenged this by firing
Secretary of War – Edward Stanton
Article II Section 4
Conviction of treason, bribery, and any
other high crime or misdemeanor
Step #1 – The ____________ charges president with
crime by majority vote
Step # 2 – Certain House members act as lawyers and
prosecute the president and the ___________ acts as
the jury and listens to charges while the _________
__________ of the Supreme Court (Salmon P. Chase)
acts as judge
Step # 3 – Senate votes – if 2/3rds vote guilty the
president is removed from office
Post Civil War
______________________: This act was passed in Congress with nearly unanimous
Republican support in March 1866, and it attempted to redress the issue of slavery by
defining all persons born in the nation as citizens. It also specified the rights of citizens,
the right to sue, make contracts, give evidence in court, hold, convey, and inherit
property.
_________________Amendment: The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution was
ratified in 1865. It prohibited "slavery or involuntary servitude except as punishment for
crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." This amendment guaranteed
freedom for African Americans.
_________________ Amendment: The Fourteenth Amendment was passed in 1868. It
said that no state can make or enforce any law which "deprives any person of life,
liberty, or property, without due process of law." Also, states could not "deny to any
person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
_________________ Amendment: Secretary of State Hamilton Fish ratified the
Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of United States on March 30, 1870. This
amendment explicitly forbid denial of the right to vote for citizens "on account of race,
color, or previous condition of servitude."
The Rise of the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan:
secret terrorist organization formed by
6 ex-confederates soldiers
The Grand Wizard: (Head of the Klan)
Nathan Bedford____________
Led murders on Republicans – killing many
whites and blacks that sided with the
Republican Party
Klansmen burned schools, homes,
churches
These events led to the
_________________Acts (document):
designed to help protect against the KKK
KKK 3 Main Objectives: During Reconstruction
1.Prevent Blacks from voting
2.Destroy Republican Party
3.Frighten African Americans political leaders
Strange Fruit
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFIficim0ds
Emmitt Till by Bob Dylan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjfGcRM35xg&feature=related
Martin Luther King "I have a dream"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbUtL_0vAJk
suspension of habeas corpus: Writs of habeas corpus are court orders requiring that
the a cause of imprisonment be demonstrated before a person is jailed. This basic civil
liberty was suspended by both Lincoln and Davis during the war to deal with dissent.
Lincoln used it to intimidate border states into rejecting secession.
Remember the article about the arrest of editors of newspapers as a result of the
violation of the suspension during the Civil War.
A fine line?
George Creel
Journalist who was responsible for selling America on WWI and was head of the
Committee on Public Information. He was also responsible for selling the world on
Wilsonian war aims.
Committee on Public Information
It was headed by George Creel. The purpose of this committee was to mobilize people's
minds for war, both in America and abroad. Tried to get the entire U.S. public to support
U.S. involvement in WWI. Creel's organization, employed some 150,000 workers at
home and oversees. He proved that words were indeed weapons.
Office of Censorship, Office of War Information: Roosevelt wanted public opinion
to be positive during the war, and in 1941, he established the Office of Censorship. It
examined all written documents, including works of publishers and broadcasters, as
well as all letters going overseas, in order to maintain the positive public opinion in
America.
Ex parte Milligan: Ex parte Milligan was an 1866 Supreme Court limiting the authority
of martial law and the suspension of habeas corpus in times of war. In this case, the
court declared that "martial law can never exist where the courts are open in the proper
and unobstructed exercise of their jurisdiction."
Civil Rights violations - It was illegal then, why
isn’t it illegal in the future?
Civil Rights violations - It was illegal then, why isn’t it illegal in the future?
Examples of “Jim Crow” laws:
1. All voters had to pay a two-dollar poll tax ( voting tax) when they registered to vote
2. Voters had to pass a test to prove their ability to read and understand documents such as
the state and federal constitutions or the Declaration of Independence to register.
3. Voters were required to own land or property to register.
4. Blacks were denied the use of public parks, beaches, and picnic areas.
5. Blacks and whites could not go to school together.
E d u c a t io n S e p a ra te s c h o o ls s h a ll b e m a in ta in e d f o r th e c h ild r e n o f th e w h ite a n d c o lo r e d
ra c e s. M ississip p i
Lunch Counters No persons, firms, or corporations, who or which furnish meals to
passengers at station restaurants or station eating houses, in times limited by common carriers
of said passengers, shall furnish said meals to white and colored passengers in the same room,
or at the same table, or at the same counter. South Carolina
Teaching Any instructor who shall teach in any school, college or institution where
members of the white and colored race are received and enrolled as pupils for instruction
shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be fined in any
sum not less than ten dollars ($10.00) nor more than fifty dollars ($50.00) for each offense.
Oklahoma
Literacy tests: Passed by Congress in 1917 in order to restrict
immigration, the law enlarged the group of immigrants that could be
excluded from the United States. Literacy tests were imposed on all
immigrants, and any immigrant who could not pass the tests was not
allowed entry into the U.S.
literacy tests, poll tax: Literacy tests were given to blacks with the idea
that they would be denied the right to vote since most could not read.
The poll tax prevented African-Americans from voting by requiring all
voters to pay a tax, which blacks could not afford. In 1966, the poll tax
was outlawed in all elections.
To Secure These Rights: The 1946 Committee on Civil Rights dramatized the
inequities of life in the South and under the Jim Crow laws. It called for an end to racial
discrimination and segregation, and was called "an American charter of human
freedom," by President Truman.
desegregation of the armed forces, 1948: Truman ended segregation in the army to
provide support during World War II to ensure victory. He was the first president to deal
with the legislative civil rights since the implementation of Reconstruction and fought
for many other civil rights acts but was denied.
"separate but equal": Enacted because of the inferiority complex given to blacks, it
set forth an attempt to liberalize without losing control. The Supreme Court said that it
had no place in schools, so it ordered the desegregation of schools, navy yards and
veteran hospitals.
•BROWN V. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF TOPEKA: The Supreme Court reversed
Plessy v. Ferguson in 1954 by ruling in favor of the desegregation of schools. The court
held that "separate but equal" violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth
Amendment and was unconstitutional. Refusing to force the white south to accept the
ruling, defiance toward the law sprang up. Many southerners saw it as "an abuse of
judiciary power."
Felon voting bans were adopted by states in the late 1860’s and 1870’s as the 15th
Amendment was extending voting rights to African Americans. States with larger
nonwhite prison populations were more likely to ban convicted felons from voting
than states where more whites were in the prison population. States with more
white prisoners in the 20th century were subsequently more likely to soften or
repeal these laws than states with higher African-American prison po9lulations.
Southern states have been significantly less likely to repeal laws that prevent exfelons from ever voting again.
SOURCE: State and Local Politics Institutions and Reform, Todd Donovan, Christopher Z. Mooney, Daniel A. Smith
Civil Rights Act,1957: Eisenhower passed this bill to establish a permanent
commission on civil rights with investigative powers but it did not guarantee a ballot for
blacks. It was the first civil-rights bill to be enacted after Reconstruction which was
supported by most non-southern whites.
Civil Rights Act, 1960: Eisenhower passed this bill to appease strong southern
resistance and only slightly strengthened the first measures provisions. Neither act was
able to empower federal officials to register the right to vote for African-Americans and
was not effective.
Twenty-fourth Amendment: The 24th Amendment, adopted in 1964, gave voting
rights to every American citizen, regardless of their race or religion. It also prohibited
the use of the poll tax or any tax that denied the vote. The amendment gave Congress
the power to enforce it with legislation.
CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1964, public accommodations section of the act: Passed
under the Johnson administration, this act outlawed segregation in public areas and
granted the federal government power to fight black disfranchisement. The act also
created the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to prevent
discrimination in the work place. This act was the strongest civil rights legislation since
Reconstruction and invalidated the Southern Caste System.
VOTING RIGHTS ACT, 1965: The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed as a Great
Society program under the Johnson administration. It prohibited the use of literacy tests
as a part of the voter registration process which were initially used as a method to
control immigration to the United States during the 1920s. The act enabled federal
examiners to register anyone who qualified in the South, giving the power of the vote to
underrepresented minorities.
Civil Rights Act, 1968: The Civil Rights Act of 1968 barred discrimination in housing
sales or rentals. This act was a part of a series of new legislation that encouraged
desegregation of blacks in America. The act was a key piece of legislation which
ensured blacks more equal rights.