Reconstruction (1865-1877)
Please take out Class Notes #19 on Reconstruction
and your unit guide – we will need to make schedule
changes.
Turn in Focus 20, Focus 21 (maps only), and
Homework 12 to the box if you have not already.
We will:
*identify major goals of both presidential
and congressional Reconstruction and
evaluate how they differed
*analyze how and why Reconstruction failed to
guarantee civil rights
*introduce the third quarter exhibit
Industrial America Unit Changes
• Quiz #5 (Reconstruction and Western geography) moved to
Thursday, February 13.
• Storyboard exhibits now due Thursday, February 20.
• Unit Test and Binder Check will now be on Wednesday,
February 26.
• These dates are unlikely to move back any further. Please be
prepared!
Andrew Johnson
(17th president, 1865-69)
President Johnson’s Version of
Reconstruction
After Lincoln’s assassination in April 1865, VicePresident Andrew Johnson (of Tennessee) carried
Lincoln’s plan forward but with his own agenda:
• exclusion of large property-holders from oath-taking
(Johnson blamed secession and the war on them)
• creation of state civil governments in unreconstructed
Southern states
• granting of thousands of pardons, permitting former
Confederate leaders to reassume political control
• tolerance of Southern state “black codes”
Example of a Black Code (Texas, 1866)
• Chapter CXXVIII. An Act to define and declare the rights of persons
lately known as Slaves, and Free Persons of Color.
• SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas,
That all persons heretofore known as slaves, and free persons of color,
shall have the right to make and enforce contracts, to sue and be sued,
to inherit, purchase, lease, hold, sell, and convey real, personal and
mixed estate; to make wills and testaments, and to have and enjoy the
rights of personal security, liberty, and private property, and all
remedies and proceedings for the protection and enforcement of the
same and there shall be no discrimination against such persons in the
administration of the criminal laws of this State.
• SEC. 2. …nothing herein shall be so construed as to repeal any law
prohibiting the inter-marriage of the white and black races, nor to
permit any other than white men to serve on juries, hold office, vote at
any election, State, county, or municipal; Provided, further, that
nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to allow them to
testify, except in such cases and manner as is prescribed in the
Constitution of the State.
What type of source is this?
Who/What do you notice in
the image?
What is the message of the
image?
How would this image have
challenged the presidential
approach to Reconstruction?
“Franchise: And not this man?”
Harper’s Weekly
August 5, 1865
Congressional Reconstruction Changes Course
• Moderate and Radical Republicans united against
Johnson’s perceived tolerance for the old Southern
power structure, the “black codes,” and his overtures
to Northern Democrats; led by:
Senator
Charles
Sumner (of
“Bleeding
Sumner”
fame) and …
Representative
Thaddeus
Stevens
(portrayed by
Tommy Lee
Jones in
Lincoln)
Radical Reconstruction
Helps Freedmen:
Republicans supported creation of the
Freedmen’s Bureau to help former
slaves adapt to life in freedom –
provided education, housing, job
training, and other programs
The Civil Rights Act of 1866 passed
over Johnson’s veto
Congress then pushed for ratification
of the Fourteenth Amendment
(1868) to ensure that civil rights and
“due process” would be guaranteed
Above: Food rations distributed to the
old and sick by the Freedmen’s Bureau.
Below: A Richmond, Virginia school
supported by the Bureau. Source:
Library of Congress.
Radicals Impose Their Rule on the South:
To ensure enforcement of federal laws, Congress passed the
Reconstruction Act of 1867, which:
• rejected legitimacy of civil governments in the South
• imposed martial law and established five military districts
• created more stringent rules for readmission
The Act effectively put the U.S. Army in charge of the South
It also set the stage for a fight between Congress and
President Johnson, who tried to fire Secretary of War Stanton
in violation of the Tenure of Office Act (1867); led to
Johnson’s impeachment and near removal from office
Reconstruction Leadership in the South:
Radical Reconstruction led to the emergence of state
governments dominated by freedmen, carpetbaggers, and
scalawags; created long-term social tensions and intensified
Southern resentment
Freedmen: former slaves – able to vote and serve in office
during Reconstruction
Carpetbaggers: Northerners who moved to the South after
the war to profit from Reconstruction
Scalawags: white Southerners who joined the Republican
Party and supported Reconstruction
First Black U.S. Congressmen
Frederick Douglass, 1866
“The arm of the Federal
government is long, but it is
far too short to protect the
rights of individuals in the
interior of distant States. They
must have the power to
protect themselves, or they
will go unprotected, in spite of
all the laws the Federal
government can put upon the
national statute-book.”
Focus 22
• Work individually to complete Focus 22
• Note that each image presents a different
view of Reconstruction
“Uncle Sam’s Thanksgiving Dinner”
by Thomas Nast for Harper’s Weekly (November 20, 1869)
Worse
than
Slavery
by Thomas
Nast for
Harper’s
Weekly,
October 24,
1874
Southern Resistance to Reconstruction
Southern Bourbons (the white
Democratic leadership) led efforts
to overturn Congressional
Reconstruction, often through
illegal means, such as domestic
terrorism.
The Ku Klux Klan emerged as the
most powerful anti-Reconstruction
organization. Its activities aimed at
silencing supporters of
Reconstruction policies.
The Rise of Sharecropping
African-Americans did not achieve social-economic
opportunities as hoped; sharecropping often
resulted in debt peonage (legally tying AfricanAmerican tenant farmers to the land they worked).
Southern “Redemption”
During the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant (1869-1877),
Northerners became increasingly focused on other issues,
such as westward expansion, economic troubles (like the
Panic of 1873), and government corruption (“Grantism”)
The Election of 1876 resulted in an effective tie between the
Republican and Democratic candidates (Rutherford Hayes
and Samuel Tilden)
Republican and Democratic leaders negotiated the
Compromise of 1877, which gave Hayes the White House
but returned Southern state governments to Democratic
control. This deal resulted in the withdrawal of federal troops
from the South and the end of Reconstruction
The Rise of “Jim Crow”
“Jim Crow” laws created institutionalized segregation through local
and state laws
Measures such as poll taxes and literacy tests effectively
disenfranchised blacks despite rights provided in the 14th and 15th
Amendments.
Grandfather clauses prevented these barriers from applying to
white citizens
In Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), the Supreme Court upheld
segregation on the basis of a “separate but equal” doctrine, which
was not overturned until 1954.
Before we leave…
• Turn in Focus 20 & 21 to turn in today.
• Turn in Homework 12.
• Begin researching your storyboard topic in the
textbook – work sessions throughout next week.
Due February 20!
• Quiz #5 is on Thursday, February 13.