Reconstruction
Triumph of Race, Politics, and
Redeemers, 1863-1877
Books to Read
• William C. Harris,
With Charity for All
• Eric Foner,
Reconstruction,
America’s Unfinished
Revolution
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.
Reconstruction Began as War
Measure
• First Emancipation Proclamation
• Lincoln’s 10% Plan
• Goal was an easy peace to shorten war
Who Should Control
Reconstruction—Congress or
President?
• Wade-Davis Bill
• Lincoln Pocket Veto
• Assassination of Lincoln left question
unresolved when Andrew Johnson became
president.
Lincoln’s Second Inaugural
With malice toward none; with charity for all;
with firmness in the right, as God gives us to
see the right, let us strive on to finish the work
we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to
care for him who shall have borne the battle,
and for his widow, and his orphan--to do all
which may achieve and cherish a just and
lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all
nations.
Freedman’s Bureau
The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Land, often
referred to as the Freedmen's Bureau, was established in the
War Department on March 3, 1865. The Bureau supervised all
relief and educational activities relating to refugees and
freedmen, including issuing rations, clothing and medicine. The
Bureau also assumed custody of confiscated lands or property
in the former Confederate States, border states, District of
Columbia, and Indian Territory.
Built Schools—many of whom were forerunners of the “Historically
Black Colleges” in the South.
Freedman’s Bureau Schools
Andrew Johnson
• Rags to Riches Story
• “Treason must be made odious”
• Initially a darling of and later a
disappointment to Radical Republicans
• Reconstruction Plan (Proclamation of
Amnesty—May 1865) similar to Lincoln’s
Andrew Johnson
Radical Republicans: Thaddeus
Stevens, Charles Sumner, Ben
Wade
Southerners Don’t Get It
• Elect ex-CSA leaders to Congress,
including Alexander Stephens
• Black Codes
• Race Riots
Radicals Respond
• Barely failed to override Johnson’s Veto of Bill to
Extend Life of Freedman’s Bureau
• Overrode Johnson’s Veto of CRA of 1866
• Enacted a new Freedman’s Bureau
• Sent 14th Amendment to States—ratified by them
in 1868
• Radical’s insisted on Civil Rights for former
slaves and a federal enforcement mechanism
Radicals on a Roll—March 2,
1867
• Military Reconstruction Act
• Command of the Army Act
• Tenure of Office Act
Military Reconstruction Act-1867
• Divided South into Military District
• Southern States—Tn. Excepted—would
write new constitutions w/ Universal Adult
Male Suffrage
• States had to ratify 14th amendment
• Subsequent legislation gave Army power to
register voters and to disqualify “disloyal
persons” from registering.
South Readmitted
• By 1870, Southern states were readmitted
• Some had to ratify 15th amendment too
• Reconstruction Constitutions were most
LIBERAL—yes, that’s a mighty fine word,
look it up—in history of Southern States.
• Legal means to overturn Reconstruction
often culminated with rewriting these
Reconstruction Constitutions.
Johnson Impeached
• Vote to remove was 35 to 18, one shy of the
2/3rds needed
• Radicals didn’t need to remove Johnson; by
the time of his trial it was 1868, an election
year; he could simply be ignored.
Major Achievements of
Reconstruction
• 14th and 15th Amendments
• African American Participation in Public
Life
• Readmission of Southern States
th
14 Amendment
•
•
•
•
National Definitions of Citizenship
Equal Protection Clause
Due Process Clause
High Confederate Official banned from
national office
• Confederate debt repudiated
th
15 Amendment
• “The right of citizens of the United States to
vote shall not be denied or abridged by the
United States or by any State on account of
race, color, or previous condition of
servitude.”
Failure of Reconstruction
• Southern whites were violently opposed to
black rights; many in north were indifferent
• Rise of KKK
• Where army was present, KKK leaders
were apprehended and imprisoned
• Land Reform—blacks (and poor whites) left
to farm tenancy
“Boy, You ain’t a votin’ here”!
WHITE SUPREMACY
Freedmen’s World
• Independent Churches
• Political Participation—600 African
Americans served in southern state
legislatures down to the 1890s.
• Dunningite myth still cloud’s African
American achievements during
Reconstruction
Grant Presidency
• Did attempt to enforce Reconstruction
• Presidency clouded by scandals
• Republican party divided between Stalwart
and Liberal Republicans—little energy left
to devote to Reconstruction.
President Grant
1876 Presidential Election
• Disputed results between Hayes and Tilden
• Democrats accept result of Wormsley Hotel
Conference
• Southerner named to cabinet, army
withdrawn from south, southern pacific
railway