Chapter 22
“The Ordeal of Reconstruction”
4 Questions that had to be
addressed post-war
1.
2.
3.
4.
How will the South be reconstructed?
How would liberated slaves be dealt with
in the South?
How would Southern states be readmitted
to the Union?
Who would direct the process of
reconstruction?
Aftermath of Civil War
►
The Southern way of
life was ruined, as
crops and farms were
destroyed, the slaves
were now free, and
the cities were
bombed out, but still,
some Southerners
remained defiant.
Atlanta Depot, after Sherman's
departure
Freedom For Former Slaves
Confusion after war in regard to freedom for
slaves. Some plantation owners resisted.
► Eventually all plantation owners had to give up
their slaves, and afterwards tens of thousands of
Blacks took to the roads to find new work or look
for lost loved ones.
► Emancipation also meant education for Blacks,
but despite all the gains Blacks made, they still
faced severe discrimination and would have to
wait a century before attaining their rights
►
Sharecropping
© 1999 by Addison Wesley Longman
Sharecropping
Dorthea Lange
Sharecroppers
Source: Schomburg Collection, New York
Public Library
A Thirteen Year Old
Sharecropper Boy Plowing A
Field, Near Americus, Georgia
Freedmen
"Group of Freedmen, Richmond, Va." Shows a black family and men
seated along the canal with the ruins in the background.
Freedmen’s Bureau
►
►
►
►
In order to train the newly freed
slaves, the Freedman’s
Bureau was set up on March 3,
1865; Union General Oliver O.
Howard headed it
Provided food, clothing,
education and medicine to
newly freed slaves
Greatest success seen in the
field of education
Johnson Vetoed the Freedmen’s
Bureau numerous times.
Congress always overrode his
veto
Post-War Difficulties For Freedmen
Andrew Johnson
►
►
►
►
Became President after the
death of Lincoln
Former Democrat from the
Confederate state of Tennessee
who was the only southern
Congressman to refuse to
secede with his state
Chosen by Lincoln as VP in 1864
because of the need for border
state votes
Essentially a no-win situation for
Johnson because he was a
Southern slave-owning
Democrat at a time when there
were very few Democrat in
Congress
Lincoln’s 10% Plan for
Reconstruction
► Once
ten percent of a southern state's 1860
voters had taken an oath of loyalty, the
state could rejoin the Union.
► "With malice toward none, with charity for
all"
► “Technically speaking since secession was
illegal southern states did not really secede.”
Wade-Davis Congressional
Reconstruction
Believed the South should be punished for
starting the war and hoped to protect the rights
of Freedmen (former slaves).
►
A bill that required 50% of the states’ voters to
take oaths of allegiance and demanded stronger
safeguards for emancipation than the 10% Plan,
through Congress.
►
Lincoln pocket-vetoed the bill by letting it
expire, and the 10% Plan stayed
►
Johnson’s 10% Plan For
Reconstruction
Recognition of Lincoln’s 10% Plan
2. Called for special state conventions to repeal the
Confederate states ordinances of secession
3. Repudiation of all Confederate debts
4. Ratification of 13th Amendment – freedom for
slaves
► Republicans were furious with Johnson’s easy
terms for South
► Pardoned many Confederates
1.
Radical Republicans
The Radicals, a faction of the regular
Republican Party, came into prominence
on the national level after 1860
► They supported immediate emancipation
and led the fight for ratification of the
13th Amendment
► During the war, the Radicals were critical
of Abraham Lincoln, a member of their
own party. The chief complaints about
the president were that:
►



Lincoln had thwarted the emancipation
efforts of two of his military
commanders, John C. Frémont and David
Hunter
Lincoln had (initially) opposed the use of
black soldiers in the Union Army
Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan was too
lenient
Thaddeus Stevens
Charles Sumner
Black Codes
► In
order to control the newly freed slaves, many
Southern states passed Black Codes, laws aimed
at keeping the African-American population in
submission; some were harsh, others were not as
harsh
► The codes forbade African-Americans from serving
on a jury and some even barred them from
renting or leasing land, and African-Americans
could be punished for “idleness” by being
subjected to working on a chain gang
Post-War Congressional Situation
►
►
►
In December, 1865, when many of the Southern states
came to be reintegrated into the Union, among them
were former Confederates and Democrats, and most
Republicans were disgusted to see their former enemies
on hand to reclaim seats in Congress.
Northerners now realized that the South would be
stronger politically than before, since now, Blacks
counted for a whole person instead of just 3/5 of one,
and Republicans also feared that the Northern and
Southern Democrats would join and take over Congress
and the White House and institute their Black Codes over
the nation, defeating all that the Civil War gained
Republicans enjoyed the power that they possessed
during the war and wanted to keep it for as long as
possible
Johnson v. Congress
Vetoed the Freeman’s Bureau many times
► Vetoed the Civil Rights Bill , which conferred on
blacks the privilege of American citizenship and
struck at the Black Codes.
► As Republicans gained control of Congress, they
overrode Johnson’s vetoes by passing the bills
over his veto through a 2/3 majority
► Urged the Southern states to reject the 14th
Amendment
►
th
14
1.
2.
3.
4.
►
►
►
►
Amendment
Citizenship for African-Americans
Reduction in Representation in the House if state denied
African-Americans the right to vote
Disqualified Confederate leaders from holding office
Repudiation of the Confederate war debt
Congress said that states could be readmitted to the
Union upon ratification of the 14th Amendment.
Johnson urged states to reject the amendment
All Confederates states except Tennessee rejected
Tennessee ratified the amendment and was rewarded
with immediate statehood.
Reconstruction Act of 1867
►
1.
2.
3.
During the 1866 Congressional elections the
Radical Republicans won a majority in Congress.
Now Reconstruction could go their way.
Divided the 10 Confederate states (minus
Tennessee) into 5 military districts controlled by
a Union general and the U.S. Army
Required ratification of the 14th Amendment
Excluded any Confederate general or soldier or
anyone who served in the Confederacy from
voting or holding office
Reconstruction Amendments
 13th Amendment
►Freedom
for slaves
 14th Amendment
►Citizenship
for African-American men
 15th Amendment
►Voting
rights for African-American men
**Women suffrage advocates were disappointed by
the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, since they
didn’t give women full suffrage
African-Americans Politically
►
African-American
men also began to
hold political offices,
as men like Hiram
Revels and Blanche
K. Bruce served in
Congress (they
represented
Mississippi).
Blanche K. Bruce
Hiram Revels
Carpetbaggers
► Northerners
who
wanted to take
advantage of political
opportunity and
traveled South to win
elections
Scalawags
► Southerners
who
refused to support the
Confederacy
Impeachment of Johnson
►
►
►
►
►
►
Radicals were angry with President Johnson, and they decided to try to get
rid of him.
In 1867, Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act, which provided that
the president had to secure the consent of the Senate before removing his
appointees once they had been approved by the Senate (one reason was to
keep Edwin M. Stanton, a Republican spy, in office).
When Johnson dismissed Stanton early in 1868, the Republicans impeached
him
Johnson was not allowed to testify by his lawyers, who argued that the
Tenure of Office Act was unconstitutional and Johnson was acting under the
Constitution, not the law.
On May 16, 1868, Johnson was acquitted of all charges by a single vote, as
seven Republican senators with consciences voted “not-guilty” (interestingly,
those seven never secured a political office against afterwards).
Die-hard radicals were infuriated by the acquittal, but many politicians
feared establishing a precedence of removing the president through
impeachment
The Purchase of Alaska
►
►
In 1867, Secretary of
State William H. Seward
bought Alaska from
Russia to the United
States for $7.2 million,
but most of the public
jeered his act as
“Seward’s Folly.”
Only later, when oil and
gold were discovered,
did Alaska prove to be a
huge bargain
Goldmine in Alaska
Alaskan Pipeline
►
The 800-mile-long Trans Alaska
Pipeline System (TAPS) is one of
the largest pipeline systems in
the world. It stretches from
Prudhoe Bay on Alaska’s North
Slope, through rugged and
beautiful terrain, to Valdez, the
northernmost ice-free port in
North America. Since pipeline
startup in 1977, Alyeska Pipeline
Service Company, the operator
of TAPS, has successfully
transported over 15 billion
barrels of oil.
Alaskan Salmon
Fate of Reconstruction
► Many
Southerners regarded Reconstruction as
worse than the war itself, as they resented the
upending of their social and racial system
► The Republicans, though with good intentions,
failed to improve the South, and the fate of Blacks
would remain bad for almost another century
before the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and
1960s secured Black privileges