Era of
Reconstruction
Lincoln’s
Plan
• Lincoln wanted to be fairly lenient to
the South to ease their transition back
into the Union
• Ten Percent Plan or Proclamation of
Amnesty and Reconstruction
– Created in December 1863
– Pardon most Southerners (except high
ranking Confederates and suspected war
criminals)
– States could be readmitted if 10 percent of
the voting population took an oath of
allegiance
• Radical Republicans do not believe
Lincoln’s plan does enough to assist
African Americans or to punish the
South
Radical Republican’s Plan
• Wade-Davis Bill
– Congress would be responsible for
Reconstruction
– A majority of voters would have to take the
oath (not 10%)
– Proposed by Congress in July 1864
• Lincoln defeats with a pocket veto
Johnson
Administration –
Reconstruction
• Johnson becomes president following Lincoln’s
assassination
• Johnson was a tailor, formerly a Democrat, from
Tennessee, and was the only Southern Senator not to
leave his seat after secession
• Johnson’s “Restoration” plan attempts to follow
Lincoln’s plan of a lenient reconstruction without
overly punishing the south
• Johnson offers leniency to former citizens except the
“planter elites” (made over $20,000), who Johnson
blamed for the war
• Southerners elected numerous former Confederate
leaders, which angered Republicans in Congress
Radical Reconstruction
• 14th Amendment ratified in 1868,
granting full citizenship to anyone
born in the country, regardless of
“prior servitude”
• Johnson attacks 14th Amendment
and hopes to knock radical
republicans from power in Election of
1866
• Radical Republicans, led by
Thaddeus Stevens increase power
and Republicans have a 3-1 ratio in
Congress
• Radical Republicans divide the south
into military districts and have a more
punishing course for re-admittance
• Compare / Contrast the different plans
for Reconstruction:
• Lincoln:
• Johnson:
• Radical Republicans:
Recap of Reconstruction
Legislation
• 13th Amendment: abolishes slavery
(ratified in 1865)
• Freedman’s Bureau: by Congress to aid
former slaves through education, health
care, and employment (1865)
• Civil Rights Act of 1866: all persons born
in the United States are citizens (passed
by overriding veto by Andrew Johnson)
• 14th Amendment
– declared that all persons born or naturalized
in the United States were citizens
– obligated the states to respect the rights of
U.S. citizens and provide them with "equal
protection of the laws" and "due process of
law" (clauses full of meaning for future
generations)
• Reconstruction Acts of 1867:
– divided the former Confederate states into five
military districts
– had to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment
– had to provide suffrage to all men
– Congressional approval of new state
constitutions
• 15th Amendment: prohibited any state from
denying or abridging a citizen's right to
vote "on account of race, color, or previous
condition of servitude." (ratified in 1870)
• Civil Rights Act of 1875: everyone entitled
to the same treatment in "public
accommodations"
• Describe the civil rights laws
passed by Congress during
Reconstruction:
Showdown in the Capital –
The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
• Andrew Johnson repeatedly vetoed Radical
Republican policies
• Radical Republicans had votes to override any
veto, but could not guarantee Johnson would
enforce the laws
• Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act to
prevent Johnson from firing Republican officials
that would carry out these policies
• Johnson challenges Tenure of Office Act and
fires Secretary of War Edwin Stanton
• Johnson brought up on charges of impeachment
by the House of Representatives for this and
removing military district commanders
• Johnson tried in the Senate and is acquitted by
falling one vote shy of the 2/3 majority required
(35 to 19 [12 Dem. and 7 Rep.])
• Johnson’s career is politically over and does not
run for reelection
• Describe the civil rights laws passed by
Congress during Reconstruction:
Election of 1868
• Andrew Johnson does not run for
reelection following his
impeachment
• Republicans turn to Ulysses S.
Grant their presidential candidate
• Democrats run NY Governor
Horatio Seymour in a bitter
campaign
• This election was mainly northern
states and readmitted southern
states with large southern African
American voter turnout
• Grant wins the presidency and
republicans keep large majorities in
Congress
Life for African-Americans
• Tenant farmers: would pay rent for the right to harvest
crops on former slaveholder’s land. Rent was in the
form of cash.
• Sharecroppers: tenant farmers that paid a portion of
their yield as rent to landowners. Typically rent was ¾ of
the sharecroppers yield.
• Though free of the worst elements of slavery, many
former slaves they were in a very similar position
economically
• Black codes: series of laws designed to
curtail the freedom of newly freed slaves
– Could not carry weapons
– Could not marry whites
– Could not travel without permits, etc.
– Civil Rights Act of 1866 an attempt to get rid
of black codes
Scalawags and Carpetbaggers
• Scalawags:
– white southerners that joined the Republican party
• Mixed motives
• Carpetbaggers:
– Northerners that moved South after the Civil War
• Southerners viewed as corrupt
• Many moved South to assist with government programs
• Describe life and tensions in the South
during Reconstruction
• VIDEO QUESTION (beginning to 8:00)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PO8ka
emKlF0
• Describe the origins of the Ku Klux Klan:
• Describe the actions taken by the Ku Klux
Klan as Reconstruction developed:
• Describe the decline of the Ku Klux Klan
near the end of Reconstruction
Southern Resistance
• Despised “Black Republican” governments
• Rise of the Ku Klux Klan
– Unable to strike openly at Republicans running their
state, Southerners organize secret societies
– Began 1866 by former Confederate soldiers in
Pulaski, Tennessee
– Goal: Drive out Union troops and carpetbaggers and
regain control of South for Democratic Party
– Broke up Republican meetings, drove Freedmen’s
Bureau officials out of communities, burned African
American homes, schools and churches and
attempted to keep African Americans and white
Republicans from voting.
• KKK outraged President Grant and
congressional Republicans
– 1870-1871 pass Enforcement Acts to combat
violence in the South
– Federal crime to interfere with a citizen’s right to vote
– Federal elections under the supervision of the federal
marshals
– KKK Act, outlawed activities of the Klan
– 3,000 arrested throughout the South
– Southern juries convict only about 600
– Fewer still served any time in prison
•Describe the rise of
the KKK and how the
federal government
combated it:
Problems of the
Grant Administration
• Neither Grant or most of his cabinet had
major political experience
• Grant relied mainly on the spoils system
for officials
• Grant continued to support Radical
Republicans after they lose popularity
• Grant’s administration was believed to be
in scandal
Election of
1872
• Grant had alienated large numbers of
Northerners
• Liberal Republicans break away and nominate
New York Tribune editor Horace Greeley
• Democrats attempt alliance with Liberal
Republicans and nominate Greeley
• Grant wins in landslide, but Democrats make
gains in Congress
Scandals of the Grant Presidency
• Credit Mobilier: French construction company
gave large amounts of stocks to Congressmen
(one was Grant’s VP) for contracts on Union
Pacific Railroad
• Whiskey Ring: Treasury officials filed false taxes
to prevent being caught with income from
distilling alcohol
• Indian Ring: Secretary of War Belknap accepted
bribes to retain an Indian-post trader
• Grantism: belief that Grant’s administration
brought corruption to the government
•Describe the issues
of the Grant
presidency:
Election
of 1876
• Nominees
– Republicans choose
Rutherford B. Hayes
(Gov. Of Ohio) who
wants to end Radical
Reconstruction – go
against third Grant term
– Democrats nominate
Samuel Tilden (Reform
governor in New York)
Election Fraud
– Democrats stuffed ballot boxes and bribed
vote counters
– Stole ballot boxes in Republican precincts
– Democrats take control of all Southern state
legislatures except those of Louisiana, South
Carolina and Florida
• Large number of African American voters,
protected by Union troops, were able to keep the
Republicans in power
• Election Day
– Majority = 185
– Tilden=184 electoral votes and 4,288,546 popular
votes
– Hayes=165 electoral votes and 4,034,311 popular
votes
– 20 votes in question (19 in three LA, SC, FL – 1
disputed in Oregon)
• Congress appoints 15 man commission
– Equal number of House, Senate and Supreme Court
members
– 7 Republicans, 7 Democrats, 1 independent (leans
Republican)
– Vote along party lines to give all votes to Hayes,
approved in both houses, but compromise was
worked out
• Describe the issues
and outcome of the
Election of 1876:
Compromise of 1877
• Hayes becomes president, but he must
– End federal support of Republicans in the South by
withdrawing troops
– Support the building of a transcontinental railroad in
the South
– South Carolina and Louisiana quickly collapse
– Southern Democrats had “redeemed” the South
– Reconstruction was over because these conditions
took away the infrastructure to protect African
Americans
•Describe the
Compromise of 1877
and why it was
important:
The “New South” Arises
• Term coined by Henry Grady, editor of the Atlanta
Constitution
• Understanding the need to develop a strong industrial
economy
• From 1860-1890 40,000 miles of railroad built
• Iron and steel industry develops around Birmingham,
Alabama
• Tobacco became big business in North Carolina
• Cotton mills appeared in small towns
• By 1900, still only 6% of Southern labor force worked in
manufacturing
• For many African Americans, it meant a return to the
“Old South” (little political power and forced to labor
under difficult and unfair conditions)
•Describe the
concept of the “New
South” and the
degree to which it
occurs: