Reconstruction
What do you remember??
• Should the goal of Reconstruction be:
PUNISH the South
OR
HEAL the Nation
Your opinion:
Justice or Healing?
OR, how do we do
both things at once?
Putting the Nation
back together:
• Who is constitutionally in charge?
• If the South had seceded, was reconstruction
under the jurisdiction of the President or the
Congress?
• If they had NOT left the union, then Reconstruction
should be handled by the President under his
executive pardoning power.
• If they HAD left the union, then Congress should
handle it due to their power to deal with territories.
Essential Question:
• 1. Extreme: the states had no constitutional existence
and the Congress had to decide how and when they were
readmitted. (PUNISH!! Sumner & Stevens)
• 2. Lenient: rebellion had not affected the south’s status;
could be restored to union by executive pardon.
(Lincoln)
2 positions on
Reconstruction
•
•
•
•
Political justice for blacks with the vote
Restore the South to the union
“with malice toward none, charity toward all”
Pardon to all but the civic/military leaders of the
Confederacy; when any 10% of registered voters in
1860 took oath, they could set up a new state gov’t;
they HAD to abolish slavery
Lincoln’s 10% plan
• "We must make voters of them before
we take away the troops. The ballot
will be their only protection after the
bayonet is gone."
Lincoln's perspective on
political power for
African Americans
• The Wade Davis bill-- Congress didn’t
like Lincoln’s 10% plan; they wrote a bill
to make a majority of former
Confederates take the oath
• Lincoln vetoed it; sets the stage for the
presidential/congressional showdown.
But Johnson will be the one to fight it.
• So Andrew Johnson, who is not as respected (or as
wise), carries through w/ Lincoln’s plan EXCEPT he
would not let anyone with more than $20,000 worth of
property be pardoned.
• Why? Not a fan of the southern aristocracy
• BUT: he pardons more than 13,000 former
Confederates
But Lincoln dies….
• Brainstorm a list:
• What did African Americans want? What did “freedom”
mean?
• What did whites, both Northern and Southern, want?
What were the goals of
Reconstruction?
• Freedmen’s Bureau: supervise and
manage all abandoned lands; issue
provisions, fuel, clothing, etc, oversee
courts, establish schools
Government’s actions:
• Granted citizenship and equal
protection under the law to African
Americans
• (overturned Dred Scott)
• Johnson VETOED
• Congress overrode a presidential veto for
the 1st time in history!
Civil Rights Act of 1866
• Abolished state governments formed in former
Confederate states (that were being run by former
Confederates!) under the Lincoln/Johnson plan
• Divided those states into 5 military districts
• Set up requirements for readmission to Union: grant
African American men the vote AND ratify the 14th
Amendment
Johnson vetoes; Congress overrode
Reconstruction Act of
1867
•
5 Military Districts
• Johnson fires Edwin Stanton (Secretary of War), ignoring
the Tenure of Office Act
• Congress was just WAITING for something to bust him
on….this is it. So they impeach him.
• 11 week trial Falls short by 1 necessary vote.
In the meantime….Congress
tries to find a way to get rid of
Johnson!
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nowsS7pMApI
“Reconstruction” with our
favorite (or most hated)
history geek
• 13th: Abolishes slavery
• 14th: Provides Equal Protection and Due
Process (legal rights!)
• Extremely important for many pivotal cases
for the next 150 years!
• 15th: The right to vote
• To whom?? How is it limited? Who
might have a problem with this??
RECONSTRUCTION
AMENDMENTS
• http://www.history.com/topics/american-civilwar/reconstruction
• All states are back in the Union
• But Reconstruction continues for
ECONOMIC reasons
By 1870:
• Political issues:
• Carpetbaggers
• Scalawags and
• African Americans
• These 3 often had conflicting goals
• Economic issues: Sharecropping
• Black Codes: (social, political AND economic issues)
• Rise of extremist groups
Things to know:
•
• Amnesty Act: returns right to vote and
hold office to 160,000 former
Confederates
• Freedmen’s Bureau expires
• Presidential Election: scandals in Grant
administration break down any
Republican unity
1872
• The Panic: an economic depression
that lasts 5 years
• Northern attention shifts from
Reconstruction to their own personal
interests
1873: ECONOMIC CRISIS
Which of the following is an enduring achievement of
Reconstruction?
A. A guarantee of universal suffrage for former slaves
B. The extension of civil rights through constitutional
amendments.
C. The establishment of universal and integrated public
education.
D. A tradition of economic cooperation between
geographic regions.
Bellwork:
• Hayes vs. Tilden: Tilden gets popular
vote, but 1 electoral vote shy
• A commission (with Republican
majority) strikes a deal with southern
Democrats to get Hayes approved:
• REMOVE ALL FEDERAL TROOPS from
LA and SC (2 of the 3 states Republicans
governed)
Compromise of ‘77
• Those Democrats who began to regain
control of the region as the
Republican party fell apart. They
called their return to power
“redemption.”
The Redeemers
• Is it a failure or a success?
• Using the chart along with the notes taken on the board,
what are the 2 strongest points you can make in support
of Reconstruction being a success OR a failure? Write
this in one well-developed paragraph.
• Then identify the strongest counterclaim to your
argument in a second paragraph.
• Reconstruction was a success in the amendments that
were added to the Constitution, abolishing slavery and
giving African Americans legal and civil rights. It was,
however, also a failure in that, even though African
Americans were free, they were not always treated fairly.
The sharecropping cycle caused them to be dependent on
the white landowners. The white governments instituted
Black Codes to limit their social and economic freedoms.
And the threat of violence was constant from those who
did not want blacks integrated into society.