Reconstruction
After the South's defeat in the Civil War, the rebellious states had to be reintegrated
back into the Union. This process, which lasted from 1865 to 1877, was called
Reconstruction.
There was no mention in the Constitution about Reconstruction issues. Thus, the
matter of post-war reconstruction became a political issue. It led to a struggle between
the executive branch (the president) and the legislative branch (Congress) of government.
President Abraham Lincoln claimed that Reconstruction was the president's
responsibility. Since in his view these states had never really left the Union, Lincoln felt
that only a few leaders of the South (not the states themselves or average Southerners)
deserved punishment. Lincoln's plan allowed each Southern state to establish a
government once 10% of its voters swore allegiance to the U.S.
There were members of Congress who wanted to punish the South for trying to
secede. They were known as "Radical Republicans" because of their extreme views.
They argued that the Confederate states had left the Union. They claimed that because
the Constitution gave Congress the power to admit new states, only Congress could
readmit former states. They were dismayed that the presidential plan was so lenient, and
also that there were no social or economic provisions for change in the South.
After Lincoln's assassination and his vice-president, Andrew Johnson, succeeded to
the presidency, these arguments continued. Johnson continued Lincoln's plan for
Reconstruction. The Radical Republicans strongly objected. They complained that the
new governments of Southern states wanted to restrict the rights of blacks by enacting
laws called "Black Codes."
In 1866 Congress proposed the 14th Amendment (ratified in 1868). This amendment
made blacks citizens and prohibited states from depriving them of their rights. Radical
Republicans passed their own Reconstruction program over Johnson's veto in 1867. This
dissolved the governments formed by Johnson and re-established military rule over the
South. Among other things, the laws required the former Confederate states to adopt new
state constitutions that guaranteed rights for blacks.
Johnson continued to do what he could to oppose Congress's Reconstruction policies.
Radical Republicans impeached him, but failed in their effort to remove Johnson from
office.
Most Southern whites, especially those who had supported secession, were angry over
the harshness of Reconstruction. Reconstruction laws brought about a change in state
governments -- for the first time blacks were able to elect their fellow blacks to public
office. With the help of the Freedmen's Bureau, much was done to help Southern blacks.
But there was also some corruption. Carpetbaggers and scalawags often sought state
office for their own benefit. Racist organizations like the Ku Klux Klan began to
terrorize those blacks that attempted to claim their civil rights.
But the renewed suffering of blacks in the South did not stir the North's conscience as
pre-war slavery had done. Most Americans had turned their attention to a new
development -- industrialization. In 1877 the last of the federal troops that had been
stationed in the South to enforce fair treatment of blacks was withdrawn. With this
action, Reconstruction came to an end.