RECONSTRUCTION
Chapter 12
Lincoln’s Plan for
Reconstruction
1865 – 1877: Period of Reconstruction
Lincoln favored a lenient Reconstruction policy
December 1863, Lincoln announced his
Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction
Lincoln’s plan angered the Radical
Republicans, led by Thaddeus Stevens and
Charles Sumner
Radicals responded to the Ten-Percent Plan by
passing the Wade-Davis Bill
Lincoln vetoed the Wade-Davis Bill
Johnson’s Plan
Lincoln’s assassination left Andrew Johnson in charge of
the Reconstruction controversy
May 1865, Johnson announced his plan – Presidential
Reconstruction:
–
–
–
–
Each state would have to withdraw its secession
Swear allegiance to the Union
Annul Confederate war debts
Ratify the 13th amendment
The Radicals were angry that the plan ignored former slaves
in three areas: land, voting rights, and prosecution under the
law
Southerners supported Johnson’s reconstruction plans
The remaining Confederate states quickly agreed to
Johnson’s terms
Dec. 1865, newly elected Southern legislators arrived in
Washington
Presidential Reconstruction
Comes to a Standstill
Congress refused to admit the newly elected Southern
legislators
Moderate Republicans sought to push new laws to fix
the weaknesses they saw in Johnson’s plan
Feb. 1866 – Congress voted to continue and enlarge the
Freedman’s Bureau
Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866:
– Gave African Americans citizenship
– Forbade passing of black codes
Black codes restored many of the restrictions of slavery
Johnson shocked everyone by vetoing both the
Freedman’s Bureau and the Civil Rights Act
Congressional Reconstruction
Moderate and Radical Republicans came
together against Johnson
Congress drafted the 14th Amendment
Congress overrode Johnson’s veto on the
Civil Rights Act
Johnson urged Southerners to reject the
14th Amendment
1868 Congressional Elections
Johnson went on tour with Ulysses S. Grant to urge
people to support Presidential Reconstruction
Race riots in New Orleans and Memphis resulted in over
80 African American deaths
Republicans gained 2/3 majority in Congress
Radicals and Moderated joined to pass the
Reconstruction Act of 1867
– Didn’t recognize state governments formed under Lincoln or
Johnson’s plans
– Divided other ten former Confederate states into 5 military districts
– Voters would elect delegates to draft new state constitutions
– States needed to guarantee African American men the right to
vote and ratify the 14th Amendment to be readmitted to the Union
Johnson vetoed the Reconstruction Plan of 1867
Johnson’s Impeachment
Radical leaders looked for ways to impeach
Johnson
March 1867 – Congress passed the Tenure of
Office Act
Johnson fired Secretary of War Edwin Stanton
The House brought 11 charges of impeachment
against Johnson
March – May 1868, Johnson’s trial before the
Senate
Ulysses S. Grant Elected
Democrats nominated Horatio Seymour to
run in the 1868 presidential election
Republicans nominated Ulysses S. Grant
After the election, the Radicals introduced
the Fifteenth Amendment
Amendment ratified in 1870
Congress passed the Enforcement Act of
1870
Conditions in the Postwar South
Congressional Reconstruction reigned supreme
– by 1870 all Confederate states had been
admitted back to the Union
Southern states faced the challenge of
physically rebuilding a battle scarred region
Economic effects ravaged the South
Population was also devastated
Republican governments began many public
works projects to help
To raise money, taxes were raised
Politics in the Postwar South
Different groups in the Republican Party in
the South often had conflicting goals
Democrats called white Southerners who
joined the Republicans scalawags
Democrats called Northerners who moved
to the South after the war carpetbaggers
African-Americans made up the largest
group of Southern Republicans
Political Differences
Conflicting goals among Republican Party
members in the South led to disunity in the
party
Many white Southerners refused to accept
blacks’ new status and resisted the idea of
equal rights
White Southerners also had to accept the
day-to-day involvement of Northerners in
their lives
Former Slaves Face Many
Challenges
Many slaves were cautious about testing their
new freedoms
African Americans began to travel for the first
time legally
From 1865 – 1870 the African American
population of the ten largest Southern cities
doubled
Many began to search for their family members
throughout the country
The Freedmen’s Bureau worked to reunite
families
Education and Volunteer Groups
1870 – nearly 80% of freed African Americans
over the age of 20 were illiterate
By 1870, African Americans had spent over $1
million on education
Some white Southerners responded violently to
African American education
After the war, many African Americans founded
their own churches, usually Baptist or Methodist
African Americans also formed thousands of
volunteer organizations
Politics and Laws for African
Americans
African American involvement in politics grew
rapidly
African American officeholders still remained the
minority in the South
Hiram Revels was only one of 16 (of 125)
African American Southerners elected to
Congress
African Americans proposed bills to desegregate
transportation
African Americans tended to focus more on
building up their community than on total
integration
Changes in the Southern
Economy
1865, General Sherman had promised “40 acres
and a mule” to freed slaves who joined his army
Thaddeus Stevens called for the government to
confiscate plantations and to redistribute part of
the land to former slaves
1866 – Homestead Act passed
Planters claimed to have the plantation system
work, they needed almost complete control over
their laborers
Planters faced a labor shortage
Many former slaves worked in mills or factories
Sharecropping and Tenant
Cropping
Without their own land, many former
slaves were forced to sign contracts with
planters
Sharecropping became widely used
Tenant Farming also became popular
Tenant Farming rarely worked in practice
Cotton No Longer King
During the war, demand for Southern
cotton began to drop
The agricultural problems led many to try
and diversify the Southern economy
Falling cotton prices and mounting debts
caused many Southern banks to fail
Many whites began to take out frustration
on African Americans
Opposition to Reconstruction
The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) started in Tennessee
in 1866
1868 – 1871, the Klan killed thousands of men,
women, and children, and burned schools,
churches and property
The Klan also wanted to take way the
Republicans political power in the South
Southern Democrats openly used violence to
intimidate Republicans voting in Mississippi,
(1875), and Florida, South Carolina, and
Louisiana (1876)
Further Opposition
The Klan also tried to stop African Americans
from gaining economic progress
Some white Southerners refused to hire or do
business with African Americans who were
revealed to have voted Republican
Congress passed the Enrollment Acts in 1870
and 1871
1882, Supreme Court ruled the 1871
Enforcement Act unconstitutional
The Amnesty Act greatly reduced Republican
power
Scandals and Money Crises Hurt
Republicans
Grant had no political experience and hired mostly
friends to his cabinet
After many scandals, the Liberal Republican Party was
formed
The Liberal Republicans chose Horace Greeley as their
candidate
Although Greeley didn’t win, the Party greatly weakened
the Radicals’ hold over the Republican Party
Corruption in Grant’s administration continued
As corruption continued, Grant lost more support, and
Northerners were distracted from the problems in the
South
Judicial and Popular Support
Fades
The Panic of 1873 and a currency crisis further
distracted Northerners from the South
The Supreme Court issued a series of decisions
that undermined both the 14th and 15th
Amendments
– Slaughterhouse Cases of 1873
– U.S. v. Cruikshank in 1876
– U.S. v. Reese
As both judicial and public support decreased,
Republicans began to back away from their
commitment to Reconstruction
Democrats “Redeem” the South
1869 – 1875, period of redemption for Democrats in the
South
1876, Republicans chose Rutherford B. Hayes to run for
president
The Democrats chose Samuel J. Tilden from NY as their
candidate
Tilden won the popular vote, but fell 1 electoral vote shy of the
number needed
The House of Representatives held the power to approve
election results
The Compromise of 1877 granted the Democrats:
– Withdrawal of federal troops in Louisiana and SC
– Democrats were given money to build a railroad from Texas to the
West Coast
– Hayes had to appoint a conservative Southerner to his cabinet
The Democrats achieved their long-desired goal of home rule
The compromise meant the end of Reconstruction
Home Rule and the Legacy of
Reconstruction
Reconstruction ended without much real
progress in the battle against
discrimination
Radical Republicans made several
mistakes in their effort to help former
slaves
The Thirteenth Amendment was a major
success, and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth
Amendments were also very important