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Goals:
 Have the president control reconstruction, rather
than the Congress
 Bring the South back to the Union (restore it)
quickly
 In his 2nd Inaugural Address (March of 1865 – war
is over April 1865) Lincoln said he wanted to “bind
up the nation’s wounds”
▪ Be magnanimous – help us become one country in spirit,
get over the hatred
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Johnson wanted to restore the South quickly
but his goal soon also became to restore
White Rule to the South – “this is a white
man’s government.”
 He was responding to the Radical demands for
more rights for the freedmen
 He was also responding to what Southerners told
him about the lawless conditions in the South –
and the need for stable farm labor
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Lincoln and Johnson believed Southern states
had never legally left the Union.
Therefore – the states retained all their rights
 Congress believed the South had committed
“state suicide” and therefore had no rights – they
should be treated like conquered territory
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Lincoln’s 10% Plan - Dec. 1863
 Lincoln feared that Southern states might
surrender, form a new government, send Rebel
leaders to Washington and repudiate the
Emancipation Proclamation
 He began battling Congress over reconstruction
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10% of voters in 1860 must swear loyalty,
form a govt. – and emancipation must be
permanent.
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Lincoln wanted to induce the South into
surrendering on better terms than Congress
would give them
State governments were further assured that
the “National Executive “ would not object to
any temporary arrangement that, while
recognizing the permanent freedom of
former slaves, would take into account “their
present condition as a laboring, landless, and
homeless class.”
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Amnesty
Confederate leaders and large slave-owners
need a special pardon
 Initially this showed his dislike for the upper class
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State conventions would
 Repeal secession
 Ratify 13th – abolish slavery
 Repudiate confederate debts (refuse to pay)
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When Congress met in Dec. 1865 Johnson
announced that states had met the
requirements and were readmitted to the Union
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The new Southern governments elect exConfederate leaders to Congress
 V.P. Alexander Stephens, 4 generals, 5 colonels
 Congress refuses to seat them
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Southern governments have no intention of
protecting the rights of freedmen
Neither does Johnson – “This is a white man’s
government.”
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Mississippi 1st – others copy – Nov. 1865
 Preserve as many features of slavery as possible to
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insure a stable labor force
Did allow Blacks to marry, testify against Blacks in
court
Could not testify against Whites, serve on juries, vote
Must sign annual labor contracts
Vagrancy laws – those without jobs sentenced to
work
Apprenticeship laws – children forced work without
pay to “learn” how to be farm labor
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Radicals in control in Congress – Thaddeus
Stevens and Charles Sumner, Benjamin Wade
Republicans wanted to keep control of
Congress
 Had passed the Republican agenda while the
Southern Democrats were not there
▪ Morrill Tariff (protect industry), Pacific Railway Act,
Homestead Act
 Southern states would gain seats – (freedmen no
longer count as 3/5)
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Vetoes Freedman’s Bureau
Vetoes Civil Rights act of 1866
 Blacks were citizens
 could hold property
 Testify against whites
 Make contracts for their labor

Congress override’s Johnson’s vetoes – 1st
time a presidential veto had ever been
overridden
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June 1866 –would keep Southern states from overturning the Civil
Rights Act if they joined Congress
state and federal citizenship for Blacks
It forbade any state to diminish the “privileges and immunities” of
citizenship, which was the section that struck at the Black Codes.
It prohibited any state to deprive any person of life, liberty, or
property without “due process of law.”
It forbade any state to deny any person “the equal protection of
the laws.”
It disqualified former Confederates from holding federal and state
office.
It reduced the representation of a state in Congress and the
Electoral College if it denied blacks voting rights.
It guaranteed the federal debt, while rejecting all Confederate
debts.
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Urges states not to ratify 14th
Campaigns against Radicals in 1866 elections
in his “Swing around the Circle” speeches
Radicals “wave the bloody shirt” – blame
South for Civil War – they must be punished
Radicals win 2/3 majorities in Congress –
proceed with Radical/Military Reconstruction
In March 1867 – Congress passes the Tenure of
Office Act – to protect Radicals in the Cabinet,
like Sec. of War – Stanton
 The law federal officers approved by Congress
could not be removed without their approval
 Johnson fires Stanton and is impeached
(charged with a crime)
 In the trial in the Senate – Johnson avoids
removal from office (2/3 do not vote for it – by 1
vote)
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March 1867 – 1st Reconstruction Act
South divided into 5 military districts
Must ratify 14th Amendment
Must adopt new constitutions giving Blacks the
right to vote
Military trials
2nd Reconstruction Act gives the military
directions on how to run state constitutional
conventions
Congress passes 15th Amendment –
guaranteeing the right to vote so that it could
not be taken away
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1865 to 1872 – Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen
and Abandoned Lands – led by Gen. Howard
Food, housing, medical aid, aid in re-uniting
families - marriages
Schools, legal aid
Helps found Howard University (D.C.), Fisk
(Nashville) and Hampton University (VA)
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Suppresses KKK activities – in South Carolina
as an example
Enforcement Acts and KKK Act
Uses military to end disputes in Southern
states, but tries to respect their rights
Supports 15th Amendment
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13th Amendment
Passed by Congress January 31, 1865. Ratified
December 6, 1865. The 13th Amendment
changed a portion of Article IV, Section 2
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude,
except as a punishment for crime whereof the
party shall have been duly convicted, shall
exist within the United States, or any place
subject to their jurisdiction.
Also bars involuntary servitude – an arrangement
where you are forced to work
 It banned debt peonage – forced to work to pay off a
debt
 This was ignored by Southern governments
 Finally ruled illegal in 1911 – Bailey v. Alabama
 Congress can outlaw “badges of slavery” – unfair
treatment because you were once a slave – Civil
Rights Act of 1875 – segregation on public
Transportation – also ignored after the end of
Reconstruction
 Modern day – bans hate crimes and human trafficking
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CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS, EQUAL PROTECTION,
APPORTIONMENT, CIVIL WAR DEBT
Passed by Congress June 13, 1866. Ratified July
9, 1868. The 14th Amendment changed a
portion of Article I, Section 2.
Section 1 is key – discussed on the next slide
Section 2 – gets rid of 3/5 Compromise – reduces
representatives for states who deny the right to
vote to any man
Section 3 – No confederates in government
Section 4 – repudiation of Confederate war debt
All persons born or naturalized in the United States,
and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of
the United States and of the State wherein they
reside.
 No State shall make or enforce any law which shall
abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the
United States;
 nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty,
or property, without due process of law;
 nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal
protection of the laws.
 The 14th is the Amendment used by any group who
claims their civil rights have been denied
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RIGHT TO VOTE NOT DENIED BY RACE
Passed by Congress February 26, 1869.
Ratified February 3, 1870
SECTION 1
The right of citizens of the United States to
vote shall not be denied or abridged by the
United States or by any State on account of
race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
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In the 1890s the right to vote was taken from
Black voters
The literacy test
The poll tax
The grandfather clause
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The South was forced to change its economic
and social systems, which had existed for 200
years – that was resisted by whites
Southern agricultural output dropped after
the war
White yeoman farmers lost their selfsufficiency – they became sharecroppers –
before only 10% grew cotton, after 40% did
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Many planters reduced to poverty
Northern investors bought up their farms
Northern railroads connected the South to the
national market, changing trading patterns to
rail hubs, like Atlanta and away from coastal
cities
The Panic of 1873 hit the South hard, draining its
capital, ending any hope of industrialization, and
more loss of land to Northern investors
As Reconstruction ended – attempts to stabilize
Black labor with restrictive laws = less $ for
industries
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Blacks reunified their families – fought the
apprentice system – they wanted to control their
children
Although many were forced into debt peonage
by sharecropping – the Panic of 1873 forced
Planters to sell land – some to Blacks
Segregation occurred – much voluntarily –
Blacks left white churches – avoiding the
supervision of their activities that had occurred
under slavery
A new merchant and banking class took over the
top social status from planters.
Blacks elected to Congress – Hiram Revels was
the 1st – 14 others followed
 Revels and Blanche Bruce elected senators
 P.B.S. Pinchback – briefly governor of Louisiana
 Over 600 were elected to state legislatures
 Southerners and later historians portrayed them
as ignorant and under control of carpetbaggers
and scalawags
 They were the educated class – they wrote the
state constitutions and provided for public
schools and roads for the 1st time
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Almost all the violence was white groups like
the KKK and White League trying to stop
Black Republican rule and restore white
Democratic redeemer rule
Colfax Massacre – 1873 – in Louisiana – the
White League attacked an all-black militia –
100 Blacks killed, half after they surrendered