RECONSTRUCTION
1867-1877
Written and Revised by Scott Fritz, Ph.D. on February 16, 2015
at 7:32 a.m.
Western New Mexico University
Definition of Reconstruction
•  Context: Civil War ended
•  Definition: Process of allowing South back into
Union
•  Legislators asked: How does the North re-admit
the South back into the Union?
–  Punish South?
–  Be lenient? Easy for South to become part of Union?
•  There were competing plans of reconstruction
•  1. Ten Percent Plan; 2. Presidential
Reconstruction; and 3. Fifty Percent Plan
Abraham Lincoln s Lenient Plan of
Reconstruction
•  Amnesty to all southerners who pledged loyalty
to the Union and abolished slavery
–  Except high ranking Confederate leaders
•  Called the 10% Plan
–  Once 10% of a state s citizens (who voted in 1860)
and swore an allegiance to the Union oath, they
could hold elections
–  The elections would create new state governments
–  Be re-admitted back into the Union
•  Never became law  Lincoln was assassinated
Lincoln s Assassination
•  Ford s Theatre, Washington, D.C., April 14, 1865
•  John Wilkes Booth
•  The assassination of Lincoln brought to the
presidency Andrew Johnson
–  Ended possibility that the 10 percent plan would
become law
•  Johnson was Democrat who was against
secession
–  Was on Republican ticket in 1864 to appeal to
moderate southerners
Presidential Reconstruction
•  Andrew Johnson’s plans for reconstruction
began while Congress was not in session
(Nov. 1865 to Jan. 1866)
•  Gave amnesty to Southerners who swore
allegiance to Constitution and Union
–  Presidential pardons to Confederate leaders and
local leaders
–  Allowed southerners to hold elections and
establish governments
•  Radical Republicans win 1866 elections and
opposed Johnson s plan
–  They said that Johnson was allowing
Confederacy back into power
•  http://youtu.be/ptXRFHulcZQ
Andrew Johnson did
not have a vice
president
Similar to Lincoln’s 10% Plan
Created state governments in
the South from 1866-1867
Black Codes Est.
•
Vagrancy –Arrested and
forced to work
•
Black Children forced to
be apprentices with their
old masters
•
Some states, Freedmen
could not own land
•
Banned interracial
marriages
Radical Republicans had a Strict Plan
for Reconstruction
 Who
were
they?
 Congressmen
and
senators
like
Thaddeus
Stevens
 Prevent
Confederate
leaders
from
assuming
power
again
 Give
Freedmen
economic
security
and
poli?cal
rights
Massachusetts
Senator Thadeus
Stevens
Radical Republicans Plan of
Reconstruction
•  Dubbed 50% Plan, or the Wade-Davis Bill
–  50% of citizens who voted in 1860 and swore
allegiance to Union and abolish slavery, could hold
new elections
•  New state governments could be formed
–  Only run by southerners who had never served in the
confederate army
•  Difficult for the South to achieve
Radical Reconstruction: The Military
Reconstruction Acts of 1867
  Created
5
military
districts
  Abolished
governments
est.
by
Johnson
  Elec?ons
held
 Army
to
protect
white
Republicans
voters
and
Freedmen
from
in?mida?on
from
KKK
 Confederate
leaders
were
disenfranchised
 States
could
send
representa?ves
to
Washington
D.C.
 AIer
they
ra?fied14th
Amendment,
giving
freedmen
ci?zenship
Ku Klux Klan
(est. 1865 by
Nathan Bedford
Forrest, wants to
redeem south
from northern
control
Impeachment of Andrew Johnson in 1868
•  Tenure of Office Act (gov. position ratified by
the senate required senate approval if official is
to be removed from that job)
–  Johnson fired Secretary of War
Edwin Stanton
•  Impeachment Proceedings
–  House of Representatives Impeached
Johnson b/c he Violated Tenure of Office Act
–  Senate did not Remove from Office
•  Compare with President Bill Clinton (1998)
–  Perjury (Lied) and Obstruction of Justice
(Tried to tell Monica Lewinsky to Lie About
the Affair )
–  House Impeached, but Senate did not
Convict
Constitutional Amendments
 Thirteenth
Amendment
1865
=
Freed
the
slaves
 Fourteenth
Amendment
1868
=
gave
ci?zenship
to
the
freedmen
 FiIeenth
Amendment
1870
=
gave
freedmen
the
right
to
vote
Republican Party Comes to Power
in the South
  Southerners
=
Democra?c
Party
  Military
Occupa?on
 Register
voters
 Protect
African
American
voters
  Union
League
(Club
promote
Union
during
Civil
War
–
Auxiliary
of
Republican
Party
  Southern
Republicans
registered
Blacks
to
vote
  Brought
Freedmen
to
polls
  African
American
Legislators:
 Hiram
Revels
(Senator,
Mississippi)
 Blanche
K.
Bruce
(Senator,
Mississippi)
  Re‐admission
of
Southern
States
as
Republican
 South
Carolina
1868
 Mississippi
1870
Senator Hiram
Revels
Characteristics of Southern Life during
Radical Reconstruction
•  Republican dominated state
governments
•  Scalawags:
–  Southern White Republicans
–  Worked for local governments
•  Carpetbaggers:
–  Northerners: Business opportunities
–  Contracting with Army
–  Merchants
–  Worked for local governments
–  Lawyers
–  Many were teachers, missionaries,
Economic System of Southern Life
•  Radical Republicans wanted to subdivide the
plantations and give 40 acres to freedmen
–  To radical, did not pass Congress
•  Sharecropping
–  Freedmen rent land for about 2/3 of the harvest
•  Crop Lien
Thaddeus Stevens
said: Freedmen need“
Forty Acres and a
Mule” to become
economically
independent
–  Merchants loaned seed and tools for about 2/3 of
harvest
•  Result: Economic dependency and debt
peonage
•  New South
–  Diversification: Coal, manufacturing, new railroad
construction
•  Significance: Northern economy more
developed and wealthier than South
Birmingham,
Alabama = coal
Freedmen s Bureau
1865-1869
Federal agency to help freedmen
Emergency food supplies
Schools
Translators for sharecropping
contracts
•  Find jobs on plantations
•
•
•
•
Grant
Administra?on
•  Ulysses
Grant:
President
1868‐1876
–  War
record:
General
of
Union
Army
•  Achievements
–  Oversaw
the
15th
Amendment
–  Indian
Peace
Policy
–
Indian
Reserva?ons
in
the
West,
Quaker
missionaries
as
Indian
agents,
Ely
S.
Parker
==
Seneca
Indian
who
Commisioner
of
Indian
Affairs
•  Corrup?on
–  Credit
Mobilier:
Construc?on
company
for
the
Union
Pacific
RR
•  Railroad
officials
bribed
the
U.S.
government
to
get
loans
to
construct
transcon?nental
railroad
–  Spoils
System:
Poli?cians
hand
out
jobs
to
their
supporters
Panic
of
1873
•  Economic
Depression
–  Lasted
much
of
mid
1870s
–  Unemployment,
etc.
•  Why?
–  Jay
Cooke
and
Co.
over
invested
in
western
railroads
–
it
went
bankrupt,
–  Other
banks
also
went
bankrupt
End of Reconstruction
 Disputed
Elec?on
of
1876
resulted
in
the
Compromise
of
1877
 Rutherford
B.
Hayes
(Rep.)
vs.
Samuel
J.
Tilden
(Dem.)
 Tilden
=
Popular
Vote
 Hayes
=
Said
he
won
the
Disputed
Electoral
College
Vote
in
Florida,
S.
Carolina,
and
Louisiana
 Disputed
Elec?on
Went
to
House
of
Representa?ves
 Hayes
received
disputed
electoral
college
vote,
won
elec?on
 In
exchange
for
removal
of
federal
troops
and
end
of
Reconstruc?on
Elections of 1876 and 2000:
A Comparison
•  Hayes
–  Disputed Electoral Votes in Florida, S.
Carolina, and Louisiana
–  Went to House of Rep.
•  Bush Jr.
–  Disputed Electoral Votes in Florida
–  Went to Supreme Court
End of Reconstruction
•  Democra?c
Party
came
back
to
power
–  Redeemers
(Bourbons)
–  Old
Confederates
in
power
 Ku
Klux
Klan
in?mated
black
voters
  Blacks
disenfranchisement
un?l
Vo?ng
Rights
Act
of
1965
 By
late
19th
and
early
20th
century,
rise
of
Jim
Crow
Laws
 New
South:
Diversified
economy,
industrializa?on
Conclusion
•  Reconstruction
–  Lincoln s 10% Plan
–  Andrew Johnson s Pardons
–  Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
–  Radical Republicans 50%
•  Life during Radical Reconstruction
–  Scalawags, Carpetbaggers
–  Sharecropping, Crop Liens
•  End of Reconstruction  the Compromise of
1877