Reconstruction (1863-1877)
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o Problems/Issues
 Period of time when America is rebuilding after the Civil War
 Not all issues were resolved with the war – states’ rights, slavery, etc.
 Old wounds are reopened – Crusty Cow Patty Analogy
 Major Issues after War
 How would the South rebuild its society and economy?
 What would happen to the freedmen?
 What would happen to those individuals and states who rebelled?
 Under what conditions would the ‘traitors’ be allowed to return to the US?
 Who would answer these questions?
 Lincoln had a plan, Johnson had a plan, Congress had a plan
 Success of Reconstruction was very limited
 North was right with the war, South was right with Reconstruction
 Three Rounds of Reconstruction
 Presidential
 Congressional
 Southern Conservatives regain power
o When Grant is reelected and Southerners resorts to old ways
 Physical rebuilding of south
 The federal government did not assist
 It was left up to the states and individuals
 Political rebuilding was left to federal government
Lincoln
o Felt that the rebel states didn’t actually leave and that they were a disloyal minority
o Lincoln wanted a minimal test of loyalty
 He was going to be very easy on the south and ‘heal the wounds of the nation’
o 1863
 Reconstruction began for some states
 Lincoln issued Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction
 He wanted to put Union-minded people in charge
 He wanted full pardons to most southerners
o Oath of allegiance to Constitution and accept Emancipation – required
 Said a state could rejoin if 10% of eligible voters took the oath
o Wanted to shorten the war
o 1864
 Wade-Davis Bill – created by Republicans against Lincoln’s Policy
 Would have raised 10% plan of loyalty to 50%
 Also said only non-Confederates could vote for new state constitutions
 Did not pass; Lincoln pocket-vetoed the bill
 This initiated the conflict between the executive and legislative branches
o Congress felt like it was time for them to step and answer the questions
o Freedmen’s Bureau (Bureau of Refugee’s and Abandoned Lands)
 Early Welfare Program; Signed by Lincoln
 Provided medical supplies, food, and shelter to blacks and poor whites in the south
 Originally, it gave confiscated land to slaves
 Johnson returned the land to its old owners
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 Over 3,000 schools were founded through Bureau
 Expired in 1870
o In his last major speech, Lincoln encouraged the north to accept Louisiana as a state
 He was vague on whether or not blacks should receive right to vote
 Lincoln was killed 3 days later, April 14, 1865
 Many say he was moving towards radical republican stance
o Johnson took his place
 Johnson was a tailor from the state of TN
 Only southerner who didn’t vacate his congressional seat
 Southern Democrat
Johnson and Reconstruction
o Johnson and Reconstruction
 Johnson was a champion of poor whites; hated rich planters and the slaveocracy
 Hated slave owners
 He was also a white supremacist
 Johnson’s plan resembled Lincoln’s Plan
 He took the right to vote away from Confederate leadership
 Took away right to vote from any Confederate who had over $20,000 in taxable
property
 Retained right to pardon individuals
o Pardoned his friends and leaders, punished the wealthy
o Southern Governments
 All 11 states had returned within 8 months after war
 All created constitutions that outlawed secession
 Also agreed to ratify 13th Amendment and pay off debts to other countries
 Blacks did not get the right to vote in the states
 Many Confederates were already back in office in Congress
 Alexander Stevens, VP of Confederacy returned to Congress
o Black Codes
 Many southern states passed black codes
 Laws that restricted rights of the freedmen
 All blacks had to have employers and these employers restricted the blacks
 System was very similar to slavery, except the slaves were freedmen and the owners were
employers
o Johnson’s Vetoes
 Had controversial vetoes
 Alienated republicans through vetoes
 Vetoed bill that would increase Bureau services
 Vetoed a civil rights bill that would have nullified the black codes and guaranteed
free citizenship and equal rights
 Congress and Johnson did not like each other
 Congress = Republican
 Johnson = Democrat
 Did ‘swing around the country’ to diss his opponents
 Republicans used the ‘waving the bloody shirt’ tactic
 Reminded the country that the southerners started the war and caused all of the
bloodshed
 Accused democratic party as traitors
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o 1866 Election
 Republicans won most offices; alienating Johnson
 Congress is now able to override presidential vetoes
Congressional Reconstruction
o Radicals
 Republicans are divided
 Major Group was called the Radicals
 Believe that everyone should have equal rights
 Use military to enforce civil Rights
 Moderates
 Focused on white middle class
 Many moderates moved to radical faction in order to keep Republican party
 3/5 Compromise no longer applied
 So South received more representation and electoral votes
 Leading Radical senator – Charles Sumner
 Leading Representative – Thaddeus Stevens (PA)
o Enacting Radical Program
 Congress overrode Johnson’s vetoes
 Civil Rights Act of 1866
o Made blacks citizens
Fourteenth Amendment
o Felt like Democrats might one day return to Congress and current Congress wanted to pass a
permanent resolution
 Congress passed 14th Amendment
 Declared all people born and naturalized in US to be citizens
 Obligated the states to respect the rights of the citizens
o States were in charge of implementing programs
o Gave citizens due process of the Law
 Due process and equal protection Clause!!!
 Passed by states in 1868
 Former Confederates could not hold state or federal offices
Reconstruction Acts of 1867
o Divides the south into five military districts run by generals
o Southern governments were disbanded and had to start from scratch
 Caused much resentment towards the Union
o Required that when states came in, they had to pass the 14 th Amendment that guaranteed equal
rights
Impeachment
o Relationships between Congress and Johnson were very poor
o Tenure of Office Act
 Prevented the president from removing a high government or military official without the
consent of Congress
 They were trying to protect Edwin Stanton, Secretary of War – radical Republican who
remained in Cabinet
 Johnson fired Stanton on purpose – wanted to test law to determine constitutionality
o As a result, Congress accused him of 11 high crimes and misdemeanors
 Johnson was not found guilty
o Later on, Tenure of Office Act was tested and determined to be unconstitutional
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Reforms During Grant
o 1868 Election
 Democrats – nominated Horatio Seymour
 Democrat with honest, noncorrupt personality
 Republicans nominated Ulysses S. Grant
 Grant won by 300,000 popular votes
 Only won because he had received 500,000 black votes
 Moderates realized that they had to cater to blacks to preserve party
o 15th Amendment
 Prohibited a state from denying right to vote on condition of race, color, or previous
condition of servitude
 One of the last of the civil rights laws
o 1875
 Civil Rights Act of 1875
 Was supposed to guarantee equal accommodations in public places
 Courts could not exclude blacks from serving on juries
 Act was very poorly enforced
 Republicans were tired of dealing with the south’s refusal to cooperate
Reconstruction in the South
o Reconstruction Governments
 All but one state government had white majorities
 Legislators were usually white, Republicans or recently arrived whites to the north (carpet
baggers)
 Native born southerners that didn’t mind reconstruction
 Known as scalawags
 Blacks that ran were usually educated and moderate on issues
o Republican +/ State governments abused power, governed irresponsibly
 +
 Made state constitutions more in line with rest of country – liberalized state
governments
 Promoted internal improvements
 Est. hospitals and asylums
 Paid for improvements through taxes and bonds
  Said republican rule is wasteful, corrupt
 Politicians took bribes – graft
o Freedmen Adjustments
 Blacks faced major issues
 Families reunited and many children were educated
 Many went to cities because they thought they would be freer
 Had freedom from control in the church
 Negro Baptist Church
 AME – African Methodist Episcopalian
 Black colleges and industrial schools were founded
 Many migrated west – exodusters
 Eventually blacks were coerced into signing contracts to work the fields – sharecropping
 Landlord provided cabin and equipment
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 Farmer could get ¼ of crop to call his own
 Basically condition of servitude
 By 1880, no more that 1 out of 20 blacks received their intended land
North during Reconstruction
o Greed and Corruption
 Material Interests took center stage
 Civil Rights ideas were pushed aside and replaced by business mentality
 Younger Senators and politicians took over
 Advocates of patronage – Spoils system
 1869 – Geuld Scandal
 J. Geuld schemed with President Grant’s brother-in-law tried to take over gold
Market and sabotage it
 Credit-Mobilier
 Creditors gave stock to influential congressmen to keep them from investigating
their high profit margins
 Whiskey Ring
 Federal revenue agents who were supposed to collect taxes conspired with the
industries to cost the government large amounts of money
 Grant was mostly uninvolved, but his reputation was tarnished
 William Tweed ran NY
 Appointed his own politicians, etc.
 Took roughly 200 million dollars from tax payers
 Nast exposed Tweed through political cartoons
o Election of 1872
 Liberal Republicans
 Nominated Horace Greely
 Democrats
 Nominated Horace Greely
 Republicans
 Nominated Grant
 Grant won and a few weeks later, Greely died
o Panic of 1873
 Overspeculation and railroads bankrupted themselves and this had a drastic effect on
economy
 Farmers wanted greenbacks to increase inflation, but Grant vetoed the bill
End of Reconstruction
 Redeemers – southern conservatives returning to office
 Republicans ran government and whites in the south created their secret societies
o White Supremacy/KKK
 Nathan Bedford Forest – pro-white gentleman’s club in Memphis
 Quickly turned into violent organization
o Amnesty Act of 1872
 Southerners could once again vote and run for office
o Election of 1876
 There were 3 states in which troops have no been removed
 Republicans found Rutherford to be a good guy
o Compromise of 1877
 Reconstruction