Chapter 22 –The Ordeal of
Reconstruction (1865-1877)
The U.S. begins to rebuild the South, but
former slaves face new challenges as support
fades for the policies of Reconstruction.
The Problems of Peace
 Questions remain after the war
 What to do with free blacks?
 How to integrate the South back into the Union?
 What to do with Jefferson Davis?
 Who would be in charge of Reconstruction?
 Dismal picture in the South; economics and social
structure collapsed
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Crops and farms destroyed, slaves freed
Cities (Charleston and Richmond) burned
The planter class humbled and destroyed
 Yet, many Southerners remain defiant
The Freedmen’s Bureau
 In order to train the unskilled freed Blacks, the
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Freedman’s Bureau was set up in 1865.
Bureau taught about 200,000 Blacks how to read
However, it wasn’t as effective as it could have been,
as evidenced by the further discrimination of Blacks.
Although authorized to settle former slaves on 40
acres of land, little land made it into blacks’ hands.
Pres. Johnson repeatedly tried to kill it ; it expired in
1872 after much criticism by racist Whites.
Johnson: The Tailor President
 Andrew Johnson came from very poor and humble
beginnings; served in Congress for many years (he
was the only Confederate congressman not to leave
Congress when the rest of the South seceded).
 Feared for his short temper, hated for his
stubbornness
 A dogmatic champion of states’ rights and the
Constitution, and he was a Tennessean who never
earned the trust of the North and never regained the
confidence of the South.
Johnson never spent a
day in school, but, after
he married in 1827, his
wife taught him to read
and write.
At Lincoln's 2nd
inauguration, Johnson,
feeling ill, took a slug of
liquor to steady himself.
It wasn’t a good idea.
Johnson didn’t carry
liquor well. He seemed
clearly drunk at the
ceremonies, something
those who opposed him
never allowed the public
to forget.
17th President of the United States:
Andrew Johnson
Presidential Reconstruction
 Lincoln’s Plan for restoring the Union =
 The Ten Percent Plan - southern states could be reintegrated
into the Union if and when they had only 10% of its voters
pledge and taken an oath to the Union, and also acknowledge
the emancipation of the slaves
 Lincoln’s plan was very forgiving to the South.
 Radical Republicans wanted to punish the South
 Wade-Davis Bill - required 50% of the states’ voters to take
oaths of allegiance and demanded stronger safeguards for
emancipation than the 10% Plan.
 Lincoln “pocket vetoes” Wade-Davis Bill
Presidential Reconstruction (cont.)
 Clear that there were now two types of Republicans:
 the moderates, who shared the same views as Lincoln
 the radicals, who believed the South should be harshly
punished
 When Andrew Johnson took power, the radicals
thought that he would do what they wanted, but
Johnson largely accepts the 10% plan
The Baleful Black Codes
 In order to control the freed Blacks, many Southern
states passed Black Codes – harsh laws aimed at
keeping the Black population in submission and
workers in the fields
 The codes forbade Blacks from serving on a jury and
renting or leasing land
 Blacks could be punished for “idleness” by being
subjected to working on a chain gang
 Black Codes kept former slaves in perpetual poverty
LOUISIANA BLACK CODES (1865)
. . . Sec. 1. Be it ordained by the police jury of the parish of St. Landry, That no negro shall be allowed to pass within the limits of
said parish without special permit in writing from his employer. Whoever shall violate this provision shall pay a fine of two dollars
and fifty cents, or in default thereof shall be forced to work four days on the public road, or suffer corporeal punishment as
provided hereinafter. . . .
Sec. 3. . . . No negro shall be permitted to rent or keep a house within said parish. Any negro violating this provision shall be
immediately ejected and compelled to find an employer; and any person who shall rent, or give the use of any house to any negro,
in violation of this section, shall pay a fine of five dollars for each offence.
Sec. 4. . . . Every negro is required to be in the regular service of some white person, or former owner, who shall be held responsible
for the conduct of said negro. But said employer or former owner may permit said negro to hire his own time by special permission
in writing, which permission shall not extend over seven days at any one time. . . .
Sec. 5. . . . No public meetings or congregations of negroes shall be allowed within said parish after sunset; but such public
meetings and congregations may be held between the hours of sunrise and sunset, by the special permission in writing of the
captain of patrol, within whose beat such meetings shall take place. . . .
Sec. 6. . . . No negro shall be permitted to preach, exhort, or otherwise declaim to congregations of colored people, without a special
permission in writing from the president of the police jury. . . .
Sec. 7. . . . No negro who is not in the military service shall be allowed to carry fire-arms, or any kind of weapons, within the parish,
without the special written permission of his employers, approved and indorsed by the nearest and most convenient chief of patrol.
...
Sec. 8. . . . No negro shall sell, barter, or exchange any articles of merchandise or traffic within said parish without the special
written permission of his employer, specifying the article of sale, barter or traffic. . . .
Sec. 9. . . . Any negro found drunk, within the said parish shall pay a fine of five dollars, or in default thereof work five days on the
public road, or suffer corporeal punishment as hereinafter provided.
Sec. 11. . . . It shall be the duty of every citizen to act as a police officer for the detection of offences and the apprehension of
offenders, who shall be immediately handed over to the proper captain or chief of patrol. . . .
Congressional Reconstruction
 1865: many Southern states came back into the
Union; most Republicans disgusted to see their
former enemies reclaim seats in Congress.
 Republicans didn’t want to give up the power that
they had gained in the war
 Northerners realized the South would be stronger
politically than before, since now, Blacks counted for
a whole person instead of just 3/5 of one
 On December 6, 1865, President Johnson declared
that the South had satisfied all of the conditions
needed, and that the Union was now restored.
Johnson Clashes with Congress
 Johnson repeatedly vetoed Republican-passed bills
 a bill extending the life of the Freedman’s Bureau
 vetoed the Civil Rights Bill, which gave blacks American citizenship and struck at
the Black Codes
 As Republicans gained control of Congress, they passed the bills
into laws with a 2/3 vote and thus override Johnson’s veto
 14th Amendment passed
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(1) all Blacks were American citizens
(2) if a state denied citizenship to Blacks, then its representatives in the Electoral
College were lowered
(3) former Confederates could not hold federal or state office
(4) the federal debt was guaranteed while the Confederate one was repudiated
 The radicals were disappointed that Blacks weren’t given the right
to vote
 all Republicans agreed that states wouldn’t be accepted back into
the Union unless they ratified the 14th Amendment
Republican Principles and Programs
 Senate radicals leader = Charles Sumner
 House radical leader = Thaddeus Stevens
 To the Radicals and Stevens, the Black codes made it
clear that the ex-Confed states were not cured
 Radical Repubs begin to push forward legislation to
safeguard blacks (which Johnson would veto because
he claimed they violated states’ rights)
Stevens was born club-footed
and had an impoverished
childhood. Both facts may
have contributed to his
fanatical sympathy for Black
slaves. He is supposed to
have had a Black mistress,
and he demanded he be
buried in a Black cemetery.
Stevens’ great flaw was that he
could neither forgive, forget,
nor compromise. To him, the
conquered states of the
Confederacy were occupied
areas with no rights. He
wanted the estates of the
slave-holders cut up and given
to the ex-slaves who worked
them.
http://www.youtube.com/wat
ch?v=V7Brh9iWajc&index=1
&list=PLG96IvXIJ5MWQ0EV_06xYyxEqz0zHQI
Congressman Thaddeus Stevens
Reconstruction by the Sword
 The Reconstruction Act (1867)
 divided the South into five military zones
 temporarily disfranchised tens of thousands of former
Confederates
 All states had to approve the 14th Amendment, making all
Blacks citizens.
 All states had to guarantee full suffrage of all male former
slaves.
 15th Amendment (1869) - gave Blacks right to vote
Reconstruction by the Sword (cont.)
 By 1870, all of the states had complied with the
standards of Reconstruction, and in 1877, the last of
the states (LA, SC, FL) were given their home rule
back, and Reconstruction ended.
 Compromise of 1877
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the two presidential candidates were at a stalemate and the
only way to break the stalemate was with a deal. In the deal,
the North got their president (Rutherford B. Hayes) and the
South got the military to pull-out (abandon?) the South and
the former slaves, thus ending Reconstruction.
No Women Voters
 Women suffrage advocates were disappointed by the
13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, since they didn’t
give women suffrage
 As a result, women advocates like Elizabeth Cady
Stanton and Susan B. Anthony campaigned against
the 14th and 15th Amendments—Amendments that
inserted the word male into the Constitution for the
first time ever
Realities of Radical Reconstruction in the
South
 Blacks began to organize politically
 the Union League - network of political clubs that
educated members in their civic duties and
campaigned for Republican candidates
 Black women attended the parades and rallies of
Black communities
 Black men also began to hold political offices, as men
like Hiram Revels and Blanche K. Bruce served in
Congress
Realities of Radical Reconstruction in the
South (cont.)
 Southern Whites hated seeing their former slaves
now ranking above them
 Also hated scalawags – Southerners who were
accused of plundering Southern treasuries and
selling out the Southerners
 Also hated carpetbaggers –Northerners accused of
parasitically milking power and profit in a nowdesolate South
 Radical governments in the South filled with
corruption, just like in the North
Political leadership of the
southern military districts fell
into the hands of people who
moved in from the rest of the
nation. Some of these
newcomers were idealists who
wanted to help Blacks. Others
judged that they could make
money amidst the chaos.
Men so poor came in with all
their belongings in a single
bag. In those days, cheap
travel bags were made out of
carpet. Hence, the term
carpetbaggers. This term has
been used ever since to
characterize a political
opponent who is more closely
identified with some other
state than the one in which
they are seeking office.
Carpetbaggers
The Ku Klux Klan
 Racist Whites who hated the Blacks founded the
“Invisible Empire of the South,” or Ku Klux Klan, in
Tennessee in 1866
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an organization that scared Blacks into not voting or not seeking
jobs, etc
often resorted to violence against the Blacks in addition to
psychological terror
 The Klan became a refuge for criminals
 White resistance undermined attempts to empower
blacks politically
 Southern whites openly defied the 14th and 15th
Amendments through intimidation, fraud, trickery
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ex: literacy tests
On 12/24/65, a group of exConfederate army officers
formed a social group,
which they called Kyklos—a
Greek word meaning
circle—and since many of
them were of Scot-Irish
descent, they thought of
themselves as a clan, which
they misspelled “klan” for
the sake of alliteration. The
name quickly became the
Ku Klux Klan and the exConfederate cavalry leader
Nathan Bedford Forrest
became the first Grand
Master.
These pictures are the
earliest known photos of the
Klan.
Ku Klux Klan
Johnson Walks the Impeachment Plank
 Radical Republicans were angry with President
Johnson, and they decided to try to get rid of him
 In 1867, Congress passed the “Tenure of Office Act”,
which provided that the president had to secure the
consent of the Senate before removing his appointees
once they had been approved by the Senate (one
reason was to keep Edwin M. Stanton, a Republican
spy, in office)
 However, when Johnson dismissed Stanton early in
1868, the Republicans impeached him.
A Not-Guilty Verdict for Johnson
 Johnson was acquitted of all charges by a single vote,
as seven Republican senators voted “not-guilty”
 Die-hard radicals were infuriated by the acquittal,
but many politicians feared establishing a
precedence of removing the president through
impeachment.
The Heritage of Reconstruction
 Many Southerners regarded Reconstruction as worse than the war
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itself, as they resented the upending of their social and racial system
Carpetbaggers driven out; traditional white leadership reasserted
itself
14th and 15th Amendment were not a reality in the South…Blacks did
not have the right of citizens
Lincoln assassination, Johnson’s incompetence, the intransigence of
ex-Confed whites, and the vengefulness of Radical Republicans
affixed a race problem to the US that haunts us today.
The fate of Blacks would remain poor for almost another century
before the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s secured
Black privileges
http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/reconstruction
The Purchase of Alaska
 In 1867, Secretary of State William H. Seward
bought Alaska from Russia to the United States for
$7.2 million (2 cents an acre)
 Most of the public jeered his act as “Seward’s Folly”
or “Seward’s Ice-box.”
 Only later, when oil and gold were discovered, did
Alaska prove to be a huge bargain.