Reconstruction Politics
1865 - 1877
Years following the Civil War
(1861 – 1865)
Themes
• Profile of different leaders during
Reconstruction
-Involved Presidents and members of
Congress
• Goals and accomplishments of different
leaders
• The end of Reconstruction
• Your evaluation: Was it a success or failure?
Results of the Civil War
(1861 – 1865)
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Over 600,000 died
The South’s economy was destroyed
How would the economy be rebuilt?
What about the status of 3.5 million former
slaves?
Reconstruction
• Textbook definition of Reconstruction:
• The process of putting the nation back
together following the Civil War.
Lincoln’s Plan (1863)
(Lenient)
1. 10% Plan: ten percent of voters
in Confederate states must
a). accept emancipation
b). swear loyalty to the Union
2. High ranking Confederate
officials could not vote or hold
office unless pardoned by
President
ONCE THESE CONDITIONS
WERE MET, A STATE COULD
RETURN TO THE UNION.
Lincoln wanted to make it easy
for the Confederate states to
return to the Union.
Wade-Davis Bill (1864)
• Rather than 10 percent (Lincoln’s Plan), the
Wade-Davis Bill would require a majority of a
state’s white men to swear an oath of
allegiance to the Union.
- guaranteed full legal and civil right to African
Americans, BUT!!! Not the right to vote.
*Lincoln vetoed the bill stating only he had the
power to emancipate slaves.*
Election of 1864
• President – Abraham Lincoln
• Vice President – Andrew Johnson
- Johnson was sworn in first, however he was
completely wasted. He could barley walk and
kept slurring his words. Johnson gave a speech
about him being for the common man and kept
referring to members of congress…but he could
not remember any of their names.
The Funeral of President Lincoln
(April 25, 1865)
• Lincoln was shot April 14,
1865 by John Wilkes
Booth
• He was watching the play
“Our American Cousin” at
Ford’s Theatre
• The president who helped
the United States through
its most divided conflict
was dead.
Targeted Congressman
• Abraham Lincoln: Killed
• Secretary of War William Seward: stabbed in
the face and throat
• Assistant Secretary of State Fredrick Seward:
stabbed
• Andrew Johnson: never attacked
Reconstruction Terrorists
• John Surratt – By 1863, Surratt was working as a
Confederate secret agent in the Potomac River
area. According to him, was on a spying mission
for General Edwin Lee the night of Lincoln’s
assassination. The federal government eventually
dropped all charges against Surratt in 1868
• David Herold – was sent to assassinate Secretary
of War Seward. He fled and met with Booth near
Port Royal, Virginia.
Three Important Individuals Following
Lincoln’s Death
• Thaddeus Stevens – member of congress from
Pennsylvania.
• Charles Sumner – senator from Massachusetts
• Andrew Johnson (turn to Lenient)– Lincoln’s vice president
• Benjamin Wade and Henry Winter Davis – Wade Davis Bill.
• Wade-Davis Bill of 1864 – required that 50 percent of
citizens in the South take an oath to support the Union in
order to be readmitted.
ALL 5 of these were the leaders of the Radical Republicans.
Radical Republicans
1. Members of the Republican Party who
wanted to:
a. Punish the South for causing the Civil War
b. Fought to protect the rights of former slaves
Thaddeus Stevens
(Radical Republican)
• Leading member of the
Radical Republicans in
the House of
Representatives
• Goal: Economic
opportunity for former
slaves
• When he was dying he
stated that he wanted
to be buried near
blacks.
Charles Sumner
(Radical Republican)
• Member of U.S. Senate
• Fought for the rights of
slaves after the end of the
war.
• Was beaten over the
head in the House of
Congress by Preston
Brooks over the issue of
slavery.
• Goal: Citizenship/political
rights for former slaves.
Charles Sumner vs. Preston Brooks
(1857)
Andrew Johnson
• A former Senator from
Tennessee; became the next
President of the United States
• He was at the head of a
Republican Administration but….
• A Democrat and his
Reconstruction plan was similar
to Lincoln.
• While President: Issued 13,000
pardons, unconcerned with rights
of former slaves when he did
nothing to fight black codes.
• First President in American
History to be impeached in 1868.
Andrew Johnson
• Elected by one party
• Belongs to another party
• With the majority of Congress belonging to
the opposite party from himself
NOT GOOD.
Andrew Johnson
(Pardons)
• While Congress was out of session (March until
December) Johnson offered amnesty and the
restoration of property to white southerners who
swore an oath of loyalty to the Union.
• To earn readmission to the Union, the first thing the
seceded states were required to do was abolish slavery
( ratifying the 13th Amendment)
• Strongly believed the South should “Reconstruct”
themselves
• His plans had absolutely nothing to do with protecting
the civil rights of former slaves
13th Amendment (1865)
• “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude,
except as a punishment for a crime whereof
the party shall have been duly convicted, shall
exist within the Unite States, or any place
subject to their jurisdiction.”
• Prohibited slavery
Southern Resistance to Reconstruction
• Black Codes emerged and Johnson did
nothing:
- Laws establishing conditions very similar to
slavery for black Americans.
- African Americans couldn’t leave plantations,
restrictions on racial intermarriage, and jury
service, etc.
The First Ku Klux Klan
• The Klan was organized at Pulaski, Tennessee
in May 1866 by General Nathan Bedford
Forest. 1st Grand Wizard
• The first Klan’s main target was not blacks.
They aimed their strikes against carpetbaggers
and scalawags from the North.
• After Forrest had taken back Tennessee from
Radicals, he ordered the Klan to be disbanded.
Radicals in the South
• Carpetbaggers – opportunists from the North
looking to exploit and profit from the region’s
misfortunes; supported the Republican Party.
• Scalawags- Whites from the South who
supported the advancement of blacks and the
policies of Reconstruction.
Blacks and early stages of
Reconstruction
• Following emancipation, southern blacks
withdrew from white churches and
established their own congregations. Central
institution in the southern black community
• The American Missionary Association
- organized hundreds of northern teachers
to help educate the blacks in the South. As a
result, hundreds of thousands of southern
blacks became literate within a few years.
Blacks and early stages of Reconstruction
• Land
- Thousands of blacks, who were now free, wanted land
to work and to support their families.
• In early 1865, Union General William Tecumseh
Sherman issued Special Field Order No. 15
- Granting captured land to the freed people. By June
1865, 400,000 acres had been distributed to 40,000
former slaves.
• In March 1865, the Republicans established the Bureau
of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandon Lands, or
commonly known as the Freedmen’s Bureau
Freedmen’s Bureau
• Johnson was opposed to the
Bureau.
• The Organization oversaw
relief activities designed to aid
former slaves (food, clothing,
medicine)
• Established schools for blacks
• Helped to re-unite families
separated under slavery
• Controlled the disposition of
over 850,000 acres of land in
the South.
• The Bureau was renewed by
Congress but vetoed by
Johnson in 1866
Freedmen’s Bureau
(We have a problem)
• General Oliver Otis Howard, the
head of the bureau, issued
Circular 13
• Directed his agents to rent the
land to the freed people in 40acre plots that they could
eventually purchase.
• Many bureau agents believed
that to reeducate them in the
values of hard work, the freed
people should be encouraged to
save money and buy land for
themselves.
• Bureau’s perspective
- Redistributing land was like giving
it away to people who had not
paid for it.
• Former slaves perspective
- Blacks had more than earned the
right to the land.
“The labor of these people had for
two hundred years cleared away the
forests and produced crops that
brought millions of dollars annually.”
“It does seem to me that a Christian
nation would, at least, have given
them one year’s support, 40 acres of
land and a mule each.”
- H.C. Bruce
• Abraham Lincoln would have
agreed to those terms, but he
was already dead.
Johnson and the Freedmen’s Bureau
• Once southern states began to fully comply with Johnson
• Now that southern whites had gained some power back,
they demanded the restoration of all properties confiscated
or abandoned during the war.
• In September 1865 Johnson ordered the Freedmen’s
Bureau to return all confiscated and abandoned lands to
their former owners. In late 1865 former slaves were being
forcibly evicted from the 40-acre plots they had been given
by the Union army or the Freedmen’s Bureau.
• Former slaves were forced to sign labor contracts with
white landlords. They were essentially back to living in the
Antebellum South.
Johnson vs. Congress
• As early as 1866 Congress passed a landmark Civil
Rights Act. It overturned the Dredd Scott decision
by granting United States citizenship to
Americans regardless of race.
• Johnson vetoed the Civil Rights Act of 1866.
• Johnson’s argument, “blacks do not possess the
qualifications to entitle them to all the privileges
and immunities of citizens of the United States”
• For only 8th time in history Congress overrode the
president’s veto. However, it would not be
ratified until 1868.
Johnson vs. Congress
• March 1867- Congress the Tenure of Office Act
- This act prohibited the president from removing
officials whose appointments required Congressional
approval.
- This prevented Johnson from firing Secretary of War
Edwin M. Stanton, who was sympathetic to the
Republicans.
- Required all presidential orders to the military pass
through General Ulysses S. Grant. *This would prevent
the president from removing military officials who
enforced the Reconstruction Acts*
Johnson vs. Congress
• August 5, 1867 – Johnson asked Secretary of
War Stanton to resign.
• Stanton refused, and Johnson appointed
General Grant as interim secretary of war.
• In February of 1868, Johnson fired Stanton.
• For this the House of Representatives voted to
impeach the president and put him on trial.
Impeachment and Andrew Johnson
(1868)
• Johnson was impeached, but not removed
from office.
• House of Representatives passed the
impeachment but no one knows how the
Senate is going to vote.
Impeachment and Removal of
President
• 1. Impeachment: To bring official charges
against the President (majority vote in House
of Representatives)
• 2. Trial/Removal: The President stands trial
(Senate acts as jury; 2/3 majority vote is
needed for removal)
Impeachment and Andrew Johnson
(1868)
• Needed votes to impeach – 35
• Republicans in Senate – 45
• Johnson got off….. by 1 vote.
• Hollow victory meaning Johnson now has no
power and has weaken the Executive Branch.
Radical/Congressional Reconstruction
(1868 – 1877)
• Following Johnson’s impeachment, Congress
controlled Reconstruction.
• Congress passed Reconstruction Acts(1867-68)
1. The former Confederate States were militarily
occupied by U.S. troops.
2. States could re-enter the Union once they
ratified the 14th Amendment.
*Tennessee was not under military control because
it had already ratified the amendment in 1866.
The Confederacy and Reconstruction
14th Amendment (1868)
1. All persons born in the United States are citizens
of the United States
2. All citizens are guaranteed equal treatment under
the law
3. Punished states that denied adult males the right
to vote
**The Amendment did not guarantee blacks the
right to vote, it based representation in Congress
on a state’s voting population. This punished
southern states by reducing their representation
if they did not allow blacks to vote.**
Election of 1868
• First election held post
Civil War
• Ulysses S. Grant (Rep)
• Horatio Seymour (Dem)
• Electoral votes did not
count from Texas,
Mississippi, and Virginia
• General Grant won the
election due to the
popularity pertaining to
the African American
vote.
President Grant
• Ulysses S. Grant
• General of the Union
Army
• American Hero
• Grant was in over his
head
- He was not a good
public speaker
- No showmanship
15th Amendment (1870)
• Guaranteed the right of all African American
men to vote.
Women and the Right to Vote
• Many women, who were abolitionists at the time,
believed that the years following the Civil War was the
perfect time to ask for their right to vote.
• In 1866, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and
Lucy Stone founded the Equal Rights Association to link
the rights of white women and African Americans.
• Sadly, Abolitionists believed that the two causes should
be separated – that women should wait patiently until
the rights of African American men were firmly
secured.
• In 1869, Cady Stanton and Anthony founded the
National Woman Suffrage Association.
The 2nd Ku Klux Klan
• By 1870, federal troops in the South had dropped from
20,000 to 6,600.
• A new war – a war in the villages, in the fields to do
anything necessary to prevent blacks from voting.
• The Klan would blow up churches, burn down school
houses, and attacking any blacks who became
landowners
• White supremacist terrorists are going to do anything
they can to regain control of the American south.
*The white south showed far more commitment to White
supremacy than it did to Confederate Independence*
White Supremacist Organizations
Violence
• Between the 1800s and 1890s an average of
100 African Americans were lynched
• Between 1900-1920 lynchings averaged about
75 per year
• Victim’s bodies were often mutilated
Force Bill
• President Grant asked Congress to pass a force
bill that would suspend constitutional rights from
domestic suspected terrorists. Same as George
W. Bush after 9/11.
• Over 100 key Klan leaders were arrested
• By mid 1870s the Ku Klux Klan will be essentially
dispersed and will not appear again till the 20th
Century.
• Blacks and Abolitionist (Votes) praised President
Grant
Limits to Reconstruction
• The Reconstruction Amendments were a
major success for African Americans.
• However, there was no redistribution of land
and most African Americans lived as
sharecroppers and faced little economic
opportunity.
Election of 1872
• President Grant vs. Horace Greeley
• Grant was very popular due to the fact that his major
scandals were not yet exposed to the public.
• Grant won 286 electoral votes; Greeley died before the
electoral votes could be counted.
• Grant was now on “cruise control”
- ended his day at 3 p.m.
- Played billiards
- Began to play a new game that was sweeping the
nation: Baseball.
Depression of 1873
• Banks who backed the 2nd Transcontinental
Railroad went bankrupt.
• People began to question American Capitalism
• Becomes known as “The Long Depression”
- 20% of business failed
- ¼ of the railroads shutdown
- Unemployment at 14%
Depression of 1873
• Grant’s solution
- “Why don’t we think about putting people to
work on public works”? (paraphrased)
• James Garfield’s response:
- “That’s the stupidest idea that anyone had
come up with” (paraphrased)
Scandal
• While Americans are suffering due to the
depression, Grants cabinet is becoming rich $$$
• Credit Mobilier Scandal – Railroad paybacks to
Grant’s Administration.
• Secretary of the Navy George Robeson salary –
$4,000 a year; in his bank account: $500,000
dollars
• However, Grant was never accused of corruption
in fact when he left office he was nearly
bankrupt.
Election of 1876
• One of the most controversial elections in American History.
• Two candidates:
- Samuel Tilden: A Democrat and political reformer from New York
- Rutherford B. Hayes: A Republican and former Ohio Governor
• On election night
- Tilden wins the Popular Vote.
- Tilden is leading the Electoral votes: 184-165
NEED 185 to win.
• The winner is…?
• Both candidates accused the other of cheating and both claimed
victory in Louisiana, Florida, and South Carolina
Election of 1876
• The Democratic Party had seized control in all
the southern states EXCEPT
- Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida
• Ironically these were the states that the nation
was waiting on.
• Was there election fraud? Were black votes
counted fairly?
• Congress forms an Electoral Committee
1876 Election
(185 Electoral Votes Needed to Win Presidency )
Wormley Hotel, Washington DC
• To decide the election 7 Democrats, 7
Republicans, 1 Independent met at the
Wormley Hotel in Washington DC
• The 1 Independent soon resigned because of
too much pressure from both parties
• The Final Electoral Commission – 7 Democrats,
8 Republicans
Results of Electoral Commission
• Compromise of 1877
1. Hayes became the 19th President (North victory)
2. Military occupation of the South ended (South
Victory)
a. The rights of former slaves were not
protected
**Ends Reconstruction**
The Republicans sold out.
Rutherford B. Hayes
• Would kick off the series of “Forgotten
Presidents”
• Not much to say about Hayes..
• Introduced the Easter Egg hunt at the White
House
• These next presidents and the nation, some
might say the entire government, are going to
take a back seat to the Captains of Industry
• The United States for years will essentially be run
by 5 men
Reconstruction: Evaluation
• Historian arguments1. Some argue it was a success because slavery
was abolished and African Americans were
guaranteed equal treatment
2. Others say it was a failure because after 1877
those rights were only in place on paper; not
in reality.