Key Questions
1. How do we
bring the South
back into the
Union?
2. How do we
rebuild the
South after its
destruction
during the war?
4. What branch
of government
should control
the process of
Reconstruction?
3. How do we
integrate and
protect newlyemancipated
black freedmen?

Human toll of the Civil War: The North lost 364,000
soldiers. The South lost 260,000 soldiers.
Between 1865 and 1877, the federal government
carried out a program to repair the damage to the
South and restore the southern states to the Union.
This program was known as Reconstruction.


Freedmen (freed slaves) were starting out their new
lives in a poor region with slow economic activity.


Plantation owners lost slave labor worth $3 billion.
Poor white Southerners could not find work because of
new job competition from Freedmen.
The war had destroyed two thirds of the South’s
shipping industry and about 9,000 miles of railroad.

South after war 1
Lincoln’s speech
“With malice
toward none; with
charity for all; with
firmness in the
right, as God gives
us to see the right,
let us strive on to
finish the work we
are in; to bind up the nation’s
wounds….to do all which may achieve
and cherish a just and a lasting peace,
among ourselves, and with all nations.”
President Lincoln’s Plan
 10% Plan
*
Proclamation of Amnesty and
Reconstruction (December 8, 1863)
*
Replace majority rule with “loyal rule” in
the South.
*
He didn’t consult Congress regarding
Reconstruction.
*
Pardon to all but the highest ranking
military and civilian Confederate
officers.
*
When 10% of the voting population in
the 1860 election had taken an oath of
loyalty and established a government, it
would be recognized.
President Lincoln’s Plan
1864  “Lincoln Governments”
formed in LA, TN, AR
*
“loyal assemblies”
*
They were weak and
dependent on the
Northern army for
their survival.
Wade-Davis Bill (1864)
 Required 50% of the number
of 1860 voters to take an
“iron clad” oath of allegiance
(swearing they had never
voluntarily aided the
rebellion ).
Senator
Benjamin
Wade
(R-OH)
 Required a state
constitutional convention
before the election of state
officials.
 Enacted specific safeguards
of freedmen’s liberties.
Congressman
Henry
W. Davis
(R-MD)
Wade-Davis Bill (1864)
 “Iron-Clad” Oath.
 “State Suicide” Theory [MA Senator
Charles Sumner]
 “Conquered Provinces” Position
[PA Congressman Thaddeus Stevens]
President
Lincoln
Pocket
Veto
Wade-Davis
Bill
Jeff Davis Under Arrest
th
13
Amendment
 Ratified in December, 1865.
 Neither slavery nor involuntary
servitude, except as punishment for
crime whereof the party shall have been
duly convicted, shall exist within the
United States or any place subject to
their jurisdiction.
 Congress shall have power to enforce
this article by appropriate legislation.
Freedmen’s Bureau (1865)
 Bureau of Refugees,
Freedmen, and
Abandoned Lands.
 Many former northern
abolitionists risked
their lives to help
southern freedmen.
 Called “carpetbaggers”
by white southern
Democrats.
1865, Congress created the Freedman’s
Bureau to help former slaves get a new
start in life. This was the first major relief
agency in United States history.
Bureau’s Accomplishments
Built thousands of schools to educate Blacks.
Former slaves rushed to get an education for
themselves and their children.
Education was difficult and dangerous to gain.
Southerners hated the idea that Freedmen
would go to school.
Freedmen’s Bureau 2
Freedmen’s Bureau School
Freedmen’s
Bureau 4
Freedmen’s Bureau
5
Establishment of Historically
Black Colleges in the South
Freedmen’s Bureau Seen
Through
Southern
Eyes
Plenty to
eat and
nothing to
do.
•Remained loyal to the
Union during the Civil War.
•Lincoln chose him as his VP
to help with the South’s
Reconstruction.
•Supported Lincoln’s Plan
•Engaged in a power
struggle with Congress over
who would lead the country
through Reconstruction.
•Would be impeached but
not removed from office.
President Andrew Johnson
 Jacksonian Democrat.
 Anti-Aristocrat.
 White Supremacist.
 Agreed with Lincoln
that states had never
legally left the Union.
Damn the negroes! I am
fighting these traitorous
aristocrats, their masters!
President Johnson’s Plan (10%+)
 Offered amnesty upon simple oath to all except
Confederate civil and military officers and those with
property over $20,000 (they could apply directly to
Johnson)
 In new constitutions, they must accept minimum
conditions repudiating slavery, secession and state debts.
 Named provisional governors in Confederate states and
called them to oversee elections for constitutional
conventions.
1. Disenfranchised certain leading Confederates.
EFFECTS?
2. Pardoned planter aristocrats brought them back
to political power to control state organizations.
3. Republicans were outraged that planter elite
were back in power in the South!
Johnson’s plan to readmit the
South was considered too gentle.
Amnesty: Presidential pardon
•Rebels sign an oath of allegiance
•10% of the population
•Even high ranking Confederate officials
Write new state Constitutions
•approve the 13th Amendment
•reject secession and state’s rights
•submit to U.S. Government authority
No mention of
•Education for freedmen
•Citizenship and voting rights
Presidential Reconstruction
Growing Northern Alarm!
 Many Southern state
constitutions fell short of
minimum requirements.
 Johnson granted 13,500 special
pardons.
 Revival of southern defiance.
BLACK CODES
Slavery is Dead?
Black Codes
 Purpose:
*
Guarantee stable labor
supply now that blacks
were emancipated.
*
Restore pre-emancipation
system of race relations.
 Forced many blacks to
become sharecroppers
[tenant farmers].
•Similar to Slave
Codes.
•Restricted the
freedom of movement.
•Limited their rights as
free people.
 As southern states were restored to the Union under
President Johnson’s plan, they began to enact black
codes, laws that restricted freedmen’s rights.
The black codes established virtual slavery with
provisions such as these:
Curfews: Generally, black people could not gather after
sunset.
Vagrancy laws: Freedmen convicted of vagrancy– that is,
not working– could be fined, whipped, or sold for a year’s
labor.
Labor contracts: Freedmen had to sign agreements in
January for a year of work. Those who quit in the middle of a
contract often lost all the wages they had earned.
Land restrictions: Freed people could rent land or homes
only in rural areas. This restriction forced them to live on
plantations.
Congress Breaks with the President
 Congress bars Southern
Congressional delegates.
 Joint Committee on
Reconstruction created.
 February, 1866  President
vetoed the Freedmen’s
Bureau bill.
 March, 1866  Johnson
vetoed the 1866 Civil Rights Act.
 Congress passed both bills over
Johnson’s vetoes  1st in
U. S. history!!
Reconstruction Act of 1867--76 (Harsh)
•Amnesty : Presidential pardon
•oath of allegiance---50%
•high ranking Confederate officials
•loose voting rights if you don’t sign oath
•Write new state Constitutions
•Ratify: 13, 14 & 15 Amendments
•reject secession and state’s rights
•submit to U.S. Government authority
•Help for Freedmen
•Freedmen’s Bureau for education
•40 acres and a mule
•Divide the South into 5 military districts
Thaddeus Stevens
Charles Summner
•Wanted to the see the South punished.
•Advocated political, social and economic equality
for the Freedmen.
•Would go after President Johnson through the
impeachment process after he vetoes the Civil
Rights Act of 1866.
14th Amendment
 Ratified in July, 1868.
*
Provide a constitutional guarantee of the
rights and security of freed people.
*
Insure against neo-Confederate political
power.
*
Enshrine the national debt while repudiating
that of the Confederacy.
 Southern states would be punished for
denying the right to vote to black
citizens!
Thaddeus Stevens, in Congress, 1866
“Strip a proud nobility of their bloated
estates, send them forth to labor and you
will thus humble the proud traitors.”
Thaddeus Steven, in Congress, 1867
“I am for Negro suffrage in every rebel
state. If it be just, it should not be denied:
if it be necessary, it should be adopted: if it
be a punishment of traitors, they deserve
it.”
The Balance of Power in
Congress
State
White Citizens
Freedmen
SC
291,000
411,000
MS
353,000
436,000
LA
357,000
350,000
GA
591,000
465,000
AL
596,000
437,000
VA
719,000
533,000
NC
631,000
331,000
The 1866 Bi-Election
 A referendum on Radical Reconstruction.
 Johnson made an ill-conceived propaganda
tour around the country to push his plan.
 Republicans
won a 3-1
majority in
both houses
and gained
control of
every northern
state.
Johnson’s “Swing around
the Circle”
Radical Plan for Readmission
 Civil authorities in the territories were
subject to military supervision.
 Required new state constitutions,
including black suffrage and ratification
of the 13th and 14th Amendments.
 In March, 1867, Congress passed an act
that authorized the military to enroll
eligible black voters and begin the
process of constitution making.
Reconstruction Acts of 1867
 Military Reconstruction Act
*
Restart Reconstruction in the 10 Southern states
that refused to ratify the 14th Amendment.
*
Divide the 10 “unreconstructed states” into 5
military
districts.
Reconstruction Acts of 1867
 Command of the Army Act
*
The President must issue all
Reconstruction orders through
the commander of the military.
 Tenure of Office Act
*
The President could not remove
any officials [esp. Cabinet members]
without the Senate’s consent, if the
position originally required Senate
approval.
 Designed to protect radical
members of Lincoln’s government.
 A question of the
constitutionality of this law.
Edwin Stanton
•President Johnson
vetoed the Civil Rights
Act of 1866
•Gave $$$$ to
Freedmen’s Bureau for
schools and granted
citizenship to the
Freedmen
•Congress believed
Johnson was working
against Reconstruction
and overrode his veto.
•Pres. Johnson
impeached
•Led to the 14th
Amendment
An inflexible President, 1866: Republican cartoon
shows Johnson knocking Blacks of the Freedmen’s
Bureau by his veto.
President Johnson’s Impeachment
 Johnson removed Stanton in February, 1868.
 Johnson replaced generals in the field who were
more sympathetic to Radical Reconstruction.
 The House impeached him on February 24
before even
drawing up the
charges by a
vote of 126 – 47!
Impeachment: Bringing charges against
the President. Two steps involved……
1st Step: U. S. House of Representatives hold
hearings to decide if there are crimes committed.
They then vote on the charges and if there is a
majority, then, charges are brought against the
President.
2nd Step: U.S. Senate becomes a courtroom.
The President is tried for the charges brought
against him. The Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court is the judge. Once trial is completed,
Senators must vote to remove President with a
2/3’s vote.
The Senate Trial
 11 week trial.
 Johnson acquitted
35 to 19 (one short of
required 2/3s vote).
The 1868 Republican Ticket
The 1868 Democratic Ticket
Waving the Bloody Shirt!
Republican “Southern
Strategy”
1868 Presidential Election
President Ulysses S. Grant
Grant Administration Scandals
 Grant presided over an era of
unprecedented
growth and
corruption.
*
Credit Mobilier
Scandal.
*
Whiskey Ring.
*
The “Indian
Ring.”
The Tweed Ring
in NYC
William Marcy Tweed
(notorious head of Tammany Hall’s political machine)
[Thomas Nast  crusading cartoonist/reporter]
Who Stole the People’s Money?
And They Say He Wants a Third Term
The Election of 1872
 Rumors of corruption
during Grant’s first
term discredit
Republicans.
 Horace Greeley runs
as a Democrat/Liberal
Republican candidate.
 Greeley attacked as a
fool and a crank.
 Greeley died on
November 29, 1872!
1872 Presidential Election
Popular Vote for President: 1872
The Panic of 1873
 It raises “the money
question.”
*
debtors seek
inflationary
monetary policy by
continuing circulation
of greenbacks.
*
creditors, intellectuals
support hard money.
 1875  Specie
Redemption Act.
 1876  Greenback Party formed & makes gains in
congressional races  The “Crime of ’73’!
Legal Challenges
 The Slaughterhouse Cases (1873)
 Bradwell v. IL (1873)
 U. S. v. Cruickshank (1876)
 U. S. v. Reese (1876)
The Taste of Freedom
Freedom of movement: Enslaved people often
walked away from plantations upon hearing that the
Union army was near.
 Exodusters: moved to Kansas and Texas
Freedom to own land: Proposals to give whiteowned land to freed people got little support from
the government. Unofficial land redistribution did
take place, however.
Freedom to worship: African Americans formed
their own churches and started mutual aid societies,
debating clubs, drama societies, and trade
associations.
Freedom to learn: Between 1865 and 1870, black
educators founded 30 African American colleges.
Sharecropping
Sharecroppers were Freedmen
and poor Whites who stayed in
the South and continued to
farm.
Freedmen signed a work contract
with their former masters .
Picked cotton or whatever crop the
landowner had.
Freedmen did not receive “40 acres
and a mule”
•Sharecropping is primarily
used in farming
•Landowner provided land,
tools, animals, house and
charge account at the local
store to purchase necessities
•Freedmen provided the labor.
•Sharecropping is based on the
“credit” system.
Sharecroppers
Advantages
Part of
Disadvantages
a business
venture
Raised their social
status
Received 1/3 to 1/2
of crop when
harvested
Raised their self
esteem
Blacks stay
Sharecroppers
in South
Some
landowners
refused to honor the
contract
Blacks poor
debt
and in
Economic slavery
6. Sharecropper
cannot leave the
farm as long as he
is in debt to the
landlord.
1. Poor whites and
freedmen have no
jobs, no homes, and
no money to buy
land.
2. Landowners need
laborers and have no
money to pay
laborers.
3. Hire poor whites
and freedmen as
laborers
5. At harvest time,
the sharecropper is
paid.
•Pays off debts.
•If sharecropper
owes more to the
landlord or store
than his share of the
crop is worth;
4. Landlord keeps track
of the money that
sharecroppers owe
him for housing, food
or local store.
•Sign contracts to
work landlord’s land
in exchange for a
part of the crop.
Tenancy & the Crop Lien System
Furnishing Merchant
 Loan tools and seed
up to 60% interest
to tenant farmer to
plant spring crop.
 Farmer also secures
food, clothing, and
other necessities on
credit from
merchant until the
harvest.
 Merchant holds
“lien” {mortgage} on
part of tenant’s
future crops as
repayment of debt.
Tenant Farmer
 Plants crop,
harvests in
autumn.
 Turns over up to ½
of crop to land
owner as payment
of rent.
 Tenant gives
remainder of crop
to merchant in
payment of debt.
Landowner
 Rents land to tenant
in exchange for ¼
to ½ of tenant
farmer’s future
crop.
•13th Amendment
Abolished slavery
(1865)
•14th Amendment
Provided citizenship &
equal protection under
the law. (1868)
•15th Amendment
Provided the right to
vote for all men which
included white and
black men. (1870)
Giving the Black man the right to vote was truly
revolutionary……..A victory for democracy!
Black & White Political Participation
Black Senate & House Delegates
First Black
Senators and
representatives
in the 42st and
42nd Congress.
Senator Hiram
Revels, on the
left was elected
in 1870 to
replace the seat
vacated by
Jefferson Davis.
Colored Rule
in the South?
Blacks in Southern Politics
 Core voters were black veterans.
 Blacks were politically unprepared.
 Blacks could register and vote in states since
1867.
 The 15th
Amendment
guaranteed
federal voting.
th
15
Amendment
 Ratified in 1870.
 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.
 The Congress shall have power to enforce
this article by appropriate legislation.
 Women’s rights groups were furious that
they were not granted the vote!
The “Invisible Empire of the South”
Ku Klux Klan refers to
a secret society or an
inner circle
Organized in 1867, in
Polaski, Tennessee by
Nathan Bedford Forrest.
Represented the ghosts
of dead Confederate
soldiers
Disrupted
Reconstruction as much
as they could.
Opposed Republicans,
Carpetbaggers,
Scalawags and
Freedmen.
KKK
kkk
ALL HATED BY THE KKK
Carpetbaggers
Northerners/Republicans sent to help
reconstruct the South….
Scalawags
Southerners who helped Carpetbaggers
Freedmen
Blacks who tried to vote or were
involved in the reconstruction of their
states governments.
During Radical Reconstruction, the Republican
Party was a mixture of people who had little in
common except a desire to prosper in the
postwar South. This bloc of voters included
freedmen and two other groups: carpetbaggers
and scalawags.
Northern Republicans who moved to the postwar
South became known as carpetbaggers.
Southerners gave them this insulting nickname,
which referred to a type of cheap suitcase made
from carpet scraps.
Carpetbaggers were often depicted as greedy men
seeking to grab power or make a fast buck.
White southern Republicans were seen as
traitors and called scalawags.
This was originally a Scottish word meaning
“scrawny cattle.”
Refers to one who is a “scoundrel”, reprobate
or unprincipled person.
Some scalawags were former Whigs who had
opposed secession.
Some were small farmers who resented the
planter class. Many scalawags, but not all, were
poor.
kkk
The Failure of Federal Enforcement
 Enforcement Acts of 1870 & 1871
[also known as the KKK Act].
 “The Lost Cause.”
 The rise of the
“Bourbons.”
 Redeemers
(prewar
Democrats and
Union Whigs).
The Civil Rights Act of 1875
 Crime for any individual to deny full &
equal use of public conveyances and
public places.
 Prohibited discrimination in jury
selection.
 Shortcoming  lacked a strong
enforcement mechanism.
 No new civil rights act was attempted
for 90 years!
Northern Support Wanes
 “Grantism” & corruption.
 Panic of 1873 [6-year
depression].
 Concern over westward
expansion and Indian wars.
 Key monetary issues:
*
should the government
retire $432m worth of
“greenbacks” issued during the Civil War.
*
should war bonds be paid back in specie or
greenbacks.
1876 Presidential Tickets
“Regional Balance?”
1876 Presidential Election
The Political Crisis of 1877
 “Corrupt Bargain”
Part II?
Hayes Prevails
Alas, the Woes of Childhood…
Sammy Tilden—Boo-Hoo! Ruthy Hayes’s got my
Presidency, and he won’t give it to me!
A Political Crisis: The
“Compromise” of 1877
Rutherford B. Hayes
Samuel Tilden
The election of 1876 and the Compromise of 1877 are
referred to as the Corrupt Bargain.
The Democrats and Republicans work out a deal to
recognize Hayes as President
In return, President Hayes must end Reconstruction
and pull the Union troops out of the South.
Once this happens, there is no protection for the
Freedmen and the South will regain their states and go
back to the way it was.
Agreement between
Democrats and
Republicans
•Hayes pulls the troops
out of the South.
•Southerners take over
their state governments
called “REDEEMERS”
•Successes Freedmen
would be lost because
Southerners would take
over their state
governments.
•Jim Crow laws kept
Blacks from voting and
becoming equal
citizens.
social reality
The systematic practice of
discriminating against and
segregating Black people,
especially as practiced in the
American South from the end
of Reconstruction to the mid20th century
Derogatory name for a Black
person, ultimately from the
title of a 19th-century minstrel
song.
Goal: Take away political
and constitutional rights
guaranteed by Constitution:
Voting and equality of all
citizens under the law.
social reality
After Reconstruction, 1865 to 1876, there
were several ways that Southern states
kept Blacks from voting and segregated,
or separating people by the color of their
skin in public facilities.
Jim Crow laws, laws at the local and state
level which segregated whites from blacks
and kept African Americans as 2nd class
citizens and from voting.
poll taxes
literacy tests
grandfather clause
social reality
Poll Taxes: Before you could vote, you had
to pay taxes to vote. Most poor Blacks
could not pay the tax so they didn’t vote.
Literacy Test: You had to prove you could
read and write before you could vote….
Once again, most poor Blacks were not
literate.
Grandfather clause: If your grandfather
voted in the 1864 election than you could
vote…..Most Blacks did not vote in 1864, so
you couldn’t vote….
Voting Restrictions for African
Americans in the South, 1889-1950’s
JC laws