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?
President Lincoln’s Plan
 10% Plan
*
Proclamation of Amnesty and
Reconstruction (December 8, 1863)
*
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 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.
Black Codes
 Purpose:
*
Limit rights of newly
freedmen.
*
Keep whites in power.
 Forced many blacks to
become sharecroppers
[tenant farmers].
Freedmen’s Bureau (1865)
 Bureau of Refugees,
Freedmen, and
Abandoned Lands.
 Many former northern
abolitionists risked
their lives to help
southern freedmen.
 Helped with schools,
training and legal
support for rights
th
14
Amendment
 Ratified in July, 1868.
*
Provide a constitutional guarantee of the
rights and security of freed people.
 Southern states would be punished for
denying the right to vote to black
citizens!
 Military
Reconstruction Act
*
Restart in the 10
Southern states
that refused to
ratify the 14th
Amendment.
*
Divide the 10
“unreconstructed
states” into 5
military
districts.
*
Required new state
constitutions,
including
black suffrage and
ratification of the
13th and 14th
Amendments.
Reconstruction
Acts of 1867
Northern Support Wanes
 “Panic of 1873 [6-year
depression]. $ fears
 Concern over westward
expansion and Indian wars.
 Key issues:
*
Tired of dealing with South.
*
Believed all that could be
done for African-Americans had been done.
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.
 Declared unconstitutional in 1883
Election of 1876
• Election of Republican Rutherford Hayes
comes with support from Southern states.
• Hayes “agreed” to end Reconstruction in order
to get votes.
• 1877 – Federal government begins to end
most Reconstruction actions
• By 1890, South is mostly segregated again,
with whites in power at all levels.
Plessy v Ferguson 1896
• Homer Plessy, who was legally an AfricanAmerican, sat in a “Whites only” section of a
train.
• He was convicted of violating state segregation
law.
• Case appealed to the Supreme Court, saying that
he was being denied 14th Amendment “equal
protection”.
• Court ruled that separate facilities do not equal
discrimination.
• “Separate but equal” lasts till Brown (1954)
The West . . . Where is that?
• The Great Plains –Rockies to
Missouri, Canada to Texas
• Climate and Terrain
During the 1820s, called “The
Great American Desert.”
• Rainfall=15 inches annual
• Cold/Hot, lack of timber
• Indian Removal zone
designated here because of
those features
Ok … So why go then?
• Personal- opportunity, adventure,
and better land versus a better
life. Safety Value??
• Intellectual- Manifest Destiny. Its
my destiny, give it to me.
• Practical- Government Actions
– Transcontinental Railroad = economic
Reality in 1862
– Land- Homestead Act, Morrill Land
Grant Act, Timber Culture Act of
1873
– Cheap to buy, tough to stay
2/3 fail, many perish
– Motives???
Who am I? Why am I here?
• Waves/ Ebb and Flow 1849-1890,
think push/pull concept, who
comes/goes and when. Mining
Frontier 1849 California,
subsequent strikes go east
–
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Comstock Lode ’59
Colorado ’59
Black Hills 1874
Boom Town to Ghost Town
Settlement to Statehood – Nevada,
Idaho, Montana
– Money and wealth, but limited on
the Manifest Destiny Idea
Who am I? Why am I here?
• Farming Frontier 1862-1890, key to
settlement/conquering
– NE farmers, Southern Whites, “Exodusters,” and soon
other trades
– Technology = Steel Plow, Wind Mill, barbed wire, and RR
make it viable
– Reciprocal Relationships built on Difficult Journey, hard
daily life.
Who am I? Why am I here?
• Cattle Frontier 1867-1887
– Pre-civil war = unprofitable,
Demand, transportation, and
“Texas Fever”
– Post Civil War- Joseph McCoy,
Abilene Kansas, RR outside
regulation
– 10 times price increase =$$$
– Who-White 20+% African
American and Hispanic
– Wild West/ open Range = Land
and Money Pressures
We Were Here 1st, Mostly!
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Native Americans – Who??
1) Relocated : Cherokee, Chippewa
2) Plains: Sioux, Cheyenne, Blackfoot, Crow
Lifestyle – What ?
1) Nomadic hunters – horse/bison
2) Government: Clan/band = chief & council
3) War: Brief w/purpose, Coup
4) Division of labor = gender respect ?
Government Policies
A History of Broken Promises
• 4 Historical Attempts to deal with the
• “Indian Problem”
• 1) Plains as a reservation 1820-1850
• a) Why ?
Perpetuity Means What ?
• 2) Reservations Proper 1850 – 1860’s
• a) Triggered by clashes caused by overland
travel and settlement
• b) Land granted “in perpetuity”
• c) Natives stay in, supplemented by gov’t
food/supplies. Whites stay out !!
• d) Black Hills as exemplar
“Kill and Scalp them all …”
• 3) War – Massacres back and forth:
Minnesota: Sioux 1862
Sand Creek 1864
Fetterman 1866
Little Big Horn 1876
Make Them White !
• 4) Dawes Act 1887:
• a) Land to individuals
• b) Tribal governments dissolved
• c) Youth sent to “Indian schools” – training
to be contributing members
• d) Corruption and racism cripple
• e) Status ???