8B Social Studies
Section 2
Chapter 17: Rebuilding the Nation (1864-1877)
Background:
Spring 1866 – Congress received reports confirming that under President Johnson’s plan, there
was evidence of intense hostility to the federal union and an equally intense love of the late
Confederacy.
Peddlers sold Confederate flags
Restaurants offered foods such as Stonewall Jackson soup and Confederate hash
Sang rebel songs
I.
A New Kind of Bondage in the South (p. 486)
Most southern states ratified the Thirteenth Amendment, banning slavery.
Black Codes –
- Limited rights of freedmen
- Forbade African Americans to vote, own guns, or serve on juries
- Some states had them sign contracts to work for a year
- Used to keep freedmen from gaining political or economic power
II.
The North Reacts (p. 486-487)
Those who led the opposition to President Johnson were called Radical Republicans
“Radicals” opposed Johnson
Led by Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner
Two main goals:
1. Break power of rich planters who ruled the South for years
2. Give freedmen the right to vote
III. The President and Congress Clash (p. 487-488)
Johnson vetoes Civil Rights Act, Congress overrides his veto
Fourteenth Amendment: granted citizenship to all persons born in the United States
(violently opposed by Johnson)
Republicans win majorities in both houses of Congress in the election of 1866
IV. The Radical (Republican) Program (p.488-490)
Reconstruction Act: threw out southern state governments that refused to ratify the
14th Amendment
Reconstruction Act had 2 requirements:
1. Confederate states had to write new constitutions ratifying the 14th Amendment
to rejoin the Union
2. Allow African Americans to vote in all southern states
V.
Showdown (p. 490)
House of Representatives voted to impeach Johnson in Feb 1868
Constitution: can impeach only for high crimes and misdemeanors
Removed only if 2/3 of senators find guilt
Vote was 35 to 19, he was not impeached
Election of 1868: Ulysses S. Grant becomes President easily defeat Horatio Seymour
700,000 blacks went to polls to vote during the 1868 election – nearly all voted for
Grant
VI. The Fifteenth Amendment (p. 490)
Proposed by Republicans in 1869
Forbade any state from denying African Americans voting rights because of race
Republicans supported it for two reasons:
1. All the sacrifices African Americans made during the Civil War
2. Felt African Americans should vote in the North too
Ratified in 1870: All African Americans 21 and over had the right to vote