Chapter 17
Reconstruction 1863-1877
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Wartime Reconstruction Plans
 Initially, Lincoln encouraged black emigration
 Later adopted Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction

Required oath of allegiance and abolition of slavery
 Implemented in Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee in early 1864
 Reconstruction began in earnest elsewhere in 1865
 Many Republicans opposed Lincoln’s plans as too lenient

Didn’t seem to provide for black equality
 Radical Republicans came up with their own plan

Wanted to give freed slaves real economic and political power
 Wade-Davis Reconstruction Bill, 1864
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Strict requirements for Confederate loyalty oaths
Vetoed by Lincoln
Andrew Johnson’s
Reconstruction Plans
 Radical Republicans initially thought he would go
along with their plans
 Instead Johnson pursued his own policy
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Blanket amnesty for all but the highest-ranking Confederates
Proclamation for drafting of new state constitutions
Planned to exclude both blacks and upper-class whites from
reconstruction
 Congressional Republicans not fond of Johnson’s
plans

Wanted blacks to be involved in the political process
Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan in
Practice
 Few of the new state constitutions enfranchised blacks
 Some states even balked at ratifying Thirteenth amendment
 Issued pardons to virtually all Southerners
 Former Confederates deeply involved in new state governments
 Some Southern states passed “Black Codes” in the fall of 1865

Instituted system of quasi-slavery
 Designed to codify white-black relations, which were in disarray
Practical Solutions to Problems
Facing Freed Slaves
 Freedmen’s Bureau, 1865
 Oversaw relations between former slaves and owners
 Viewed with hostility by some Southern whites
 Land redistribution
 Plans for distributing land to freed people not successful
 Education
 Freedmen’s Bureau and missionary societies active
 Trained teachers and founded black colleges in South
Congressional Reconstruction
 By end of 1865, Republicans determined to take control

Refused to recognize new state governments or their leaders
 Determined to institute stronger federal controls to protect black
rights
 Conflict ensued between Congress and the president

Extended life of Freedmen’s Bureau
 Defined freedmen as citizens with equal legal rights
 Fourteenth Amendment, 1865

Far-reaching consequences
 Debate over Reconstruction carried over into elections of 1866
Congressional Reconstruction (cont.)

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Johnson constructed National Union Party to oppose
congressional plans
Republicans swept the elections

Set the stage for stringent reconstruction terms
 Reconstruction Acts of 1867
 Instituted military rule of South until procedures for
Reconstruction had been completed
 Set conditions for full re-entry into the Union
 Embodied a true revolution
 Generated opposition among Southern Democrats
 Johnson worked to thwart congressional plans

Hoped to delay process until election of 1868
Impeachment of Andrew Johnson
 President’s determination to block reconstruction
stepped up after 1867
 Violated Tenure of Office Act in February 1968

Ostensible reason for impeachment
 Impeachment trial long and complicated
 President acquitted
 But damage had been done to Johnson’s relationship with
Congress
Completion of Formal
Reconstruction
 New state constitutions in winter and spring of 1867-68 were
very progressive

Seven states had been readmitted by the spring of 1868
 Three remaining states readmitted by 1870
 Spawned Ku Klux Klan among opponents
 Fourteenth Amendment incorporated into Constitution in
summer of 1868
 Fifteenth Amendment

Protected voting rights
 Election of 1868
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Referendum on Republican reconstruction policy
Republicans ran Ulysses S. Grant
Democrats nominated Horatio Seymour
Campaign involved intimidation of black voters
Grant won, due to significant support from black voters
The Grant Administration
 Subordinates involved in scandals, but extent probably
exaggerated
 Success in instituting civil service reform

Pendleton Act, 1883
 Abolish much-maligned spoils system
 Grant supported reform
 Resisted by many legislators who relied on patronage for support
 Mixed record in foreign policy

Scandal over treaty with Santa Domingo
 Treaty of Washington settled outstanding “Alabama claims”
 Normalization of relations with Canada
The Johnson Administration and
the “Southern Question”
 Carpetbaggers and Scalawags
 Ku Klux Klan and other terror organizations
 Aim was to destroy the Republican party
 Resort to Federal intervention to stabilize situation in
the South
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Made interference with voting rights a federal offense
Made deprivation of civil or political rights a felony
Suspension of habeas corpus and use of troops to stop
resistance to federal law
Succeeded in breaking back of Klan before Election of 1872
The Johnson Administration and
the “Southern Question” (cont.)
 Election of 1872
 Republicans stuck with Grant
 Dissident “Liberal” Republicans went with Horace Greeley
 Democrats also nominated Greeley’
 Grant won overwhelming victory
 Panic of 1873
 Speculation in railroad industry collapsed, initiating five-year
depression
Retreat from Reconstruction
 Democratic gains in elections of 18774
 Loss of public support for the Republican policies in the south

Northerners tiring of turmoil of Reconstruction
 Only four states still under federal control
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South Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana
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Democrats took control of Mississippi in 1875
States took control to replace Republican control with Democrats

Grant went along
 Congress and the Supreme Court pulling back from federal
control

Appropriations withheld for measures of control
 Court decisions restricted federal action
Election of 1876
 Reform would be key issue
 Democrats nominated Samuel J. Tilden

Entered campaign as favorites for first time in twenty years
 Bulldozed black voters to keep them from the polls

Required intervention of federal troops to stop violence
 Republicans nominated Rutherford B. Hayes
 Initial results were disputed

Tilden carried almost all Southern states plus four Northern states,
including New York
 Outcome unsure in three states still under Republican control

Seemed that Tilden had probably won at least two of them
Election of 1876 (cont.)

Official results gave all disputed states, and the presidency,
to Hayes
 Divided control of Congress made agreement
impossible
 Special commission created with nominal Republican
majority
 Compromise of 1877
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Hayes declared winner
End of “bayonet” rule in the South
Other concessions to South
 End of Reconstruction after inauguration of Hayes
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