Reconstruction
CHAPTER 22
THE PROBLEMS OF PEACE
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All Confederate leaders
were pardoned by
President Johnson in
1868
Southern civilization
had collapsed
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Economic difficulties
Social structure
Transportation was
broken
FREEDMEN DEFINE FREEDOM

Emancipation took effect differently in part of
the conquered Confederacy
 Some
were killed by their owners
 Some remained loyal to their owners
 Some acted in violence toward their owners

The church became the focus of black
community life after emancipation
 Formed
their own churches led by their own
ministers
 Education arose
 Blacks had the opportunity to learn to read & write
THE FREEDMAN’S BUREAU

Created by Congress in 1865
 Reason-
most freedmen were unskilled, no
property, no money, little knowledge on how to
survive as a freed person
 Purpose- Intended to provide clothing, medical
care, food, education
 Led by Union general Oliver Howard
 Greatest success- teaching blacks to read
 Expired in 1872- despised by Pres. Johnson and
most white Southerners
JOHNSON: THE TAILOR PRESIDENT

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Was made VP to Lincoln’s Union
Party in 1864 in order to gain
support from the War Democrats
and pro-Southerners
Strong supporter of state’s rights
and of the Constitution
Johnson as a misfit
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Southerner who did not
understand the North
Democrat who had not been
accepted by the Republicans
Tennessean who was not trusted
by the South
President who had never been
elected
PRESIDENTIAL RECONSTRUCTION

1863- Lincoln’s “10 percent” Reconstruction plan
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a state could be reintegrated into the Union when 10% of its voters had
taken an oath of allegiance to the US
Pledged to abide by emancipation
Formal state govt would be constructed within the state
State would then be re-admitted into the Union

Wade-Davis Bill (1864)
 Reason-
Republican fears over the restoration of
planter aristocracy and the possible re-enslavement
of blacks
 Purpose- required that 50% of a state’s voters take
an oath of allegiance and demanded stronger
safeguards for emancipation
 Outcome- Lincoln refused to sign the bill
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN REPUBLICANS
Cause- differences between Lincoln and
Congress
 Majority Republicans- agreed with Lincoln and
believed that the seceded states should be
restored as quickly as possible
 Minority Republicans- felt the South should
suffer greatly before its re-admittance

JOHNSON’S RECONSTRUCTION PLAN
Issued on May 29, 1865
 Called for special state conventions which were
required to:

 Repeal
the decrees of secession
 Repudiate all Confederate debts
 Ratify the 13th Amendment
REVIEW QUESTIONS
Who were the Exodusters?
a. Former slaves who, after emancipation, vowed to
never pick cotton again.
b. A mass migration of blacks from various Southern
states in the late 1870s into Kansas
c. Newly freed slaves who founded black churches
across the South
d. Free blacks who shed their old clothes for fine silks
The Freedman’s Bureau
a. sold land in the West to newly emancipated slaves
b. was administered in local communities throughout
the South by D.C. agents
c. lasted just 2 years before Southerners and
President Johnson put an end to it
d. was established by Congress to provide food,
education and other social services to freedmen
THE BALEFUL BLACK CODES

The Black Codes was a series of laws designed to
regulate the affairs of the freedmen
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Mississippi passed the first Black Codes in Nov. 1865
Black Codes aimed to ensure a stable and subordinate labor
force
Blacks were forced to continue to work on plantations

Black Codes and race relations
 Forbade
freedmen to serve on a jury or vote
 Black Codes imposed terrible hardships on blacks
who were struggling against mistreatment and
poverty.
 Republicans strongly opposed the Black Codes
CONGRESSIONAL RECONSTRUCTION
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Dec. 1865- Southern states in Congress were represented with
former Confederate generals and colonels
Republicans had enjoyed their supreme rule during the Civil
War
South would have much more control in Congress- freedmen
count as a whole person instead of 3/5
Republicans feared that the South would take control of
Congress
Dec. 6, 1865- Pres. Johnson announced that the Southern
states had met his conditions and the Union was now restored.
JOHNSON CLASHES WITH CONGRESS

Feb. 1865- Johnson vetoed a bill extending the
life of the Freedmen’s Bureau
 Congress
passed the Civil Rights Bill (March 1866),
which gave blacks the right of American citizenship
 Congress also passed the 14th Amendment (feared
Southerners might someday repeal the Civil Rights
Law
14TH AMENDMENT
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1. Gave civil rights, including citizenship to the freedmen
2. Reduced the representation of a state in Congress and in the
electoral college IF it denied blacks on the ballot
3. disqualified from federal and state offices former
Confederates
4. Guaranteed the federal debt, while the Union assumed all
Confederate debts
Republicans agreed that no state should be welcomed back
into the Union without ratifying the 14th Amendment
Effect- Congress began to develop into the dominant role in
controlling the government
SWINGING ‘ROUND THE CIRCLE WITH JOHNSON
As President Johnson went on a tour of giving
speeches denouncing the radical Republicans
in Congress, his reputation dropped.
 Over 2/3 of the ballots cast in the
congressional elections of 1866 had gone to
the Republicans

REPUBLICANS PRINCIPLES AND PROGRAMS
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Charles Sumner led the radical Republicans in the
Senate for black freedom and racial equality
Thaddeus Stevens led the radical Republicans in the
House of Reps.
Moderate Republicans (majority in Congress)preferred policies that restrained the states from
cutting citizens’ rights, rather than policies of direct
involvement of the govt. in individual lives
RECONSTRUCTION BY THE SWORD

Reconstruction Act
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Passed on March 2, 1867
Divided the South into 5 military districts, each commanded by a
Union general and policed by Union soldiers
Also required Southern states to ratify the 14th Amendment
States’ constitutions must allow former adult male slaves to vote
Moderate Republican goal- create voters in Southern states that
would vote those states back into the Union and free government
from direct responsibility for the protection of black rights
15th Amendment (1869)- granted black men the right to vote
NO WOMEN VOTERS
Feminists were angered that the 13th, 14th, and
15th Amendments gave rights to black males,
but not to women.
 Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony
fought hard during the Civil War for black
emancipation and wanted the 15th Amendment
to also grant women the right to vote.
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THE REALITIES OF RADICAL RECONSTRUCTION

After the 15th Amendment- blacks began to
organize politically
 Strong
participators in the Union League
 Became a network of political clubs that educated
members and campaigned for Republican
candidates
 Also began building black churches and schools,
recruiting militias, representing black grievances
Scalawags- Southerners who were accused of
plundering treasures of the Southern states
through political influences in the radical
government
 Carpetbaggers- Northerners who had come to
the South to seek power and profit

THE KU KLUX KLAN

Also known as the “Invisible Empire of the
South”
 Founded
in Tennessee in 1866
 Formed by disgruntled white Southerners who were
angered by the success of black legislators
 KKK worked by intimidating blacks
 In response- Congress passed the Force Acts of
1870 and 1871
 Enabled
Federal troops to stop the KKK. Acts came too
late. KKK’s violence had already been accomplished
JOHNSON WALKS THE IMPEACHMENT PLANK

Tenure of Office Act (1867)
Passed by Congress
 Required the president to secure the consent of the
Senate before he could remove his cabinet members
once the Senate had approved the appointment
 Purpose- keep Edwin Stanton (Sec. of War) in the
cabinet
 Johnson dismissed Stanton in 1868, House of Reps
voted to impeach Johnson for “high crimes and
misdemeanors”

A NOT-GUILTY VERDICT FOR JOHNSON
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House of Reps prosecuted Johnson while the Senate
served as the court to try Johnson
Johnson argued that the Tenure of Office Act was
unconstitutional
May 16, 1868- Senate voted “not guilty” by one vote
Why the not-guilty vote?
Fear of creating precedent and opposition to abusing
the checks and balances system
 Presidential replacement would be Ben Wade- disliked
because of his economic policies

THE PURCHASE OF ALASKA

William Seward (Sec. of State) purchased Alaska from
Russia for $7.2 million
Russia- felt that it was over-expanding in N. America
 Russia wanted to strengthen the US barrier against its
enemy, GB
 American people did not approve- “Seward’s Folly”,
“Seward’s Icebox”
 Congress supported the purchase because they did not
want to offend the Russians (helped us during the Civil
War
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THE HERITAGE OF RECONSTRUCTION
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Many white Southerners felt that Reconstruction was
more of a painful process than war itself.
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Republican Party wanted to protect the freed slaves and to
promote the fortunes of the Republican Party.
Would backfire- benefits on the blacks would be minimal,
Republicans in the South would be extinguished for the next
100 years
The Old South in many ways would be resurrected, not
reconstructed.
Thaddeus Stevens’ radical program of drastic economic
reforms and better protection of political rights was never
enacted, but might have benefitted the South.