Chapter 15: Reconstruction, 1865-1877
Major questions facing the nation : economic, social, political
1. How to rebuild the south?
2. How to reintegrate south into union?
3. Who would direct this reconstruction?
4. How to assist freed slaves?
5. What to do with CSA leaders?
#5 easiest to deal with:
1868, Johnson pardons all rebel leaders, sort of Xmas present
30 years before ALL restrictions removed
Davis citizenship restored in the 20th century
no CSA military or civil leaders brought to trial for treason
Radical Recon constituted mildest treatment of defeated rebels in modern history.
Economic Problems in the south
cities destroyed
runaway inflation
factories, banks, stores closed
agric, dead...fields weeds...labor system gone....seeds scarce
$2 billion slave assets gone
transportation system destroyed
Social Issues
Big question... what would relationship between white/blacks be?
What help was needed to enable blacks to function free?
Could social equality be FORCED
No answers to these questions at end of the war
Political Reconstruction: Presidential Plans
Since secession unconstitutional, states never really left. Pres. then had power to
estab. governments.
Lincoln’s 10% Plan (1863)
10% of those who voted in 1860, take oath of allegiance to
USA,accept emancipation...could then hold election, elect
governor, representatives to congress...back in union. New
constitutions must be written without slavery.
Most CSA officials to be pardoned. By 1864, La. and Ark qualified to return.
Congressional opposition
1.Radicals...wanted black voting and civil rights
2. Moderates...distrusted former CSA leaders who might return
Wade-Davis Bill (July,1964) passed by congress
50% voters needed and stronger assurances of accept eman.
only non-CSA to be able to vote.
Must take “iron-clad” oath saying never assisted the
confederacy.
Lincoln pocket vetoed...deadlock until his assassination
Congress refused to seat La. Delegates (qualified under 10%)
Factions emerging.
Johnson’s Plan (May, 1865)
Poor and uneducated tailor. Wife taught him to read
to power
Hated southern planter class.
Served in Tn as state rep, state senator, congressman,
governor, US senator.
Opposed secession on constitutional grounds.
Buried with a copy of the Constitution.
Rad Rep misunderstood him. Really a Democrat
opposed any attempt to enfranchise blacks.
Hated and feared blacks.
His plan a variation on Lincoln’s
1. General amnesty to all except those having $20,000 assets.
They could request personal pardons....loved making them beg.
Granted many. averaged 100 day in Sept. 1865.
Property returned, except slaves
2. Admit Va, Tn, Ark, La immediately.
3. Special state conventions in other states to
A. repeal acts of sucessions
B. repudiate CSA debts
C. ratify 13th Amendment
No provisions for black vote , civil or political rights. Left those to
Individual states...State’s Rights
By Dec 1865 every state except Texas elected congressman...
All but Ms ratified 13 th...Ms did so May, 1995 (clipping)
Didn’t really enforce the provisions.
Congressional opposition:
refused to seat southern congressmen
alarmed by Black Codes and number of former CSA leaders
elected Alexander Stephens, Ga senator
(read examples from MS> Black Codes, Doc 15-3)
Riots in Memphis, New Orleans, others
Violence escalating
North questioning why the war was fought and so many dead!
Radical Republican Motives: (Abolitionist strain of Rep Party)
1. Political...with repeal of 3/5 count for blacks, additional 12 seats
in electoral college. Solid Dem south more powerful than ever.
Wanted keep south out of union as long as possible or enfranchise
Blacks. Wanted to hold on to power.
2. Economic...Rep party had become spokesmen for northern
banking, commercial , industrial interests. Strong Nationalists
During war passed legislation favorable. Afraid of repeal.
A. Morrill Tariff (1861)...10%
B. Pacific RR chartered (1862)
C. Homestead Act (1862)...strongly opposed by south
160 acres if live on it for 5 years, make improvements
Nominal filing fee about $30.
Alternate method live on 6 mo, pay $1.25 ac
Exempt property from debt attachment
Land grants to states for agricultural/mechanical colleges
3. Idealism
Sen. Charles Sumner...civil rights for blacks. 13th not enough
Fed gov. should guarantee vote, econ assist, ed opport.
“Territory” concept of fed control and readmission
4. Retribution
Feds should rule south as a colony
Penn iron mill.
Maybe some hatred but even Stevens a practical politician
Dec. Johnson announced conditions met and union restored.
Joint Committee on Reconstruction (Dec. 1865)
Congress refused to seat southern delegations under Johnson plan
Formed 15 member joint committee
ignored Johnson’s plan.
Radicals now turned to problem of protecting freemen’s rights.
Attempt extend Freemen’s Bureau… Johnson vetoes (Feb. 1866)
Freedmen’s Bureau (estb. March 1865, expired 1872)
Director: gen. Oliver O. Howard (Howard Univ.)
sort of welfare agency to help blacks and homeless whites
Provided food, shelter, medical aid, legal assistance, help acguire
land, and-reunite relocate families
Negotiated labor contracts.
at 1st some authority to settle on confiscated lands…lands later ordered
restored by Johnson.
never really got “40 acres and a mule” hoped for.
Greatest success in education…estab @ 3000 schools.
taught 200,000 to read by 1870 when funds ran out.
Civil Rights Bill of 1866 (March) In response to previous actions
Congress overrides Johnson veto (April)...1ST TIME EVER!
set pattern…1st big radical victory
 all blacks to be US citizens (repudiated Dred Scott)
 legal shield by bringing rights under federal protection
outlawed many Black Codes
Rep. afraid repealed if Dem won control congress again so pressed for
amend. Now passed extension FR Bur. over Johnson veto
14th Amendment (sent to states June, 1866…ratified 1868)
Immediate and long term effects (Doc 15-6)
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all persons born or naturalized in the US are citizens of the US and of
the state wherein they reside.
no state shall invoke any law which abridges these rights nor shall any
state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due
process of law….word person later interpreted to mean corporations
no right to vote but incentive…any state depriving adult males the vote
to have representation in congress reduced. Never done.
disqualified former CSA leaders from state and fed office unless
pardoned by 2/3 vote both houses.
repudiated CSA debt
effectively did away with 3/5 Compromise because each person
counted for representation.(some Indians exempted)
Johnson advised rejection big issue in 1866 congressional elections
all southern states except TN rejected (Johnson’s home state)
TN readmitted and representatives seated in late 1866.
NEVER UNDER MILITARY RECONSTRUCTION
Congressional Elections of 1866
Johnson took essentially Dem. stand.
“Swing around the circle” Washington…Chicago…St. Louis
BIG MISTAKE…made fool of himself
heckled, got in shouting marches, appeared drunk…
really just out of control .
Discredited himself with the public. Extreme racist
Republicans “waved the bloody flag”
promised pensions and bonuses for vets
painted Dem as party of traitors
Rep. won over 2/3 majorities both houses
Considered it a mandate for their reconstruction plan
Radical Reconstruction
1. Military Reconstruction Act (March, 2, 1867)
a. South divided into five military districts, each commanded by a Union
general and policed by the Union army (about 20,000 total)
b. Disenfranchised 10s of 1000s of former Confederates.
c. Congress also required seceded states to ratify the 14th Amendment
being allowed back into the Union.
d. States had to guarantee in their state constitutions full suffrage for
blacks- -- Paved the way for easy ratification of the 15th Amendment
2. Stopped short of giving freedmen land or education at federal expense
a. Military rule ended by 1868 in all but three Southern states.
b. Did not want to make federal gov’t directly responsible for protection
of black rights.
c. Short-sighted policy led to a century of institutional discrimination
against blacks.
3. Fifteenth Amendment (Passed by Congress in 1869; Ratified in 1870
during Grant’s presidency)
a. Purposes:
i. To ensure state guarantees of suffrage would not be rescinded if
southerners came to dominate Congress in the future.
ii. To strengthen Republican control of southern states
b. Provisions: Suffrage for black males
c. Loopholes
i. Said nothing about holding office
ii. Voting requirements not uniform throughout the country.
iii. Poll taxes, literacy tests, and property requirements not addressed
-- Literacy tests administered unfairly to favor illiterate whites.
iv. "grandfather clauses" aimed to reduce number of black voters
-- Required citizenship prior to 14th Amendment
v. Gerrymandering (especially in Virginia)
vi. Intimidation
-- Lynchings in 1892 (230) all-time high followed by 1884 (211).
vii. Women were excluded
-- Female leaders of the abolitionist movement split from the males.
viii. Poor whites also disenfranchised
d. Result:
i. Democratic dominance in the South assured due to circumvention
of 14th and 15th Amendments.
-- Many southern Republican voters denied suffrage.
ii. Full suffrage for blacks not realized until 1965.
Johnson is impeached
A. Radical Republicans, rather than curbing his authority, wanted him
removed altogether.
B. Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act in 1867 over Johnson’s veto.
1. Required the president to secure the consent of the Senate before he
could remove his appointees once they had been approved by the Senate.
2. Purposes:
a. Keep Sec. of War Edwin Stanton in the cabinet who was secretly
serving as a spy for the radicals.
b. Provoke Johnson into breaking the law thus laying the foundation for
impeachment.
C. Johnson, believing the act unconstitutional and depending on support from
the Court, fired Stanton in early 1868 to initiate the court case that the
Court would supposedly decide in his favor.
-- Johnson did not believe the law applied to Lincoln’s holdovers.
D. In response, House voted 126 to 47 to impeach Johnson for "high crimes and
misdemeanors," as called for in the Constitution.
-- Main issue was Johnson’s violation of the Tenure of Office Act.
E. Case tried in the Senate between March 5 and May 26
1. May 16, 1868, Radicals failed to remove Johnson by one vote
(2/3 needed).
2. Seven Republicans voted "not guilty"
F. Outcome probably beneficial for the country
-- Johnson’s removal may have set a destructive precedent, severely
weakening the executive branch.
Election of 1868 (chart)
Chapter 15: Reconstruction, 1865-1877 Expanded Timeline
1863
Lincoln announces his Ten Percent Plan
Lincoln indicated his views on postwar policy by offering secessionist states a chance to
return to the Union if 10 percent of the voters who accepted amnesty took an oath of
allegiance. Many Republicans thought the plan was too lenient.
1864
Wade-Davis bill passed by Congress
Lincoln gives Wade-Davis bill a "pocket" veto
When the radical wing of the Republican Party passed a strict plan outlining the
conditions under which the southern states could return to the Union, Lincoln, wanting to
steer a more flexible and moderate course, pocket-vetoed the measure. In so doing, he
again demonstrated his strong political judgment in not committing himself to a plan of
action until he felt it was necessary.
1865
Freedmen's Bureau established
As part of their radical program, Republicans established a government bureau that
would provide emergency aid to former slaves during the transition to freedom. The
Bureau offered freedmen food and clothing, legal assistance in acquiring land or signing
labor contracts, and even some schooling and help in relocating family members. Lincoln
assassinated; Andrew Johnson succeeds as president Soon after the creation of the
Freedmen's Bureau, on April 14, Lincoln was shot and mortally wounded at Ford's
Theater in Washington, D.C. He died the next morning, leaving the question of what he
might have done to implement Reconstruction unanswered. Lincoln's vice-president,
Andrew Johnson, a former Democrat and southerner with limited judgment, became
president. Johnson implements his restoration plan While Congress was out of session for
most of 1865, Johnson implemented a moderate program to allow southern states back
into the Union. But support for the program among Republicans eroded when Johnson
allowed too many ex-Confederates to regain power. Joint Committee on Reconstruction
formed In late 1865, as Republicans became aware that Johnson's program was too
lenient, they refused to allow southern delegations to take their seats in Congress and
formed a committee to begin public hearings on conditions in the South. Republicans
hoped that they could still cooperate with Johnson to formulate a strategy for
readmittance of southern states.
1866
Civil Rights Act passes over Johnson's veto
When Johnson vetoed a new Freedmen's Bureau Act in early 1866, Radical Republicans
put together the Civil Rights Act and passed it over his veto. This was the first time
Congress had ever overridden a presidential veto. On the strength of their action, Radical
Republicans passed and sent out for ratification the Fourteenth Amendment to the
Constitution, guaranteeing all citizens civil rights and due process.
Memphis riots
The urgency to act to protect the rights and lives of southern blacks intensified as
southern whites violently struck out to control freedmen. Massive riots in Memphis
against blacks, resulting in forty-seven deaths, convinced Congress that it had to do
more. Johnson makes disastrous "swing around the circle"
Johnson defeated in congressional elections
Johnson, sensing the rising radical tide, opposed the Fourteenth Amendment and, by
campaigning in the congressional elections on that issue, essentially stood as a Democrat
against the Republicans. When he made the unprecedented move of actively
campaigning on a railroad tour from Washington to Chicago and St. Louis, he was openly
heckled and engaged in shouting matches with his listeners. Johnson was humiliated in
the congressional elections of 1866, when the Republicans won a three-to-one majority
in Congress, which enabled them to proceed with a more radical Reconstruction without
him.
1867
Reconstruction Acts
Tenure of Office Act
Buoyed by a major Republican victory, the Radicals launched radical Reconstruction with
the Reconstruction Act of 1867. The act divided the South into five military districts and
established stricter requirements for readmission. The Radical Republicans also sought to
control the president by limiting his ability to hire and fire officials in the cabinet, through
the Tenure of Office Act.
1868
Impeachment crisis
When Johnson violated the new law (which was later declared unconstitutional), the
Radical Republican Congress impeached him and the Senate trial came within a single
vote of removing him from office in May 1868.
Fourteenth Amendment ratified
This amendment, which guarantees every citizen's civil rights and due process, would
become the foundation for the civil rights movement in the mid-twentieth century.
Ulysses S. Grant elected president
On the strength of his opposition to Johnson and the rising tide of support for
Reconstruction, Grant was elected by a strong margin and the Republicans maintained
control of both houses of Congress. The Republicans now had a mandate to implement
Reconstruction in the South.
1870
Ku Klux Klan at peak of power
Radical Reconstruction enabled Republicans, including many African Americans, to gain
power in southern government. With support from the North, these new governments
instituted significant political, economic, and social reform. In response, white racists in
Tennessee formed a social club called the Ku Klux Klan, which spread across the South.
The KKK was a paramilitary force whose members served the interests of the Democratic
Party by launching a terrorist counterrevolution to push back gains made by blacks.
Fifteenth Amendment ratified
The Fifteenth Amendment, guaranteeing all male citizens the right to vote regardless of
race, gained the required ratification of three-fourths of the states when the
unreconstructed states of Virginia, Mississippi, Texas, and Georgia were required to ratify
it before they were readmitted to the Union.
1871
Ku Klux Klan Act passed by Congress
Congress tried to halt the rising power and impact of the Ku Klux Klan, but there was
decreasing support in the North for Reconstruction and the act was poorly enforced.
1872
Grant's reelection as president
In spite of a continuing activist government, cynicism, corruption, and growing interest in
other issues weakened support for Reconstruction. The reform liberal wing of the
Republican Party formed a separate faction and advocated civil-service reform, smaller
government, and limited suffrage, and opposed, therefore, continuing radical
Reconstruction. In response, Grant ran for reelection and won on promises of
reconciliation with the South. For most Republicans, the terms of political debate had
shifted away from Reconstruction.
1873
Panic of 1873 ushers in depression of 1873-1877
Support for Reconstruction was further undermined by economic depression, which
deepened Americans' concerns about governmental corruption and increased tensions
between the working class and the middle class and industrial leaders. The issue of
Reconstruction was being pushed off center stage.
1874
Democrats win majority in House of Representatives
When Democrats took up the liberal Republican call for reform, limited government, and
reconciliation with the South, the party shook off its treasonous connotations and
reemerged as an active force in national politics. The Democrats essentially ended
political debate about the South and the Republicans' ability to formulate any southern
policy when they took a majority in Congress for the first time since the secession crisis.
1875
Whiskey Ring scandal undermines Grant administration
When Grant's secretary of the Treasury uncovered a tax-fraud scheme involving various
government officials, scandal rocked the White House. Grant was left powerless and was
soon abandoned by the Republican Party in the 1876 election.
1877
Compromise of 1877
By 1876, voters had lost interest in Reconstruction. When the presidential candidates tied
in the electoral college, the election was thrown into Congress. A filibuster prevented any
resolution from being reached in Congress, which appointed an electoral commission,
resulting in a constitutional crisis that lasted for months.
Rutherford B. Hayes becomes president
Reconstruction ends
Though it is unclear whether any deal was actually made, after meeting with Hayes, the
Democrats ended their filibuster and allowed Hayes to be inaugurated. Soon after
becoming president, Hayes ended Reconstruction by ordering federal troops in Louisiana
and South Carolina to withdraw.