Reconstruction
1865 - 1877

QUESTIONS
• Southern View
• How will you/we restore the southern economy?
• What rights will be guaranteed to Blacks?
• Can states determine rights and privileges?
• Will we be compensated for damages and loss of property?

QUESTIONS
• Northern Perspective
• How will South be punished?
• Will we have to pay southern war debts?
• How will freed blacks be provided with opportunities?
• How will the government respond to the changes in demographics?

I. Problems facing the
Government as the Civil War ends
Economic
How to rebuild the devastation of infrastructure & loss of capital?

2 nd Inaugural Address
Wade-Davis Bill

LINCOLN CONFLICTS WITH
CONGRESS
ON THE POLITICAL STATUS OF
SOUTHERN STATES
• Majority of Republican Congress at end of Civil War sees the South as
“Conquered Provinces” who committed “Suicide” by leaving the Union
Lincoln sees the South as “Runaway Sisters” who never really left the Union
Debate on a Lenient or Strict policy to readmit the Southern States
• Lincoln proposes “10% Plan” to readmit Southern States
• “Radical Republicans” propose “50% Plan” (Wade-Davis Bill)
• Lincoln “pocket vetoes” Wade-Davis Bill in July 1864

Following the re-election of Lincoln (Nov. ‘64) , end of war and unexpected death of Lincoln (April ‘65),
VP (Tennessee Democrat) Andrew Johnson becomes President and quickly expands conflict with “Radical
Republicans” who dominated Congress lead by Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania
Video Clip #1 – Assassination of Lincoln
Andrew Johnson Thaddeus Stevens

1866 cartoon illustrating conflict over Reconstruction policy
Between Johnson (President) & Stevens (Congress)
Film Clip: Andrew Johnson

VI D E O D E B R I E F : WH Y H AD L I N CO LN C H O S E N H I M ?

: What will happen to the “Freedmen”?

Freedmen after the War: (Radical Republicans) voting rights, elected office, property, education
(Pres. Johnson)
-States should be able to grant suffrage.
-No civil rights guarantees

Freedmen’s Bureau established in
1865 to assist former slaves & enforce new federal policies.
Freedman’s Bureau headed by Union General
Oliver Howard

Freedman’s Bureau generally successful in area of education and some social welfare assistance

Shortcomings of Freedman’s Bureau
Primary Source Reading – p. 114
• “40 Acres & a Mule” promised & taken away
• Lack of funding & widespread corruption

Ends slavery
Establishes black citizenship &
“equal protection under the law”
Suffrage for all men

Black Codes passed by most Southern States
Attempt to re-establish white supremacy

Slave Labor Gradually Replaced by
Sharecropping System –
Limited economic opportunities of former slaves

Many Northerners Criticize the Freeman’s Bureau
Video Clip #2 – “Carpetbaggers in the South”

Republican party backed “Union League” & “Carpet baggers”
Anger White Southern Democrats

III. POLITICAL CONFLICTS
& SOUTHERN RESENTMENT GROW

“Swing Around the Circle Tour” -
Congressional Election of 1866
Seals Johnson’s Political Fate

Firing of Sect. of War Edwin Stanton violating
Tenure of Office Act triggers impeachment of Johnson in 1867

Former General
U.S. Grant elected in 1868 & reelected in 1872 despite political inexperience & widespread corruption
Why?
“Waving the
Bloody Shirt”
& 15 th Amendment

“Military Reconstruction” of Grant Era
Enforces Constitutional Amendments &
Angers Southern Whites

1870 Cartoon Illustrates Southern Democratic Anger
Video Clip #4 – Formation of KKK

Ku Klux Klan and other similar
“paramilitary terrorist” groups established by Southern Democrats for
“Self Protection” and to
“Redeem” the South
Primary Source p. 115
• Anti-Klan Force Acts (‘70 & ‘71)
Not Effective
• KKK growth shows gradual restoration of “Home Rule”
Historiography Question:
Were the KKK “terrorists” or
“freedom fighters”?

“Compromise of 1877”
Ends Reconstruction
A political deal following disputed presidential election of 1876.
Results
Republican Rutherford B. Hayes becomes President
Federal troops pulled from last Southern states.
End of Federal support for Southern blacks
Republicans get Presidency
Democrats get “Home Rule”
Blacks get 100 years of government approved discrimination

1915 “epic” film
The Birth of a Nation depicts KKK as “heroes” and blacks as “villains” of Reconstruction
Interpretations of
Reconstruction change drastically following
Civil Rights era of the 1960s
Historiography constantly changing
How history is told often reveals as much about the time it was told as about the past