Part 14: The American Civil War - Global Studies



AP Notes, Unit 5-The Civil War and Reconstruction

Part 14: The American Civil War

Cost of the war: 620,000 men. 4 million freed from slavery. Accelerated American industrialization and modernization in the North and largely destroying the plantation system in the South. Some historians refer to this war as the Second American Revolution, because the change in the country was so profound. Students should be sure to understand the political, social and economic impact of the Civil War, even though most texts refer mainly to military history.

A. The War Begins: In his inauguration, Lincoln tried to assure southerners that he had no intent of freeing their slaves or bothering with any other southern institution. However, he also warned that no state had the right to break up the Union. (Great quote from Lincoln on p. 266)

a. Ft. Sumter: One of the few forts not evacuated under Buchanan. The fort was cut off by southerners in Charleston; Lincoln sent food to the fort, putting the options of attacking the fort or allowing the fort to hold out even longer squarely in the hands of the South. April 12, 1861 the southern guns opened fire. This attack united most northerners in a patriotic fight to save the Union. Ft. Sumter surrendered after two days.

b. Use of executive power: Lincoln often drew upon his presidential powers, more so than any previous president. For example, during the Ft. Sumter crisis he called for 75,000 volunteers to put down the southern insurrection; he also authorized spending for the war, and last he suspended the writ of habeas corpus, which allows for due process of the accused. He did these things while Congress was out of session and could not stop him.

c. Secession of the Upper South: After the call for volunteers, four more states decide to leave the Union (TN, VA, NC, and AR). Confederate capitol is moved to Richmond. Western Virginians remain loyal, secede from Virginia and become a separate state in 1863.

d. The Border States: 4 other slave states remained (DE, MO, MD, and KY). Some in those states remained loyal, others wanted to leave. But martial law in Maryland, US troops in Missouri (Missouri was the home of constant fighting in the war between a government who wanted to secede but was kicked out of the state and a government that wanted to remain loyal), a vote to remain neutral in KY, and a general sense of loyalty in DE kept them in. Keeping the Border States in was a primary military goal, as well as a political goal for Lincoln. Losing them would have increased the Confederate population by 50%, and strategically would have weakened the Union. Not wanting to alienate the Border States is why Lincoln stays away from emancipation early in the war.

e. Advantages/Disadvantages:

i. Military: South has to fight only a defensive war, while the North has to conquer an area the size of Western Europe. South had to move supplies shorter distances, as well as a long coastline that was difficult to blockade and experienced military leaders and high troop morale (The Lost Cause.)

ii. Military: North’s population of 22 million against South’s 5 ½ million free whites would favor a northern war of attrition (as soon as they could find a commander with the guts to fight such a war.) 800,000 immigrants came to America during the war, most were pro-Union. Emancipation brought in another 180,000 blacks into the Union army. US navy also remained loyal, which led to northern command of rivers and waters.

iii. Economic: North’s great strength was an economy that controlled most of the banks and capital in the country. (85% of manufacturing, 70% of the railroads, 65% of the farmlands.) Bookkeepers and clerks skills helped with Northern logistics during the war. South simply hoped that Euro desire for its cotton would bring recognition and financial aid. History shows that for a war for independence is to be successful, outside help is essential.

iv. Political: Cause for the South out-moraled the Northern will to keep the Union together, but over time the Southern states’ rights policies were a serious liability for the Confederacy. Ironically, in order to win the war the South needed a strong central government and strong public support. The South had neither, while the North had both (years of experience as a real country, political parties, experience in wars, etc.) The real hope in the South was that the people of the North would turn against Lincoln and the Republicans before the North started to win battles. (And it was close…)

f. The Confederate States of America: Confederate Constitution called for a six-year non-successive presidential term, line item veto power. No power to levy a protective tariff, no funding for internal improvements, but did prohibit foreign slave trade. Jeff Davis tried to extend the power of the presidency during the war, but southern governors resisted him (even holding back military reserves and resources in order to protect their states.) At one point, VP Alexander Stephens even called for Georgia to secede from the Confederacy in response to the “despotic” actions of the central government.

i. Serious shortage of cash. It tried loans, income taxes (including a 10%|tax on farms), and even impressments of private property (Oooohh the irony!) But a war is expensive, and this did not come close to covering it. Hence, the government issued more than $1 billion in inflationary paper money, which reduced the value of the cotton backed Confederate dollar to less than two cents by the end of the war.

ii. The Congress nationalized the railroads and encouraged industrial development. The Confederacy sustained over 1 million troops at its peak, but the northern war of attrition doomed its efforts. That it fought for four years is a testament of the Southern will to fight.

B. First Years of a Long War: Northerners expected the war to last a few weeks. (The first volunteers signed 90 day enlistments.)

a. First Battle of Bull Run: July 1861. 30,000 federal troops marched toward Richmond from D.C. The two armies clashed outside of Manassas Junction, Va. It appeared to be a Union victory until Stonewall Jackson’s counterattack. Union army was sent running, proving that this war was going to be a long one and also establishing the myth that the Confederate army was invincible.

b. Union strategy: Winfield Scott (of War of 1812 and Mexican War fame) devised the Anaconda Plan (three pronged attack.)

i. Use the navy to blockade southern ports, cutting off essential trade.

ii. Divide the Confederacy by taking the Mississippi.

iii. Train an army of 500,000 and take Richmond.

iv. The first two parts were easier to achieve than the third, but ultimately the plan was successful.

v. After Bull Run, the Union commits a series of battlefield blunders, each one worse than the one before.

c. Peninsula Campaign: George McClellan, the new commander of the Union army in the East (Army of the Potomac) wanted a long period of training for his men. After many delays (which pissed off Lincoln on many occasions), Mac invaded Virginia in March 1862. They were stopped due to brilliant tactics of Robert E. Lee, who was emerging as the commander of the Southern forces (Army of Northern Virginia.) After 5 months, Mac was forced to retreat and was replaced by John Pope.

d. Second Battle of Bull Run: Lee acted quickly, drawing Pope into a battle in northern Virginia and then attacking his flank (side), sending the Union army back to Bull Run. Pope withdrew to the defenses of Washington.

e. Antietam: Lee followed the 2nd Bull Run by attacking into Maryland. He was hoping that a major Confederate victory in the North would convince Britain to give official recognition and support. Mac is back in control of Union army (Sept. 1862), and Mac had a copy of Lee’s battle plan (it had been dropped by one of Lee’s officers.) He also had Lee badly outnumbered. Outside Sharpsburg, MD., Mac intercepted the Confederate army. This would be the single bloodiest day in the history of the United States, as over 22,000 men were either killed or wounded.

i. Unable to break through Mac’s lines, Lee retreated to Virginia. Mc did not pursue, Lincoln fires him for the last time. “He’s got a bad case of the slows,” says Lincoln. Technically the battle was a draw, but it was a decisive battle in that it stopped Brit recognition and support.

ii. Lincoln called it a Union victory and announced his Emancipation Proclamation (see below.)

f. Fredericksburg: Ambrose Burnside replaces Mac, but he proves to be so aggressive that he is almost careless. Dec. 1862, Burnside attacks Lee at Fredericksburg, despite the fact that Lee was entrenched on the high ground. Burnside learns a valuable lesson of the importance of canon fire and artillery. Burnside is fired and replaced by Joseph Hooker, who is even more incompetent.

g. Two bright spots for the North: Monitor-Merrimac and Shiloh.

i. Monitor-Merrimac: The Confederate ironclad the Merrimac (rebuilt and named the CSS Virginia) was trying to end the Union blockade, ramming wooden ships. Union builds the Monitor and the two fight a 5-hour duel near Hampton Roads, Virginia in March, 1862. It ends in a draw, but the Monitor thwarts the powerful new Confederate weapon.

1. This battle was historically significant in that it proved how ironclad ships were the navy of the future, thus revolutionizing navies around the world.

ii. Grant in the West: Ulysses Grant was in western Tennessee fighting for control of the Mississippi. He had already captured Forts Henry and Donelson on the Cumberland River, capturing 14,000 Confederate prisoners using fast-moving gunboats. These victories opened up the state of Mississippi to Union attack.

1. Weeks later, a Confederate army under Albert Johnson surprised Grant at Shiloh while Grant’s men made the morning coffee. Despite early losses, Grant’s use of reinforcements led to a Union victory (or, at least a Confederate retreat.) (23,000 total losses.) Later, in April of ’62, David Farragut captured New Orleans for the Union.

C. Foreign Affairs and Diplomacy During the Civil War: South wants recognition and assistance from England and/or France. U.S. did not want them getting this help, and Europe loved to sit and watch this “democratic experiment” dissolve.

a. The Trent Affair: The British steamer, the Trent, was carrying Confederate diplomats John Slidell and James Mason to England, to talk about recognition. U.S. warship stops the Trent and pulls the two off the ship. Britain protests American violation of Brit neutrality rights. Despite public pressure to the contrary, Lincoln let the two out of jail and they went back to Britain but failed to get the recognition the South needed.

b. The Commerce-Raiders: Brits sold ships to the Confederacy, and these ships were used to attack American merchant ships at sea. The Alabama was the most devastating, sinking 60 U.S. merchant ships until an American warship sank if odd the coast of France.

i. Laird Rams: Britain wanted to sell them to Confederates, but the U.S. warned of war, so the Brits cancelled the sale.

c. Failure of Cotton Diplomacy: Europe found cotton from other sources, (Egypt, India, SA.) Wool and linen also took advantage of the opportunity as well.

i. Two other reasons why Europe failed to recognize Confederacy:

1. Lee’s failure at Antietam.

2. Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. This appealed to Britain’s working class.

D. The End of Slavery: Why did Lincoln hesitate on ending slavery? 4 basic reasons: First, he wanted to keep control of the border states. Second, the Constitution protected slavery. Third, there were many prejudices amongst the northerners. And last, he feared that premature action could simply be overturned by the next election. Slaves were eventually freed due to military events, government policy, and the slaves own actions.

a. Confiscation Act: passed by Congress in 1861, it basically said that the US could seize enemy property which was used to wage war against the US. Among this “contraband” were the slaves. General Benjamin Butler actually was the first to refuse to return captured slaves to their owners. Soon, “contraband” slaves were escaping in large numbers.

b. Second Confiscation Act (1862): Freed the slaves of any person engaged in rebellion against the U.S., and also allowed for freed slaves to fight in the Union army.

c. Emancipation Proclamation: Lincoln had decided by July ’62 to free the slaves, he just had to time it right. He would call it a “military necessity.” He did not want to lose support of conservatives. He also came up with a plan to free the slaves in the border states with compensation for the owners.

i. September 22, 1862: Lincoln issued a warning that all slaves in rebellious states would be free as of Jan. 1, 1863. He then issues this “Emancipation” on Jan 1, 1863.

ii. Effects: It did not immediately free anybody. (Only freed slaves outside of the U.S. at the time.) Border state slavery would continue, but those slaves were freed by end of the war.

1. It enlarged the Union purpose for the war.

2. Led to a migration of slaves to the North (which had begun under the Confiscation Acts.) As the Union army moved southward, more and more slaves were freed. It also allowed for free blacks and runaway slaves to fight in the Union army, including in battle. Approximately ¼ of the slave population walked away from the plantations to seek protection from the Union armies during the war.

3. Turned off Brit assistance possibilities.

4. Now this was a moral war, it gives the Union a true cause.

5. With the slave flight to the North, the southern plantations were in even more trouble. Women are left to tend the fields.

6. Slaves would not fight for the Confederacy from this point on.

7. Over 200,000 slaves fought for the Union in the war. Most served in all-black units, like the 54th Massachusetts. Over 37,000 of them died in the War.

8. When this war is over, and if the Union wins, there will not be any discussion about slavery. It’s over.

d. Thirteenth Amendment: Abolished slavery. Since there were phrases in the Constitution that seemed to legitimize slavery, an amendment was needed to get rid of it. The amendment was finally passed in December, 1865 (after Lincoln’s death and after the War.) Lincoln had worked very hard on securing its passage through Congress.

E. The Union Triumphant! (1863-65): 1863 begins with Chancellorsville, but it’s downhill for Lee after that. The southern economy was sinking, slaves were escaping from the plantations, and large numbers of men were deserting the Confederate army due to horrible conditions.

a. Turning Point: Two crushing defeats for the Confederacy at the beginning of July, ’63.

i. Vicksburg: Grant’s siege lasted seven weeks, until the city fell on July 4. 29,000 Confederate soldiers were forced to surrender. Federal warships now controlled the entire Mississippi River and cut the Confederacy in half.

ii. Gettysburg: Lee took the offensive again, this time trying to get the Union to capitulate. On July 1, Lee surprised Union soldiers outside of Gettysburg, Pa. Starts as a skirmish over shoes. Basically, the Union army was mirroring the Confederate army, staying between it and D.C. The Union took the high ground on the first day and managed to hold it, thanks to people like Josh Chamberlain and Winfield Hancock. It was the most crucial battle of the war, and also one of the bloodiest, over 50,000 casualties. Lee’s assaults on the second and third days, including Pickett’s Charge, were repulsed. A good part of the Confederate army was destroyed. Lee was forced to withdraw back to Virginia and would not take the offensive again.

b. Grant In Command: Goerge Meade is replaced by Grant in 1864 (Meade did not pursue Lee after Gettysburg, much to Lincoln’s chagrin.) Grant becomes the head of all the Union armies, and he turns the war into one of attrition. His aim was to wear them down, which included supply lines and prisoners of war. Grant lost more men than Lee at all of the battles between the two, but he was successful in forcing Lee to withdraw toward Richmond. These battles (the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Cold Harbor) were some of the bloodiest fighting in the war. But Grant would not let up. Grant turned the war into a “total war”, much like the World Wars of the 20th century. It was a war on the South, not just its army.

i. Sherman’s March: Sherman, with 100,000 troops, set out from Chattanooga, TN, and headed toward Atlanta and on to Savannah, then north through South Carolina. The path of destruction was devastating. Sherman burned and destroyed everything in his path. Atlanta fell in September in 1864, which helped Lincoln win the election that year. His Christmas present to Lincoln that year was the city of Savannah. By February, he had taken the capital of the secessionist state (Columbia).

ii. The Election of 1864: Dems nominate the popular general George McClellan. They called for peace, which was actually a popular theme in the war weary Union. The Republican party changed its name (temporarily) to the Unionist Party, in order to remind voters what was important in this election and reminding them that lots of young men had already died trying to save the Union as well as trying to get the “War Democrats” to vote Republican. Despite a “ditch Lincoln” movement that fizzled, Lincoln was nominated and his VP candidate was Andrew Johnson, a Tennessee senator who was the only remaining southerner in the Congress (his first VP was Hannibal Hamlin, but Lincoln wanted a “War Democrat” on the ticket in order to win the election). Lincoln wins 212-21. Mac won 45% of the popular vote, however.

F. The End of the War: By April of 1865, Lee’s army had collapsed at Petersburg, Virginia and had seen the fall of Richmond (April 3). Everyone knew the war was over, it just had to be made official.

a. Surrender at Appomattox: The South was trying to surrender with conditions, but Lincoln wanted only a restoration of the Union while Davis wanted independence. Lee retreated from Richmond with less than 30,000 men. In trying to escape to the mountains he was cut off and surrounded and was forced to surrender at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, April 9, 1865 (in the home of Wilmer McClean.) Respectable conditions.

b. Assassination of Lincoln. John Wilkes Booth, conspiracy was included. SecState William Seward was stabbed. Enrages the North, at a time when the South needs sympathy. Basically, the South lost its best ally when it killed Lincoln.

G. Effects of the War On Civilian Life:

a. Political Changes During War: With South gone, Congress was majority Republican. However, within the Republican ranks there were two sides. The Radicals (who wanted immediate abolition) and the Free Soilers (who were more concerned with possibilities for whites.) Most Dems supported the War but were critical of the way Lincoln ran it, while Peace Dems and Copperheads wanted the War to end immediately.

i. Clement L. Vallandigham (OH)-was actually banished (briefly) from the US for a short time due to his pro-Confederacy speeches. He basically said that the war was being fought to free blacks and enslave whites. Good one.

b. Civil Liberties: Suspension of habeas corpus began early in the war, especially in Maryland and other states with pro-Confederate sentiment. You could be arrested without being informed of the charges, lack of due process. 13,000 people were thus arrested during the war (most for aiding the enemy.)

i. Constitution states that habeas corpus rights cannot be lifted unless in case of rebellion or invasion where the public safety is in question. This was obviously the case during the Civil War. However, Roger Taney attempted to control the president when, during the war, the Supreme Court ordered Ex Parte Merryman, which required Lincoln to release an imprisoned Maryland secessionist leader. Lincoln ignored it. After the war, in Ex Parte Milligan, the SC ruled that military trials in areas where the civil courts existed were unconstitutional. In other words, a military trial was only legal where there were no civil courts.

c. The Military Draft: (Conscription)

i. Northern draft started in 1863, calling for men ages 20-45. A man could get out of it by paying $300 or sending a replacement. The big worry in the North was that when the draftees returned from duty, their jobs would be taken by free blacks. In July 1863, riots against the draft erupted in New York. A mostly Irish American mob attacked blacks and wealthy whites. 117 people were killed (mostly blacks) and riot continued until the draft order was temporarily suspended until order was restored.

ii. Confederate Draft: started in 1862, age 18-35 for three year service. A man could send a sub to fight for them, but this was repealed in 1863 because it aroused strong opposition by poor whites. Also, one exemption was given for every 20 slaves a man owned. Basically, this was a “rich man’s war but a poor man’s fight,” as one Confederate stated. The draft was successful for a time, at the end of ’62 there were 500,000 men in the Army (a total of 900,000 served during the War.) By 1864 they were drafting 17-50. It was beginning to look like the South would lose, less and less men were willing to fight, and the Union was cutting off vast areas of population. At the end of the war, the Congress passed a bill calling for 300,000 slave draftees, but the war ended before it could even be organized.

d. Political Dominance in the North: After the war, the supremacy of the federal government was unquestioned. The freeing of the slaves gave new meaning and legitimacy to democracy.

i. Gettysburg Address- November, ’63: A speech about how the battle, and the war, should not have been fought for nothing. It was time to establish true freedom in this country.

e. Economic Change: The Union financed the war by borrowing $2.6 billion, mostly through the sale of government bonds. Also, a new tariff raised money (Morrill Tariff of 1861.) Also, new excise taxes and even income taxes were used. Also, the Treasury issued $430 million in paper currency known as Greenbacks. This money could not be redeemed in gold, which caused a slowly rising inflation. Prices in the North rose 80% from 1861-65. To manage all of this money going in and out, Congress established the national Banking System in 1863, the first such Bank since the Jackson years.

f. Modernizing Northern Society: Was the war good or bad for the growth of the Union? Historians differ, citing various reasons. Workers wages did not keep pace with inflation during the War, but there is little doubt that that many aspects of a modern industrial society were accelerated by the war. The Northern mass production and consolidation of manufacturing businesses was forced to speed up during the war. Profiteering (selling crappy goods at high prices) was all over the place, and a new group of millionaires would lead the country’s economy in the post war years.

i. Republicans took advantage of their majority in Congress by passing several ambitious programs:

1. Morrill Tariff Act (1861)-raised tariff to increase revenue and protect American manufacturing. More tariffs like this will follow after the War.

2. The Homestead Act (1862): promoted settlement of the Great Plains by offering parcels of 160 acres of public land free to anyone who would farm that land for 5 years.

3. The Morrill Land Grant Act (1862): encouraged states to use the sale of federal land grants to maintain agricultural and technical colleges.

4. The Pacific Railway Act (1862): Authorized the construction of a transcontinental railroad over a northern route in order to link the economies of California and the western territories with the eastern states.

g. Social Change:

i. Women: Women took over in the fields and the factories. Military nurses and soldiers aid societies. Nursing would become a mostly female occupation during and following he war. When the men returned home, the women lost their factory jobs and obviously welcomed the help in the fields. Those whose men never returned home would suffer for a lifetime.

1. 2 Permanent effects of the Civil War on women: First, nursing is open for women for the first time (had been only men before.) Second, the enormous responsibility placed upon women during war only encouraged the growth of the Women’s Rights movement after the War. (The suffragists’ goal would only be realized after they prove themselves in another war, WWI.)

ii. End of slavery: 4 million people were freed following the War, they became known as freedmen and freedwomen. Obviously, there would be some economic hardships and political oppression in their futures, as well as discrimination and blatant racism.

iii. Overall, the War led to America developing into a complex modern industrial society with plenty of problems still to overcome. The Republicans enacted the pro-business Hamiltonian programs that Democrats had been blocking for years. Also, America spent $15 billion and lost 620,000 people. Many call this the second American Revolution, primarily because it cleaned out the old states’ rights beliefs and slavery itself.

Part 15: Reconstruction.

Questions dominate after the War:

How do we rebuild the South?

What role should the federal government play, if any, in helping the freedmen adjust to their new roles in society?

Should the states that left the Union be treated as states that never left the Union (Lincoln’s plan) or as conquered territory with military occupation?

Under what conditions would the southern states be accepted as coequal partners in the Union?

Finally, who had the authority to decide these issues—the president or Congress?

The problems that existed before the war, regionalism, political party fighting, economic disputes, still exist after the War: North still wants industrial expansion, South still wants cheap labor, and freedmen want a place in society.

Ironically, after the Civil War we get a series of presidents who are strict constructionists, which leads to a new extension of states rights.

Most people felt that no government money should go to business or to individuals (black or white) because they believed that in a free society it was up to the people to fend for themselves.

The physical rebuilding of the South was therefore largely left up to the states and individuals, while the federal government worried about political parts of Reconstruction.

Basically, Reconstruction can be broken into two groups, presidential and Congressional. Presidential would have been a lot easier and less painful. Unfortunately the rednecks shot Lincoln.

A. Reconstruction Plans of Lincoln and Johnson (Presidential Reconstruction): Lincoln believed that the Confederates were a disloyal minority, and that since it was unconstitutional to leave the Union, the southern states never did leave the Union. This is probably the best way to get around harsh punishment. Johnson tried to carry out Lincoln’s plans, but he had no mandate in Congress or the country.

a. Lincoln’s Policies: Lincoln wanted just a limited loyalty test for the South to rejoin the Union (even though technically, according to him, they never left.)

i. Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction: (1863) A fairly simple process…basically it called for Unionists to be in charge within the southern states instead of secessionists.

1. Full presidential pardons to most southerners who took an oath of loyalty and accepted the emancipation of the slaves.

2. A state government could be reestablished and accepted as legitimate as soon as 10% of the voters in that state took an oath.

3. Basically, each state had to rewrite its constitution to get rid of slavery. Lincoln’s goal was to shorten the war and to add weight to the Emancipation Proclamation. Lincoln was afraid that if he lost the ’64 election the next prez would simply overturn the Proclamation.

b. Wade-Davis Bill (1864): Many Republicans feared Lincoln’s plan made it too easy for secessionists to take over their states again. This bill required 50% of voters in each state to take loyalty oath and permitted only non-Confederates to vote on a new state constitution. Lincoln pocket vetoed the bill after Congress adjourned. Generally, Congresses like to re-impose their power after wars, and this war was looking to no different.

c. Freedmen’s Bureau: March ’65, created by Congress. Kind of an early welfare agency, providing food, shelter, medical aid for those made destitute by the war (white and black—the actual name of he agency was Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands.) Originally, the Bureau was going to resettle free blacks on confiscated southern lands. But Johnson pardoned Confederate landowners and eventually that land was returned to its original owners.

i. Education under the Bureau: This was the greatest success, under Gen. Oliver Howard nearly 3,000 schools for free blacks were created, including black colleges. Before funding was cut in ’70, 200,000 blacks learned to read.

d. Lincoln’s Last Speech: April 11, ’65—Abe called for northerners to accept Louisiana as a reconstructed state (it had a new slavery free constitution and was educating blacks), and also said that he thought the intelligent blacks and the blacks who fought for the union in the war should be allowed to vote. He was assassinated on the 14th, so his intelligent, flexible leadership was gone.

e. Johnson and Reconstruction: He was the war Governor of Tennessee after the Union took control of it during the war, (as well as a Senator with very little to do). In one of history’s little accidents, Johnson is clearly the wrong man for the job. He was a white supremacist who was bound to clash with the radical Republicans who want to help the freedmen. He did, however, dislike the southern aristocrats.

i. His Reconstruction Policy: Similar to Lincoln’s 10% plan. Called for disenfranchisement of all former Confederate officeholders and leaders and any Confederates who owned more than $20,000 in taxable property. However, he retained the right to pardon “disloyal” southerners. It was simply an escape clause for wealthy southern planters, and Johnson made frequent use of it. As a result of these pardons, many former Confederates were back in office by the fall of 1865.

ii. Southern Governments of 1865: Just 8 months after Johnson took office, all 11 Confederate states had passed new slavery-free constitutions, had passed the 13th amendment, repudiated secession, and swore loyalty. However, none of these new constitutions gave voting rights to blacks. Also, many former Confederate leaders were back in the Congress (including Georgia Senator Alexander Stephens.)

iii. The Black Codes: New laws passed by southern legislatures that restricted the rights and movements of the newly freed blacks. They 1.) prohibited blacks from either renting land or borrowing money to buy land, 2.) placed freedmen (who were now referred to as “vagrants” or “apprentices” into a sort of semi-bondage by forcing them to sign “work contracts”, 3.) blacks could not testify against whites in court. Basically this meant that blacks worked the cotton fields under white supervision for deferred wages seemed little different from slavery.

1. Republicans began to ask “Who won the war?” In early 1866, a rift develops between Johnson and the northern Republicans. They even refused to seat Alexander Stephens and other legally elected Senators from Confederate states.

iv. Johnson’s vetoes: He further alienated the Republicans when he vetoed two important bills in ’66: 1.) a bill increasing the services and protection offered by the Freedmen’s Bureau and 2.) a civil rights bill that nullified the Black Codes and guaranteed full citizenship and equal rights to blacks.

v. The Election of ’66: Johnson decided to go on the attack in 1866 for the midterm elections, a series of attacks called the “Swing Around the Circle.” His speeches basically said that if we give too many rights to blacks, America would become “Africanized.” Republicans counterattacked by calling Johnson a drunk and a traitor. They began the “wave the bloody shirt” campaign, which means they brought back memories of the war, reminding an already inflamed group of northerners. Republicans made much of the fact that the Southerners were democrats, and thus the Democratic party was a party of rebellion and treason.

1. Republicans won a vast majority in these mid-term elections. From ’66 on the Republicans had a 2/3 majority in Congress.

B. Congressional Reconstruction: There were actually three rounds of reconstruction. The first was presidential under Johnson and Lincoln (’63-’66.) Through this period, the 11 Confederate states returned to their former position in the US. This ended with the passage of the Black Codes and the return of Confederate leaders to positions of power. The second phase is when Congress imposed its will (harsher on southern whites and more protective of freed blacks.) The third round comes much later (completed by ’77) when the Redeemers (southern conservatives) return to power, believing in states rights, lower taxes, reduced spending on social programs, and white supremacy.)

a. Radical Republicans: Republican Party, which had been split between moderates and radicals, was now becoming more radical. Why? Because they feared that a unified democratic party would again become dominant and with the new census blacks were no longer counted as 3/5 of a man. Because of this, the South would have a larger population base and more seats in Congress. The bottom line was that this war created a bunch of new Republicans.

b. Leading Radicals: Charles Sumner was the leader in the Senate, but Thaddeus Stevens was the radical in the House. Stevens goals included a long military rule of the South, black civil rights, black education, and land grants (out of land confiscated from the planter class.) Others, including Benjamin Wade of Ohio, also supported women’s rights, rights of labor unions, and civil rights for northern blacks. These goals were not fully achieved, but they tried pretty hard from ’66-’70.

c. Enacting the Radical Program: In the spring of ’66, Congress managed to enact two pieces of legislation that Johnson had vetoed. This is when Congressional Reconstruction really begins.

i. Civil Rights Act of ’66: With some minor changes, Congress overrode the veto of the Freedman’s Act and the First Civil Rights Act. C.R.A. said all blacks are citizens (throwing out the Dred Scott case), and also gave protection for the blacks against the new southern governments. However, an amendment was needed in case the Dems ever take back control of Congress.

ii. 14th Amendment: Passed in ’66 and finally ratified in ’68, declared that all people born or naturalized in America were citizens. Second, it obligated the states to protect these rights, promising equal protection of the laws and due process.

iii. This is the first time the states, and not just the US government, were to uphold the rights of citizens. These laws, especially the equal protection clause and the due process clause, would not mean a whole lot in the 19th century, but would become buzz words for the civil rights movement of the 20th century.

iv. Other parts of the 14th amendment: disqualified former Confederate leaders from holding state or federal offices. Penalized any state that tried to limit the voting of its citizens by having that state lose representation in Congress.

d. Report of the Joint Committee (’66): It basically was an attack on presidential reconstruction, saying that the Confederacy was not entitled to representation in Congress. It also said that Congress had the power to reconstruct the South, not the president. Congress was basically cooking up its own plan, which was partially included in the 14th amendment.

e. Reconstruction Acts of ’67: These three acts placed the South under military occupation (passed over Johnson’s vetoes.) Confederacy divided into 5 districts, each controlled by the Union army. Also, the requirements to re-enter the Union were increased. To get back in, the states now had to ratify the 14th amendment and guarantee voting rights to all males, regardless of race.

f. Impeachment of Andrew Johnson: Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act (over Johnson’s veto, again) in ’67. It basically said that the president could not remove a federal official or military commander without approval of the Senate (probably unconstitutional.) Congress was trying to protect the radicals in the Johnson administration (Lincoln’s appointments) including Edwin Stanton, SecWar, who was in charge of military governments in the South.

i. Johnson swiftly fires Stanton, trying to challenge the law. House impeached Johnson, charging him with 11 “high crimes and misdemeanors.” A 3-month trial ensues, and in 1868 the Senate falls one vote short of the required 2/3 for conviction. Several moderate Republicans joined the Dems because it would have been a bad precedent to convict someone for political reasons. Did Johnson deserve to be impeached? Yes, but not because of this Act, but because of his handling of Reconstruction and overuse of pardons for Confederates.

ii. Regardless of the non-conviction, the Johnson presidency was over anyway because the Dems nominated Horatio Seymour as the 1868 candidate.

g. The Election of ’68: Grant was chosen by the Reps. No political experience, he only won because 500,000 blacks voted for him (he only won by 300,000 votes overall. He was unpopular in the South and even the educated northerners questioned his qualification. This is one of those cases of a party wanting to win the nomination so bad that they nominate someone who will surely win, but won’t know how to be president. This election also shows the importance of allowing blacks to vote, which even the moderate Republicans are beginning to understand by this time.

h. 15th Amendment: passed in ’69 with a Republican majority in the Congress, it gave the right to vote to black males.

i. Civil Rights Act of ’75: this was the last of the many civil rights reforms passed during Reconstruction. It guaranteed equal accommodations in public places and prohibited courts from excluding blacks on juries. It was poorly enforced for two basic reasons: 1.) moderate and conservative Republicans were growing tired and frustrated with trying to reform the unwilling South and 2.) Republicans were afraid of losing white votes.

C. Reconstruction in the South: Beginning in ’67, each Republican controlled state government in the South was under the military protection of the US army until it met the requirements of Reconstruction. For Tennessee, this was 1 year. For Florida, it was 9. It really just depended on how many years it took for the conservative democrats in each state to gain control of the state.

a. Composition of the Reconstruction Governments: Whites were the majority in every house and Senate in the South except for one (South Carolina’s 1873 house was majority freedmen.) These Republicans were whites, blacks, and recently arrived northern opportunists.

b. Scalawags and Carpetbaggers: These were nicknames given to these Republican rivals. A southern Republican was a “scalawag.” A northern newcomer was a “carpetbagger.” Southern whites who were Republican were usually businessmen who were interested in economic development for their state. Why did northerners go south after the war? Some were investors interested in setting up new businesses. Missionaries, teachers, and greed as well.

c. African American legislators: Blanche Bruce and Hiram Revels were the first two black Senators (Revels from Mississippi in Jeff Davis’ old seat and Bruce from ?) Obviously this caused serious resentment among the former Confederates.

d. Evaluating the Republican Record: Did the Republicans do a good jog with Reconstruction or were they just trying to keep the southern Dems in their place in order to save their own seats in the Congress? A little of both:

i. Accomplishments: Liberalized state constitutions (universal male suffrage, property rights for women, debt relief, and modernized penal codes.) Internal improvements, more hospitals, asylums, state supported public schools, overhauled tax systems, passed bonds.

ii. Failures: Republicans took kickbacks for contracts, lots of graft and corruption (a sign of things to come), but in general the corruption in the South was an indication of the general corruption going on in Washington at the time (Grant administration!!).

e. Blacks Adjusting to Freedom: Obviously it was a time of adjustment for blacks. Many went North, many stayed and learned to read and write, hoping that the Reconstruction ideals would actually work.

i. Black churches: It was during this time that black churches sprang up in large numbers throughout the South and ministers in these churches became the black leaders. Blacks left the old white churches behind in exchange for Baptist and Episcopal. Many black schools were opened, lots of times by people who hired educated blacks to teach at them. Black colleges were opened to train men to become preachers, including Howard, Atlanta, Fisk and Morehouse. Also, many blacks moved west, becoming the first cowboys in Kansas and Oklahoma.

ii. Reasons for Sharecropping: The southern economy was dead, as a result of the end of free labor supply and no compensation for the slaves. Whites first started by signing blacks to work contracts (akin to slavery), blacks finally wanted autonomy and stopped signing the contracts. So Southern whites started the sharecropping/tenant farming situations.

1. Sharecropping/Tenant Farming/Crop Lien System: Landlord provided the seed and the supplies and the blacks worked the fields. The blacks then split the harvest (both got half.) This was good in that it gave blacks some responsibility, it usually ended up with the blacks either being in debt to the landlord or to local merchants. By 1880, only 5% of blacks in the South were actually independent farmers. Sharecropping was slavery with a new name.

D. The North during Reconstruction: North is driven by industry, as before and during the War especially with the help of Republican economics. Most important thing to Northerners after the War? Railroads, steel, labor problems and money. Reconstruction becomes less and less important.

a. Greed and Corruption: Material gain pushes moral change out of the way.

i. Rise of the spoilsmen: Early 1870s, Congressional leadership changed from Radicals to political manipulators (Senators Roscoe Conklin of NY and James Blaine of Maine). They were masters of patronage, or spoils (giving jobs or government favors to supporters.)

ii. Corruption in business and Government: Postwar years were an age of corruption (for example, Wall Street financiers Jay Gould and James Fisk, with the help of Grant’s brother-in-law, schemed to corner the gold market. The scheme was busted by the Treasury Department, but Gould made a huge profit.

1. Credit Mobilier Affair: Insiders gave stock to influential members of Congress to avoid investigation of the profits they were making (as much as 348%), from government subsidies for building the transcontinental railroad.

2. Whiskey Ring: Federal revenue agents conspired with the liquor industry to defraud the government of millions in taxes.

3. Local scandal: NYC William Tweed was the boss of the local Democratic Party, masterminded schemes for helping himself and his cronies. The Tweed Ring stole over $200 million from NYC’s taxpayers. He was eventually exposed by a cartoonist named Thomas Nast in 1871.

b. The Election of 1872: Liberal Republicans broke ranks and nominated newspaperman Horace Greeley (who supported reform, an end of RR subsidies, withdrawal of troops from the South, reduced tariffs, and free trade.) The Democrats miraculously nominated Greeley as well. Regular Republicans “waved the bloody shirt”. Grant was re-elected in a landslide and Greeley died a few weeks later.

c. The Panic of ’73: Over-speculation by financiers and overbuilding by industry and railroads led to widespread business failures and depression. Despite a call among the people who wanted the government to release more Greenbacks not supported by gold, Grant sided with creditors and hard money bankers and vetoed a bill calling for the printing of more Greenbacks.

E. The End of Reconstruction: Radical Republicanism was on the wane midway through Grant’s second term, southern conservatives (known as redeemers) took control of state after state. The process was completed by 1877. Redeemers had different social and economic backgrounds but agreed on their political program: states rights, reduced taxes, reduced spending on social programs, and white supremacy.

a. White Supremacy and the KKK: There were many white supremacy groups, but the most famous was the Ku Klux Klan. Started by Nathan Bedford Forrest in 1867, the “invisible empire” sought to intimidate, attack and murder freedmen to keep them from voting. Congress responded in 1870 with the passage of the Force Acts to try and stop the most violent attacks and enforce the 14th and 15th Amendments.

b. The Amnesty Act of 1872: (Almost all men could now vote.) Northerners by this time were ready to put the old hatreds behind them. This removed the last of the restrictions on leading Confederates, except for the very highest raking ones. The effect was it allowed southern conservatives to vote for Democrats to retake control of state governments.

c. Election of 1876: There were only three states still under occupation: SC, Fl. La. The Democrats had returned to power in all the other southern states, which played a critical role in the national election.

i. Republicans nominate Rutherford B. Hayes, who was untouched by corruption of the higher ranking Republicans. He was a former governor of Ohio and a War hero. Democrats chose Samuel Tilden who had gained fame for fighting the Tweed Ring as Governor of NY.

ii. As the results came in, it seemed the Democrats and Tilden had won. But there were contested results in three states: SC, La, Fl. All Tilden needed was one more electoral vote.

iii. A special commission was established to see who gets these votes, the commission was made up of 8 Republicans and 7 Democrats (there had been 7 and 7 and an independent, but the independent backed out.) The results were 8-7 to give the votes to Hayes.

d. The Compromise of 1877: The Democrats make a deal in which Hayes would

i. Immediately end federal support for the Republicans in the South.

ii. Support the construction of a southern transcontinental railroad.

iii. Hayes kept his promise and quickly withdrew all troops protecting blacks in the South.

iv. The Supreme Court would later (in the ‘80s and ‘90s) strike down one Reconstruction Act after another. While the New South promised a move toward industrialization, the real South fell behind the rest of the nation.

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