Chapter 12: Reconstruction and Its Effects



Chapter 12: Reconstruction and Its Effects

Section 1: The Politics of Reconstruction

Lincoln's Plan for Reconstruction

*Reconstruction- the period during which the US began to rebuild after the Civil War. (1865-1877)

-This was also the process of the federal government readmitting the Confederate states back into the US.

Lincoln's Ten-Percent Plan – Dec.1863

-This was this proclamation of amnesty and reconstruction.

-After 10% of those on the 1860 voting lists took an oath of allegiance, a state could form a new state government and gain representation in Congress.

-Under these terms, four states moved towards readmission into the Union- AR, LA, TN, & VA.

-This moderate reconstruction plan angered a minority of Republicans in Congress, known as *Radical Republicans- the people who wanted to destroy the political power of former slaveholders and give African-Americans full citizenship and the right to vote.

*Thaddeus Stevens- of Pennsylvania was the party leader.

Radical Reaction – July 1864

*Wade-Davis Bill- proposed that Congress, not the president, be responsible for Reconstruction. It also declared that a majority, not just 10% of those eligible to vote in 1860 would have to take a solemn oath to support the Constitution.

-Lincoln used a pocket veto to kill this bill. This upset the radicals.

Johnson's Plan

-He became president after Lincoln was killed.

Johnson Continues Lincoln's Policies

-Johnson's plan, like Lincoln’s, failed to address the needs of former slaves in three areas: land, voting rights and protection under the law. This too would upset the radicals.

-Johnson was not in favor of former slaves gaining the right to vote and believe that "white men alone must manage the South."

-Johnson pardoned many political leaders of the confederacy allowing for most of them to be able to take part in federal government again. Both African-Americans and radicals were furious.

Presidential Reconstruction Comes to a Standstill

-February 1866- Congress voted to continue enforcement. The *Freemen's Bureau- was established by Congress in the last month of the war, it assisted former slaves and poor whites in the South by distributing cloths and food.

-It also set up more than 4,000 schools, 40 hospitals, 61 industrial institutions, and 74 teacher-training centers.

Civil Rights Act of 1866

-This gave African-Americans citizenship and forbid states from passing discriminatory laws *Black codes- that restricted African-Americans lives.

-Mississippi and South Carolina had first enacted black codes in 1865. Other Southern states had rapidly followed suit.

-This restored many restrictions of slavery by prohibiting blacks from carrying weapons, serving on juries, testifying against whites, marrying whites, and traveling without permits. In some states, African-Americans were forbidden to own land.

-Johnson vetoed the freemen's Bureau and the civil rights act.

-Congress was very upset, this brought Reconstruction to a halt.

Congressional Reconstruction

-Moderates and Radicals joined forces. (Mid 1866)

-They work together to override the president's vetoes.

-Congress also drafted the *14th Amendment- ratified in 1868 which made all persons born or naturalized in the US including former slaves, citizens of the country and guaranteed equal protection of the laws.

-Another provision barred most Confederate leaders from holding federal or state offices, unless they were permitted to do so by a 2/3 majority vote of Congress.

1866 Congressional Elections

-Moderates and radicals won a landslide victory over Democrats.

-By March 1867, the 40th Congress was ready to move ahead with Reconstruction.

*Reconstruction Act of 1867- passed by moderates and radicals, it did not recognize state governments formed under the Lincoln and Johnson plans - except for Tennessee, which ratified the 14th amendment, while the other Southern states still rejected ratifying it.

-They divided the other 10 former Confederates states into five military districts, each headed by a Union general.

-In order for states to reenter the union, its constitution had to ensure African-American men the vote, and the state had to ratify the 14th amendment.

Johnson Impeached

*Impeach- to formally charge a federal official with misconduct, while in office.

-The House of Representatives has the power to impeach federal officials who are then tried in the Senate.

-In this case, the Senate would be one vote shy of the 2/3 votes needed to impeach Johnson.

-Thus, he would be acquitted.

-Horace Greeley- secretary of war who led Johnson's impeachment.

1868: Ulysses S. Grant Elected

-Democrats knew that they would not win with Johnson again, so they nominated Horatio Seymour.

-His opponent was General Grant - Grant would win the election.

-Radicals introduced the *15th Amendment- ratified in 1870, prohibits the denial of voting rights to people because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. This amendment would also affect northern states, many of which at this time barred African-Americans voting.

-In response to some Southern states refusing to enforce the 14th and 15th Amendments, Congress passed the *Enforcement Act of 1870- giving the federal government more power to punish those who tried to prevent African-Americans from exercising their rights.

Section 2: Reconstructing Society

Conditions In the Postwar South

1868- AL, AK, FL, LA, NC, and SC reentered the union - the remaining states completed the process by 1870.

Physical and Economic Conditions

-Economic effects of the war were devastating for the South. Southerners were poorer after the war than ever before.

-Region's population in was devastated. More than 1/5 of the adult population of white men died during the war.

Public Works Program

-The Republican government built roads, bridges, railroads and established orphanages and institutions for the care of the mentally ill and disabled.

-Also created the first public school system the South ever had. These would become very expensive.

-To raise money the southern government had to raise taxes of all kinds thus draining existing resources and slowing the region's recovery.

Politics in the Postwar South – Scalawags and Carpetbaggers

*Scalawags- democrats opposed to the Republican plan for reconstruction, called white Southerners who joined the Republican Party's this.

-The majority were small farmers who wanted to improve their economic and political position and prevent the former wealthy planters from regaining power.

*Carpetbaggers- used by the democrats, it was an unflattering name for the Northerners who moved to the South after the war.

-This name referred to the belief that they arrived with so few belongings that everything could fit into a carpetbag.

-Most Southerners believed that they wanted to exploit the Southerners postwar turmoil for their own profit.

African-Americans as Voters

-They made up the largest group of Southern Republicans and gained the right to vote from the 15th amendment.

-In many areas in the South 90% of the qualified African-American voters voted.

Political Differences

-Conflicting goals among Republican Party members led to disunity.

-Not all white Southerners were willing to stay in the South. Several thousands planters emigrated to Europe, Mexico, and Brazil after the war.

Former Slaves Face Many Challenges

-New-won freedoms- at first, many former slaves were cautious about testing the limits of their freedom. Now that they could travel freely, thousands were eager to leave the plantations that they associated with oppression and move to the southern towns and cities where they could find jobs.

-From 1865 to 1870, the African-American population of the 10 largest southern cities doubled.

Reunification of Families

-During Reconstruction, many freed African Americans took advantage of their new mobility to search for love ones who they were split from during slavery.

-In 1865 one man walked more than 600 miles from Georgia to North Carolina looking for his wife and children.

Education

-In 1870 more than 90% of freed African Americans over the age of 20 were illiterate. They were not allowed to learn how to read or write during slavery.

-African-Americans established educational institutions with the assistance from a number of public and private organizations including the freemen's Bureau and African-American churches.

-One college founded during Reconstruction was Hampton Institute in Hampton, Virginia. By 1870 African-Americans had spent more than $1 million on education.

-Some white Southerners, outraged by the idea of educated African-Americans, responded violently.

-Despite the threat of violence they were determined to learn. By 1877 more than 600,000 African-Americans were enrolled in elementary schools.

Politics and African-Americans

-Increase in African American involvement in politics.

-For the first time they held office in local state and federal governments.

-There were more black voters than white voters in the South, yet the African-American officeholders were still in the minority.

*Hiram Revels- was the first African-American senator from Mississippi.

Laws Against Segregation

-By the end of 1866 most states had repealed the black codes and bills were passed proposing the desegregation of public transportation.

Changes in the Southern Economy

-A few slaves had enough money to buy land and even if they did many whites would not sell it to them.

*40 Acres and a Mule- in January 1865, during the Civil War, General Sherman had promised the freed slaves who followed his army 40 acres per family and the use of an of Army mules for their land.

-About 40,000 freed persons settled on 400,000 abandoned or forfeited acres in Georgia and South Carolina.

-Then in August 1865, President Johnson ordered that the original landowners be allowed to reclaim their land and evict the former slaves.

-Thaddeus Stevens called for the government to confiscate plantations and to redistribute part of the land to former slaves.

*Southern Homestead Act- est. in1866, it set aside 44 million acres in the South for freed blacks and loyal whites. The land was swampy and unsuitable for farming. Furthermore, few homesteaders had the resources such as seed, tools, plows, and horses to farm successfully.

Sharecropping and Tenant Farming

-Economic problems forced African-Americans to sign labor contracts with planters.

-In exchange for wages, housing, and food, freedmen worked in the fields.

*Sharecropping- landowners divided their land and gave each worker (either freed African American or poor white) a few acres along with seeds and tools. At harvest time, each worker gave a share of his crop, usually half, to the landowner.

*Tenant Farming- a system in which farm workers supplied their own tools and rented farmland for cash.

Cotton No Longer King

-Demand for cotton decreased during the war, because other countries began to increase their own production.

-Thus, tobacco took hold.

Section 3: The Collapse of Reconstruction

Opposition to Reconstruction

*Ku Klux Klan- was founded as a social club for Confederate veterans. It started in Tennessee in 1866 and by 1868 it existed in every southern state.

-Its main goal was to restore white supremacy by preventing African-Americans from exercising their political rights.

Anti-Black Violence

-Whites who helped African-Americans were also in danger.

-A Klan objective was to get the republicans, who had established the Reconstruction governments, out of power.

-Their terrorist campaigns frightened the African American majorities away from the polls allowing Southern Democrats to sweep elections easily.

-Enforcement Acts- passed in 1870 in 1871. They were ruled unconstitutional in 1882.

Scandal and Money Crisis Hurt Republicans

-During the 1870s scandals plagued the Grant administration.

-These scandals diverted public attention away from the conditions in the South.

-A group of radical Republicans, angered by the corruption, formed a new party.

*Liberal Republican Party-1872- they hope to oust Grant in that year's presidential election. *Edwin Stanton- a New York Tribune editor would run for them.

-Grant would win the 1872 election.

-Despite the rift in the Republican Party that resulted from the scandals, corruption in Grants administration continued.

-In 1875 the so-called *Whiskey Ring was exposed.

-Internal revenue collectors and other officials accepted bribes from whisky distillers who wanted to avoid paying taxes on their products the conspiracy defrauded the federal government of millions of dollars.

-Due to the corruption Grant decided not to seek reelection in 1876.

Economic Turmoil

*Panic of 1873- financial crisis in which banks closed and the credit system collapsed resulting in many bankruptcies and high unemployment.

-Smaller banks closed and the stock market temporarily collapsed. This triggered a five-year economic depression were 3 million workers lost their jobs.

-Currency Dispute- during the war, the federal government began to issue greenbacks (Union $) that were not equally backed in gold.

-After the war, financial experts advocated honoring the greenbacks and returning the nation to currency backed by gold.

-In contrast, Southern and Western farmers and manufacturers wanted the government to issue greenbacks.

*1875 Specie Resumption Act- promised to put the country back on the gold standard. This act sparked a further debate over monetary policies.

Judicial and Political Support Fades

-Former Confederate democrats were being restored in the government and the Supreme Court underwent some of the social and political changes that the radicals made them add in the decline.

-The Supreme Court made decisions that would hurt African-American political and civil rights, going against both the 14th and 15th amendments.

-As both judicial and public support decreased, Republicans began to back away from their commitment to Reconstruction.

Democrats “Redeem” the South

*Redemption- a term democrats used to state their return to power in the South.

-With the national election of 1876- Congressional Reconstruction came to an end.

Election of 1876

-Republicans chose *Rutherford B. Hayes- governor of Ohio and the democrats chose *Samuel J. Tilden- governor of New York.

-Tilden won the popular vote but fell 1 vote short of the number of electoral votes needed to win.

*Electoral College- a group selected by the states to elect the president and vice president in which each state's number of electors is equal to the number of its senators and representatives in Congress.

-Hayes won the election.

-For the first time in US history a candidate who had lost the popular election would become president.

-Republicans controlled the electoral commission and democrats controlled the House of Representatives, which had to approve the election results.

-Southern Democrats were willing to accept Hayes in return for a few things:

1. The withdrawal of federal troops from Louisiana and South Carolina.

2. The democrats wanted federal money to build a railroad from Texas to the West Coast and federal money to improve Southern rivers, harbors, and bridges.

3. They wanted Hayes to appoint a conservative Southerner to his Cabinet.

-This was known as the *Compromise of 1877 and it officially meant the end to Reconstruction in the South.

Home Rule in the South

-After the 1876 election republicans no longer controlled any Southern states.

-The democrats had achieved their long desired goal of *Home Rule- the ability to run state governments without federal intervention, which set out to rescue the South from what they viewed as a decade of mismanagement by northerners republicans and African-Americans.

-Laws were passed to restrict the rights of African-Americans and the Southern states wiped out social programs, slashed taxes, and dismantled public schools.

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