Chapter 13 - Reconstruction.

Section 1: Presidential Reconstruction
Reconstruction- the process of putting the United States back together after the Civil War.

• Began by Lincoln before the end of the War, as the Union had already occupied some southern states.

Carrying out Reconstruction involved a number of issues:

1. Physically rebuilding the South, which had suffered tremendous damage from the War.
2. Reintegrating southern states back into the national government.
3. Dealing with 4 million former slaves, as they tried to establish new lives with very little wealth or education to start off with.

Thirteenth Amendment (1865) – outlawed slavery in the United States, was passed by Congress before the War was over.

• Some southern states resisted the end of slavery, but were ultimately forced to give it up.

Lincoln’s Reconstruction Plan – he wanted to restore southern states to the Union as quickly as possible.

• Lincoln took a lenient approach to dealing with the South, while others were calling for punishment.
• His plan had 2 basic requirements for restoration of a state’s status in the Union:

 1.  They were required to ratify the 13th Amendment. 
2.  Once 10% of the voters in a state swore an oath of allegiance to the U.S. government, those voters could elect a new state government and write a new state constitution.

• Some Republicans (Radical Republicans) in Congress felt that Lincoln’s plan was too forgiving.  They passed the Wade-Davis Bill to institute a much harsher policy for Reconstruction, but Lincoln vetoed this bill.
• Lincoln was assassinated before he could fully implement his plan.
• Andrew Johnson took over as President after Lincoln’s assassination, and instituted a plan that was even more favorable to the South.

Former Slaves – were referred to as freedmen.

• Faced a difficult situation due to a lack of economic resources and education, as well as facing harsh discrimination from southern whites.
• Many had no choice but to return to work for their former masters, at very low wages.
• Most remained in the South following the war.
• The Federal government created the Freedman’s Bureau to try to assist former slaves.  It provided education, help finding work, and some economic assistance.  However, it did not have the resources to greatly improve the situation for the majority of freedmen.

Section 2: Congressional Reconstruction
By the end of 1865, all southern states had formed new governments, 3 under Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan, and the rest under Andrew Johnson’s reconstruction plan.  These states now prepared to officially rejoin the Union. 

I.  Johnson and Southern Democrats Attempt “Restoration”
With President Johnson sympathetic to their desires, Southern Democrats attempted to restore their society as closely as they could to its Pre-war conditions.  Johnson required Southern states to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment ending slavery, but offered no other protection to African Americans.

• Southern states enacted Black Codes which limited where African Americans could live, how they worked, and their freedom of movement.
• All southern states denied African Americans the right to vote.
• Elections in the South were won almost exclusively by Democrats.  In many instances, former Confederate leaders were elected to office including members of Congress.  Georgia elected former Confederate Vice-President Alexander Stephens to the Senate.

 

 

II.  Republican Reaction (“Radical Reconstruction”)
Republicans in Congress were outraged at Johnson’s lenient approach, and the obvious lack of remorse on the part of the Southern States.  They refused to accept the new state governments, and did not allow Southern representatives to take their seats in Congress.

• Radical Republicans became determined to force the South to accept changes to their society, including expanded rights for blacks.  They also wanted to prevent Southern Democrats from diminishing their control over Congress.
• In 1866 Congress passed a Civil Rights Act that guaranteed rights to African Americans.  President Johnson vetoed this act, but Congress overrode his veto.
• Johnson and Radical Republicans in Congress would become bitterly divided over the direction that reconstruction would take.
• 14th Amendment - passed by Congress in 1866, and it was ratified in 1868.  This Amendment defined citizenship as anyone born or naturalized in the United States.  It also prohibited states from violating or limiting the rights of any citizens.

III.  Reconstruction Act of 1867- placed much more strict conditions on the South.

• It divided the South into five districts and placed them under military rule.
• It ordered southern states to hold new elections for delegates to write new state constitutions.
• It required states to allow African Americans males to vote in all elections.
• It temporarily banned white southerners who had supported the Confederacy from voting.
• It made southern states guarantee equal rights to all citizens.
• It required southern states to ratify the 14th Amendment.

IV.  Andrew Johnson’s Impeachment

• Conflict between Johnson and Congress increased, and in February 1868 the House of Representatives voted to impeach him.
• Johnson had violated a new law, the Tenure of Office Act, which had been passed to keep him from interfering with radical reconstruction.
• When the Senate voted on removing the President from office, they fell one vote short of the two thirds required for removal.

V.  Grant Becomes President

• In the election of 1868, the Republican Party nominated former head of the Union Army Ulysses S. Grant. 
• Grant won a close race, and the Radical Republicans now had a President that they could work more closely with.

VI. The Fifteenth Amendment (passed 1869, ratified 1870)

• The Fifteenth Amendment specifically forbade Congress and all state governments from denying any citizen the right to vote based on race, or on “previous condition of servitude.”
• In the mid-term elections of 1870, large numbers of African American men in the South voted for the first time.  The vast majority of African Americans voted for Republican candidates.
• As a result hundreds of African Americans were elected to state and local governments in the South.  Sixteen African Americans were elected to the House of Representatives.
• In 1874, Blanche K. Bruce became the first African American Senator, when he was elected from Mississippi.

Section 3 - Birth of the “New South”
I. Changes in farming – The loss of slave labor made it more difficult to maintain large plantations. 
Two different farming arrangements became more popular (sharecropping and tenant farming). 

• A sharecropper (and usually his family) would farm a piece of a planter’s land and receive a portion of the crops as payment.
• Tenant farmers rented land from a planter and had more control over how they worked and what crops they planted. 
• Sharecroppers and tenant farmers (both black and white) usually did not make much money and often wound up in debt to the planter or to merchants.

 

II. Rebuilding – there was a need to physically rebuild much of the South due to the damage caused by the war. 

• The enormous demand for supplies during the war had led to even greater industrialization and urbanization in the North. 
• Southern leaders decided that Reconstruction should be used as an opportunity to increase the amount of cities and the level of industrialization in the South.  This goal was met to a certain extent but the South still remained far behind the North in these areas. 
• Reconstruction in the South led to the establishment of public school systems in all of the Southern states. 

Section 4 – The End of Reconstruction
I.  Creation of the Ku Klux Klan – begun in 1866, it was a secret organization determined to maintain a superior position for whites over blacks. 

• The Klan used tactics such as harassment, torture, and murder to intimidate African-Americans as well as others who promoted equal rights.  One of the main goals was to keep blacks from voting.
• They also worked to remove the Republican party from power.
• In 1870 and 71, Congress passed laws aimed at stopping the activities of the Ku Klux Klan.  Federal troops were used to enforce these laws and the influence of the Klan declined. 

II. Reconstruction Ends – by the mid-1870s, public support of Reconstruction had declined.  This was due largely to heavy taxes, corruption, and an economic recession in 1873. 

• By 1876, the majority of federal troops had been withdrawn from the South allowing traditional Southerners to gain more control over society and politics. 
• In the presidential election of 1876, there was a dispute over which candidate had earned the electoral votes of three Southern states (Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina). 
• Compromise of 1877- the Republican and Democratic parties struck a deal in which the electoral votes were given to the Republican candidate, Rutherford B. Hayes instead of Democrat Samuel J. Tilden.  In return, Hayes promised to end Reconstruction and withdraw the remaining federal troops from the South. 
• With the end of Reconstruction, and the withdrawal of federal troops, conditions for African-Americans quickly deteriorated in the South. 

III. Effects of Reconstruction
A.  Successes

• Republicans carried out their two main goals, to reform the Union and to rebuild the war-torn South.
• Reconstruction stimulated economic growth in both the South and the North.
• The 14th and 15th Amendments guaranteed African-Americans the rights of citizenship, equal protection under the law, and suffrage. 
• The Freedmen’s Bureau and other organizations helped many black families obtain housing, jobs, and education.
• Southern states adopted public education systems similar to those practiced in the North. 

B.  Failures

• Most black Southerners remained in a cycle of poverty that allowed almost no escape.  African-Americans still lacked property, economic opportunity, and political power.
• After the withdrawal of federal troops from the South, southern state governments and groups such as the Ku Klux Klan, effectively denied African-Americans the right to vote.
• Racist attitudes toward African-Americans continued in both the South and the North.
• Reconstruction left a lasting bitterness among many white Southerners toward the federal government and the Republican Party.
• While Reconstruction programs resulted in the rebuilding and expansion of Southern infrastructure, the Southern economy continued to emphasize agriculture and to lag far behind the industrialized economy of the North.
• Reconstruction did not address concerns of many groups such as farmers wanting regulation of railroads, workers seeking safer conditions, and advocates of woman suffrage.