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Ch. 17: Reconstruction. Reconstruction. The time period following the Civil War Lasted from 1865 to 1877 Also refers to the process the federal government used to readmit the defeated Confederate states to the Union. 17.1: The Politics of Reconstruction. A. The Defeated South.
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Reconstruction • The time period following the Civil War • Lasted from 1865 to 1877 • Also refers to the process the federal government used to readmit the defeated Confederate states to the Union
A. The Defeated South • Agricultural land ruined = regional wealth dropped by 50% 2. Legacy of the civil war? a. Racism/white skin privilege b. Political and social power at stake. Can you say “AmeriKKKa?” • How does the federal government now stand in relationship to the states? a. Feds power trumps state power b. The country is one nation, not a collection of states.
B. Lincoln’s 10% Plan (1863) • Goal: unify country as quickly as possible • Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (1863) a. 10% of voting pop. swear allegiance b. Accept EP, later the 13th Amend (1865) 3. Radical Republicans wanted to punish south = Wade-Davis Bill - 50% of voting pop pleads allegiance. 4. Special Field Order 15 5. Freedman’s Bureau
Lincoln assassinated • April 14, 1865 • In comes…
President Andrew Johnson1865-1869/Democrat Goal with Reconstruction?
It’s an executive issue, not legislature Very lenient on the south; 90% pardoned Supported by Northern Dem. Conservative Rep. S. Unionist Believed in White Supremacy; zero political rights for freedmen C. Johnson and Reconstruction
Wanted PES equality Civil Rights Act (1866 ) Grants citizenship Overturns Dred Scott 14th Amend (1868) Stronger Freedman’s Bureau 2 and 3 vetoed by Johnson; overridden by congress Black codes in the south enforced D. Radical Republicans
E. Congressional Reconstruction • Reconstruction Act (1867): a. Five military districts under martial law • Adopt 14th Amend (1868) • universal suffrage • “due process” by law c. Military supervised voting polls
Tenure of Office Act a. Pres. needs Senates approval to remove cabinet member; Johnson did not get it. b. Sec. of War Stanton fired by Johnson. c. Johnson impeached d. Set precedent: criminal action needed, not political disagreements. E. Congressional Reconstruction
Mary Suratt, hanged, considered conspirator in Lincoln’s assassination by Johnson
Mary Suratt Letter pleading for a commutation of Mary Suratt's sentence from death to life in prison, was withheld from the President by Edwin Stanton. When Johnson learned about the intentional concealment of this written appeal, he flew into a rage, and on February 21, 1868, fired Secretary Stanton. She was the mother of one of the men who plotted the murder. He flees the country.
F. Election of 1868 U.S. Grant
Passage of 15th Amend (1870) except for…
Elizabeth Stanton Susan B. Anthony G. Woman Suffrage and Reconstruction
Migration to southern cities Began going to school Organized their own churches; ministers became political figures Landowners & self employed; difficult to do A. Freedom
Sharecropping – a. the farmer has nothing; no capital or equipment, gets everything from owner to include seeds b. Pays owner with a portion of harvest/crop Tenant farming – a. rented the land and paid owner in cash instead of crops b. Had their own equipment B. Sharecropping vs. Tenant Farming
Main concerns a. Civil rights b. Suffrage 2. Union League a. Promoted the Republican party in the south b. Reg. AA male voters c. Taught them about their rights C. African Americans in the Political Scene
Carpetbaggers a. Northerners who moved south b. ideology/capitalism 2. Scalawags a. white southern Republicans b. Small farmer; payback from S. elite c. modernize 3. African Americans able to participate and run for offices A. Politics in the South
New constitutions expanding democracy Main problem in enforcing the laws in the south? Convincing whites that it was the right thing to do 3. capital for investing difficult to come by B. Reconstructing the States
Rise of the KKK = a. KKK Act – fed. crime to infringe on civil rights b. Suspension of habeas corpus c. Interference w/voting a fed. offense 2. Slaughterhouse cases a. Group of cases stating that the state, not the federal gov’t, controls defining citizenship b. Effect on 14th & 15th Amend? C. Resistance and “Redemption”
By end of war, cotton was in high demand. What’s happening to the price of cotton? By 1880’s, sharecropping leads to influx of cotton. What’s happening to the price of cotton? Real money makers? D. Farmers, Merchants and Cotton
A. The Age of Capital & Big Business • 1865-1873 production increased by 75% ; second only to GB • TRR funded by fed gov’t • Pacific RR Act 1862 - Land grants and subsidies paid out by gov’t • 10 sq. mi per one mi of track • Loans of $16,000- 48,000 depending on grade
b. Union Pacific c. Central Pacific i. Chinese and Mex. ii. Chinese Exclusion Act (1882) limited Chinese immigrants for 10 yrs. • White/Bks/Irish immigrants
d. Last Spike: Promontory Summit, Utah (1869)e. Economic trickle effect of RR
3. Credit Mobilier (1872) • Construction company • stockholders of Union Pacific made contracts with themselves • Paid off congressmen • Scam from start to finish • No one prosecuted • Pres. Grant in office
B. Liberal Republicans 1. Radical Rep. losing power scandals & focusing on big business • Laissez-faire: gov’t does not interfere in economic decisions; protects private property • Free market – supply and demand- and low taxes • Hostile towards unions
C. Depression of 1873 • Commercial overexpansion with RR • Reversed trickle-effect • Natural business cycle
D. Electoral Crises of 1876:Electoral results? Samuel Tilden (Dem) v. Rutherford Hayes (Rep) • EC votes disputed a. Fl, La, SC b. No maj. w/EC 2. Let’s make a deal!
E. Compromise of 1877 • withdraw troops from the South • Promote industrialization in the South; TRR • appoint Democrats to positions in the South • appoint a Democrat to the president’s cabinet. • The South has been “redeemed!”
