Reconstruction

1. Reconstruction Unit 5.7

2. What to do with the South? • What is the political and legal status of the former Confederate States when the war ends? • Lincoln’s Ten Percent plan – easy • Congress tried their own with the Wade-Davis Bill – harder • Lincoln killed it with a pocket veto. • What is a pocket veto? • Lincoln’s Ten Percent plan was going to be used until Ford Theatre. • New President Andrew Johnson was going to go with Lincoln’s plan, but upset the Radical Republicans.

3. Radical Reconstruction • So Radical Republicans take over • Led by • Thaddeus Stevens (PA) • Charles Sumner (Mass) • Remember him? • With Brooks? • In 1866 they had 2/3 majority in Congress. • Passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867 • Johnson vetoed, but overridden • Made Military districts

4. End of Slavery • Officially ended with the 13th Amendment • But the South then passed Black Codes. • What is the difference between Black Codes and slavery? • The Congress then passed the Civil Rights Act (1866) over Johnson’s veto. • Soon after passed the 14th Amendment. • Civil Rights • “No discrimination of race, creed, or color” • Also rules for southern states to rejoin Union.

5. IMPEACHMENT • President Johnson had vetoed many pieces of legislation. • The Radical Republicans set up a trap: • Tenure in Office Act – President could not remove cabinet officers without 2/3 vote of Senate. • Sec. of War Edwin Stanton was fired and the House drew up Impeachment charges against Johnson. • In 1868, after a 3-month trial in Senate, Johnson was one vote short of being removed from office. (Who is the only other President to be Impeached?)

6. 15th Amendment • In 1870, the 15th Amendment passed which gave black men the right to vote. • But what about women? How did Elizabeth Cady Stanton react? • South would still try to limit voting of blacks (and poor whites) by: • Grandfather Laws • Poll taxes • Literacy Tests • Intimidation

7. Freedmen’s Bureau • The Freedmen’s Bureau was established in 1865 to assist the newly freed slaves. • At first had authority to give them confiscated farmlands. • 40 acres and a mule idea • Stopped when President Johnson pardoned Confederates and they got their land back. • But most of the success came in the establishment of schools and hospitals throughout the south (and some reuniting of families)

8. Southern Politics during Reconstruction • Scalawags – white southerners who joined Republicans • Mainly small farmers • Carpetbaggers – Northerners who moved south • Bad reputation because of some • The new freedmen, Scalawags, and Carpetbaggers formed Republican majorities in many southern states around 1870. • Hiram Revels – 1st black U.S. Senator • Blanche Bruce - 2nd • As more Democrats regained the right to vote and intimidation took over, they lost power.

9. Southern Economy in Reconstruction • Economy in ruins after the war. • Confederate bonds worthless • Physical damage - $100 million in GA and SC alone • Property values much lower • Cotton prices lower (India, Egypt now in world market) • Sharecropping and Tenant Farming develop. • Bourbon Rule – (land) rich still had most of the power • Henry Grady – Atlanta Constitution – “change southern economy”

10. Intimidation • Ku Klux Klan started out against Republican rule in the south. • Nathan Bedford Forrest – founder, but later denounced it. • White Camellia Knights – another radical group • Enforcement Acts and President Grant helped put the KKK down • Would come back later in the 1920s • Ida B. Wells – would lead and anti-lynching campaign in the late 1800s

11. Reconstruction in North • Gilded Age Politics – notorious for corruption • Grant’s Presidency: • Credit Mobilier scandal involving railroads skimming off the top • Whiskey Ring, Navy Ring, Indian Ring • Panic of 1873 • Railroad speculation (bubble) cause banking crises • “Waving the Bloody Shirt” – Republican use it to unite party • People in North grew tired of Reconstruction • Social Darwinism idea in business, but also with races

12. Redemption • Amnesty Act of 1872 left only the top 500 confederate unable to serve • Democrats would take back over government • “yellow-dog democrats” • Election of 1876 • Rep – Rutherford B. Hayes • Dem – Samuel Tilden • Tilden had the most votes, but 3 states were in question for fraud • Compromise of 1877 • Hayes wins and military reconstruction ends

13. The New South • “Lost Cause” – looking back to “old south” • Redeemer Governments – South is democratically controlled until after World War II • Jim Crow Laws – Segregation laws • “as the army marched out, Jim Crow marched in” • Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) – Supreme Court supported “separate by equal” doctrine (legally allowed segregation) • Atlanta Compromise speech by Booker T. Washington • “accepting of segregation,” idea of self-help with education and skills

14. Links • http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/civil-war-and-reconstruction-1861-1877 -timeline • http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/reconstruction/section1/section1_intro.html - Reconstruction • http://www.mrburnett.net/civilwar.html - from another teacher • http://www.mrburnett.net/civilwar.html - part 1 aftermath • http://www.mrburnett.net/civilwar.html - student project • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OVH26dfBL4w&feature=BFa&list=PLB40AC55D5CB1BC06 – review video

15. Reflection Questions • What would be some lasting effects on the South of Reconstruction? • What could Abraham Lincoln have done differently if he had been President during Reconstruction? • Why did the north tire of Reconstruction? • How did Reconstruction set the stage for the next 100 years in the United States? • What are the three Reconstruction amendments and what do each of them do?