Reconstruction notes

Below you will find the notes that I could not let you take home in class concerning reconstruction. You may use them to answer the reconstruction questions you received in class. These should be finished by Thursday, along with pages 20 and 21 in your workbook.

*Note* There will be a Civil War/Reconstruction Test on Monday, September 8th!
RECONSTRUCTION NOTES



Following the end of the Civil War, the South’s economy was in shambles.
railroads destroyed
plantations destroyed
plantation owners could not afford capital for agricultural equipment to
replace slave labor
speculative enterprises preyed on people left destitute by war.

The social structure of the South changed, creating confusion.
aristocratic plantation owners having lost their wealth were forced to yield to
the growing influence of bankers, merchants and small farmers.
African Americans made the transition from slaves to wage earners, creating
racial tensions with the whites.

Political Uncertainty.
Collapse of the Confederacy stalled most political processes.
State and local governments had to be organized.
New state governments had to establish normal relations with the Union.
Northern states and governments differed on what and how it should be done.
Division on National level between Congress and Lincoln / Johnson on how
the former Confederate states should be admitted back into the union.
The rift became one of the worst in the nation’s history.

The Plans
CONQUERED PROVINCES THEORY
Secession is an illegal act and that southerners must pay a heavy
penalty for having committed it. By doing this, the Southern states are now
outside the protection of the Constitution and are treated as conquered
provinces. Congress had the right to govern them.


LINCOLN’S 10 PERCENT PLAN
Ignored “conquered provinces” theory. Believe right to secede did not
exist. Believed South had been punished enough and he should help the
South to come back into the Union as quickly as possible. Presented a two-
part plan for reconstruction.
The plan pardoned all southerners (except high Confederate officials
and those who left the U.S. government or military service to aid the
Confederacy) who would swear allegiance to the U.S. and accept all acts of
Congress passed during the rebellion with reference to slaves.
Second, it authorized the establishment of a new government, with
representation in the national government, for any state if one-tenth of its
qualified voters (in 1860) would take the required loyalty oath.
JOHNSON’S PLAN FOR RECONSTRUCTION
Pro-Union Senator Andrew Johnson of Tennessee was the only southern member of the Senate not to resign his Senate seat at the beginning of the Civil War. He was a Democrat. He became Vice President in 1864 to Republican Lincoln to show wide spread unity. The party’s name was
temporarily changed to the Union Party.

The Johnson Plan was the Lincoln Plan with minor changes.
- granting amnesty to all former Confederates (except certain high
leaders and large property holders) who were willing to take an
oath to uphold the Constitution.
- by successive proclamations he set up provisional state governments
in the former Confederate states. In doing so, he authorized loyal
white citizens to ratify new state constitutions and elect state
legislatures. The job of these legislatures were to
- repeal the the ordinances of secession
- repudiate the Confederate state debts
- ratify the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which ends
slavery.

THE RADICAL REPUBLICANS

Members of the Republican Party who opposed the Johnson plan. Congress
would eventually be dominated by this group. It was led in the House of
Representatives by Rep. Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania and in the Senate by Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts.

Motives of the Radicals
The Radicals exhibited a blend of high moral purpose and partisan self- interest. These were the main factors:
a) personal animosity toward Johnson because they believed he was
unworthy to be president.
b) the fear of executive encroachment upon the authority of Congress.
c) the desire to safeguard the interests if the freedmen (African Americans
freed from slavery) as a result of the Civil War.
d) resentment over the speedy return of former Confederates to political
power in the South.
e) the determination by Republican politicians to establish their party in
the South.
f) the hope, especially by northern businessmen, that the removal of
Southern influence from Congress would result in a program of
government aid to industry.




THE THIRTEENTH AMENDMENT

Prohibits slavery within the United States. Passed by Congress in February 1865 and was ratified by December, thus becoming a part of the Constitution.

THE BLACK CODES

A series of discriminatory laws passed by southern state legislatures established by the Johnson plan. These laws regulated the status of the FREEDMEN. While these laws confirmed some rights of citizenship, they helped to ensure white supremacy.
The severity of the laws varied from state to state.

Examples:

denied the right to hold public office
denied the right to serve on juries
denied the right to carry weapons
must had to have a license to hold any job except for farming.

Impact in the North was increased support for the Radical Republicans.


THE FREEDMEN'S BUREAU

Purpose: to provide the freed slaves with the basic necessities of life and protect their
civil rights as well as care for the abandoned lands in the South.

Originally passed to last a for a limited time. Congress renewed bill to extend the bureau indefinitely. It also contained a provision for the military trial of civilians
violating the Constitution. Johnson vetoed this bill. A later bill, which enlarged the bureau’s powers, was passed and also vetoed. Congress overrode this veto.

THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON RECONSTRUCTION

Congress refused to seat the senators and representatives sent by the states who
followed Johnson’s plan.

Thaddeus Stevens and Members of both houses formed the Joint Committee to look at the issue of political reconstruction of the South.

THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT

April 1866 - Civil Rights Act is passed by Congress over veto by Johnson. It gave
citizenship to all African Americans, making them equal to whites under
the law.

The Radical Republicans and their quarrel with Johnson also became
more violent. They insisted upon the political punishment of former
Confederates.

The Joint Committee on Reconstruction proposed the Fourteenth
Amendment. Congress passed it in June of 1866 and it was sent to
the states for ratification.

Provisions:
1. Citizenship is given to all persons born or naturalized in the U.S.
No state laws shall deny any of these individuals of “ life, liberty
or property without due process of law.
2. Any state that deprived any of its male inhabitants of the right to
vote will have representation in Congress reduced by the number
denied in the state. (This was very difficult to enforce.)
3. Former Confederates were barred from holding federal and state
offices if they had held similar posts before the war.
4. The Confederate debt was repudiated and the U.S. debt affirmed.

The 14th Amendment had to be ratified before any Confederate state
could be readmitted to the Union. Tennessee did this and came back in.
The other states rejected the 14th Amendment upon President Johnson’s advice and defeated it. In spite of this, the amendment was ratified.

CONGRESSIONAL ELECTION OF 1866

The Radical Republicans gain control of both houses of Congress.

THE RADICAL REPUBLICAN RECONSTRUCTION ACTS

1. The ten former Confederate states that are still unreconstructed
are divided into five military districts with a major general in charge of
each district.
2. In order to be admitted back into the the union, the following must be
done:
- a constitution convention, elected by African Americans and
Whites, was to write a new state constitution that allowed the
the right to vote for males, both African American and White.
3. Qualified voters were to elect to elect a state legislature that would
ratify the Fourteenth Amendment.
4. With the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment the state could apply
for representation in Congress.




THE IMPEACHMENT OF JOHNSON

The leaders of the Radical Republicans were frustrated because they could not
control the executive branch of government.

They realized that because Andrew Johnson was so unpopular, they
determined to remove him from office and remove any constitutional check on
their policies.

They passed the Tenure of Office Act which forbid a president to fire anyone
whose appointment had been approved by the Senate. This act violated the
system of checks and balances written into the Constitution.

Johnson’s Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton was a radical republican. He had
also been appointed by Abraham Lincoln, who was a Republican, not Johnson,
who was a Democrat.

Johnson vetoed the bill and Congress overrode the veto. Stanton caused so
many problems for Johnson, that Johnson fired him.

The House of Representatives immediately impeached Johnson ( which
means to indict or formally charge) on the charges of high crimes and
misdemeanors.

Johnson was put on trial in the Senate, which was presided over by Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court, Salmon P. Chase. The radicals failed by one
vote (35 to 19) to secure the two-thirds majority needed to remove Johnson
from office. Seven moderate voted with the Democrats voted to keep him in
office.

The Tenure of Office Act was repealed by Congress in 1887.


THE SOUTH IN TRANSITION

Because of Radical Reconstruction, it brought rapid changes to the economic
and social life of the South and the upper classes, which had been dominant
before the Civil War, began to lose their political power.

The Radicals Reconstruction required in their plan of 1867 the registration
of male voters. When this had been accomplished, approximately 700,000
African Americans were on the lists and about 625,000 Whites.




CARPETBAG GOVERNMENTS

African Americans were members of the conventions that drafted the new
state constitutions. They made up about about one-third of the membership.

Many, both African American and White, were inexperienced but on the whole
were able and honest.

The White legislators were the “carpetbaggers” and scalawags”.

Carpetbaggers were northerners who had gone south after the Civil War. Since
a number of them carried cheap bags made of carpeting material, they got the
nickname of “carpetbaggers”
Many wanted to help African Americans adjust to freedom; others anticipated
power and fortune through business and political enterprises.

Scalawags were southern whites who cooperated with the carpetbaggers
and the freedmen to aid the Radical program. It is a slang term for “rascal”.
Like carpetbaggers, their motives were mixed. Many were eager to help both
African Americans and lower-class Whites achieve security in a rebuilt South.
Others were interested in political preferment and lucrative contracts during
a period of widespread confusion.

THE FIFTEENTH AMENDMENT

The Fifteenth Amendment mandated that all states were prohibited from
denying suffrage (the vote) to males in the grounds of “race, color, or previous
condition of servitude” (Women were not included as they did not get the vote
until the early part of the 20th century.) The amendment passed Congress in
February of 1869 and was ratified by the states by March of 1870.

THE KU KLUX KLAN

Terrorist group in the South that was founded in Pulaski, TN, in 1866. It’s
purpose was to frighten African Americans into renouncing their new political
power and economical and social gains.

The members would take refuge under white robes and hoods and go on
gruesome “night-riding” missions. They used whips, branding irons, ropes,
torches, guns, and knives on African Americans. They also resorted to lynching
innocent African Americans.

Southern Whites who disliked the Klan and other secret societies used subtle
forms of coercion. African Americans were denied employment and kept from
voting by psychological intimidation.

The Klan and the other secret societies became such a problem that it led to
the passage of three laws called “The Force Acts”

The Enforcement Act of 1870 imposed heavy penalties for violations
of the 14th and 15 Amendments.

The Enforcement Act of Feb. 1871 placed congressional elections
under the control of the federal authorities.

The Enforcement Act of April, 1871 (also called the Ku Klux Klan Act)
gave the president military authority to suppress violence in the
southern states. In 1871 President Grant used these powers to subdue
the Klan in South Carolina.

Even with the passage of the 14th and 15th Amendments and the enforcement
acts, the Radical Republicans lost ground in the South after 1870.

THE GENERAL AMNESTY ACT

By 1872, legislation was passed by Congress that restored political privileges
thousands of former Confederates and hastened the collapse of governments
based on African American votes.

This was pushed through by a combination of Democrats and moderate
Republicans. By 1876, only three southern states were still under the
control of the Radicals.

THE END OF RECONSTRUCTION

As a result of a compromise to work out the disputed 1876 election of Rutherford B. Hayes as President, Hayes agreed to withdraw all federal troops
from the South in 1877. The state governments still in Republican hands
quickly fell to the southern Democrats.

POLITICAL READJUSTMENTS

Many Southerners came to believe that the Republican Party was, as a whole,
made up of African Americans and corrupt Whites who despised the Old South.
Whoever captured the Democratic nomination on the state or local level was
certain of winning the election. Between 1876 and 1920, the Republican
Party did not carry a single state from the old Confederacy.

While avoiding violence, the Democratic leaders still managed to steadily
reduce the number of African Americans who could meet the qualifications
to vote.

Several different means were used:
The Literacy Test, constructed so that African Americans could not pass.
The Poll Tax (a tax levied on adults, the payment of which was required
for voting.)
Property Requirements
The “grandfather clause” of newly revised state constitutions, granting
the right to vote to those whose fathers or grandfathers had voted before
1867. (This last step barred African Americans but made it possible for
uneducated whites to vote.

DISRUPTION OF THE PLANTATION SYSTEM

Changes brought about the War compelled southern landowners to reduce the
the size of their plantations.
Since the plantation owners couldn’t afford to hire labor, some sold off
large portions of their acreage.

The majority of the Plantation owners preferred to use a plan of
cultivation using tenant farmers, White or African American, who
themselves did not possess enough money to pay a cash rental.

This system was known as “sharecropping”. The way it worked was
that the tenant farmer (the sharecropper) giving to the landowner as
rent a portion (usually half) of the crop he raised by his labor.


RISE OF THE MERCHANT

If the landowner did not supply what was needed to the sharecropper, the
sharecropper was frequently forced to pledge another share of his crop to the
local merchant in order to secure credit for his working requirements. This
would be the only way he could afford to purchase the tools, see and draft
animals he needed. This was called the crop-lien system. Small farmers who
owned their land were also forced to use the crop-lien system. Sometimes they would have to pledge their entire crop. This forced the small farmers to
limit their crops that have widespread and constant appeal, such as cotton
and tobacco. They became , in a sense, economically enslaved to the
merchant-creditors.


INDUSTRIAL DEVELOPMENT

Industrial development replaced the plantation system. The exploitation of
coal, iron, phosphates and lumber gained momentum. This led to work in
factories, which were located where cheap water power was available. The
increase in railroad mileage began to keep pace with the output of coal and
iron and with the multiplication of cotton mills.

STATUS OF AFRICAN AMERICANS

In many communities, the bitterness engendered by imposed government
and military occupation by the Radicals brought about conflicts between the
Whites and the newly liberated African Americans. The impact was that it
curbed the African Americans development.

With the breakup of the large plantations, meant the loss of jobs for the
African Americans.

Many ended up in mill towns or got employment in mines and factories where
their labor was exploited.

THE NEW SOUTH

In 1886, the editor of the “Atlanta Constitution”, Henry Grady coined the phrase
“The New South”.
This denotes the primary economic develops in the region after the
Reconstruction period.`
Grady asserted that the South, instead of looking backwards, should look
to the future with hope and confidence.
The phrase was widely accepted but much still needed to be accomplished.

REMAINING PROBLEMS

Critical Problems remained:
1. The southern economy had not escaped the control of northern
financiers.
2. southern political leaders remained far more interested in sectional
than national problems.
3. many farmers, both White and African American, still lived in poverty.
4. mindful of the heavy personal losses during the Civil War and the
Reconstruction period, most voters refused to accept tax programs
that would have provided funds for the social services needed to
rebuild after the war’s destruction.