Reconstruction

1863-1877

Ad Hoc Arrangements in Border States

In the early years of the war, Federal troops occupied all of Missouri, much of Tennessee (Memphis above, in June 1862), parts of Virginia, Florida, Louisiana, and North Carolina. These were administered under military rule, which at first was fairly lenient. Lincoln’s government had over-estimated Union sympathy in these areas.

New OrleansIn New Orleans (1862), General Benjamin Butler told soldiers to treat rude Southern women as “women of the town.”

Confiscation

The Confiscation Acts (1861 and 1862) were major steps in the slavery issue, with orders given to free slaves who had worked in defense of the Confederacy or ran away from slaveholders “in rebellion. Officers were forbidden to return runaway slaves.

Disagreement Over Postwar Policy

The Union was not of one mind over how to treat the defeated South. Lincoln seemed inclined to be gentle. By 1863, he would require the ex-slave states to ratify the 13th amendment and accept “loyalty oaths” from the former Confederate office-holders and army officers as a sign of loyalty.

Other Republicans, like Thaddeus Stevens of PA. (left) wanted to reconsider the south as “traitors” and feared that if they returned to Congress without a period of occupation, they would join the northern Democrats to undo the results of the war.

“Compensated” Emancipation

Lincoln spent two full years trying to promote a system of emancipation in which states would end slavery over a period of years, and the Federal government would pay them compensation. Despite discussions and suggestions, no state accepted the idea until near the war’s end.

The Wade Davis Bill

Required 50% of the number of 1860 voters to take an “iron clad” oath of allegiance (swearing they had never voluntarily aided the rebellion ).

Required a state constitutional convention before the election of state officials.

Enacted specific safeguards of freedmen’s liberties.

SenatorBenjamin

Wade(R-OH)

Congressman

HenryW. Davis(R-MD)

Punishment of the killers and conspirators

Lincoln’s assassination moved the Union to harsher measures in occupying the southern states. In addition to hanging those who had helped Booth (and some who didn’t even know what he had done), the new Federal government arrested Confederate officers who had possibly mistreated Union prisoners, brought Jefferson Davis to trail for treason, and planned for military governments in the defeated states.

Andrew Johnson

Seen by many as a “simple-minded” tailor who had “risen above his abilities,” Vice President Andrew Johnson was in fact a fairly skilled politician who had won renown in the north for his refusal to join his native Tennessee in secession. He was however, very stubborn, and, like Andrew Jackson (who he greatly admired) he refused to change his course once he had made up his mind about what was the “right” thing to do.

Jefferson Davis in prison

Redistributing the land

Gave aid to refugees and freedmen, and revived abandoned Lands.

Many former northern abolitionists risked their lives to help southern freedmen.

Termed “carpetbaggers” who enriched themselves, by exploiting suffering of white southern Democrats.

Carpetbaggers

“Plenty to eat and nothing

to do.”

Southern views of freedmenSouthern views of freedmen

Northern Dreams

Northern-born judges and lawyers tried to protect freed slaves (freedmen) from the anger of white ex-Confederates. But this proved difficult. Albion Tourgee, one such ‘protector,’ wrote about his frustrations in the novel A Fool’s Errand.

Bureau SchoolsBureau Schools

Southern leaders won amnesty upon a simple oath of loyalty. While Confederate civil and military officers and those with property over $20,000 were excluded, they could apply directly to Johnson for pardon – he granted thousands.

When 10% (+1) met the requirements, then new state constitutions were written -- repudiating slavery, secession and the Confederate state debts.

Named provisional governors in Confederate states and called them to oversee elections for constitutional conventions.

Johnson’s Republican critics s were outraged that planter elite were returning to power in the South.

The Johnson planThe Johnson plan

• Many Southern state constitutions fell short of minimum requirements for “returning to Congress.”

• Johnson granted 13,500 special pardons to men who could not meet the oath requirements.

• A revival of southern defiance occured, especially in violence against freedmen.

Who won?

Fearing that emancipation would ruin agriculture and create a system of social equality, Southern state leaders created codes for legal segregation while banks and merchants used debt to force black families into sharecropping.

New “Black Codes”

Congress barred SouthernCongressional delegates.

Joint Committee on Reconstruction was created.

In February, 1866, the presidentvetoed the Freedmen’s Bureau bill.

In March, 1866, Johnsonvetoed the 1866 Civil Rights Act.

Congress passed both bills over Johnson’s vetoes. No override had been successful before.

Congress vs. the president

“If my blood is to be shed because I vindicate the Union and the preservation of this government in its original purity and character, let it be shed; let an altar to the Union be erected, and then, if it is necessary, take me and lay me upon it, and the blood that now warms and animates my existence shall be poured out as a fit libation to the Union.” Johnson February 1866Johnson February 1866

Johnson plays a martyr

This was ratified by Congress and northern states in July, 1868 to counter Johnson’s leniency. The amendment:

* Provided a constitutional guarantee of the rights and security of all citizens.

* Insured against neo-Confederate political power.

* Repudiated the debt of the CSA.

Would US troops and officials in the South risk their safety to enforce this?

The 14th Amendment

State White Citizens Freedmen

SC 291,000 411,000

MS 353,000 436,000

LA 357,000 350,000

GA 591,000 465,000

AL 596,000 437,000

VA 719,000 533,000

NC 631,000 331,000

Congressional Politics

Johnson’s “Swing around the Circle”

A referendum on Radical Reconstruction.

Johnson made an ill-conceived propaganda tour around the country to push his plan.

Republicanswon a 3-1majority in both houses and gained control of every northern state.

Johnson takes to the stump

The civil authorities in the territories were subject to military supervision.

New state constitutions were expressly required to allow for black suffrage and the ratification of the 13th and 14th Amendments.

In March, 1867, Congress passed an act that authorized the military to supervise the enrollment of eligible black voters and begin the process of constitution making.

Congress’s reconstruction

Military Reconstruction Act

* More troops went south to occupy the 10 Southern states that had refused to ratify the 14th Amendment.

* The Army divided the 10 “unreconstructed states” into 5 military districts.

Teeth for the plan

Soon, Johnson and Grant (as Army commander) were at odds over the role of the Army in the South. Grant is drawn into politics.

Command of the Army Act

* The President must issue all Reconstruction orders through the commander of the military – of doubtful legality.

Tenure of Office Act

* The President could not remove any officials (like Cabinet members) without the Senate’s consent, if the position originally required Senate approval.

This was designed to protect radicalmembers of Lincoln’s government.

There was a question of the constitutionality of this law.

Edwin Stanton

Johnson resists

Johnson Impeached

Johnson was inclined to accept the “Lincoln plan” for reconstructing the South. He granted pardons to many Confederate officers. The Congress, fearing that he would forge an alliance with the South for the 1868 elections, rejected his plans and imposed military occupation on the South. Johnson resisted.

Johnson removed Stanton in February, 1868.

The House impeached him on February 24 by a vote of 126–47

Trial in the Senate

In an 11 week trial, Johnson was attacked brutally, but acquitted on a vote of 35 to 19 (one short of required 2/3rd vote).

Acquittal

1868 Election

“Public opinion” was hard to measure in 1868, but most voters in the North likely wanted Johnson removed from office. He was not a candidate for the 1868 election. Grant, the Republican nominee, won easily – many white southern voters could not vote.

The Republican strategy was to appeal to war emotions.

Bloody Shirt appeals

Election results

As president Grant presided over an era of unprecedented economic growth. His views onsocial equality were notclear – he had owned slavesin Missouri. His advisorsembarrassed him with a series of scandals – theCredit Mobilier and thecorruption in Indian affairs

Easy Money

Thomas Nast cartoon’s of William Marcy Tweed -- notorious head of Tammany Hall’s political machine.

Tweed’s Ring

Massive corruption

Rumors of corruption during Grant’s first term discredited the Republicans.

Horace Greeley ranas a Democrat/LiberalRepublican candidate.

Greeley was attacked as a fool and a crank.

He died on November 29, 1872, just after the election.

1872 Election

Unemployment grew to crisis levels. Hard times raised “the money question.” While debtors wanted an inflationary monetary policy by continuing the circulation of greenbacks, many investors, creditors, and ‘economists” supported hard money. In 1875 the Specie Redemption Act required the Treasury to redeem paper money in hard coin

In 1876, the Greenback Party was formed.

Financial collapse

Sharecropping

Furnishing Merchant Tenant Farmer Landowner

Loan tools and seed up to 60% interest to tenant farmer to plant spring crop.

Farmer also secures food, clothing, andother necessities oncredit from merchant until the harvest.

Merchant holds “lien” {mortgage} on part of tenant’s future crops as repayment of debt.

Plants crop, harvests in autumn.

Turns over up to ½ of crop to land owner as payment of rent.

Tenant gives remainder of crop to merchant inpayment of debt.

Tenant families often live in perpetual debt.

Rents land to tenant in exchange for ¼ to ½ of tenant farmer’s future crop.

Intimidating Black voters

Such colleges as Howard, Fisk and Grambling created an educated core (a ‘talented tenth’) for the Black population

Black education

Black representatives

The Southern segregation was mirrored by northern views that Blacks were incapable of governing.

Ratified in 1870, this stated that “the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” The Congress was enjoined to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Although the amendment was praised in the North, women’s rights groups were furious that they were not granted the vote. Leaders like Susan B Anthony took steps to express their disappointment.

The 15th Amendment

Core black voters were military veterans.

Most blacks had little (if any) political experience, but the Black representatives were capable.

Blacks could register and vote in states, but violence was used to deter them from doing so.

The 15th Amendment guaranteedFederal voting rights, but it was hard to enforce.

The reality

KKK

It was a crime for any individual to deny full &equal use of public conveyances andpublic places.

The act prohibited discrimination in jury selection.

Enforcement relied on a strong Attorney General and honest Federal marshals.

No further major civil rights acts were passedfor over 80 years (1957).

Voting Rights Act, 1875

Panic of 1873 .

Corruption and scandals

Key monetary issues:

Was paper money legal;

Should the $432m in “greenbacks” be redeemed?

Should war bonds be redeemed in specie orgreenbacks or both?

Support wanes

1876

A flawed compromise

The Democrats got more representation in Congress and some Federal patronage, but “Sammy Tilden” was abandoned. As one cartoon put it -- “Boo-Hoo! Ruthy Hayes’s got my Presidency, and he won’t give it to me!”

Tilden the loser

Rebuilding• Economic Devastation – destruction

of labor force, end of plantation system, small amount of infrastructure ruined, extreme poverty, hyperinflation, worthless currency, source of wealth (slaves) erased, land values plummeted

• Social Changes – destruction of planter aristocracy, 1/5 of all white males dead

• White Desires – reimplementation of slave, gang labor/wage labor with blacks in fields, removal of federal troops and northern encroachment in labor contracts and regulations

Charleston, South Carolina (1865)

Legacies of Reconstruction• The impoverishment and underdevelopment of the South until

the 1950s (crop liens, cotton lock, debt peonage, tenant farming and sharecropping)

• Better education for blacks (public schools, increased literacy rates), more autonomous black institutions (Baptist over AME churches), own reform orgs. (e.g. Union League – pol. awareness club)

• 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments (at least in place, if not enforced)

• Black congressional representation ( 14 H.o.R. and 2 senators from 1868-1876)

The “late unpleasantness”The military occupation of the South ended in 1876, when the last states (Louisiana, Florida, and South Carolina) were allowed to send representatives and senators back to Congress.

After Union troops were removed in early 1877, most southern states used “Jim Crow” laws to block voting rights for most ex-slaves. Segregation laws to restore white domination and prevent economic progress for African Americans were passed.

As the years when by, the former enemies mellowed. Grant, Sherman, and others attended gatherings with former Confederate generals, politicians made deals, and writers began referring to the war as “the late unpleasantness” -- an unfortunate family quarrel.