Reconstruction

Re-unifying the USA

What was reconstruction?

• Rebuilding the South after the Civil War• Reconstruction would determine:

– How defeated the south was– How free African Americans really were

Presidential Reconstruction

• Lincoln’s Plan– Amnesty – Loyalty oath– 10% Plan

• Johnson’s Plan– Disqualify former Confederate leaders from holding

office– Allowed states to rejoin freely– Pardoned thousands of southerners– Allowed south to handle freedmen as they saw fit

TEN PERCENT PLAN

• Since Lincoln had always believed the prime purpose of the war had been to preserve the Union, he thought that, now that it was over, all effort should be made to restoring the Union and ending the bitterness and hatred of war years– Wanted to be lenient on the

defeated South– Favored letting them

reconstitute their state governments and pardoning all former Confederates except the highest leaders

• Embodied his lenient position in the so-called Ten Percent Plan

PROBLEM• Many Northerners did not like the Ten

Percent Plan– Every Southern state contained

thousands of people who opposed the Confederacy--Unionists• Northerners wanted to reward

Unionists and punish Rebels• Were afraid ex-Rebels would

take revenge on Unionists as soon as they had the chance

– Would also try to re-establish slavery and might even start a new civil war once they had regained strength

NORTHERN OPINION

• Many Northerners did not want the South admitted as a full member of the Union as quickly or easily as Lincoln did– Wanted the South to go through a period of reconstruction first

• A trial period in which the North would essentially control the South in order to make sure Southerners were sincere about re-establishing their loyalty to the Union before allowing Southern states to become free and equal members of the U.S.

WADE-DAVIS BILL• Congress thought Ten Percent plan was

too lenient and passed its own alternative, the Wade-Davis Bill– Made it difficult for southern states to

organize new state governments• Majority of adult white makes had

to swear oath of allegiance to Union first

– Full citizenship denied to any man who had willingly served the Confederacy

• Lincoln vetoed the bill and, in response, Congress refused to implement Ten Percent Plan– Result was stalemate

Wade-Davis Bill

• Harsh conditions to rejoin– States must re-write constitutions– Outlaw Slavery– Confederate supporters could not hold

office/vote– Pledge loyalty to USA (majority of people)– Vetoed by Lincoln (1864)

• Lincoln favored his 10% Plan

CATASTROPHE

• Congress and Lincoln still locked in stalemate when the war ended (4-9-65) and Lincoln was murdered five days later

• If Lincoln had lived, he probably would have found a solution– A master politician who would have found some sort of

compromise– Too smart and too ambitious to continue a fight if he

knew he was going to lose– But now he is no more

ANDREW JOHNSON• New president, Andrew Johnson, was

well-intentioned but less intelligent, flexible, and willing to compromise than Lincoln

• Started off on wrong foot when he announced his own policy while Congress was in recess– As lenient as Ten Percent Plan– Pardoned all ex-Confederates as soon

as they swore oath to support the Union– Created procedures to set up new

Southern state governments and allow Southern states to re-enter Union

– Hoped lenient measures would heal wounds of the Civil War

TROUBLE• When pardoned southerners

went to polls in late 1865 to elect their new state governments, they often selected men who had been high Confederate officials– This upset Northerners– Wanted some assurance

that the South would not try to leave Union again, but these actions did not give them any high hopes

BLACK CODES• Johnson did not make any

provisions for freed slaves– Left their future up to

new southern state governments

• New southern state governments had no desire to help ex-slaves become equal citizens– All passed laws that

discriminated against ex-slaves

– Called the “Black Codes”

Black Codes• Vagrancy Laws: Considered a vagrant if unemployed and could be

arrested if so. You could then be worked through convict labor. In other words, you must have home and means of supporting that home.

• In Mississippi, African Americans forbidden to rent or own land outside towns

• In SC, black children could be “apprenticed” to whites if parents did not educate them.

• Goal = Keep African Americans in slavery – insure cheap labor supply; restore pre-Civil War conditions

• http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/122/recon/code.html

Black Codes• Prohibited blacks from testifying

against whites in court• Prohibited blacks from serving

on juries• Prohibited marriage between

whites and blacks• Banned blacks from mixing with

whites in public facilities• If a black person was arrested for

vagrancy, they were hired out to whites and forced to work until their fines and court costs were paid off– Their labor was auctioned off

to the highest bidder

NORTHERN RESPONSE• Northern Congressmen interpreted

Black Codes as an effort to restore slavery in the South– Realized that Emancipation

Proclamation and 13th Amendment were not enough

– Blacks had to given the right to vote and hold public office so that laws like the Black Codes could not be passed in the future

• Most Republicans were moderates and did not want to fight Johnson and split the party over this issue– Hoped that they would be able to

reason and compromise with him and thus modify his reconstruction program with his cooperation

RADICAL REPUBLICANS• Johnson refused to compromise

– Thereby strengthening the radical wing of Congressional Republicans and gave them the ammunition they needed to try to dump Johnson and impose their own Reconstruction program

• Radical Republicans were a minority in Congress but they included some very able men– Rep. Thaddeus Stevens of PA– Hated the South, blamed the entire

Civil War on southern slave-owners, and were devoted to establishing Negro equality

– Dedicated to restructuring southern society by confiscating the property of southern slave-owners and redistributing it to ex-slaves

Congressional Reconstruction

• The “Radical Republicans”– Led by Thaddeus

Stevens• “40 acres and a mule”• Destroy south’s power

– Harsh requirements for south to rejoin union

Freedman’s Bureau

• Created to help ex-slaves adjust to freedom• Build Schools• Provided clothes and food

– Vetoed by Johnson– Overridden

Sherman’s Special Order #15 (forty acres & a mule)• Created in Savannah, GA while war continued on January 16, 1865. • They provided for the confiscation of 400,000 acres of land along the

Atlantic coast of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida on which were to be settled approximately 40,000 freed slave families and other freed African-Americans then living in the area.

• The orders were intended to address the immediate problem of dealing with the tens of thousands of black refugees who had joined Sherman's march in search of protection and sustenance, and "to assure the harmony of action in the area of operations".

• General Sherman issued his orders after meeting in Savannah, Georgia with twenty ministers of the black community and with U.S. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. Brig. Gen. Rufus Saxton, an abolitionist from Massachusetts who had previously organized the recruitment of black soldiers for the Union Army, was put in charge of implementing the orders. In the Fall of 1865, it will be overturned. However, many slaves were working the land as early as 1861 with the authorization of the U.S. Army(Ossabaw & Skidaway Island, GA).

Amendments

• 14th Amendment – grants full citizenship to all born in the USA (including freedmen) – Ended 3/5 Compromise– South gained seats in House of Reps– Southern states had to ratify before being readmitted

• 15th Amendment – Freedmen Suffrage (guaranteed right to vote regardless of race)– 90% of males register quickly

14TH AMENDMENT• Congress passed 2 bills to protect Negro

rights in the South– Johnson vetoed both bills

• Not because he was a racist but because he believed Reconstruction policy should be a presidential, not a Congressional, power

– Congress over-rode both• Johnson’s stubbornness gave Radical

control of Congress– Passed 14th Amendment

• Gave blacks equal rights and pressured southern states to give blacks full voting rights

– Northern states ratified amendment but only one southern state did

RECONSTRUCTION ACT OF MARCH 2, 1867

• Since 14th amendment was the foundation for all future Reconstruction policies, Radicals realized that southern states had to be convinced to ratify it– Passed Reconstruction Act of March 2, 1867 to do this– Dissolved all state governments in South and divided

region into 5 military districts• Each under the control of military commander charged

with preserving order and protecting the rights of ALL persons

– To remove itself from this situation, a southern state had to ratify the 14th Amendment and set up a state government that granted full equality and voting rights to blacks

Andrew Johnson’s Impeachment

• Johnson attempted to block Congressional Reconstruction– Vetoed 29 laws, overridden 15 times– Johnson’s appointed governments ratify Black

Codes• "This is a country for white men, and by God, as

long as I am President, it shall be a government for white men.“

• Republicans unite to impeach Johnson

DECISION TO DUMP JOHNSON• Congress also passed laws to

reduce Johnson’s ability to hinder enforcement of its Reconstruction policy– Such as prohibiting him from

firing an federal official with prior Congressional approval

• Johnson still had enough power to get in the way and he did so as much as possible– It was at this point that Radicals

made up their mind to impeach him and get rid of him once and for all

JOHNSON IN TROUBLE• Johnson had not committed a

“high crime or misdemeanor”– But he had displayed an

incredible lack of political judgment

• He then began to fire federal officials friendly to the Radicals– In direct violation of the law

Congress had just passed– Gave Radicals real charge to

use to impeach him• This and 10 other trumped

up charges were presented to and approved by the House

Johnson’s Impeachment

• Impeached for violation of the Tenure of Office Act– stated that a President could not dismiss

appointed officials without the consent of Congress

– Johnson viewed the act as unconstitutional– Attempted to fire Secretary of War Edwin

Stanton

IMPEACHMENT

• Impeachment trial held in Senate from March 13-May 16, 1868– Vote very close in the end

• 35 guilty/19 not guilty• One vote short of necessary 2/3s

majority to impeach• Johnson hung on to his job but it

didn’t matter any more– U.S. Grant got Republican

presidential nomination • Making Johnson a lame-duck

for the remaining 9 months of his term

• Grant and Republicans swept the country in November 1868