Reconstruction: What is It?

• 1865-1877• Reconstruction is

the period of economic, social, and political transformation of the United States after the Civil War.

Reconstruction: Major Questions

The Civil War Ends and Reconstruction Begins

• 1865 the Civil War Ends when the Confederacy surrenders at Appomattox

• Six months later, the thirteenth amendment is passed making slavery illegal everywhere in the United States.

• For the first time, with the end of the Civil War and the passing of the thirteenth Amendment, America was wholly free.

The Civil War Ends and Reconstruction Begins

• But…the death of slavery did not automatically mean the birth of freedom

• Slavery was done, but what would freedom look like for newly emancipated slaves?

• During Reconstruction the definition of freedom for African Americans became a terrain of conflict by key groups who would shape the Reconstruction process

Competing Views of Black Freedom By Key Group

Radical Republicans

Freedmen Moderate Republicans Southerners

View of Freedom

• The vote• Civil Rights

including right to property, education, fair trails, freedom from discrimination

• The vote (Jacksonian!)

• “Slavery Is not abolished until the black man has the ballot” – Frederick Douglass 1865

• Free to labor• With free labor, every

other right would naturally follow

• The South would eventually come to resemble the “free society” of the North, complete with public schools, small towns, and independent farmers.

• Absence of slavery

• Free to labor• Every other

attribute of citizenship (esp. voting) was a privilege reserved for whites

View of Federal Government in Relation to Freedom

Employ federal authority to promote black suffrage and Civil Rights

• Federal government can be used to promote and protect black suffrage

• Employ federal authority as a tool, to ensure blacks freedom to labor and to secure the other rights that follow from it

• No need for federal involvement. Blacks are not slaves anymore, the rest is up to them.

Views of Freedom Influence Reconstruction Plans

• There are 5 plans for Reconstruction that are proposed and/or enacted during the Reconstruction Era– Lincoln’s 10% Plan– Wade-Davis Bill– Presidential Reconstruction– Radical Reconstruction– Military Reconstruction

• Each of these plans reflects the particular view of freedom articulated by its drafters.

Terms Specifics

Terms of Reincorporation

• Ten percent of the population of each southern state had to swear loyalty to the United States

• Southern states could set up new governments on their own, as long as their government set free all slaves

Treatment of Former Confederates

• Except for high ranking officers, all confederate soldiers would be pardoned

Treatment of African-Americans

• Beyond being granted freedom, nothing• Remember, for Lincoln liberty is defined in a narrow sense

(free labor, nothing more)• You are free, but the rest is up to you

Lincoln’s Plan for Reconstruction:10% Plan

• As President, Lincoln puts forth the first plan for Reconstruction

I just want to reunify quickly and easily. No more slavery, beyond that,

south and blacks you are

free to go…

Freedman’s Bureau• Initiated by Lincoln and established by Congress in 1865• Federal agency designed to establish a working free labor

system.• Bureau was an experiment in government social policy

that resembles efforts of the 1960s much more than the 1860s.

• Goals:– Provide aid to the poor and aged– Secure former slaves equal treatment before the law– Distribute abandoned and confiscated land for sale to

former slaves• Lasted until 1870

Congressional Reaction • Congress is dominated by Radical

Republicans• Say Lincoln’s Plan is too easy on the

South

Finish Them!

Radical Republicans’ Plan for Reconstruction: Wade-Davis Bill

Terms Specifics

Terms of Reincorporation • 50% of the population of each southern state had to swear loyalty to the United States

Treatment of Former Confederates • No special treatment

Treatment of African-Americans • Southern states had to draft Constitutions banning slavery

Lincoln is Assassinated

• Question is rendered moot with Lincoln’s assassination in April 1865

• Upon his assassination his Vice President Andrew Johnson comes to office, with yet another vision of Reconstruction…

Andrew Johnson• 1808-1875• Born into poverty in N.C.• Moved to Tennessee and rose up the political

ranks• Lincoln made him military governor of

Tennessee• Chosen by Lincoln to serve as VP when Lincoln

ran for reelection in 1864– Gesture of good faith to the South

• Viewed himself as the champion of the yeoman and a foe of the planter class whom he described as a “bloated, corrupted aristocracy.”

• Personality– Stubborn, intolerable of criticism, unable to

compromise, racist

Terms Specifics

Terms of Reincorporation

• Federal government would appoint provisional governors in southern states

• These governors would call state conventions, elected by whites alone, that would establish loyal governments in the South

• Apart from the requirements that they abolish slavery, repudiate secession, and refuse to pay the Confederate debt, he granted the new government a free hand in managing local affairs.

Treatment of Former Confederates

• Offered a pardon to nearly all white southerners who took an oath of allegiance

• Excluded confederate leaders and wealthy planters whose prewar property had been valued at more than $20,000

• Though later Johnson offered personal exemptions

Treatment of African-Americans

• Slavery is ended, what else do they need?• Unlike Lincoln, explicit racism here…• First to use “reverse racism”…no one ever gave the white

guy something for free

Johnson’s Plan for Reconstruction: Presidential Reconstruction

The Civil War was about eliminating the power of

the planter class by ending slavery, not about

black civil rights. The Civil War was fought for the

economic freedom of poor whites, not about equality

for blacks.

Meanwhile…In The South: The Black Codes• The absence of a clear Reconstruction plan allowed the South to

begin to redesign their social institutions in the way they want to• They seek to redesign social life in such a way as to maintain

racial hierarchies in the absence of slavery• Black Codes:

– Laws passed by the new southern governments that attempted to regulate the lives of former slaves– Granted blacks certain rights (marriage, ownership of property)– Denied them the rights to testify against whites, to serve on

juries or in state militias, or to vote. – Declared those blacks who failed to sign year labor contracts

could be arrested and hired out to white landowners

Radical Republicans React• So flagrantly violated free labor principles of the

North, that the Republicans took action.• What angered Northern Republicans was the South’s

inability to accept emancipation; inability to accept the Union’s definition of democracy.

• Radicals believed that Union victory was an opportunity to institutionalize the principle of equal rights regardless of race.

• Johnson’s plan did not call for the establishment of Civil Rights, would let the south continue on the path it was on

• Johnson had to be stopped.

Radical Republicans Put Forth Their Own Reconstruction

Agenda

Radical Republicans Put Forth the Civil Rights Bill 1866

• Civil Rights Bill 1866– Defined all persons born in the United States

as citizens and spelled out rights they were to enjoy without regard to race

– No state could deprive any citizens of the right to make contracts, bring lawsuits, or enjoy equal protection of one’s person and property

– No mention of the right to vote for blacks– First attempt to give concrete meaning to the

freedom granted in the 13th Amendment

Civil Rights Act 1866• Johnson vetoes it!

– Said that the Act would centralize power in the national government and deprive the states of the authority to regulate their own affairs.

– Said blacks did not deserve the rights of citizenship. By acting to secure their rights, Congress was discriminating “against the white race.”

• Congress overrode the veto– First major law in

American history to passed over a presidential veto

The 14th Amendment

• Congress proceeds to adopt its own plan for Reconstruction

• Proposed the 14th AmendmentSection 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States,

and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

14th Amendment• The amendment's first section includes two important

clauses: The Citizenship Clause, The Due Process Clause, and The Equal Protection Clause. The Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship, overruling SCOTUS decision in Dred Scott

• The Due Process Clause prohibits state and local government officials from depriving persons of life, liberty, or property without legislative authorization. This clause has also been used by the federal judiciary to make most of the Bill of Rights applicable to the states, as well as to recognize substantive and procedural requirements that state laws must satisfy

• The Equal Protection Clause requires each state to provide equal protection under the law to all people within its jurisdiction.

14th Amendment

• Writes into the Constitution the principles that equality before the law regardless of race is a fundamental right of all American citizens– Codifies Lincoln’s interpretation of the

Constitution

• Most important change in the Constitution since the Bill of Rights

Reconstruction Act of 1867• Military Reconstruction• Divided the South into five military

districts and called for the creation of new state governments, with black men being given the right to vote

• Johnson vetoes it but Congress overrides the veto

Fifteenth Amendment• Prohibited the federal and

state government from denying any citizen the right to vote because of race.

• Did not include women – Despite demands of

women’s suffrage activists• Wording opened the door to

suffrage restrictions not explicitly based on race—literary tests, property qualifications, and poll taxes.

Radical Reconstruction and Black Political Participation

• By 1870, all the former Confederate states had been readmitted to the Union and were under Republican control as a result of Military Reconstruction• Their new state constitutions were drafted with

substantial black representation.• Some 2,000 blacks occupied public offices during

Radical Reconstruction representing a fundamental shift of power in the South.

Black Representation • House of Representatives:

14• Senate: 2• Since 1870s…

– we have had a TOTAL of 9 Black Senators and 131 Black Representatives in the US

• Currently we have 2 black senators and 46 black representatives

Johnson v. Republicans Throw Down!: Johnson

Impeached• Issue at hand is pretty insignificant:

– Johnson violates the ten Tenure of Office Act of 1867 Johnson is impeached by the Senate

• First time in American history• Reflects the complete schism between

the Senate and the President• Johnson is acquitted by one vote

The South Overthrows/Undermines Reconstruction

• The South’s traditional leaders—planters, merchants, and Democratic politicians— opposed the new governments

• Most white southerners could not accept the idea of former slaves voting and holding office.

• Opponents launched campaigns of violence in an

effort to end Republican rule.– Example: KKK

Support for Reconstruction Fades in the North

• As Radical Republicans begin to die out, they are replaced by more moderate republicans who believe that the South should be left alone to solve their own problems.

Reconstruction Abruptly Ends

• Election of 1876– Rutherford B. Hayes (R) – Samuel Tilden (D)

• Voting returns are disputed in three states

• Northern Republicans want the presidency, Southern Democrats want troops out of the south.

• Hayes is handed the Presidency in exchange for taking the troops out of the south.

Some Closing Thoughts…

• The laws and amendments of Reconstruction reflected the intersection of two products of the Civil War era:– A newly empowered national state

• The Bill of Rights had linked civil liberties to the autonomy of the states. • The authors of the Reconstruction amendments assumed that rights required

national power to enforce them. • Rather than be seen as a potential threat to liberty. The federal government

had solidified its place as, in Sumner’s words, the “custodian of freedom)

– The idea of a national citizenry enjoying equality before the law• Laws and amendments of Reconstruction repudiate the idea that citizenship

was for whites alone

• The Reconstruction amendments transformed the Constitution from a document primarily concerned with federal-state relations and the rights of property into a vehicle through which members of vulnerable minorities could stake a claim to freedom and seek protection against misconduct by all levels of government.