Day 92: The Ordeal of Reconstruction 1865-1877Baltimore Polytechnic Institute

January 24, 2014A/A.P. U.S. History

Mr. Green

Objectives: Define the major problems facing the nation and the South after the Civil War.Describe the responses of both whites and African Americans to the end of slavery.Analyze the differences between the presidential and congressional approaches to Reconstruction.Explain how the blunders of President Johnson and the resistance of the white South opened the door to the Republicans’ radical Reconstruction

AP FocusThe Union victory is significant in transforming and diversifying the South’s production. It also represents the defeat of the planter-slaveholder and the continued rise of the industrial capitalist.In the aftermath of the war, especially in those southern states that reenter the Union under Johnson’s lenient plan, Black Codes again segregate and subordinate the South’s blacks. Organizations, such as the Ku Klux Klan and the Knights of the White Camellia, use violence and intimidation to deny blacks access to institutions, such as voting, that would improve their lives. Blacks are reduced to a form of slavery without chains, in that they are economically dependent and subservient to the owner of the land on which they are sharecroppers.

The Ordeal of Reconstruction 1865-1877

CHAPTER THEMES Johnson’s political blunders and Southern white

recalcitrance led to the imposition of congressional military Reconstruction on the South. Reconstruction did address difficult issues of reform and racial justice in the South and achieved some successes, but was ultimately abandoned, leaving a deep legacy of racial and sectional bitterness.During Reconstruction, the Constitution was strengthened with the Fourteenth (citizenship and equal protection of the laws) and Fifteenth (black voting rights) Amendments, but it was also tested with the conflicts between the president and Congress that culminated in an impeachment process.

Chapter Focus

Decades Chart 1860’s Due Today-will be finished in class and collected

Quiz Chapter 22 on Monday

Announcements

Charles Sumner-led radicals in the SenateThaddeus Stevens-led radicals in the HouseRadical Republicans

keep Southern states out as long as possibleuse federal power

Moderate Republicansrestrain states from denying citizens’ rightslimited federal authorityhad the upper hand

Republican Principles and Programs

Congressional Reconstruction Act-March 2, 18675 military districts in the Southdisfranchised former Confederates

Readmissionratify 14th amendmentstate guarantee of full suffrage to blacks15th amendment

Women Rights were not addressed at this timeElizabeth Cady Stanton/Susan B. Anthony not supportive of the 14th/15th amendment

Scalawags-former Unionists/Whigs that were corruptCarpetbaggers-northerners seeking power in the South

politically or economically or both

Reconstruction by the Sword

The Ku Klux Klan, Tennessee, 1868

This night-riding terrorist has even masked the identity of his horse.

“Invisible Empire of the South”Founded in Tennessee-1866First taste of water since he had been killed

at the Battle of ShilohFright then forceMost took the hint and stayed away from the

pollsCongress passed Force Act of 1870/1871South responded with disenfranchising blacks

with literacy tests

The Ku Klux Klan

Impeachment Drama

The impeachment proceedings against President Andrew Johnson, among the most severe constitutional crises in the Republic’s history, were high political theater, and tickets were in sharp demand.

Radicals accused Johnson of keeping a harem of “dissolute women”

Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act in 1867 to require the president to secure consent of the Senate before an appointee could be removed

Johnson removed Edwin Stanton, secretary of war in 1868

Johnson Walks the Impeachment Plank

Impeachment became biggest show of 1868Missed the guilty verdict by 1 voteThe next in line was not a better choice,

Benjamin Wade, President pro tempore of the Senate

Was not guilty of “high crimes and misdemeanors”

A Not-Guilty Verdict for Johnson

Russia wanted to sell off some of its empireDid not want to lose it to Britain in a warWilliam Seward paid $7.2 million

Seward’s FollyThe Tsars had been friendly to the North

during the Civil WarLater discoveries of natural gas and oil

proved the importance of Alaska

The Purchase of Alaska

Alaska and the Lower Forty-eight States (a size comparison)

The South resented Reconstruction for:1. Upending the social structure2. Destroying the racial system 3. Empowering former slaves4. Federal intervention in local issuesDifficult to develop the right policy

The Heritage of Reconstruction

Is This a Republican Form of Government? by Thomas Nast, Harper’s Weekly, 1876

The nation’s most prominent political cartoonist expressed his despair at the tragic way that Reconstruction had ended— with few real gains for the former slaves.

Continue Reading Chapter 22

Homework