Reconstructing the Nation

Ordeals of Reconstruction

1865-77

Problems of the Peace

• Questions:– What to do with Free Blacks?– How to reintegrate the Southern States into Union– What to do with Jeff Davis– Who’s in charge of Reconstruction

• Southern way of life is ruined.– Crops, farms destroyed– Slaves= free– Cites bombed out

• Still Southerners = defiant

Power: how has it shifted?• Destruction of agrarian class

– Property values drop• Confed $$ worthless; RR damaged, destroyed

– Cotton, rice, sugar, tobacco production: low– Boosted Captns of Ind in N– Morrill Tariff: dbld duities over 1860 levels– Nat’l banking act: creates uniform banking, currency,

partly financed war– Transcontinental RR: N, central route- Omaha->

Sacramento– Homestead Act: 1862: 160 acres, settled, improved

for 5 yrs– Morrill Land Grant: 30k acres public land per

congressman to state to sell for $ for colleges of agri, mechanical arts

What about the ring leaders?

• Pop song: ‘hang Jeff Davis from a sour apple tree’

• Davis: 2 yrs in jail, at first: in irons

• Later- all released– No chance a VA jury wd convict– Johnson pardoned for Xmas 68– Congress restored citizenship 100 yrs later

(post humus)

Theories of Southern State’s status

• Lincoln/ Johnson:– State of rebellion– Union is indestructible– No legal recognition

• Radical Rep:– States committed suicide– Are conquered provinces

Situation for Freedmen

• Many slave owners re-enslaved slaves after union troops left– Many said emancipation wasn’t valid until

local or state courts declared it– Some slaves remained w/ owners– Some pillaged former master’s land, property-

some attacked former masters• Eventually all owners had to give up slaves• Tens of thousands took to roads, to find work,

loved ones

Was there a gov obligation to protect free status of freedmen?

• What were their basic needs? How will they be met? Land? Education? Jobs? The Franchise?

• Land reform:– Confiscation Act 1862 took rebel land

• More taken 1864 for tax delinquency• Rumors of ’40 acres & mule’ from Sumner’s proposal of

giving 40 acre parcels from confiscated land

– Purpose of Freedman’s Bureau: provisions, clothing, fuel, relief of suffering refugees

• Rented out 40 acre parcels• Supervised trials of blacks, had labor dispute, land title cts

Developing black community

• Church became center of life

• Education gets a start… but is not supported financially by white community

• Discrimination severe- rights limited for next 100 yrs

Freedman’s Bureau

• Set up March 1865 under Gen. Oliver O. Howard– To train unskilled Blacks

• Labor referral• Arbitration• local court system

– Teach literacy• Taught 260.000 to read

– Problems with FB:• Lack of support from Johnson administration• Racist whites opposed heavily• Expired 1872

How successful was the FB?

• Defanged by Johnson’s proclamation to return all lands to confeds

• Promise: 40 acres, mule: led to blacks resisting signing up for work for former masters

• Bureau agents try to est contract wage labor system– & set up contracts– Blacks = illiterate – often tricked into bad contracts 2

est servitude w/ wages pd yearly when crops come in– Freedmen can’t go to ct to protest violated contracts

Success of FB (2)

• Agents often sympathetic to planters– Understand them better

• After 1866 agents don’t monitor labor practices much

• Planters & freedmen work out system of share cropping (avoids field gang labor)

• Puts farmers in perpetual debt• Some conscientious agents help relocate blacks

reunite families, formalize marriages, etc

Andrew Johnson

• Poor, humble, tailor, wife taught him to read– Raised self up from poverty- indentured servitude as apprentice

tailor (18)– Went into politics as TN legislator, then governor– War time gov of TN

• The only confederate congressman not to leave when south seceded

• Reputation of short temper• Champion of states’ rights, Constitution• From TN- not trusted by either S or N

– Ruled in favor of slaves bcs he hated the rich planter class

Lincoln on Reconstruction

• “W/ Malice twd none”– Promise of forgiveness 4 4mr slaveholders– Implied reliance on benevolence twd 4mr slaves

• More than econ dependence on 4mr masters?• Possibly ltd suffrage w/ literacy or property ownership

– Est group of black leaders

• Lincoln argued States had never left union• Therefore restoration is easy

– S. states brought in when they had 10% of original voters pledge oath of loyalty to US, acknowledge emancipation. (10 percent plan)

Radical Republicans on Reconstruction

• Fearing re-enslavement• Forced passage of Wade-Davis Bill:

– Required 50% voters of a state to take “iron clad” oath

• Attesting to past loyalty to vote or serve in office, conventions

– Stronger safeguards for emancipation• Pocket vetoed by Lincoln (let it expire)• 10% plan stayed• Lincoln = Moderate• Radicals want S to be harshly punished

After Assassination

• Radicals hoped to direct Johnson– Johnson took Lincoln’s plan– Added disenfranchisement of Confederate

leaders– Repudiated Confederate debt– Made states ratify 13th amendment before

returning to union

Johnson (2)– Aware how little the No. favored black

equality.– Granted amnesty to former confeds w/ loyalty

oath• Property restored, exc for slaves• 14 classes of exemptions from amnesty

– Highest ranks of confederacy & wealthy (property of over 20k)

– Must apply directly to Pres.» Wd be beholden» Political leverage

– Appoints governor of state– Who calls state convention to amend const

Black Codes

• Passed by S states to control freed blacks• Blacks cd now marry, sue, own property, witness, serve

on some juries but:– No interracial marriage, restricted jobs

• To keep in submission– Some = harsh– Fines, penalties for ‘jumping’ labor contracts– Wages kept low– No serving on Jury– No renting or leasing land– Vagrancy laws used to control labor force w/o consent of

laborers– Punishment for ‘idleness’: chain gang work

• Live not much better than under slavery

Congressional Reconstruction

• 1865 many s states came back into union

• Reclaimed seats in Congress

• Republicans feared new stronger S w/ N Dems joined – Could extend black codes nationwide & undo

the work of the Civil War

• Dec 65, Johnson claimed S had satisfied all conditions needed; Union= restored

Johnson clashed w/ Congress

• J vetoed extension of Freedman’s Bureau• Vetoed Civil Rights Bill, would grand Blacks citizenship

and limit Black Codes• Republicans controlled congress

– Overrode J’s vetoes w/ 2/3 majority

• 14th amendment sought same ideas of Civil Rts Bill:– All Blacks born in US: citizens– If state denied citizenship to Blacks; reps in electoral college wd

b lowered– No former confed cd hold fed/state office– States had to ratify 14th amendment before being readmitted to

union

Swing Around the Circle

• AJ approached 1866 elections w/ hope of replacing R’s in congress- gave many speeches– Heckled by audiences– Shouted back insults– Denounced radicals w/ ‘Give em Hell’

speeches– Republicans returned even greater majority to

congress

Johnson provokes Congress

• Speech about Joint Committee on Reconstruction:– Called them an irresponsible central directory

because of policy of Conq province– Vetoed Civil Rts Act– National Union Convention: Phil, by friends of

Johnson– Radical Convention held in response– Speaking tour of midwest

Results of midterm elections (1866)

• Republican veto-proof congress• Nearly unltd control over reconstruction

– Moderate & radical Repubs still clash– Charles Sumner (returned to Senate) led

Radicals– Thaddeus Stevens led Radicals in house

• Goal of Radicals: keep South out as long as possible– Moderates wanted a quicker reconstruction

Civil Rts Act 1866

• Guaranteed freedmen citizenship & fed court protected and authorized enforcement by federal troops– Guaranteed 13th amendment

Purpose & effect of 13th & 14th amendments

• 13th: abolished involuntary servitude exc as punishment after due process– Needed to prevent states re-estab slavery– MD: state law for non voluntary child

apprenticeship system• Decld unconst under 13th amend

– LA: blacks who came into towns to sell produce arrested 4 vagrancy; sentenced to wok on sugar plantations short of help 6 mo

14th amendment

• Passed to prevent a supreme ct decision like Dred Scott– Defines amer citizens: all born to or

naturalized in US– Prohibits states abridging rights, immunities

• Prohibits depriving any of life, liberty, property w/o Due process

• States could enfranchise all males or lose seats in House

– cdn’t include male suffrage – wouldn’t pass in No

Reconstruction by Sword• Reconstruction Act (mar 1867)

– Divided S into 5 military zones– Temporarily disenfranchised former Confeds – Set new guidelines for readmission of states

• Congress had not agreed w/ Johnson that union was restored!

– All states had to approve 14th amendment– All states had to grant full suffrage to all male freedmen

• 15th amendment passed 1869: best guarantee of protecting black rights

• Command of the Army Act– All orders from Com. In Chief must go through General of the

Army: Grant

• By 1870: all states complied; in 1877 last of states regained Home Rule; Reconstruction ended

Ex Parte Milligan (1866)

• Supreme Ct ruled: military tribunals could not try civilians, even in wartime, if there were civil cts available– Congress removed power of the Supreme Ct

to review cases arising under Mil Reconst Act

Court cases slowly undermine congress

• Cummings v MO, exparte Garland: invalidated loyalty oath

• GA v Stanton & MS v Johnson: dealt w/ constitutionality of reconstruction act: Ct avoided decision on technical grounds

• Slaughter House cases 1873- robbed 14th amend of power to protect freedmen– States cd define rules by which citizens cd conduct

lives• Butchers cd be req’d to use a central slaughter house – used

to permit local laws to limit freedoms of blacks• Shift: 14th amend reps institutions too

Women’s suffrage

• 13th, 14th 15th amendments left out women

• Women had gathered petitions, helped blacks get rights; expected inclusion– F. Douglas: yes, but now: Negro’s hour.– Eliz C Stanton, Susan B Anthony campaigned

against 14th and 15th amendments• First time ‘male’ written into constitution

Reconstruction: the Reality

• Blacks began to organize politically– Main vehicle: Union League– Network of political clubs

• Educated members in civic duties• Campaigned for Repub candidates• Later built Black churches & schools• Rep’d black grievances• Recruited militias to protect blacks• Some blacks entered politics:

» Hiram Revels & Blanche K. Bruce rep’d MS

How Reconstructed were the southern states?

• Nearly all apps for pardon were accepted• Many former secessionists and congressmen re entered

politics• Even officers from Davis’ gov/ cabinet

– Even VP Alex Stevens (Sen GA)

• Some states refuse to repudiate debts• SC merely repealed secession ordinance

– Refused to admit rebelling was unconst

• MS refused to ratify 13th amend– Gov Holden (NC) warned: much of a rebellion spirit left– Only after public outcry of Johnson’s leniency did he require

returning states to disavow ords of secession, repudiate debt, ratify 13th amend

Southern Whites

• Hated seeing former slaves outrank them

• Hated Scalawags: southern collaborators w/ union occupiers

• Hated Carpetbaggers: Northerners who came south to take advantage of now desolate South– Southern governments were corrupt

Economic conditions of south

• Agriculture battered all over at sites of battles• Houses & outbuildings burned• Crops destroyed• Livestock killed• New seed to plant- unavail• Farmers w/o $ to buy; no credit avail• Horses & mules to plow: scarce• Labor: scarce- 4 mill soldiers dead, slaves gone• So industry in tatters

Econ conditions (2)

• Land values dropped• Cities in path of armies devastated: burned, pillaged• Whites refuse to consider equality• Try to re-est social order

– Thought they were morally right– Couldn’t understand freedmen’s joy at liberation– Blacks wander all over South looking 4 families, work– Fear & suspicion of outsiders: soldier, agents– Attitudes of whites twd blacks unchanged– Many reports of whippings, mutilation, murders of freedmen

Ku Klux Klan

• Racist whites who want to remove power from freed blacks founded “Invisible Empire of the South” KKK, TN, 1866– Scared blacks into not voting, not seeking

jobs– Resorted to violence against blacks in

addition to terror• Outlet for disenfranchise whites• Socially ‘acceptable’ across South for a century

Johnson walks impeachment plank

• Radicals now try to remove Johnson• 1867, Congress passed Tenure of Office Act

– President had to get consent of Senate before removing appointees who have approval of Senate

• (to protect Edwin Stanton, Rep Sec War)

• Johnson believed it ws unconstitutional and tested it by firing Stanton– Republicans impeached him– 11 articles of

Impeachment (2)

• J’s lawyers kept him from testifying

• Argued J acting under Constitution, not the law

• 11 articles of impeachment

• May 1868: acquittal by one vote– 7 Repub senators voted Not Guilty; never

regained public office

Long term effects of impeachment

• Repub congress wd lose power: seen as a power grab

• Series of weak presidents till TR

Alaska

• 1867: Sec St: Wm Seward bought AK from Russia– 7.2 million– “Seward’s Folly”

• Oil discovered MUCH later

State Readmissions

• Foot dragging over disenfranchisment of former confeds, esp VA, TX & MS till 1870– Won congress’ approval of state consts,

readmitted– GA: in 1868- cast out when new legislature

dismissed elected black members• Readmitted 1870 when dismissal revoked

Good representation?

• Not for conservative racists– Resented northern carpetbaggers in office– No stake in southern society

• New politicians mostly scalawags: Repub party sim to old whig ideas, sm farmers seeking to protect selves from Big planters– Repub coalition: weak

• Based on idea of putting power in hands of southern working people (who??)

• Planters: landowners, think this is fraud; not representative

New constitutions

• States now picked up social services:– Public schools– Hospitals– Institutions for indigent, homeless,

handicapped

• Taxes made more fair, penal codes, too• Some rights for women• Redistricting- more fair• Paid to rebuild railroads

Long term effects of Reconstruction

• S’s saw it as worse than the CW– Resented what it did to their social and racial

system

• Repub’s failed to improve the South– Fate of blacks: bad until civil Rights

movement and next Civil Rights Act: 1964: Lyndon Johnson

The New South

• Henry Grady– Vision: Old south of slavery is dead; this is a

New South of union & freedom– Prophets of New South Creed:

• South must diversify; develop industry• Court investments• Tobacco

Economic Growth• Growth of cotton textile manufacturing• Development of the tobacco industry

– John Ruffin Green & Bull’s Head• Durham NC; brightleaf tobacco

– Duke Family; Durham- growth of city– Invented cig rolling machine

• Estab American Tobacco– Techniques used by Buck Duke for growth

• marketted cigarettes & diversified into textiles– Creation & breakup of the American Tobacco Company

• Founded w/ rolling machine, acquired 200 brands• Broken up as monopoly under Sherman Anti-trust Act

• Coal production• Lumbering• Petroleum; hydro-electric power

Agriculture in New South

• Limited diversity • Seaman A. Knapp & agri education

– Iowa: to raise crops, hogs– Helped found Iowa Agri college &

experimental research stations– Moved to LA 1886 to teach better farming

• Brought northern farmers south to teach methods

• Features of sharecropping & tenancy• Impact of crop lien system

Bourbon Redeemers

• Nature of Bourbons: southern Dems trying to oust Repub control of south

• Economic policies- conservative– Took over state legislatures, worked to change voting

to strip blacks & poor whites of rights to vote– Laissez faire– Retrenchment in gov spending– Convict lease system– Repudiation of Confederate Debts in some states– Positive contributions- cracked down on corruption

• Established religious dimension: bible belt (redemption)– Bulwark of morality

Race relations• Bourbon-African American political compatibility• Variety of color lines in social relations• Disenfranchisement of blacks

– Resurgent racism• Resentment of black progress• Repression

– Divisions caused by populism– Techniques used– Results

• Spread of segregation– Railway cars- civil rights

• Plessy v Ferguson, 1896

Black responses to racism

• Accommodation• Black culture

– Churches– Business

• Ida B Wells-– Journalist, leader in civil rights, documented lynching

• Leader in women’s rights movement too

• Booker T Washington– Accommodation to segregation– 1895 speech in Atlanta- Atlanta Compromise

W.E.B Du Bois

• Criticism of Washington

• Ceaseless agitation-– Talented Tenth

Civil Rights Act 1875

Crime for any individual to deny full &equal use of public conveyances andpublic places.

Prohibited discrimination in jury selection.

Shortcoming lacked a strong enforcement mechanism.

No new civil rights act was attemptedfor 90 years!

Abandoning Reconstruction“Grantism” & corruption.

Panic of 1873 [6-yeardepression].

Concern over westwardexpansion and Indian wars.

Key monetary issues:

* should the government retire $432m worth of “greenbacks” issued during the Civil War.

* should war bonds be paid back in specie orgreenbacks.

1868: waving the bloody shirt

• “Vote As You Shot”– Honoring the General: gifts, a house– Repub platform: continue Reconstruction

• “Let us have peace”- slogan

• Dems denounce Reconstruction– Debate: redeem war bonds in gold (Redeemers in

NE) vs.– Ohio Idea: redemption in greenbacks (midwest)

• NY Gov: Horatio Seymour: redeemer

Grant Victory

• Narrow- MS, TX, VA votes didn’t count (unreconstructed)– Estimate: 500,000 former slaves gave Grant

the win– Must keep freedmen voting; can’t take

Republican wins for ‘Granted’

Era of Good Stealings

• Fraud common among RR promoters-– Buyers get 2 streaks of rust & right of way

• Stock market fraud – rampant

• Judges & legislators accepting bribes, gifts

• Fisk & Gould– ‘69 plot to corner Gold Market

• Got Grant via Bro-in-law to w/hold gold– While they wildly bid it up creating demand/shortage– Treasury released gold, bottom fell out of market

Tweed Ring

• City Boss, NYC: used bribery, graft, fraudulent elections– Stole $200 million

• Protesters of fraud had tax assessments raised

– NY Times printed damning evidence• Despite $5 mill bribe for silence• Cartoonist Thomas Nast also spurned bribe to stop

turning out political cartoons on Tweed• NY Atty Gen: Samuel Tilden prosecuted; became

famous

The Grant Administration• Nepotism- in laws: Dent family all hired into gov• Credit Mobilier Scandal:

– RR construction Co who hired selves at inflated prices of over %300 profit to build RRs

• Distributed stock to congressmen to keep largesse rolling• Even US VP had accepted bribes

• Whiskey Ring: excise taxes pocketed– Grant promised to pursue villains– Until his own secretary of war (Belknap) was

implicated• Forced to resign

Liberal Republican Revolt• 1872 backlash of disgust w/ Grantism

– Slogan: “Turn the Rascals Out”– Nominate Horace Greeley- ed NY Tribune

• Emotional, dogmatic & unsound in political judgment• Endorsed by Democrats! (anything to get back into office)

– Mud slinging campaign• Greeley called: atheist, free lover, communist, vegetarian,

brown bread eater & co-signer of Jeff Davis’ bail bond

• Grant called: drunkard, ignoramus, swindler– Effect of Liberal Republicans: regular Repubs clean

house- issue general amnesty act to most Confeds• Lowered CW tariffs & launch mild civil service reform• Granted another term

Patronage

• Life blood of both parties– Handing out jobs for votes, kickbacks & party

service– Republican party divided

• Stalwart faction: led by Roscoe Conklin (NY)– Embraced swapping civil service jobs for votes

• Half-Breeds, let by James G Blain (ME) favor some reform

Panic 1873• Over production of RRs, factories, mines,

grainfields• Bankers issued too many loans

– Surplus loans unpaid banks crashed, bankruptcies

– 15k businesses bankrupt– Worst hit:

• Freedmen, debtors, farmers• Renewed cry for Greenbacks; cheap money• More money = cheaper money

– Creditors oppose; don’t want to be paid back in cheaper dollars

Hard money vs Soft money• 74-Hard money wins: Grant vetoes bill to print more

paper– Resumption Act 1875: pledged w/d paper $$ to be pd

in gold @ face value 1879– Can silver save them?

• 1 oz s = 1/16th oz gold• Miners stopped selling to fed mint

– Congress stopped minting in 1873 (Crime of 73)

– ‘Bring back the dollar of our daddies!’

» Cry of W debtors, silver miners (demand 4 inflation)

– Treasury stocks up on gold for Redemption Day• Contraction of currency wd result

– $$ in circ went down 1870-80– Backlash: Graenback Labor party

Election 1876

• Democrats:– Samuel Tilden & Gov Hendricks

• Republicans:– Rutherford B Hayes (the great unknown) of OH & Wm Wheeler

• Political Crisis & corrupt bargain again?– LA, SC, FL submitted 2 sets of returns– Who should count them? Pres Sen ® or Speaker of House (d)– Stand off:

Compromise 1877• Dems: “Tilden or Blood!”

– Agreement made:• Electoral Count Act set up electoral commission• 15 from Senate, House, Sup Ct• 8 Reps to 7 Dems agreed to accept the Rep returns• Outraged Dems launched filibuster• Compromise ended deadlock

– Hays takes office,

– Removes troops from South

– Dems get support for Southern RR

• Violence avoided by sacrificing freedmen

• Civ Rts Act 1875: last gasp of Radical Reps-– Sup Ct ruled it unconstitutional in 1883- said 14th amend

prohibited GOV violations but not individual violations of Rts

Jim Crow & Post Reconstruction

• Reconstruction is over

• Redeemers resumed power

• Blacks, poor whites forced into sharecropping, tenant farming

• Jim Crow laws estab’d segregation & removed franchise: The New Order