RECONSTRUCTION

1865-1876

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS

1) How should the Southern states be brought back into full membership in the Union?

2) What should be the legal, political, social, and economic position of the freedmen?

3) Who has the constitutional power to make these decisions (legislative or executive)?

PRESIDENTIAL RECONSTRUCTION

PRESIDENT LINCOLN:I. Wartime Reconstruction Policies Davis Bend Experiment

produced a highly profitable cotton crop could freed slaves become a part of the cotton

economy? Sea Island Experiment (Special Field Order #15)

freed slaves adopted subsistence farming showed little inclination to embrace the cotton economy “40 acres and a mule”

SEA ISLAND FREEDMEN

PRESIDENTIAL RECONSTRUCTION

Banks Plan (Louisiana: 1862-1865) required freed slaves to sign 6-year contracts to

work on former plantations workers paid a wage or percentage of crop

produced owners provide food and shelter workers could not leave the plantation without

permission

PRESIDENTIAL RECONSTRUCTION

PRESIDENT LINCOLN

II. Postwar Reconstruction Plan Ten Percent Plan

full pardon and restoration of rights for those who signed a loyalty oath

when 10% of the population had signed, they could write a new state constitution and create a new government

excluded high-ranking Confederate political and military leaders

required to recognize formally the abolition of slavery

CONGRESSIONAL RESPONSE TO LINCOLN’S PLAN

Wade-Davis Bill (July 1864)President would appoint provisional governors “Ironclad Oath” (majority of state population)state constitution must abolish slavery and

disenfranchise Confederate leadersguaranteed full legal and civil rights for freed

slaves, but not suffrage vetoed by Lincoln

he supported voting rights for “educated” freedmen

SEN. CHARLES SUMNER

REP. THADDEUS STEVENS

SEN. BENAMIN WADE

FORD’S THEATER

JOHN WILKES BOOTH

LINCOLN’S ASSASSINATION

ANDREW JOHNSON

PRESIDENTIAL RECONSTRUCTION

PRESIDENT JOHNSON’S PLAN Ironclad Oath-- pardon and restoration of property

did not include high-ranking Confederate military and political leaders

majority to form new constitutions and governments

provisional governors oversee the process readmission requirements:

revoke secession ordinances ratify the 13th Amendment

RESULTS OF JOHNSON’S PLAN (1865-1867)

By the fall 1865:Johnson had issued pardons for

many white Southern elitesrestored all lands distributed by

Sherman and the Freedmen’s Bureau

JOHNSON CARTOON

RADICAL REPUBLICAN RECONSTRUCTION (1867-1876)

RADICAL REPUBLICAN PLAN Reconstruction Bills (early 1867)

vetoed by Johnson; overridden by Congress invalidated states reconstructed under Lincoln and

Johnson’s plans Southern states organized into 5 military districts readmission requirements:

“republican” constitutions ratify 14th amendment black male suffrage military placed in charge of voter registration readmission must be approved by Congress

RADICAL RECONSTRUCTION

RADICAL RECONSTRUCTION IN THE SOUTH

state Republican government controlled by unstable coalitions:carpetbaggers—Northern whites who had

moved South Union veterans, idealistic reformers,

capitalistsscalawags—Southern white Republicans

Southern Unionistsfreedmen

CARPETBAGGERS

RADICAL POLICY TOWARD THE FREEDMEN

I. Freedman’s Bureau (est. March 1865) emergency relief for the freedmen some attempts to distribute land to the freedmen

Gen. O.O. Howard—Circular 13

GEN. O. O. HOWARD

FREEDMEN’S BUREAU SCHOOL

RADICAL POLICY TOWARD THE FREEDMEN

II. Constitutional Amendments:

13th Amendment abolishes slavery forever in the United States

14th Amendment: guaranteed black citizenship rights did not guarantee black suffrage incorporation

due process clause equal protection clause

15th Amendment guaranteed black male suffrage had to be ratified by remaining Southern states who would

apply for readmission (VA, MS, TX, GA)

SOUTHERN RESISTANCE

I. Black Codes (1865-1866)reestablished planter control over freedmenarrest of unemployed blacks fines/jailings for vagrancy (work off fines) forbids black land leasing or ownershipcontract labor and domestic servantsapprentice clauses—allowed white officials

to black children “apprentices” on nearby farms

MISSISSIPPI “VAGRANTS”

SOUTHERN RESISTANCE

II. Terrorism and Paramilitary Activity Ku Klux Klan (1865) White Camellia (1867) White League (1874) Red Shirts (1875: MS and SC)

1871-1876—the Democratic Party regains control of Southern governments so-called “Redeemer” governments intimidation and terror

KLANSMAN (1868)

KU KLUX KLAN

KLANSMAN (1871)

SOUTHERN RESISTANCE

III. Economic Dependency there was no wholesale redistribution of land to the ex-

slaves some ex-slaves became independent farmers (South

Carolina) some became wage laborers (Louisiana)

sharecropping system imposed on most freedmen and poor whites contract between land owner and cropper (tenant)

crop lien “cycle of debt”

BLACK VETERANS

FINAL STAGES OF RADICAL RECONSTRUCTION

early 1867: Republican Party begins to break into factions Northern resolve was weakeningRadical attempt to impeach Johnson

Tenure of Office Act (March 1867) Election of 1868

Gen. Ulysses S. Grant electedSouthern violence in response to the 14th

Amendment

THE END OF RECONSTRUCTION (1872-1876)

Southern Whites encouraged by decreasing support in the

North due to: high taxes economic depression desire for “white man’s rule” feeble response of Grant Administration

plagued by scandals limited enforcement of Reconstruction

laws

SOUTHERN PROPOGANDA

THE END OF RECONSTRUCTION (1872-1876)

Election of 1876Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican) 48% (185 electoral votes)Samuel Tilden (Democrat) 51% (184 electoral votes)

allegations of voter fraud made by both sides an electoral commission awarded disputed votes to

Hayes Hayes removes federal troops from the South

BLACK POPULATION BY 1880