The U.S. begins to rebuild the South, but former slaves face new challenges as support

fades for the policies of Reconstruction.

Chapter 22 –The Ordeal of Reconstruction (1865-

1877)

The Problems of Peace

Questions remain after the war What to do with free blacks? How to integrate the South back into the Union? What to do with Jefferson Davis? Who would be in charge of Reconstruction?

Dismal picture in the South; economics and social structure collapsed Crops and farms destroyed, slaves freed Cities (Charleston and Richmond) burned The planter class humbled and destroyed

Yet, many Southerners remain defiant

The Freedmen’s Bureau

In order to train the unskilled freed Blacks, the Freedman’s Bureau was set up in 1865.

Bureau taught about 200,000 Blacks how to read

However, it wasn’t as effective as it could have been, as evidenced by the further discrimination of Blacks.

Although authorized to settle former slaves on 40 acres of land, little land made it into blacks’ hands.

Pres. Johnson repeatedly tried to kill it ; it expired in 1872 after much criticism by racist Whites.

Johnson: The Tailor President

Andrew Johnson came from very poor and humble beginnings; served in Congress for many years (he was the only Confederate congressman not to leave Congress when the rest of the South seceded).

Feared for his short temper, hated for his stubbornness

A dogmatic champion of states’ rights and the Constitution, and he was a Tennessean who never earned the trust of the North and never regained the confidence of the South.

17th President of the United States: Andrew Johnson

Johnson never spent a day in school, but, after he married in 1827, his wife taught him to read and write.

At Lincoln's 2nd inauguration, Johnson, feeling ill, took a slug of liquor to steady himself. It wasn’t a good idea. Johnson didn’t carry liquor well. He seemed clearly drunk at the ceremonies, something those who opposed him never allowed the public to forget.

Presidential Reconstruction

Lincoln’s Plan for restoring the Union = The Ten Percent Plan - southern states could be

reintegrated into the Union if and when they had only 10% of its voters pledge and taken an oath to the Union, and also acknowledge the emancipation of the slaves

Lincoln’s plan was very forgiving to the South.Radical Republicans wanted to punish the

South Wade-Davis Bill - required 50% of the states’ voters to

take oaths of allegiance and demanded stronger safeguards for emancipation than the 10% Plan.

Lincoln “pocket vetoes” Wade-Davis Bill

Presidential Reconstruction (cont.)

Clear that there were now two types of Republicans: the moderates, who shared the same views as Lincoln the radicals, who believed the South should be harshly

punishedWhen Andrew Johnson took power, the

radicals thought that he would do what they wanted, but Johnson largely accepts the 10% plan

The Baleful Black Codes

In order to control the freed Blacks, many Southern states passed Black Codes – harsh laws aimed at keeping the Black population in submission and workers in the fields

The codes forbade Blacks from serving on a jury and renting or leasing land

Blacks could be punished for “idleness” by being subjected to working on a chain gang

Black Codes kept former slaves in perpetual poverty

LOUISIANA BLACK CODES (1865). . . Sec. 1. Be it ordained by the police jury of the parish of St. Landry, That no negro shall be allowed to pass within the limits of said parish without special permit in writing from his employer. Whoever shall violate this provision shall pay a fine of two dollars and fifty cents, or in default thereof shall be forced to work four days on the public road, or suffer corporeal punishment as provided hereinafter. . . .

Sec. 3. . . . No negro shall be permitted to rent or keep a house within said parish. Any negro violating this provision shall be immediately ejected and compelled to find an employer; and any person who shall rent, or give the use of any house to any negro, in violation of this section, shall pay a fine of five dollars for each offence.

Sec. 4. . . . Every negro is required to be in the regular service of some white person, or former owner, who shall be held responsible for the conduct of said negro. But said employer or former owner may permit said negro to hire his own time by special permission in writing, which permission shall not extend over seven days at any one time. . . .

Sec. 5. . . . No public meetings or congregations of negroes shall be allowed within said parish after sunset; but such public meetings and congregations may be held between the hours of sunrise and sunset, by the special permission in writing of the captain of patrol, within whose beat such meetings shall take place. . . .

Sec. 6. . . . No negro shall be permitted to preach, exhort, or otherwise declaim to congregations of colored people, without a special permission in writing from the president of the police jury. . . .

Sec. 7. . . . No negro who is not in the military service shall be allowed to carry fire-arms, or any kind of weapons, within the parish, without the special written permission of his employers, approved and indorsed by the nearest and most convenient chief of patrol. . . .

Sec. 8. . . . No negro shall sell, barter, or exchange any articles of merchandise or traffic within said parish without the special written permission of his employer, specifying the article of sale, barter or traffic. . . .

Sec. 9. . . . Any negro found drunk, within the said parish shall pay a fine of five dollars, or in default thereof work five days on the public road, or suffer corporeal punishment as hereinafter provided.

Sec. 11. . . . It shall be the duty of every citizen to act as a police officer for the detection of offences and the apprehension of offenders, who shall be immediately handed over to the proper captain or chief of patrol. . . .

Congressional Reconstruction

1865: many Southern states came back into the Union; most Republicans disgusted to see their former enemies reclaim seats in Congress.

Republicans didn’t want to give up the power that they had gained in the war

Northerners realized the South would be stronger politically than before, since now, Blacks counted for a whole person instead of just 3/5 of one

On December 6, 1865, President Johnson declared that the South had satisfied all of the conditions needed, and that the Union was now restored.

Johnson Clashes with Congress

Johnson repeatedly vetoed Republican-passed bills a bill extending the life of the Freedman’s Bureau vetoed the Civil Rights Bill, which gave blacks American citizenship and struck

at the Black Codes As Republicans gained control of Congress, they passed the bills

into laws with a 2/3 vote and thus override Johnson’s veto 14th Amendment passed

(1) all Blacks were American citizens (2) if a state denied citizenship to Blacks, then its representatives in the

Electoral College were lowered (3) former Confederates could not hold federal or state office (4) the federal debt was guaranteed while the Confederate one was repudiated

The radicals were disappointed that Blacks weren’t given the right to vote

all Republicans agreed that states wouldn’t be accepted back into the Union unless they ratified the 14th Amendment

Republican Principles and Programs

Senate radicals leader = Charles SumnerHouse radical leader = Thaddeus StevensTo the Radicals and Stevens, the Black codes

made it clear that the ex-Confed states were not cured

Radical Repubs begin to push forward legislation to safeguard blacks (which Johnson would veto because he claimed they violated states’ rights)

Congressman Thaddeus Stevens

Stevens was born club-footed and had an impoverished childhood. Both facts may have contributed to his fanatical sympathy for Black slaves. He is supposed to have had a Black mistress, and he demanded he be buried in a Black cemetery.

Stevens’ great flaw was that he could neither forgive, forget, nor compromise. To him, the conquered states of the Confederacy were occupied areas with no rights. He wanted the estates of the slave-holders cut up and given to the ex-slaves who worked them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7Brh9iWajc&index=1&list=PL-G96IvXIJ5MWQ0EV_06xY-yxEqz0zHQI

Reconstruction by the Sword

The Reconstruction Act (1867) divided the South into five military zones temporarily disfranchised tens of thousands of former

Confederates All states had to approve the 14th Amendment,

making all Blacks citizens. All states had to guarantee full suffrage of all male

former slaves.15th Amendment (1869) - gave Blacks right

to vote

Reconstruction by the Sword (cont.)

By 1870, all of the states had complied with the standards of Reconstruction, and in 1877, the last of the states (LA, SC, FL) were given their home rule back, and Reconstruction ended.

Compromise of 1877 the two presidential candidates were at a stalemate

and the only way to break the stalemate was with a deal. In the deal, the North got their president (Rutherford B. Hayes) and the South got the military to pull-out (abandon?) the South and the former slaves, thus ending Reconstruction.

No Women Voters

Women suffrage advocates were disappointed by the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, since they didn’t give women suffrage

As a result, women advocates like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony campaigned against the 14th and 15th Amendments—Amendments that inserted the word male into the Constitution for the first time ever

Realities of Radical Reconstruction in the South

Blacks began to organize politicallythe Union League - network of political clubs

that educated members in their civic duties and campaigned for Republican candidates

Black women attended the parades and rallies of Black communities

Black men also began to hold political offices, as men like Hiram Revels and Blanche K. Bruce served in Congress

Realities of Radical Reconstruction in the South (cont.)

Southern Whites hated seeing their former slaves now ranking above them

Also hated scalawags – Southerners who were accused of plundering Southern treasuries and selling out the Southerners

Also hated carpetbaggers –Northerners accused of parasitically milking power and profit in a now-desolate South

Radical governments in the South filled with corruption, just like in the North

Carpetbaggers

Political leadership of the southern military districts fell into the hands of people who moved in from the rest of the nation. Some of these newcomers were idealists who wanted to help Blacks. Others judged that they could make money amidst the chaos.

Men so poor came in with all their belongings in a single bag. In those days, cheap travel bags were made out of carpet. Hence, the term carpetbaggers. This term has been used ever since to characterize a political opponent who is more closely identified with some other state than the one in which they are seeking office.

The Ku Klux Klan

Racist Whites who hated the Blacks founded the “Invisible Empire of the South,” or Ku Klux Klan, in Tennessee in 1866 an organization that scared Blacks into not voting or not

seeking jobs, etc often resorted to violence against the Blacks in addition to

psychological terrorThe Klan became a refuge for criminalsWhite resistance undermined attempts to empower

blacks politicallySouthern whites openly defied the 14th and 15th

Amendments through intimidation, fraud, trickery ex: literacy tests

Ku Klux Klan

On 12/24/65, a group of ex-Confederate army officers formed a social group, which they called Kyklos—a Greek word meaning circle—and since many of them were of Scot-Irish descent, they thought of themselves as a clan, which they misspelled “klan” for the sake of alliteration. The name quickly became the Ku Klux Klan and the ex-Confederate cavalry leader Nathan Bedford Forrest became the first Grand Master.

These pictures are the earliest known photos of the Klan.

Johnson Walks the Impeachment Plank

Radical Republicans were angry with President Johnson, and they decided to try to get rid of him

In 1867, Congress passed the “Tenure of Office Act”, which provided that the president had to secure the consent of the Senate before removing his appointees once they had been approved by the Senate (one reason was to keep Edwin M. Stanton, a Republican spy, in office)

However, when Johnson dismissed Stanton early in 1868, the Republicans impeached him.

A Not-Guilty Verdict for Johnson

Johnson was acquitted of all charges by a single vote, as seven Republican senators voted “not-guilty”

Die-hard radicals were infuriated by the acquittal, but many politicians feared establishing a precedence of removing the president through impeachment.

The Heritage of Reconstruction

Many Southerners regarded Reconstruction as worse than the war itself, as they resented the upending of their social and racial system

Carpetbaggers driven out; traditional white leadership reasserted itself

14th and 15th Amendment were not a reality in the South…Blacks did not have the right of citizens

Lincoln assassination, Johnson’s incompetence, the intransigence of ex-Confed whites, and the vengefulness of Radical Republicans affixed a race problem to the US that haunts us today.

The fate of Blacks would remain poor for almost another century before the Civil Rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s secured Black privileges

http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/reconstruction

The Purchase of Alaska

In 1867, Secretary of State William H. Seward bought Alaska from Russia to the United States for $7.2 million (2 cents an acre)

Most of the public jeered his act as “Seward’s Folly” or “Seward’s Ice-box.”

Only later, when oil and gold were discovered, did Alaska prove to be a huge bargain.