II. The Civil War: Causes,Conflicts, Consequences

288 Grade 5 Handbook

Teaching Idea

Ask students to break apart the word“reconstruction” into prefix, root word,and suffix. Discuss the meaning ofeach. Then, ask students why theybelieve this period in history wascalled “Reconstruction.” (The answershould be to bring the country togetheragain to fix it and rebuild it.) As youdiscuss the next sections with stu-dents, they can track the information onInstructional Master 84, T-Chart, whereone side is a positive outcome ofReconstruction, and the other side is anegative outcome. At the end of thissection, ask students to write a para-graph answering the question, “WasReconstruction good for our country?Why or why not?” and justify theiranswer based on notes taken in classand/or on research using primarysources outside of class.

their policies. The Radical Republicans believed stronger measures were neces-sary to reconstruct the South and to protect the rights of the freed slaves. Theywanted to make sure that former Confederates, almost all of whom wereDemocrats, would not, or could not, be elected to public office. When the fourstates noted above elected new members of Congress, the Radical Republicansblocked them from taking their seats.

After Lincoln’s assassination, Vice President Andrew Johnson automaticallybecame president. He had been a senator from Tennessee at the time of secessionand had not followed his state out of the Union; he remained in the Senate. TheRepublicans had chosen him as Lincoln’s running mate in 1864. Johnson, a self-made man, was a supporter of states’ rights and the small farmer. For the mostpart, he agreed with Lincoln’s plan for Reconstruction. To get around Congress’sopposition, he took the opportunity of the Congressional recess later in 1865 toput it into effect. By the time Congress reconvened in December 1865, only Texashad not complied with the Presidential Reconstruction, as Johnson’s plan wascalled.

The Radical Republicans refused the new members of Congress their seats.Congress formed a commission that found that Presidential Reconstruction wasineffective. The antagonism between the president and Congress worsened in1866 over the Civil Rights Act and the 14th Amendment (see pp. 290–291).Johnson believed the first was unconstitutional because it violated the rights ofstates. He disapproved of the constitutional amendment for the same reason.

The election of 1866 hinged on whether the people supported Johnson’s viewor the Radical Republicans’ view of the proposed 14th Amendment. The peo-ple supported the Radical Republicans, and they gained enough new mem-bers in Congress to override any veto from Johnson. The Radical Republicanswere now in charge of Reconstruction. They threw out all the new state gov-ernments because many of the Southern constitutions had “black codes” thatlimited the rights of freed slaves. The exception was Tennessee, because itwas the only state that had ratified the 14th Amendment.

The South was divided into five military districts and the army was dis-patched to enforce the civil rights of former slaves and maintain order; inother words, the South was placed under martial law. The states had to writenew constitutions guaranteeing African-American males the vote and had toratify the 14th Amendment. Restrictions were placed on former Confederateofficials.

ImpeachmentThe power struggle between President Johnson and the Radical Republicans

continued. In 1867, Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act in an attempt tolimit the president’s power. According to this bill, a president would need theapproval of the Senate before firing any federal official whom the Senate had con-firmed. Included among these federal officeholders were the cabinet members.Johnson vetoed the bill, but Congress overrode his veto. In violation of the newlaw, Johnson fired a cabinet member who had sided with the Radical Republicansagainst him.

The House impeached Johnson; that is, it found enough evidence of wrong-doing to hand him over to the Senate for a trial. (The House’s responsibility in this

Use Instructional Master 84.

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History and Geography: American 289

Who Why

Northerners who moved South: federal Supported Radical Republican policiesgovernment officials, teachers, missionaries Some, to profit economically from Some, volunteers and employees of the ReconstructionFreedmen’s Bureau

Southerners who supported Radical Republican Abolitionists, were against secession, and/or policies remained loyal to the Union during the war

Some, to profit economically from Reconstruction

Free-born and freed African Americans Participate in their own governance

situation is similar to that of a grand jury, which hands up an indictment andturns someone over for trial.) The Senate heard the evidence and voted threetimes, but each time Johnson’s opponents could not muster enough votes. Theywere always one vote short. In the end the Senate acquitted Johnson, but hiseffectiveness in office was over.

Southern GovernmentsRadical Reconstruction banned former Confederate officers and officials from

holding office again. Who then filled the new Southern legislatures and othergovernment positions?

The new governments of the South were Republican, and most governmentpositions were filled by members of three groups: Northerners, Southerners whoworked with the Northerners, or freed African Americans. The Northerners, whohad often served in the Union army or were working for the Freedmen’s Bureau(see p. 290), moved south to help with Reconstruction. The Southern officialswere whites who supported the efforts of Reconstruction. Ex-Confederates dis-paragingly called the Northerners “carpetbaggers” and the Southerners who col-laborated with them “scalawags.” The nickname “carpetbagger” supposedly camefrom the carpetbags (19th-century suitcases) that Northerners carried with them.Southerners said the Northerners were there to exploit the Southerners and taketheir money. The term scalawag means “rascal” or “scoundrel.” In many Southernstates, freed African Americans also held government positions, which was bothsymbolic and literal proof that efforts to reconstruct the South were,at least by some appearances, working. However, many white Southerners resent-ed the new leaders and their policies, and some of the new government officials,particularly the carpetbaggers, were corrupt. The turmoil of Reconstruction led toyears of political conflict for the South.

Freedmen’s BureauFreed African Americans faced a bleak future. They had no place to live, no

education, no money to buy food, and no experience in bargaining for a job ordealing with the law. The only last names they had were the names of their for-mer owners. Many rectified that quickly by taking the names of Americans theyadmired. Among those were Lincoln, Washington, and Jefferson.

In 1865, the Freedmen’s Bureau was established by the Department of War tolook after the welfare of freed slaves. Agents of the bureau provided food for for-mer slaves and helped them find housing and employment. The bureau provided

cartoon of President Johnsonduring his impeachment

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