Reconstruction 1865-1877

Economic effects
1. Positive
  1. Availability of Land
  2. Population Growth
  3. New Industries
    1. railroads were rebuilt and textile manufacturing expanded
2. negative
  1. this expansion did not keep pace with the North and left the South economically depressed with considerable poverty
  2. By 1870 the average White Southerner's income had fallen to two-fifths that of a Northern's income
  3. agricultural area which remained dependant on the cotton plantations
    1. glut of cotton led to a sharp fall of prices
Society
1. Limitations
  1. Hostile reaction from Southerners - attitudes remained the same and were still rested as second-class citizens
    1. Dec 1865 confederate ex- soldiers formed the Ku Klux Klan; 'a White racial brotherhood'
    2. In the summer of 1866 there were major riots in Memphis, New Orleans
    3. e.g In louisiana the 1968 elections were fought against the background of sustained violence by white terrorists
      1. 1000 people killed
    4. separate facilities that were supposedly equal but in reality the law discriminated and were inferior
  2. Presidential
    1. implication of Black Codes
      1. banned interracial marriage, not allowed to testify in court against Whites
      2. replaced old slave codes
  3. Radical
    1. presence of US Army in the South was bitterly resented by Southerners who saw them as an 'army of occupation'
    2. 'White Terror'
      1. White League in Louisiana
      2. Red shirts in South Carolina
      3. lynching
    3. 1873 – The Colfax Massacre
      1. armed with rifles and a cannon, opened fire on a crowd of black and white Americans, killing between 60 and 100 men, the vast majority of whom were African Americans ·
      2. The leaders of the massacre were arrested and charged, but were later released as the Supreme Court ruled that the law they had broken was unconstitutional
    4. blacks were almost completely robbed of the vote through grandfather clauses, poll taxes, and literacy tests
    5. Only 16 African Americans were elected to Congress; none was elected governor of a state
2. Positives
  1. African Americans began to join fully in the political process, voting in great numbers and serving in state and federal offi ces, and Southern state governments achieved several signifi cant reform
    1. e.g. two black Senators and 20 black representatives elected to congress
  2. subsequent constitutional amendments showed how important AfAm were in the new society
  3. 1870 – more black officeholders in the US than at any time in the next one hundred years
  4. One of the fi rst things freedmen did was build a vast network of black churches where they could practice the expressive worship style they preferred
  5. uilt 3,000 schools across the South by 1870, serving 150,000 students of all ages and established more than a dozen black colleges.
Politics
1. Failures/limitations
  1. the constitution government was divided throughout this period making it weak and slowing the process of reconstruction down
  2. Congressional Reconstruction
    1. Johnson vetoed most bills passed by Congress
    2. 14the amendment was rejected by all the ex-confederate states except Tennessee and failed to get approval of 75% of the states necessary for it to become law
  3. Presidential Reconstruction
    1. Johnson was too lenient towards the Southerners
      1. for example he allowed them to elect new governments which meant them electing ex-confederates into power
        Alexander H.Stephens, former vice president of the Confederacy became the new senator for Georgia
    2. Johnson had a strong commitment to obstructing political and civil rights for Blacks
      1. e.g. declared the Freedmen's Burreau Bill unconstitutional
      2. e.g. he objected to the Civil Rights Bill claiming it invaded the states' rights
    3. criticised for sharing the racial views of most white Southerners and appearing to be unconcerned about the plight of ex-slaves l
    4. isolated himself from republicans therefore allowing moderate and radical republicans to unite and pass the Civil Rights Bill which he then vetoed but was overturned by Congress which made him look weak
    5. encouraged white supremacy to control the South and ultimately caused it
    6. confiscated all land and returned it to those Southerners who had been 'pardoned and never redistributed the land '
      1. encouraged sharecropping
    7. allowed for sharecropping to develop which was essentially another form of slavery
  4. Radical Reconstruction (Grant)
    1. violence and intimidation reduced the Republican vote from AfAm
    2. In March 1876 two rulings by the Supreme Court went in favour of Southern conservatives not federal laws
    3. 1876 election results were disputed which led to a settlement which saw all federal troops withdrawn from the south in 1877 and the quick restoration of democratic governments in the South
    4. Was over before it began with Tennessee under Democrat control as early as 1869; Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama by 1876
    5. By early 1870s One by one, Reconstruction governments were replaced by Redeemer governments that reimposed white supremacy - congress had stopped enforcing the 14th amendment thanks to scandals in the Grant administration and the depression set off by the Panic of 1873
      1. Amnesty Act of 1872 approved by Grant allowed large numbers of ex-confederates to return to political life after being disqualified by previous laws
      2. By 1876, Redeemers had won back White Democratic control of most ex-confederate states
        used violent tactics as well as legal forms of discrimination e.g literacy tests and vagrancy laws
    6. Supreme Court case United States v. Cruikshank, which ruled that protections of the Fourteenth Amendment only applied to the actions of state governments and not to the actions of individuals.
    7. In 1874, Democrats won control of the House of Representatives. And by 1875, Republicans controlled only four southern state governments
  5. Constitutional checks and balances, separation of powers meant no branch could become too powerful therefore president's can't be wholly blamed
2. Successes
  1. Congressional Reconstruction 1866-1867
    1. Fourteenth Amendment - guaranteeing equal citizenship and voting rights - July 1868
      1. Lead to major political confrontation with Johnson
    2. Fifteenth Amendment - prohibited fed or state gov from denying citizens the right to votes on the grounds of race - March 1870
    3. passed laws to limit the powers of the president
      1. The Tenure of Office Act 1867
        enabled the process of impeachment of Johnson
        he was saved by one vote; 35 senators voted against and 19 for
        damaged Johnson's political standing and credibility
        11 charges made against him based on this act
        restricted the power of the president to suspend an officer while the Senate was not in session
        removed Stanton therefore violated the act
      2. the command of the army act which reduced Johnson's military powers
    4. reduced the power of Southern political influence massively with just one elected Southern president and only 7 of the 31 supreme court judges were Southern between 1864-1914
    5. In 1866, the Republican-dominated Congress passed the Civil Rights Bill that declared citizenship for african americans which Johnson vetoed but congress overrode in April
  2. Radical Reconstruction
    1. Enforcement Acts 1870 and 1871 - to strengthen the provision of the 14th and 15th amendments in respect of equal rights and limit discrimination
      1. targeted racial groups banning intimidation and bribery of black voters
    2. Civil Rights Bill passed by Congress 1875 - originally proposed by radical republican senator, Charles Sumner
      1. intended to guarantee equal treatment in issues like jury service and public transport
    3. put pressure on the South in order to ensure the passage of the 14th amendment
      1. military reconstruction bill 1867
    4. Grant told congress in 1874 Treat the Negro as a citizen and a voter—as he is, and mustremain,”
    5. He helped push through the 15th Amendment, which gave male citizensof all colours the right to vote
    6. Grant named blacks, Jews and nativeAmericans to federal positions
  3. Presidential
    1. May 29th 1865 - Johnson announced all Southerners except Confederate soldiers and rich plantation owners, would be pardoned if they swore allegiance to the Union
      1. 13,000 issued
    2. introduced the right reconstruction policies but lacked the ability to carry them out
    3. accepted Wade-Davis bill for oath of loyalty but agreed that when sac former confederate state held a convention to revise its own constitution those attending would be elected by the 1860 white electorate
Individuals and groups
1. President Lincoln 1863-1865
  1. he wanted to rebuild the South rather than persecute them
  2. 10% plan1963
    1. when 10% of the electorate in each state had taken the oath of loyalty, the state would be permitted to form a legal government to rejoin the union
      1. opposed by radical republicans who introduced the Wade-Davis bill in 1865 which required 50% of the electorate to take a much tougher oath of allegiance of past and future loyalty to the union
        it also excluded all those involved in the confederacy from any role of government and demanded state constitution to be changed to abolish slavery
        Lincoln vetoed the bill which led to a further deterioration in relations between Congress and president
  3. introduced 13th Amendment; abolished slavery passed by congress 1865 months before he was assassinated
  4. set a firm foundation for reconstruction and had used his authority and power to pass legislation
  5. Freedmen's Bureau March 1865
    1. helped former slaves by providing education and employment and establish schools
    2. Settled ex-slaves on abandoned land
  6. conflict with congress
    1. e.g. his presidential war powers only gave him authority to reach slaves in rebel-held territory not the border states which remained loyal to the union but where slavery remained legal
    2. The Emancipation Proclamation stimulated a political backlash among white Northerners that cost Republicans thirty-one seats in Congress, and led to race riots in northern cities in the summer of 1863
    3. after six months of debate, the proposed amendment won only 93 votes in the House, well short of the two-thirds majority required by the Constitution for amendments
  7. criticised for his slowness to act against slavery and failure to enlist black men into the union army
    1. however 1863 congress passed the Militia Act; 180,000 Black men served in Union army and this became a strong argument for Af Am citizenship and equality
2. President Johnson 1865-1869
  1. described to make hurried decisions and refused to alter them
  2. Democrat
  3. didn't believe in a harsh Southern Policy like the radicals as he was a poor white Southerner himself
    1. e.g. allowed for Black codes to be passed in southern states
      1. segregation and prohibition on interracial marriage, Black not allowed to testify in court against whites, Difficulties gaining economic freedom from work on plantations, African Americans deemed to be unemployed could be forced into working for white employers
  4. he knew it was vital to reconcile the South and to prevent those who had supported the confederacy from becoming 'a degraded and debased people'
    1. however he had betrayed the Northerners and had undermined the status of black people
  5. Johnson high-handed and inept in attempts to override opponents using veto alienated potential allies among moderate Republicans - drove them to unite with Radical Republicans
    1. e.g. February 1866 – Johnson vetoed bill extending Freedmen’s Bureau by three years
    2. e.g. March 1866 – Congress passed Civil Rights Act – re-stated equal rights of African Americans, authorised federal intervention to enforce them, Johnson vetoed the bill
  6. issued presidential reconstruction
3. Ulysses S. Grant 1869-1876
  1. Republican
  2. issued Radical Reconstruction; Grant in favour of firm treatment of the South in the Reconstruction process
  3. selected as candidate due to assumptions that he could be easily influenced therefore allowing congress to run the country
  4. time in office was marked by a series of scandals that undermined him, his office and party
    1. Senator James Grimes of Iowa described the republicans as 'the most corrupt an debauched political party that as ever existed'
    2. Business were able to buy off legislatures and dominate political-making decisions
    3. The Whiskey Ring Scandal 1875
      1. involved a network of distillers, distributors and public officials who conspired to defraud the federal government of millions in liquor tax revenue
  5. political machine heavily controlled by state government
  6. introduced 15th Amendement 1869 securing the right to votes
  7. 1873 – Grant’s position badly weakened following economic depression after stock market Panic of 1873
Definition: reintegrating the Southern states back into the union under the control of the Federal Government, dealing with ex-confederate politicians, providing rights to freed slaves

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Reconstruction 1865-1877

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	Created by Niamh Quinn almost 8 years ago