Presidential vs. Congressional Reconstruction

Question 1

Civil War Transformations

Answer 1

1. Centralization
   - Procedures and policies put in place to centralize the country (draft, divisions in N/S economies etc.)
2. Rise of Industry- in comparison to agriculture
3. Slavery legally ended

Question 2

Confiscation Acts

Answer 2

laws passed by the Union during Reconstruction to gain rights to property that southerners had fled from during the Civil War

Question 3

Mississippi Valley Labor Code (1864)

Answer 3

Developed by Union army to make a more peaceful transition b/w slavery and freedom

• Beating/whipping no longer allowed
• Ex-slaves signed contracts with slave owners determining what relationship would be (even though masters controlled all negotiations)
• Masters had to pay slaves wages (but many southerners were bankrupt and could not do so)

Legislation was a disaster, did not work to regulate labor relationships. In fact, labor was referred to as “Compulsory Free Labor” because slaves held so little power in these relationships

Question 4

Sherman Land (1865)

Answer 4

Land reserved for free African Americans along the Atlantic coast
-Each family would receive 40 acres of land along with mules used in the war effort

Question 5

Freedmen’s Bureau (1865)

Answer 5

Mission was to distributed aid to destitute southerners

• Built schools
• Gave food and clothing to the poor
• Sent seed to those farming in Sherman’s land
• Administration of Sherman’s land

Question 6

Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (1863)

Answer 6

The plan for readmitting Southern States to the Union during the Reconstruction period following the Civil War. It required Southern states to:
-Agree to emancipation of all states (13th am)
-Renounce secession
If conditions were met, that state would receive a full pardon from the US gov’t and get back pre-war voting rights as well as confiscated land.
If 10% of a state’s population adhered to these conditions, the state would be admitted back to the Union

Question 7

Things not mentioned in Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction

Answer 7

• Extension of political rights to freedmen

- Federal assistance for freedmen and their family

Question 8

Wade-Davis Bill

Answer 8

Plan for readmitting Southern states
-Fifty percent of a state had to agree to be readmitted
-Full ban of confederate officers (no pardons)
Failed after being vetoed by Lincoln

Question 9

Johnson’s Presidential Reconstruction

Answer 9

1. Instead of 10% rule, state legislatures had to agree that secession was wrong and accept emancipation
2. Had to agree that Confederate debts were no good
3. Provision for pardons- full pardons (said that rich property owners would not be pardoned but in reality he gave everyone pardons)
4. All the blacks on Sherman’s land had to move and the gov’t would take it back

Question 10

Black Codes

Answer 10

Intended to subject blacks to discrimination
-Illegal to own weapons
-Criminalized gestures interpreted as offensive by whites
-Denied rights to vote, serve on juries etc.
The core of these laws was to control labor
-Forced blacks back into the fields, had to pay special tax if wanted to work elsewhere
Children could be taken and given to masters if family was considered too poor to care for their child

Question 11

Civil Rights Act of 1866

Answer 11

The end of racial discrimination in state laws

• Represented expansion of black rights and federal authority
• Johnson refused to sign it because it “violated states’ rights” but congress overrode the veto

Question 12

Freedmen’s Bureau Act of 1866

Answer 12

Reinstated policy of giving slaves 40 acres, prolonging the life of the agency
-Moderate republicans saw it as a waste of money and a vote against white interests

Question 13

Fourteenth Amendment (1866)

Answer 13

1. Made all native-born Americans citizens
   - Made Dred Scott null and void
2. States had to extend equal protection of the laws to all their residents
3. All male citizens 21 years or older have the right to vote
   - First time blacks get the vote
   - First time the word “male” was used in the Constitution

Question 14

American Equal Rights Assoc. (1866)

Answer 14

Women activist reaction to the 14th amendment

-Marks the moment women’s rights movement focused solely on gaining the ability to vote instead of other social issues

Question 15

National Union Party

Answer 15

Formed by Johnson to address race, involved white men only
-Would fight against legislation supporting freedmen
-Lots of mobs as a reaction to the fact that blacks were free- murder and mutilation of blacks
○ Wanted to put African Americans “back in their place”
Cemented views for those on the fence that -Johnson’s plan was on the wrong track
-Democrats lost the next election, Republicans have a resounding victory in both houses of Congress

Question 16

Military Reconstruction Act (1867)

Answer 16

Threw out all the state gov’ts and divided the south into 5 military districts with union generals and troops responsible for enforcing 13th and 14th amendments
○ Forces made sure that all males were registered to vote and that when constitutional conventions were held to establish new constitutions, the 13th and 14th amendments were mentioned
○ Ensured that southern states ratified the 14th Amendment