Reconstruction 1 Flashcards
Reconstruction
A program to repair the damage to the south and restore southern states to the Union from 1865 to 1877
Southern damage
2/3 of shipping industry destroyed
9000 miles of railroad ruined as well as farms and machinery
Farm property value plunged by 70%
A generation of men lost, 1/3 of southern men killed or wounded
Name the post war groups in south:
Black southerners
Plantation owners
Poor white southerners
Black southerners post war
4 million freed now starting new loves
Many homeless, jobless and hungry
Plantation owners post war
Lost slave labor worth $3 billion. Many couldn’t afford to hire workers so had to sell property to pay debts
Poor white southerners post war
Hard to find work with new job competition. Many migrated to MS and TX
Ten percent plan
Proposed by Lincoln
Tone of forgiveness
Did not readmit because secession was unconstitutional
1. Pardon those who take oath and accept 13th amendment
2. Denied pardons to Confed military, govt officials, southerners who killed African POWs
3. State conventions to create constitution when 10% of voters swore allegiance
4. Then state could hold elections and participate in Union. Did not require voting rights for Africans
Radical Republicans
Reconstruction’s goal is total restructuring of society to guarantee black people true equality.
Thought Lincoln was too lenient
Wade Davis Act
Congress’s first plan
Passed in 1864 but Lincoln let die in pocket veto
1. Ex Confeds required to take oath of past and future loyalty, swear they never willingly bore arms against US
2. Southern states must abolish slavery
3. >50% of citizens must take loyalty oath
Pocket veto
Don’t sign in 10 days and Congress is not in secession
What is a pardon?
Official forgiveness of crimes
13th amendment
Ended slavery
Lincoln’s successor
Andrew Johnson
TN slave owner, supported by poor white southerners, generous to south
Presidential Reconstruction
- Pardon South if swear allegiance
- Hold state conventions
- State required to void secession, abolish slavery, repudiate Confed debt
- State elections, then join Union
Johnson officially denied pardons but…
Personally pardoned 13,000 southerners
40 acres and a mule
Free people felt entitled to land and wanted it for blacks economic independence.
1865: Sherman set up a land distribution experiment in SC that divided coastal lands into 40 acre lost to give to freedmen. Johnson returned most land to original owners, but small scale unofficial redistribution took place
Charlotte Forten
1860: 90% of black adults were illiterate.
Forten was a wealthy black women from Philly who believed in educating freedmen.
1865-1870: black educators found 30 African American colleges
Freedmen’s Bureau
First major federal relief agency created by Congress to help black southerners adjust to freedom. Gave out clothing, medical supplies, meals to the poor. More than 250,000 Africans received first formal education in bureau schools. Dismantled in 1869
Black codes
White people still dominated south. Southern states formed laws that restricted Freedmen’s rights
- Curfews: no gathering after sunset
- Vagrancy laws: fined, whipped or sold for a year’s labor if unemployed
- Labor contracts: signed agreements in Jan for a year’s work, lost wages if quit
- Land restrictions: rent or own in rural areas only
Civil Rights Act
Congress upset with black codes and felt that Johnson helped return S Dems to power.
1866 passed Civil Rights Act that outlawed black codes
Vetoed by Johnson by overrode.
14th amendment
Passed after Civil Rights Act
Guaranteed Africans equal protection under the law
Radical vs Moderate Republicans
Small but influential vs Support mainstream views.
Both drafters of 14th amendment.
Both hated Johnson’s plan, opposed black codes, wanted to expand Repub party in South.
Violence against Africans
Riots in New Orleans and NY, many stabbed, shot, hanged.
Police joined stabbings, lootings, hangings.
STILL Johnson opposed equal rights for blacks
Reconstruction Act of 1867
Radicals in Congress
- Military Rule: 5 southern districts governed by N generals
- State elections: create new constitutions
- State laws: all qualified makes including blacks can vote
- Banned Confed supporters from voting
- Equal rights for all citizens
- Ratification of 14th amendment
Edwin Stanton
Lincoln appointee to Secretary of War.
In 1868, Johnson tried to fire him because he would preside over military rule. Challenged Tenure of Office Act of 1867, which placed limits on Pres power to hire and fire, needed SemTe approval.
Impeachment
House found firing of Stanton unconstitutional.
Voted to impeach- charge with wrongdoing in office.
Senate fired him for “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Needed 2/3 Senate vote to remove, escaped by one vote
Election of 1868
Repub Ulysses S Grant vs Dem Horatio Seymour
Close race but Grant won
Now Congress and Pres are allies
15th amendment
Freedmen demanded right to vote, hold office, serve on jury, testify.
Passed by Congress Feb 1869, ratified March 1870.
Stated that no citizen may be denied right to vote based on race, color, previous condition of servitude.
As part of the Reconstructiom Act of 1867, military registered freedmen.
735,000 freedmen joined voting rolls. 80% of newly registered Africans voted. 1/4 of 1000 delegates to 10 state conventions were African.
LA and SC chose an African majority of delegates
Texas vs White
Supreme Court ruled secession illegal in 1869
Upheld Congress’s right to restructure Southern governments and added new support for federal power over states rights
Carpetbaggers
White northern Republican who moved South. Take advantage of rebuilding for money and new black vote for political power.
Scalawags
White Southern Republicans, often poor
“Scrawny cattle”
Seen as traitors and profiteers
