T1 Political

Question 1

Reconstruction (1865 - 1877)

Answer 1

• Reconstruction was:
• (i) Returning the Southern states back into the United States.
• (ii) Replacing the previous society based on slavery with a new society that recognised the new
  status of African Americans.
• Presidential Reconstruction happened under Presidents Lincoln.
• Radical Reconstruction happened under a Radical Republican-dominated Congress.

Question 2

Lincoln’s Reconstruction Aims

Answer 2

• Lincoln wanted to treat the Southern states leniently to encourage them back into the Union
  [United States].
• Lincoln wanted to return former slaves to the colonies, but Southern African Americans refused
  to participate in this.
• Lincoln strongly believed the US Presidency (himself) should direct Reconstruction Policy.

Question 3

The Thirteenth Amendment (1865)

Answer 3

• In November 1864 Lincoln proposed the Thirteenth Amendment [change] to the US Constitution.
• In January 1865 Congress voted to accept the Thirteenth Amendment.
• By December 1865 it was approved by a majority of states and therefore became law.
• The Thirteenth Amendment officially abolished [ended and banned] slavery in the United States.

Question 4

The Freedmen’s Bureau (1865 - 1866)

Answer 4

• In March 1865 Lincoln and Congress introduced the Freedmen’s Bureau, a US federal agency set
  up for one year only, to help slaves in the former ways.
• It provided advice on education and employment to former slaves.
• It helped establish schools for African Americans.

Question 5

Radical Republicans

Answer 5

• The Radical Republicans (later also known as ‘Stalwarts’) were a faction of American politicians
  within the Republican Party from the founding of the Republican Party in 1854 until the end
  of Reconstruction in The 1877 Compromise.
• They called themselves ‘Radicals’ because of their goal of immediate, complete, permanent
  eradication of slavery, without compromise.
• They were opposed during the Civil War by the contemporary moderate Republicans led by
  Abraham Lincoln.

Question 6

Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan

Answer 6

• All rebel Southern states would be returned into the United States provided:
• (1) Ten per cent of their electorate agreed to an oath of allegiance [loyalty] to the United States.
• (2) They supported all acts [laws] of Congress regarding slavery.
• (3) They allowed African Americans to vote.
• The rebel state of Louisiana met the Ten Percent plan and was readmitted back into the union.

Question 7

The Radical Republicans Wade Davis Bill

Answer 7

• Radical Republicans led by Senator Henry Winter Davis and Benjamin Wade proposed the Wade
  Davis Bill in 1865:
• (1) Half or 50% of their electorate must take a tougher oath of allegiance [loyalty] to the United
  States.
• (2) They must declare that they had never supported or given voluntary help to the Confederacy
  against the United States.
• (3) It banned all former officials involved in the Confederacy from any role in future government.
• (4) The state’s constitution must be changed to abolish slavery.
• Lincoln vetoed [rejected] the Wade-Davis Bill worsening his relationship with Radical Republicans
  in Congress.

Question 8

The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln

Answer 8

• On 14th April 1865, President Lincoln attended Ford’s theatre in Washington to see Our American
  Cousins.
• An actor who had often performed at the theatre, James Wilkes Booth, came into Lincoln’s
  theatre box and shot him in the head. Lincoln died the next day.
• On 21st April 1865 massed crowds watched Lincoln’s funeral train set out on its journey to
  Springfield, Illinois.
• Having led the nation through years of war, Lincoln was prevented from leading the divided nation
  back to peace.

Question 9

Reconstruction under Andrew Johnson (1865 – 1869)

Answer 9

• Vice-president Andrew Johnson now became president and was keen to push ahead with
  Reconstruction. Johnson has generally been given a poor press by historians who criticise him for
  sharing the racial views of most white Southerners and appearing to be unconcerned about the
  plight of ex-slaves.
• However, some recent biographers have been more sympathetic, suggesting that Johnson
  introduced the right Reconstruction policies but lacked the ability to carry them out.
• Johnson wanted to restore the Southern states as quickly as possible, realising that Congress was
  due to reconvene in December 1865 and he would soon face strong opposition from Radical
  Republicans.
• He favoured leniency and had no wish to promote the position of ex-slaves.
• He accepted the Wade–Davis Bill for the oath of loyalty, but agreed that when each former
  Confederate state held a convention to revise its own constitution, those attending the
  convention would be elected by the 1860 white electorate.

Question 10

The Black Codes (1865 – 1866)

Answer 10

• The new state legislatures in the South passed a series of laws known as the Black Codes.
• These included:
  (1) African Americans deemed to be unemployed could be forced into working for white
  employers.
  (2) The children of African Americans could be forced into working on plantations as apprentices.
  (3) African Americans could be prevented from receiving an education.

Question 11

Opposition to Johnson

Answer 11

• By the time that Congress met in December 1865, many Congressmen, including moderate
  Republicans, had serious doubts about Johnson’s leniency towards the South.
• This was partly due to developments in the South, particularly the Black Codes.

Question 12

The Civil Rights Bill (1866)

Answer 12

• Instead of working with the moderate Republicans, Johnson sided with the Democrats.
• When Congress passed a bill strengthening the powers of the Freedmen’s Bureau, Johnson vetoed
  the bill because he knew it would anger the South and make Reconstruction more difficult.
• Moderate Republicans now joined forces with radicals to introduce a Civil Rights Bill which gave
  minimum rights to blacks.
• Johnson vetoed the bill.
• However, for the first time in history, Congress overturned the presidential veto, which required
  a two-thirds majority in both Houses and ensured the passage of the 1866 Civil Rights Bill.

Question 13

The Fourteenth Amendment (1868)

Answer 13

• To ensure that the Civil Rights Bill could not be changed in the future Congress introduced the
  Fourteenth Amendment which stated that people who were born in the USA or who were
  naturalised were US citizens, and all citizens were guaranteed equality before the law.
• It also gave the federal authorities the right to intervene if states contravened its rules.
• The Amendment was rejected by all the ex-Confederate states except Tennessee and failed to get
  the approval of 75 per cent of the states necessary for it to become law.

Question 14

Radical Reconstruction (1867 - 1877)

Answer 14

• In order to ensure the passage of the Amendment, Congress put real pressure on the South with
  a series of plans known as ‘Radical Reconstruction’.
• The Military Reconstruction Bill (1867), which imposed military rule on the South with the
  exception of Tennessee. The ten remaining states were grouped into five military districts, each
  placed under a federal commander. To get back in the Union, Southern states had to elect national
  conventions which would accept black suffrage and accept the Fourteenth Amendment.
• The Command of the Army Act, which reduced Johnson’s military powers.
• The Tenure of Office Act, which prevented Johnson from removing a host of office-holders. This
  was to try to protect the Secretary of State, Edwin M. Stanton, who was a fierce critic of Johnson,
  and a staunch Radical Republican, who as long as he remained in office would comply with
  congressional Reconstruction policies.

Question 15

Johnson impeached (1868)

Answer 15

• Johnson, however, ignored the Tenure of Office Act and dismissed Stanton.
• The Republicans now decided to impeach Johnson, with the impeachment proceedings taking
  place in the Senate in 1868.
• Congress issued eleven articles of impeachment against Johnson which included the removal of
  Johnson and replacing him with Thomas without the permission of the Senate, as well as making
  three speeches with intent to show disrespect for Congress among the citizens of the United
  States.
• After a two-month trial, 35 Senators voted against Johnson and 19 for him. This was one short of
  the two-thirds majority needed to impeach him.
• He remained president, but both his credibility and effectiveness were destroyed.

Question 16

Reconstruction under Ulysses S. Grant (1869 - 1877)

Answer 16

• Grant was in favour of the firm treatment of the South in the Reconstruction process.
• New state governments had been established in the South, which was now under military rule,
  although there were never more than 20,000 troops in the whole of the South.
• These new governments were often corrupt and inefficient.
• The majority of new officials were Northerners who were nicknamed ‘carpetbaggers’ after the
  type of suitcase they carried, and they were helped by a few renegade Southern whites who were
  called ‘scalawags’ with the term derived from a nickname for low quality farm animals.
• These were Southern whites who formed a Republican coalition with black freedmen and
  Northern newcomers to take control of their state and local governments.
• Real power lay with the carpetbaggers supported by the US army.
• Most Southern whites detested the Republican newcomers who, they believed, were determined
  to destroy the Southern way of life.

Question 17

The Fifteenth Amendment (1870)

Answer 17

• In 1869, the Fifteenth Amendment was introduced which stated that ‘The right to vote should not
  be denied on account of race, colour or previous conditions of servitude’.
• This Amendment ensured that citizens of any colour or race could vote, wherever they lived.

Question 18

Grant’s Scandals

Answer 18

• In 1872, Grant easily defeated Horace Greeley, in a second presidential election, winning over 55
  per cent of the popular vote. Unfortunately, both of Grant’s terms in office were dominated by a
  number of serious political scandals which involved some of his close associates.
• (1) The Gold Standard Panic of 1869 scandal: During his first term, a group of speculators
  attempted to influence the government and manipulate the gold market. The failed plot resulted
  in a financial panic on 24 September 1869, known as Black Friday. Even though Grant was not
  directly involved in the scheme, his reputation suffered because he had become personally
  associated with two of the speculators, James Fisk and Jay Gould, prior to the scandal.
• (2) The Whiskey Ring scandal of 1875 involved a network of distillers, distributors and public
  officials who conspired to defraud the federal government of millions in liquor tax revenue. Grant’s private secretary, Orville Babcock, was indicted in the scandal but, with the help of the
  President, was later acquitted.

Question 19

The End of Reconstruction (1876–77)

Answer 19

• The presidential election of 1876 and subsequent compromise of 1877 is often regarded as the
  end of the period of Reconstruction.
• In 1876, the Republican candidate was Rutherford Hayes, while the Democrats chose Samuel
  Tilden. Tilden won the popular vote by 4,284,020 to 4,036,572 to Hayes.
• However, Hayes won the crucial electoral college vote by 184 to 165.
• The voting returns for Oregon, South Carolina, Louisiana and Florida were contested and these
  four states had 20 electoral college votes. If these went to Hayes, he would have won the election.
• This resulted in a long, complex and controversial process to try to resolve the problem with a
  special commission, set up to allocate the electoral college votes from the disputed states,
  allocating these to Hayes.
• This ended the crisis. It was a secret deal between the largely Northern-based Republicans and
  the emerging Democratic Party of the South.
• The Democrats would accept Hayes as president.
• He, in return, agreed to withdraw all troops from the South and the departure of the
  ‘carpetbaggers’.
• Hayes did withdraw troops from the South and this brought an end to Republican attempts to
  modernise the politics, government and racial attitudes of the South.

Question 20

Reconstruction Political Effects (1866 - 1877)

Answer 20

• In many respects, the North was not harsh on the South during Reconstruction.
• Only one man was executed and there was no major confiscation of property.
• For decades the Democratic Party, which ensured white supremacy, controlled the South.
• Carpetbagger influence has been exaggerated. In no state did Northerners constitute even two
  per cent of the population and they were not trying to economically exploit the South.
• Some were corrupt and accepted bribes, but this was commonplace throughout the USA, not just
  the South, especially from the railroad companies.
• Moreover, in many Southern states Radical Reconstruction was over before it began.
• Tennessee was under Democrat control as early as 1869; Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Texas,
  Arkansas, Alabama, and Mississippi by 1876. By 1876 only Louisiana, Florida and South Carolina
  were still under Republican control although this was changed by the compromise of 1877.
• Nevertheless, Reconstruction did have some adverse effects on white Southerners. They did,
  temporarily, lose control of their Southern states.
• Moreover, after 1865 there was a major fall in the political influence of the South in the USA as a
  whole. Between 1788 and 1860 Southerners had held the presidency for 50 years and dominated
  the Supreme Court.
• In the 50 years from 1864 to 1914 there was just one elected Southern president and only seven
  of the 31 Supreme Court judges were from the South.
• Many state governments in the South felt even more distant culturally and politically from the
  government in Washington DC.