APUSH Lecture 4D (covers chapter 15) Ms. Kray Some slides taken from Susan Pojer Presidential Reconstruction A Devastated South and the Process of Re-Integration #3 - How do we integrate and protect newly emancipated black freemen? #1 - How do we bring the South back into the Union? #2 How do we rebuild the South? #4 Which branch of government should control the reconstruction process? #4 Which branch of government should control the reconstruction process? Lincolns 10% Plan, 1863 Based on Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction Full presidential pardons to most southerners who (1) took an oath of allegiance to the Union and the U.S. Constitution (2) accepted the emancipation of slaves (13 th Amendment) A state government could be reestablished and accepted as legitimate by the U.S. president as soon as at least 10% of the voters in that state took the loyalty oath Deliberately lenient in order to shorten the war Wade-Davis Bill, 1864 Radical Republicans in Congress thought Lincolns plan was too lenient Required 50% of voters to take loyalty oath and permitted only non- Confederates to vote for a new state constitution Lincoln pocket vetoed Conservative vs. Radical Republicans Conservatives Insisted that the South accept the abolition of slavery but had few other conditionsRadicals Led by Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner Punishment for civil &military leaders of the Confederacy Disenfranchisement of Southern whites Protection of black legal rights Confiscate property of wealthy white Southerners who had aided the confederacy to be distributed to freedmen. Some even favored granting blacks the right to vote. Lincoln Assassinated, 1865 Lincolns reconstruction plans ended when he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth His VP, Andrew Johnson, now president Andrew Johnsons 10%+ Plan Johnson was a former Democrat and Tennessee governor White supremacist Damn the negroes! I am fighting these traitorous aristocrats, their masters! Disliked Southern planter aristocracy Johnsons Plan Kept original components of Lincolns 10% plan plus a few other ideas High-ranking Confederate officials and any southerner with property worth more than $20,000 were disenfranchised President could pardon disloyal southerners Freedmans Bureau, 1865 Acted as a welfare agency for blacks and whites Had authority to resettle blacks on land confiscated from disloyal Southerners Freedmen promised 40 acres and a mule Greatest Success: Education Established more than 3,000 schools Taught 200,000 Freedmen and women to read Freedmens Bureau Through Southern Eyes Plenty to Eat and Nothing to Do Who Won the War? Growing Northern Alarm 8 months after Johnson 10% plan announced all 11 Confederate states qualified to re-enter the Union Johnson had granted 13,500 pardons; planter aristocracy back in power Southern Defiance: The Black Codes Passed by Southern state legislatures Intended to place limits on socioeconomic opportunities and freedoms open to Black people Prohibited blacks from renting or borrowing money to buy land; from testifying against whites in court System closely resembled slavery VP of Confederacy, Alexander Stephens Senator Alexander Stephens of Georgia became Congress Takes Command Congress Breaks with Johnson Congress bars Southern Congressional delegates from taking office Late 1865: Joint Committee on Reconstruction est. Asserted Congress not the President had authority over Reconstruction Johnson vetoes Freedmans Bill (1866) & Civil Rights Act (1866) Congress passes both over his veto 1 st time ever Mid-Term Election of 1866 Johnson campaigns against the Radical Republicans and appeals to racial prejudice in his swing around the circle campaign Plan backfires Radical Republicans gain a 2/3 majority in both Houses by waving the bloody shirt The Congressional Plan, 1867 Military Reconstruction Act Former Confederate states under military occupation Black suffrage and ratification of the 13 th and 14 th Amendments required in all new state constitutions Later 15 th Amendment added as well Punishment of Confederate leaders became policy Tenure of Office Act Placed restrictions on the power of President Johnson Not allowed to fire a cabinet member w/o permission of Congress Command of Army Act President Johnson Impeached, 1868 Feb. 1868: President Johnson fires Sec. of War Edwin Stanton House of Representatives votes to impeach Johnson before charges have even been drawn up! Trial lasted 11 weeks Johnson acquitted by one vote 7 Republicans join with the Democrats to prevent expulsion Did not want to set the precedent of removing a president for political reasons The Radical Republicans Legacy: The Reconstruction Amendments Radical Republicans feared much of what they had done could be repealed looked for a more permanent solution Southern states must accept amendments before re- admitted to the Union 13 th Amendment Prohibited slavery 14 th Amendment Declared all persons born or naturalized in the U.S. were citizens Provided for equal protection of the laws for all citizens Enforced congressional legislation guaranteeing civil rights for former slaves 15 th Amendment Prohibited any state from denying or abridging a citizens right to vote on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude Congress given the power to enforce this article Womens rights groups furious they were not included Southern Reconstruction Governments The Republican party organized and dominated the governments of the ex- Confederate states Scalawags Southern Republicans who supported the Reconstruction governments Carpetbaggers Northern newcomers who came to lead the Reconstruction governments Accused by Southerners of corruption Southern strongly resented this Northern interference The Myth of Negro Rule African American freedmen made up the largest block of Republican voters in the South Freedmen begin being elected to state legislatures and to Congress 2 U.S. Senators and more than a dozen U.S. Congressmen White southerners unprepared to give freed blacks political power Complained about negro rule No such thing existed in any southern states No black governors, no black control of state legislatures Accomplishments Liberalized state const. provided for universal suffrage, prop. rights for women, debt relief, & modernized penal codes Promoted building of roads, bridges, railroads, & other internal improvements Est. needed state institutions like hospitals and asylums Est. state-supported public school systems paid for it by overhauling the tax system & issuing bonds Failures For years, era of Republican rule in the South depicted as utterly wasteful & corrupt While instances of graft & wasteful spending did occur it was no worse than corruption practiced anywhere else around the country during this time. Evaluating the Reconstruction Governments Reconstruction for African Americans Huge improvements in education By 1876 more than 50% of all white children and 40% of all black children were attending schools Efforts at integration failed - schools remained segregated Several black academies created to offer advanced education: Fisk, Morehouse Efforts to rebuild family structures Attempted to locate lost relatives Rush to have marriages legalized Move away from slave cabins From Slaves to Sharecroppers Radical Republicans and Reconstruction governments wanted to reform landownership in the South; they failed By 1880 less than 5% of black were independent landowners Sharecropping System Developed Usually entered sharecropping arrangements with their former masters Led to a cycle of debt and depression Poor whites also involved in sharecropping The Crop-Lien System Reconstruction in the North The Grant Administration, : Republican Ulysses S. Grant becomes president Won by a very small margin ,000 black voters in the South made the difference 15 th Amendment: guaranteed black voting rights Grants Presidency Material interests of the age replaced the idealism of Lincolns generation main concerns seemed to be RRs, steel, labor problems, and currency debate Plagued by scandals Whiskey Ring treasury officials and distillers falsified reports of tax revenues Credit Mobilier Scandal construction company defrauded the federal government of millions of dollars Why Did Northern Support Wane? Mounting economic and political problems the country turned away from Reconstructions idealistic goals and the overriding Republican goal became continued political dominance Panic of 1873 Rise of the Spoilsmen Concern over westward expansion & the Indian Wars Social Darwinism argued for inferiority of blacks General fatigue w/Reconstruction Rise of the Redeemers By the end of Grants presidency 8 of the 11 Confederate states had been redeemed by Democrats The Invisible Empire of the South Secret societies like the Ku Klux Klan arose Used violence and intimidation to exercise white supremacy and to exclude freedmen from exercising their political rights Congress tried to stop KKK w/Enforcement Acts of 1870 & 1871 but they were poorly enforced The End of Reconstruction: The Election of 1876 A Disputed Election Result Democrat Samuel Tilden polled more popular votes than Rutherford B. Hayes Tilden won 184 of the 185 electoral votes needed for election There were 20 disputed votes in four states, 3 of which were in the South Special Electoral Commission formed In a straight party vote 8-7, the commission gives all 20 disputes votes to Hayes Democrats in the Senate threaten to filibuster the results The End of Reconstruction: The Compromise of 1877 The Democrats agreed that Hayes would take office The Republicans agreed to withdraw federal troops from the South Hayes promised to appoint at least one Southerner to his cabinet The Republicans agreed to support internal improvements in the South Republicans abandoned their commitment to racial equality Civil Rights Act of 1875 not enforced Guaranteed equal accommodations in public places and prohibited and prohibited racial discrimination in jury selection Later declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1883