Enduring Vision Chapter 16 Outline

Chapter 16:  The Crises of Reconstruction (1865-1877)

Introduction

1. The ending of the Civil War and the Reconstruction period that followed constituted a “crucial turning point” in American history

–     Between 1865 and 1877

2. Vital problems had to be solved
3. How and under what conditions the South should be readmitted to the Union
4. What the rights and status of the 3.5 million freedmen should be

Reconstruction Politics, 1865-1868

Lincoln’s Plan

–     Differences between President Lincoln and Congress on reconstruction of the Confederate states began as early as 1863

–     Would allow the formation of a new state govt. when as few as 10% of the state’s voters took an oath of loyalty to the Union

–     Also had to recognize the end of slavery

–     This plan said nothing about votes for freedmen

–     Lincoln hoped to win over southern Unionists and draw them into the Rep. Party

1. Wade-Davis Bill

–     Passed by Congress

–     Republicans who disagreed with Lincoln’s plan

–     Required at least 50% of the voters take an oath of allegiance

–     It excluded from participation in govt. all those who had cooperated with the Confederacy

2. Lincoln pocket-vetoed the bill
3. At the time of his death, he and Congress were at an impasse

Presidential Reconstruction Under Johnson

1. President Andrew Johnson announced his Reconstruction Plan in May 1865

–     Unconcerned about the blacks but wished to promote the interests of the poorer whites in the South

2. Johnson required whites to take an oath of allegiance to the Union

–     After which they could set up new state govts.

•      These had to proclaim secession  illegal, repudiate Confederate debts, and ratify the 13th Amendment (abolished slavery)

3. Whites who had held high office under the Confederacy and all those with taxable property of $20,000 or more could NOT vote or hold office

–     They had to apply for and receive a special pardon from the Pres.

4. During the summer of 1865

–     Johnson undermined his own policy of excluding  planters from leadership by handing out pardons to them wholesale

5. The new govts. created under Johnson’s plan were soon dominated by former Confederate leaders and large landowners
6. Some of the Johnson govts. refused to ratify the 13th Amend.
7. And all showed their intention of making black freedom only nominal by enacting “black codes”

–     Blacks could:

•      Marry

•      Own property

•      Make contracts

•      Testify in court against other blacks.

–     Established racial segregation in public places.

–     Restricted blacks from:

•      Racial intermarriage

•      Jury service

•      Giving court testimony against whites

–     Left freedmen no longer slaves, but not really liberated either.

8. Horrified by such evidence of continued southern defiance in Dec. 1865:

–     Republican-dominated Congress refused to recognize these govts. or to seat the men they sent to the House and the Senate

Congress vs. Johnson

1. Radical Republicans were in a minority in 1866

–     They wished to give black men the vote

–     Transform the South into a biracial democracy

–     Thaddeus Stevens

•      Hoped to impose black suffrage on the former Confederacy and delay the readmission of the southern states into the Union.

2. Moderate Republicans were in the majority

–     Wanted to get rid of the black codes

–     And protect the basic civil rights of blacks

3. The moderates attempted to accomplish these limited goals by continuing the Freedmen’s Bureau and passing the Civil Rights Act of 1866
4. Johnson vetoed both of these measures
5. This drove the moderates into an alliance with the Radicals

–     Together they overrode his vetoes

6. This alliance would create the 14th Amendment

14th Amendment, 1866

1. For the 1st time, the federal govt. defined citizenship and intervened to protect person from state govts.
2. It stated that all persons born in the U.S.A. or naturalized were citizens
3. No state could deny any person’s rights without due process of law or deny equal protection of the law
4. States that refused black men the vote could have their representation in Congress reduced
5. Former Confederate officials were excluded from voting and office-holding until pardoned by 2/3’s vote of Congress
6. The southern states (except for TN), refused to ratify the amendment
7. Pres. Johnson denounced it

–     In the Congressional elections of 1866, the Republicans won huge majorities

•      This gave them a mandate to force ratification of the 14th Amendment

•      Also it allowed to proceed with congressional Reconstruction of the South

Congressional Reconstruction, 1866-1868

1. Congress enacted its Reconstruction program over Johnson’s vetoes
2. The earlier Johnson govts., black codes, and all other laws the southern states had passed were invalidated
3. TN had been readmitted
4. All other former Confederate states were divided into districts under the temporary rule of the military
5. Each state was required to write a new constitution enfranchising black men
6. And they had to ratify the 14th Amendment
7. When these things were done, Congress could readmit the state to the Union
8. Congressional Reconstruction was more radical than Lincoln’s or Johnson’s

–     It enfranchised blacks and temporarily disfranchised many whites

9. It did not go as far as the Radicals wanted

–     It failed to confiscate southern land and redistribute it to blacks and poor whites

10. Johnson dragged his feet in enforcing congressional Reconstruction

The Impeachment Crisis, 1867-1868

1. Tenure of Office Act

–     Passed by Congress

–     March 1867

–     Aimed at reducing the president’s power

–     Tenure of Office Act

–     Johnson violated it by firing Sec. of War Edwin Stanton

2. Republicans in Congress began impeachment proceedings
3. Some Republicans wavered

–     Feared that removal of Johnson would upset the constitutional balance of powerThe vote to convict and remove President Johnson fell 1 vote short of the necessary 2/3’s of the Senate

The 15th Amendment and the Question Of Woman Suffrage

1. Congress passed a final amend. To complete its Reconstruction program
2. 15th Amendment stated that the right to vote could not be denied because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude
3. The Republicans hoped with this amendment to:

–     protect southern blacks

–     extend suffrage to northern blacks

–     gain many new voters for their party

4. When Congress refused to include woman suffrage, some feminists denounced the amendment and its Republicans sponsors
5. The 3 new amendments

–     Ending slavery

–     Guaranteeing the rights of citizens

–     Enfranchising black men

6. By 1870:

–     these new amendments were a part of the Constitution

–     Congress had readmitted all the former Confederate states

7. Thereafter congressional efforts at Reconstruction weakened

Reconstruction Governments

1. The Reconstruction laws of 1867-1868 created a new electorate in the South by enfranchising blacks

–     Also they temporarily disfranchised 10-15% of the whites

2. This new electorate put in power Republican govts. what were made up of a coalition of carpetbaggers, scalawags, and blacks

–     Carpetbaggers=northerners who had come south for a variety of reasons

–     Scalawags=cooperating southern whites

Republican Rule

1. The Republican Reconstruction govts. democratized southern politics by:

–     abolishing property and racial qualifications for voting and office-holding

–     redistricting state legislatures

–     making formerly appointive offices elective

2. They undertook extensive public works, offered increased public services, and established the South’s first public schools
3. All of this cost money=taxes rose
4. Southern landowners bitterly resented the increased taxes

–     accused the state govts. of corruption and waste

•      Some of their charges were true

•      But many were exaggerated

5. In no state was the land of ex-Confederate planters confiscated and redistributed to freedmen

Counterattacks

1. White southern Democrats refused to accept black voting and office-holding

–     Launched a counterattack to drive Republican govts. from power

2. White vigilante groups began a campaign of violence and intimidation against blacks, Freedmen’s Bureau officials, and white Republicans
3. Congress investigated this reign of terror

–     Congress attempted to suppress it with the Enforcement Acts

4. But only a “large military presence in the South could have protected black rights” and preserve the black electorate
5. By the 1870’s, Congress and President Grant were no longer willing to use military force to remake the South

White Supremacy and the Ku Klux Klan

1. During the period that Republicans controlled the state governments in the South, groups of southern whites organized various secret societies to intimidate blacks and white reformers.

–     Vigilante groups sprang up spontaneously to reduce black votes and win white ones.

–     Antagonism towards free blacks became a major motif in southern life.

–     Six young Confederate veterans in Tennessee formed a social club, the Ku Klux Klan, distinguished by elaborate rituals, hooded costumes, and secret passwords.

•      Klan dens spread throughout the state.

•      The Klan sought to suppress black voting and reestablish white voting.

•      The “invisible empire” burned black owned buildings and flogged and murdered freedmen to keep them from exercising their voting rights.

•      Congress passed a series of acts to prevent violence against blacks.

•      Enforcement Act

•      To protect black voters, but witnesses to violations were afraid to testify against vigilantes, and local juries refused to convict them.

•      Second Enforcement Act

•      Provided for federal supervision of southern elections

•      Third Enforcement Act, or the Ku Klux Klan Act

•      Strengthened punishments for those the president to use federal troops to enforce the law and to suspend the writ of habeas corpus (the writ of habeas corpus is a court order and show cause for his or her detention) in areas of insurrection.

The Impact of Emancipation

Confronting Freedom

–     Freedmen left the plantations where they had been enslaved

•      Usually lacked property, tools, capital, and literacy

–     Often searched for family members from whom they had been separated

–     Once reunited, many took the 1st opportunity to legalize their marriages

•      Raise their children and live as an independent family

African-American Institutions

1. The desire to be free of white control led blacks to establish their own institutions
2. Most important were the black churches

–     Played major religious, social, and political roles

3. Many black schools were started with the help of the Freedmen’s Bureau and northern philanthropists

–     Howard, Fisk, Grambling, Southern

4. Segregation of all facilities in the South became a way of life
5. Charles Sumner’s Civil Rights Act of 1875

–     It promised that all persons, regardless of race, color, or previous condition, was entitled to full and equal employment of accommodation in "inns, public conveyances on land or water, theaters, and other places of public amusement."

–     In 1883 the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional

•      Congress did not have the power to regulate the conduct and transactions of individuals

Land, Labor, and Sharecropping

1. Above all, freedmen wanted to become landowning, independent farmers

–     Few did because the Republicans believed that property rights were too sacred to be violated by confiscation and redistribution of the white planters’ lands

–     Also, blacks did not have the capital to buy land and agricultural tools

2. Landless laborers and landholding planters developed sharecropping

–     A tenant farmer who farms land for the owner and is paid a share of the value of the yielded crop

3. Many white small farmers also lost their land and became sharecropping tenants
4. By 1880, 80% of the land in the cotton states was worked by landless tenants

Toward a Crop-Lien Economy

1. Rural merchants often sold supplies to sharecroppers on credit

–     A lien on the tenants’ share of the crop as collateral

2. Sharecroppers fell deeper and deeper into debt

–     Interest rates were exorbitant, cotton prices low, and merchants often dishonest

3. Southern law prohibited their leaving the land until they had fully repaid their debt

–     Sharecroppers were locked into poverty and indebtedness

New Concerns in the North, 1868-1876

Grantism

1. Ulysses S. Grant won the presidency in 1868

–     Republican

–     Popular war hero

2. His administration was marred by rampant corruption

–     Many state and local govts. of the time also had corruption

3. In 1872, some Republicans broke from Grant and formed the Liberal Republican Party

–     Disgusted with the scandals

The Liberals’ Revolt

1. In 1872, the Liberal Republicans nominated Horace Greely for president

–     The Democrats endorsed him as well

2. The regular Republicans renominated Grant
3. Grant won the election
4. The split in the Republican ranks seriously weakened Republican efforts to remake the South

The Panic of 1873

1. During Grant’s 2nd term, the nation suffered a financial panic and a severe economic depression:

–     business failures

–     mass unemployment

–     heightened labor-management conflict

–     disputes over the country’s currency system

2. All these issues further divided Republican attention from Reconstruction

Reconstruction and the Constitution

1. The Supreme Court in the last quarter of the 1800’s also undermined Republican Reconstruction
2. In a series of decisions, the Supreme Court interpreted the 14th and 15th Amendments in a way that made them all but useless for protecting black citizens
3. It declared the Civil Rights and Enforcement Acts unconstitutional and upheld state segregation laws

Republicans in Retreat

1. By the 1870’s, the Republicans were abandoning their Reconstruction policy
2. Most of them were more interested in economic growth than in protecting black rights
3. The Radicals who were committed to biracial democracy in the South were dead or had been defeated in elections
4. Many northerners wanted to normalize relations with the white South

–     They shared the racial belief that blacks were inferior to whites, and the federal govt. could not force equality

Reconstruction Abandoned, 1876-1877

Redeeming the South

–     After 1872, congressional pardons restored voting and office-holding rights to all ex-Confederates

–     The Democratic Party attempted to redeem the South from Republican rule

•      These men pardoned and the South’s rising class of business entrepreneurs

1. By 1876, the Democrats had regained control of all the southern states but SC, FL, and LA

–     Used economic pressure, intimidation, and violence

2. Once in power the Democrats:

–     Cut taxes and public works and services

–     passed laws favoring landlords over tenants

3. Some blacks responded to the deteriorating situation by migrating from the South

–     Most were trapped where they were

•      Debt and poverty

The Election of 1876

1. Republicans=Rutherford Hayes
2. Democrats=Samuel Tilden
3. Tilden won the popular vote

–     But because of fraud and intimidation at the polls, the electoral votes in 4 states were disputed

4. A special congressional electoral commission awarded all the disputed votes to Hayes

–     Commission was stacked in favor of the Republicans

5. The Democrats refused to accept the finding until a compromise deal was worked out by Southern Democrats and Republican supporters of Hayes
6. In exchange for southern acceptance of Hayes as president, the Republicans promised:

–     1.) to let Democrats take over the last Republican Reconstruction govts. in LA and SC

–     2.) to remove the remaining troops from the South

–     3.) to give more federal patronage to southern Democrats

–     4.) to provide federal aid for building railroads and for other internal improvements in the South

7. This so-called Compromise of 1877 struck the final blow to Radical Reconstruction

–     Also it ended all federal protection for the freedmen

Conclusion

1. By the end of the Reconstruction era the Republicans had firm support in the Northeast and Midwest
2. The Democrats were solidly entrenched in the South

–     Would remain so for nearly a century

3. Many historians today look back on Reconstruction as a democratic experiment that failed

–     Partly because Congress did not redistribute land to freedmen

•      without any property freedmen were too economically vulnerable to hold on to their political rights

4. Also, it failed because the Republicans were unwilling to continue using military force to protect blacks and remake southern society
5. Reconstruction did leave as a lasting legacy of the 14th and 15th Amendments
6. During the brief Reconstruction Era, southern blacks:

–     reunited their families

–     created their own institutions

–     for the first time participated in govt.