Reconstructing America

Transcription

1 Reconstructing America November 10, 2010 Quanah (Parker) Quahadi Comanche Geronimo Chiricahua Apache Sitting Bull Hunkpapa Lakota Sioux 1

2 Charles Sumner Abraham Lincoln Clara Barton Founder of American Red Cross Pauline Cushman Civil War spy Benjamin F. Wade William Pitt Fessenden Nathan Bedford Forrest A former tailor from Tennessee, Johnson liked poor white men, denigrated African Americans, and hated Republicans, whom he thought were deliberately expanding the federal government to create an oligarchy that would permanently keep their party in power while it destroyed poor whites by raising taxes. Wade Hampton III CONGRESS Congress adjourns in March 1865, and does not reconvene until December Johnson has full control over the process of Reconstruction from April through November. Proclamation of Amnesty May 29, 1865 All pardoned once they take an oath of loyalty Except high ranking political or military officers, or Anyone worth over $20,000. These people have to apply to Johnson personally for a pardon, which he grants liberally to all but about 1500 ex- Confederates. 2

3 Johnson s Southern Plan Establishes provisional governments for all Southern states Tells provincial governors to organize conventions to change state constitutions. Conventions must: Ratify the Thirteenth Amendment (which increased the strength of the national government) Nullify ordinances of secession Repudiate Confederate war debts Black Codes (1865) Designed to keep freedpeople subservient to whites, the Black Codes: Bound African Americans to year-long contracts in white fields Prohibited African Americans from having guns Prohibited black meetings Demanded submissive behavior Permitted corporal punishment or even sale into slavery for failing to obey the codes Reconstruction Ends! With no right to sit on juries or testify in court, and no right to vote to change those laws, blacks were at the mercy of any white employer who cheated them or any gang that raped, beat, and murdered freedpeople. The Freedmen s Bureau (established 1865), stepped in. In disputes between blacks and whites, its officers decided in favor of African Americans about 68% of the time. Johnson greets the new Congress by congratulating it that Reconstruction is over. Oh happy day! He has protected America s republican government by keeping government limited. All Congress has to do is seat the Southern representatives already arrived in Washington. Congress s Turn Congress Refuses to seat Southern delegates. Appoints a moderate committee to come up with a new Congressional plan for Reconstruction. Votes to expand Freedmen s Bureau to provide federal courts for cases involving freedmen (so they can testify). Passes the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which guarantees black men the right to hold property, testify in court, and sue. Congress reconvenes in December

4 Constitutional Crisis Johnson vetoes the Freedmen s Bureau Act and the Civil Rights Act. He complains that both dangerously expand the federal government, but then drops a bombshell: Congress cannot legislate with eleven states unrepresented. It is an illegitimate body that can do nothing until Southern members are readmitted. Congress Responds: The Vetoes Recognizing that the freemen must be able to speak in court in order to protect their rights, it repasses the controversial bills over Johnson s veto. Congress Responds: The Fourteenth Amendment The amendment was moderate. It Overturned the Dred Scott Decision (1857) by declaring a citizen anyone born or naturalized in America (except Indians). Threatened to reduce representation for states that deny suffrage to men over 21 (1870 census). Takes vote from oath breakers (Johnson s men aren t eligible to vote). Gives Congress power to enforce this amendment. Democratic Response Johnson tells Southern states to ignore Congress, expecting Democrats to take over the government in the 1866 elections. In April, in Memphis, white police officers push black federal soldiers off a sidewalk. Riot killed 30 blacks, wounded 50 more, destroyed $100,000 of property. In July, in New Orleans, white mobs attack a Unionist convention trying to rewrite the state constitution to give blacks the vote while taking it from ex-confederates. Riots killed 37 black people and 3 white delegates to the convention. On his Swing Around the Circle in summer 1866, President Johnson denounced Congress as an illegal body, called certain Republican congressmen traitors who should be hanged, and compared himself to Jesus Christ, saying he was willing to be a martyr to the cause of small government. It was not pretty. Even his supporters were embarrassed. New Orleans Riot, July

5 Congressional Reconstruction Republicans win 2/3 majority of Congress in 1866 elections. Since Southern whites have ignored the Fourteenth Amendment, on March 2, 1867, they pass the Military Reconstruction Act, which divides the ten unreconstructed Southern states into five military districts Requires states to vote for new constitutional conventions to rewrite state constitutions Permits black men to vote for delegates to the conventions. Making it work To make sure Johnson can t purge Republicans from government, Congress passes the Tenure of Office Act. When Southern whites simply refuse to register voters, Congress puts the military in charge of registration. To make sure that Johnson, as Commander-in- Chief, can t hamstring the MRA, Congress passes the Command of the Army Act, requiring all military orders to go through U. S. Grant. Impeachment In February 1868, the House passed Articles of Impeachment against Johnson, who had violated the Tenure of Office Act by firing Edwin Stanton. The impeachment trial ran from March through May. Johnson was acquitted by Democrats and by Republicans afraid of partisan impeachment and of the expansion of government by putting B. F. Wade in the White House. The new Southern state constitutions were moderate and reasonable documents which, ironically, made white Southern Democrats even more nervous. For if black men could be trusted to vote responsibly, what would happen to the idea that white elites should control society? Organized as the Ku Klux Klan, white opponents of the new constitutions dressed in sheets or other costumes that were supposed to make them look like the ghosts of dead Confederates and terrorized Republican voters in the South. They visited black and white men at night, dragged them from their homes, and killed them. Before the election of 1868, they murdered about 1000 people, including a state representative New constitutions ratified States readmitted under Omnibus Bill in summer 1868, to counter accusations that Republicans are trying to monopolize upcoming election. U. S. Grant elected thanks to 70,000 black votes Georgia legislature promptly throws out black legislators. 5