The Politics of Reconstruction

Transcription

1 The Politics of Reconstruction Reconstruction was done to rebuild after the Civil War, and lasted from 1865 to It also a way the federal government readmitted the Confederate states. LINCOLN S 10% PLAN Lincoln wanted a simple Reconstruction policy. He believed secession was impossible under the US Constitution, so in fact the Confederate states had never left the Union. He said the people had rebelled, and the Constitution gave him the power to pardon people. He wished to make the South s return to the Union quick and easy. In December 1863, President Lincoln announced his Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, also known as the 10% Percent Plan. The government would pardon all Confederates who would swear loyalty to the Union. This did not apply to high-ranking Confederate officials and those who committed crimes against prisoners of war. After 10% of those on the 1860 voting lists took the oath, a Confederate state could form a new state government and select members to send to Congress. Under this plan, 4 states AR, LA, TN, and VA could move toward readmission. However, Lincoln s plan angered some in Congress, known as Radical Republicans. Led by Senator Charles Sumner and Representative Thaddeus Stevens, the Radicals wanted to destroy the power of former slaveholders. They also wanted African Americans to be given full citizenship and the right to vote. RADICAL REACTION In July 1864, the Radicals passed the Wade-Davis Bill, which said that Congress, not the president, should be in charge of Reconstruction. It ruled that for a state government to be formed, a majority of those eligible to vote in 1860 would have to take an oath to support the Constitution. Not wanting to use this plan, he used a pocket veto to kill the Wade-Davis Bill after Congress went on break. Legally, a president has 10 days to sign or veto a bill. If a bill is passed less than 10 days before a congressional session, the president can prevent its becoming law by ignoring, or pocketing, it. The Radicals were angry over the pocket veto and claimed that Congress had the power over Reconstruction. Johnson s Plan After Lincoln s assassination, Vice President Democrat Andrew Johnson had to deal with Reconstruction. Johnson had said he wanted to punish Confederate leaders. Most Southerners felt Johnson a traitor. JOHNSON CONTINUES LINCOLN S POLICIES In May 1865, Johnson had the Presidential Reconstruction in which he declared that each Confederate state could be readmitted if it swear allegiance to the Union, cancel Confederate war debts, and pass the 13 th Amendment to end slavery. Johnson wished to stop high-ranking Confederates and wealthy Southern landowners from taking the oath thus preventing them from being able to vote in the future. The Radicals were mad that it did not help former slaves in 3 areas: land, voting rights, and protection. His plan pleased most white Southerners. Johnson had supported abolition, but he did not want them to vote. He pardoned over 13,000 Confederates. The rest of the Confederate states quickly agreed to his terms. These states except Texas held conventions to write new state constitutions, to set up new governments, and to elect representatives. In December 1865, the new representatives came to Washington. 58 had been in the Confederate Congress, and 4 had been Confederate generals. Johnson pardoned them all. This angered the Radicals. PRESIDENTIAL RECONSTRUCTION COMES TO A STANDSTILL The Radical Republicans felt that the South had not been punished, so they did not let Southerners in Congress. By February 1866, they voted to continue and increase the Freedmen s Bureau. This was created to help former slaves and poor whites in the South by giving out clothing and food. They set up more than 40 hospitals, 4,000 schools, 61 industrial institutes, and 74 teacher-training centers. 1

2 CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1866 Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866, to give African Americans citizenship and end unfair laws such as black codes. Black codes outlawed them from carrying weapons, serving on juries, testifying against whites, marrying whites, and traveling without permits. In some states, they were not allowed to own land. Some whites even used violence. Many in Congress felt the South had not changed. Johnson shocked everyone when he vetoed both the Freedmen s Bureau Act and the Civil Rights Act. MODERATES AND RADICALS JOIN The Civil Rights Act of 1866 became the first major legislation ever done despite a presidential veto. The Congress drafted the Fourteenth Amendment. The 14 th Amendment made all persons born or naturalized in the United States citizens. All were should receive equal protection of the law, and no state could take away rights without due process. It did not give African Americans the right to vote. However, it did say that if any state prevented a group of its citizens from voting, that state would lose a percentage of its seats in Congress equal to the percentage of citizens they kept from voting. Another part was made to keep Confederate leaders from being in the federal or state governments unless they were voted in by a 2/3 rd majority vote. Congress adopted the Fourteenth Amendment and sent it to the states for approval. If the Southern states had ratified it, most Northerners would have let them back into the Union. President Johnson believed that it was wrong to make them accept an amendment that they had no part in creating. He told the Southerners say no to the amendment. Only Tennessee approved it, so the amendment was not ratified until CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS Johnson asked Ulysses S. Grant to join him to get voters to elect people who agreed with his policy. Johnson offended many with his language. Audiences only liked Grant. Many race riots in the South caused the deaths of at least 80 African Americans. This violence made Northern voters feel that the federal government must step and protect former slaves. In the 1866 Republicans gained a majority in Congress to override presidential vetoes. RECONSTRUCTION ACT OF 1867 Republicans passed the Reconstruction Act of Tennessee joined the Union. The law divided the former Confederate states into 5 districts each ran by a Union general and the army. The voters could elect people to go to conventions to write new state constitutions, but its constitution had to give African-American men the vote, and ratify the Fourteenth Amendment. Johnson vetoed the Reconstruction Act of 1867 because he believed it went against the Constitution, so Congress overrode the veto. JOHNSON IMPEACHED Radical leaders felt President Johnson was not enforcing the Reconstruction Act. The Radicals wanted to impeach him or formally charge him with abusing his power. The House of Representatives has the power to impeach, and they are tried in the Senate. In March 1867, Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act, which said that the president could not fire cabinet officers during the same term in which the president may given them the job without the approval of the Senate. One purpose was to protect Secretary of War Edwin Stanton who was a friend to Radicals. Johnson felt that the Tenure of Office Act was also unconstitutional, so he fired Secretary of War Stanton. The Radicals in the House brought 11 charges of impeachment against Johnson. His lawyers argued that it was President Lincoln, not Johnson, who had given Stanton the job, so the act did not apply. The trial took place from March to May Johnson barely won. ULYSSES S. GRANT ELECTED The Republicans choose Ulysses S. Grant to run for President. In November, Grant won. About 500,000 Southern African Americans had voted, most of them for Grant. After the election, the Radicals feared that some Southern whites might try to limit black voting. Therefore, they introduced the Fifteenth Amendment, which states that no one can be 2

3 kept from voting because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. The Fifteenth Amendment was ratified by the states in Amendment 13 (1865) Reconstruction Amendments Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article. Amendment 14 (1868) Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any (federal) election is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such state, being 21 years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion. Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector or hold any office having previously taken an oath to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability. Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any state shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave. Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article. Amendment 15 (1870) Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article. Reconstructing Society Conditions in the Postwar South By 1870 all former Confederate states had been brought back into the Union. PHYSICAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS The Union general Sherman guessed his troops had destroyed $100 million worth of property in Georgia and South Carolina. Economically the war hurt the South: property values fell, Confederate bonds were worthless, farms were ruined, most were had less than at the start of the war, and the population had dropped more than 1/5 th. PUBLIC WORKS PROGRAMS The Republican government built roads, bridges, and railroads and established orphanages and other centers to care for mentally ill and disabled. They also created the first public school systems in most Southern states, but most governments increased taxes. 3

4 SCALAWAGS AND CARPETBAGGERS Scalawag and carpetbagger were names used by enemies of the North. Democrats called white Southerners who joined the Republican Party scalawags. Some scalawags hoped to get power and money with the help of the African-American vote. Some hoped a Republican government would be the best chance for them to rebuild. Most were small farmers trying to improve their life and to prevent planters from taking back power. The Democrats used carpetbaggers for Northerners who moved to the South to get rich at the South s expense. The name came from the small piece of luggage made of carpeting used to carry belongings. Some were Freedmen s Bureau agents, teachers, and ministers who came to help former slaves. Others wanted to buy land or to start new businesses. However, there were many who were dishonest. AFRICAN AMERICANS AS VOTERS African Americans made up the most of Southern Republicans. In many places, 90% of the African-Americans voted. POLITICAL DIFFERENCES Most scalawags returned to the Democratic Party. NEW-WON FREEDOMS Many former slaves faced problems: no land, jobs, tools, money, and few skills. Some left plantations and moved to cities to find jobs. REUNIFICATION OF FAMILIES Slavery had split families apart. During Reconstruction, many began to search for loved ones. The Freedmen s Bureau tried to reunite families, and some newspapers printed Information Wanted notices about missing family. Most lost family members were never found. However, they could now marry legally, and raise children. EDUCATION Nearly 80% of freed African Americans over the age of 20 could not read or write in Schools were created as well as African-American churches. At first, most teachers in black schools were Northern white women. By 1869, black teachers outnumbered whites in these schools. Despite the threat of violence, by 1877, 600,000 African Americans went to elementary schools. CHURCHES AND VOLUNTEER GROUPS During slavery many plantation slaves had gone to their owner s churches. After the war many created their own churches, usually Baptist or Methodist. Because these churches were fully controlled by African Americans, ministers became important local leaders. They also formed volunteer groups: fire stations, trade groups, and political parties. These groups helped build independence, give support and leadership skills. POLITICS AND AFRICAN AMERICANS For the first time, African Americans held jobs in local, state, and federal government. Many were ministers or teachers who had been educated in the North. Even though at first there were more black voters than white, African-American officeholders were few. Out of 125 elected to the U.S. Congress during Reconstruction, only 16 were African Americans. Hiram Revels, the first African-American senator. LAWS AGAINST SEGREGATION By the end of 1866, most of the Southern governments had ended the black codes. In 1871, Texas passed a law to stop railroads separating passengers based on race. However, many anti-segregation laws were not followed or enforced. African Americans focused more on building up their community. By creating separate African-American institutions, they were able to focus on their leadership and avoid racist crime. 40 ACRES AND A MULE In January 1865, during the Civil War, General Sherman had promised the freed slaves who followed his army 40 acres per family and the use of army mules. About 40,000 freed slaves settled on 400,000 acres on coastal Georgia and South Carolina. They farmed this land until August 1865, when President Johnson ordered that the original landowners 4

5 still owned and could reclaim their land. Many freed slaves and Republicans felt that African Americans had earned a part of the planters land. Some pushed for the plantations to be broken apart and the land to give to former slaves. However, many felt it was wrong to take private property. In the end, Congress either did not pass land-reform bills or passed weak legislation. An example was the 1866 Southern Homestead Act. It set aside 44 million acres for freed blacks and loyal whites, but the land was bad for farming and most had few resources seed, tools, and horses to start a farm. RESTORATION OF PLANTATIONS Some in the former rich planter class wanted to go back to a plantation system growing cash crops, such as cotton. Some Northern merchants and owners of textile mills also wanted them to rebuild plantations and grow cotton again. Planters claimed that to make the system work, they needed to have more control over their workers. Planters feared that they might not be able to make a profit, if they had to pay workers. Many former slaveholders did not want to hire former slaves, but they faced a labor shortage. The war had lessened the number of workers. SHARECROPPING AND TENANT FARMING Without their own land, freed African Americans could not grow crops to sell or to feed their families. Lack of money forced many to sign contracts with planters. Often working for wages, or housing, and food, they worked in the fields. The wages were too low and white bosses had a lot of control. Planters did not have cash to pay workers. Planters and laborers had mainly two options: sharecropping and tenant farming. In sharecropping, landowners divided their land and gave each worker a few acres, some seed and tools. In payment for living there, each worker gave a share of the crop grown, usually ½. This paid the owner back and was started again the next year. Some croppers (poor farmers) brought their own tools so they could get a better deal. If possible they rented land for cash from the planters, and kept their crop in a system known as tenant farming. The goal was to become owners of their own farms. However, this rarely happened; most bought their supplies on credit, and if they did not harvest enough to pay for past debts and future supplies they went deeper in debt. The result was that few ever saved enough cash to buy land. COTTON NO LONGER KING After the war, cotton was no longer king. During the war, the demand for Southern cotton dropped as European countries found other sources for cotton. Prices dropped after the war. In 1869, the price of cotton was 16.5 cents per pound. By the late 1870s, the price had fallen to about 8 cents per pound. Instead of growing a new variety of crops, Southerners grew even more cotton creating an over supply which made the prices drop even lower. Slowly the South found other ways to make money. Textile mills and tobacco processing became important. Even as the South became more successful and workers made more money, it was still lower than Northern workers. At the end of the Civil War, most of the state banks in the South faced huge debts from loans made to the Confederate government. The banks had to wait for repayment. Falling cotton prices and rising debts caused many banks to fail. Sometimes the only credit that Southerners in rural areas could get was offered by merchants at high interest rates. Many whites who were angry by their loss of power and money took out their anger on African Americans. In the late 1860s and early 1870s, certain white groups formed to terrorize African Americans in hopes they would give up their political rights. 5

6 The Collapse of Reconstruction KU KLUX KLAN Started as a club for Confederate veterans, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) began in Tennessee in As the group spread through the South, many of the members turned to violent crimes against blacks. By 1868, the Klan was in nearly every Southern state. Its goal became to restore white supremacy (power). ANTI-BLACK VIOLENCE Between 1868 and 1871, the Klan and other secret groups killed thousands, burned schools, churches, and homes. While most victims were African-American, whites who helped African Americans were also in danger. Another Klan goal was to get the Republicans out of power. Klan members tried to hide their identities when they committed crimes, but Southern Democrats openly used violence to intimidate Republicans. These crimes kept many away from voting, and white Democrats often won election. ECONOMIC PRESSURE The Klan and other groups tried to prevent African Americans from earning money. African Americans who owned land or who worked were often attacked. Most who had little money or training had to work for whites for low pay or as sharecroppers. Some whites would not hire or do business with African Americans who voted Republican. LEGISLATIVE RESPONSE To end Klan violence and cruelty, Congress passed the Enforcement Acts in 1870 and One act created federal supervision of elections in Southern states. Another gave the president the power to use troops where the Klan was active. However, President Grant did not fully make use of the power, and in 1882, the Supreme Court ruled the 1871 Act unconstitutional. The federal government did help to lessen some Klan activities; however, the reason might have been in part from their success forced white power. SHIFTS IN POLITICAL POWER Passing the Enforcement Acts seemed to increase Republican power; however, Congress passed laws that weakened their power in the South. The Amnesty Act, passed in May 1872, returned the right to vote and to hold federal and state offices to 150,000 former Confederates, who would vote Democratic. Congress allowed the Freedmen s Bureau to end because some argued that it had already finished its job successfully. Scandals and Money Crises Hurt Republicans Political corruption in the federal government hurt the Republican Party. During the Grant s time in office there were many scandals that took focus away from problems in the South. FRAUD AND BRIBERY Grant was an honest man, but he had had no political experience before becoming president. He often chose friends rather than qualified people for important government jobs. Beginning in 1872, the New York Sun reported the Crédit Mobilier affair, in which a fake construction company had received a large amount of money from a government railroad contract. This involved many Republicans, including Grant s vice-president, Schuyler Colfax. REPUBLICAN UNITY SHATTERED Some Republicans were angered by the corruption and formed the Liberal Republican Party in They held a convention and chose Horace Greeley, the editor of the New York Tribune, as their candidate. He had supported some Radical Republican causes; however, he had also supported amnesty for Confederates and an end to military rule in the South. He felt that Reconstruction had worked, and he felt former slaves could support themselves. The Democrats also chose Greeley. However, but he lost the 1872 presidential election to Grant. Although the Liberal Republicans did not win, they weaken the Radicals control of the Republican Party. 6

7 CONTINUED SCANDAL In 1875, the Whiskey Ring was uncovered. Internal-revenue Service (IRS) tax collectors and other officials had accepted bribes from whiskey makers who did not want to pay taxes. This took millions from the federal government. One of the 238 persons arrested was Grant s private secretary, General Orville E. Babcock. Finally, in 1876, an investigation showed that Secretary of War William W. Belknap had taken bribes from merchants who wanted to trade on Indian reservations. The House of Representatives impeached Belknap, who then resigned. Later it was learned that the Secretary of the Navy had taken bribes from shipbuilders, and the Secretary of the Interior had made illegal deals over land. THE PANIC OF 1873 Many investors borrowed large amounts of money and created new businesses; many borrowed more than they could afford. When a banker named Jay Cooke invested in railroads, not enough investors bought shares to cover his costs, and he could not pay his debts. In September 1873, his banking firm went bankrupt, and this set off other failures known as the panic of Smaller banks closed, and the stock market crashed. Within a year, 89 railroads went broke. By 1875, more than 18,000 companies had failed. The panic caused a 5 year economic depression in which 3 million workers lost their jobs. CURRENCY DISPUTE During the war, the federal government had begun to make greenbacks, paper money that was not backed by the equal value of gold. When the war ended, many wanted the greenbacks pulled out of circulation and to return to money backed only by gold. This would have lowered the number of paper dollars available. Southern and Western farmers wanted the government to issue even more greenbacks, because they felt that a large money supply would give them something to pay off their debts and to keep the economy going. However, in 1875, Congress passed the Specie Resumption Act, which put paper money back on the gold standard. NORTHERN SUPPORT FADES In the 1870s, many Northern voters lost interest in the South. Most were dealing with the panic of Democrats Redeem the South Between 1869 and 1875, Democrats took back many government offices in the South in a return to power called redemption. ELECTION OF 1876 In 1876, the Republicans chose to run the governor of Ohio, Rutherford B. Hayes for president. The Democrats put up Governor Samuel J. Tilden of New York. Tilden had become famous for helping to clean up the government crime in New York City under the corrupt Boss Tweed. Tilden won the popular vote; however, he fell 1 short of the number of electoral votes needed to win. Another problem was that 20 electoral votes were investigated as possible fraud. Congress chose a group of mostly Republican to investigate. In the end they gave the election to the Republican, Hayes, even though he had received a smaller number of the popular vote. For the first time in U.S. history, a candidate who had lost the popular election became president. Many wondered how it happened. The answer was that Republicans controlled the electoral votes. Democrats did control the House of Representatives, which had to approve the election results, but Southern Democrats were willing to have Hayes if they could have federal troops removed from Louisiana and South Carolina. They also wanted money to build a railroad from Texas to California and to improve Southern rivers, harbors, and bridges. In the Compromise of 1877, Republican leaders agreed to all demands, and Hayes became President which brought the end of Reconstruction. HOME RULE IN THE SOUTH After the 1876 election, Democrats were given home rule or the right to run their own state governments without federal interference, so they passed more laws that hurt the rights of African Americans, ended social programs, cut taxes, and cut back on public school improvements. 7

8 LEGACY OF RECONSTRUCTION Many felt that during Reconstruction discrimination was the worst of Reconstruction s failures. Although some Radical Republicans wanted to help the former slaves, they made several mistakes. First, they thought that giving civil rights through laws would protect them. However, Congress did not enforce those rights, and the Supreme Court undid the small progress made. Second, the Radicals did not provide for their success by giving land, or other ways for them to become economically independent. Finally, the Radicals did not realize or understand the level of racism in the South. Reconstruction was not a complete failure. The 13 th Amendment permanently ended slavery. They did pass the 14 th and 15 th Amendments. During Reconstruction, African Americans had founded many black colleges such as Morehouse College, and the percentage of literacy for all increased. 8