Re: Reconstruction

Transcription

1 Re: Reconstruction

2 Lincoln v Congressional Reconstruction Lincoln: Favorable to the South Lincoln s 10% Plan: - If 10% of voters in 1860 election pledged loyalty to US, state could be readmitted - Congress felt it was too lenient Wade-Davis Bill: - Congress (Republicans) sought 50% of voters in 1860 election to pledge allegiance - Pocket-vetoed by Lincoln

3 Civil War Amendments, A Background Emancipation Proclamation gave a moral cause to the Civil War Lincoln worried that it would not be applicable post-civil War Republicans wanted to gain power in the South post Civil War Radical Republicans sought to punish former Confederate leaders

4 13th Amendment, 1865 What it says: Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation What the amendment did: - Abolished slavery EVERYWHERE in the US - Huge economic and social implications for the country

5 14th Amendment, 1868 What it says: 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 3. No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability. What it did: - Section 1 Born in the US? You re a citizen (Overturned Dred Scott decision); equal protection of laws used frequently in the future - Section 3 Confederate officials could not hold US office sorry Alexander Stephens

6 15th Amendment, 1870 What it says: - 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 by appropriate legislation What it did: - Provided suffrage for African American males - Helped provide for large Republican support from blacks in the South

7 Impacts of the Amendments Women s Rights Movement: The 14th and 15th amendments divided the group - Frederick Douglass and others favored black suffrage PRIOR to women s suffrage - Lucy Stone and the American Women Suffrage Association hoped to achieve suffrage after Reconstruction - Elizabeth Cady Stanton feared suffrage was not likely near, National Woman Suffrage Association advocated an amendment for women s suffrage

8 Civil War Amendments: Impact Ways Southern states would get around them: Local political tactics: Poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses - Sharecropping = peonage: freed men exchanged labor for using land to grow crops, ½ of which went to landowner; had to borrow $ to get started - Majority of black people in the South were sharecroppers by 1890 Segregation Convict-Leasing Violence KKK Supreme Court decisions: - Civil Rights Cases (1883) Congress could not prohibit discrimination by private businesses and individuals - Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) upheld separate but equal facilities

9 Freedmen s Bureau (est. 1865) Goal: to help former slaves survive and adjust to new life - Food, medicine, and clothing were provided to former slaves and poor whites Promised 40 acres and a Mule Biggest success? (Higher) Education HBCUs by 1872

10 Andrew Johnson President following Lincoln s death Democrat from the South (Tennessee) - Disliked by Radical Republicans followed Lincoln s 10% plan and offered pardons to Confederates Resisted Republican Reconstruction attempts - Opposed 14th Amendment - Vetoed (lost) re-appropriation of $ to Freedmen s Bureau - Impeachment? Tenure of Office Act

11 Election of 1876 Samuel Tilden (D) wins, but loses % v 47.9% & 165 to Electoral votes were disputed in 4 states Rutherford B Hayes (R) wins, on 2 conditions 1) Military administration in the South removed 2) Southerner appointed to Pres. Cabinet This informal agreement is known as the Compromise of 1877

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14 End of Reconstruction Why did it end? 1) North s waning resolve: - Charles Sumner died in 1874 Panic of 1873 hurt Republican Party as many began to call for a smaller government 2) Compromise of 1877 Impact of the end of Reconstruction? - Jim Crow Laws (supported by Plessy v Ferguson) developed state/county/city law that allowed segregation and disenfranchisement

15 Booker T Washington & Born in 1856, in Virginia, as a slave Established the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama Believed that education was very important for African Americans Vocational training learning a specific skill The Atlanta Compromise (1895): Belief that African Americans should accept segregation in exchange for economic opportunities In all things that are purely social we can be as separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress. WEB Dubois Born in 1868, in Massachusetts, as a free man Received a doctorate from Harvard Opposed Booker T. s accommodation policies Niagara Movement (1905): Niagara Falls, Canada Wanted an end to discrimination and segregation Helped morph into. NAACP Goal is to ensure equality and end discrimination Talented Tenth Leaders in the African American community should have full access to education and American life

16 Comparing The Two Both wanted rights for African Americans Two of the most influential African Americans from the late 19th, early 20th century They differed on how to achieve those rights W.E.B. was against accommodation and segregation Gradual acceptance Booker T. Immediate acceptance W.E.B.

17 Key Ideas Before The Case Reconstruction Amendments: 13th Amendment Abolished slavery 14th Amendment Granted citizenship, equal protection 15th Amendment Suffrage for African American males However, segregation + inequality continued... Jim Crow Laws: Segregation laws in the South; varied by city, state

18 Homer Plessy Citizens Committee Civil Rights group Wanted to challenge segregation laws in Louisiana Separate Car Act Required equal, but separate train cars for blacks and whites Homer Plessy: Biracial, lived in Louisiana Arrested for sitting in the first-class section of a white train car

19 The Supreme Court Decision Plessy sued citing the 14th amendment, no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States. Louisiana Judge ruled that the state could regulate railroads within the state The Supreme Court decision: Sided against Plessy and for Louisiana in a 7 1 decision Lone dissenter was Justice John Marshall Harlan

20 Plessy v Ferguson Ruling Decision excerpt: In view of the constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens. There is no caste here. Our constitution is color-blind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law.

21 Effects of the Court Case Jim Crow laws are upheld by the Supreme Court Separate but equal remains in effect for 58 years - Obviously, in reality, separate facilities were NOT equal - Plessy v. Ferguson was finally overturned in 1954, and 1964: 1954: Brown v. Board of Education 1964: Civil Rights Act of 1964 John McCutcheon cartoon from 1904

22 Political Paralysis in Gilded Age

23 President Grant s Administration Bloody Shirt : Using Civil War memories to receive votes Administration Scandals: Credit Mobilier Scandal: Railroad insiders hired themselves at inflated prices VP of US accepted payments Whiskey Ring: Stole excise-tax revenues from Treasury department Grant s private secretary was involved Boss Tweed: Tammany Hall, stole over $200 million Thomas Nast helped contribute to his capture

24 Tammany Hall Tammany Hall was established in the late 18th century Influential in the election of 1800 Political Machine Organization that held tremendous influence in NYC Encouraged the public to vote for Tammany men Rewarded voters with patronage Many mayors of NYC, and even governors of NY were Tammany men Held tremendous influence throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries

25 There's an honest graft, and I'm an example of how it works. I might What is graft?sum up the whole thing by sayin': "I seen my opportunities and I took 'em. Just let me Using political power for a personal gain explain by examples. My party's in power in the Honest city, and it'sgraft goin' to undertake a lot of public improvements. Well, I'm tipped say, that they're Using inside information foroff, personal gain going to layout a new park at a certain place. I see George Washington Plunkitt my opportunity and I take it. I go to that place and I Dishonest Graft buy up all the land I can in the neighborhood. Then the board of this or thatetc. makes its plan public, and Stealing, bribery, there is a rush to get my land, which nobody cared William Boss Tweed particular for before. Ain't it perfectly honest to charge a good price and make a profit on my investment and foresight? Of course, it is. Well, that's honest graft. Graft

26 th Tammany Hall in the early 20 Century Tammany played an instrumental role in new workplace laws Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire: March 25, 1911 Worst workplace disaster in NYC history until 9/ workers (mostly women) died Progressive political changes like the secret ballot weakened the influence of political machines By the 1960s, Tammany was no longer in power

27 Panic of 1873 One of the longest protracted economic downturns in US history; will affect laborers and their unionization moving forward Causes: - Overproduction of RR s, mines, factories, etc. - Bankers made too many risky loans Effects: Debate over hard currency vs. greenbacks - Debtors wanted greenbacks. Why? Paper $, inflation decreased value - Lenders wanted hard currency. Why? Hard $, not affected by inflation, increased value VS

28 Key Political Ideas in Gilded Age Solid South : - Democratic base in much of the South Grand Army of Republic (GAR): - Several 100,000 Union veterans that tended to vote Republican Stalwarts: - Led by Roscoe Conkling, believed in patronage Half-Breeds: - Led by James G. Blaine, wanted civil service reform

29 Compromise of 1877 & Civil Rights Settled the dispute in the election of 1876 (Hayes Republican, Tilden Democrat) Hayes (R) is elected, Democrats are promised : In return for compromise: Reconstruction ends Military is withdrawn Patronage, RR construction through Texas Civil Rights Act of 1875: Guaranteed EQUAL accommodations in public places and prohibited racial discrimination in jury selection Civil Rights Cases (1883): Supreme Court stated 14th amendment only prohibited government violations of civil rights, not denial by individuals Sets up stage for Jim Crow Laws legal segregation

30 Railroads and Immigration 1880: 9% of CA population were Asian immigrants Asians tended to build RR and dig for gold Leads to discrimination and resentment towards immigrants Nativism Chinese Exclusion Act (1882): Limits Chinese immigration until 1943 US vs. Wong Kim Ark: Guarantees citizenship to ALL people born in US

31 The Era of Forgotten Presidents ( ) Rutherford B. Hayes: Compromise of 1877, 1st president to send troops to break up RR strike James A. Garfield: Died 6 months into office Destiny of a Republic In favor of civil service reform Chester A. Arthur: VP to Garfield, was a stalwart ***Pendleton Act of 1833 Instituted Civil Service Reform*** Grover Cleveland: Laissez-faire advocate Benjamin Harrison: Won electoral vote against Cleveland, lost electoral vote Grover Cleveland: Still a laissez-faire advocate

32 In the Gilded Age, presidents were seen as less powerful than monopolists like Carnegie, JP Morgan, and Rockefeller

33 Grant was the most important president of the era, but his administration was plagued by scandals The worst scandal was Crédit Mobilier which involved bribes by railroad companies to gain lands grants The Whiskey Ring involved companies bribing government officials to avoid paying taxes

34 Major stockholders in the Union Pacific Railroad formed a company, the Crédit Mobilier of America, and gave it contracts to build the railroad. They sold or gave shares in this construction to influential congressmen. It was a lucrative deal for the congressmen, because they helped themselves by approving federal subsidies for the cost of railroad construction without paying much attention to expenses, enabling railroad builders to make huge profits.

35 Whiskey Ring - a It was revealed that group of officials were the Whiskey Ring had importing whiskey and skipped out on paying using their offices to over $4 million in avoid paying the taxes taxes over the on it, cheating the previous two years. treasury out of millions of dollars. Agents from the Treasury Department pressured others in the liquor industry by threatening to charge them with some type of rule infraction unless they agreed to be part of the scheme. The money that was taken was divided among many people, with government officials and liquor distributors getting most of it. Some of the money went to finance the Republican Party's successful campaign to get President Ulysses S. Grant re-elected in 1872.

36 Garfield s presidency was cut short after only four months, when a disappointed office seeker shot and mortally wounded the president. The assassination became a catalyst for Civil Service Reform Act, which officially made the United States bureaucracy a meritocracy instead of a system rooted in patronage and graft. Chester Arthur became the twenty-first President of the United States after President Garfield was slain. He was a product of the patronage system. It was a surprise when Arthur proved himself an independent executive who was able to make unpopular decisions.

37 Democrat Grover Cleveland narrowly won in 1888 the thanks to divisions within the Republican Party. Idealistic Republican "Mugwumps, voted for Cleveland because of their disgust over James Blaine s implication in scandals. Cleveland became the first Democratic president since James Buchanan. Cleveland rarely proposed legislation on his own. However, he pushed civil service reform and opposed the costly pensions that Civil War veterans clamored for. No. 22 and No. 24 Grover Cleveland

38 Politics, Laissez-Faire, & Tariffs Throughout the Gilded Age, both major parties were supporters of laissez-faire capitalism - Little to no regulation on private enterprise Large tariffs were passed - As a result, in 1881, US Treasury had annual surplus of $145 million Most of government revenue came from tariffs; no income tax - Cleveland wanted lower tariffs he was a Democrat - ***McKinley Tariff Act of 1890*** - Highest peacetime rate ever (48.4%); Hated by farmers, loved by North