What was RECONSTRUCTION AND Why did it fail to adequately protect African Americans for the long term? Reconstruction (1866-1877) Review. Lincoln and the Civil War CRISIS THESIS!!!!!! A new thesis we can introduce is called the crisis thesis or the the you know what happens when the hits the fan. DURING CRISIS (such as in the Civil War), liberty is limited. We see this in the border states when Lincoln suspended HABEAUS CORPUS in order to keep them in the UNION. REVIEW TERMS Missouri Compromise, Compromise of 1850, KA-Nebraska Act popular sovereignty), John Brown, expansion of slavery, sectionalism and tariffs, nullification, 1860 election, how manifest led to congressional tensions, stink thesis, Dred Scott decision, fugitive slave act, uncle toms cabin, habeaus corpus, border states, save the union) Reconstruction is the era following the Civil War. At the end of the war there were over 4 million slaves and a southern landscape in utter destruction and economic depression. The first question we must examine is how will the war affect the role of the Federal government in the states, specifically the southern ones. Reconstruction will be ultimately a failure. One lesson learned will
be the states will never again think they have the right to leave the union. (Secession) and they will forever know who their daddy is. What were the Black Codes that emerged following the Civil War? (Black Codes are not Jim Crow Laws) Black Codes -Post Civil War rules for blacks in the South. Created by SOUTHERN provisional legislatures; recreated discipline of slavery Crimes under the Black Codes voting serving on juries testifying against whites in court marrying a white person idle or disorderly behavior insulting gestures or language preaching the Gospel without a license inter race marriages BLACK CODES demonstrated the need for Federal intervention in the South. The President(s) and the Congress went to battle over the plan for Reconstruction. After the death of Lincoln and the subsequent impeachment trial of his predecessor Andrew Johnson, it would be the Radical Republican who would pass Reconstruction. What were the major plans for Reconstruction? Plan One: The Presidential Plans (HUGS) The Lincoln Plan Lincoln as President could only suggest a plan and he did. His objective secures, the union now together, Lincoln saw no reason to punish the South but rather welcome it back with open arms, a hug. He was murdered as Congress mulled over what to do. If you are interested in the Lincoln Assassination, click here.
His plan is weak. Remember he never really considered the South to have left the union, so letting them back in didn t really jive with his view. Key idea: Lincoln s plan is weak and did not punish the South. Here are the details; An automatic pardon to any southern that offered allegiance to the union and the 13 th amendment. (War criminals couldn t be pardoned) Once 10% of a state took this allegiance, or loyalty oath, they were okie-dokie. The 13 th amendment. States would also have to ratify this amendment and abolish slavery in their states. The Freedman s Bureau, which was passed, was set up to aid freedmen and establish schools for blacks in the South. These "schools" were run by Northerners as a way of providing basic educational needs to the new freedmen. Bang. Lincoln is shot on April 14, 1865. His southern vice-president, Andrew Johnson took office and offered his own plan. The Johnson Plan Andrew Johnson was from Tennessee and from the South. Lincoln ran with him in 1864 as a gesture to the South to show them he wanted the union to be rebuilt. Now the Southern is in charge. It s the Lincoln plan without even the 10% requirement of loyalty. It was a Christmas present to the old South disguised as a Reconstruction Plan. Lincoln and Johnson opposed the 14th and 15 th amendment which would make Blacks citizens and have the right to vote (males) The Johnson Impeachment Johnson was so opposed to punishing the South; he would eventually be impeached by the House of Reps (rub by Radicals) The Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act, which made the President have to go to Congress to fire a cabinet member. Well Johnson despised his Secretary of War Stanton. He opposed his harsh treatment of the south so he fired him w/out going to Congress. He was found not guilty in the Senate by one vote.
The Johnson impeachment was the first of only two impeachments. REMEMBER no President has evenr been removed bu the Senate. The big idea behind the Johnson impeachment is his refusal to abide by SEPARATION OF POWERS, choosing to ignore the TENURE OF OFFICE ACT. *Concept: Presidential Plan are the hugging plans. Plan Two: Radical Republican Reconstruction (the real plan) Northern Republicans dominated Congress and they saw the South in a different light then the Presidents mentioned above. They were referred to as Radical Republicans. They say Reconstruction as a means to do two things. First, punish the buggers. Teach them a lesson for leaving. Spank them so hard they would never try it again. And second they saw Reconstruction as an opportunity to help and protect freed slaves. And in the process expand the feds power and the Republican Party by enrolling millions of new members. (Ex-slaves) HERE IT IS THE ACTUAL PLAN FOR RECONSTRUCTION 1. 13 th amendment: abolish slavery 2. 14 th amendment: a) black citizenship b) no state shall deny its citizens equal protection under the law Also known as the equal protection clause. This part rocks, because in theory it uses Federal Power to protect minority rights against local bigots and racists. Unfortunately the Supreme Court will not interpret it properly for 70 years and allow the states to deny equal protection for many of its black, female and gay citizens. 3. 15 th amendment: the black male vote 4. MILITARY occupation of the South. This would ensure that blacks would be allowed to vote and the Old South would not simply return to their positions of power. It worked! Blacks voted and in some cases controlled state legislatures; they also elected the first Black US Senator (one of three ever) from Mississippi, Hiram R. Revel. Concept: Radical Republican Plan is the SLUGGING plan The SPIKE LEE PLAN (never implemented) =) Some radical Republicans who were radical abolitionists proposed a plan, which was tried for a limited time by General Sherman who had helped win the war. He had been confiscating Southern plantations and giving the land, 40 acres and a mule to freed slaves. Congress would wimp out and leave blacks with a limited time of protection and little in terms of a long range plan to rebuild their lives. Some groups today point to this failed offering as a way to justify reparations, which they believe should be paid to the descendants of African American Slaves. OTHER VOCABULARY
Carpetbaggers: Damn Yankees! Northerners who moved to the South to profit off Reconstruction. Southerners saw them with hate and vengeance. Scalawags: Southerners who went to work for the Federal Government during Reconstruction and profited. Seen by their Southern brothers and sisters as traitors. Benedict Arnold's!!! Sharecropper: A majority of the ex slaves found their situation to have not changed during Reconstruction. Because there was NO LAND REDISTRIBUTION, most freedman had to stay on the plantation. In exchange for fielding the crop, they were allowed to stay and pay a fee for rent. This system of sharecropping kept blacks dependent on the very say people who kept them in bondage. The Compromise of 1877 and the End of Reconstruction In the months following the Election of 1876, but prior to the inauguration in March 1877, Republican and Democratic leaders secretly hammered out a compromise to resolve the election impasse and address other outstanding issues. Under the terms of this agreement, the Democrats agreed to accept the Republican presidential electors (thus assuring that Rutherford B. Hayes would become the next president), provided the Republicans would agree to the following: To withdraw federal soldiers from their remaining positions in the South
To enact federal legislation that would spur industrialization in the South To appoint Democrats to patronage positions in the South To appoint a Democrat to the president s cabinet. Once the parties had agreed to these terms, the Electoral Commission performed its duty. The Hayes electors were selected and Hayes was named president two days before the inauguration. Why did the Democrats so easily give up the presidency that they had probably legitimately won? In the end it was a matter of practicality. Despite months of inflammatory talk, few responsible people could contemplate going to war. A compromise was mandatory and the one achieved in 1877, if it had been honored, would have given the Democrats what they wanted. There was no guarantee that with Samuel J. Tilden as president the Democrats would have fared as well. To the four million former slaves in the South, the Compromise of 1877 was the Great Betrayal." Republican efforts to assurecivil rights for the blacks were totally abandoned. The white population of the country was anxious to get on with making money. No serious move to restore the rights of black citizens would surface again until the 1950s. THE SOLID SOUTH The rebels will simply become Democrats and oppose the north through constitutional means. SOLID SOUTH refers to how as a voting block the south was reliably DEMOCRAT until the 1950's, when the Democratic party of the North will address civil rights, forcing those white southern Democrats to become Republicans. But for over 100 years, the south, well the white south was DEMOCRAT. 1888 1892 1896
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