History 1301 U.S. to 1877 Chapter 15 ~ Reconstruction Unit 4 Chapter 15 Hollinger 1301 1
Reconstruction: Vindictive? Reform and righting wrongs? Too little, not long enough? First step toward multiracial society South devastated: 265 men dead / 400K casualties 25% white men lost 4M Blacks had nowhere to go Competing ideas of what Reconstruction should mean: White southerners restore antebellum society minus slavery no Federal control or interference African-Americans access to land and freedom from white control Northern influence was both military and political Moderate get back to business Freedman s Bureau: (semi-military Fed bureau) March 1865 Distribution of food / land / labor contracts / credit Education First Fed Gov t attempt to remake society Strategy of labor to owner / earn a place in society Unit 4 Chapter 15 Hollinger 1301 2
Reconstruction policy: Political issues Republican victories of 1860 & 64 based on split Democrats political legacy at risk Lincoln Announced in 1863 a lenient policy based on Southern Unionists Amnesty except for high officials with pledge of loyalty and renunciation of slavery 10% of 1860 voters took the pledge, the state could apply for re-admission into the Union LA, TN, AK gained re-admission under the program in 1864 Radicals outraged over Lincoln plan and did not accept 1864 representatives of re-admitted states Presidentally appointed Gov for conquered state 51% of white males took loyalty oath, a convention could be summoned elected by voters who had never borne arms against Union Requirements of new State Constitutions were to abolish slavery, disenfranchise Confederate civil and military leaders and repudiate debts of the confederacy Lincoln s assassination gave Radicals more power Unit 4 Chapter 15 Hollinger 1301 3
Reconstruction first phases: Johnson s Presidential 1865 experience: Favored restoration but offered Wade-Davis bill except it offered more lenient restoration privileges for former Confederates By end of 1865 all former confederate states had formed new governments and awaited Congressional approval of new State Constitutions Congressional reaction was furious only Slavery and debts were abolished Black laws re-worded apprenticeships, vagrancy and restrictions into The Black Codes Blacks restricted from voting, juries, being whitnesses against whites, arms, etc. Fostered Joint Committee on Reconstruction Coordinated Congressional response to both Southern States and President Johnson Renewed Freedmen s Bureau in 1866 with wider semi-judicial powers Unit 4 Chapter 15 Hollinger 1301 4
Congressional Reconstruction: Joint Committee actions: December 1865 refused to seat new States and formed their own committee to proceed: Southern States were establishing Black Codes for control of former slaves: Criminalizing unemployment vagrancy no visible means of support and leasing them as convicts Kept from land ownership or participation in specified occupations 1866 Reestablished the Freedman s Bureau to counteract Black Codes Civilian / Gov t / Military coordination and action Negotiation of labor contracts, terms and conditions of employment 1866 1 st Civil Rights Law, over Veto allowed the Federal Gov t to intervene when citizen s rights were being denied Blacks were citizens and illegal to interfere with rights or the exercise of rights Unit 4 Chapter 15 Hollinger 1301 5
Reconstruction Second Phase: 13 th Amendment prohibits Slavery Dec 1865 14 th Amendment Civil Rights defined and guaranteed by Fed Gov t. June 1866 No Confederate could serve until a 2/3 majority of Congress pardoned him 1866 By-elections returned more Republican Radicals to Congress Reconstruction Laws of 1867 TN readmitted because supported 14 th Amendment Combined 10 remaining former confederates into 5 military districts Military to registered qualified voters all Blacks, and whites who had not supported Confederates New State Constitutions to be written and States ratify the 14 th Amendment before re-admission 1867 Tenure of Office Act kept President from firing Federal officials without Senates consent 1867 Command of the Army Act kept President from ordering military to do anything except through the Commanding General US Grant Command couldn t be transferred, changed or dismissed without consent of the Senate Unit 4 Chapter 15 Hollinger 1301 6
Reconstruction Second Phase - II: 1868 Seven had accomplished tasks: AK, NC, SC, LA, AL, GA, and Florida and were readmitted Texas and Virginia in 1869 and MS in 1870 25% of White males excluded from polls meant Black majorities in LA, SC & MS and close in FL and AL Rural Violence by Confederate Veterans Bourbons New Southern leadership & minimal compliance Demobilization and fewer occupation forces Black political participation continued, though minimized 1868 Death of Thaddeus Stevens meant landreform demands of Congress lessoned 1869 15 th Amendment voting not denied for Race, color or previous condition of servitude April 1868 Johnson tried for impeachment on Tenure of Office Act violations Johnson saved by one vote Unit 4 Chapter 15 Hollinger 1301 7
Reconstruction Second Phase III: Southern Reconstructed Gov ts: Scaliwags and Carpetbaggers Carpetbaggers were middle class ex-military business people Public education widened though segregated schools 50% of white and 40% of Black children Land Ownership 1865 10K blacks on own land requisitioned plantations using Sherman s Order 15 as base Typically 40 acres and decommissioned Army animals (mules) Stopped by Pres Johnson s expanded amnesty policy Some land returned to previous owners, but land ownership was becoming corporate and consolidated Land ownership % among whites fell after war Freedmen s Bureau 1865-1874 Established Freedman s Bank Credit needed for both tenancy and ownership Wage labor negotiated / disputes settled in semijudicial role Unit 4 Chapter 15 Hollinger 1301 8
Reconstruction Second Phase III: Tenancy became either rent or share Income proportion increased for Blacks, but Southern agriculture income dropped Cotton was no longer king Store-based Credit and bad year s wiped out small holders white and black alike Crop-lien system Newly reformed plantation system became general throughout Cotton south Grant Administration 1868 & 1872 Supported Radicals in Congress 500K Black Republicans in South elected him Administration was scandal ridden Greenback crisis over credit Republicans favored hard money 1876 with money tight, Congress not as interested in Reconstruction 7 of the 10 were already Democrat by 1872 Upper South white majorities voted solid and won Rising taxes took poor white vote from Southern Republicans which made them more city, black and carpetbagger Unit 4 Chapter 15 Hollinger 1301 9
End of Reconstruction Former Confederate violence, intimidation and economic coercion Congress replied with Enforcement Acts 1871 1871 9 Counties in SC Lawless brought more troops and jailed Klan maintained Black participation Meridian MS 1871 30 Blacks killed by gun clubs Colfax LA 1873 Blacks killed by organized forces with cannon battle where 50 Black militia were killed after surrender Campaign of 1872 Liberal Republicans want South to solve it s own problems Social Darwinism gave political domination and social segregation science HR went Democratic in 1874 Depression of 1873 further reduced Republicans and desire to spend on Southern problems Unit 4 Chapter 15 Hollinger 1301 10
End of Reconstruction - II 1876 Election FL, SC and LA were contested election results Hayes Republican / Tilden Democrat Special Congressional commission Jan 1877 Deal for patronage / improvements / Southerner in cabinet and withdrawal of troops Contested State Republican gov ts fell 15 th Amendment enforcement became a local concern State gov t became Democratic after election and Gov t troops left cities Legacies: Redeemers the Democratic middle between Bourbons (landed elite) and Readjusters (white landless) lowered taxes and reduced services Southern Industrialization as an answer to the Northern supremacy Jim Crow / Share-cropping / Economic and Physical intimidation / Vagrancy laws / Local enforcement of 15 th Amendment - - Slavery without slaves Unit 4 Chapter 15 Hollinger 1301 11