U.S. History Chapter 14

"With Malice Toward None"

Chapter 14
Post Civil War Period
Reconstruction

[The rebuilding of the South
physically and spiritually]


North

1) Economy was thriving;
industry boomed because of wartime production

2) population increased -
(1860-65) - 800,000 immigrants

3) Consolidated industry
Finance and Labor


1867 - Expansionism
The Purchase of Alaska Seward's Icebox



South

1) Cities were destroyed, leveled
Richmond, Atlanta, Charlotte

2) Transportation-

Railroads and Roads were destroyed

3) Plantations - economic system of the south was destroyed

4) Financial Structure - wiped out

5) Loss of population - decimated the young white male

6) Social Organizations -
churches, schools, local govts, all destroyed

7) Labor force disrupted-
free Blacks Total breakdown of morale, loss of physical strength and natural resources.
However

Southern spirit was alive, even after the total devastation

**

Lincoln's Reconstruction Plan
-lenient on the South;

-offered a pardon to Southerners who took an oath to support the Constitution

-Southern State Governments would be recognized if
a) abolished slavery
b) 10% of the 1860 vote took a vote of loyalty to the Union

*

Radical Republicans
(Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumner)

-argued that Southern States rebelled and committed State suicide

-they were no longer part of the Union - conquered provinces, ergo their fate would be decided by US Congress.

Radicals
a) wanted to punish white southerners
(military rule was extended)

b) wanted to give Blacks a chance to be treated fairly

c) endorsed the Wade Davis Bill
(ironclad oath with provisions for new state constitutions to be drawn)
Lincoln refused to sign it


Radicals Motivation
1) The South would try to restore slavery
2) Seek revenge
3) The new Black Vote
**

Johnson's Reconstruction Plan

Created without consulting Congress

-disenfranchised southerners who
had taxable property worth at least 20K

-ordered states to reorganize their governments

-Repeal their Ordinances of Secession

-Reject all Confederate debt

-Require the southern states to ratify the 13th Amendment


By December 1865,
Johnson recognized all of the 11 confederate states and prepared to watch them come back into Congress

***

Freedmen's Bureau
Created to help newly freed Blacks survive as free people.

Greatest success: Education

Problem was in its operation; were white-supremacists deciding the fate of former slaves?


*Military Reconstruction Act (1867)
Divided the South into 5 districts,
each supervised by a General

When they finally left after the re-organization of state govts, control was passed to
white "Redeemer" or "Home Rule" regimes


Andrew Johnson - Tailor - President
*Well intentioned, but stubborn


Andrew Johnson's Impeachment

Radicals despised Johnson(southerner)

-passed the Tenure of Office Act
(the President cannot remove anyone from office without the Senate's consent)

Secretary of War - Edwin Stanton (Radical Republican) worked against Johnson.

- Johnson fired him to test Act
Congress brought Impeachment Proceedings against him
35 Senators voted guilty
19 Senators not guilty
(1 vote less than 2/3 majority)

***


Results - Reconstruction
Scalawags and Carpetbaggers
(resented by the South)


2-Black Senators
About a dozen Black Congressmen



Federal Level

Johnson's struggle with the Radical
Republicans clouded the effects of the 13th 14th and 15th Amendments

(The Women's movement was passed over and conditions remained the same)

State and Local Levels created a "Solid South" (Democratic)

Black Codes-
resembled the old slave codes of antebellum South

1) Poll Taxes
2) Literacy Tests
3) Grandfather Clauses

Jim Crow Laws (segregation)
enforced by the KKK

Force Acts 1870 helped but could not stop the intimidation


Effects of Reconstruction

Created solid Democratic South


a) Blacks found themselves in a segregated society. No real opportunities for social and economic upward mobility

b) Federal confirmation of segregation
Plessy v Ferguson (1896)

c) Whites gained complete control of south.
Free Blacks did not improve their status



Ulysses S. Grant - Election of 1868

Supported in North; not in South
(Black vote put him over the top)

Great General - clueless president
Tried, but unsuccessful in stopping the White Supremacists

Elected again in 1872

*Credit Mobilier Scandal

*Salary Grab




Election of 1876
Rutherford B. Hayes -
Union General and reform governor of Ohio

Samuel J. Tilden - Governor of NY
who with Thomas Nast(Harper's Weekly)
helped to bring down the corrupt regime of "Boss Tweed" and his political machine Tammany Hall

*185 Electoral Votes were needed*

Late on Election day, Tilden - 184

Problem - 20 electoral votes were in
question, including 3 Rep Southern States of
So. Carolina, Fla., LA

Bigger Problem - The Political makeup of Congress.
(Pres. of Senate - Rep)

Electoral Commission formed
5-Senators, 5 Congressman, 5 Justices
Political makeup - 7Dems, 7Rep, 1 Ind
The Independent Judge happened to win an election to the Senate and had to be replaced. Only Justices left were Republicans. Hayes was the winner


Still, election results had to be approved in both Houses
A Deal was Cut:
1. Federal Troops would finally leave the South and end Radical Rep Governments in SC, Fla, LA

2. At least one Southerner would get a Cabinet post

3. Conservative So. Dems control over local affairs

4. He would support Southern physical improvements

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