Chapter 15: Reconstruction: High Hopes and Broken Dreams, 1865-1877

1. Presidential Reconstruction
   1. Republican War Aims
      1. Radical Republicans sought political and civil rights for emancipated African Americans and punishment of the South.
         1. Thaddeus Stevens in the House and Charles Sumner in the Senate led this wing of the Republican party.
      2. Moderate Republicans did not seek southern punishment or believe in equal rights for former slaves.
   2. Lincoln’s Approach to Reconstruction: "With Malice Toward None"
      1. Unlike Radical Republicans, Lincoln thought the South should be restored to the Union quickly and leniently.
         1. He offered full pardons to anyone taking a loyalty oath to the Union and accepting emancipation.
         2. When 10 percent of the voters took the oath, they could write a constitution abolishing slavery and organize their state’s government.
         3. The Radical Wade-Davis Bill raised the number required to 50 percent; Lincoln pocket-vetoed it.
      2. Moderate Republicans began to move toward the Radical position.
         1. Governments formed under Lincoln’s plan discriminated against blacks.
   3. Abolishing Slavery Forever: The Thirteenth Amendment
      1. The Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery.
         1. Under the Emancipation Proclamation, slavery was still legal in many places.
         2. It won ratification because eight southern states reconstructed under Lincoln’s plan approved its adoption.
   4. Andrew Johnson and Reconstruction
      1. Johnson’s ideas about Reconstruction resembled Lincoln’s.
         1. He believed in states’ rights and rejected the Radicals’ ideas about a strong federal government.
         2. He gave amnesty to most former Confederates who took a loyalty oath and accepted emancipation.
      2. In states not yet reconstructed, he authorized constitutional conventions elected by pardoned voters, to be followed by elections and restoration to the Union.
         1. These conventions rejected voting by blacks.
2. Freedom and the Legacy of Slavery
   1. Defining the Meaning of Freedom
      1. Former slaves came to their freedom in different ways.
         1. Many simply abandoned their masters toward the end of the war.
         2. Others had to wait until ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment.
      2. Expressions of freedom took many forms:
         1. In celebrations throughout the South.
         2. In new names and clothing.
         3. In moving away, often to urban locations where shantytowns developed.
   2. Creating Communities
      1. African Americans quickly began to create their own institutions after the war’s end.
         1. The church rapidly became the most important community organization.
         2. Schools were established; often they were the first public schools in many regions of the South.
         3. The Freedmen’s Bureau, along with other northerners, extended support to help establish the schools.
         4. Other institutions included benevolent societies and newspapers.
      2. Blacks also began to organize politically.
         1. At political conventions in 1865, they called for equality and voting rights.
   3. Land and Labor
      1. Most freedmen did not own any means of support.
         1. Former masters did not provide any assistance or compensation.
      2. Freedmen came to believe that the federal government would distribute land in the South to them.
         1. In South Carolina, General Sherman had redistributed land (forty acres per family) and lent out army mules.
         2. The Freedmen’s Bureau followed suit, with abandoned or confiscated land.
      3. Johnson reversed this practice, and ordered restoration of the lands to former owners.
      4. Sharecropping grew rapidly.
         1. Many found it preferable to wage labor.
      5. Sharecroppers quickly came under the control of landlords and merchants.
         1. They were often required to patronize the landlord’s store.
         2. They were usually in debt to local merchants.
         3. In the absence of a secret ballot, landlords and merchants exerted control over their voting.
   4. The White South: Confronting Change
      1. Poorer whites also frequently became sharecroppers.
         1. Many had lost savings and homes during the war.
      2. Although hostility had often divided wealthy and poor whites, the two now shared a common hatred of the North.
      3. Legislatures enacted restrictive black codes.
         1. The codes represented an effort to control black farm labor and, in general, to relegate blacks to a subordinate position.
      4. Some southerners also used violence to subordinate blacks.
         1. The Ku Klux Klan was created for this purpose, as well as to undermine the Republican party in the South.
         2. Many African Americans were killed during riots in Memphis and New Orleans.
3. Congressional Reconstruction
   1. Challenging Presidential Reconstruction
      1. Many moderate Republicans came to agree with the Radicals that the South had to be brought to heel.
         1. The black codes and violence against African Americans in the South convinced them.
      2. Congressional Republicans took control of Reconstruction by:
         1. Refusing to seat southern representatives.
         2. Extending the existence of the Freedmen’s Bureau.
         3. Enacting the Civil Rights Act of 1866.
   2. The Civil Rights Act of 1866
      1. The act’s provisions included:
         1. All persons born in the United States are citizens.
         2. A listing of rights possessed by all citizens.
         3. Authorization for federal prosecution and trial for violations of civil rights.
      2. The act expanded federal power and restricted that of the states.
      3. Republicans’ motives included:
         1. Radical Republicans’ belief in equality under the law.
         2. The desire among some moderate Republicans to encourage freedmen to stay in the South, rather than move north.
      4. Congress passed the act over Johnson’s veto.
         1. His veto prompted most moderate Republicans to believe that there was no chance of future cooperation with him.
   3. Defining Citizenship: The Fourteenth Amendment
      1. The amendment:
         1. Prohibited interference by any state with the civil rights of any citizen and guaranteed equality under the law.
         2. Reduced representation when African Americans were barred from voting.
         3. Barred anyone who had sworn to uphold the Constitution, but then supported the Confederacy, from public office, unless Congress decided otherwise by a two-thirds vote.
      2. The amendment did not please everyone.
         1. Some Radical Republicans would have preferred an explicit guarantee for blacks to vote.
         2. Women’s suffrage leaders objected to the inclusion of the word malein connection with voting.
      3. Johnson clashed with Congress over the amendment.
         1. He objected to submitting it to the states for ratification.
      4. The congressional elections of 1866 were a referendum on congressional Reconstruction.
         1. In his "Swing around the Circle," Johnson attacked Congress.
         2. Results were a Republican sweep.
   4. Radicals in Control: Impeachment of the President
      1. Moderate Republicans supported new Radical Republican measures:
         1. Military Reconstruction Act of 1867: divided the South into five military districts; prescribed that southern states would be readmitted to the Union after ratifying the Fourteenth Amendment and approving black suffrage.
         2. Command of the Army Act: required the president to issue military orders only through the General of the Army.
         3. Tenure of Office Act: prohibited the president from removing any official approved by the Senate until it approved a successor.
      2. Johnson now faced impeachment.
         1. He challenged Congress over the Tenure of Office Act by firing Secretary of War Edwin Stanton.
         2. The House of Representatives voted to impeach him.
         3. At the trial in the Senate, removal fell only one vote short of the required two-thirds majority.
   5. Political Terrorism and the Election of 1868
      1. The Republicans nominated Ulysses S. Grant for president.
         1. Unlike Johnson, he agreed with congressional Reconstruction.
      2. Extreme violence in the South characterized the 1868 election campaigns.
         1. The goal of the Ku Klux Klan and other groups was to defeat the Republicans and intimidate black voters.
   6. Voting Rights and Civil Rights
      1. The Fifteenth Amendment prohibited denying the right to vote on the basis of race.
         1. Many northern states had not yet enfranchised African Americans, as all reconstructed southern states were required to do.
      2. The amendment did not please everyone.
         1. African Americans and Radical Republicans preferred including still other prohibitions on denials of the right to vote.
         2. Women’s suffrage supporters wished for a prohibition on denying the right to vote on the basis of gender.
      3. Southern violence against Republican and black voters remained a serious problem.
         1. Congress enacted Enforcement Acts, making such crimes punishable under federal law.
         2. Aided by the military, the federal government prosecuted widely and broke the power of the Ku Klux Klan.
      4. The Civil Rights Act of 1875 was the last congressional Reconstruction measure.
         1. It prohibited racial discrimination in jury selection, transportation, and public facilities (except in schools, churches, and cemeteries).
4. Black Reconstruction
   1. The Republican Party in the South
      1. Able to vote, blacks affiliated with the Republican party.
         1. They participated in constitutional conventions and were elected to office.
         2. Officeholders generally had some education, had been free before the Civil War, and had some prior experience in public service.
      2. Carpetbaggers were one source of white support for the Republican party.
         1. Northerners, they were usually well educated, middle class, and (for the men) had served in the army.
         2. They often occupied key political leadership positions.
      3. Scalawags were the other source of white support.
         1. Southerners, they were usually small merchants, craftsmen, professionals, and small farmers; many had opposed secession.
      4. All three groups sought to modernize the South.
         1. They developed schools, hospitals, prisons, and orphanages.
   2. Creating an Educational System and Fighting Discrimination
      1. All the state Reconstruction governments established public schooling.
      2. The new schools institutionalized racially discriminatory practices.
         1. Most were segregated.
         2. Black schools received less funding than white ones.
      3. State Reconstruction governments tried to prohibit discrimination and protect civil rights.
         1. These attempts usually collapsed because of opposition by scalawags.
   3. Railroad Development and Corruption
      1. As everywhere else, Republicans sought to stimulate economic development.
         1. State-government aid went especially to railroad construction.
      2. Political corruption mushroomed everywhere in the United States.
         1. Railroads sometimes bribed public officials.
         2. The South was especially vulnerable to corruption.
5. The End of Reconstruction
   1. The "New Departure"
      1. Some Democrats in the South decided to go along with congressional Reconstruction.
         1. They accepted the Reconstruction legislation and African American voting.
         2. They supported moderate Republicans.
         3. They began to win state governorships.
      2. Their rise overlapped with violence aimed at Republicans and African-Americans.
   2. The 1872 Election
      1. Disagreement among party factions and corruption in the Grant administration led to a split in the Republican party.
         1. The Liberal Republicans nominated Horace Greeley for president in 1872; the Democrats followed suit.
      2. Regular Republicans - including the Radicals - renominated Grant.
      3. Grant won the presidency again.
   3. Redemption by Terror: The Mississippi Plan
      1. Democrats in the South began to return to power after 1872.
         1. The Redeemers swept out the Republicans in the 1874 congressional elections.
      2. The Redeemers benefited from violence against African Americans and Republicans.
         1. Violence peaked in Mississippi in 1875: the so-called Mississippi Plan.
   4. The Compromise of 1877
      1. Corruption and reform were the issues in the 1876 presidential election.
         1. Both the Democrats and the Republicans nominated reform candidates: Tilden (Democrat) and Hayes.
      2. The election led to grave political crisis.
         1. Tilden seemed to have won.
         2. Disputes over who had won the Electoral College votes in Florida, South Carolina, Louisiana, and Oregon erupted.
      3. The Compromise of 1877 gave the election to Hayes.
         1. Southern Democrats agreed to his election if all federal involvement in southern affairs ceased.
      4. Hayes withdrew all remaining military forces from the South when he became president, thereby ending Reconstruction.
         1. All remaining Republican governments thereafter fell from power.
         2. Election violence and fraud thereafter became the norm.
      5. Most northern Republicans thereafter lost interest in the condition of black southerners.
         1. The South successfully portrayed Reconstruction as a disaster.
         2. The majority of Republicans deplored racial conditions in the South but did not wish to take action.
   5. After Reconstruction
      1. The Redeemers established white supremacy.
         1. They repealed Reconstruction legislation at the state level.
         2. African Americans withdrew from political activity because it was too dangerous.
         3. During the 1890s, racial segregation and disenfranchisement were established throughout the South.
         4. The South became a single-party region (Democrat).
      2. The South portrayed Reconstruction as a terrible period.
         1. This view permeated the national culture.
         2. On the other hand, historical works by African-American writers countered the southern view of Reconstruction.