Reconstruction Past Paper PDF
Document Details
Uploaded by GentleAgate5518
Midlothian High School
Tags
Summary
This document discusses the effects of Reconstruction policies in the United States from 1865 to 1877. It examines the challenges faced by the South after the Civil War and government policy responses, including the role of freed African Americans, and the political and economic issues related to the states' rebuilding.
Full Transcript
Topic 39 Reconstruction " The whole fabric of Southern society must be changed, and never can it be done if this opportunity is lost. Without this, this government can never be, as it never h...
Topic 39 Reconstruction " The whole fabric of Southern society must be changed, and never can it be done if this opportunity is lost. Without this, this government can never be, as it never has been, a true republic." - Thaddeus Stevens, September 6, 1865 earning Objective: Explain the effects of government policy during Reconstruction on L society from 1865 to 1877. he silencing of the cannons of war left the victorious United States with immense T challenges. How would the South rebuild itsshatteredsocietyandeconomyafterfouryearsof war? What would be the place in that society of 4 million freed Black Americans? How responsiblewasthefederalgovernmentforhelpingformerslavesadjusttofreedom?Shouldthe statesoftheConfederacybetreatedasthoughtheyhadneverlefttheUnion-Lincoln'sposition- or as conquered territory under military occupation?Underwhatconditionswouldthosestates b efullyacceptedasequalpartnersintheUnion?Finally,whohadtheauthoritytodecidethese questions, the president or Congress? Postwar Conditions lavery gradually crumbled as African S Americans escaped to Union-controlled territory. The last people to hear they were free lived in Texas. The date they heard the news, June 19th, became a day for celebration known as Juneteenth. Most freedpeople began their free lives withnomoney,noland,andnoformaleducation. Near the end of the war, some freedpeople in South Carolina and Georgia received “40 acres andamule"underanorderfromUnionGeneralWilliamSherman.However,thisorderwassoon canceled by President Andrew Johnson. The land they had was taken away from them. TheSouthwasdevastatedbythewar.Ithadlostaboutone-thirdofitshorses,cattle,and hogs. Roads, bridges, railroad tracks, and fencing had been destroyed. Though peoplehadnot died from mass starvation as often happens in war, chronic food shortages, particularly for African Americans, left many in poor health and susceptible to epidemic diseases. The regional, political, and economic conflicts that existed before and during theCivil War continued after the war. Northern Republicans wanted to continue the economic progress begunduringthewar.Southernaristocratsstillwantedlow-costlabortoworktheirplantations. The freedmen and freedwomen hoped for independence and equalrights.However,traditional beliefslimitedtheactionsofthefederalgovernment.Conceptsoflimitedgovernmentandstates' rights discouraged national leaders from taking bold action. Littleeconomichelpwasgivento White or Black Southerners, as most Americansbelievedthatpeoplehadanopportunityanda responsibility to care for themselves. The physical rebuilding of the South was left up to the states and individuals, while the federal government concentrated on political issues. Reconstruction Plans of Lincoln and Johnson hroughout his presidency,AbrahamLincolnheldfirmlytothebeliefthattheSouthern T states could not constitutionally leave the Union and therefore never didleave.Heviewedthe Confederates as only a disloyal minority. After Lincoln's assassination, Andrew Johnson attempted to carry out Lincoln's planforthepoliticalReconstructionofthe11formerstatesof the Confederacy. Lincoln's Policies incolnbelievedtheSouthernstatescouldregaintheirfullplaceintheUnionbymeeting L a minimum test of political loyalty. roclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (1863). As early as December 1863, P LincolnsetupaprocessforpoliticalreconstructionofthestategovernmentsintheSouthsothat Unionistswereinchargeratherthansecessionists.Thepresident'sProclamationofAmnestyand Reconstruction was simple: FullpresidentialpardonswouldbegrantedtomostConfederateswho(1)tookan oath of allegiance to the Union and the U.S. Constitution, and (2) accepted the emancipation of slaves. AstategovernmentcouldbereestablishedandacceptedaslegitimatebytheU.S. presidentassoonasatleast10percentofthevotersinthatstatetooktheloyalty oath. Inpractice,LincolnmeantthateachSouthernstatewouldberequiredtorewriteitsstate constitution to abolishslavery.Lincoln'sseeminglylenientpolicywasdesignedbothtoshorten the war and to give added weight to his Emancipation Proclamation. Wade-DavisBill(1864).ManyRepublicansinCongressobjectedtoLincoln's10-percent plan,arguingthatitwouldallowsupposedlyreconstructedstategovernmentstobedominatedby disloyalsecessionists.In1864,CongresspassedtheWade-DavisBill,whichrequired50percent of thevotersofastatetotakealoyaltyoathandpermittedonlynon-Confederatestovotefora new state constitution. Lincoln pocket-vetoed the bill after Congress adjourned. Congresswas ready to reassert its powers, as Congresses usually do after a war. Freedmen's Bureau. In March 1865, Congress created an important new agency: the BureauofRefugees,Freedmen,andAbandonedLands,orFreedmen'sBureau.Thebureauacted as a welfare agency, providing food, shelter, and medical aid for both Black and White Americans left destitute by the war. At first, the Freedmen's Bureau had authority to resettle freedpeopleonconfiscatedfarmlandsintheSouth.Itseffortsatresettlement,however,werelater frustrated when President Johnson pardoned Confederate owners of the confiscated lands,and courts restored most of the lands to their original owners. The bureau's greatest success was in education. Under the able leadership of General Oliver O. Howard, it established nearly 3,000 schools for freedpeople, including several colleges. Before federal funding was stoppedin1870,thebureau'sschoolstaughtanestimated 200,000 African Americans how to read. Johnson and Reconstruction ndrew Johnson's origins were as humble as Lincoln's. A self-taught tailor, he rose in A Tennessee politics by championing poor Whites inconflictwithrichplanters.Johnsonwasthe only senator from a Confederate state who remained loyal to the Union. He was appointed Tennessee'sgovernorwhenitwasoccupiedbyUniontroops.JohnsonwasaSouthernDemocrat, but Republicans picked him to encourage pro-Union Democrats to vote for Lincoln. Johnson ended up being the wrong man for the job. As a “Southerner”, he was bound to clash with RepublicansinCongresswhobelievedthatthewarwasfoughtnotjusttopreservetheUnionbut also to liberate African-Americans from slavery. J ohnson's Reconstruction Policy. At first, many Republicans in Congress welcomed Johnson's presidency because of his animositytowardtheSouthernaristocratswhohadledthe Confederacy.InMay1865,JohnsonissuedhisownReconstructionplan.InadditiontoLincoln's terms,itprovidedforthedisenfranchisement(lossoftherighttovoteandholdoffice)of(1)all former leaders and officeholders of the Confederacy and (2) Confederates with more than $20,000intaxableproperty.However,thepresidentcouldgrantindividualpardonsto"d isloyal" Southerners.Thiswasanescapeclauseforthewealthyplanters,andJohnsonmadeuseofit.As a result of his pardons, many former Confederate leaders were back in office by the fall of 1865. Johnson's Vetoes. One sign of the battle between Congress andthepresidentswashis useoftheveto.ThethreepresidentsbeforeJohnsonvetoedatotalof23bills.Inhisoneterm,he vetoed 29bills.JohnsonalienatedevenmoderateRepublicansinearly1866withvetoesoftwo bills.OneincreasedtheservicesandprotectionoftheFreedmen'sBureau.Theotherwasacivil rights bill that nullified the Black Codes and guaranteed full citizenship and equal rights to AfricanAmericans.ThevetoesmarkedtheendofthefirstroundofReconstruction.Duringthis round, Presidents Lincoln and Johnson had restored the 11 former Confederate states to the Union, ex-Confederates had returned to high offices, and Southern states beganpassingBlack Codes to restrict the rights of former slaves. Congressional Reconstruction y the spring of 1866, the angry response of many members of CongresstoJohnson's B policies led to the second round of Reconstruction. This one was dominated by Congress and featured policies that were harsher on Southern Whites and more protective of freed African Americans. Radical Republicans epublicans hadlongbeendividedbetween(1)moderates,whowerechieflyconcerned R with economic gains for the White middleclass,and(2)radicals,whochampionedcivilrights forBlackcitizens.AlthoughmostRepublicansweremoderates,severalbecamemoreradicalin 1866, partly out of fearthatareunifiedDemocraticPartymightagainbecomedominant.After all, now that the federal census counted all people equally (no longer applying the old three- fifths rule for enslaved persons), the South would have more representatives in Congressthan before the war and more strength in the Electoral College. The leadingRadicalRepublicanintheSenatewasCharlesSumnerofMassachusetts.In theHouse,ThaddeusStevensofPennsylvaniahopedtorevolutionizeSouthernsocietythrougha period of military rule in which African Americans could exercise their civil rights, attend schools operated by the federal government, and take ownershipoflandsconfiscatedfromthe planters.ManyRadicalRepublicansendorsedseveralliberalcauses:women'ssuffrage,rightsfor laborunions,andcivilrightsforNorthernAfricanAmericans.Althoughtheirprogramwasnever fully implemented, the Radical Republicans struggled to extend equal rights to all Americans. hirteenthAmendment.Laws,butnottheU.S.Constitution,bannedslavery.Tofreeall T enslaved people in the border states, the country needed to ratify an amendment. Even the abolitionists gave Lincoln credit for playing an active role in the political struggle to secure enough votes in Congress to pass the 13th Amendment. By December 1865 (months after Lincoln's death), this amendment abolishing slavery was ratified by the required number of states.Itslanguagewasclear:"N eitherslaverynorinvoluntaryservitude,exceptasapunishment forcrimewhereofthepartyshallhavebeendulyconvicted,shallexistwithintheUnitedStates, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." After the adoptionofthe13thAmendmentin1865,4millionpeople(3.5millioninthe Confederate states and 500,000 in the border states) were “freedmen" and "freedwomen." For these people andtheirdescendants,economichardshipandpoliticaloppressionwouldcontinue for generations. Even so, theendofslaveryrepresentedamomentousstep.Suddenly,formerly enslaved people who had no rights could claim protection by the U.S. Constitution and had open-ended possibilities of freedom. CivilRightsActof1866.AmongthefirstactionsinCongressionalReconstructionwere votestooverride,withsomemodifications,Johnson'svetoesofboththeFreedmen'sBureauAct andthefirstCivilRightsAct.TheCivilRightsActpronouncedthatallAfricanAmericanswere U.S.citizens(therebynullifyingthedecisionintheDredScottcase)andattemptedtoprovidea legalshieldagainsttheoperationoftheSouthernstates'BlackCodes.Fearingthatthelawcould be repealed if the Democrats ever won control of Congress, Republicans looked for a more permanent solution in the form of a constitutional amendment. Fourteenth Amendment. In June 1866, Congress passedandsenttothestatesanamendment,ratifiedin 1868, that had immediateandevengreaterlong-term significance: It declared that all persons born or naturalized in the United States were citizens. It obligated the states to respect the rights of U.S. citizens and provide them with“equal protection of the laws" and "due process of law?" For the first time, the Constitution required states as wellasthefederalgovernmenttoupholdtherightsof citizens. The amendment's key clauses about citizenshipandrightsproducedmixedresultsin19th-centurycourtrooms.However,inthe1950s and later, the Supreme Court used the power of the federal government to protect individuals fromencroachmentoftheirconstitutionalrightsbystateandlocalgovernments,making“e qual protection of the laws" and the "d ueprocess"clausethekeystoneofcivilrightsforminorities, women, children, disabled persons, and those accused of crimes. Other parts of the 14th Amendment applied specifically to Congress's plan of Reconstruction. These clauses: d isqualified former Confederate political leaders from holding either state or federal offices repudiated the debts of the defeated governments of the Confederacy penalizedastateifitkeptanyeligiblepersonfromvotingbyreducingthatstate's proportional representation in Congress and the Electoral College Report of the Joint Committee. InJune1866,ajointcommitteeoftheHouseandthe Senate issued a report declaring that the reorganized Confederate states were not entitled to representation in Congress. Therefore, those elected from the South as senators and representatives should not be permitted to take their seats. The report further asserted that Congress, not the president, had the authority to determine the conditions for allowing reconstructed states to rejoin the Union. By this report, Congress officially rejected the presidential plan of Reconstruction and promised to substitute itsownplan,partofwhichwas embodied in the 14th Amendment. TheElectionof1866.UnabletoworkwithCongress,Johnsontooktotheroadinthefall of1866toattackhisopponents.HisspeechesappealedtotheracialprejudicesofWhitecitizens by arguing that equal rights for Black Americans would result in an "A fricanized" society. Republicans counterattacked by accusing Johnson of being a drunkard and a traitor. They appealed to anti-Southern prejudices by "w aving the bloody shirt" - inflaming the anger of Northernvotersbyremindingthemofthehardshipsofwar.Republicanpropagandaemphasized that Southerners were Democrats and, by a jump in logic, branded the Democrats a party of rebellion and treason. Election results gave the Republicans an overwhelming victory. After 1866, Johnson's political adversaries - both moderate and Radical Republicans - had more than a two-thirds majority in both the House and the Senate. Reconstruction Acts of 1867. Over Johnson's vetoes, Congress passed three Reconstruction Acts in 1867 that placed theSouthundermilitaryoccupation.Theactsdivided the former Confederate statesintofive military districts, each under the control oftheUnionarmy.Inaddition, the acts increased therequirementsfor gaining readmission to the Union: an ex-Confederate state had to ratify the 14th Amendment andplaceguarantees initsconstitutiontograntthefranchise (right to vote) to all adult males, regardless of race. Impeachment of Andrew Johnson lso in 1867, Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act over Johnson'sveto.Thislaw A prohibitedthepresidentfromremovingafederalofficialormilitarycommanderwithoutSenate a pproval. The purpose of the lawwasstrictlypolitical.CongresswantedtoprotecttheRadical RepublicansinJohnson'scabinet,suchasSecretaryofWarEdwinStanton,whowasinchargeof the military governments in the South. Johnson challenged the constitutionality of the new law by dismissing Stanton. The House responded by impeaching Johnson. He was charged with 11 "high crimes and misdemeanors,"thusbecomingthefirstpresidenttobeimpeached.In1868,afterathree-month Senatetrial,Johnson'sfoesfellonevoteshortofthetwo-thirdsvoteneededtoremovehimfrom office. Reforms After Grant's Election he impeachmentandtrialofAndrewJohnsonoccurredin1868,apresidentialelection T year.Attheirconvention,theDemocratsnominatedanothercandidate,HoratioSeymour,sothat Johnson's presidency would have ended soon in any case, with or without a conviction in Congress. TheElectionof1868.Attheirpresidentialconvention,theRepublicansturnedtoawar hero, General Ulysses S. Grant, even though he had no political experience. Despite Grant's popularity in the North, he managed to win only 300,000 more popular votes than his Democraticopponent.Thevotesof500,000BlackmengavetheRepublicanticketitsmarginof victory. Even the most moderate Republicans began to realize that the voting rights of the freedmen needed federal protection if their party hoped to keepcontroloftheWhiteHousein future elections. Fifteenth Amendment. Republican majorities in Congress acted quickly in 1869 to secure the vote for African Americans. Adding one more Reconstruction amendment to those already adopted (the 13th Amendment in 1865 and the 14th Amendment in 1868), Congress passed the 15th Amendment, which prohibited any state from denying or abridgingacitizen's right to vote "o n account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” It was ratifiedin 1870. While it banned open racial discrimination in votinglaws,itdidnotpreventstatesfrom passing other restrictions on voting rights that disproportionately affected African Americans. Civil Rights Act of 1875. The last civil rights reform passed by Congress during Reconstruction was the Civil Rights Act of 1875. This guaranteed equal accommodations in public places (hotels, railroads, and theaters) and prohibited courts from excluding African Americansfromjuries.Thelawwaspoorlyenforced,asmoderateandconservativeRepublicans tiredoftryingtoreformanunwillingSouthandfearedlosingWhitevotesintheNorth.By1877, Reconstruction was abandoned by Congress. Reconstruction in the South uring the second round of Reconstruction by Congress, the Republican Party in the D South dominated the governments of the former Confederate states. Beginning in 1867, each Republican-controlledgovernmentwasunderthemilitaryprotectionoftheArmyuntilCongress was satisfied that a state had met its Reconstruction requirements. Then the troops were ithdrawn. The period of Republican rule in a Southern state lasted from as littleasoneyear w (Tennessee) to as much as nine years (Florida), depending on how long it took conservative Democrats to regain control. Composition of the Reconstruction Governments I neveryRepublicanstategovernmentintheSouthexceptSouthCarolina,Whiteswerein the majorityinbothhousesofthelegislature.InSouthCarolina,freedmencontrolledthelower house in 1873. Republican legislators included native-born White Southerners, freedmen, and recently arrived Northerners. "Scalawags" and "C arpetbaggers". Democratic opponents derisively called Southern Republicans "scalawags" and Northern newcomers "carpetbaggers" (after cheap luggage made from carpet fabric). Southern Whites who supported the Republican governments wereusuallyformerWhigs who were interested in economic development for their states and peace between the sections. Northerners went south after the war for various reasons. Somewereinvestorsinterestedinsettingupnewbusinesses, while others were ministers and teachers with humanitarian goals. Some went simply to plunder. AfricanAmericanLegislators.MostAfricanAmericanswhoheldelectiveofficeinthe reconstructedstategovernmentswereeducatedpropertyholderswhotookmoderatepositionson most issues. During the Reconstruction era, Republicans in the South sent two African Americans, Blanche K. Bruce and HiramRevels,totheSenateandmorethanadozenAfrican Americans to the HouseofRepresentatives.Revelswaselectedin1870totaketheMississippi Senate seat once held by Jefferson Davis. Seeing African Americans and former slaves in positions of power caused bitter resentment among ex-Confederates. African Americans Adjusting to Freedom ndoubtedly, the Southerners who had the greatest adjustment to make during the U Reconstruction era were the freedmen and freedwomen. Having been so recentlyemancipated fromslavery,theywerefacedwiththechallengesofsecuringtheireconomicsurvivalaswellas their political rights as citizens. Building Black Communities. Freedom meant many things to African Americans: reuniting families, learningtoreadandwrite,ormigratingtocitieswhere"freedomwasfreer." ost of all, formerly enslaved people viewed emancipation as an opportunity for achieving M independencefromWhitecontrol.Thisdriveforautonomywasmostevidentinthefoundingof hundreds of independent African American churches after the war. By the hundreds of thousands, Black members left White-dominated churches for the Negro Baptist and African MethodistEpiscopalchurches.DuringReconstruction,Blackministersemergedasleadersinthe African American community. ThedesireforeducationinducedlargenumbersofAfricanAmericanstousetheirscarce resources to establish independent schools for their children and to pay educated African Americans to become their teachers. Black colleges such as Howard, Atlanta, Fisk, and Morehouse were established during Reconstruction to prepare AfricanAmericanministersand teachers. AnotheraspectofAfrican-Americans'searchforindependenceandself-sufficiencywas the decision of many freedpeople to migrate away from the South and establish new Black communities in frontier states such as Kansas. The North During Reconstruction he North's economy in the postwar years continued to be driven by the Industrial T RevolutionandtheprobusinesspoliciesoftheRepublicans.AstheSouthstruggledtoreorganize its labor system, Northerners focused on railroads, steel, labor problems, and money. Greed and Corruption uringtheGrantadministration,asthematerialinterestsoftheagetookcenterstage,the D idealism of Lincoln's generation and the Radical Republicans' crusade for civil rights were pushed aside. Rise of the Spoilsmen. In the early 1870s, Republican Party leadership passed from reformers (Thaddeus Stevens, Charles Sumner, and Benjamin Wade) to political manipulators such as senators Roscoe Conkling of New York and James BlaineofMaine.Thesepoliticians were masters of the game of patronage - giving jobs and government favors (spoils) to their supporters. Corruption in Business and Government. The postwar years were notorious for the corrupt schemes devised by business bosses and political bosses to enrich themselves at the public's expense. For example, in 1869, Wall Street financiers Jay Gould and James Fisk obtainedthehelpofPresidentGrant'sbrother-in-lawinaschemetocornerthegoldmarket.The Treasury Department broke the scheme, but not before Gould had made a huge profit. In the Crédit Mobilier affair, insiders gave stock toinfluentialmembersofCongressto avoid investigation of the profits they were making - as highas348percentfromgovernment subsidies for building the transcontinental railroad. In the case of the Whiskey Ring, federal revenueagentsconspiredwiththeliquorindustrytodefraudthegovernmentofmillionsintaxes. While Grant himselfdidnotpersonallyprofitfromthecorruption,hisloyaltytodishonestmen around him badly tarnished his presidency. ocal politics in the Grant years were equally scandalous. In New York City, William L Tweed, the boss of the local Democratic Party, masterminded dozens of schemes for helping himself and his cronies steal $200 million from New York's taxpayers before The New York Times and the cartoonistThomasNastexposed"Boss"Tweedandbroughtabouthisarrestand imprisonment in 1871. The Election of 1872 hescandalsoftheGrantadministrationdrovereform-mindedRepublicanstobreakwith T thepartyin1872andselectHoraceGreeley,editoroftheNewYorkTribune,astheirpresidential candidate.TheLiberalRepublicansadvocatedcivil-servicereform,anendtorailroadsubsidies, withdrawaloftroopsfromtheSouth,reducedtariffs,andfreertrade.Surprisingly,theDemocrats alsonominatedGreeley.TheregularRepublicanscounteredbymerely"wavingthebloodyshirt" again - and it worked. Grant was reelected in a landslide. The Panic of 1873 rant'ssecondtermbeganwithaneconomicdisasterthatrenderedthousandsofNorthern G laborersbothjoblessandhomeless.Overspeculationbyfinanciersandoverbuildingbyindustry a ndrailroadsledtowidespreadbusinessfailuresanddepression.Debtorsonthefarmsandinthe citiesarguedaboutwhatshouldbedone.GrantfinallyadoptedtheideasofEasternbankersand creditors, setting a new trend for the Republican Party. Black Southerners were the biggest losers, as preoccupation with the financialcrisisdivertedtheNorth'sattentionawayfromwhat was happening in the South. Women's Changing Roles very part of American society away from the battlefieldwastouchedbythewar.The E impact of the war on the roles and opportunities of women was significant. The absence of millions of men from the fields and factories added to the responsibilities of women in all regions. They stepped intothevacuumcreatedbythewar,operatingfarmsandplantationsand takingfactoryjobscustomarilyheldbymen.Inaddition,womenplayedacriticalroleasmilitary nurses and as volunteers in soldiers' aid societies. When the war ended and the war veterans returned home, most urban women vacated their jobs in government and industry, while rural women gladly accepted male assistance on the farm. Women's Suffrage heresponsibilitiesundertakenbywomenduringthewaralsoboosteddemandsforequal T voting rights for women. Some members of the women's suffragemovementwhohadworked tirelessly for the abolition of slavery opposed the passage of the 14th and 15th Amendments. WhiletheysupportedextendingthefranchisetoAfricanAmericans,theyobjectedtothefactthat these amendments specifically limited it to men. Ironically, this was the first time sex was mentioned in the Constitution, in an amendment meant to extend rights but that ended up discriminating against half the nation's citizens. In 1869, Wyoming Territory became the first territory or state to grant women full suffragerights.Thesuffragists'goalwouldnotbeachieveduntilwomen'seffortsinanotherwar- WorldWarI-finallyconvincedenoughmaleconservativestoadoptthe19thAmendment,with wording that echoed that of the 15th Amendment. REFLECT ON THE LEARNING OBJECTIVE xplain theconsequencesofgovernmentpolicyduringReconstructiononsocietyfrom1865 E to 1877.
