Ordeal of Reconstruction. All Confederate Leaders were eventually pardoned in 1868 by Andrew Johnson.

Ordeal of Reconstruction


• All Confederate Leaders were eventually pardoned in 1868 by Andrew Johnson


• Problems of Peace

• 1. Southern economy and social structure was destroyed


• 2. Many white southerners still believed that secession was correct


• 3.Emancipation was uneven in different parts of the southern confederacy that were conquered


• For Blacks Emancipation allowed

• 1. look for lost family members


• 2. right to get married• 3. form their own churches

• 4. opportunity for education


• As a result of Emancipation former slaves traveled to look for family members testing their freedom


• From 1878 to 1880 some 25,000 blacks from Louisiana Texas and Mississippi left to seek opportunities in Kansas


• Steamboat captains refused to transport blacks across the Mississippi thus ending the exodus


• Freedman Bureau was created by Congress in March of 1865


• It provided clothing medical care food and education to both free blacks and white refugees


• The greatest achievement of the Freedman's bureau was the opportunity for education primarily teaching former slaves to read


• Southerners rejected the Freedman bureau as a threat to their supremacy in the south


• Andrew Johnson

• The Tailor President


• Refused to secede with Tennessee

• Added to Lincoln ticket to appeal to War Democrats and pro-Union southerners


• Strong Supporter of States rights and champion of poor whites


• Presidential Reconstruction• Lincoln stated 10% solution • State could reenter the

union if 10% of its voters in the 1860 election for President took an oath of allegiance to United States


• Next a formal state government must be started and the state would be readmitted to union


• This proposed reconstruction would lead to a rapid readmission of southern states to the union


• Deep divide between Congress and the President Lincoln

• Wade-Davis bill in 1864


• 50 % of voters take allegiance to the United States

• Stronger safeguards towards emancipation


• Two factions • Majority agreed with Lincoln

• Minority (radicals) felt south should suffer more


• Wanted the social structure to be destroyed

• Emancipated blacks to be protected federally and to ratify 13th Amendment


• They also believed south were conquered territories and Congress would develop what terms were needed for readmission to union


• 13th Amendment to Constitution

• The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution officially outlaws slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. It was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, by the House on January 31, 1865, and adopted on December 6, 1865. On December 18, Secretary of StateWilliam H. Seward proclaimed it to have been adopted. It was the first of the three Reconstruction Amendments adopted after the American Civil War.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Constitution

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Involuntary_servitude

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Secretary_of_State

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Secretary_of_State

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._Seward

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_H._Seward

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reconstruction_Amendments

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Civil_War

Ordeal of Reconstruction• 15TH AMENDMENT• AMENDMENT XV• SECTION 1.• The right of citizens of the United States to vote

shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

• SECTION 2.• The Congress shall have power to enforce this

article by appropriate legislation.


• Johnson’s plan was similar to Lincoln's a quick restoration of Southern States after a few basic conditions were met


• South answers to Emancipation were

• Black Codes to• Ensure a stable and subservient labor force


Banned Jury duty for blacks and vote

• Could not rent land


• Punishments for idleness• Fines for blacks who

jumped labor contracts• Labor contracts were

plantation owners would rent land


• Called sharecroppers rent was so high that no profit was made by former slaves

• So they “jumped” the contract


• Northern reaction was the south was arrogant and it seemed that the south would not acknowledge that the North won the war


• Johnson and Congress Clash

• Johnson vetoed the extension of the Freemans Bureau


• Civil Rights act of 1866 gave blacks rights of Citizenship


• A dilemma for Republicans especially radicals that if blacks were now citizens the south could be more powerful in National politics


• Fearing the south (if they got a majority in Congress) would repeal the Civil Rights Act of 1866


• 14th Amendment was passed

• 1. gave citizen rights to freeman

• 2. Assumed all debt of the south

Ordeal of Reconstruction• 14th Amendment• All persons born or naturalized in the United

States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.


• 3. disqualify from state and federal office Confederates who as federal office holders could not hold office again


• 4. if denied blacks to vote the state would lose members of Congress


• No state would be readmitted to union until the 14th Amendment was passed

• Tennessee was the first southern state to ratify 14th Amendment in 1866 and readdmitted


• The chief argument between Congress and the President was Johnson soft treatment of the south


• All republicans believed that blacks should have right to vote


• On March 2, 1867 Congress passed the Reconstruction Act

• South is broken up in 5 military districts



• Each district commanded by a Union General


• Also demanded that each state pass the 14th Amendment

• State Constitution allow former male slaves the right to vote


• A15th Amendment granted black men the right to vote


• In 1877 the last Federal troops were removed thus reforming the Union.


• IT DID NOT GRANT THE RIGHT TO VOTE TO WOMEN


• Blacks united and participated in the Union League

• The union league helped:


• 1. educated blacks on their civic duty

• 2. Campaign for Republican Candidates

• 3. Build black churches and schools


• 4. recruiting militias and militants to protect black communities


• Blacks in the south relied on the Union league to educate them on their civic duties


• African American woman assumed new political roles

• 1. participating in church life


• 2. monitoring state conventions

• 3. participating in political rallies

• 4. organizing mass meetings


• But they could not vote


• Two types of unsavory• Characters out of

Reconstruction• Scalawags southerns

plundering or stealing from southern states


• Carpetbaggers

• Sleazy Northerners who came to south to seek power and profit from Reconstruction


• Radical state governments passed legislations and reforms that were needed


• However corruption in both North and South was common


• KKK

• Ku Klux Klan

• Invisible Empire of the South


• They could be described as a secret terrorist organization


• KKK’s motives:• 1. keep blacks in their place

• 2. prevent blacks from voting


• 3. keep white “carpetbaggers” from voting

• 4. end radical reconstrution


• They resented black legislators ability and sucess


• The Force Acts and the union Army helped surpress the KKK but they were successful in using intimidation including lynching's beatings and murder


• Johnson Impeachment

• Tenure Act of 167Senate must consent to any cabinet position removal


• Secretary of War Stanton was dismissed by Johnson

• House Impeached Johnson and he went to trail in Senate


• Failed to convict Johnson by 1 vote

• 2 reasons • 1. poor precedent and

politically motivated• 2. hated his replacement more


• In 1867 Secretary of State William Steward signed a treaty to purchase Alaska from Russia

• Stewards Folly


• Real reasons Johnson was not convicted

• 1. abuse of Checks and balances


• 2. concern about who would take over

• 3. creating a destabilizing period

• 4. Johnson agreed to stop obstructing Republican policies


• Steward overcame opposition in Congress because Russia was a friend to the Union in Civil War


• It was Johnson greatest success in foreign policy during his administration

Ordeal of Reconstruction. All Confederate Leaders were eventually pardoned in 1868 by Andrew Johnson.

Documents

ordeal of reconstructionit

ordeal of reconstruction50

ordeal of reconstructionordeal

free blacks

destroyedemancipated

freedmans bureau

southern confederacy

white southerners