Reconstruction EraReconstruction Era(1863-1877)(1863-1877)
President Lincoln’s 10% Plan
* “Loyal Rule”
* Didn’t ask Congress
* Pardon citizens
* 10% vote
* Re-admit states back to Union
President Lincoln’s Plan
1864: “Lincoln Governments” formed in LA, TN, AR
* “loyal assemblies”
* Weak; dependent onUnion Army for survival
* Military Force
* Minority Rule
Wade-Davis Bill (1864)Wade-Davis Bill (1864) 50% oath of loyalty
“Iron Clad Oath”
Admit no involvement
Restrictions to electionsof state officials
Must guarantee libertyof freed slaves
SenatorBenjamin
Wade(R-OH)
CongressmanHenry
W. Davis(R-MD)
Wade-Davis Bill (1864)Wade-Davis Bill (1864)
“State Suicide” Theory [MA Senator Charles Sumner]
“Conquered Provinces” Position[PA Congressman Thaddeus Stevens]
PresidentPresidentLincolnLincoln
PresidentPresidentLincolnLincoln
Wade-DavisWade-DavisBillBill
Wade-DavisWade-DavisBillBill
PocketVeto
PocketVeto
Lincoln is Dead!
Lincoln is assassinated!
* “Sic Semper Tyrannus!”
* Shot in the back of the head
* Andrew Johnson
13th Amendment Ratified 12/1865.
“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Ended slavery, DID NOT grant citizenship
Johnson & Reconstruction
Jacksonian Dem.
From TN
White Supremacist
Pro-Union; not Anti-Slave
Johnson becomes President after Lincoln's assassination.
Pres. Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan:
I. The majority of voters in each Southern state must pledge their loyalty to the U.S….
II. …and each state must ratify (approve) the Thirteenth Amendment.
• The Thirteenth Amendment, which banned slavery, was ratified on Dec.6, 1865
Johnson's Reconstruction PlanOffered amnesty upon simple loyalty oath to all
except:
- Civil War Officers- Former Plantation Owners- Individuals w/ property over $20,000
New State Constitutions
Forbid slavery; secession
Pay back war debt to Feds.
Slavery is Dead?
Growing Northern Alarm! Most S. state constitutions do not meet
requirements
Johnson granted 13,500 “special pardons”
Plantation owners resume political power
Revival of southern defiance; racism
BLACK CODES
Black Codes Purpose:
* Guarantee stable labor supply
* Restore pre-emancipationsystem of race relations.
* Assures whites will earn more $$ than blacks
Forced many blacks to become sharecroppers [tenant farmers].
Black Codes - laws that severely limited the rights of freedmen.
African-Americans were forbidden from…
…voting.
…owning guns.
…serving on juries.
…running for political office.
Sharecropping
Tenancy & Crop Lien SystemTenancy & Crop Lien SystemFurnishing Merchant
Tenant Farmer Landowner
Loan tools and seed up to 60% interest to tenant farmer to plant spring crop.
Farmer also secures food, clothing, andother necessities oncredit from merchant until the harvest.
Merchant holds “lien” {mortgage} on part of tenant’s future crops as repayment of debt.
Plants crop, harvests in autumn.
Turns over up to ½ of crop to land owner as payment of rent.
Tenant gives remainder of crop to merchant inpayment of debt.
Rents land to tenant in exchange for ¼ to ½ of tenant farmer’s future crop.
Congress Breaks with the President
Congress bars S. delegates
Joint Committee
02/1866: Johnson veto Freedmen’s Bureau bill.
03/1866: Johnson vetoed the 1866 Civil Rights Act.
Congress passed both bills over Johnson’s vetoes: 1st time in U. S. history!!!!
Radical Reconstruction(1866-1877)
Freedmen’s Bureau (1865)
N. Abolitionists
Help slaves; gain political power
“Carpetbaggers”
Equal opportunity
Education Reforms
Freedman’s Bureau SchoolFreedman’s Bureau School
Establishment of Black Colleges
Establishment of Black Colleges
Freedmen’s Bureau Seen Through Southern Eyes
“Plenty to eat and nothing
to do.”
14th Amendment
Ratified in 07/1868.
* Natural-Born Citizens.
* Citizens Rights
* Pay back for war debt
“Punish S.” for ignoring Fed. manadates
Radical Plan for Readmission
Military supervision (Martial Law)
States must:
Ratify 13th, 14th Amendments
Black Suffrage
03/1867: Military to enroll black voters
Reconstruction Acts of 1867 Military Reconstruction Act
* 10 S. states refuse to ratify 14th Amend.
* Divide 10 “unreconstructed states” into 5 military districts.
Reconstruction Acts of 1867
Command of the Army Act
Tenure of Office Act Designed to protect radical
members of Lincoln’s cabinet.
Constitutional???
Edwin StantonEdwin StantonSec. of WarSec. of War
President Johnson’s Impeachment
Johnson removes Stanton 02/1868.
Johnson puts pro-S. Gens. in charge
House impeaches Feb. 24th by vote of 126-47.
The Senate Trial
11 week trial.
Johnson acquitted 35 to 19 (one short of required 2/3s vote).
African-Americans & Govt.
• Free blacks able to vote/participate in govt.
• White hysteria
• Fear of “black oppression”
• Southern states feel need to “re-establish” white rule
Examples:- Poll Taxes - Ku Klux Klan- Black Codes - Lynchings- Literacy Tests - Grandfather Clause
White Hysteria:
Colored Rulein the
South?
The Balance of Power in Congress
State White Citizens Freedmen
SC 291,000 411,000
MS 353,000 436,000
LA 357,000 350,000
GA 591,000 465,000
AL 596,000 437,000
VA 719,000 533,000
NC 631,000 331,000
Black & White Political Participation
Black Senate & House Delegates
Blacks in Southern Politics Core voters: black vets.
Some held political office
But, politically unprepared.
The 15th Amendment guaranteedfed. voting.
15th Amendment Ratified in 1870.
Amendment 15: “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.”
IMPACTS:
- Forbid denying the right to vote based on race
The Failure of Federal Enforcement
Enforcement Acts of 1870 & 1871 [also known as the KKK Act].
“The Lost Cause”
Rise of the “Bourbons”
The “Invisible Empire of the South”
Legal Challenges to the 14th & 15th
Amendments
Legal Challenges to the 14th & 15th
Amendments The Slaughterhouse Cases (1873)
The court offered a narrow definition of the 14th Amendment.
It distinguished between national and state citizenship.
It gave the states primary authority over citizens’ rights.
Therefore, the courts weakened civil rights enforcement!
Legal Challenges to the 14th & 15th
Amendments
Legal Challenges to the 14th & 15th
Amendments Bradwell vs. Illinois (1873) Myra Bradwell, a female attorney,
had been denied the right to practice law in Illinois.
She argued that in the 14th Amendment, it said that the state had unconstitutionally abridged her “privileges and immunities” as a citizen.
The Supreme Court rejected her claim, alluding to women’s traditional role in the home.
Therefore, she should NOT be practicing law!
Legal Challenges to the 14th & 15th
Amendments
Legal Challenges to the 14th & 15th
Amendments U. S. vs. Reese, et. al. (1876) The Court restricted congressional power to
enforce the KKK Act.
The court ruled that the STATE alone could confer voting rights on individuals.
The 15th Amendment did NOT guarantee a citizen’s right to vote, but just listed certain impermissible grounds to deny suffrage.
Therefore, a path lay open for Southern states to disenfranchise blacks for supposedly non-racial reasons [like lack of education, lack of property, etc.]
Legal Challenges to the 14th & 15th
Amendments
Legal Challenges to the 14th & 15th
Amendments U. S. vs. Cruickshank (1876) LA white supremacists accused of attacking a
meeting of Blacks & were convicted under the 1870 Enforcement Acts.
The Court held that the 14th Amendment extended the federal power to protect civil rights ONLY in cases involving discrimination by STATES.
Therefore, discrimination by individuals or groups were NOT covered.
Abandoning Reconstruction Northern support decreases
“Grantism” & political corruption
Panic of 1873 (6-yeardepression); economic issues overwhelm civil rights issues.
Concern over westwardexpansion and Indian wars.
Congress leaves enforcement up to states