Reconstruction

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Lincoln’s Plan for Rebuilding the Union

• 1863: “The 10 Percent Plan”: Develops an Oath promising future loyalty to the Union and the acceptance of the end of slavery.
• When the number of those who had taken the oath within any one state reached 10% of the number who had been registered to vote in 1860, a loyal state government could be formed. Do States need to write a new state constitution?
• Seen as very lenient by the Radical Republicans of the party, who wanted to “punish” the South after the Civil War

Lincoln wants “Reconstruction” to allow the states of the South to rejoin the Union as quickly as possible, while acknowledging the end of slavery.

• Why is Lincoln willing to be so lenient?

Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan

• Based largely on Lincoln’s policies
• General amnesty (pardon) for all Southerners except Confederate leaders and those whose wealth exceeded $20,000. Who does this effect?
• Recognized governments in VA, TN,

AR, and LA which had already been constituted under Lincoln’s plan

• Remaining States could re-enter the

Union when they:

• Repudiated (rejected) their war debts in the form of bonds. WHY?
• Abolished slavery
• Repealed ordinances of secession
• Ratified the 13^th Amendment

Reconstruction altered relationships between the states and the federal government and led to debates over new definitions of citizenship, particularly regarding the rights of African Americans, women, and other minorities.

Civil War/Civil Rights Amendments

• 13^th Amendment: Abolished slavery, except for “forced labor” for criminals; ratified December, 1865
• 14^th Amendment: grants citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, including former slaves. Required STATES to guarantee equal protection of the laws. Did away with all Civil War Debts; ratified July 1868.
• 15^th Amendment: Prohibits states from denying citizens the right to vote based on their race, color, or previous condition of servitude; ratified February, 1870. Does this guarantee the vote to all blacks?

These three Amendments were passed after the Civil War in an attempt to protect the newly freed slaves of the South.

Women’s Rights

Debates

• Although it was seen as a step in the right direction for Civil Rights, the 15^th Amendment explicitly excluded women.
• National Woman Suffrage Association is founded to oppose the 15^th Amendment.
• Susan B. Anthony opposed the 15th Amendment, saying it was a “downright mockery” of women. WHY?

The women’s rights movement was both emboldened and divided over the 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution.

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← Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony, founders of the NWSA.

The Freedman’s Bureau

• Established in December, 1864
• The Bureau's primary goals were to provide food, clothing, and medical care to African Americans who had been displaced or dispossessed by the war, to help them find jobs and housing, and to assist them in obtaining an education.
• Also responsible for settling disputes between former slaves and their former owners and for ensuring that newly freed African Americans were able to exercise their legal rights.

The Freedman’s Bureau is an agency established to assist the freed slaves to become integrated into society.

• Is this agency going to be effective? Why or why not?

Problems with The Freedman’s Bureau

• Inefficiency: Some argued that the agency was too bureaucratic and that it took too long to provide assistance to those in need.
• Corruption: There were many accusations of officials accepting bribes or engaging in fraudulent activities.
• Overreach: The Bureau was accused of overstepping its bounds and infringing on states' rights.
• Resentment from white Southerners: The Bureau was deeply resented by many white Southerners, who argued that the agency was unfairly favoring African Americans over whites.
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• Lack of funding: The Bureau was often underfunded, which limited its ability to provide assistance to all those in need. Some argued that the agency should have received more financial support from Congress.

Despite its many successes, the Freedmen's Bureau was also highly criticized by North and South alike. The agency is disbanded in 1872.

Why do government agencies that spend money tend to become corrupt?

Congressional Control & Impeachment

• Radical Republicans take control of Congress & Reconstruction
• Passed the Tenure of Office Act, indicating that the President could not release any Government Officials without consent of the Senate. Designed to limit the power of the President in Reconstruction.
• The South was divided into 5 military districts, controlled by Northern Generals
• No state could return to civilian rule until its voters framed a constitution that guaranteed black suffrage & accepted 14^th Amendment
• Johnson dismisses Secretary of War Edwin Stanton on Feb 21, 1868 and is impeached for violating the Tenure of Office Act and for other “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

Reconstruction opened up political opportunities and other leadership roles to former slaves, but it ultimately failed, due both to determined Southern resistance and the North’s waning resolve.

• How well do you think the “MILITARY DISTRICTS” are received in the South?

Election of 1868

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• The National Union Republican Party (Radical Republicans) nominated Ulysses S Grant for president.
• First national election that allows for voting by black males.
• Seen as the end of “Congressional Reconstruction.”
• The Democratic Party nominate NY Governor Horatio Seymour
• Grant was victorious 218 to 80

During the 1868 election, a number of Black candidates ran for Congress and were successful. Hiram Revels of Mississippi and Joseph Rainey of South Carolina were both elected to the US Senate, becoming the first Black Senators in US history. In the House of Representatives, five Black congressmen were elected: Benjamin Turner and Josiah Walls of Florida, Robert DeLarge of South Carolina, Josiah T. Walls of Florida, and Jefferson Long of Georgia.

• Do you think these elections of black representatives is a step forward or backwards for Civil Rights?
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Blacks in Power

• Voting Rights for blacks allow 8 blacks to be elected in 1868.
• There is a short period of time where there are Government Office holders – local, state, and

National, that are black.

• However, this “Black Voting Power” is very short-lived. WHY?

Efforts by radical and moderate Republicans to change reorder race relations in the defeated South yielded some short-term successes. Reconstruction opened up political opportunities and other leadership roles to former slaves, but it ultimately failed, due both to determined Southern resistance and the North’s waning resolve.

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The Failures of

Reconstruction

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Sharecropping

• Landowner receives a portion of the crop
• Complicated contracts involving sale of more supplies; high prices & high interest
• Corruption and cheating of the poorer classes is rampant.
• Creates a cycle of debt, from which the poor or the black person can never recover. WHY?

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Southern plantation owners continued to own the majority of the region’s land even after Reconstruction. Former slaves wanted to be able to own land, but generally could not purchase it themselves. An exploitative and soil-intensive sharecropping system limited blacks’ and poor whites’ access to land in the South.

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The Rise of the Ku Klux Klan

• Groups like the Ku Klux Klan and others are formed to oppose Reconstruction and the “social remaking” of the South.
• Strongly opposed to Civil Rights for Blacks and Women.
• Opposed to the “Decay of the Southern Way of Life.”
• Use of violence, lynching, arson, intimidation, etc. to keep blacks from voting, etc. WHY is violence so prevalent?

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The 14th and 15th Amendments forbid states from enacting laws prohibiting voting based on race. This was widely ineffective after the 1870s, because there arose many OTHER ways to prevent blacks from voting.

Black Codes

While states were forbidden to pass laws regarding VOTING of people of color, all other areas were seen as fair game. Lives of blacks could be closely controlled in all other ways through the use of “Black Codes.”

• Enacted as Democrats slowly regained control of governments
• Labor contracts: Many Black Codes required African Americans to sign exploitive annual labor contracts with white landowners.
• Curfews and vagrancy laws: Many Black Codes imposed strict curfew and vagrancy laws on African Americans and imposed harsh penalties for violations. Often, blacks were forced to work for others for free as “punishment.”
• Property ownership: Many Black Codes restricted the ability of African Americans to own or lease property, making it difficult for them to build wealth.
• Gun ownership: Some Black Codes prohibited African Americans from owning firearms, which made it difficult for them to defend themselves against violence or protect their property.

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• Which is worse, “Vagrancy Laws” or “Slavery?”

The Enforcement Laws

The Acts were designed to enforce and protect the civil rights of African Americans, particularly in the Southern states where they were most at risk of violence and intimidation.

• The first Enforcement Act, passed in 1870, made it a federal crime to interfere with someone's right to vote and authorized the President to use military force to protect the voting rights of African Americans. Aimed at the KKK, specifically.
• The second Enforcement Act, 1871, was known as the Ku Klux Klan Act. This Act allowed the President to suspend the writ of habeas corpus in cases of domestic terrorism and authorized the use of military force to suppress Klan activity.
• The third Enforcement Act, 1871, prohibited discrimination in public accommodations, such as hotels and transportation on the basis of race, color, or previous condition of servitude, and authorized the President to use the military to enforce its provisions.

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• Should the military be used to enforce Federal Laws? Why or why not?

The Supreme Court Intervenes- The Slaughterhouse Cases

• In the 1870s, a series of Supreme Court decisions practically eliminate all Civil Rights advances made since the Civil War.
• The Slaughterhouse cases: A series of cases in which a group of butchers in New Orleans sue because the state has authorized a monopoly to a slaughterhouse company, which threatened their ability to earn a living.
• The result- The Court held that the 14th Amendment did not protect the rights of individuals against state actions, but rather only protected the rights of individuals against actions by the federal government.

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A series of Supreme Court cases starting in the 1870s and moving through the 1890s set the stage for White Supremacy and discrimination through the 1960’s.

• What happens if the Amendments no longer protect citizens from STATE actions?

The Supreme Court Intervenes- US v. Reese

• US v. Reese: The case arose out of an indictment of several individuals in Kentucky who were accused of violating the Enforcement Act by conspiring to prevent African Americans from voting in the 1872 presidential election.
• The defendants argued that the provision of the Enforcement Act which made it a crime to "knowingly hinder, delay, or prevent" a citizen from exercising their right to vote was unconstitutional.
• The Court decides that this “Enforcement Act” would violate the rights to Freedom of Speech and that it is unconstitutional.

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A series of Supreme Court cases starting in the 1870s and moving through the 1890s set the stage for White Supremacy and discrimination through the 1960’s.

• This case is like saying, “Rules against bullying are unconstitutional because they limit my Freedom of Speech.” Change my mind.

The Supreme Court Intervenes- U.S. v. Cruikshank

• US v. Cruikshank: After the Colfax Massacre of 1873, in which a group of white supremacists attacked and killed more than 100 Black Americans in Louisiana, the government tried to prosecute the attackers based on the Enforcement Act.
• The Supreme Court says that the 14th Amendment, guaranteeing equal treatment under the law, only applies to the STATES, not individual citizens. In other words, the Constitution can’t guarantee equal rights from other individuals, only from STATES.
• RESULT: Enforcement Laws are UNCONSTITUTIONAL. “Lynching” is legal.

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U.S. v. Cruikshank is widely viewed as one of the very worst Supreme Court decisions of all time in the United States. The logic and legal precedence in this case is seen as completely counter to Constitutionality.

• So, Amendments can’t guarantee equal treatment from others. Does this mean “The Purge?”

_{“Redemption”}

• “Redemption”- The Southern Democrat term for their return to power in the late 1870s
• South was “Redeemed” – White Southern Democrats were back in power and discrimination and segregation began
• Home rule- ability of state to run its own government without federal intervention has be reinstated.
• The South feels that it has WON the battle regarding the state-federal problems that first caused the Civil War

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After 15 years, the South feels that they have emerged victorious. Their ideals from before the Civil War are upheld. They can still access and exploit cheap black labor and are now authorized by the Supreme Court to discriminate.

• Are the Blacks of the South better off during “Redemption” or worse? Explain.

_{Plessy v. Ferguson}

• The Era of “Redemption” comes to a head with the Supreme Court Case of Plessy v. Ferguson, which establishes federal case law that indicates that “SEPARATE BUT EQUAL” is the law of the land.

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Plessy v. Ferguson ushers in an era of “Jim Crow Laws” that will be in effect in the United States until the 1960s.

• What does the case of Plessy v. Ferguson mean, and how is it applied? Case Study time!