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Policies and Consequences of Reconstruction

Page history last edited by Robert W. Maloy 4 months ago

"Freedmen Voting in New Orleans" 1867

 

"Freedmen Voting in New Orleans" 1867

 

Topics on the Page


Black Officeholders in the South

 

  • Joseph Rainey and Robert Smalls

 

Reconstruction: Presidential and Congressional

 

Impeachment of President Johnson

 
Amendments: 13, 14, & 15

 

 

Reconstruction: Southern Whites' Opposition

  • Ulysses S. Grant
  • Formation of the Ku Klux Klan
  • The Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 
  • The Memphis Riot
  • The Colfax Massacre

 

Radical Reconstruction: Accomplishments and Failures

  • The Freedman's Bureau

 

  • African American Sharecroppers

 

Presidential Election of 1876; End of Reconstruction

Supreme Court: Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

 

  • John Marshall Harlan Dissent

 

Women's Suffrage During Reconstruction

 

 

 

 

 

Focus Question: What were the policies and consequences of Reconstruction for African Americans and democracy in the United States?

 

Black Officeholders in the South

 

Black Officeholders in the South During Reconstruction


For biographies of African Americans who served in Congress during Reconstruction, see the website Black Americans in Congress.

Click here for practice test questions on Reconstruction


external image Robert_Smalls.JPG Joseph Rainey

 

  • First African American to serve in the House of Representatives
  • First African American to preside over the House of Representatives
  • Longest serving African American during Reconstruction

 

Robert Smalls from South Carolina who served five terms in the House of Representatives between 1868 and 1889.

See also Reconstruction in Mississippi, 1865-1876

 

 

 

A. Reconstruction: Presidential and Congressional

 

After the end of the Civil War, the North and South each experienced a number of problems politically, economically, and socially.

 

  • The South was devastated after the Civil War with tens of thousands of landless farmers and former slaves living in deep poverty. The Northern states were financially well off at the end of the conflict, but still had to deal with having lost hundreds of thousands of lives and with increasing economic inequality and social clashes between American citizens and immigrant groups within inner cities.
    • The question over how to organize the Reconstruction of the South would polarize American politics and have dramatic consequences on the history of the United States.

 

  • President Lincoln, a moderate republican, wanted the Southern States under military occupation to be reincorporated into the Union as fast as possible to reunite the Nation and help rebuild social ties lost during the war between the North and South.

 

  • Lincoln faced opposition from the "Radical" wing of the Republican Party who wanted the Southern leaders to be punished for the rebellion against the Union and to give the former slaves economic relief and full U.S. citizenship. The Radical Republican leadership felt the Lincoln was going to be soft on social and economic reforms now that the Civil War had ended.

 

  • President Lincoln, however, was assassinated on April 14, 1865 just days after the end of the war and was never able to implement of his plans for the Reconstruction. His successor Andrew Johnson, a Tennessee Conservative Democrat, would clash with the Radical Republicans in Congress over how the South should be reconstructed in the post-war era.

 

 

 

Crash Course on Reconstruction

 

Lesson Plan on Reconstruction

Presidential Reconstruction

 

  • President Andrew Johnson believed in states rights. He believed that the South had never really seceded from the Union, and therefore they should rebuild their governments as they saw fit.

 

  • While Johnson originally thought that some wealthy, elite people who had ties to the Confederate cause should not be in power anymore, he gave many of them pardons. This meant that some ended up having economic and political power.

 

  • Under new Southern leadership, officials created Black Codes. These codes were an attempt to legalize practices that would keep African Americans at second class citizenship status.

 

  • Johnson announced that the United States was whole and in 1865, shortly before Congress reconvened in December, he considered Reconstruction to be "done".

 

Sick from Freedom: African-American Illness and Suffering during the Civil War and Reconstruction by Jim Downs, detailing the lives of African Americans during Reconstruction

 

Second Founding by David Quigley, detailing Reconstruction in the North

 

Time article detailing how African Americans are discovering their heritage for the first time

 

 This link has a map detailing population density of African Americans after the Civil War

 

 

This link details the actions of African Americans during Reconstruction

 

 

Congressional/Radical Reconstruction:

 

  • There were several different factions in congress that disagreed strongly over what to do with reconstruction, but over all everyone agreed that much more needed to be done before reconstruction could be considered “done.” They launched a series of plans known as the 2nd Reconstruction or Radical Reconstruction (see below).

 

  • Congress did not want to allow southerners to be able to participate in government. They thought the southern states had, in essence, lost their status as states because of their participation in rebellion. Therefore, Congress thought that the Southern states needed to go through a process of rebuilding and recommitting to the union before they could be considered worthy of participating in government again.

 

  • Congress was concerned about the discrimination African Americans faced. It ratified the 14th Amendment to help secure rights for everyone (see below).

 

  • Link here to read more about Congressional Reconstruction. 

 

B. Impeachment of President Andrew Johnson

 

Image from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 1868

 

Image from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, 1868

In 1868, after years of frustration in dealing with the President over issues of reconstruction, the House of Representatives impeached Johnson on eleven charges, the most famous being his violation of the Tenure of Office Act.

(This act disallowed the president from dismissing any appointed government official that the senate had approved, without permission of the senate.)

The Army Act also prohibited the President from giving orders to the army except through the General of the Army.

 

  • But the impeachment was also in reaction to his opposition to the 14th Amendments to the U.S. constitution and other positions on Reconstruction.

 

  • Impeachment failed by one vote from removing Johnson from office.


external image BalancaJustica.pngThe Impeachment of Andrew Johnson, from Famous Trials website

Andrew Johnson grew up in extreme poverty. He learned the trade of a tailor, became a successful businessman, taught himself to read, and became a highly influential orator.

 

  • He was a southerner who opposed slave owners and was made military governor of Tennessee in 1862 and then Vice-President in 1864.

 

  • He was unable to lead effectively after Lincoln's death, leaving Reconstruction up to the southern states which led to his impeachment.

 

  • He was elected to the Senate after his presidency, the only former President to serve in the Senate.


For more background, see The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson from Eric Foner's book, Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877 (Harper and Row, 1988).

 

Andrew Johnson:  The Impeached President, CBS News Sunday Morning

 

 

C. 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution


Map shows the order of when states ratifying the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. Blue (1865), Green (1865-1870), Pink (Ratified after Rejecting, 1866- 1995), Gray (Not Yet States)


external image 200px-13th_amendment_ratification.svg.png

  • 13th Amendment (1865): Outlawed slavery and involuntary servitude except for a punishable crime.

 

  • 14th Amendment (1868): Comprised of five sections, the 14th Amendment broadly defines citizenship.

 

    • All people who are born in the United States are citizens. All citizens are entitled to due process of the law.
    • Each male citizen over 21 will have the right to vote and be represented.
    • No one will be able to run for any government office if he has been part of a rebellion against the government.
    • The South does not owe the government any money for losses during the war. The government does not owe the South any money for the loss of slaves.
    • Congress has the right to enforce the above.

 

  • Linked here is a timeline of the 14th Amendment, that not only shows how important it was when it was ratified, but also how it shaped the nation throughout the coming years and the implications that it held in a court of law.

 

  • The 14th Amendment also affected women in a large way, especially black women who were freed from slavery. Here is an article showing the importance of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments in relation to helping women get rights. 

 

 

    • Here is a video summarizing the important aspects of the 14th Amendment and how it affected more people than one would think.


Also, The Dred Scott Decision was overturned.


external image 15th-amendment-celebration-1870.jpg

  • 15th Amendment (1870): stated that the rights of citizens could not be denied based on “race, color or previous condition of servitude.”

 

Schism over the 15th Amendment between universal suffrage and the rights for African American men

 

Voting rights, while “secured” in the 14th amendment, were not actually enforced for all citizens, namely black southerners, until nearly a century later. Women were also not included in this amendment.

  • Do you think that the discrimination that was outlawed in the 15th Amendment has been enforced?
  • Is it enforced today?


Click here for a closer look at Reconstruction and the battle for women's suffrage.

 

 

D. Opposition of Southern Whites to Reconstruction


Many, if not most, Southern whites resisted Northern attempts at reconstructing the South. Southerners felt threatened by readjusting to a life without being able to exercise legal control over other human beings. Many also harbored ill feelings against the North, which they had just spent years fighting and rebelling against. Their resistance manifested itself in many ways.

 

  • One such way was the creation of Black Codes (see above).

 

  • Another way was the formation of the Ku Klux Klan in 1865.


The KKK was (and is) a white supremacist hate group that discriminated against Blacks and other minority groups, including Jews, Catholics and foreign immigrants.

  • Throughout the 19th and 20th century, thousands of African Americans were murdered and terrorized by the Ku Klux Klan, and various other white supremacist hate groups.


Follow this link from the Southern Poverty Law Center to get more information on the history of hate groups in America.

 

 The Klu Klux Klan Act of 1871

 

Overview of the Enforcement Acts of 1870 and 1871 (The Klu Klux Klan Act)

 

This is an article with maps detailing when States were readmitted back into the Union: https://mappinghistory.uoregon.edu/english/US/US25-01.html

 

This timeline shows the gradual history of Reconstruction, beginning with the Assassination of President Lincoln: https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/exhibits/reconstruction/timeline.html 

 

Ulysses S. Grant


Ulysses S. Grant Served as president for two terms, 1869-1877.

Transcripts of his Inaugural Speeches and State of the Union Addresses.

Grant's Civil Service Exam*

Image depicts Horace Greeley and an unknown person with a group of U. S. Senators, including Carl Schurz, Charles Sumner and Lyman Trumbull, all depicted as school children, watch Uncle Sam, as teacher, pose questions to Ulysses S. Grant, also depicted as a school child, 1872

 

Video Biography of U.S. Grant from Disney Educational Productions series on American Presidents

 

 

The Memphis Riot and the Colfax Massacre


 The Memphis Riot occurred on April 30th-May 2nd of 1866.

  • The event was covered widely in the press and would help (along with the riot in New Orleans) to push Congress into action against President Johnson and usher in Radical Reconstruction.

 

  • A Congressional Committee called to examine the causes and outcomes of the riot detailed 46 blacks and 2 whites killed, 75 persons injured, over 100 persons robbed, 5 women raped, and 91 homes, 4 churches and 8 schools burned.


Freedman's Bureau's report of the Memphis Riot

Albert Harris: African American account of the Memphis Riot (6 pages)

Lavinia Goodell: African American woman's account of the death of her husband during the Memphis Riot (2 pages)


The Colfax Massacre occurred on April 13, 1873 when white supremacists murdered 81 African American people in Colfax, Louisiana.

  • When the defendants were subsequently freed by a Supreme Court decision, racial violence was greatly increased and Reconstruction effectively ended in the South.

 

Here is a video describes what happened.

"Eric Foner on Post-Civil War Disappointments" a comparison of President Obama and Lincoln in light of Reconstruction.

 

 

 

E. Radical Reconstruction


Radical Reconstruction refers to the Congressional efforts to redefine Reconstruction and reform Johnson’s form of Reconstruction. Under Radical Reconstruction, Congress:

  • Made the five southern state governments set up by Johnson illegitimate and divided the South into five military districts.
    • Ruled that for states to be readmitted to the Union they had to accept the fourteenth amendment and allow black men to vote.
      • Created the 15th Amendment (see above).


The Freedmen's Bureau

The Freedmen's Bureau was established to support new freed African Americans and whites in the South make a transition from an economy based on slavery to one based on freedom for everyone.

For more read, W.E.B. DuBois 1901 essay.


external image 913198703.gif?365

African American Sharecroppers

 

Sharecropping and Tenant Farming, North Carolina History Online

READING: The African American as Sharecroppers

Life After Slavery from African Americans, Kahn Academy

 When We Worked on Shares, We Could't Make Nothing: Henry Blake Talks About Sharecropping after the Civil War



How the American Civil War Built Egypt's Vaunted Cotton Industry and Changed the Country Forever


F. Election of 1876; End of Reconstruction

After many years of Reconstruction, Americans began to feel that it was time for it to come to a close. In 1876 Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel J. Tilden ran against each other. Hayes won the presidency, even though Tilden got a majority of the popular vote.

 

  • The election was very close and controversial. Southerners opposed Hayes, but accepted him when he motioned to remove troops from the South, put a southerner in Congress, and called for an official end to Reconstruction. In addition, the desired direct effect of this election was to end Reconstruction, whether it be formal, congressional, or "radical".


Click here for more information about Election of 1876.

From NPR, "The Place Where Rutherford B. Hayes is a Really Big Deal." (Hint: It's in South America)

From the Smithsonian about the Election of 1876, "The Ugliest, Most Contentious Presidential Election Ever."

The Compromise of 1877 effectively ended northern occupation of the south and reconstruction but gave the presidency to a republican.The end of reconstruction led the way for the Jim Crow Laws in the South.

 

 

H. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)

 

John Marshall Harlan, sole dissenter in Plessy case

John Marshall Harlan, sole dissenter in Plessy case


Plessy v. Ferguson was 1896 Louisiana court case that established the legality of “separate but equal” accommodations for blacks and whites on interstate trains.

 

  • This law helped to solidify segregation. 

 

  • People in power used this court case to keep blacks out of white areas. Because their motives were racist, they did not keep facilities “equal,” whether they were railroad cars, schools, or public restrooms.

 

  • Plessy v. Ferguson would prove to be detrimental for blacks and society as a whole for more than 50 years.

 

 

Documents of the case

Plessy v. Ferguson: The Organizing History of the Case from the Zinn Education Project.

In 1954, Brown v Board of Education overturned Plessy by stating that racial segregation in public schools was illegal. 

 

 Click here to watch a video about Plessy v Ferguson Case.

 

 

I. Women's Suffrage During Reconstruction

 

  • After the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 demanded Women's Suffrage for the first time, America became distracted by the coming Civil War. The issue of the vote resurfaced during Reconstruction.

 

  • The 15th Amendment to the Constitution proposed granting the right to vote to African American males. Many female suffragists at the time were outraged. They simply could not believe that those who suffered 350 years of bondage would be enfranchised before America's women. 

 

  • Activists such as Frederick Douglass, Lucy Stone, and Henry Blackwell argued that the 1860s was the time for the black male. Linking black suffrage with female suffrage would surely accomplish neither.  

 

  • Susan B Anthony, Elizabeth Lady Stanton and Sojourner Truth disagreed. They would accept nothing less than immediate federal action supporting the vote for women. 

 

  • Stone and Blackwell formed the American Women Suffrage Association and believed that pressuring state governments was the most effective route.

 

  • Anthony and Stanton formed the National Women Suffrage Association and pressed for a constitutional amendment.

 

  • The split occurred on 1869 and weakened the suffrage movement for the next two decades. 

 

 

 

Additional Information on Reconstruction and Women's Suffrage

Women's Rights and Reconstruction (Journal of the Civil War Era)

Essay on Reconstruction and the Battle for Women's Rights (The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History)

Interactive Guideline of the Women's Suffrage Movement (National Women's History Museum)

Biography of Elizabeth Cady Stanton (National Women's History Museum)

Biography of Susan B. Anthony (National Women's History Museum)

 


 

Links:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.table.html#amendments (Amendments)
http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0163_0537_ZS.html
(Plessy)
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/impeach/imp_account2.html (impeachment)
http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/122/recon/code.html
(Black Codes)
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/segregation.html
Reconstruction
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/reconstruction/tguide/index.html
Teacher’s guide for the PBS show American Experience: Reconstruction
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/grant/peopleevents/e_klan.html
details the rise of the KKK
http://ap.grolier.com/article?assetid=0196460-00&templatename=/article/article.html
describes the Hayes-Tilden election
http://nationalatlas.gov/printable/elections.html#list
printable presidential election maps 1789-2000

Sources:


United States Constitution. Retrieved April 16, 2007, from Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute Web site: http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.table.html#amendments

Norton, et al, Mary Beth (1994). A People and a Nation. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.

Supreme Court Collection. Retrieved April 16, 2007, from Cornell Law School Legal Information Web site:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0163_0537_ZS.html

Zimmerman, Thomas (1997). Plessy v. Ferguson. Retrieved April 16, 2007, from Bowling Green State University Web site: http://www.bgsu.edu/departments/acs/1890s/plessy/plessy.html

Gunderson, Joan R. and Smelser, Marshall (1994). American History at a Glance. New York: Harper Perennial.

Linder, Douglas O. (1999). The Impeachment Trial of Andrew Johnson Impeachment. Retrieved April 19, 2007, from University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law Web site: http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/impeach/imp_account2.html

Picture of President Johnson from http://www.americanpresidents.org/classroom/overview.asp
Also includes lesson plan for unit on President Johnson

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