2. Key Questions
1. How do we
bring the South
back into the
Union?
2. How do we
rebuild the
South after its
destruction
during the war?
4. What branch
of government
should control
the process of
Reconstruction?
3. How do we
integrate and
protect newlyemancipated
black freedmen?
3.
4. President Lincoln’s Plan
• In 1863, Lincoln announced a lenient Ten
Percent Plan:
• States could be re-admitted when 10% of
its population swore an oath of U.S.
loyalty
• Pardons offered for oath-takers
• Re-admitted states had to recognize the
emancipation of slaves & the 13th
amendment
• Congress rejected Lincoln’s plan:
• Radical Republicans wanted black
male suffrage added & feared that
Confederate leaders would take
charge in the South
5. Wade-Davis Bill (1864)
• Required 50% of the number of
1860 voters to take an “iron clad”
oath of allegiance (swearing they
had never voluntarily aided the
rebellion ).
Senator
Benjamin
Wade
(R-OH)
• Required a state constitutional
convention before the election of
state officials.
• Enacted specific safeguards of
freedmen’s liberties.
• But Lincoln vetoed the bill
Congressman
Henry
W. Davis
(R-MD)
6. By the end of the Civil War, the U.S. government had
no plan for Reconstruction in place
This problem was compounded in 1865 when Lincoln
was assassinated
7. th Amendment
13
• Ratified in December, 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. In
other words… slavery is outlawed
• Congress shall have power to enforce this article by
appropriate legislation.
8. The irony of Andrew Johnson:
The 1st Reconstruction president was a Southern Democrat &
fervent white supremacist
Johnson was elected as VP in 1864 to balance Lincoln’s
ticket
He was the only southern Senator to remain loyal to the
Union & hated the South’s gentry
9. “Every head of family in the
United States should have one
slave to take the drudgery and
menial service off his family”
—Andrew Johnson
10. President Johnson’s Plan (10%+)
• Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan:
• Appointed provisional state governors to lead state constitutional
conventions
• States must declare secession illegal & ratify the 13th Amendment
• Southern conventions reluctantly obeyed Johnson’s Reconstruction policy but
passed Black Codes
• “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
• Restricted the freedom to chose one’s employer
• Restricted blacks from testifying in court
• Separate penal codes
11. Black Codes
•Purpose:
o Guarantee stable labor
supply now that blacks
were emancipated.
o Restore pre-emancipation
system of race relations.
•Forced many blacks to
become sharecroppers
[tenant farmers].
12. Growing Northern Alarm!
•Many Southern state constitutions fell
short of minimum requirements.
•Johnson granted 13,500 special
pardons.
•Revival of southern defiance.
17. Congress Breaks with the President
Congress and Johnson begin a
fight over who will control
Reconstruction
• In 1866, Congress voted to extend the
Freedmen’s Bureau & passed a Civil
Rights Bill to protect against Black
Codes
• Johnson vetoed both bills, arguing
that they violated states’ rights
• Congress overrode both vetoes (for
the 1st time in U.S. history!)
18. th Amendment
14
• Congress feared Johnson would allow violations of civil
rights so it passed the 14th Amendment:
• Federal gov’t must protect the civil rights of all
Americans
• Defined the meaning of “citizenship” for Americans
• Clearly defined punishments for Southern states who
violated the civil rights of African-Americans
• Ratified July 1868
• Provides a constitutional guarantee of the rights and
security of freed people
19. In the 1866 mid-term elections, Johnson toured
the South trying to convince voters to elect
Congressmen who would reject the 14th
Amendment
The plan back-fired & Republicans won a 3-1
majority in both houses of Congress & gained
control of every northern state
20.
21. Radical Plan for Readmission
Congress, led by Thaddeus Stevens, trumped
Johnson by passing it its own Radical
Reconstruction plan in 1867:
Congress could confiscate & redistribute Southern
plantations
Allowed quick re-entry for states that supported black
suffrage
Ex-Confederates couldn’t vote
Thaddeus Stevens the most influential of the “radical”
Republicans; He opposed the Crittenden
Compromise, led the impeachment charges against
Johnson, & drafted the Radical Reconstruction plan
used from 1867 to 1877
22. But, Radical Reconstruction was so dependent on
massive & sustained federal aid that it was not
adequate to enforce equality in the South…
and Johnson obstructed Republicans’ plans by
removing sympathetic cabinet members &
generals
23. Military Reconstruction Act
Restart Reconstruction in the 10 Southern states that
refused to ratify the 14th Amendment
Divide the 10 unreconstructed states into 5 military
zones
24. Reconstruction Acts of 1867
• Tenure of Office Act
o The President could not remove
any officials [esp. Cabinet members] without the
Senate’s consent, if the position originally required
Senate approval.
Designed to protect radical members of Lincoln’s
government.
A question of the constitutionality of this law.
Edwin Stanton
25. The Impeachment Crisis
•Johnson removed Stanton in February, 1868.
•Johnson replaced generals in the field who were
more sympathetic to Radical Reconstruction.
•The House impeached him on February 24
26. The Senate Trial
• 11 week trial.
• Johnson acquitted
35 to 19 (one short of
required 2/3s vote).
30. Grant Administration Scandals
•Grant presided over an era of
unprecedented
growth and
corruption.
• Credit Mobilier
Scandal.
• Whiskey Ring.
• The “Indian
Ring.”
31. The Tweed Ring
in NYC
William Marcy Tweed (notorious head of Tammany
Hall’s political machine)
[Thomas Nast crusading cartoonist/reporter]
35. Tenancy & the Crop Lien System
Furnishing Merchant
Tenant Farmer
Landowner
• Loan tools and seed up • Plants crop, harvests in • Rents land to tenant in
to 60% interest to
tenant farmer to plant
spring crop.
• Farmer also secures
food, clothing, and
other necessities on
credit from merchant
until the harvest.
• Merchant holds “lien”
{mortgage} on part of
tenant’s future crops as
repayment of debt.
autumn.
• Turns over up to ½ of
crop to land owner as
payment of rent.
• Tenant gives remainder
of crop to merchant in
payment of debt.
exchange for ¼
to ½ of tenant farmer’s
future crop.
40. 15th Amendment
•Ratified in 1870.
•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.
•The Congress shall have power to enforce this article
by appropriate legislation.
•Women’s rights groups were furious that they were
not granted the vote!
42. The Failure of Federal Enforcement
•Enforcement Acts of 1870 & 1871 [also
known as the KKK Act].
• “The Lost Cause.”
• The rise of
the“Bourbons.”
• Redeemers (prewar
Democrats and
Union Whigs).
43. The Civil Rights Act of 1875
• Crime for any individual to deny full &
equal use of public conveyances and
public places.
• Prohibited discrimination in jury
selection.
• Shortcoming
lacked a strong
enforcement mechanism.
• No new civil rights act was attempted
for 90 years!
44.
45. Northern Support Wanes
• “Grantism” & corruption.
• Panic of 1873 [6-year
depression].
• Concern over westward
expansion and Indian wars.
• Key monetary issues:
o should the government
retire $432m worth of
“greenbacks” issued during the Civil War.
o should war bonds be paid back in specie or
greenbacks.
49. •Hayes is allowed to be President if
oPlaces Democrats on the Cabinet
oPull Troops out of the South and end
Reconstruction
oFederal money for internal projects
54. 1. How to
bring the South
back into the
Union?
3. How to
integrate &
protect newlyemancipated
black freedmen?
2. How to
rebuild the South
after its
destruction
during the war?
4. What branch
of government
should control
the process of
Reconstruction?
55. Identify & explain the different Reconstruction plans:
Lincoln’s Plan
The Wade-Davis Bill
Andrew Johnson Plan
Thaddeus Stevens & the Radical Reconstruction Plan
Rank order these plans in terms of which ones were
(or would have been) most successful
