Reconstruction

1863 - ?

Lincoln’s “Reconstruction,” Johnson’s “Restoration,” and the Radical Republicans’ vision for the South revolved around how the newly strengthened national government would define its relationship with the defeated Confederate states and the millions of newly freed slaves.

  1. The Defeated South
  2. Material & psychological wounds
  3. Much of best agricultural land was destroyed
  4. Many cities were in ruins
  5. Richmond, Atlanta, Columbia S.C.
  6. Retreating Confederates destroyed most southern cotton
  7. To prevent its capture
  8. White notions of race, class, and “honor” died hard (what’s wrong with this statement?)
  9. Emancipation was hardest pill to take for most
  10. Especially hard for planter elite
  11. Many responded by seeing Af. Amer. more than ever as inferior.
  12. White skin had given even poorest whites superiority over someone else, but this was now threatened.

Question: From which class might one find the most blatant and outspoken racism?

  1. Most thought Af. Amer. were too lazy to take care of themselves without strict guidance.
  2. Racial order became consuming passion of most white southerners during Reconstruction.
  1. Lincoln’s Plan
  2. His main goal
  3. Bringing seceded states back to Union as quickly as possible
  4. Determined to respect private property, except slaves.
  5. Opposed harsh punishments for rebellion.
  6. Designed more to shorten the war & gain white support than as a reconstruction plan.
  7. Federal pardons
  8. For individuals
  9. Had to swear an oath of allegiance to U.S. & its laws
  10. Military & civil leaders were excluded from this.
  1. For states
  2. Ten Percent Plan = when 10% of voters took oath of allegiance, Lincoln would recognize state govt.
  3. Had to accept abolition of slavery.
  1. Radical Republican response
  2. Angered radicals who advocated equal rights & strong stand against white South.
  3. Wade-Davis bill
  4. Would require 50% of white male citizens to take loyalty oath before govt. could be formed & rewrite state constitution.
  5. Also required equal rights (except suffrage) for former slaves.
  6. Lincoln refused to sign the bill
  7. Radical Reps. Wanted fundamental transformation of southern society.
  8. Redistribution of southern land
  9. General Sherman
  10. Set aside Seal Islands off Georgia coast and portion of S. Carolina for exclusive settlement of freed people.
  11. Wanted to relieve demands on his army of the Af. Amer. who followed his march.
  12. Republican conflicts prevented systematic land distribution program
  13. Freedmen’s Bureau
  14. Provided food, clothing, & fuel to poor former slaves
  15. Supervised all abandoned land in South
  16. Thirteenth Amendment
  17. Outlawed slavery or involuntary servitude, except for crime
  18. Andrew Johnson takes over
  19. Personality, political background, & racist leanings put him at odds with Republican-controlled Congress.
  1. President Johnson & “Restoration”
  2. Only southern member of U.S. Senate to remain loyal to Union
  3. At first, Johnson seemed to agree with Radical Reps.
  4. Support quickly faded with his new policies.
  5. Motivation behind his policies
  6. Held southern planter elite responsible for the war
  7. Blamed individual Southerners, not entire states
  8. His “Restoration” Plan
  9. Outlined mild terms for reentry into Union
  10. Excluded major Confed. Officials & wealthy elite
  11. Pardoned people liberally
  12. Granted around a hundred a day.
  13. Pardoned 90% of those who applied.
  14. Firmly committed to white supremacy
  15. Opposed political rights for freedmen.
  16. “I know that damned (Frederick) Douglass; he’s just like any nigger, and he would sooner cut a white man’s throat than not.”
  17. Johnson was determined to fully control Reconstruction
  18. The Radical Republican Vision
  19. Their vision
  20. Equal political rights & economic opportunity
  21. Powerful national government
  22. Necessary for enforcing civil rights & suffrage
  23. South would only progress with free labor, universal education, & equal rights.
  24. Their obstacles
  25. Black Codes
  26. Passed by most southern states during Reconstruction
  27. Designed to keep Af. Amer. as close to slavery as possible

-i.e. Vagrancy was punishable by involuntary labor

  1. Republican response

-Refused admission of southern senators to Congress

-Established Joint Committee on Reconstruction

-Passed Civil Rights bill = gave full citizenship to Af. Amer., overturned Dred Scott & black codes.

-Gave Freedmen’s Bureau power to prosecute those enforcing black codes.

  1. President Johnson
  2. Vetoed Republican bills

-Denounced use of national power to protect Af. Amer. civil rights.

-Argued Congress had no authority over unrepresented southern states.

-Congress overrode his vetoes

  1. Fourteenth Amendment

-Outlawed violation of citizens’ rights by states

  1. Rep. Began campaign strategy of “Waving the bloody shirt”
  2. Reminded people of all those who died during the war

Question: What are contemporary examples of this strategy?