Notes on Reconstruction

  1. Devastation in the South
  2. Physical Destruction: Widespread in the South where most of the fighting had taken place.
  3. Sherman’s March to the Sea
  4. Scorched earth policy (practiced by both sides)
  5. Richmond, Petersburg and Charleston destroyed
  6. Guerilla (localized) warfare devastated border states
  1. South’s economy mostly in ruins
  2. Crops, livestock and structures of planters and small farmers were heavily damaged and destroyed.
  3. Small industrial structure largely inoperative
  4. Confederate money worthless
  5. Loss of market for cash crops
  6. Emancipation – end of the “free” labor supply
  7. Capital in short supply
  1. Society
  2. 250K Confederate soldiers were dead
  3. Black and white refugees owned the land
  4. Plantationaristocrats loss of power
  5. Fears of former slaves “fighting back”
  1. Confederate Governments: National, state and local govt. gone
  2. Jefferson Davis and a few others served brief prison terms
  3. Confederate politicians tried to return to public life
  4. No “war crime” trials except for Henry Wirz (of Andersonville Prison in Georgia)
  1. Rehearsals for Reconstruction (Policies for dealing with the South during war)
  2. Border States and Occupied Areas (first areas for Reconstruction)
  3. Mountainous Western counties in Virginia, rejected succession in 1861 and were admitted as a separate state (West Virginia, 1863)
  4. Lincoln appointed military governors in areas of Louisiana, Arkansas and western Tennessee occupied by Union troops.
  5. During the war, some union officers used runaway slaves as “contraband of war”
  6. Gen. John Fremont proclaimed emancipation of slaves held by rebel masters in Missouri, Lincoln had the order retracted.
  7. Confiscation Act of 1862: Gave the president authority to use seized rebel property for the Union war effort, including slaves held by Confederate soldiers. The act also provided for amnesty (pardon) under certain conditions
  8. Occupied New Orleans: General Benjamin Butler administered a loyalty oath and held elections that sent two representatives to Congress. Louisiana’s 1864 constitution abolished slavery, but Lincoln’s suggestion for limited black suffrage was resisted.
  9. The Freedmen’s Bureau: Was set up by Congress in March 1865 to provide for the immediate needs of refugees and freedmen.
  10. Confiscated and abandoned lands could be rented and sold to freedmen. False rumors that “forty acres and a mule” would be distributed as an outright gift.
  11. Under General Howard, (considered a friend to the blacks) labor contract agreements were formulated
  12. The bureau established hospitals and schools and provided courts to settle legal disputes involving disputes between free blacks.
  1. Lincoln and Congress Plans: Executive and Legislative branches disagreed on views of how the seceded states should be constitutional restored to the Union (not specified in the Constitution)
  2. Conflict between Lincoln and Congress
  3. Constitution mentions neither the right of secession nor the provisions for readmission
  4. To Lincoln – the eleven rebellious states had never legally left the Union, making rapid restoration possible under presidential administration
  5. Radicals argued that Congress should administer the seceded states as conquered territories
  6. In Texas v. White (1869) the Supreme Court described the Union as constitutionally “indestructible”
  7. Lincoln’s 10% Plan: Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (Dec 8, 1963) was issued under the presidential pardoning power.
  8. When 10% of those who had voted in 1860 took an oath of loyalty, a state government could be organized.
  9. Top confederate officials would be excluded from the pardon, but some well-qualified blacks would be allowed to vote
  10. LoyalState governments: Organized in Louisiana and Arkansas (Spring 1964) and in Tennessee (Feb 1865). However, Congress refused to reorganize their electoral votes or seat their representatives after the 1864 election.
  11. Congressional Reconstruction: Proposed in the Wade-Davis Bill (July 1864)
  12. A majority (50%) of white male citizens would have to swear they had never been disloyal
  13. A state constitutional convention would be required to abolish slavery and repudiate secession
  14. The bill was pocket vetoed by Lincoln.

(A Pocket Veto is when the President fails to sign a bill within the 10 days allowed by the Constitution. Congress must be in adjournment in order for a pocket veto to take effect. If Congress is in session and the president fails to sign the bill, but does not veto it outright it becomes law without his signature.)

  1. Wade-Davis Manifesto (August 1864): Declared the authority of Congress to be paramount and advised the president to “confine himself to his executive duties and leave political reorganization to Congress.” Congress and the president were stalemated at the time of Appomattox and the Lincoln assassination.
  1. Johnson and Congress: Clashing views on Reconstruction between the president and a radical Congress led to a constitutional and political crisis
  2. Andrew Johnson: Became president after Lincoln’s assassination
  3. Born in poverty, becoming literate as adult, Johnson hated Southern plantation aristocrats
  4. A War Democrat, he remained in the Senate when his state (Tennessee) seceded
  5. He was appointed military governor when Union armies occupied most of the state
  6. Radicals at first believed that he was their ally.
  1. Johnson’s Plan: Similar to Lincoln’s, it provided for rapid restoration of the Southern States
  2. With Congress in recess Johnson issued two proclamations in May 1865:
  3. A new Amnesty Proclamation with longer lists of exclusions, particularly large property holders (then Johnson issued several pardons)
  4. Provisions for steps to return states to the Union eliminated Lincoln’s 10% provision but required ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment and repudiation of secession and of Confederate debts.
  5. In December Congress reconvened and denied seats to Southern representatives (including former Confederate leaders)
  6. Without distribution of land, without political or education guarantees, Southern blacks were now burdened with restrictive Black Codes
  7. Radical Republicans: Angered by southern resistance, they became more militant
  8. A joint committee of Reconstruction was dominated by Thaddeus Stevens (Pennsylvania), Charles Sumner (Massachusetts) and Ben Wade (Ohio)
  9. Humanitarian concerns (to assure the rights of freed former slaves) were mixed with partisan political motives (to delay the return of Democrats and to cement Republican party control)
  10. Wanted to keep blacks in the South – keep enough freedom so that they won’t move North
  11. Also wanted to keep a solid Republican base in the South – black vote
  12. In 1866 Johnson vetoed renewal of the Freedman’s Bureau
  13. The next month a civil rights bill was passed over his veto (first time major legislation passed over a presidential veto)
  14. Fourteenth Amendment: Was approved by Conges in June of 1866
  15. Freedmen citizen’s privileges and immunities were protected
  16. “Due Process of Law” and “equal protection of the law” were guaranteed (But not to women explicitly)
  17. Johnson spoke against the amendment, as did the Southern states (Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia)
  18. Although the Courts later used the Amendment to protect corporations, it became the basis for most modern civil rights cases.
  19. The Amendment was later used to apply most of the Bill of Rights to the States.
  20. 1866 Congressional election: Johnson’s “swing around the circle” appeal to the public failed. The Radicals (Waved the Bloody shirt – blamed Democrats for the war) gained over two-thirds majority in Congress.

F. Congressional Reconstruction Acts: (March 1867): Passed over Johnson vetoes

  1. Military Reconstruction Act: a moderate compromise, required acceptance of the Fourteenth Amendment and black suffrage (15th)by the South
  2. Ten states were divided into five military districts (Governor = Union General)
  3. Statehood could result from a constitutional approved by adult males (black and white)
  4. Command of the Army Act: limited the president’s military authority
  5. Tenure of Office Act: required Senate approval for the removal of presidential appointees.
  6. The Supreme Court’s power to review Reconstruction policy was also restricted by Congressional action

G. Impeachment of Johnson: Based on his violation of the Tenure of Office Act when he tried to remove Secretary of War Stanton (replaced with Grant, who resigned). This was clearly a political move on the part of the Radicals.

1. The House of Representatives voted impeachment charges (Feb 1868)

2. After a three month trial in the Senate (Johnson was not present), the vote for conviction and removal from office fell one vote short of the necessary two-thirds

3. Johnson served out his last few months, with Radical Republicans in control.

  1. Radical Reconstruction and the White Resistance
  2. Southern States: New constitutions were written by conventions (under military supervision). After ratifying the FourteenthAmendment, all but three Confederate states were admitted in 1868. (Virginia, Mississippi and Texas)
  3. Universal Manhood suffrage(15th), legislative reapportionment, and civil rights protections for blacks were included
  4. Public (segregated) schools and social services were established
  5. Criminal codes were reformed; rights of women were extended
  6. Economic recovery programs were initiated
  7. NO provision made for land confiscation or distribution.
  1. Republican Coalition: Secured political power in the South
  2. Carpetbaggers were Northerners who moved South After the war. Some veterans sought economic opportunity. Others were idealistic teachers or missionaries.
  3. Scalawags (Southern white Republicans often in mountainous, union areas) were also reviled by Conservative Democrats.
  4. Union Leagues and the Freedman’s Bureau also supported the coalition
  5. Blacks never held political office equal to their proportion of the population
  6. Two black US Senators (from Mississippi) and 14 Black members of the House of Representatives were elected, but no governors
  7. Some served in all Southern state legislatures
  8. Despite inexperience and limited education, many blacks made significant political contributions.
  9. Republican governments were criticized for lavish spending, higher taxes and debt and political corruption, but this was a national phenomenon at the time
  10. White Resistance: was accompanied by a reemergence of racism (north and south)
  11. The Ku Klux Klan (organized in Tennessee in late 1865 by Nathan Bedford Forrest as a paramilitary organization) intimidated and terrorized blacks and white Republicans throughout the South
  12. Other groups (Knights of the White Camellia, South Carolina Red Shirts) also resorted to whippings and murder
  13. The white social hierarchy was gradually returned to power.
  14. Three Enforcement Acts: Passed by Congress in 1870 – 1871, sought to protect freedmen’s right to vote, supervise elections, and outlaw Klan activities. By late 1871, the KKK had been crushed by vigorous federal action.
  15. Civil Rights Act of 1875: Sought to assure equal accommodations in public places and black participation on juries.
  16. No means of enforcement were provided
  17. Key portions were declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1883, when it ruled that discrimination by private individuals was not illegal.
  18. Radical Reconstruction: Continued to fade
  19. All but three Southern Republican governments were “redeemed” by Conservative Democrats by 1876.
  20. The North tired of the “southern problem” and Republican stalwarts turned to other issues
  21. The most vigorous Radical leaders such as Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner had died.
  22. For generations, the “Solid South” would be dominated by Democrats.
  23. 1873 += 1875 = Majority democrats elected in Texas, Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi