RECONSTRUCTION

home   expectations   world history   American history  

The south having fought a defensive war sustained the most damage and loss.2/3 of its shipping capabilities and 9000 miles of railroad the north lost 364,000 men, including 38,000 African Americans the south lost 260,000 1/5 of its white male population 1/3 of the southern male population had been wounded or killed Southern problems: 4 million slaves in the work force with the job of finding new homes and food. Before the war they received these things from their owner plantation owners lost about $3 billion worth of labor force with the freeing of the slaves, some lost their farms couldn’t afford to pay their workers poor white farmers could not find work because the freed men were working now and they began moving to Mississippi and Texas

TWO RECONSTRUCTION PLANS

TOWARD THE END OF THE WAR, PRESIDENT LINCOLN DEVELOPED A PLAN TO REBUILD THE SOUTH. HIS PLAN HAD 4 POINTS

1.       PARDON TO ANY CONFEDERATE WHO WOULD TAKE AN OATH OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE UNION AND ACCEPT THE FEDERAL STANCE ON SLAVERY ISSUE

2.       DENIED PARDON TO ALL CONFEDERATE MILITARY AND GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS  AND SOUTHERN WHO HAD KILLED AFRICAN AMERICAN WAR PRISONERS

3.       IT PERMITTED EACH STATE TO HOLD A CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION ONLY AFTER 10 PERCENT OF THE VOTERS HAD GIVEN THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE UNION

4.       STATES THEN COULD HOLD ELECTIONS AND RESUME FULL PARTICIPATION IN THE UNION

LINCOLN DID NOT RECOGNIZE THE SUCCESSION OF THE SOUTHERN STATES THEREFORE THEY WERE STILL PART OF THE UNITED STATES THIS PLAN OF RECONSTRUCTION WAS CONSIDERED BY MANY TO BE TOO LENIENT AND NOT HARSH ENOUGH ON THE CONFEDERATES WHO FOUGHT TO KEEP SLAVERY

PLUS THE CONGRESS SAW LINCOLN’S PLAN AS AN ATTEMPT TO LIMIT THE POWER OF THE CONGRESS

THOSE THAT OPPOSED THE PLAN OF LINCOLNS WERE KNOWN AS THE RADICAL REPUBLICANS

The congress came up with their own plan the WADE DAVIS ACT which called for the total loyalty of confederates

With Lincoln’s assassination, Johnson became president and yet another plan of reconstruction.

Johnson was from Tennessee and his plan of reconstruction was not as severe as northerners wanted either

His pardons included giving pardons to ex-Confederate leaders who asked him personally for it

Presidential Reconstruction was the name of his plan

home   expectations   world history   American history  top of page

Four parts as well

1.       Johnson plan pardoned southerners who swore allegiance to the union

2.       it permitted each state to hold a constitutional convention (without 10perent allegiance requirement)

3.       states were required to void secession, abolish slavery, and ratify the 13^th amendment

4.       states could then hold elections and resume participation in the Union government

how did the former slaves react to this new freedom

1.       the former slaves took to the roads looking for family members and to see what freedom looked like in the northern states

2.       couples got married free to own land free to worship free to learn the freedmen’s bureau

            first major federal relief agency in American history

            the bureau established schools for slave education

            land was given to the freed men but was taken back when president Johnson ordered the land returned  

home   expectations   world history   American history  top of page

Congressional RECONSTRUCTION

            BLACK CODES  LAWS PASSED BY STATES IN THE SOUTH LIMITING THE RIGHTS OF FREEDMEN.  CURFEWS, VAGRANCY LAWS, LABOR CONTRACTS , LIMITS ON WOMEN’S RIGHTS, LAND RESTRICTIONS

CURFEWS, BLACKS COULD NOT GATHER AFTER SUNSET

VAGRANCY LAWS NOT WORKING COULD BE WHIPPED, FINED OR SOLD FOR A YEAR’S LABOR

LIMITS ON WOMEN’S RIGHTS MOTHERS WERE FORCED TO WORK IN THE FARM LABOR FORCE

LAND RESTRICTIONS, FREED MEN COULD ONLY LIVE IN RURAL AREAS

Northerners DID NOT APPROVE OF THE BLACK CODES OF THE SOUTH

AND THEY PASSED THE 14^TH AMENDMENT THAT WAS RATIFIED IN  1868 ALL SEE PAGE 386

Johnson opposed the equal civil rights of the freedmen,  gave speeches against the ratifying of the 14^th amendment

RECONSTRUCTION ACT OF 1867 WAS THE CONGRESSIONAL ATTEMPT  TO CREATE REFORM NOT REVENGE

  SIX PARTS

1.       PUT THE SOUTH UNDER MILITARY RULE DIVIDING IT INTO 5 MILITARY DISTRICTS

2.       IT ORDERED SOUTHERN STATES TO ELECT NEW DELEGATES TO CREATE NEW STATE CONSTITUTIONS

3.       IT REQUIRED STATES TO ALLOW ALL QUALIFIED MALE VOTERS, INCLUDING FREEDMEN TO VOTE IN ELECTIONS

4.       IT TEMPORARILY BARRED SOUTHERNERS WHO HAD SUPPORTED THE CONFEDERATES FROM VOTING

5.       REQUIRED ALL SOUTHERN STATES TO GUARANTEE EQUAL RIGHTS TO ALL CITIZENS

6.       REQUIRED THE STATES TO RATIFY THE 14^TH AMENDMENT  

home   expectations   world history   American history  top of page

After this there is a struggle of power between president Johnson and congress. 1868, Johnson tried to remove Secretary of War Edwin Stanton would rule over the over the military districts in the south.

The Tenure of Office Act placed limits on the President’s power to hire and fire government officials

Led by Thaddeus Stevens, the congress found that the firing of Stanton was unconstitutional, and then voted to impeach Johnson, until Clinton’s impeachment in 1999 was the only president impeached. When the vote went to the Senate, Johnson was saved by only 1 vote.

The battle was won, but Grant was elected as President in 1868

In February 1869, the 15^th Amendment to the constitution was passed. No citizen may be denied the right to vote by race, color, or previous condition of servitude. With the voting rights of freed men guaranteed, more and more African Americans were elected to serve in congress and local government.

Three major pieces of the Reconstruction Period were the 13^th, 14^th, and 15^th Amendments. 

The south was invested with people from the north who wanted to prosper in the south. Carpetbaggers were the men who rushed to the south after the war and during the reconstruction period. And these men were looking for a great opportunity to profit from the harsh conditions in the southern part of the nation. The carpetbaggers included former union soldiers, black northerners, freedmen bureau officials, businessmen, clergy, and political leaders.

Scalawags were the southern republicans who were against the former confederate ways of life

Infrastructure was the rebuilding the roads and railroads was done by reconstruction dollars in the south. Much of the money spent in the reconstruction of the south was lost due to corruption. Many businessman might bribe a key state senator to win a government contract and then spend the money on him self

Changes in the south, the new south

Workers were wanted to work the plantations.  In Virginia for railroad workers earned $1.75 and $2.00, and plantation wages were $.50 and women earned as little as $.06.

Sharecroppers working a piece of land and receiving part of the profits as payment for working the land. Although, some landowners cheated the sharecroppers and did not pay them, others would charge the sharecropper and his family for housing so that they were forced to stay and work several years in a row at a plantation.

Tenant farmers were freedmen who had rented the land and planted and harvested crops. Their status was slightly above the level of the sharecroppers

Effects on the south,

Changes in the labor force 90 percent of the cotton before the civil war was picked by slaves

In 1873, white laborers picked 40 percent

Emphasis on cash crops tobacco, sugar cane and cotton, which caused the postwar cotton production to, surpassed the pre civil war period

The cities of the south many leaders of the south suggested that the southerners rebuild with the idea of creating a south which equaled the northern states. With head s of manufacturing and other types of industry

Many cities in the south started creating manufacturing jobs to catch up with the north

How did the south raise money to finance the reconstruction?

The reconstruction congress gave money to the south

The worst cases of fraud included fraud by the railroad

A great deal of corruption led to the south being upset

END OF RECONSTRUCTION

The south started rebelling against the reconstruction actions in 1868

One of the groups protesting the reconstruction was the Klu Klux Klan a social club  in Tennessee  terrorist group of the south

They spread  terror through out the south, threatening the republicans both white and black  the major goal of the KKK was to keep African Americans in the role of submissive laborers

Anyone not sharing the kkk goals were enemies, carpet baggers, scalawags, freedmen or slaves learning to read

Federal response to the KKK was to pass a series of anti-KKK laws in 1870 and 1871

Enforcement Act of 1870 banned the use of force terror bribery or any other way to prevent people from voting because of their race

home   expectations   world history   American history  top of page