Disagreement over severity
Lincoln
Mild
Forgive the south
Radical Republicans in Congress
Radical
Punish the south
Andrew Johnson became president
1865-after Lincoln was shot
Continued Lincoln's policy of mild reconstruction
States could be readmitted to Union if:
Declare secession illegal
Swear allegiance to the Union
Promise not to pay Confederate debts
Ratify Thirteenth Amendment
Abolished slavery
All southern states except Texas accepted Johnson's terms
Thirteenth Amendment ratified
Many former southern Congressmen took their old seats
Johnson gave them all pardons
Radical Republicans were outraged
Johnson vetoed two bills passed by Congress in 1866
Enlargement of the Freedmen's Bureau
Gave food and clothing to former slaves and needy whites
Civil Rights Bill of 1866
Gave blacks citizenship and forbade states from passing discriminatory
laws
Southern states passed Black Codes
Laws aimed at regulating the economic and social lives of freed slaves
Varied from state to state
Generally blacks could legally marry, own property, sue in court, and go
to school
They could not serve on juries, carry weapons, testify against whites,
marry whites, be out past a curfew, travel without a permit, or start their
own business
Congress refused to recognize state governments set up under Johnson's
agreement
Moderates sided with Radicals to override Johnson's veto of Freedmen's
Bureau
Congress passed the Fourteenth Amendment
Johnson urged southern states to reject it
All but Tennessee did
Most Northerners would have been satisfied with this
1866 Congressional elections
Referendum on mild or radical reconstruction
Radical Republicans gained a 2/3 majority
Led by Thaddeus Stevens
First Reconstruction Act passed in 1867
Divided all southern states except Tenn. into five military districts
Civilian courts replaced by military tribunals
Each district placed under the control of a military officer who oversaw
the drafting of new state constitutions
Each state had to give blacks the right to vote
Each state had to ratify the 14th Amendment
Vetoed by Johnson
Overridden by Congress
Johnson was impeached
Tenure of office Act
Removal of cabinet officers
2/3 vote in Senate
Johnson fired Secretary of War Edwin Stanton
"Intemperate language" and having brought "disgrace,
ridicule, contempt, and reproach" on Congress
Survived by one vote in the Senate
Fourteenth Amendment ratified
1868
Definition of a citizen
Born in the U.S.
Rights of citizens
Privileges and immunities
Life, liberty, and property
Due process
Equal protection
Ban on Confederates holding office
Cancellation of Confederate debts
Election of 1868
Democrat-N.Y. Governor Horatio Seymour
Republican-Ulysses S. Grant
Grant won
Black vote very important
Fifteenth Amendment ratified in 1870
Prohibited discrimination in voting
Effects of Reconstruction
Sharecropping
Plantation owners needed workers but had no money
Former slaves and poor whites needed work and a place to live
Landowners divided their land and gave each worker a few acres, seed,
tools, and food
When crops were harvested the grower usually had to give 2/3 of the
yield to the landowner and kept the rest
Blacks served in government
16 elected to Congress
14 in House
2 in Senate
Hiram Revels of Miss. held Jefferson Davis’ old seat
Many elected to state legislatures
No black governors
Black voters outnumbered whites
Many whites were barred from voting or did not out of protest
Scalawags and Carpetbaggers
People who moved to the South and helped blacks vote and supported
Radical Reconstruction
Scalawags-white southerners who became Republicans
Carpetbaggers-northerners who came south
Mixed motives
Genuinely opposed slavery and seccesion
Wanted the South to industrialize and thought Republicans would be
more likely to do that
Dishonest people who thought they could profit from the situation
Formation of secret societies
Ku Klux Klan-1866
Election of 1872
Grant-Republican
Horace Greely-Democrat
Grant won
Reconstruction ended
Congress passed the Amnesty Act-1872
Returned right to vote to about 160,000 former Confederates
Freedmen's Bureau allowed to expire-1872
Federal troops withdrawn from the south-1877
Reasons for Reconstruction's demise
No efforts to help blacks achieve economic independence
White resistance
Northern indifference
Blacks achieved freedom now they should take care of themselves
Weary of seemingly endless problems in the South
Thaddeus Stevens was dead and Radicals were losing influence in the
Republican Party
Pressing for full civil rights in the South would raise embarrassing
questions about segregation in the North
Northern business interests wanted stability in the South
Republicans didn’t need the black vote anymore
Republican Party torn by scandal and corruption
Grant’s administration plagued by corruption
Depression-1873-1877
Election of 1876
Rutherford B. Hayes-Republican
Samuel Tilden-Democrat
Tilden won popular and electoral vote but did not get a majority
184-165
Electoral votes in 4 states were in dispute
One from Oregon and the rest from Fla., La., and SC
20 votes
Radicals were still in control of the 3 southern states and had thrown
out a number of Democratic ballots
Electoral commission of 8 Republicans and 7 Democrats set up to decide
election
All disputed votes were given to Hayes giving him the presidency
Democrats accepted this because a deal was made
Federal troops withdrawn from southern states
Federal money given to build a railroad from Texas to the west coast
Conservative southerner put in cabinet
White supremacy returned to the south
Literacy tests
Poll taxes
White primaries
Grandfather Clause
Jim Crow Laws
Plessy v. Ferguson
Separate but Equal
