Week 8. Reconstruction

Quiz words
Reconstruction
Freedmen's Bureau
Black Codes
Radical Republicans
Thirteenth Amendment
Fourteenth Amendment
Fifteenth Amendment
Congressional Reconstruction Laws
Ku Klux Klan

Reconstruction
Social, economic, and political restructuring of Southern States after the Civil War
Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson (president after Lincoln was assasinated in April 1865) did not want radical restructuring of Southern society
Radical Republicans wanted radical restructuring

Black Codes
anti-freedmen laws enacted in Southern states right after the Civil War
varied from state to state
in some ways similar to slavery
recognized black (but not interracial) marriages
blacks could own property
blacks could testify, sue, and be sued in courts
in Mississippi blacks could not own farm lands, in South Carolina city lots
blacks were required to enter into annual labor contracts
vagrant blacks were forced to work

The Freedmen's Bureau
March 1865 Congress set up the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands
took over confiscated land
negotiated labor contracts, provided medical care, set up schools
provided only temporary relief
1865 a proposal to give slaves 40-acre homesteads from the land confiscated from Confederate planters in 1962
instead confiscated lands were rented to freedmen because confiscation was effective only for the lifetime of the rebel owner
as a result, there were rumors that freedmen would get "40 acres and a mule"

Radical Republicans
Representatives in House and Congress and leaders of Republican Southern governments who wanted full citizenship for blacks
Union Leagues formed in the South to support Radical Republican policies
freedmen participated in restructuring of the South: formed churches and schools, participated in state legislatures, and voted in large numbers
Radical Republicans were called carpetbaggers (if from the North) and scalawags (if from the South)
enacted important reforms: made more state offices elective, established schools, rebuilt public roads
but were corrupt, raised taxes and debt

Political Developments
1863 Lincoln issued Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction--every state could form a Union government where 10 percent of 1860 voters took an oath of allegiance to the Union and received a presidential pardon (high officials excluded)--but Congress refused to recognize such governments
1864 Radical Republicans passed Wade-Davis Bill where a majority of white male citizens was required to take the oath--but Lincoln did not sign it
Johnson had conventions to form Union governments, but omitted Lincoln's 10 percent requirement, gave pardons to over 13,000 rich planters and high officials
conventions ratified the Thirteenth Amendment (abolishing slavery) and invalidated secession ordinances
but did not give voting rights to freedmen
1865 Congress excluded Southern members who were former confederates
set up a Joint Committee on Reconstruction (9 House members, 6 Senators)
Congress argued that Southern states forfeited their civil and political rights
1866 Johnson vetoed a bill to extend the life of Freedment's Bureau
March 1866 Congress overrode Johnson's veto and passed the Civil Rights Act granting full citizenship to native-born blacks
July 1866 Congress overrode Johnson's veto to enact a revised Freedmen's Bureau Bill

Fourteenth Amendment
1866 Congress passes the Fourteenth Amendment, ratified by the states in 1868
state and federal citizenship for all persons regardless of race born or naturalized in the U.S.
forbade any state to abridge the rights of citizens
forbade to deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law
forbade to deny any person the equal protection of the laws
this amendment was used to protect corporations as "persons" from the states
inspired race riots in Southern states

Congressional Reconstruction laws
1867 Congress overrode Johnson's veto and passed basic laws of congressional Reconstruction
the Command of the Army Act - all orders from the president as Commander-in-Chief go through the general of the army Grant
the Tenure of Office Act - Senate has to consent for the president to remove any official confirmed by Senate
the Military Reconstruction Act - new Southern governments have to accept black suffrage and ratify the Fourteenth Amendment
universal male suffrage
1868 Congress declared that the Supreme Court cannot review cases arising from the Military Reconstruction Act
Supreme Court acknowledged the right of Congress to reframe State governments
February 1868 Radical Republicans tried to impleach Johnson for violating the Tenure of Office Act (removed Secretary of War Edwin Stanton from office)
June 1868 Congress readmitted all states but Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas but then rescinded Georgia's admissions for expelling black members from the state legislature
these states joined in 1870
1870 the Fifteenth Amendment ratified - forbade to deny any citizen the right to vote on grounds of race, color, or previous condition of servitude

Conservative reaction
1866 Klu Klux Klan organized in Tennessee, killed black and Republican leaders
Enforcement Acts 1870-1871 protected black voters, outlawed KKK
by the end of 1876 Republican governments were no longer in power in any Southern state
new Southern Governments began to erode black civil rights