RESTORING
THE SOUTH TO THE UNION
RECONSTRUCTION
Lincoln
wanted to bring the south back into the Union.
He had begun his plan for this in 1863 with the Proclamation of Amnesty
and Reconstruction.
It
basically was compromised of 2 parts: (1)
It offered a full pardon to all southerners who would take an oath of
allegiance to the union and accept all federal laws and proclamations dealing
with slavery and (2) States could draw up new constitutions, elect new
officials, and return to the Union on a basis of full equality with all other
states when it met certain conditions.
There
were some exceptions to this plan of Lincoln’s.
Not included were:
Those
who had resigned civil and military positions in the federal
government to serve in the Confederacy |
Those
who had resigned civil and military positions in the federal
government to serve in the Confederacy |
High
ranking Confederate military leaders |
Confederates
who had mistreated African-American or White prisoners of war |
There
was a great deal of political opposition to Lincoln’s plan of
“Reconstruction”. Many
Republicans felt ex-Confederates would not be loyal to the Union or permit
African-Americans to enjoy legal and political rights.
This group of Republicans was referred to as “Radical
Republicans”.
Senator
Charles Sumner wanted to guarantee
political and legal equality for African-Americans and educate them.
Representative
Thaddeus Stevens wanted to punish
the south for the injustices and discriminations that African-American
southerners had suffered under white rule.
Also, he wanted African-Americans to have economic independence.
Although
most Republican leaders eventually lined up with Lincoln’s reconstruction
policies, most agreed that the president had gone beyond his Constitutional
powers and it was for Congress to say what rules would be used in restoring
the southern states to the Union.
Many
Republicans were worried about the return of the southern Democrats, and their
ruining of the Republican platform calling for:
A
high tariff |
National
banks |
Free
land |
Federal
aid to railroads |
In order to keep the Democrats from gaining power, the Republicans gave voting right to former slaves, and kept former Confederate leaders from voting or holding public office.
The
Wade-Davis Bill opposed
Lincoln’s plan of reconstruction. It
gave political power to southerners who had remained loyal to the Union.
Southern constitutions would provide freedom for African American
southerners. It also tried to
ensure that Confederate war debts be repudiated (not paid).
President
Lincoln never saw the south ”reconstructed”.
On April 14, 1865, he was shot and killed while attending the play Our
American Cousin with his wife at Ford’s
Theater, in Washington, DC, by John
Wilkes Booth.
Vice-president
Andrew Johnson became our 17th
president. Andrew Johnson was not
like Lincoln. He wasn’t even of
the same political party. Lincoln
had chosen him as a running mate in hopes of bringing more voters out to
support him.
Johnson
insisted on the “rightness” of his own point of view and was not patient,
tactful, or a great political leader.
One
of Johnson’s first acts as president was to offer rewards for the arrest of
the confederate President Jefferson Davis.
He also made it clear he intended to follow Lincoln’s plans for
reconstruction. But follow it is
anything but what President Johnson did.
Johnson
did not believe that reconstruction should provide civil or political equality
for both races.
By
1865, all the states making up the Confederacy were back in the Union, except Texas.
The
United States entered one of the most difficult periods in its history.
There
were still a great many problems facing the southern states:
The
southern economy was in chaos |
African
American, now free, had nowhere to go and few skills to get a job
with |
Disease
and poverty took their toll of human lives |
The
Freedman’s Bureau was
established to look after “refugees”, freed slaves, and abandoned lands.
The bureau was headed by General Oliver
Otis Howard and was the first federal attempt to give support to needy and
underprivileged people.
In
order to re-establish the southern way of life, southern states adopted laws
to regulate the conduct of freed slaves.
“Black Codes” forbid
African American southerners from owning firearms unless licensed, assembling
unless a White was present, established curfews, and set up white control over
African American labor.
Congress
also refused to admit the southern senators and representatives into the
legislature. The reasons were:
Radical Republicans believed southern leaders could not be
trusted
|
Congress
felt it was their constitutional right to establish a policy to
restore the south to the Union. |
Some
believed the southern states were “Conquered Provinces” and
should be treated as such. |
With
Johnson’s insistence on his plan, the Radical Republicans took control of
Congress.
Congress
immediately passed the Civil Rights
Act, which gave African Americans full citizenship and guaranteed them
complete equality of treatment.
President
Johnson vetoed the bill on the grounds it was unconstitutional.
It was passed over his veto.
Johnson’s
veto had two immediate results:
It cost him the support of the Radical Republicans because they
felt Johnson was making the north’s victory meaningless.
|
It
cost him the support of the moderate Republicans who believed the
slaves’ rights should be protected. |
The
Fourteenth Amendment made African
Americans citizens of the United States and the states in which they lived.
It also gave African Americans equal protection under the law.
Race
riots in the south followed and convinced many that the Radical Republicans
were correct in insisting that African Americans needed more protection.
Reconstruction
became a five-point plan:
·
The
south was divided up into 10 military districts, one for each state not
ratifying the 14th Amendment.
·
Confederate
leaders could not vote or hold office.
·
Freed
slaves were given the right to vote and hold office.
·
States
could re-write their constitutions and guarantee freed slaves the right to
vote.
·
Congress
required states to ratify the 14th Amendment.
By
1870 all Confederate states were returned to the Union, and Congress now set
out to get rid of, or impeach,
President Johnson. Their reasons
were:
The emotional hatred and tensions of the times.
|
Reconstruction
depended on strong enforcement by the President. |
Under
the Constitution the President may be impeached on the grounds of treason,
bribery, or high
crimes and misdemeanors.
The charges brought against President Johnson were questionable,
legally, but a trial proceeded anyway.
The
final vote (35 to 19) stood one
vote short of the total needed to impeach Johnson, but his presidential power
was finished.
Radicals
began to lose power because the moderates would not support them and public
opinion turned against them.
In
the election of 1868 the Republicans ran Ulysses
S. Grant (a war hero) against Horatio Seymour.
Economics (the Greenback
Issue) was the primary issue in the election, which was barely won by Grant.
The
fifteenth amendment said citizens
of the United States could not be denied the right to vote based on race,
religion, color, or condition of previous servitude.
Women were
not included in either the 14th or the 15th amendments.
The
Radical Republicans control in the south lasted almost 10
years. During this period of
time, the primary concern of the federal government was restoration of the
Union.
During
this time, the Freedmen’s Bureau was severely limited by lack of money and
opposition by both northerners and southerners.
Carpetbaggers
(northerners) were individuals who moved into the south and took positions of
authority. White southerners
disliked them.
Scalawags
(southerners) were individuals who cooperated with northern authorities.
They, too, wanted positions of authority.
Southerners hated these individuals more than the carpetbaggers.
Both
Carpetbaggers and scalawags controlled the southern state governments during
the radical reconstruction period.
Carpetbaggers
held more political power in the south after the war.
Freed
African Americans were occasionally elected into the southern “carpetbag”
governments, but few played major roles in these governments.
Among those who did were Hiram
Revels and Blanche K. Bruce,
both who represented Mississippi in the Senate.
There
was a plus side to the reconstruction governments:
·
They
began much needed public improvements such as public education. ·
They
spread the tax burden out more equitably. ·
They
started reforming local governments and judicial systems. ·
They
abolished debtor’s prisons. ·
Women’s
rights were expanded. ·
Illegal
foreclosure of houses and farms was outlawed. |
Reconstruction
government’s negative side:
·
They
were corrupt. ·
Public
debt was increased |
Regardless
of their merits, most White southerners resented the reconstruction
governments. In order to fight
back against the carpetbaggers and scalawags and politically active African
American southerners, secret societies were formed.
The
Knights of the White Camellia and
the Ku Klux Klan were secret
organizations that tried to frighten African American southerners and their
White leaders into staying out of politics.
They dressed in white “ghost-like” costumes representing the ghosts
of the confederate war-dead.
Overall,
the reconstruction to the south was not severe.
·
No
political or military leader was executed. ·
Except
for slaves, no property was seized. ·
Political
rights for all but a few confederates were restored. |
By
the middle of the 1870’s, many northerners had begun to lose interest in the
affairs of the south. Northerners
began to feel as if southern African Americans did not need supervision.
Also, there was the belief that former southern (Confederate) leaders
should be allowed to return to power.
Reconstruction
began to come to an end. By the
time Rutherford B. Hayes took
office in 1877, the military was gone from the south and reconstruction was
over.
One
major result of the Civil War was the creation of the “solid
south”. Since so many
southerners were Democrats and disliked the “Radical Republicans”, a
growing movement developed where the Democratic Party held most of the power
in the south. It is still true,
basically, today.