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P5: Reconstruction
Index
5.10 | Reconstruction &
5.11 | Failure of Reconstruction
Reconstruction (1863-1877)
1. Reconstruction was characterized by its efforts to amend the Union &
integrate southern states back to political participation with the union;
integrate 4 million emancipated slaves into society and guarantee rights to
former slaves; and redefine the relationship between white and African
Americans
2. The South, who had raged a war over keeping their way of life, was now
forced to face a new economic & political ideal
3. Let’s see what happens!
4. There are three phases of reconstruction
Wartime Reconstruction (1863-1865)
1. This period of reconstruction occurred during the Civil War
The Ten-Percent & Wade-Davis Bill
1. December 8, 1863: A year after signing the Emancipation Proclamation,
Lincoln proposed the 10% plan (or the Proclamation of Amnesty and
Reconstruction)
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a. The plan stated that once 10% of the confederate voter population took an
oath, then their respective confederate states could begin the process of
readmission to the Union & set up new state governments. The plan also
included a full pardon & restoration of property except slaves.
b. The oath required that the states recognize the permanent freedom of
slaves, the new state governments be Republican, and that the states
provide and education for freed Black Americans.
c. The goal of this plan wasn’t so much as to reconstruct the south as to
hasten an end to the war & raise white support for emancipation (war time
measure). The plan was controversial and generally not well liked even by
abolitionists
2. Congress was not particularly fond of this plan either, thinking it to be too
lenient on the South. Instead, they passed the Wade-Davis Bill in July 2, 1864.
a. The bill required that 50% of white males in confederate states swear a
loyalty oath to the constitution and the union before they could make new
state legislatures.
b. In addition, the bill called for the gov to grant voting rights to African
Americans and that anyone who has fought against the Union be denied
the right to vote
c. Lincoln ended up pocket-vetoing the bill (not signing it for 10+ days),
stating that he wasn’t ready to be “inflexibly committed to any single plan
of restoration.” In the end, the bill was never implemented.
Freedmen’s Bureau & Field Order No. 15
1. Jan. 16, 1865: General Sherman issued the field order which redistributed
400k acres of confiscated land to freed Black families
a. Remember that Sherman’s March was between Nov-Dec in 1864
2. The Freedmen’s Bureau (established March 1865) was akin to Sherman’s act
by redistributing confiscated land from southern whites, giving African
Americans and southern unionists legal title for 40-acre plots (“40 acres and a
mule”)
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a. The Bureau would last for years, accumulating 900 agents across 11
southern states, not only distributing land but providing clothing and food
to freedmen, protecting schools & Black citizens from the KKK (founded
1865)
b. For more on the history of the KKK: https://www.history.com/topics/19th-
century/ku-klux-klan
c. They basically spread violence throughout the country, threatening
republicans and black voters and trying to convince black voters that it
was unhealthy for them to participate in politics
3. The distributed land would ultimately be returned by President Andrew
Johnson
Lincoln’s Assassination
1. The period of presidential reconstruction is considered to start with the end of
the Civil War (April 9, 1865) and subsequent assassination of President
Lincoln five days later, on April 14, 1865.
2. With Lincoln’s death, Vice President Andrew Johnson became president and
continued the efforts of reconstruction
Presidential Reconstruction (1865-1867)
Andrew Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan
1. Johnson’s reconstruction plans were characterized by its leniency and
amnesties (pardons)
2. Firstly, he based his plan on Lincoln’s previous 10% plan, calling loyalty from
10% of men who had voted in the 1860 election. In addition, confederate
states had to recognize the 13th amendment & pay off their war debt before
they could re-write state constitutions & participate in union politics again
a. Those who wanted to be pardoned needed to apply directly to President
Johnson himself, and Johnson would issue over 13k pardons throughout
the course of his administration
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b. He would also issue many amnesty proclamations which gave sweeping
pardons to former confederates
3. As a whole, Johnson did not think reconstruction was very necessary
The 13th Amendment is Ratified (Dec. 6, 1865)
1. See previous section
Congressional/Military Reconstruction
(1867-1877)
Rise of Radical Republicans in Congress
1. In 1866, during the congressional midterms, Radical Reps would secure more
than half the seats in the House, giving them the power to overrule any
presidential veto
a. This was because all ex-confederate states still had no say in these
federal elections
b. They could then pass the civil rights & military reconstruction acts in 1867,
despite Johnson’s vetos (I swear wtf is this man doing atp 😭 bro thinks
he’s on the team)
i. The power to override is huge, allowing congress to basically take
control over reconstruction themselves
The Civil Rights Act of 1866
1. Passed by Congress in February, it declared that all Black Americans were
citizens, and could not have their rights to property restricted
The Military Reconstruction Act of 1867
1. This act outlined the terms of federal representatives in congress from ex-
confederate states.
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2. Any southern state who wanted to seek recognition in congress needed to 1)
recognize the 13th and 14th amendment, 2) write a new constitution that was
approved of by the majority of voters and 3) meet criteria related to protecting
the rights of African Americans and their property
3. In addition, all Southern states were separated into 5 military districts, each
overseen by a past Union military general
4. Congress then started adding supplementary reconstruction acts which let
military commanders begin the enrolment of voters
a. Martial law was declared in the southern states, and activists + army
officers spread across the south, registering freedmen to vote
b. This preceded the 14th & 15th amendments, thus signifying they needed a
stronger measure to im-lament these features
The 14th & 15th Amendments
1. July 9, 1868: The 14th amendment is ratified, overturning Dred Scott v.
Sanford by making anyone who was born in the U.S. a U.S. citizen and
granting them equal protection under the law
a. The amendment came partly due to the Massacre in Memphis & New
Orleans; they needed to fortify the civil rights act more
2. Feb. 3, 1870: The 15th amendment is ratified, prohibiting states from excluding
voters on account of race, colour, or previous condition of servitude.
a. This amendment included a possibility to implement voter qualifications
which is what gave ex-confederate states the opportunity to exploit the
system by implementing literacy tests, poll taxes, and grandpa clauses
Rise of Black Legislators
1. Feb. 23, 1870: Hiram Revels of Mississippi becomes the first black senator,
serving two terms
2. Throughout reconstruction, 16 African Americans had served in congress, and
over 600 had served in state legislators
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3. However, most of them would only see one or two terms
a. Blanche K. Bruce from Mississippi would be the first African American to
serve a full term in the Senate, in 1875
The Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871 & Civil Rights Act of 1875
1. April 20, 1871: The KKK Act is implemented as part of three force acts,
allowing President Grant to use federal troops to make hundreds of Klansmen
arrests in S. Carolina. The act was controversial, even among Republicans,
though it worked to significantly decrease clan violence
a. The act made conspiring to deprive citizens the right to hold office/serve
on juries and enjoy equal protection of the law a federal offense
b. In the past, it was hard to arrest clan men since no one wanted to testify
against them
2. March 1, 1875: The Civil Rights Act of 1875, if passed, would guarantee
African Americans equal treatment in public transportation, public
accommodations and jury service. The act was never passed since it was
overturned by the Supreme Court in 1883, stating that the legislation was
unconstitutional, since the constitution did not extend to private businesses,
and thus unauthorized by the 13th & 14th amendments
Black Codes, Jim Crow Laws, & the Rise of
Democrat Majority in Congress
Black Codes (1865-1866)
1. The black codes were largely dismissed after the civil rights act of 1867 &
congress’ efforts to allow black men to vote
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/black-codes
Rise of Dem Majority
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1. The South would see a regain of Democratic control by 1876, as support for
Reconstruction waned, but most importantly, because southern whites could
vote again. These so-called “redeemer” governments would dominate
southern politics from 1870–1910, allowing Jim Crow Laws to be passed
2. Up until this point, Republicans had been in the White House since 1861
Jim Crow Laws (after reconstruction)
1. Mostly in confederate or cities with high population of black citizens
https://www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/jim-crow-laws
The Compromise of 1877 (End of
Reconstruction)
1. Was an informal agreement between Southern Democrats and allies of
Republican presidential nominee Republican Rutherford Hayes. It had
occurred in Congress between 15 electoral commissions in January of 1877,
over voting disputes and claims of fraud in Florida, S. Carolina & Louisiana.
Basically both candidates claimed that they won which is an issue
a. Democrats agreed to let Hayes win & respect the Civil + political rights of
African Americans if Republicans withdrew all federal troops from the
South—consolidating full Democratic control over the region again
b. At this point only Florida, Louisiana and S. Carolina still had
reconstruction-era Republican governments in power
c. After the compromise, all three states became Democratic again, bringing
an end to Reconstruction
2. There was violence throughout the election
3. At the end, Democrats did not keep their promise on protecting the civil and
political rights of Black citizens, and with Republican govs gone, there were no
longer any federal interference in southern affairs to prevent
disenfranchisement of Black voters
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a. “From the late 1870s onward, southern legislatures passed a series of
laws requiring the separation of whites from ‘persons of color’ on public
transportation, in schools, parks, restaurants, theaters and other
locations. Known as the ‘Jim Crow laws’ (after a popular minstrel act
developed in the antebellum years), these segregationist statutes
governed life in the South through the middle of the next century, ending
only after the hard-won successes of the civil rights movement in the
1960s.”
Summary of Achievements & Failures
Achievements
1. 14th & 15 amendments passed
2. New state constitutions recognizing the new amendments
3. Multiple African Americans being elected office
4. Freedmen’s Beauresu
Failures
1. Rise of the sharecropping system—that kept black citizens in debt and
generational poverty due to high interest rates, as well as bad living conditions
& becoming a big source of economic income for the south
2. The rise of the KKK
3. Democrats dominating again in the end
4. Black Codes & Jim Crow Laws that worked to block and reverse change
Some terms I didn’t mention:
1. Scalawags, white southerners who supported radical reconstruction (AKA
southern republicans)
2. Carpetbaggers, northerners who took advantage of the southern economical
crisis & moved to military districts to advance the radical cause
3. The Pacific Railway Act, allowing the building of The transcontinental railroad
4. The Homestead Act, encouraging people to settle west
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5. The Morrill Act, giving states land grants to establish agricultural universities
A Brief History of Lincoln: Post-Civil War
1. Well, I hate to spoil, but now that we know how his life ultimately ended, let’s
revisit the ending chapters of his life after the Civil War ended.
a. And after so much discouragement from the previous topics, let’s try and
end on a positive note
5/9 Update: ain’t no way I was about to write another section on Lincoln after
already writing all this was I ok
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