Chapter 22: The Ordeal of Reconstruction (1865 - 1877)

Identifications (Directions and Sample) - To write a strong identification, my best advice is to include details that cover the 5w's, and the most important part should be the significance (how, impact, relationship to other ID's, so what?, etc.). Use your book, notes and other resources to help you. Everyone should write two ID's; put your name behind yours so I identify the author. A sample is provided for you...

Cortez – a Spanish fortune seeker (conquistador) who eagerly volunteered to lead an expedition into Central America in hopes of acquiring lands and great wealth. He succeeded in defeating the Aztec Empire between 1519 and 1521 with only a few hundred men. He was greatly aided by native allies, diplomatic skills, disease, and general ruthlessness. His significance lies in his role and leadership in the Aztec conquest and in settling a pattern for future conquests and encomienda divisions of the spoils. Cortez also contributed greatly to the growing “Black Legend” of the Spanish in the New World. 

Chapter 22 Identifications:

Andrew Johnson was the 17th president of the United States. He succeeded President Abraham Lincoln after his assasination in 1865. He first came into office as Vice President for Abraham Lincoln's second term as a member of the Democrat party.  During his presidency, Johnson had the issue of Reconstruction after the Civil War to deal with. Johnson planned to follow through with Lincoln's ideas of doing a quick restoration of the South but this angered his Republican congress. Also when Johnson was president, there were two attempts to have him impeached. The first attempt was based on complaints which was not successfull. The second attempt was because he violated the Tenure of Office Act which they found him guilty and successfully impeached him. Johnson's term ended 1869.

~Amber

Thaddeus Stevens - a Republican leader (also a Radical Republican) and a powerful member of the House of Representatives. Stevens helped draft the 14^th Amendment, which gave blacks citizenship. Stevens was in favor of using military power to force the South into accepting the black freedmen as equals. When President Johnson resisted this tactic, Stevens proposed and passed the resolution for the impeachment of Johnson in 1868. Thaddeus Stevens died at midnight on August 11, 1868, in Washington D.C., less than three months after the impeachment of Johnson by the Senate.

Brent

Charles Sumner -( Katie Lichtblau)    

William Seward - William Seward was the Secratary of State under Abe Lincoln. He spoke loudly against the spread of slavey in the United Sates. On the night of Lincoln's assassination he himslef was nearly killed

Freedmen's Bureau- Formed on March 3, 1865 as a welfare agency for blacks. It was headed by Oliver O. Howard. Its greatest success was education for blacks, teaching an estimated 200,000 blacks to read. They were authorized to give former slaves land, however little land made it into the hands of black men. It was know to be corrupt for selling the land to whites. The bureau expired in 1872. - Brittany Thermos

10% Plan -  Lincoln's plan for bringing the southern states back into the union. Started in 1893, it said that a state could not be admitted back into the union until 10 percent of the people who voted in the 1860 election take an oath of allegiance and promise to abide by emancipation. After they create a state government, Lincoln would recognize the new state. Republicans in Congress were unhappy about how easy it was for states to be readmitted, so they refused to seat delegates from Louisiana, the first state recognized by the 10% plan. After Lincoln was assassinated and Andrew Johnson took office, he recognized Lincoln's “10% governments”, but he issued his own Reconstruction Proclamation that included a few more requirements before a state could be readmitted to the U.S.         ~Carolyn

Wade-Davis Bill - 

Radical Republicans - members of the Republican who existed in the Reconstruction era. Their main focus was harsher policies towards slavery and the Confederacy during the Civil War., and towards ex-Confederates after the war. They supported equal rights for the freedmen in the South, and proposed the Civil Rights Bill and the 13-15^th Amendments. Also during Reconstruction they proposed the Wade-Davis Bill. At some points (quite often) they were completely opposed to the Democratic Party. ~Cheryl

Black Codes - The Black Codes were laws passed on the state and national level to limit the civil rights of African Americans post-Civil War. Black codes are not to be confused with Jim Crowe laws, which used the "separate but equal" ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson superfluously. Both Black Codes and Jim Crowe laws were enforced primarily in the South. Under Black Codes, blacks would often have to have a written "permission slip" from their employer in order to do ordinary things in life. -- Brian Strauss

Civil War Amendments - Three amendments were added to the Constitution resulting from the Civil War. The 13th Amendment legally abolished slavery in the United States. The 14th Amendment granted citizenship to all people born in America, thus giving African Americans citizenship. The Constitution's 15th Amendment prohibits each government in the United States from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color or previous condition of servitude." -- Brian Strauss

Sharecropping was a system that was used after the Civil War in America. It was used for and helped the Southern plantation owners and the newly freed black slaves. It consisted of black freedmen working on the land of the Southern owners'. It helped the slaves by giving them a place to work and wages. This was legally fair towards the blacks but it was highly against them. It also kept blacks tied to the plantation even after their freedom, which caused them to still feel inferior to whites.

~Amber

 Civil Rights Act of 1866 (Katie Lichtblau)  

The Civil Rights Act of 1866 was a piece of United State legislation that gave more rights to freed slaves after the civil war. The republican dominated congress passed the act as a counterattack to the southern black codes. Included in the Civil Rights Act:

-right to make contracts, sue, bear witness in court and own private property

President Andrew Johnson vetoed this bill saying that blacks were not qualified for citizenship. Congress overruled this vote.

Ku Klux Klan- In Tennessee in 1866 this group of pro-slavery southerners formed. They wore white sheets over themselves and rode at night on horses to terrorize blacks. They injured and killed many blacks, along with many anti-slavery societies. The Force Acts of 1870 and 1871 outlawed the activities that groups like the Ku Klux Klan took part in, yet they continued their brutality for many years causing blacks to live in fear. -Brittany Thermos

Scalawags: A derogatory term used to define white Southern republicans who supported the Reconstruction plan. The name also came to include pacifists, Lincoln, Breckenridge, and Douglas voters in the 1860 election, and opponents of secession. Viewed by their southern comrades as traitors and worse than carpetbaggers and Yankees, scalawags joined the reconstruction cause for two reasons: most just wanted the monetary gains that reconstruction and alliances with the North could produce, while some sympathized with the Northern and freedmen’s causes. (Michelle)

Carpetbaggers: Southern term for Northerners who came to the South, motivated by profit or idealism, they came to participate in Southern politics. The name derives from the cloth bags most used to transport possessions. Supposedly, and to the aggravation of the South, these politicians took advantage of the Blacks and their new voting ability. Despite the negative connotation, carpetbaggers were generally interested in the good of the South, primarily freedmen. (Michelle)

Seward's Folly - Secretary of State William Seward bought Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million in 1867. Many Americans were unhappy with the purchase of a freezing wasteland right after the Civil War, but over the years it has provided the U.S. with oil, gold, and Sarah Palin!!!!             ~Carolyn

Tenure of Office Act - The Tenure of office act denied the President of the United States the power to remove from office anyone who had been appointed by the President by and with the approval of the United States Senate unless the Senate also approved the removal. It was passed and put into effect on March 2, 1876 and was used to impeach President Johnson. The Act was repealed in 1887 however by President Grover Cleveland (Peter Watson)

"swing around the circle" -

"forty acres and a mule" - is a term that refers to the compensation that freedmen were suppose to get after the Civil War when they were free. The blacks were suppose to be given forty acres for farm land and a mule to farm with. This was under an order from General Sherman and blacks were given land in Georgia and South Carolina until President Johnson stopped it and returned the land to the former white owners.

Brent

Chapter 22 Notes:

Post-Civil War Questions to Answer

1. How to reunite the divided country?

2. Did the Confederacy legally secede?

3. How can slaves become citizens?

4. What to do with ex-Confederate leaders?

Problems of Peace

•  South  destroyed - economic life stopped, banks and businesses locked doors, factories stopped, railroads broken, agriculture crippled
• Blacks Post-Emancipation
• Emancipation did not solve everything (not even close)
• Blacks were still largely discriminated against and were badly mistreated

Freedmen's Bureau

• Created on March 3, 1865
• Was headed by Union general Oliver O. Howard who later founded Howard University in Washington D.C.                       
• Created as sort of welfare agency which provided food, clothing, medical care, and education.
• Education was its greatest success
• It taught an estimated 200,000 blacks how to read.
• corrupt - some land was sold to whites
• They were authorized to give land to former slaves but little land made it to the blacks.
• Expired in 1872.

President Andrew Johnson (biography)

• Born to impoverished parents in North Carolina and orphaned early.
• Never attended school but was apprenticed to a tailor at age ten.
• Taught himself how to read, and later his wife taught him how to write and do simple arithmetic.
• He was favored on the North but not in the South when he didn't secede with his own state.
• Democrat.
• Champion of states' rights and the Constitution.

Reconstruction

  Reconstruction Act, March 2, 1867

• Divided South into five military zones
• To be readmitted, the states had to pass the 14th Ammendment
• The admitted states also had to guarantee adult male slaves the right to vote.
• In 1863, Lincoln proposed his "10%" plan.
• He said that the states hadn't legally withdrawn from the Union so they could be reinstated when 10 percent of its voters had taken an oath of allegiance to the U.S. and pledged to abide by emancipation.

    Wade Davis Bill 1864

•  50% of voters in the rebellious state had to vote allegiance to the U.S.
• stronger safeguards for the emancipation proclomation
• vetoed by Lincoln

    Reconstruction Proclamation

Black Codes

• These were laws designed mostly by southerners in their effort to keep as much power for themselves as possible and give the freed slaves as little as possible.
• An example of a black code is that the whites had labor contracts with the blacks and if they did not abide by these contracts then they would have give up all their pay or they could be drug back to work by "Negro-catcher"
• Made an ugly impression on the North.

Congressional Reconstruction

•  Repubilcans not ready to give up political advantage in Congress to returning Democrats.
• Republicans realized South would be stronger than ever-slaves counted as a whole person now=bigger population=more votes in Congress, more electoral votes.
• Southern voters wanted their experienced statesmen.
• Fear or the re-enslavement of blacks arose.

Andrew Johnson feuds with Congress

Reconstruction Act

    Ex parte Millilgan (1866)

Women, Abolition, and the Vote

• During the war feminist leaders, such as Susan B. Anthony amd Elizabeth Stanton stopped their work and worked for black emancipation.
• Women felt left out in the right to vote when black men were granted suffarage but not women.

Blacks in Radical Reconstruction

Scalawags -Southerners, former unionists.

    Carpetbaggers -Sleazy Northerners who went down South to gain power and profit.

    radical regimes: passed laws that were badly needed included:

• Adequate public schooling
• Tax systems steamlined
• Public works launched
• Property rights guanteed to women

 Ku Klux Klan "Invincible Empire of the South"

founded in Tennessee in 1866

many  pro-slavery southerners and a few others wore sheets draped over themselves and rode on their horses at night terrorizing blacks and hurting and killing of blacks and strong anti-slavery societies.

    Force Acts of 1870 & 1871

 out lawed groups like the Klu Klux Klan and many times took federal troops

The Impeachment of Andrew Johnson

• Congress created the Tenure of Office Act
• With this act the president would have to secure consent of Senate before he could remove his appointees.
• This was put in place to freeze secretary of war, Edwin Stanton, who was a spy for radical republicans.
• Johnson vetoed this, but Congress overrode it.
• Johnson ended up throwing Stanton out of office before his term was up
• Johnson was impeached by the House of Representatives but he was not thrown out of office by the senate.

Trial

• Attorneys argued that the Tenure of Office Act was unconstitutional
• The Senate voted him not guilty by one vote, "Country above party."

Factors of Trial

• This would set a precedent
• It could destroy checks and balances
• The next person in line would be Wade, he was very disliked
• Johnson said he would stop obstructing policies

The Legacy of Reconstruction

    The South

• deep hatred for the north because of all that happened in the war and reconstruction
• no longer the same social and economic structure of the "Old South"

    The Republicans:

Purchase of Alaska

• One of Johnson's greatest achievements
• bought Alaska from Russia because they were going into war with Britain and they thought that they would lose it to them if they didn't sell it first
• U.S. had close ties with Russia so thought it was in their best interest to buy and it and turned out to be very profitable and good gain for the U.S.
• bought it for $7.2 million
• Known as "Sewards Icebox"

Charles Sumner was a U.S senator and leader of the Radical Republicans and he was elected in 1851. He was known for his stand against slavery. In a speech Sumner criticized Andrew Pickens Butler, the senator for South Carolina. Two days later he was caned by Preston Smith Brooks, Butler's nephew. During the beating several other senators attempted to help Sumner, but Keits ( later a confederate Officer ) were threatened by Keits who was holding a pistol. Sumner returned to the senate about three years later.

The Civil Rights Act of 1866 was a piece of United State legislation that gave more rights to freed slaves after the civil war. The republican dominated congress passed the act as a counterattack to the southern black codes. Included in the Civil Rights Act:

-Right to make contracts, sue, bear witness in court and own private property

President Andrew Johnson vetoed this bill saying that blacks were not qualified for citizenship. Congress overruled this vote.

Charles Sumner was a U.S senator and leader of the Radical Republicans and he was elected in 1851. He was known for his stand against slavery. In a speech Sumner criticized Andrew Pickens Butler, the senator for South Carolina. Two days later he was caned by Preston Smith Brooks, Butler's nephew. During the beating several other senators attempted to help Sumner, but Keits ( later a confederate Officer ) were threatened by Keits who was holding a pistol. Sumner returned to the senate about three years later.

Charles Sumner was a U.S senator and leader of the Radical Republicans and he was elected in 1851. He was known for his stand against slavery. In a speech Sumner criticized Andrew Pickens Butler, the senator for South Carolina. Two days later he was caned by Preston Smith Brooks, Butler's nephew. During the beating several other senators attempted to help Sumner, but Keits ( later a confederate Officer ) were threatened by Keits who was holding a pistol. Sumner returned to the senate about three years later.

Charles Sumner was a U.S senator and leader of the Radical Republicans and he was elected in 1851. He was known for his stand against slavery. In a speech Sumner criticized Andrew Pickens Butler, the senator for South Carolina. Two days later he was caned by Preston Smith Brooks, Butler's nephew. During the beating several other senators attempted to help Sumner, but Keits ( later a confederate Officer ) were threatened by Keits who was holding a pistol. Sumner returned to the senate about three years later.

a program proposed for Reconstruction in 1864 by two Radical Republicans (Senator Benjamin Wade of Ohio and Representative Henry Winter Davis of Maryland). This bill called for a contingent majority to vote on admittance, and all would have to take an ironclad oath. The bill was passed through Congress in July of 1862, but was vetoed by Lincoln (who later proposed the 10% plan). ~Cheryl