Reconstruction (1865-1876)

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Agenda

EQ: What were the long-term economic, political, and social implications of Reconstruction?  Warm-Up: If you had to design a plan to reconstruct the nation after the Civil War, what are three things you would plan to do?

 MLQ: How can we learn about the reconstruction by comparing and contrasting Lincoln’s and Johnson’s plans? Vocabulary Reconstruction: To put together again Proposal: To put forward for consideration, discussion, or adoption The family had to reconstruct their home after the hurricane had destroyed it. The lawyer offered a proposal to his client to settle the case. Work period: Students will: 1) Compare and Contrast Lincoln’s & Douglas’s plans for reconstruction 2) Answer tiered questions

 Share: Share answers  Closing: Summary of lesson and answer MLQ H.W. Create a T-Chart comparing and contrasting Lincoln’s & Douglas’s plans for reconstruction

Key Questions 1. How do we bring the South back into the Union?

2. How do we rebuild the South after its destruction during the war?

4. What branch of government should control the process of Reconstruction?

3. How do we integrate and protect newlyemancipated black freedmen?

President Lincoln’s Plan  10% Plan *

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Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (December 8, 1863) Replace majority rule with “loyal rule” in the South. He didn’t consult Congress regarding Reconstruction. Pardon to all but the highest ranking military and civilian Confederate officers.

When 10% of the voting population in the 1860 election had taken an oath of loyalty and established a government, it would be recognized.

Wade-Davis Bill (1864)  Required 50% of the number of 1860 voters to take an “iron clad” oath of allegiance (swearing they had never voluntarily aided the rebellion ). Senator Benjamin Wade (R-OH)

 Required a state constitutional convention before the election of state officials.  Enacted specific safeguards of freedmen’s liberties.

Congressman Henry W. Davis (R-MD)

Slavery is Dead?

13th Amendment  Ratified in December, 1865.  Neither slavery nor involuntary

servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

 Congress shall have power to enforce

this article by appropriate legislation.

Assassination of Lincoln • On April 14, 1865 , President Lincoln and his wife attended a play at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. • During the play, John Wilkes Booth, a Southerner who opposed Lincoln’s policies, sneaked into the president’s theater box and shot him. • He was taken to the boarding house across the street and died early the next morning. • His vice president Andrew Johnson was sworn in immediately as president.

President Andrew Johnson  Jacksonian Democrat.  Anti-Aristocrat.  White Supremacist.

 Agreed with Lincoln that states had never legally left the Union.

President Johnson’s Plan (10%+)  Offered amnesty (forgiveness) upon a simple oath to all, except Confederate government officials and military officers and those with property over $20,000 (they has to apply directly to President Johnson)  In new constitutions, they must accept minimum conditions repudiating slavery, secession and state debts.  Named temporary governors in Confederate states and ask them to oversee elections for constitutional conventions.

The Black Codes • The Black Codes were laws passed by Southern states that limited the newfound freedom of African Americans. • Black Codes forced African Americans to work on farms or as servants. They also prevented African Americans from owning guns, holding public meetings, or renting property in cities.

Radical Republicans • The Black Codes angered many Republicans in Congress who felt the South was returning to its old ways. • The Radical Republicans wanted the South to change more before they could be readmitted to the Union. • They were angry at President Johnson for letting the South off so easy.

Congress Breaks with the President  Joint Committee on Reconstruction created in Congress.  February, 1866  President vetoed the Freedmen’s Bureau bill.  March, 1866  Johnson vetoed the 1866 Civil Rights Act.

 Congress passed both bills over Johnson’s vetoes  1st in

U. S. history!!

Radical Plan for Readmission  Temporary government authorities in southern territories were subject to military supervision.  Required new state constitutions, to include black suffrage and ratification of the 13th and 14th Amendments.  In March, 1867, Congress passed an act that authorized the military to enroll eligible black voters and begin the process of constitution making.

Reconstruction Acts of 1867  Command of the Army Act *

The President must issue all Reconstruction orders through the commander of the military.

 Tenure of Office Act *

The President could not remove any officials [esp. Cabinet members] without the Senate’s permission

 Designed to protect radical

members of Lincoln’s government.

Edwin Stanton

President Johnson’s Impeachment  Johnson removed [Sec. of War ] E.Stanton in February, 1868.  Johnson replaced generals in the field who were more sympathetic to Radical Reconstruction.  The House impeached him on February 24 before even drawing up the charges by a vote of 126 – 47!

The Senate Trial

 11 week trial.  Johnson acquitted 35 to 19 (one short of required 2/3s vote).

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Agenda EQ: What were the long-term economic, political, and social implications of Reconstruction?  Warm-Up: What were some similarities and difference between Lincoln and Douglas’s plan?  MLQ: How can we learn about the African American and Reconstruction by reading for information? Vocabulary Grant: To consent to the fulfillment of Segregate: To separate or isolate from others or from a main body or group Work period: Students will: 1) Read passage from textbook 2) Answer tiered questions  Share: Share answers  Closing: Summary of lesson and answer MLQ H.W. Answer the following questions: 1) What was the purpose of the Freedmen Bureau? 2) What is the difference between a carpetbagger and a scalawags? 3) What was Plessy vs. Ferguson and why was it so important?

th 14

Amendment

 Ratified in July, 1868. *

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Provide a constitutional guarantee of the rights and security of freed people. Insure against neo-Confederate political power. Enshrine the national debt while repudiating that of the Confederacy.

 Southern states would be punished for denying the right to vote to black citizens!

15th Amendment  Ratified in 1870.  The right of citizens of the United States

to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

 The Congress shall have power to enforce

this article by appropriate legislation.

 Women’s rights groups were furious that they were not granted the vote!

Blacks in Southern Politics  Core voters were black veterans.

 Blacks were politically unprepared.  Blacks could register and vote in states since 1867.

 The 15th Amendment guaranteed federal voting.

Freedmen’s Bureau (1865)  Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands.  Many former northern abolitionists risked their lives to help southern freedmen.  Called “carpetbaggers” by white southern Democrats.

Freedmen’s Bureau School

Sharecropping

Tenancy & the Crop Lien System Furnishing Merchant  Loan tools and seed up to 60% interest to tenant farmer to plant spring crop.  Farmer also secures food, clothing, and other necessities on credit from merchant until the harvest.  Merchant holds “lien” {mortgage} on part of tenant’s future crops as repayment of debt.

Tenant Farmer  Plants crop, harvests in autumn.

 Turns over up to ½ of crop to land owner as payment of rent.  Tenant gives remainder of crop to merchant in payment of debt.

Landowner  Rents land to tenant in exchange for ¼ to ½ of tenant farmer’s future crop.

The “Invisible Empire of the South”

Ku Klux Klan • In 1866 a group of white southerners created the Ku Klux Klan. • The KKK was a secret society opposed to African Americans obtaining civil rights, particularly the right to vote. • The KKK used violence and intimidation to frighten blacks. • Klan members wore white robes and hoods to hide their identities. • The Klan was known to have murdered many people.

The Civil Rights Act of 1875  Crime for any individual to deny full & equal use ofpublic places.  Prohibited discrimination in jury selection.  Shortcoming  lacked a strong enforcement.

 No new civil rights act was attempted for 90 years!

Segregation and Jim Crow Laws • Starting in 1881, blacks had to stay in separate hotels, sit in separate parts of theaters, ride in separate rail cars, and have separate schools, libraries, and parks. This is known as segregation. • Segregation - the legal separation of blacks and whites in public places • Jim Crow Laws - laws that forced segregation

Plessy v. Ferguson • The Supreme Court ruled segregation was legal in Plessy v. Ferguson. • They said that segregation was fair as long as “separate-but-equal” facilities were provided for African Americans. • In practice, the African American facilities were usually “separate-and-unequal.” • It would take until the 1965, 100 years after the Civil War ended, for Jim Crow laws to be outlawed and blacks to finally realize legal equality in America.

Legal Challenges to the 14th & 15th Amendments  The Slaughterhouse Cases (1873)  The court offered a narrow definition of the 14th Amendment.  It distinguished between national and state citizenship.  It gave the states primary authority over citizens’ rights. 

Therefore, the courts weakened civil rights enforcement!

Legal Challenges to the 14th & 15th Amendments  Bradwell vs. Illinois (1873)  Myra Bradwell, a female attorney, had been denied the right to practice law in Illinois.  She argued that in the 14th Amendment, it said that the state had unconstitutionally abridged her “privileges and immunities” as a citizen.  The Supreme Court rejected her claim, alluding to women’s traditional role in the home. 

Therefore, she should NOT be practicing law!

Legal Challenges to the 14th & 15th Amendments  U. S. vs. Reese, et. al. (1876)  The Court restricted congressional power to enforce the KKK Act.

 The court ruled that the STATE alone could confer voting rights on individuals.

 The 15th Amendment did NOT guarantee a citizen’s right to vote, but just listed certain impermissible grounds to deny suffrage. 

Therefore, a path lay open for Southern states to disenfranchise blacks for supposedly non-racial reasons [like lack of education, lack of property, etc.]

Legal Challenges to the 14th & 15th Amendments  U. S. vs. Cruickshank (1876)  LA white supremacists accused of attacking a

meeting of Blacks & were convicted under the 1870 Enforcement Acts.  The Court held that the 14th Amendment extended the federal power to protect civil rights ONLY in cases involving discrimination by STATES. 

Therefore, discrimination by individuals or groups were NOT covered.

Legal Challenges to the 14th & 15th Amendments  Civil Rights Cases (1883)  The Court declared the 1875 Civil Rights Act unconstitutional.

 The Court held that the 14th Amendment gave Congress the power to outlaw discriminations by the states, but NOT by private individuals.  Black people must no longer “be the special favorites of the laws.” 

Therefore, this marked the end of federal attempts to protect African American rights until well into the 20c!

Work Period Red Group Read pgs 556, 564-565 Answer # 2(b) on 557 and #1(a&b) on 571 Green Group Read pgs 556, 566-567 Answer # 2 (b) on 557, and #2 (a&b) on 571 Blue Group Read pgs 556, 568-570 Answer # 2 (b) on 557, and #3 (b), #4(a&b) on 571