USA Studies Weekly - East Aurora School District #131

USA Studies Weekly

Week 2 First Quarter

Reconstruction: What is the Best Way to Heal the Wounds of War? • Civil War ended on April 9, 1865 • Lincoln’s goal was to save a nation – NOT to end slavery. • Lincoln did not wish to punish the South, but to heal as a nation. • Lincoln was assassinated.

Andrew Johnson • President Andrew Johnson elected after Lincoln’s assassination • Wished to follow Lincoln’s policy about slavery. He felt making former slaves citizens would only increase the anger between the North and the South. • He believed in leniency toward the South but lacked diplomacy.

Radical Republicans • A group of politicians who wanted the emancipation of slaves to be the main goal of the Civil War. • Supported Lincoln until they discovered that slavery was not his main goal. • Supported Johnson until they discovered that he planned to follow Lincoln’s reconstruction plans. • Worked with Congress to keep all of Johnson’s legislation from passing. Passed their legislation despite Johnson’s vetoes.

The Reconstruction Period – Lasted for 10 years after the Civil War • A tug of war between Congress and the President took place. • The Radicals divided the South into five military districts ruled by the U.S. Army. • Tennessee was readmitted into the Union in 1866. • The remaining 10 rebel states had to formally accept the 14th and 15th amendments in order to be readmitted. • These amendments allowed blacks to become citizens with the right to vote and hold office. • The new governments in the states were a combination of blacks, “carpet-baggers" (northerners who had moved to the South for investments or political opportunities), and “scalawags” (southerners who embraced the cause of the Radical Republicans).

Six Viewpoints on How to Rebuild the South White southerners began to use fraud, intimidation, and violence to get back the control of their own state governments. By the time the last US army troops were withdrawn from the South in 1877, the Democratic party was back in control. There was terrible bitterness in both the North and the South.

President Andrew Johnson’s Viewpoint • • • •

Follow Lincoln’s policy. Be lenient to the South. Do not make blacks full citizen Let’s try to get along and rep our relationships.

Radical Northern Republican Viewpoint • Thaddeus Stevens was the leader of the Radical Republicans. • Pass the Reconstruction Act so that blacks have the right to vote and may run for office. • Punish rebel leaders. • Put the South under military rule to enforce the Reconstruction Act.

Southern White Democratic Viewpoint • The governor of South Carolina refused to ratify the 13th Amendment. • Southerners felt the government was meant for whites only. • They began to pass “Black Codes” aimed at returning blacks to their former slave labor on the plantations.

Carpetbaggers’ & Scalawags’ Viewpoint • Carpetbaggers were Northerners who came to the South to invest in rebuilding the South. • They also felt that they should be able to be in Congress in the South. • Some came for good reasons – to actually help the South and the newly freed blacks. • The carpetbag, however, was a symbol of opportunists who were filling their “bags” at the expense of the South. • Scalawags were influential Southerners who supported Radical Republicans and carpetbaggers. Scalawags means “worthless person” or “scoundrel”. They were considered traitors by most white southerners.

Former Slave Viewpoint • Most backed the Republican point of view allowing blacks to become citizens and vote. • Blanche Kelso Bruce was born as a slave and served a full term in the Senate.

What Went Wrong with Reconstruction? • No way for southerners to earn and circulate money. • Blacks had no money or land. • Plantations were too large for white southerners to run by themselves. • Socially the white southerners did not change their attitudes about African Americans.

Robert E. Lee • April 9, 1865, the Confederacy surrenders. • Was the Commander-in-chief of the Confederacy. • Graduated from the US Military Academy at West Point with honors • Fought in the Mexican-American War • Originally asked to be the leader of the Union • His home state was Virginia and he could not bring himself to fight against it. • Spent his last years as president of Washington College in Lexington, Virginia, in the hopes that he could inspire some young men into helping recover the country from the horrors of the war. • His birthday is a legal holiday in most Southern states today.

American Character -- Ingenuity

George Washington Carver • Former slave on the Carver farm • Taught at a college and experimented with plants • Invented chili sauce, Worcestershire sauce, dried milk, paints, ink dyes, bleach, shoe polish, peanut butter • Encouraged southerners to plant crops of peanuts • Invented 324 uses for peanuts

The Gasoline Engine • Nikolaus August Otto obtained a patent on his new gasoline engine in 1866.

Freedmen’s Bureau • Was a federal agency set up near the end of the Civil War to distribute clothes, food and fuel to the poor of the South • Ran schools for black children • In charge of land abandoned or taken away from the Confederacy • Lands were to be rented to freedmen • Lands were returned to Confederate landowners

Laws of Reconstruction • 13th Amendment – Abolished slavery • 14th Amendment – Gives former slaves citizenship • 15th Amendment – Allows black the right to vote