A New Nation Struggles to Find Its Footing

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A New Nation Struggles to Find Its Footing Lincoln began his plans for Reconstruction with “40 acres and a mule” promised in April 1865 to Reconstruction Acts of 1867 Successful Efforts at and his Ten Percent Plan in late-1863. freedmen, the land partitioned from land taken ➢ Placed ten ex-Confederate states under ventual ailure of econstruction ➢ It decreed that a state could be reintegrated by the Union army. military control, grouping them in five E F R into the Union when ten percent of its voters ➢ By June 1865, 10,000 freed slaves were military districts and re-constituted under Policies, 1863-1877 had taken an oath of allegiance to the United settled on 400,000acres in Georgia and South the direct control of the United States army. (Page 1 of 3) States. Carolina. ➢ There was little or no fighting, but rather a ➢ Lincoln vetoed the Wade-Davis Bill of 1864. ➢ Late-1865, President Johnson reversed the state of martial law in which the military This bill would have required over fifty order closely monitored daily operations of the percent to take an alliance oath prior to states Events of the Civil War which left a lingering reintegration of a state. Never took affect. Lincoln was murdered by John Wilkes Booth, a hostility/resentment between the warring sides… southerner, and immediately suspicions were 14th Amendment to the US Constitution 1. Sherman’s March, 1864 13th Amendment to the US Constitution, 1865 that he was acting on behalf of the Confederate ➢ Rejected in 1866; ratified/approved in 1868 2. The prisoner-of-war camp at Andersonville, ➢ Officially abolished slavery. cause with active support. He acted alone. ➢ Extended the qualification of citizenship to Georgia – over 12,000 of the 45,000 Union ➢ At the time of its passing, slavery was only everyone born in the United States (except prisoners died due to starvation, malnutrition legal in Delaware, Kentucky, Missouri, With Lincoln’s assassination, Andrew Johnson Native Americans on reservations and and disease Maryland and New Jersey; everywhere else of Tennessee becomes president. As a women). Drafted by Representative John 3. Emancipation Proclamation, 1862 & Jan.1863 slaves had been freed by state action or by southerner who owned a few slaves, he is Bingham. By incorporating rights for 4. Lincoln’s assassination, 1865 the Emancipation Proclamation. distrusted by the north, yet his Vice Presidency freedmen within the Constitution, it allows under Lincoln made him equally suspicious to for federal actions in response to any state Reconstruction can be broke down into three Freedmen’s Bureau. the ex-Confederates, knowing he was against which tries to limit freedmen. distinct phases: ➢ Created by Congress in March 1865, the succession of the South. ➢ President Johnson tries to block its 1. “Presidential Reconstruction” 1863-1866 was Bureau provided food, clothing and fuel to ratification, claiming that 3/4th of the controlled by presidents Lincoln and Johnson destitute former slaves and white refugees, as As Vice President Johnson had taken a hard line necessary states did not approve it (southern with the goal of quickly restoring harmony well as advise on negotiating labor contracts. and spoke of punishing rebel Confederates, but states were not allowed a vote). Passed by and reuniting the country. It attempted to oversee new relations between after Lincoln’s murder, as President, Johnson Congress over his veto. 2. “Congressional Reconstruction” 1866-1873 freedmen and their former masters. took a softer line, pardoning many Confederates wherein members of congress directed the leaders and ex-Confederates. Johnson openly encouraged southern states to Reconstruction efforts Since slavery was abolished, the three-fifths rule ignore the 14th amendment. (All former 3. “Redemption” 1873-1877 wherein southern for representation no longer applied. Fears were Civil Rights Act of 1866 overruled the Black Confederate states did just that, except for conservatives and Democrats (calling expressed that if the south were allowed to Codes and gave freedmen full legal equality Tennessee, and the border states of Delaware, themselves ‘Redeemers’) defeated the simply restore its previous established powers, (except the right to vote). Maryland and Kentucky) Radical Republicans and regained control of that the “reward of treason will be an increased ➢ President Johnson vetoed the Act, but his southern states. representation” in Congress. veto was overturned by Congressional vote. As lenient as he was for poor white and military Southerners, Johnson held a tougher THERE WAS HUGE A POST-WAR DEBATE THROUGHOUT THE NORTH AS TO WHETHER “Black Codes” 1865 In 1867, new elections were held. line on the plantation owners who lost their EX-CONFEDERATES SHOULD BE PUNISHED OR ➢ Quickly after the war ended, all southern ➢ New Republican lawmakers were elected by property in the war. He required them to write WELCOMED BACK INTO THE UNION. states passed Black Codes which restricted a coalition of white Northerners and a personal letter to him requesting their land be the freedmen, who were emancipated but not Freedmen who had settled in the south. returned to them. “Radical Republicans” – Thaddeus Stevens, yet full citizens. ➢ This infuriates those who had previously ➢ He will moderate on this later, as he comes Charles Sumner, Salmon Chase. James Garfield ➢ The Codes were allowed more rights than maintained power. to believe only a planter-class could contain “Moderate Republicans” – Lyman Trumbull free blacks had pre-war, but they still had ➢ Southerners feared their land would be the spread of influence of Freedmen. He “Redeemers” – Henry Raymond, only a limited set of second class civil rights, redistributed to the Freedmen. does not want to see blacks gain power. William Jennings Bryan no voting rights, could not own firearms or ➢ However, President Johnson orders that held serve on a jury. land be returned to its pardoned owners. Northern Louisiana was a hotbed of Radical Republican’s plan for Reconstruction ➢ The Codes were an attempt to control Confederate resisters. argued that the South should be punished for freedmen and to ensure they did not claim Republicans took control of all Southern state starting the war, while the Redeemers (southern social equity. governorships and state legislatures by 1867, President Johnson puts forth in a letter to the Democrats), who wanted to welcome back the ➢ Black Codes outraged northern opinion. leading to the instillation of numerous blacks governor of Mississippi that only ex-slaves South with open arms, and Moderate into other positions of power, such as state who can demonstrate a fluency in English and Republicans (who held a more moderate Major thematic problems of restoring the South representatives. Their role in the leadership who own property and pay their taxes could be approach) has plans which contrasted notably. to the Union – issues of national loyalty and remained brief, as whites strove to find ways to given the right to vote, encouraging Mississippi black suffrage are paramount. remove them. One black candidate from to set a process for other states to emulate. No treason trials. Many northerners were hesitant to allow freed Mississippi was elected to the House in 1868 but ➢ Only one person – Major Henry Wirz, Blacks to vote. Lincoln preferred a moderate never seated due to an election dispute. Southern conservative whites resisted the commander of the Andersonville prisoner-of- course, wherein some (not all) freed blacks freedmen's exercise of political power, fearing war camp – was executed for war crimes. would be allowed to vote, such as veterans. black domination Impeachment of President Johnson, 1868 Thaddeus Stevens argued that succession left the Reconstruction abruptly changed the tax Election of 1872 ➢ Johnson endorsed the quick re-admission of states in a status akin to that of new territories. structure of the South. The Republican party starts to divide, from the the Southern secessionist states, with little ➢ He was a vocal critic of President Johnson ➢ In the U.S. from the earliest days, a major Radical Republicans to the new Liberal punishment and actually made efforts to ➢ Proposed that all ex-Confederates should lose source of state revenue was property tax. Republicans, which resisted President Grant. continue to restrict Freedmen’s rights. the right to vote for five years. Never passed ➢ In the South, wealthy landowners assessed ➢ Johnson has many confrontations with by Congress. the value of their own land. Amnesty Act of 1872 Congress. He then decided to suspend ➢ These assessments were nearly valueless ➢ Signed by President Grant, all but the top Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, due to c.1870, Blacks were an absolute majority of the and the pre-war tax rate was minuscule. 500 Confederate leaders were pardoned. numerous reasons, most notable a power population in Mississippi, Louisiana and South ➢ Pre-war southern states did not educate ➢ Affected over 150,000 former Confederate struggle in which Stanton had assumed Carolina, and represented over forty percent of their citizens or build and maintain any troops who had taken part in the war. control of most of the government following the population in four other states. infrastructure. State revenues came ➢ Controversial in the North, as the pardon Lincoln’s murder. from fees and from sales taxes on restored Confederates voting privileges. ➢ However, the Tenure of Office Act New Departure slave auctions. stresses that anyone appointed by the 1870; refers to the political strategy utilized by ➢ During Reconstruction, new spending on Colfax Massacre/Riot, April 1873 President with the advice and consent of the Democrats to distance itself from its pro- schools and infrastructure, combined with In the wake of a contested election for the Senate may not be suspended without Confederacy past in an effort to improve its fraudulent spending and a collapse in state Governor and local offices, whites armed with the Senates approving the removal. electoral fortunes in the northern States. credit because of huge deficits, forced the rifles and a small cannon overpowered the ➢ Johnson survived removal from office by ➢ Not embraced by all Democrats.
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