In the Spring of 1865, the Civil war was finally brought to an end. The five years of war was the nation's most devastating and wrenching experience. Although the Union was saved and slavery had ended, the South being defeated and occupied by union forces was ruined and in a state of disaster. Public structures, private homes, and farm buildings had been burnt, rail road tracks uprooted, cotton gins wrecked, and the earth scorched in many sections of the defeated land. The nation's next task was to rebuild the ruined South and the government's plan to do this is known as Reconstruction. During this period was the Civil Rights Act, the Fourteenth Amendment, the Black codes and other important incidents. Reconstruction took place during the years 1865-1877 and was effective in reaching its goal which was to improve the South socially, politically and economically.
On Lincoln's death, Vice President Andrew Johnson became President and held that Reconstruction was the job of the President, not Congress. Unlike Lincoln who knew how to Compromise, Johnson was a stubborn man. His policies were based on what he thought was Lincoln's goals. They included charity toward the former Confederates and the creation of new government states. These governments, Johnson said, must forbid slavery. They must also accept the supreme power of the federal government. With Johnson's strong thoughts and views, Reconstruction started immediately.
Congress was not in session when Johnson took over as President and did not meet until Deceraber, which effected the South economically. During these eight months, nothing was progressing. For example, nothing was done about the black voting rights. Some states also refused to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment which abolished slavery. Southern states started to pass laws, limiting the freedom of African Americans. These laws, called black codes, aimed to return former slaves to plantation labor. In Mississippi, one law said that each person had to have a written proof of employment. In some states, children could be forced to work by their former owners, without their parent's approval. With Johnson as President and the Black codes in the southern states, Reconstruction wasn't making a good start towarRAB it's goals in economic terms.
Opposition to the black codes came from the Freedmen's Bureau. This federal agency had been set up near the end of the war to distribute clothes, food, and fuel to the poor of the South. It ran schools for the African American children. It was also in charge of land abandoned by Confederates or taken from them. It divided this land into 40-acre plots. These were to be rented to freedmen until the land could be sold. However, all freedmen had to eventually give up their new farms. With Johnson's help, pardoned Confederate landowners were able to regain their land. Freedmen, with their land gone, lost their best chance at economic freedom.
When Congress met in Deceraber 1865, representatives from the North were there to take their seats. Northern merabers of Congress were alarmed about conditions in the southern states. They asked: Had the Civil War been fought just to allow the southern states to return to its old ways? In both houses of Congress, Republicans outnurabered Democrats. Most Republicans were Moderates and wanted to work with the President. They didn't believe that the government could solve all of the south's problems. The Radical Republicans felt differently. They had long urged the ending of slavery. They argued that a true republic should grant citizenship to all. The Republicans were eager to change the south politically, but not everyone thought the same way.
During the year of 1866, two important bills were passed by Congress. The Radical Republicans had two leaders, Thaddeus Stephens and Charles Sumner who were both active men. The Radicals hoped that the federal government would remake southern politics and society. Urged on by the Radicals, Congress did pass two bills in 1866. The first bill gave new powers to the Freedmen's Bureau. Congress also passed a bill dealing with Civil rights. This bill declared that everyone born in the United states were citizens. It clearly said that all citizens were entitled to equal rights, regardless of their race. Republicans were shocked when President Johnson vetoed both the bills. He said that federal protection of black civil rights would "lead towarRAB centralization" of the national government. Congress voted to override Johnson's veto and the bill became a law. Later, Congress also passed a new Freedmen's Bureau law over Johnson's veto. With the two new bills passed,Congress had started to take over Reconstruction.
Republicans were not satisfied with laws protecting the equality of all citizens and wanted that equality to be protected by the Constitution itself. To do this they proposed the Fourteenth Amendment It said that all people born in the United states were citizens and had the same rights as citizens. This Amendment also stopped short of requiring black suffrage. Instead, it said that any state that kept African Americans from voting would lose representatives in Congress. This meant that the southern states would have less power if they didn't let the black men vote. Once again, the President rose against a decision but they returned to a 3 to 1 Republican majority in both houses of Congress. For the time being, the Fourteenth Amendment did help the South economically.
Encouraged by Johnson's support, each of the ex-Confederate states except Tennessee voted to reject the Fourteenth Amendment. This move angered the moderate Republicans which made them agree to work with the Radicals. Together, the two groups passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867. The Reconstruction Act of 1867 divided the south into five military districts, each run by an army commander. The merabers of the prewar ruling class lost their voting rights, and the law explained how the southern states could re-enter the Union. Voters in those states would have to do two things. (1.) They would have to approve of new state constitution that gave the vote to all men. (2.) They would have to ratify the fourteenth Amendment. The Reconstruction Act of 1867 was a help for the South since they were given the right to re-enter the Union.
In 1867, Freedmen's Bureau agents began to register voters in the South. About 735,000 blacks and 635,000 whites were registered to vote. The voters then chose new delegates to the new state conventions. Three -fourth of them were Republicans. Almost half these Republican delegates were whites who had supported the North and they called the Southern planters, "scalawags." Nearly one-fourth of the Republican delegates were white Northerners who moved south after the war. Many Southerners thought that these Northerners had only come for their gain, and called them "carpetbaggers." African Americans made up close to one-third of the Republican delegates. These delegates wrote new constitutions based on Northern examples. They set up public school systems and gave the vote to all adult males. By 1869, voters had approved all these constitutions and the ex-Confederate states were let back in the Union. Fourteen African American congressmen and two African American senators would serve in Congress during Reconstruction.
Reconstruction faced great problems in Washington D.C. President Johnson obeyed the letter of the Reconstruction laws, but he worked against them in spirit. In 1867 Congress passed a law that challenged the President's power. It said that President could not fire merabers of the Cabinet without the Senate's approval. This law broke the tradition that the President controlled the President. Johnson opposed to the law, and tried testing it by firing Secretary of War Edwin Stanton in February 1868. Three days later the house of Representatives voted to impeach the President. After a full trial, the Senate fell one vote short of the two-thirRAB required. Johnson was acquitted. By one vote, the tradition of a strong presidency and the separation of powers had remained intact. The remaining of President Johnson does effect the South since Reconstruction can't move on with a moderate President as him.
The Radical Republicans had much more success with the Fifteenth Amendment, which became law in 1870. This amendment declared that the right to vote should not be denied "on account of race, color, or previous conditions of servitude." The Fifteenth Amendment was not only aimed at the South. Its supporters were concerned about black suffrage throughout the country. African Americans could not vote in sixteen states. "We have no moral right to impose an obligation on one part of the land which the rest will not accept," one Radical wrote. By approving the Fifteenth Amendment, the nation accepted the full consequences of ending slavery. It also committed itself once again to the principle of Democracy. The Fifteenth Amendment affects the South economically because the blacks were also given the right to vote.
In 1868, there was an incident that brought a backlash against Reconstruction. The delegates at the Republican National Convention nominated Ulysses S. Grant for President. Many merabers of the old planter class and ex-Confederate soldiers joined the Ku Klux Klan, a secret group formed just after the war. The Klan's first goals were to control elections. Beyond that, Klan aimed to keep the African Americans powerless. It targeted blacks who owned their own land, any blacks who prospered, and teachers of black children. The Klan's terrorist activities served the Democratic Party. The Democratic platform in 1868 had called reconstruction policies "unconstitutional, revolutionary, and void." It demanded that Freedmen's Bureau be shut down. The white robbed, gun-toting, horse riding Klansmen attacked Republicans. In every county where the Klan was active, Republican voters stayed away from the polls.
At first, President Grant tried to avoid conflict with the Klan. By 1871, however, it became impossible to ignore the reign of terror that was sweeping the South. Grant asked Congress to pass a tough law against the Klan. Congress did approve of the anti-Klan bill. The federal government now moved against the Klan, as federal marshals arrested thousanRAB of Klansmen. As a result, the 1872 election was both fair and peaceful in the South.
In 1876 the Democratic Party chose Samuel J. Tilden, governor of New York, to run for President. The Republicans nominated Rutherford B. Hayes, governor of Ohio. The race was so close that victory depended on the electoral votes of South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida. However, those results were in dispute so it was up to Congress to settle the matter. Under the Compromise of 1877, Hayes was elected President. In return, Hayes agreed to remove the last troops from the South. As soon as he became President, Hayes did just that. The last few Reconstruction governments collapsed. With them went black southerners' best hope for equality.
Reconstruction ended in 1877 and was effective in reaching its goal which was to improve the South socially, politically, and economically. Although the South did not fully recover, many of the problems that arised after the Civil War were solved. The Confederate states met various requirements for readmission, and all rejoined the Union by 1870. Congress passed laws and proposed constitutional amendments to protect the rights of the former slaves and to give them the vote. Newly formed state governments in the South began to rebuild the ruined regions. Other problems remained, however. Most Southern whites refused to accept the blacks as equals, and the living and working conditions of the blacks improved only slightly. The Reconstruction governments also failed to win enough support from Southern whites to survive without aid from the North. Most Southern whites considered these governments illeagal, and some whites used violence to prevent blacks from voting. The South suffered from economic inequality, mainly caused by sharecropping. With the lack of economic power,the African Americans lost political power as well. Most of them still worked for the whites. In the 1890's Jim Crow lawswhich made segregation began to rule southern life. But overall, Reconstruction didn't totally recover the South, but it did help to improve the South and was an important part in U.S. history since it still effects our lives today.
On Lincoln's death, Vice President Andrew Johnson became President and held that Reconstruction was the job of the President, not Congress. Unlike Lincoln who knew how to Compromise, Johnson was a stubborn man. His policies were based on what he thought was Lincoln's goals. They included charity toward the former Confederates and the creation of new government states. These governments, Johnson said, must forbid slavery. They must also accept the supreme power of the federal government. With Johnson's strong thoughts and views, Reconstruction started immediately.
Congress was not in session when Johnson took over as President and did not meet until Deceraber, which effected the South economically. During these eight months, nothing was progressing. For example, nothing was done about the black voting rights. Some states also refused to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment which abolished slavery. Southern states started to pass laws, limiting the freedom of African Americans. These laws, called black codes, aimed to return former slaves to plantation labor. In Mississippi, one law said that each person had to have a written proof of employment. In some states, children could be forced to work by their former owners, without their parent's approval. With Johnson as President and the Black codes in the southern states, Reconstruction wasn't making a good start towarRAB it's goals in economic terms.
Opposition to the black codes came from the Freedmen's Bureau. This federal agency had been set up near the end of the war to distribute clothes, food, and fuel to the poor of the South. It ran schools for the African American children. It was also in charge of land abandoned by Confederates or taken from them. It divided this land into 40-acre plots. These were to be rented to freedmen until the land could be sold. However, all freedmen had to eventually give up their new farms. With Johnson's help, pardoned Confederate landowners were able to regain their land. Freedmen, with their land gone, lost their best chance at economic freedom.
When Congress met in Deceraber 1865, representatives from the North were there to take their seats. Northern merabers of Congress were alarmed about conditions in the southern states. They asked: Had the Civil War been fought just to allow the southern states to return to its old ways? In both houses of Congress, Republicans outnurabered Democrats. Most Republicans were Moderates and wanted to work with the President. They didn't believe that the government could solve all of the south's problems. The Radical Republicans felt differently. They had long urged the ending of slavery. They argued that a true republic should grant citizenship to all. The Republicans were eager to change the south politically, but not everyone thought the same way.
During the year of 1866, two important bills were passed by Congress. The Radical Republicans had two leaders, Thaddeus Stephens and Charles Sumner who were both active men. The Radicals hoped that the federal government would remake southern politics and society. Urged on by the Radicals, Congress did pass two bills in 1866. The first bill gave new powers to the Freedmen's Bureau. Congress also passed a bill dealing with Civil rights. This bill declared that everyone born in the United states were citizens. It clearly said that all citizens were entitled to equal rights, regardless of their race. Republicans were shocked when President Johnson vetoed both the bills. He said that federal protection of black civil rights would "lead towarRAB centralization" of the national government. Congress voted to override Johnson's veto and the bill became a law. Later, Congress also passed a new Freedmen's Bureau law over Johnson's veto. With the two new bills passed,Congress had started to take over Reconstruction.
Republicans were not satisfied with laws protecting the equality of all citizens and wanted that equality to be protected by the Constitution itself. To do this they proposed the Fourteenth Amendment It said that all people born in the United states were citizens and had the same rights as citizens. This Amendment also stopped short of requiring black suffrage. Instead, it said that any state that kept African Americans from voting would lose representatives in Congress. This meant that the southern states would have less power if they didn't let the black men vote. Once again, the President rose against a decision but they returned to a 3 to 1 Republican majority in both houses of Congress. For the time being, the Fourteenth Amendment did help the South economically.
Encouraged by Johnson's support, each of the ex-Confederate states except Tennessee voted to reject the Fourteenth Amendment. This move angered the moderate Republicans which made them agree to work with the Radicals. Together, the two groups passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867. The Reconstruction Act of 1867 divided the south into five military districts, each run by an army commander. The merabers of the prewar ruling class lost their voting rights, and the law explained how the southern states could re-enter the Union. Voters in those states would have to do two things. (1.) They would have to approve of new state constitution that gave the vote to all men. (2.) They would have to ratify the fourteenth Amendment. The Reconstruction Act of 1867 was a help for the South since they were given the right to re-enter the Union.
In 1867, Freedmen's Bureau agents began to register voters in the South. About 735,000 blacks and 635,000 whites were registered to vote. The voters then chose new delegates to the new state conventions. Three -fourth of them were Republicans. Almost half these Republican delegates were whites who had supported the North and they called the Southern planters, "scalawags." Nearly one-fourth of the Republican delegates were white Northerners who moved south after the war. Many Southerners thought that these Northerners had only come for their gain, and called them "carpetbaggers." African Americans made up close to one-third of the Republican delegates. These delegates wrote new constitutions based on Northern examples. They set up public school systems and gave the vote to all adult males. By 1869, voters had approved all these constitutions and the ex-Confederate states were let back in the Union. Fourteen African American congressmen and two African American senators would serve in Congress during Reconstruction.
Reconstruction faced great problems in Washington D.C. President Johnson obeyed the letter of the Reconstruction laws, but he worked against them in spirit. In 1867 Congress passed a law that challenged the President's power. It said that President could not fire merabers of the Cabinet without the Senate's approval. This law broke the tradition that the President controlled the President. Johnson opposed to the law, and tried testing it by firing Secretary of War Edwin Stanton in February 1868. Three days later the house of Representatives voted to impeach the President. After a full trial, the Senate fell one vote short of the two-thirRAB required. Johnson was acquitted. By one vote, the tradition of a strong presidency and the separation of powers had remained intact. The remaining of President Johnson does effect the South since Reconstruction can't move on with a moderate President as him.
The Radical Republicans had much more success with the Fifteenth Amendment, which became law in 1870. This amendment declared that the right to vote should not be denied "on account of race, color, or previous conditions of servitude." The Fifteenth Amendment was not only aimed at the South. Its supporters were concerned about black suffrage throughout the country. African Americans could not vote in sixteen states. "We have no moral right to impose an obligation on one part of the land which the rest will not accept," one Radical wrote. By approving the Fifteenth Amendment, the nation accepted the full consequences of ending slavery. It also committed itself once again to the principle of Democracy. The Fifteenth Amendment affects the South economically because the blacks were also given the right to vote.
In 1868, there was an incident that brought a backlash against Reconstruction. The delegates at the Republican National Convention nominated Ulysses S. Grant for President. Many merabers of the old planter class and ex-Confederate soldiers joined the Ku Klux Klan, a secret group formed just after the war. The Klan's first goals were to control elections. Beyond that, Klan aimed to keep the African Americans powerless. It targeted blacks who owned their own land, any blacks who prospered, and teachers of black children. The Klan's terrorist activities served the Democratic Party. The Democratic platform in 1868 had called reconstruction policies "unconstitutional, revolutionary, and void." It demanded that Freedmen's Bureau be shut down. The white robbed, gun-toting, horse riding Klansmen attacked Republicans. In every county where the Klan was active, Republican voters stayed away from the polls.
At first, President Grant tried to avoid conflict with the Klan. By 1871, however, it became impossible to ignore the reign of terror that was sweeping the South. Grant asked Congress to pass a tough law against the Klan. Congress did approve of the anti-Klan bill. The federal government now moved against the Klan, as federal marshals arrested thousanRAB of Klansmen. As a result, the 1872 election was both fair and peaceful in the South.
In 1876 the Democratic Party chose Samuel J. Tilden, governor of New York, to run for President. The Republicans nominated Rutherford B. Hayes, governor of Ohio. The race was so close that victory depended on the electoral votes of South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida. However, those results were in dispute so it was up to Congress to settle the matter. Under the Compromise of 1877, Hayes was elected President. In return, Hayes agreed to remove the last troops from the South. As soon as he became President, Hayes did just that. The last few Reconstruction governments collapsed. With them went black southerners' best hope for equality.
Reconstruction ended in 1877 and was effective in reaching its goal which was to improve the South socially, politically, and economically. Although the South did not fully recover, many of the problems that arised after the Civil War were solved. The Confederate states met various requirements for readmission, and all rejoined the Union by 1870. Congress passed laws and proposed constitutional amendments to protect the rights of the former slaves and to give them the vote. Newly formed state governments in the South began to rebuild the ruined regions. Other problems remained, however. Most Southern whites refused to accept the blacks as equals, and the living and working conditions of the blacks improved only slightly. The Reconstruction governments also failed to win enough support from Southern whites to survive without aid from the North. Most Southern whites considered these governments illeagal, and some whites used violence to prevent blacks from voting. The South suffered from economic inequality, mainly caused by sharecropping. With the lack of economic power,the African Americans lost political power as well. Most of them still worked for the whites. In the 1890's Jim Crow lawswhich made segregation began to rule southern life. But overall, Reconstruction didn't totally recover the South, but it did help to improve the South and was an important part in U.S. history since it still effects our lives today.