Reconstruction

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Reconstruction

• 1865-1877

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Warm Up

• POLITICAL CARTOONS OF THE CIVIL WAR AND
  RECONSTRUCTION ERAS

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August 5, 1865Columbia's sympathetic gesture
towards a wounded black soldier is a reply to a
previous panel in which Southern landowners ask
her forgiveness. Columbia asks, "Shall I Trust
These Men, and Not This Man?"
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March 23, 1867In this view of Southern justice,
a Northerner and a black man are accused of
murder and then lynched, while in another panel a
Southern gentleman accused of murder is
humorously chided by the court.
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• "One Less Vote."The Fourteenth Amendment,
  granting black men the right to vote, was
  ratified in July 1868. Every black vote became a
  threat to white Southerners' political power. The
  stone reads, "Negroe Killed, Seymour
  Ratification, KKK."

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March 23, 1867In this commentary on President
Andrew Johnson's veto of the military government
bill, Nast portrays the scales of justice
favoring the South and the Confederate Army.
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• September 5, 1868"This Is a White Man's
  Government."
• Nast's view of the Democratic platform for the
  divisive presidential election of 1868 places the
  Democratic candidate in partnership with the poor
  Irish of the North and loyal Confederates of the
  South (and its Lost Cause) to keep black men from
  gaining access to government.

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• October 24, 1874The organized violence of the Ku
  Klux Klan and the White League made life "worse
  than slavery" for Southern blacks.

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March 14, 1874The cover of Harper's Weekly shows
black legislators stooping to name-calling as
Columbia says, "You are aping the lowest whites.
If you disgrace your race in this way you had
better take back seats."
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• September 2, 1876Recognizing the failure of
  Reconstruction, Nast asks, "Is This a Republican
  Form of Government? Is This Protecting Life,
  Liberty, or Property? Is This the Equal
  Protection of the Laws?"

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America Post-Civil War

• What problems would the US be facing after the
  Civil War?
• What issues must be addressed through
  Reconstruction?
• Who will be in charge of Reconstruction?

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The Reconstruction Era

• President Lincoln, President Johnson, and the
  Radical Republicans

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The Need for Reconstruction

• Reconstruction period when the United States
  began to rebuild after the Civil War (1865-1877)
• To unify the Nation
• Politically allow rebel states back into the
  Union
• Socially
• To help the Freedmen
• To secure the changes created by the Civil War

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President Lincolns Plan

• Lenient
• 13th Amendment End Slavery (1865)
• 1863 Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction
• 10 Plan
• Pardon Confederates who would swear allegiance to
  the Union
• Readmitted to Union if 10 of those who had voted
  in 1860 swore an oath of allegiance
• Question Who was able to vote in Southern states
  in 1960? Why would this be a problem for
  Reconstruction?

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President Johnsons Plan

• May, 1865
• (Became president after Lincoln was assassinated)
• Lenient
• Break the Planters power
• Keep wealthy and powerful Southerners from taking
  the oath needed for voting privileges
• However, Johnson believed that whites should rule
  the South
• Pardoned more than 13,000 Confederates!
• 1866 Vetoed laws passed by Congress
• Freedmens Bureau Act (create more help for
  freedmen)
• Civil Rights Act (Outlaw black codes, give blacks
  full citizenship)

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Radical Republicans Plan

• Leaders
• Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts
• Representative Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania
• Destroy all power of former slaveholders
• African Americans
• Given full citizenship
• Given the right to vote
• Overrode Johnsons vetoes
• Created 14th Amendment
• All men born or naturalized in the United States
  are guaranteed life, liberty, property, and
  protection under the law
• Passed Reconstruction Act of 1867
• States readmitted under Lincoln and Johnson were
  not recognized until they followed the
  Republicans plan

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Johnsons Impeachment

• What does impeachment mean?
• Why?
• Radical Republicans thought Johnson was blocking
  Reconstruction
• How?
• Johnson broke the law!
• Tenure of Office Act (1868) didnt have
  Senates approval to remove Secretary of War
  Edwin Stanton but did it anyway!
• What happened?
• Congress voted not to convict Johnson
• Johnson did not run for a second term

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- Reconstructions Course - Congressional
Reconstruction

• Reconstruction Act of 1867 (Republicans)
• Divided Confederate states into five military
  districts
• In order to reenter the Union states had to
• Grant African American men suffrage (the right to
  vote)
• Ratify the Fourteenth Amendment (States cannon
  deny rights and privileges to any U.S. citizen,
  all persons born or naturalized in the U.S.) By
  1970, also the 15th Amendment
• Ulysses S. Grant elected in 1868
• 9 out of 10 Southern blacks voted for Grant in
  1868
• Congress passed the Fifteenth Amendment (1870)
• No man can be kept from voting because of race,
  color, or previous condition of servitude

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Summary of Major Political Changes

• Amendments 13, 14 15

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The Amendments of the Civil War

• Explain this Amendment to the Constitution in
  your own words.
• 13th Amendment Neither slavery nor involuntary
  servitude, except as a punishment for crime
  whereof the party shall have been duly convicted,
  shall exist within the United States, or any
  place subject to their jurisdiction.

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The Amendments of the Civil War

• Explain this Amendment to the Constitution in
  your own words.
• 14th Amendment All persons born or naturalized
  in the United Statesare citizens of the United
  States and of the state wherein they reside. No
  state shall make or enforce any law which shall
  abridge the privilegesof citizens of the United
  States nor shall any state deprive any person of
  life, liberty, or property, without due process
  of law nor deny to any person within its
  jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

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The Amendments of the Civil War

• Explain this Amendment to the Constitution in
  your own words.
• 15th Amendment 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.