Reconstruction Notes

12/16/2013 12:33:00 PM

Aftermath in the South Lost Cause- romanticization of the war + nostalgia for pre-war South Southern blacks- Free but ???? Freedom Definition of freedom African Americans: end to slavery/all injustices and humiliation caused by it + same rights as whites! White Southerners: ability to control own shit w/o Ners + Fed gov interference, tried to restore antebellum S o Local/regional autonomy + white supremacy 1865- Congress establish Freedmens Bureau Army agency directed by Gen. Oliver Howard Provided living provisions for Freedmen= freed blacks Reconstruction Issues Readmitting S would reunite Dems + weaken Republicans (had free-reign while S was out of the Union) Northerners believed S should be punished + industrialized Congress disagreed on how to readmit o Conservatives: S accepts abolition of slavery (thats it!) o Radicals (led by Stevens + Sumner): punishment + disenfranchisement of white assholes, legal rights of Freedmen protected Plans Lincoln: moderate/conservative, believed leniency would encourage Sers to join Reps o 10% plan- amnesty to white senators that pledged loyalty to gov when 10% of # of voters took oath, they could set up state govs (Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee) o Congress denied seats to ^ states + refused to count electoral votes in 1824 Wade-Davis Bill (1864)- president apptd. Provisional governors to each S state when majority pledged to Union, governor could hold state convention + take Ironclad Oath

o New state constitutions = abolish slavery, disenfranchise Confederate leaders + repudiate debts Ignored question of what to do w/ Freedmen o Lincoln vetoed it and literally died after Andrew Johnson = prez, hostile to slaves restoration of S: amnesty to those who pledged allegiance, Confed leaders needed individual pardons (rest of it Wade-Davisish) by 1865, all S states formed new govs Radicals + Ners PISSED Alexander Stephens = former Confed V.P. became senator Congressional Reconstruction 1856- Congress refused to seat representatives from new states + Joint Committee of Reconstruction Black Codes: laws in S, basically replaced word slave w/ Negro o Congress extended life of Freedmens Bureau + passed 1st civil rights act (1866) Johnson vetoed both, Congress overrode him 14th Amendment: defined citizenship (anyone born in US) + legal protection, penalties for states that didnt uphold them, prohibited Confed federal officials from holding state/federal office o readmitted any state that ratified 14th only Louisiana Race riots began, Johnson tried to promote Dems/Conservatives fucked up Republicans large + in charge (House/Senate) 1867- Congress passed 3 reconstruction bills S states-Tennessee 5 military districts, ordered to register qualified voters (black males + whites that didnt rebel) o Voters elect conventions new constitutions including provisions for black suffrage voters ratified new constitutions elect state govs (had to ratify 14th amendment) readmitted into Union By 1868: Arkansas, N.C., S.C., Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, Florida all readmitted 15th Amendment: forbade states to be racist 1867: Tenure Office Act- forbade prez to remove civil officials (purpose was to protect secretary of war Edwin Stanton from Johnson firing)

Command of the Army Act- prohibited prez from issuing military orders except thru commanding general of army

12/16/2013 12:33:00 PM

12/16/2013 12:33:00 PM