Barbara Zisk United States History
Reconstruction: 1863-1877
An unfinished social, economic, political revolution
Note: Before proceeding please get the worksheet for US Regular, US Honors, or USAP for this project. This is a three to four day project It is important that the work done is your own. Also, please visit the Thomas Nast political cartoons that are linked throughout the project.
Over a century ago, prodded by the demands of four million men and women just emerging from slavery, Americans made their first attempt to live up to the noble professions of their political creed -- something few societies have ever done. The effort produced a sweeping redefinition of the nation's public life and a violent reaction that ultimately destroyed much, but by no means all, of what had been accomplished. From the enforcement of the rights of citizens to the stubborn problems of economic and racial justice, the issues central to Reconstruction are as old as the American republic, and as contemporary as the inequalities that still afflict our society." Eric Foner in Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution (1988), xxvii.
Reconstruction was the process by which the North attempted to bring the South back into the Union after January 1st, 1863 without the "peculiar institution" of slavery. The process resulted in a fight for power and jurisdiction between the Presidents and Congress. It also resulted in a fight between the North and the South as to just what type of change was to occur south of the Mason-Dixon line. Lincoln believed it was important to bring the southern states back as quickly as possible and by executive order created the 10% Plan (aka. Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction) in December, 1863. Congress countered with the Wade-Davis Bill. Lincoln's plan stayed in place bringing Tennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana back into the Union prior to the end of the war.
In January of the same year, Lincoln finally addressed the issue of slavery's abolition in the Emancipation Proclamation. It is the first time in history that the reasons for and the direction of a war had been changed in mid-fight. The Proclamation was geared more to political realities of Lincoln's day than the moral issues of slavery. Historian John Hope Franklin wrote an insightful article, The Emancipation Proclamation: An Act of Justice , in 1993 explaining the enduring influence of the document. With the assassination of Lincoln the battle for control of Reconstruction shifted to Andrew Johnson and the Radical Republicans in Congress.
Andrew Johnson ran as Lincoln's Vice President in 1864 on the Union Party ticket. Johnson, a former governor of Tennessee was a War Democrat. What seemed like an astute political move to balance the ticket and keep Lincoln and the Republicans in power in '64 turned into a political nightmare. Upon taking office, Johnson kept with Lincoln's moderate policies but soon created his own Reconstruction Plan especially with the ratification of the 13th Amendment. Within a very short time it became quite apparent that Johnson would be no Lincoln with "malice towards none; with charity for all." A strict constructionist when it came to the Constitution with a strong dislike of the planter aristocracy of the South, Johnson unfortunately can also be described as a believer in white supremacy. It would be over the fate of the Freedmen that Johnson and Congress first clashed.
It became clear from the beginning of troop contact with the southern blacks how degrading the slave system had been and how far the Freedmen had to go to assimilate into the learned white society. Most Freedmen were unskilled, unlettered, with no property or money forcing Congress to attempt to find a solution. In 1862, Congress's first attempt to aid the newly freed slaves began as a primitive form of welfare agency, the Freedmen's Bureau. Many Freedmen just wanted to own a small amount of land to farm. Many of the emerging African-American leaders were southern ministers (this trend continues even up until today) and free, educated northern African-Americans. As the Union army occupied the deep South, these men concerned about the future met throughout the South at Conventions of Freedmen. The future of the Freedmen would not be theirs to determine as even the Freedmen's bureau became a serious bone of contention between the Executive and Legislative Branches of government. When the time came, Congress extended the life of the Freedmen's Bureau. Johnson vetoed the legislation and Congress overrode his veto. The battle lines were drawn.
Thaddeus Stevens Charles Sumner
The loudest opposition to Johnson came from the Radical Republicans. Led by Thaddeus Stevens in the House of Representatives and Charles Sumner in the Senate, the Radical Republicans believed two things: 1) that the rich southern planters had caused the war and therefore should have NO power now that the war was over; and 2) the Freedmen's rights had to be protected. Not only angry over Johnson's veto of the Freedmen's Bureau extension, they believed his Reconstruction Plan had failed. Johnson's plan contained a loophole for those southerners who should not have been allowed back into political leadership roles. Those denied participation (virtually all the antebellum South's leadership) could approach Johnson personally for a pardon. Johnson believed that this type of "groveling" humiliated all those who applied, but applied they did in great number. The result was that as the states voted in their state and then national legislatures these men won. This allowed the state legislatures to begin to control their African-American populations through Black Codes. This also meant that as the southern states came back into the Union, Congress's Union Republicans and Democrats looked across the aisle at southern Democrats who had sat in the same seats six years before. The big question became 'Who had really won the war?'
To counteract the Black Codes, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866. Johnson vetoed the act and Congress overrode his veto. Power began to shift from the Executive Branch to the Legislative as a result of Johnson's inability to gain support for his vetoes. Knowing that simple legislation can be changed or voided by future legislation, Congress pushed for the 14th Amendment. Believing that the Amendment was unconstitutional, Johnson urged all of the southern states to not vote for ratification. All the secessionist states but Tennessee voted against ratification. Congress when the time came remembered Tennessee's loyalty.
Johnson realized he somehow had to counteract the growing Radical Republican influence in Congress. His decision led him to actively campaign for moderate Republican and Democrat candidates in the upcoming November Congressional elections. As Johnson "swings around the circle" he faced hecklers whom he non-presidentially heckled back. Virtually every candidate Johnson campaigned for lost. The Radical Republicans gained a 2/3 majority in both Houses. Nicknamed "dead dog in the White House," Johnson and the Presidency faced calamity. The newly seated Congress began its own Reconstruction Plan starting with sending all the newly seated states home except for Tennessee. The immediate effect of this plan was white southern voters stayed away from the polls. Newly settled northerners (carpetbaggers) and male Freedmen voted in Republican state governments that wrote new state constitutions, created new government positions, made previously appointed positions elected ones, built infrastructure, created school systems, and increased democracy throughout the South. Hiram Revels became the first African-American to serve in the U.S. Senate.
Next Congress turned to the problem of Andrew Johnson. Johnson, as President, was to enforce the laws. But he constantly worked against Congressional legislation, so how could he be removed? Congress passed two laws, the Commander of the Army Act and the Tenure of Office Act in 1867. The first took away Johnson's Commander-in-Chief powers by making all of his military decisions go through the Commander of the Army, Ulysses S. Grant. The Tenure of Office Act said that all appointed officials that had been okayed by the Senate could not be removed from office without their okay as well. Believing both acts to be unconstitutional Johnson vetoed them. Congress overrode the vetoes. The trap was set...
Andrew Johnson inherited Lincoln's Cabinet. A group of brilliant, talented, politically wily men whom Lincoln barely controlled, they overwhelmed poor Johnson. Secretary of War Stanton presented the biggest problem for as a Radical Republican not only was he a thorn in Johnson's side during meetings but he reported everything to the Radical Republican leadership in Congress. Johnson fired him with the belief that the Supreme Court would find the Tenure of Office Act unconstitutional. On February 24th, 1868 the House of Representatives voted 126-47 for impeachment due to "high crimes and misdemeanors." Only after the vote did the House create eleven impeachment articles, nine of which dealt with the Stanton firing. The trial began in March, with the House conducting the prosecution and the Senate sitting as the jury. Three months later the Senate came up one vote short of the 2/3 vote needed to find Johnson guilty. Seven Republican Senators put the country over the party. Johnson kept his job, but Congress held the check and balance power until the power shifted back to the presidency under Theodore Roosevelt in 1901.
The Radical Republicans put Grant up for their candidate for President in 1868. Johnson was ignored by both parties as a potential candidate. Ulysses S. Grant's terms in office were filled with scandals. Though never blamed himself, Grant had surrounded himself with scoundrels and opportunists. The one positive thing he did as president was bring to a close the terror of the Ku Klux Klan.
In 1876 the presidential race was between Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and Democrat Samuel Tilden. Due to voting fraud, mainly in Florida, it seemed as though the popular vote had gone to Tilden but the electoral college seemed to tilt toward Hayes. A Congressional committee in the House of Representatives was made up of four Republicans, four Democrats, and one independent. Their vote went to Hayes but only if he promised to end Reconstruction. The North's attention span had waned. Stevens and the other radicals had died and no one was willing to take up their defense of the Freedmen in the South. Soon after Hayes took office, Federal troops left the few remaining sections of the South. With the North no longer interested, the southern States were able to tear down all that had been done to increase equality for the African-American via Jim Crow laws.