Week 10 Day 1 Recap

Today in class we took more notes on the Reconstruction. Here are some important things we discussed:

• Lincoln’s Views and Plans for Reconstruction: Lincoln had very lenient ideas about reconstruction. He came up with the 10% Plan, which basically said that a Confederate state needed to have 10% of its voters declare their loyalty to the Union. After that, the state could reorganize a government and apply for readmission into the Union. Other parts of Lincoln’s plans included being sympathetic towards the Confederacy, taking the South’s war debt, and giving money to the South.

• Wade-Davis Bill (1864): This bill was the polar opposite of Lincoln’s ideas. Proposed by the radical Republicans, this bill wanted 50% of voters to take an “iron-clad” oath declaring their loyalty towards the Union in order for a state to reenter the Union. Additionally, these voters would have to prove they did not aid the Confederacy in any way during the war. As you can probably tell, this would have been very hard to prove. Lincoln didn’t agree with these harsh ideas, so he pocket-vetoed it. Essentially, this meant Congress adjourned, Lincoln did nothing, and the bill used up its time and its proponents were forced to start all over again.

• Lincoln’s Assassination (1865): This caused the North to go from being possibly sympathetic to looking for revenge. This hurt the South, which was now at the mercy of angry northerners.

•  President Johnson: After Lincoln died, Andrew Johnson came into office. He was in favor of “restoring” the South, rather than “reconstructing” it. Johnson wanted to follow Lincoln’s 10% Plan, but he wanted to be much harsher with Confederate leaders, stripping them of citizenship and voting rights and saying they would have to be personally pardoned by him. This was harsher than Lincoln’s plan, but not harsh enough for the radical Republicans, who wanted to “reconstruct” the South.

•  Military Reconstruction: This was one of the harsher elements of reconstruction. It came about because after several southern states had been readmitted, their leaders came to Congress expecting to be part of the Union’s government. However, the radical Republicans refused to seat them and called in the military to reoccupy the South. This built up more resentment among the southerners and proved how Johnson was powerless against the override power of Congress. (As Mr. Stewart said, at this point Congress was a huge branch and the executive and legislative branches were twigs….)

• Impeachment: Johnson was the first president to be impeached. The radical Republicans didn’t like him because he was getting in their way, so they passed two acts: the Tenure of Office Act, which said Johnson couldn’t remove any officials appointed by Lincoln; and the Command of the Army Act, which said any order from the president must be approved by the commander of the army (Grant). Johnson broke these obviously unconstitutional laws and was impeached. It is important to note that just because a president is impeached does not mean he is removed from office; Johnson was impeached but survived removal by 1 vote.

• 15^th Amendment (1870): This amendment gave former slaves the right to vote, saying voting can’t be denied by race, color, or previous condition of servitude. This seems fine on the surface, but the South found many loopholes and used them to prevent poor whites and blacks from voting. These included poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather voting qualifications, and property qualifications. Southern hate groups like the Red Shirts and the White League harassed and lynched blacks and whites who were supportive of blacks. The Force Acts and the KKK Act were passed to try and stop this, but northerners were prejudiced, too, and would not be willing to spend endless money and time trying to help southern blacks.

• The Panic of 1873: This panic resulted from the government saying people would no longer be able to exchange their paper money (greenbacks) for gold. Overnight, greenbacks became almost worthless and the economy came to a halt. People stopped caring about reconstruction, and all the work for reconstruction was reversed.

• The Compromise of 1877: At this point, South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida were the final three states that hadn’t been admitted into the Union. These states made a deal that they would vote for the Republican candidate (Rutherford B. Hayes) if he would withdraw the military troops from the South. After the election, Hayes withdrew the troops and the southern governments were now all back in the hands of former southerners. This ended reconstruction.