Reconstruction

Sectionalism was nothing new to the US in the 1850s-60s. From the founding of the first colonies there grew sectional interests. Northern colonies early on developed an economy based on fishing, mining, and lumber because the soil and climate were not conducive to an agricultural economy. Southern colonies, on the other hand, took advantage of the rich soil, long growing season, and introduction of slaves by the Dutch, to develop a cash crop economy. These different paths would frequently create sectional tensions in the US and eventually lead to Civil War.

The introduction of new territories in both the Louisiana Purchase and lands won from Mexico in the Mexican War intensified these tensions. New territory meant new states which threatened to tip the balance of power in Congress to one side or the other. Would the South's agricultural society control federal policy or would the North's increasingly industrial society dominate? Neither....a series of compromises maintained the Congressional balance of power. Then a series of events tore the nation apart.

Introduction of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which in effect opened all territories to slavery by repealing the Missouri Compromise led to the formation of the Republican Party which strongly opposed the spread of slavery beyond the borders of the Old South. Elections in Kansas to establish a territorial government, and in so doing decide the issue of slavery in the territory, were fraudulent with hundreds of pro-slave votes being cast illegally by people from Missouri. The Supreme Court ruled that Dred Scott was still a slave and struck down all federal authority to legislate on the issue of slavery, arguing that it was a state matter. John Brown then led a raid on the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia in hopes of fomenting a slave rebellion, raising Southern fears that the North would stop at nothing to eliminate slavery. The final straw came in the election of 1860. Factionalism in the Democratic party led to a split. This division allowed the Republican, Abraham Lincoln, to be elected President without carrying a single Southern state. Before he was inaugurated Southern states began to secede and war would soon follow.

Reconstruction would involve more than simply readmitting the Southern states. Several issues would have to be addressed. These included whether or not the freedmen would be given the right to vote and who would control Reconstruction policy? Two greater issues also had to be dealt with. First: did the South really leave the Union? If they did not, then they were still states and were protected from federal encroachment. If they did leave the union they could be considered territories seized from an enemy nation and therefore subject to absolute control by the federal government. Second: how much should the South be punished? On one hand, they did precipitate a devastating war. On the other hand though, if the South was punished too much they could possibly become belligerent again.

Lincoln put together a Reconstruction program before the war was over. His plan was extremely mild: a new state govt. could be formed when 10% of the 1860 electorate swore an oath of allegiance to the US, they would have to accept the abolition of slavery, and there would be a general pardon except for high ranking Confederate officers. Louisiana, Tennessee, and Arkansas all created new governments under this plan but Congress refused to recognize them. Congress responded to Lincoln's program with a proposal of their own. The Wade-Davis Bill required a majority to swear an oath of allegiance and they would also have to take the "iron-clad" oath. This was an oath stating that you never bore arms against the Union (it would be difficult to find enough people who could honestly take this oath). New state governments under the Wade-Davis Bill would have to accept abolition of slavery and disenfranchise Confederate leaders.

Lincoln realized a compromise would be required for progress to be made on Reconstruction. He never got an opportunity to work on one though because on April 14, 1865 John Wilkes Booth assassinated him. Booth was a Southern sympathizer and hoped to aid or avenge the Southern cause. Lincoln's assassination was part of a larger plot that also targeted Vice President Johnson, and Secretary of State Seward. Seward, bedridden with illness, was attacked but survived. No attempt was made on Johnson's life. After he shot Lincoln, Booth escaped into the Virginia countryside where he was killed when federal troops caught up to him. Eight people were arrested and tried for their parts in the conspiracy. Among them were Mary Surratt, who owned the house where Booth and his conspirators made their plans, and the doctor who set Booth's leg which was broken when he jumped from Lincoln's box to the stage at Ford's Theater. Four of these eight were hanged, including Surratt who was the first woman to be executed by the federal government.

Following Lincoln's assassination, Andrew Johnson worked out his own Reconstruction program. This was similar to Wade-Davis with the added condition that those owning more than $20,000 in property had to apply personally to the President for a pardon. Southern states would have to accept the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery. The remaining southern states established new governments under Johnson's plan but, like those created under Lincoln's plan, Congress refused to recognize them.

The North underwent a radicalization while Reconstruction policy was being worked out due to the obstinacy of the South. Southern states elected former Confederate leaders to positions in the new governments, they passed "black codes" which replaced previous slave codes in all but name, and they refused to extend suffrage to the freedmen. It was under these conditions that Congress stepped in and took over Reconstruction when it reconvened in December, 1865.

Two of the first things Congress did was to extend the life of the Freedman's Bureau and pass the First Civil Rights Act. Johnson promptly vetoed both but this was overridden. Congress then submitted the 14th Amendment, which defined citizenship. The South was then divided into five military districts, each with a military governor who was to oversee the registration of all adult black males and those adult white males who did not participate in the rebellion to vote. Any new state constitution would have to extend suffrage to the freedmen and the states would have to accept the 14th Amendment. Former Confederate states began to be readmitted under this program. Before all could be readmitted an additional condition was applied: the 15th Amendment, prohibiting any government from infringing a person's right to vote based on "race, color, or previous condition of servitude", had to be approved. Mississippi became the final former Confederate state to rejoin the Union in 1870.

Tensions increased between President Johnson and Congress as the two grappled over control of Reconstruction. On several occasions Johnson attempted to thwart Congressional initiatives. He vetoed the First Civil Rights Act and the extension of the Freedman's Bureau. Even more inflammatory was Johnson's vigorous campaigning in the 1866 Congressional elections for moderates who would support his program over the Radical policies of Congress. Johnson's efforts backfired on him as voters reacted to the South's passage of black codes and election of Confederate leaders and sent more radicals to Congress than had been there before the election. This interference prompted Congress to seek a way to get Johnson out of the picture.

In 1867 Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act which prohibited the President from removing any civil official without the consent of the Senate. The act was meant to protect members of Johnson's cabinet who supported Congressional Reconstruction over Johnson's plan, particularly Secretary of War Edwin Stanton. Johnson decided to test the legality of the act by removing Stanton. This was a violation of federal law, an impeachable offense, and the House of Representatives seized the opportunity. Eleven Articles of Impeachment were drawn up and sent to the Senate for trial. The vote in the Senate on the first three articles fell one short of the 2/3 majority required for a conviction. The remaining articles were dropped and Johnson remained in office. His authority, however, had been damaged by the impeachment process and he played only a minimal role in the government during the remainder of his time in office.

Direct federal involvement in Reconstruction came to an end in 1877. The Presidential elections in 1876 ended in controversy with 20 electoral votes in dispute. Either candidate could win the White House with the 20 votes. Democrats and Republicans agreed to a compromise. Republican candidate Rutheford B. Hayes would be awarded all 20 electoral votes and thus become President. In return, Republicans would withdraw the remaining troops stationed in the South and would continue to push internal developments in the area.

The Freedman's Bureau had been created by Congress in March 1865 to distribute abandoned lands and provide support for the destitute regardless of race. The bureau actually did little in these respects. Virtually nothing was done as far as land redistribution and little was done in providing relief. Where the bureau excelled was in establishing school systems for the former slaves. Special courts were established to hear cases involving African Americans because they could not get a fair hearing in state courts. These, however, only heard minor cases.

The Republican Party had no native support group in the South. (Remember, this is a party that formed to oppose the spread of slavery and the party that prompted the South to secede when they gained control of the White House.) Despite this lack of support among native white southerners, the Republicans maintained control of the southern state governments. This was accomplished through the carpetbaggers, scalawags, and freedmen. Carpetbaggers were northerners who had traveled south either during or immediately after the war. Once there, they became involved in state politics. Scalawags were those southerners who joined the Republican party. These individuals joined for different reasons. Some sought to preserve their privileged positions by joining the party in power, others were poor whites who associated the party with reform and hoped to improve their lot in life, still others joined because they opposed the Democrats and had no party of their own. Perhaps the largest factor in retaining control was support of the freedmen. Newly franchised African American voters joined the Republicans. These governments had successes and failures.

They pushed development of an education system, which before the Civil War was virtually nonexistent. They also established facilities to care for orphans, the deaf, and insane. The southern Republican governments also subsidized development of railroads to improve and rebuild a transportation network that was in a shambles after the war. Unfortunately they failed to integrate schools and other facilities or do anything in the realm of redistributing land to the freedmen.

With the Compromise of 1877 federal authority in the southern states was reduced. Little by little, the southern state governments reverted to the Democratic Party. As southern Democrats regained control of their states, attempts were made to put African Americans back where they had been before the Republicans came. The Ku Klux Klan kept blacks from voting or exercising other rights through violence. In response to the rash of Klan violence, and the failure of southern states to do anything to stem the tide, the federal government passed the Ku Klux Klan Acts. These acts gave the federal government authority to prosecute anyone discriminating against voters based on color. They also permitted the president to use the military to protect civil rights.

Southern governments found ways around the Klan acts and the 14th and 15th Amendments. The federal Supreme Court handed segregationists a victory when they ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that having separate facilities for blacks and whites was not a violation of the 14th Amendment so long as they were equal. Poll taxes and literacy and understanding requirements were installed to keep African Americans out of the voting booth. If you couldn't pay a the poll tax and/or demonstrate the ability to read and write or understand the Constitution, you could not vote. The only drawback of this system was that, while barring most African Americans from the polls, it also kept countless poor whites from voting also. Southern governments found a solution to this problem with the Grandfather Clause. These clauses permitted an individual to bypass paying the taxes and literacy/understanding requirements if their grandfathers had voted before Reconstruction. This opened the door to most poor whites while keeping it shut to former slaves.

Amid these circumstances, one of the first prominent post-Civil War leaders of the African American community stepped forward. Booker T. Washington believed that education was necessary for advancement. He emphasized that industrial and practical education was more valuable than classical education and established the Tuskegee Institute to provide such training. Washington believed that, in order for African Americans to be accepted by white society and advance, they had to improve their appearance, speech, and education.