I.
Reconstruction- need to get the country back together
A.
Ten Percent Plan
1.
Before he died, Lincoln came up with a plan to unite the country
a)
Southerners, except for high-ranking rebel officials could take an oath,
promising future loyalty to the Union and accepting the end of slavery
b)
When the numbers of those who had taken the oath within any one state
reached 10% of the number who had been registered to vote in that state in
1860, a state government could be formed
2.
Some states came back right away
3.
The Radical Republicans would not accept them back into the union
because they felt that Lincoln’s plan was too lenient
a)
It said nothing about the freed slaves and restructuring the government
b)
Didn’t prevent another secession when the South was pissed
c)
Drafted the Wade-Davis Bill, which said that a majority of registered
voters in 1860 had to declare an ironclad oath, stating that they were now
loyal and had never been disloyal
d)
Lincoln vetoed this with a pocket veto, the radicals were angry, but
then Lincoln was assassinated so the radicals thought they would be able to get
this through
B.
Johnson and Reconstruction
1.
Johnson followed Lincolns plan for the most part
a)
As part of the terms for readmission, he also included that if a state
wanted to be included they had to:
(1)
Ratify the 13th amendment
(2)
Pay off their own debt
(3)
Renounce secession
(4)
Recommend that blacks be given the vote
2.
Who was in charge of Reconstruction?
a)
Those who accepted Lincoln’s feeling of the war thought the southerners
were not traitors and therefore the president had the power to forgive them and
invite them back into the Union
b)
Congress said that the states that seceded left, created their own
country with their own constitution, etc., so any state that wanted to come
back into the union would come in like any new state, and therefore Congress
had the control over reentry
3.
No southern or northern
C.
Southerners didn’t like the conditions
1.
Some states didn’t want to ratify the 13th amendment or pay
off their debt
2.
Neither south nor north states allowed blacks to vote
3.
South passed the Black Codes- codes for behavior for blacks
4.
Didn’t want blacks, who used to be slaves, to now be their equals
D.
Bad for blacks- what now?
1.
Southerners didn’t want blacks, who used to be slaves, to now be their
equals
2.
Blacks who used to be slaves did not have skills to make a living
3.
In the North, blacks competed with immigrants for factory jobs, and
factory owners favored white immigrants
E.
More Reconstruction
1.
The northerners were in charge of the southern governments
a)
When the south was slow to accept the terms of Reconstruction, Congress
determined that the South was refusing to accept the verdict of war, they
divided the south into 5 military districts that were overseen by the north
2.
Freedmen’s Bureau Act
a)
Congress was trying to help the blacks
b)
Supposed to provide shelter, clothing, basic help for freed slaves to
get back on their feet
c)
Congress had to provide troops to see that it was enforced (many laws
passed to help blacks had to be reinforced with troops)
3.
Congress also tried to limit the power of the Supreme Court
a)
Did not want the Supreme Court to declare any Reconstruction laws
unconstitutional
b)
New SC Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase did not want to hear any
Reconstruction cases
4.
Tenure of Office Act
a)
Johnson inherited Lincoln’s cabinet, and he disliked Stanton, the
Secretary of War
b)
The act said that the president cannot dismiss cabinet members without
Senate consent
c)
This was really passed to get back at Johnson
d)
Johnson fired Stanton à impeached
(1)
The Senate thought they had Johnson, but in the end he was acquitted by
1 vote
e)
Eventually the law was gotten rid of
F.
Election of 1868
1.
Radicals ran the Republican party, but there were kinda two Republican
parties and no Democratic party
a)
Radicals ran Ulysses S. Grant (Civil War general)
b)
The other Republican Party nominated Horatio Seymour who was a former
governor of NY and a general in the Civil War
2.
The election was close, but Grant won by 300,000 votes (blacks were able
to vote in this election, and many voted for Grant)
G.
Reconstruction was rough in the south
1.
Economic issues
a)
1 in 10 men were killed in the war, many were crippled for life
b)
Those who returned well from the war returned home to destruction and
poverty (slaves were freed, cotton fields were ruined)
c)
Confederate property had been confiscated
d)
Property fell to 1/10 of its pre-war level
e)
These economic results stayed with the south for a long time- it took
the south a very long time to rebound
f)
Financial problems were due to corruption and poverty
2.
Political issues
a)
Southern governments were being run by carpetbaggers- northerners who
went south to help the blacks
b)
Scalawags helped the carpet-baggers- they were southerners who
cooperated with the carpetbaggers
c)
Carpetbag governments would give blacks jobs, which kept the blacks on
their side
d)
Social programs were expanded in the south
3.
Southerners needed to gain control
a)
Knights of the White Camellia (which morphed into the KKK) was founded
with the purpose of intimidating blacks and preventing them from voting
H.
Northern political machines
1.
Northern political bosses tried to help immigrants in return for their
vote
II.
Grant Presidency
A.
Grant’s flaws as president were over-loyalty and terminal stupidity, and
therefore a lot of fraud happened under him
B.
Scandals
1.
Credit Mobilier Scandal
a)
Officials of the Union-Pacific Railroad used a dummy corporation called
Credit Mobiler to skim off millions of dollars of the subsidies that the
government was paying them for building a transcontinental railroad, and they
used this money for themselves
b)
They also bribed Congressmen to look the other way even though they knew
what was going on
2.
Black Friday Scandal
a)
Jim Fisk and Jay Gould got Grant’s brother in law to convince the
president that stopping government gold sales would be good for farmers
b)
They knew that Grant would do it, so before the government stopped
selling gold they bought up as much gold as possible
c)
The government stopped selling gold, the price of gold went up high, and
businesses were not doing well
d)
By the time Grant realized he was duped, it was too late, and Fisk and Gould
went to jail
3.
Salary Grab
a)
Congress voted 100% pay raise for the president and 50% pay raise for
itself, retroactive 2 years
b)
At the time, this was not illegal, but now no sitting Congress can vote
itself a raise
4.
Sanborn Contract Fraud
a)
It is not unusual for the government to hire collectors, usually for
5-10%
b)
A politician named Sanborn was given a contract to collect unpaid taxes
for 50%, and somehow this commission found its way into the Republican campaign
fund
5.
Whisky Ring Fraud
a)
There was a large excise tax on whisky, and the distillers, in
compliance with some treasury officials, were skimming a lot of this money off
for themselves
b)
Grants secretary was in on this, and Grant naively accepted gifts of a
questionable nature
6.
The Bribing of Belknap
a)
Belknap was the secretary of war, and in those days Indian affairs came
under the secretary of war
b)
There were Indian agents in the west who were supposed to receive things
from the department of war for the Indian (blankets, food, etc.) and the agents
were stealing the stuff and selling it
C.
The Republican Party split over the scandals and the radicals’
vindictive policies
1.
The Liberal Republicans
- Opposed corruption
- Favored sectional harmony
- Favored hard money
- Favored laissez-faire
D.
Election of 1872
1.
Candidates
a)
Liberal Republicans nominated Horace Greely
(1)
Editor of The Tribune
(2)
Eccentric, controversial, and ineffective
b)
The Radicals nominated Grant
c)
Grant was also nominated by the Democrats
2.
Grant was reelected
E.
Economic difficulties
1.
Going from a war-time economy to a peace-time economy made things
difficult
2.
Efforts to stabilize the economy were not doing well
3.
Greenbacks
a)
Economic conservatives (bankers and creditors) wanted to get rid of
greenbacks (paper money) altogether and go back to a hard currency
b)
Going to a hard currency would be difficult for farmers and others who
relied on credit
c)
Grant hoped that the economy would rebound and then get rid of
greenbacks when we didn’t need them anymore
4.
Panic of 1873
a)
Basically a depression
b)
Brought on by overexpansion, primarily by railroad builders
c)
The government dealt with it by printing more greenbacks, but Congress
vetoed that and went straight to the gold standard, and inflation went sky high
5.
In 1875, Congress retired greenbacks altogether and the economy
rebounded a little bit
F.
Election of 1876
1.
Candidates
a)
Democrats nominated Samuel Tilden, governor of NY, who broke up the
Tweed Ring (a corrupt political machine in NY)
b)
Republicans dumped Grant in favor of Rutherford Hayes from Ohio
(1)
In favor of hard money and civil service reform
2.
Tilden won the popular vote and led in the electoral vote 184-165. However, 185 electoral votes were needed to
win the election. There were 20 disputed
votes from 3 southern states still occupied by federal forces and run by Republicans
3.
Instead of going to the House, this election was decided by a 15 member
commission
a)
On the commission, there were 5 Senators, 5 House members, and 5 SC
justices
b)
Of the 15, there were 7 Democrats, 7 Republicans, and 1 Independent
c)
The Republicans arranged for the independent to be elected to the
Senate, which left only Republicans on the SC
(1)
Why would someone give up his life spot on the SC to be a Senator where
he would have to be reelected?
(2)
Aren’t justices supposed to be not political?
d)
Republicans won the election
4.
Democrats threatened to contest the election, but a Compromise was
reached
a)
Hayes said that is the Dems don’t contest the election, he promised to
show consideration for all southern interests, and end reconstruction and pull
all troops out of the south
b)
Democrats agreed because they got what they wanted
5.
III.
Black Leadership
A.
Leaders (both black and white) fought over what to do and spent too much
time fighting- they couldn’t agree on which was the right way to go (voting
rights v. owning land)
1.
Booker T. Washington
a)
Freed slave at the age of 13
b)
Believed that blacks should become economically sound and then worry
about civil issues
2.
W.E.B. DuBois
a)
Booker T. Washington’s opponent
b)
Never was a slave- was actually a Harvard graduate
c)
Believed in fighting for civil, political, and social rights
B.
Forty Acres and a Mule (sheet 15)
1.
All freed slaves were promised 40 acres of land and a mule
C.
Black Voting (Sheet 13)
1.
Literacy Test
2.
Poll tax
a)
Low enough for all whites to pay, but still too high for blacks
3.
Grandfather Clause
a)
If your grandfather could vote before the Civil War, you could too
4.
D.
IV.
