American History II, Lecture I: Reconstruction

United States History II
Lecture I: Presidential Reconstruction

I. At the end of the Civil War the country faced new challenges to not only her continued unification, but more importantly to her reunification. The new president, Johnson serving from 1865 to 1869, the first after Lincoln’s assassination by John Wilkes Booth, likewise faced many tough decisions.

a. Not the least of which was simply, what to do with the former confederate territories and the occupants some of which contributed militarily in opposing the United States.

b. In the end, Congress and 4 presidents would deliberate the many issues of Reconstruction policy.

c. The primary issues of which all other issues arose were simply, how the southern states should be re-admitted into the union and what would become of the “freed” peoples or in other words how should they be treated.

d. The answer or answers to these issues would in large part be dependent on the actions taken by the southern states and their willingness or lack of willingness to compile with the demands.

e. Unfortunately bitterness from both sides did not immediately die with end of war.

f. In fact in many ways resentment, especially among former confederates, intensified.

g. Questions arose immediately, such as how sweeping the changes to southern society should be. Many Radicals favored a total reorganization of Southern institutions.

h. But to what extent should the federal government force them to adopt the demands before allowing re-admittance into the Union?

i. Furthermore what was to be done with the recently freed African Americans?

j. Were they to be given social and political equality? Yes they are free, but what beyond that?

k. What sacrifices or price would the Southern states have to pay? Radicals wanted more sever or harsh reconstruction policies.

l. Also, who would head up the Reconstruction efforts; the President, making Reconstruction an executive problem or Congress making it a legislative problem?

m. Remember, that to us this may seem like a complex historical process or period.

n. However to them it was much more, it was a complex issue, to be dealt with in the present, with direct repercussions for their own future and the future of the country they had sworn to serve.

o. Think of the current economic reconstruction efforts of President Obama and all of the controversy as different opinions come into conflict.

p. Who should be in control of economic policy, the President and thus the executive branch or Congress and thus the legislative branch?

q. Furthermore which economic policy should follow that of the Republicans, the Democrats or perhaps one of the less well known parties?

r. All of these issues, going on today illicit different responses in people of equal intelligence and often of equal influence.

s. Now magnify that by 10x and you begin to see the picture, the people involved felt very passionate about pursing the policy that they formerly believed to be in the best interest of the country and often times the moral correct thing to be done.

t. The Civil War and Post-War Reconstruction effort was something that affect Americans in a much deeper sense that what we could envision.

u. In the North the southern, to be more precise ex-Confederates were seen as traitors. So why should they be shown leniency?

v. While in the South however, they had suffered a humiliated defeat, having deep psychological impact.

w. Even today some Southerns may look on Northerns with a bit of suspicion, and vice-versa. So there were many issues to be addressed.

x. Reconstruction needed to be about much more than a rebuilding of infrastructure or a rearrangement of social institutions.

y. The country needed to be mended, emotionally and psychological the union had been tested to the extreme.



II. T/S: Lincoln understood the many complex issues; his plan had been announced back in 1863 with the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction.

a. Now you may notice that 1863 is actually before the war ended, in fact debate over reconstruction actually began before the war even ended. Yet by 1865 little headway had been made.

b. Lincoln hoped to establish a southern Republican party and undermine any lingering Confederate sentiment.

c. However to many in Congress Lincoln’s reconstruction policy was seen as too lenient.

d. The Radical Republicans thought that readmission into the union should be much slower then what Lincoln’s plan called for.

e. Led by a Congressman from Pennsylvania Thaddeus Stevens and a Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner the radicals were only a small minority, who initially enjoyed little support.

f. However, Congressman Stevens proved to be a “skillful” debater his ability to alienate his opposition made him a powerful Radical despite their unimpressive numbers.

g. Stevens who hated the South with her Plantation Aristocracy sought like most Radicals to revolutionize Southern society.

h. He said that they must “revolutionize southern institutions, habits and manners…the foundations of their institutions must be broken up and re-laid”

i. Unless this happened, he warned, all of their efforts and sacrifice would have been in vain.

j. Stevens wanted property seizure in the south, which scared a lot of people, he wanted to take everything from the rebels; they were after all traitors.

k. Lincoln however in support of his plan had argued that the Union had essentially remained unbroken and therefore Reconstruction effort was simply a matter of giving control of the states to those citizens who had remained loyal.

l. The Radical Republicans on the other hand believed that Southern states sacrificed their rights.

m. They were traitors and rebels, and as the losers should be made to accept any terms and conditions demanded.

n. Only then would re-admittance into Union be possible, to the Radicals the states had not only sacrificed their rights to self-governance but their right to states.


III. T/S Under the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction southern states who had 10 percent of the electorate from 1860 who were willing to take an oath of allegiance and accept emancipation, could be readmitted into the Union and recognized as states.

a. It became known as Lincoln’s 10% plan it was simple and called for no harsh punishment or property confiscation.

b. Except of course for “slave property” which would no longer be considered property at all but people.

c. In reality the issue over “slave property” was not a concern for most southerners, why you may ask? While, because most southerners did not own slaves, ¾ in fact did not own slaves.

d. Under Lincoln’s simple plan Southern states that followed his Reconstruction policy would be granted full membership in the Union and be allowed a voice.

e. The idea was that this small number would establish a new government in the southern states which was both pro-union, and Republican.

f. Lincoln’s plan was criticized by the Radicals, because it left unbroken southern social institutions.

g. Lincoln believed that any attempt to forcibly change labor relationships would disrupt the reconstruction process.

h. He believed that in time blacks and whites would simply outgrow their older relationships.

i. In order for Lincoln’s plan to work, it presupposed a certain amount of liberty in the African American community.

j. If older relationships were to be outgrown than the former slaves and their descendants must have labor freedom.

k. And for example, they must be allowed to own and buy property etc., including of course land.

l. And that is why part of his plan included the requirement for the states to obey any Congressional or Presidential polices in that regard.

m. However, what this also meant is that the older institutions must be left mostly intact. If they were torn down than something else must be “Reconstructed” in their place.

n. This would naturally take much longer and instead of allowing blacks and whites to outgrow older relationships it would create and superimpose new ones in place of the old ones, potentially setting the stage for future conflict.



IV. T/S However the Radicals believed that if older relationships were to be outgrown than African Americans needed a heads-up of sorts.

a. This, they believed would equalize obvious and existing social hindrances, in fact obstacles to their social progress.

b. Older ideologies such as prejudice which could make it difficult if not impossible for African Americans to find legitimate or legal employment within a system that remained in the hands of whites.

c. So, the Radicals pushed strongly for certain guarantees for the “freed peoples” and esp. as they believed was crucial-- land.

d. Their logic was simple and accurate if they were not given land the former slaves could not support themselves.

e. Indeed, this in fact was a concern which many former slaves had already voiced.

f. How they could make a living and not be dependant, which would simply be a diminished form of slavery.

g. Though Lincoln’s plan did disqualify many southerners from taking the oath and thus having the opportunity to serve in the new government, many believed his plans were not strict enough.

h. Under Lincoln’s plan former Confederate office holders, military officers, and former United States officials and military officers who resigned were excluded from taking the oath of allegiance

i. As well by, extension blacks were excluded, because they did not constitute any part of the electorate body of 1860.
j. Radicals of course wanted African Americans to be given the right to vote and land, this they believed would give meaning to emancipation.

k. If denied this then they would only have a quasi-freedom, never mind that the rights of women at the time did not include the vote.

l. Most Black men of course were asking for voting rights. Especially veterans who had served in the union army.

m. They argued that it they had worn the same uniform and risked their lives for the country why shouldn’t they be given the right to vote. This seems a reasonable demand.



V. T/S When Louisiana and Arkansas met the requirements of Lincolns 10% plan having accepted emancipation during the war, Lincoln recognized the governments. Although they had not granted voting or property rights to the former slaves.

a. However congress refused to accept their legitimacy and when Arkansas and Louisiana elected representative and sent them to Washington, Congress refused to seat them.

b. And when they tried to cast electorate votes in the election of 1864 congress would not accept them.

c. Instead Congress developed their own plan for Reconstruction. The radical republicans believed that the exclusion should be extended and in 1864 the Wade-Davis bill was passed.

d. The Wade-Davis bill allowed for a military governor to rule former Confederate states until a minimum of half of qualified voters were willing to take an oath of allegiance.

e. When the required 50% of the 1860 electorate body, needed for the state governments to be recognized, was met they would be permitted a state constitutional convention.

f. However the only voters that could vote for the delegates must take an “Ironclad” oath that they never, in any way, supported the Confederacy.

g. So not only must they swear an oath of allegiance to the U.S. but they must also swear that they had always supported the U.S.

h. Obviously there were few people who could truthfully do this.

i. Lincoln however would not be bullied, he was used to opposition and was not intimidated by Congress, he pocket-vetoed the bill.

j. And in reality if passed it would have delayed readmission considerably.

k. Lincoln’s refusal to sign this bill, enraged Radicals, and they promptly issued what was called the Wade-Davis Manifesto on August 5 1864, they basically said that it was the presidents’ duty to obey and enforce the laws enacted by congress.

l. Lincoln decided, despite the rather harsh wording of the Manifesto, to continue treating the state governments of Arkansas and Louisiana as legitimate.


m. Lincoln felt his plan for reconstruction would allow the Southern states to make the transition back into the Union as smoothly as possible.

n. He was willing to go so far as to grant presidential pardons to any rebel willing to swear an oath of allegiance, while at the same time swearing to obey any presidential proclamations or congressional legislation pertaining to slavery or African Americans.

o. So you can see that much of the controversy centered on what was to become of the former slaves.

p. It was feared that unless the Southern states were made to submit to Congressional and Presidential policies, that African Americans would be forced to accept a role as a landless/labor social class in the coming order.

q. And thereby be dependants with little more freedom than what slavery itself entailed.

r. By April 14, 1865 the day of Lincoln’s assassination, it had become clear that the road ahead would be a difficult one.

s. The battle-lines, for which Reconstruction policy would dominate, were clearly drawn.

t. Though Lincoln had hinted at a revised Reconstruction policy we will never know what his final plan would have looked like.


VI. T/S: After Lincoln’s assassination Vice President Andrew Johnson, somewhat of a southerner himself from east Tennessee assumed the presidency.

a. Johnson was a self educated man, a tailor who taught himself late in life to read and write.

b. Like Stevens, he hated the plantation aristocracy of the south and as a commoner his resentment toward this class fueled his hatred.

c. Ironically Johnson was a democrat and had always been a democrat he was simply added to Lincolns ticket to help secure additional votes.

d. When Johnson assumed the presidency he seemed at first to be on the side of the radicals.

e. He announced that “treason is a crime and must be made odious”

f. He spoke of large scale confiscation of property and even of hanging certain confederates; he therefore, quite naturally had wide appeal among the radicals.

g. However Johnson quickly done a turnabout, in fact many in the North who sought vengeance in the beginning started to change their mind and accept a more moderate stance.

h. They simply demanded certain things, such as the complete and official denial of secession, a guarantee for the freedom and civil rights of African Americans.

i. And guaranteed political rights and freedom from discrimination for the Unionist who had supported the Union during the war and of course political disqualifications for some rebels.


VII. To the Radicals this was not enough they demanded a harsher Reconstruction policy.

a. They wanted not only suffrage for blacks, but to take away the vote from the planter class along with their wealth and property.

b. In their place a new class of freed peoples and white unionist would establish the “new-order”.

c. However Johnson grew increasingly conservative between 1865-1867, or rather revealed more of his conservative nature.

d. Johnson did not support any move to help African Americans and in fact he was a deeply racist man.

e. Even in, what to our standards was a racist America, Johnson stood out as an extreme example. He wanted in no way to help the former slaves.

f. Indeed, he was a former slave owner himself, who changed his stance on slavery more as an attempt to undermine the plantation aristocracy, rather than on any moral basis.

g. As Republican Radicals and moderates tried to agree on a single Reconstruction policy, Johnson, believing like Lincoln that he the President should be in charge of Reconstruction, crafted his own.

h. So in May 1865 Johnson offered Pardon and return of property to any rebel who took the oath of allegiance, with the exemption of certain leading rebels and plantation planters.

i. Though he allowed the planters to apply for special pardons.

j. As well Johnson outlined a method by which whites could establish a government in states which abolished slavery, invalidate succession and repudiated war depts.

k. If the Southern states had honored the war debts, many in the north feared that it would be the same as saying that succession was alright.

l. The radicals were furious but powerless, Johnson’s plan made no mention of black suffrage or civil rights.


VIII. T/S Johnson was able to make use of a loophole of sorts.

a. The old pattern for Congress in the mid-nineteenth century had been that the newly elected Congress in say November of 1864 for instance, would not have their first session until December of 1865.

b. So that the recently elected would take their seats, the following year. Why is this significant?

c. Because the newly elected Congress actually had a 3 to 1 Republican majority which would have certainly opposed many of Johnson’s decisions.

d. They were therefore unable to do anything, while Johnson assumed control of Reconstruction Policy.

e. Naturally Republicans both radicals and moderates were very frustrated.

f. Johnson’s behavior however eventually proved to work against him as he simply forced the moderates and radicals in the Republican Party to increasingly work together.

g. The anger of the Radicals was soon made worse by the passing of the so-called “black-codes” in place of the former slave-codes, through much of the south.

h. The southern states took advantage of Johnson’s new found leniency, several went so far as to refuse to formal repudiate succession.

i. While others elected formerly high ranking Confederates to high offices.

j. Yet the most infuriating to radicals was the refusal of two states to ratify the 13th amendment, which ended slavery.

k. The “black-codes” were designed to restrict the free movement of Blacks and applied certain labor restrictions.

l. Such as the limiting of types of jobs that blacks would be allowed to work, or even whether or not they could leave their jobs—this of course sounds remarkably similar to slavery.


IX. T/S Meanwhile southerners began to talk about state rights again.

a. “The Freedman’s Bureau”, est. in March of 1865 to help Blacks make the transition from slavery to freedom, attempted the best they could, to counter the black-codes.

b. However the Bureau was only designed to provide certain necessities.

c. Like shelter and food, as well as to assist in finding employment or facilitate in the placement of black refuges on public land.

d. So they failed in many cases to protect the interest of the Black community.

e. Andrew Johnson may not approve of the southern states abuses of his policy, however, if he did nothing to stop them.

f. When Mississippi created a state militia composed of large number of ex-Confederate soldiers, people in the North felt that things had gone far enough.

g. Johnson did not help himself by handing out special or individual pardons to nearly any on who asked.

h. Out the 15,000 or so applicants Johnson gave out 13,500 presidential pardons to the old planter class, enabling many to resume a position of leadership in their community.

X. T/S In time Johnson begin to see southern democrats as his true allies and why not after all he had been a democrat his whole life and he was from the south.

a. Likewise southern democrats came to believe that Johnson was their ally in creating a new conservative or Democratic Party.

b. Naturally republicans in the north, both moderates and radicals, abhorred the idea of an alliance between the President and southern demarcates.

c. As well as the speed at which some of those southern democrats had returned to positions of power and influence following the war, despite their involvement in and support of the Confederacy.

d. Now remember that the Congress convening in December of 1865 had a 3 to 1 Republican majority.

e. So Republicans of course did not intend to take all this laying down they were ready to fight for what they believed to be the best policy.

f. The problem was, at least at first that they were somewhat divided themselves, between two camps, the moderates and the radicals.

g. However they could agree on at least one thing that the representatives from the south should not be recognized.

h. And when Congress convened that December, republicans had the power with their 3 to 1 majority, to refuse to seat the newly elected Congress men form the southern states and that’s exactly what they did.

i. They also agreed that at a minim the basic civil rights of slaves needed to be protected.

j. What they could not agree on, at least in the beginning, was how Johnson should be handled.

k. Moderates and conservatives alike wanted to deal with Johnson to “persuade” him to act differently.

l. However, big surprise, the radicals wanted more drastic measures taken, including sweeping changes to southern institutions and society.

XI. T/S A joint congressional committee was set up to deal with Reconstruction issues and as the more populous faction moderates led the way.

a. Their goals were to extend the time of operation of the “Freedman’s Bureau” and to define the rights of freeman while granting the power to federal courts to hear appeals for causes involving violations of those rights.

b. The idea was to provide a measure of safety against the state courts.

c. Congress passed these measures without hesitation early in 1866 only to have them promptly vetoed by Johnson.

d. Johnson claimed that they were not constitutional because Congress could not legislate for states that were not properly represented, that in fact had no representation.

e. Why should they be allowed to refuse to seat the representatives and then pass laws for them?

f. Johnson agreed that congress had the power to deny a seat to any individual elected.

g. But argued that Congress did not have the power to deny these states any representation at all.

h. In March of 1866 Congress made another attempt by passing a Civil Rights bill that assured that African Americans were citizens and nullified the black codes.

i. It gave both property and legal rights to the former slaves however it did not give black man the right to vote, not even to veterans.

j. Despite the wishes and efforts of the radicals who simply lacked the power and influence.

k. Of course Johnson did not hesitate in vetoing this bill as well, stating similar reasons.

l. This act by Johnson set the stage for Congressional Reconstruction efforts.

m. Now moderates begin to see Johnson more and more as the radicals did, as an obstacle to overcome and not someone to be dealt with.

n. So moderates were driven closer to the radicals somewhat unifying the Republican Party.

o. So that the 3 to 1 majority would now, more than ever give them the power to do pretty much as they pleased.

XII. T/S And they did. Congress passed both bills over Johnson’s veto.

a. The Freedman’s Bureau bill as well as the Civil rights bill, but they did not stop there.

b. Congress went on to construct what would become the 14th amendment to the constitution.

c. It would be the guideline for re-admittance of the southern states into the union and on June 13th the 14th amendment was passed.

d. It stated that all native born Americans including African Americans were recognized as citizens and prohibited states from depriving any of these citizens of life liberty or property without due process.

e. It also guaranteed equal protection of these laws and excluded many former confederates from holding office at either the state or federal level.

f. The amendment however didn’t specifically grant voting rights to black men.

g. Though the radicals wanted the provision added, they simply lacked the numbers of votes needed.

h. Both moderates and conservatives were not willing to grant voting rights to blacks not even veterans.

i. If any state ratified the amendment they would then be allowed back into the union.

j. Andrew Johnson’s home state of Tennessee did so almost immediately, by July of 1866 and was re-admitted.

k. However Johnson condemned the amendments as unconstitutional, citing yet again, that the states were not represented.

l. As the chasm between the President and Congress grew wider, Johnson made what would be a failed attempt to establish a new party.

m. Composed of conservatives of both the Republicans and Democrats. Not all that surprising it attracted mostly democrats.

n. Johnson further drove moderates to the radical camp with his aggressive style of politics.

o. He attacked, political, the moderates forcing them to see him as the opposition.

p. In turn the Republicans attacked Democrats, more successfully I might add, by pointing out that most of the rebels or supporters of the rebellion had, in fact, been Democrats.

q. So Johnson is backed into a corner and the new Republican congress with a Republican party that is more unified than ever, is in position to take control, once and for all, of Reconstruction.

THE END OF LECTURE I: PRESIDENTIAL RECONSTRUCTION