Reconstruction: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
The period immediately following the Civil War (1865 -1877) is known as Reconstruction. Its promising name belies what turned out to be the greatest missed opportunity in American history. Where did we go wrong? And who was responsible? Renowned American history professor Allen Guelzo has the surprising answers in this eye-opening video.
This video was made in partnership with the American Battlefield Trust. Learn more about the Reconstruction at Battlefields.org. http://bit.ly/2NzppkE
The American Civil War ended in _____________________________.
1863186418651866Why did President Lincoln add Andrew Johnson to his reelection ticket in 1864?
to anger the Southern Democratsas a gesture of wartime bi-partisanshipto greatly speed up reconstructionnone of the aboveAfter the Civil War the Southern states were able to count 100% of the freed slaves for the purpose of determining representation in Congress.
TrueFalseIn 1869, with the help of ______________ votes from newly-enfranchised blacks, a new Republican president, Ulysses S. Grant, took office.
5005,00050,000500,000What could America have done better in the South after the war to avoid ‘Jim Crow’ laws, to avoid racial segregation, and to avoid social and economic backwardness?
imposed a real occupation on the defeated Confederacy until a new political generation grew up in the Southgotten landownership into the hands of the freed slavesbrought the South into the same world of free markets, economic mobility, small-scale manufacturing, and industry that Lincoln’s Republicans advocatedall of the above
- The years after the Civil War could have been a glorious chapter in America’s story, but Southern Democrats turned it into a shameful one.
According to census data, 3.9 million slaves lived in the South in 1860.
View sourcePresident Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, issued Jan. 1, 1863, declared all slaves in the Confederate States to be free.
View sourceIn 1863, the Republican president made preliminary plans for reintegrating the south into the Union, offering amnesty for Confederate soldiers.
View sourceAfter the Union victory in the Civil War, the period known as “Reconstruction” began, lasting from 1865 to 1877.
View sourceOn April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth assassinated Lincoln.
View sourceLincoln’s plans for reconstruction died with him, Tennessee Democratic Vice President Andrew Johnson taking over. What occurred over the next decade, as Southern Democrats quickly regained control, led to the rise of Jim Crow laws, which imposed racial segregation in the South for nearly a century.
View source- After Lincoln’s assassination, Democrat Andrew Johnson oversaw the first crucial stages of Reconstruction—and failed miserably.
Abraham Lincoln’s vice president was Andrew Johnson, a rare Tennessee Democrat who stayed loyal to the Union during the Civil War.
View sourceLincoln added Johnson to his reelection ticket in 1864 as a gesture of wartime bi-partisanship.
View sourceJohnson thought that in order to reunite the country all he had to do was restore the old pre-war governments of the vanquished Confederate states.
View sourceThe only requirement to rejoin the Union under Johnson was that the former Confederate states agree to ratify the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery. Johnson’s infamously lenient approach to his fellow Southern Democrats in his first eight months in office was met with outrage from Republican lawmakers after they reconvened.
View sourceThe 13th Amendment, ratified in December 1865, stated, "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
View source- Shortly after the Civil War, racist Southern Democrats returned to power in even greater numbers than before the rebellion.
Southern Democrats ended up benefitting in one key way by the abolition of slavery: The Constitution’s old “3/5ths clause” limited slave states to counting only 3/5ths of their slaves for representation in Congress. After the Civil War, the Southern states were able to count 100% of the freed slaves for representation in Congress.
View sourceSouthern Democrats thus returned to Congress in greater numbers than before the rebellion.
View sourceEmpowered by Democratic President Andrew Johnson’s overly lenient approach to Reconstruction, Southern Democrats quickly passed Black Codes that kept blacks from voting and restricted what they could do for work.
View source- Andrew Johnson’s failure to require Southern states to recognize black civil rights sparked three years of bitter political warfare.
After President Andrew Johnson, a Democrat, badly mishandled the early stages of Reconstruction, Republicans in Congress created their own plan for reintegrating the South. Republicans re-organized ten of the Southern states into military occupation zones, requiring them to recognize black civil rights before they could be re-admitted to the Union, which Johnson had failed to do.
View sourceRepublicans also managed to pass the 14th Amendment which guaranteed “equal protection of the laws” (ratified July 1868).
View sourceIn February 1869, Republicans passed the 15th Amendment, which guaranteed voting rights in elections (ratified February 1870).
View sourceIn 1869, a new Republican president, Ulysses S. Grant, took office. Grant was solidly behind the Congressional Reconstruction plan.
View sourceRelated Reading: “Fateful Lightning: A New History of the Civil War and Reconstruction” – Allen C. Guelzo
View source- The tumultuous period of Reconstruction ended in failure, with Southern Democrats imposing racist Jim Crow segregation laws.
During the Reconstruction period after the Civil War, paramilitary groups rose up in the South; the largest was the Ku Klux Klan.
View sourcePresident Ulysses S. Grant, a Republican, fought the Klan and other like-minded terror groups, but the fight required an expensive and extended military intervention to keep the peace.
View sourceIn 1873, a major financial depression began.
View sourceVoters gave control of the House of Representatives back to the Democrats in the 1874 midterm elections.
View source“Jim Crow” racial segregation eventually overtook Reconstruction policies, and the South returned to social and economic backwardness.
View sourceRelated Reading: “Reconstruction: A Concise History” – Allen C. Guelzo
View source
The American Civil War ended in 1865. And a new conflict immediately began.
The North won the first war. The South won the second. To truly understand American history, one needs to understand how this happened, and why.
The years immediately following the end of the Civil War—1865 to 1877—are known in American history as “Reconstruction.” What should have been a glorious chapter in America’s story—the full integration of 3.9 million freed slaves—instead became a shameful one.
It began with the assassination of Republican president Abraham Lincoln. One week after the Civil War effectively ended, the one man with the political savvy and shrewdness to have guided Reconstruction was gone.
His successor was Vice-President Andrew Johnson, a Tennessee Democrat. Johnson was the rare Southern politician who stayed loyal to the Union during the Civil War. Lincoln added him to his reelection ticket in 1864 as a gesture of wartime bi-partisanship. But Johnson was wholly unprepared for the task.
Under his Reconstruction plan, the defeated rebels would be allowed to return to power, almost as if they had never left. The only requirement to rejoin the Union was that they agree to ratify the 13th Amendment that abolished slavery.
This was fine with the old Southern Democratic ruling class. By agreeing to abolish slavery, they would actually increase their political power. Whereas the Constitution’s old 3/5ths clause limited slave states to counting only 3/5ths of their slaves for the purpose of determining representation in Congress, after the Civil War, the Southern states were able to count 100% of the freed slaves.
This would ensure the return to Congress of Southern Democrats, and in even greater numbers than before the rebellion, allowing them—with the help of their Democratic Party allies in the North—to fight Republican efforts to secure the citizenship rights of the former slaves.
Johnson’s plan set off three years of bitter political warfare. The Republicans in Congress created their own Congressional Reconstruction plan. Still in the overall majority there, they reorganized ten of the Southern states into military occupation zones, requiring them to write new state constitutions that recognized black civil rights before they could be readmitted to the Union.
Over fierce Democratic opposition, the Republicans also managed to pass two new amendments to the Constitution—the 14th and 15th Amendments—guaranteeing due process in law and voting rights in elections. Those rights enabled the former slaves to help elect new state governments, to hold office, and even to send the first black representatives and senators to Congress—all Republicans.
Most important, in 1869, with the help of 500,000 votes from newly-enfranchised blacks, a new Republican president, Ulysses S. Grant, took office. Grant was solidly behind the Congressional Reconstruction plan.
But a new problem arose: Disgruntled Southern whites organized themselves into ad hoc militias to terrorize Southern blacks and their white Republican supporters into silence. The largest and most famous of these militias went by a still-familiar name: the Ku Klux Klan.
President Grant fought the Klan and other like-minded terror groups. But the fight required an extended military intervention to keep the peace, and that cost time and money. Grant also had to deal with Northern Democrats, who were sympathetic to Southern racism. With each new election—1868, 1870 and 1872—they gained more congressional seats and more power.
And then, in 1873, a major financial depression began. Economically desperate, anxious to put the remnants of the Civil War behind them, voters gave control of the House of Representatives back to the Democrats in the 1874 midterm elections.
Grant left office in 1877. Soon after, the last Republican state governments in the South were overthrown. Black voters were disenfranchised, “Jim Crow” racial segregation became the order, and the South returned to social and economic backwardness.
What could we have done better?
First, we should have imposed a real occupation on the defeated Confederacy, until a new political generation grew up in the South which learned a newer lesson about race and rights than white supremacy.
Second, we should have gotten landownership into the hands of the freed slaves and brought the South into the same world of free markets, economic mobility, small-scale manufacturing and industry that Lincoln’s Republicans advocated.
But the truth is that the North had won the war, but the South had won the peace.
That’s the real story of Reconstruction.
I’m Allen Guelzo, professor of American history at Gettysburg College, for Prager University.
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