Chapter 17 Key Themes and TermsA1.Lincoln’s plan for reconstructing the Union was his Ten Percent Plan with theProclamation of Amnesty and Reconstructiona.Proclamation of Amnesty: Official pardon to all southern whites who took anoath of allegiance to the US and accepted the abolition of slavery, excludingConfederate government officials and high-ranking military officersb.Proclamation of Reconstruction: White landowners could adopt laborregulations and other measures to control former slaves.c.Ten Percent Plan: Any state where number of white males over 21 that equaled10 percent of number of voters in 1860, that nucleus could reestablish astate government with presidential recognition.d.Loyalty oath: Accepting slavery and having allegiance to the US.2.Northern groups that opposed Lincoln plan were Radicals, believing that the amnestypolicy favored Confederates at the expense of the freedmen. They did not wantlandless freed people and sought to punish Confederates by confiscating theplantations.a.Thaddeus Stevens: Leader of the Radical Republicans in the House ofRepresentatives.b.Charles Sumner: Leader of the Radical Republicans in the Senate.c.Frederick Douglass and Wendell Phillips: Black leaders in abolitionism and asRadical Republicans.3.Reconstruction of Louisiana impacted Congress in that the Louisiana legislaturechose not to give blacks the right to vote. Congress refused to admitrepresentatives from the “reconstructed” state. They realized Lincoln’s Ten PercentPlan did not work accordingly.4.To counter Lincoln’s plan, Congress passed the Wade-Davis Bill, imposing stringentloyalty requirements for a state to be granted recognition, although it still didnot enfranchise blacks. Lincoln killed it with a pocket veto. A pocket veto is whena bill is passed through Congress but fails to become law because the Presidentdoes not sign it.B.1.Andrew Johnson – poor white heritage, against the big plantations that destroyedsmall farmers, advocated the white yeoman- became the spokesman for the yeomen. ADemocrat, only senator from a seceding state that refused to support theConfederacy.2.Johnson’s plan for reconstruction was to deny political power to ex-confederatesand create governments with the yeomen leading the way.i.Issued a blanket amnesty for everyone except high ranking Confederateofficials and military officers and those worth > $20,000.ii.Only white men received the amnesty and, if taking the oath, couldvote; excluding blacks and upper white society, Johnson was dedicatedto white supremacy.iii.Radical Republicans believed this would only open up a new doorway foroppression to take its thrown in the South.3.Southern defiance increased as anti-Yankee sentiment rose. Johnson seemed topromote, through his rhetoric, neo-Confederate violence towards blacks and whitesympathizers.i.Allowed the formation of white militias in South.ii.Johnson began to grant special pardons to many ex-Confederates due toflattery and bribery. Confederates were being re-elected into power yetagain.iii.Johnson wanted to run under the Democratic Party in 1968.4.The Black Codes defined the rights of the former slaves, conditions close to thatof slavery, a quasi-slavery system.i.Blacks became second class citizensii.Not allowed in jury, ballot box, testify against whites, interracialmarriage, and had more severe punishments compared to whites.iii.Some unemployed blacks were considered vagrant and were hired out toplanters – blacks could not lease or own land.iv.Union Army suspended for as long as possible the implementation ofthese Codes.

C.1.Southern economy was nearly non-existent: no tracks for railroads, fields filledwith weeds, burned-out plantations. Half the livestock was gone, one fourth ofSouth’s white farmers were killed in the Civil War. Law and order broke down, noone knew how to farm without slavery.2.Freedmen’s Bureaus was created to oversee relations between former slaves andowners, intervene when necessary to insure justice and equity in southern labor andrace transactions.a.They also issued food rations to white and blacks.b.Tried to establish minimum wages for blacks. But with no money in the South,contracts were developed with share wages, or sharecropping.c. Sharecropping - paid workers with shares of the crop after it was harvested.A black family worked a specific piece of land in return for share of the crop.3.Ownership of land was a central issue to whites and blacks because land meant onehad power. Whites refused to sell land because it would mean losing a source ofcheap labor and encouraging notions of black independence.a.Forty acres and a mule: General Sherman issued a military order setting asidethousands of acres of abandoned plantation land for blacks, giving eachfamily forty acres and a mule.i.However, Johnson with his issuance of pardons restored most of thisproperty to ex-Confederates.ii.Abolitionists were more successful in education than acquiring themland, led by DuBois.D.1. Republicans were determined to take control of the reconstruction process. Congressrefused to admit representatives selected by former Confederate states under Johnson’sreconstruction policy and set up a new committee to create new terms.a. Sought for stronger government intervention in Reconstruction.b. This committee encouraged southern states to enfranchise blacks but would notrequire them to do so.2. Congress passed two laws, one that extended the life of the Freedmen’s Bureau andexpanded its powers. The other defined freed people as citizens with equal legal rights.a. Lyman Trumbull drafted these bills.b. Andrew Johnson vetoed both measures, but with 2/3 majority they were passedanyways over the pocket vetoes.i. Denounced Republican leaders as traitors who only wanted to preservethe Union disregarding white southerners.3. Fourteenth Amendment: All native born or naturalized persons, including blacks,were American citizens and States could not grant privileges and immunities to them ordeprive them. Either states enfranchised blacks or they would lose a number of congressionalseats and electoral votes. Many ex-Confederates were disqualified from holding office.Guaranteed the national debt and rejected the Confederate debt.a. Required 2/3 majority from Congress and ratification from states. It was acounter to the President’s attempt to veto the Freedmen’s Bureau and Civil RightsBill.b. It gave blacks rights and reduced political power of ex-Confederates. Itvastly expanded federal power and limited state power.4. 1866 elections were congressional.a. Republican platform: 14

Amendment – (Tennessee ratified it and itsrepresentatives were seated)b. Johnson created a National Union Party – Democrats, conservative Republicans,border-state Unionists.i. Doomed because N. and S. Democrats disagreed on key issues and raceriots bolstered Republican arguments. Johnson himself insulted many citizens and gaveRepublicans an easy advantage.c. Republicans had 3-1 majority in next Congress.E.1. Reconstruction Acts of 1867 sought for full restoration of former Confederatestates: Divided 10 southern states into five military districts, directed army officers toregister voters for the election of delegates to new constitutional conventions.

a. For these elections: enfranchised

all

males over 21, disfranchised ex-Confederates who were forbidden from holding office.b. When a states adopted a new constitution, granted equal civil and politicalrights regardless of race, ratified 14

Amendment – it would be declaredreconstructed.c. It constituted a revolution because just a few years earlier there were 4million slaves and wealthy white planters, now the white planters had little politicalpower, while the former slaves were free and empowered.i. Southern White Republicans – scalawagsii. Northern Settlers – carpetbaggersiii. Union Leagues were formed to inform and mobilize black voters into theRepublican party.2. Johnson replaced Republican generals in charge of military districts withDemocrats. Interpreted the Acts narrowly. Encouraged southern whites to obstruct and delaythe registration of voters, hoping to slow the process until Republicans “came to theirsenses”.3. When Johnson removed Secretary of War Edwin Stanton from office, it appeared toviolate the Tenure of Office Act as a removal required Senate consent, and the Houseimpeached him. (if convicted by 2/3 majority of Senate, Johnson would be removed and Wadewould replace him).a. Army Act4. Senate acquitted Johnson because they believed Wade was too radical and the balanceof powers between Executive, Legislative, and Judicial Branches.F.1. State constitutions: Bones and Banjoes Conventionsa. Republican delegates: ragamuffins and jailbirdsb. Enacted universal

male

suffrage, disfranchised several ex-Confederates until1872, mandated statewide public schools for both races, increased state responsibility andsocial welfare.c. KKK: made its first appearance during these elections, originally a fraternalsociety in 1866.2. Fifteenth Amendment: Prohibited states from denying the right to vote on grounds ofrace, color, or previous conditions of servitude. Prevented any further revocation of blacksuffrage and extended throughout the US, including the North. Only problem was enforcementof the amendment.3. Republicans chose Grant because was a war hero; commanded the greater authority andprestige than anyone else in the country, General-in-chief of the Army, but had

politicalexperience.a. Grant ran in order to preserve the victory for Union and liberty won in war.b. Horatio Seymour: Democratic candidate, wartime governor of New York.i. Chose not to choose Johnson because he had too many enemies.ii. Seymour had a militant platform: declare Reconst. Acts void, removestate gov., usurp Army power in South, allow white south to reorganize gov.c. Grant won.G.1. Rapid postwar economic growth, expansion of government contracts, relaxation oftensions and standards, and the rush of railroad construction encouraged scandals. Calledthe Era of Good Stealings by a historian. Dudley Warner wrote The Gilded Age, giving thename of the era, the Gilded Age.a. Whiskey Ring Scandal- Whiskey distillers avoid paying taxes.b. Black Friday Scandal- Gold price went up and

Ghould stores gold, then sellsit for $ when convincing Grant to stop selling gold reserves.c. Credit Mobilier Scandal- Billing the government for work never done, Congressheld its stock.d. Salary Grab Act- Retroactive pay raise.e. Sanborn Contract Fraud-f. Belknap Scandal- Selling jobs in government.g. Tammany Hall and William Tweed – “Ring” and “Boss”, stole more $ from NYtaxpayers than all the federal agencies combined.2. Chief target of civil service reforms was the spoils system. Reformers wanted toseparate the bureaucracy from politics by requiring competitive examinations for theappointment in civil service.a. Pendelton Act- established the modern structure of civil service reform.