Reconstruction

Reconstruction refers to the era following the American Civil War (1861–65) when the nation struggled to recreate a union of states. The U.S. government had to establish guidelines for reintegrating the Southern states that made up the Confederate States of America . Their acts of secession , or splitting from the Union, had been regarded as betrayal. Their loyalty to the United States needed to be affirmed, and the old, seceding state governments needed to be replaced by new, loyal ones.

The war had destroyed the economy in the South, so a lot of anger and resentment remained there. The abolition of slavery , on which much of the area's production depended, was difficult for Southern economies. Assimilating freed African Americans into hostile Southern societies began during Reconstruction but would take many decades more to complete.

Lincoln's intentions

The Civil War still raged in 1863, but President Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865; served 1861–65) was anxious for the Confederate states to come back to the Union. Hoping to lure states away from the

Confederacy, Lincoln issued the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, which outlined a lenient approach for readmitting states to the Union. It is sometimes called the Ten Percent Plan because it required only 10 percent of a state's voters in the 1860 presidential election to take an oath of allegiance to the United States. When 10 percent took the oath, citizens could be granted pardons, property restored, and state governments recognized and included again in the United States.

In the summer of 1864, Congress passed a compromise to Lincoln's plan, the Wade-Davis Bill. It raised the voter oath requirement from 10 to 50 percent and limited the participation of former Southern leaders in the formation of new state governments. Recognizing that no provisions had been made to protect freed slaves, Congress also established the Freedmen's Bureau in 1865 to help feed, protect, and educate them.

President Lincoln vetoed the Wade-Davis Bill. After he was reelected in 1864, a modified form of the bill was proposed, but efforts to pass it failed. The Confederate Army surrendered in early April 1865, and a few days later President Lincoln was assassinated. The future of Reconstruction remained undefined, yet surrender made the issue of reintegration urgent.

Johnson's plan

Upon Lincoln's assassination, Vice President Andrew Johnson (1808–1875; served 1865–69) became president. President Johnson was not a Northern Republican like Lincoln; he was a Southern Democrat who disagreed passionately with the South's choice to secede, but he also had deep Southern prejudices against African Americans. His Reconstruction policies were similar to Lincoln's, but they were no longer appropriate to the complex situation presented by the South's surrender.

With the end of the war, Reconstruction terms became more important. What would the rebellious states be required to do before being brought back into the Union? How would they prove their loyalty? What changes to their political systems would they have to make? As slavery had been abolished, what would be the legal, political, and social status of African Americans?

If states were readmitted with few or no conditions, then new local governments might make few changes to their politics and societies. The combined political power of Southern and Northern Democrats threatened to challenge Republican rule in Congress. The politics of a Northern Democratic president and a Republican Congress made Reconstruction an extremely difficult process.

Congress was on break and not scheduled to return for nearly eight months when Johnson presented his plan for Reconstruction. It required little change from the Southern states. He appointed temporary governors to call and oversee constitutional conventions. The states were required to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution , which abolished slavery, and to nullify (invalidate) their secession ordinances. Though Johnson encouraged giving African Americans the right to vote, he did not require it, and no state embraced the idea when they reorganized.

Johnson had to deal with the possibility that people in the rebelling states might face charges of treason against the U.S. government. Johnson offered general pardons for all Southerners except the highest-ranking Confederate officials and those owning property valued at more than $20,000. In practice, however, the president extended individual pardons to officials and property owners at such a rate that their exclusion from general pardons was meaningless. When Congress reconvened in December, Johnson announced that Reconstruction was finished.

Congressional involvement

Johnson's Reconstruction efforts had changed very little. Many of the states balked at the requirements of either ratifying the Thirteenth Amendment or nullifying their secession ordinances. Because President Johnson was granting pardons so easily, many of the former rebel leaders were elected again to leadership positions, including to Congress. New state governments were passing Black Codes , laws that restricted former slaves to near slavery.

Both moderate and Radical Republican members of Congress were dissatisfied with Johnson's efforts. When it reconvened in December 1865, Congress refused to acknowledge the Southern delegates recently admitted through Johnson's plan. Congress formed a Joint Committee of Fifteen on Reconstruction to handle all matters pertaining to the restoration of the South. It was a direct challenge not only to Johnson's Reconstruction policy but also to his authority as president. It marked the beginning of a long and complex political battle between the president and Congress.

Johnson was unwilling to cooperate with Congress. He vetoed many measures that Congress passed. Congress, for the first time in history, overrode the vetoes. The Civil Rights Act of 1866 recognized African Americans as citizens and guaranteed equal protection of the laws. It contained the basic components of what would become the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, granting citizenship to all people born in the United States and guaranteeing due process of law. Congress also renewed the Freedmen's Bureau.

The framework for Congress's Reconstruction policy was contained in a series of legislation known as the Reconstruction Acts . The acts included laws that divided the former Confederacy into five military districts until each state held a new constitutional convention to replace state governments previously recognized by Lincoln and Johnson. To obtain readmission to the Union, the states were required to provide voting rights to black males and to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment. The acts also temporarily barred certain Confederate officeholders from voting or holding office in the new governments.

President Johnson attempted to veto much of this legislation too, but Congress continued to override his objections. Johnson actively campaigned against the Fourteenth Amendment and worked for the election of Reconstruction rivals during the congressional elections of 1866, all unsuccessfully. Congress passed several measures to reduce Johnson's presidential powers, and finally impeached him in 1868. Though he narrowly escaped conviction and maintained his presidency, his presidential power was practically worthless. Congress maintained control of Reconstruction.

Last measures

Between 1868 and 1870, all former Confederate states were readmitted to the Union with new governments. Though Congress continued Reconstruction with a series of enforcement acts through 1871, support for Reconstruction faded in the midst of economic concerns. President Rutherford B. Hayes (1822–1893; 1877-–81) withdrew the last federal troops from Confederate states in 1877, and Southern states once again assumed full control.

Although there were some successful measures, Reconstruction essentially failed to create a democratic South. The vast majority of African Americans and many small farmers remained poor, without property and practically without enforceable rights. A system of sharecropping replaced slavery, making it almost impossible for families to work for their own success. The economy was slow to recover, and discrimination and resentment against blacks raged. Life under oppressive state governments was made worse by the terrorist acts of white supremacist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan . The federal government would have to return to the South in the middle of the twentieth century to compel integration of African Americans into Southern society.