History 2710 
The Legacy of Reconstruction

 

Readings:

Discussion:

  • How was Reconstruction a "splendid failure"?
  • Who is a citizen? What are civil rights? Who is a person? What are inalienable rights?
  • What is the legal status of African Americans in 1875? in 1900?
  • What strategies did African Americans pursue to gain equity under law during Reconstruction? during the Jim Crow era?

 

 

Title: This is a White Man's Government
Artist: Thomas Nast
Date: 1868    http://www.learner.org/biographyofamerica/prog12/feature/index.html

The time period traditionally assigned to Reconstruction is 1865 to 1877. This period began with the onset of an intense national struggle over the shape of society and government in the postwar South; it ended with the collapse of the last Southern state governments under Republican control and the tacit acknowledgment that the federal attempt to remake the South was over.

Reconstruction Timeline and Documents
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1862 September 23, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation is published, to take effect on January 1,  1863.
1863 March 3, The Conscription Act (Enrollment Act) is passed, demanding enrollment of males ages  20-45 in the Union Army. Payments of $300 may be used for an exemption. 
1863 June 20, Union West Virginia is admitted as the 35th state - its constitution mandates the  gradual emancipation of slaves.
1863 July 3, Battle of Gettysburg - major Union victory. Over 50,000 casualties total; halts the  Southern advance into Union territory and leads to the retreat of Lee's army.
1863 July 13, New York Draft Riots begin - four days of Irish-American mob action.
1863 November 19, Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address. 
1863 December 8, Lincoln issues the Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, offering pardons to  Confederates who take a loyalty oath.
1864 September 2, Sherman burns Atlanta and continues his march to the sea.
1865 February 1, Congress proposes the 13th Amendment, outlawing slavery and involuntary servitude everywhere in the United States.
1865 March 3, Freedmen's Bureau is founded to aid former slaves
1865 March 4, Lincoln is inaugurated for his second term with Andrew Johnson as vice-president, pledging "malice toward none, and charity for all."
1865 April 8, Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox, Virginia.
1865 April 14, Lincoln is assassinated at Ford's Theater by John Wilkes Booth.
1865 April 18, Johnston surrender to Sherman in North Carolina, effectively ending the Civil War.
1865 Johnson moves to Reconstruct the South on his own initiative ­ He prefers to call the process  "restoration", emphasizing his leniency towards the rebelling Southern states. Former  Confederate military leaders and patricians with taxable property over $20,000 are  disenfranchised until further notice; only 10% of enfranchised Southern population needs to  take an oath of loyalty before readmission.
1865 Southern states begin to pass "Black Codes" ­ these laws subject former slaves to a variety of  restrictions on their freedom: they forbid blacks to testify against whites; they establish  vagrancy and apprenticeship laws; blacks cannot serve on juries, bear arms, or hold large  meetings. 
1865 The Thirty-ninth Congress convenes ­ It is the first session since Lincoln's death. All  Confederates states, with the exception of Mississippi have formally accepted presidential  requirements for readmission to the Union and representation in Congress. Led by radical Thaddeus Stevens, the House simply omits the southerners from roll call, effectively denying them admittance. It then proceeds to discuss punishment for the rebellious South which  according to Radical Republican Charles Sumner has committed "state suicide."
1865 The Ku Klux Klan is formed in Tennessee ­ it is one of the many secret societies set up to  terrorize blacks. Its methods become ever more vicious as whites become more certain that  their old way of life is being threatened.
1866 Johnson vetoes Freedmen's Bureau bill and Civil Rights Act of 1866; a modified version of the  Freedmen's Bureau bill later passes, and Congress overrides Johnson's veto of the Civil Rights  Act. 
1866 14th Amendment passed by Congress ­ grants full citizenship to blacks, gives the Federal  government the responsibility to protect equal rights under the law to all American citizens.
1866 Bloody race riots erupt in Memphis and New Orleans.
1866 In Congressional elections of 1866, Republicans increase their majority in Congress, forming solid  anti-Johnson majorities in both houses.
1867 First Reconstruction Act ­ passes over Johnson's veto. Temporarily places the South under  military rule; states may be readmitted if their new state constitutions provide for black  suffrage.

Sojourner Truth speaks at First Annual Meeting of the American Equal Rights Association.
1868 Impeachment Crisis ­ Congress impeaches Johnson but he avoids conviction by one vote.
1868 Georgia expels blacks from its legislature. Military rule is instantly re-imposed on the state and  earlier readmission to representation in Congress is revoked. Ratification of the 14th  amendment is now made obligatory before representation in Congress will be allowed. 
1868 Grant is elected President.
1869 15th Amendment passed by Congress ­ prohibits any state from denying a citizen the right to vote because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
1870 Force Acts (KKK Acts) passed by Congress ­ seek to enforce 15th Amendment by giving Federal  protection for black suffrage, and authorize the use of Federal troops against the KKK.  These  acts are declared unconstitutional in U.S. v. Cruikshank in 1875.
1872 Grant wins a second term as President, defeating Horace Greeley.
1873 Panic of 1873 plunges the nation into a depression.
1874 Grant uses force for the last time to subvert the White League's attempt to overthrow a  Republican government accused of stealing an election.
1875 Civil Rights Act of 1875 ­ states that no citizen can be denied the equal use of public facilities  such as inns, restaurants, etc. on the basis of color. 
1876 Disputed election between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel J. Tilden ­ resolved in favor of  Republican Hayes.
1877 Compromise of 1877 ­ results in end to military intervention in the South and the fall of the last  radical governments; restores "home rule" in the South
1883

 

1889

1895

 Civil Rights Cases ­ strike down the Civil Rights Act of 1875. Congress may not legislate on  civil rights unless a state passes a discriminatory law; Court declares the 14th Amendment  silent on racial discrimination by private citizens.

Frederick Douglass speech given in commemoration of abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia.

Booker . Washington advocates compromise
1896  Plessy v. Ferguson­ upholds Louisiana statute requiring "separate but equal" accommodations  on railroads. Court declares that segregation is not necessarily discrimination.  This decision will affirm Jim Crow laws in the U.S.

Justice Harlan's  dissent argues that segregation is inherently discrimination; this argument will be used to support the majority opinion in Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954.
1898

1903

1905
 

1909

 Williams v. Mississippi ­ upholds a state law requiring a literacy test to qualify for voting.

W.E. B. DuBois, publishes The Souls of Black Folks.

The Niagara Movement is organized and denounces Washington's accommodation to segregation.

The NAACP is formed in New York City by a group of black and white citizens committed to helping to right social injustices .
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(Source for timeline: http://www.pinzler.com/ushistory/timeline6.html)