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Historical Background
Reconstruction is one of the most critical and complex
periods in United States history. In 1865, four years of brutal
destruction in the Civil War came to an end. 600,000 American soldiers
lost their lives, far more than in any other war in American history.
Four million enslaved African Americans were emancipated. The South
was laid to waste; railroads, factories, farms, and cities were
destroyed. Soldiers’ graves and smoldering ruins were the tangible
signs of the rift that went far deeper. Anger, bitterness, grief,
and fear overwhelmed the nation. The United States faced innumerable
challenges: how would the nation rebuild? How would the Confederate
states be reunited with the Union? What did freedom for slaves really
mean? How would the emancipated become part of society? How would
the nation heal the wounds made by four years of bitter war?
As the nation cautiously started to celebrate the end
of the war in April of 1865, a shocking tragedy quickly cast Americans
into further despair. President Abraham Lincoln, who had fought
so passionately to maintain the Union, was shot and killed. Lincoln
had given hope to millions with his second inaugural address, in
which he stated: “With malice toward none, with charity for all,
with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let
us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's
wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for
his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish
a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”
Lincoln envisioned a forgiving nation that would quickly bind its
wounds and move forward. His death, however, increased Northern
resentment and vengeance toward the South. It added a layer of grief
to an already struggling nation. It also left the country in the
hands of a leader who was not well prepared to govern.
Vice President Andrew Johnson assumed the presidency
after Lincoln was assassinated. Johnson was a southerner and, like
Lincoln, a self-educated man who climbed up the ladder from humble
origins. He was also a Democrat who had been placed on the Lincoln
ticket in 1864 to project a Union party image and keep the votes
of the border states. Lincoln’s Republican cabinet distrusted Johnson,
and he was excluded from most conversations and decisions. He took
over the presidency after only a few months as vice president and
very little time spent with Lincoln. He was ill-prepared to handle
the problems facing the nation at the time, and in conflict with
Congress and the Radical Republicans in Congress during this period.
Johnson’s Reconstruction plan was lenient toward the former Confederate
states. Amnesty and pardon were available to former Confederates
who pledged loyalty to the Union and support for emancipation. Major
Confederate leaders and extremely wealthy planters, however, had
to apply individually for Presidential pardons. Johnson was determined
to overthrow the slaveocracy that ruled the South. He was not, however,
interested in increasing equality and providing suffrage rights
to African Americans. He stated that this decision should be left
to the states, but he was aware that no state, northern or southern,
had been willing to expand the political rights of African Americans.
The Presidential Reconstruction period proved troublesome.
After Confederate states had been admitted back into the Union,
and Confederates pardoned, members of the pre-war political ruling
class were soon re-elected as state legislators, governors, Congressmen,
and Senators. These leaders had no intention of extending political
equality and the right to vote to the freedmen. Black Codes were
soon passed by all southern state legislatures. These laws restricted
the freedoms of African Americans and limited the economic options
of the freedmen. By enforcing labor contracts and anti-vagrancy
laws, the strict Black Codes kept many freedmen tied to the plantation.
Additionally, this period was characterized by violence and vengeance
against African Americans. The justice system of the South provided
no recourse; the all-white police force frequently terrorized African
Americans, and judges and other officials seldom prosecuted crimes
against Blacks. News of Black Codes and violence against freedmen
spread to the North, creating indignation. Even citizens who were
not committed to full political rights for African Americans recognized
that the basic freedoms and economic opportunities must be provided,
or the idea of emancipation would be a farce.
Leading the complaints against Presidential Reconstruction
were the Radical Republicans of Congress. Radical leaders viewed
Reconstruction as an opportunity for sweeping changes and a building
of a new, restructured South. The old social and political order
would be overturned, and the national government would ensure equal
rights for all. By 1867, Republicans had a majority in both houses
of Congress and could overrule a presidential veto. In 1867, Congress
passed a new Reconstruction Act. It threw out the state governments
of states that had refused to ratify the 14th Amendment. It also
divided up the South into five military districts, with military
governors who were given power to enforce Reconstruction. In order
to rejoin the Union, states had to write new state constitutions,
ratify the 14th Amendment, and allow African Americans to vote.
Under these new constitutions, many former Confederates were not
allowed to vote. With military protection, freedmen were. Under
these conditions, Republicans were able to gain control of southern
state governments. The 15th Amendment was ratified in 1870, providing
a constitutional guarantee of voting rights for African American
males.
With new political forces in the South, including white
southern Republicans, northerners who moved to the South, and African
Americans, many changes were made. During Reconstruction, African
Americans made significant political gains. They voted in large
numbers and were also elected to political office. African Americans
were elected as sheriffs, mayors, legislators, Congressmen, and
Senators. Though their participation was significant, it was exaggerated
by white southerners angry at the “Black Republican” governments.
Reconstruction governments built public schools for both black and
white children. They also rebuilt and added more railroads, telegraph
lines, bridges, and railroads. These costly efforts led to tax increases
that further angered southern whites. Anger and resentment of white
southerners led to the rise of secret societies like the Ku Klux
Klan, who used threats and violence to intimidate African Americans
and prevent them from voting.
By the mid-1870’s, enthusiasm for Reconstruction waned.
Republicans were losing power, and Northerners were tired of trying
to reform the South. In 1872, Congress passed the Amnesty Act, which
reinstated voting rights to nearly all white southerners. At the
same time, the efforts of the KKK and other violent organizations
resulted in fewer African Americans at the polls. By 1876, almost
all southern states were back under the control of Democrats. The
end of Reconstruction came with the election of 1876. Neither Democrat
Samuel Tilden nor Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was able to win
a clear victory in the electoral college, so a Congressional commission
was set up to decide the election. In a compromise, Republican candidate
Hayes was declared the winner, in exchange for a promise to end
Reconstruction. Upon taking office in 1877, Hayes removed the remaining
federal troops from the South. With no one left to enforce the Reconstruction
reforms, Reconstruction was over.
White conservative Democrats remained in control of southern
governments, and systematically reversed the steps taken toward
political and social equality during Reconstruction. Southern states
denied African Americans’ voting rights through voting restrictions
such as the poll tax, grandfather clause, and literacy test. Jim
Crow laws separated blacks and whites in restaurants, schools, theaters,
railroads, hospitals, and all other public spaces. This segregation
was endorsed by the Supreme Court in the landmark Plessy v.
Ferguson case in 1896. African Americans continued to be victims
of violence, intimidation, and lynching. It would not be until the
Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s that the full protection of
the 14th and 15th amendments would be granted to African Americans.
The period of Reconstruction was one of great promise
for the United States and for African Americans. During this period,
African Americans continued their struggle for freedom and worked
to improve their communities. Institutions of the African American
community, such as churches and schools, were strengthened. Though
there were long-term consequences of Reconstruction’s failures,
the Reconstruction era provided a Constitutional basis for later
attempts to end discrimination.
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