| Reconstruction 2 Essay, Research Paper
Reconstruction: the period of US history in which the nation tried to adjust
to the new conditions created by the Civil War
Results: slavery abolished; Freedmen’s Bureau provides services for war
refugees and freed people (including food, medical aid, and education); Civil
Rights Act passed in 1866 – gives federal government power to protect African
American rights; the Reconstruction Acts establish Radical Reconstruction;
the KKK acts seek to outlaw organizations aimed at denying African Americans
their rights; the Civil Rights Act of 1875 protects African American rights
in public places; African Americans held office during reconstruction; debt
peonage or forced labor came about in south; US became an industrial power;
women’s rights were postponed
Andrew Johnson’s Plan: Made most Confederates eligible for pardons in return
for taking an oath of loyalty to the US, favored easy terms under which the
Confederate states could returns to their place in the Union, states were
instructed to hold constitutional conventions and write a new state
constitution that abolished slavery-voided secession-ratified the 13th
amendment-stop payments of state’s war debts
Abraham Lincoln’s Plan: Offered pardons (official forgiveness of crime) to
any confederate who would swear allegiance to Union and accept end of slavery
excluded were confederate military and government officials and those who had
killed African American prisoners of war, when 10% of those who had voted in
1860 election had taken oath in their state the state could hold a
constitution convention to write a new constitution endorsing 13th amendment,
after convention state could be readmitted to the union. His plan did not
require the new constitutions explicitly to ensure African American rights.
Civil War Amendments: 13th – abolished slavery, 14th – defines citizenship to
include African Americans and guarantees due process of law and equal
protection under law, 15th – guarantees voting rights will not be denied on
basis of race
Radical Republicans: Wanted terms that would be more difficult for southern
whites to accept, wanted to change southern society in order to ensure the
rights of African Americans, wanted to punish the white South severely for
its secession, tried to pass Wade-Davis Bill in July 1864 that made it almost
impossible for a Confederate state to return to the union-Lincoln would not
sign
Reasons for Immigration: Homestead Act-gave 160 acres of land to immigrants
planning to be citizens for a $10 registration fee, political freedom,
religious freedom, personal freedom, many job opportunities and a lot of land
Freedmen’s Bureau: Established March 1865 to provide aid to freed people and
then help them make the adjustments to freedom City/Urban Living Conditions: Poverty, overcrowding, and neglect led to decline of neighborhoods. Open sewers and backyard privies attracted rats and other disease-spreading vermin. Six or seven families shared one toilet and
there weren’t any bathtubs. Diseases spread rapidly and epidemics were common. Fires were also devastating.
Effect of Strikes: Many unions were formed, anarchists rallied and were often
arrested for violence, strikers and scabs fought, public took a negative
outlook to unions and strikers, Employers used violence to stop unions and
used yellow-dog contracts (promise to never join a union)
Working Conditions: Wages were low, entire families worked, pieceparticle-got
paid for how fast and how much you produced, employers pushed to increase
efficiency, discipline was strict (fired or fined for being late), women
locked into factories so wouldn’t leave, long hours, dangerous machines and
conditions, children had to work.
Impeachment Procedure: Impeachment voted upon by House of Representatives and
if voted to impeach then tried by senate. If 2/3 majority convicts official
the official is removed from office
Johnson’s Impeachment: Congress claimed that Johnson tried to fire the
Secretary of War (Edwin Stanton a Radical Republican) and therefore went
against the Tenure of Office Act (Senate has to approve of the firing of an
official previously approved by the senate)
Life after Freedom (For African Americans): Many children began getting an
education, voluntary organizations began to help the freed people, sought
political involvement, gained control of land and labor, KKK intimidated and
hurt/killed African Americans, some had no where to go.
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