More Americans died in the Civil War than in any other conflict before or since. The war was particularly disastrous for the South, where one in twenty white men were killed or wounded, and the land lay in ruins. After the Union victory, the nation faced the complex tasks of reintegrating the damaged South into the Union and helping heal the nation’s wounds. One issue was the readmission of rebel states to the Union. When the South lost, they wouldn't just give up and rejoin the nation. As a solution, Lincoln's plan, also know as he “Ten Percent Plan,” was to readmit states when 10 percent of the voters pledged loyalty to the United States and agreed to the abolition of slavery. Radical Republicans in Congress denounced the plan for
being too lenient on the South and for not securing any rights for freed slaves. Moreover, these Republicans believed that Congress, not the president, should dictate the terms by which the nation would reunite. In July 1864, Congress proposed its own plan for Reconstruction by passing the Wade-Davis Bill, which declared that each Confederate state would be run by a military governor. After half of each state’s eligible voters took an oath of allegiance to the Union, a state convention could be called to overturn secession and outlaw slavery. Lincoln, however, vetoed the bill by leaving it unsigned for more than ten days after the adjournment of Congress. With Congress and the president in a deadlock over the terms of the Confederate states’ readmission, reconstruction stalled.Radical Republicans opposed Lincoln’s “Ten Percent Plan,”
and instead proposed a more stringent and punitive plan calling for military rule of the South. The Radical Republicans in Congress did succeed in dictating some terms of Reconstruction. To help former slaves adjust to their new lives, Congress established the Freedmen’s Bureau, which offered education, employment, economic relief, and legal aid to freed slaves. The Freedmen’s Bureau helped build hospitals and supervised the founding of black schools throughout the South, including Howard University in Washington, D.C., and Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. It also formed to help the newly freed slaves adjust to their new condition. It was especially important in suppying food and education until it fell under the control of the Radical Reconstructionists, who used it for political purposes. In addition to the Freedmen’s Bureau, Congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery. The Amendment was ratified by twenty-seven states in December 1865, though Lincoln did not live to see that day. However, when he died, Johnson took his place in office and altered his plan. Under Johnson’s plan, nearly all Southerners would be pardoned who took an oath of allegiance to the Union, with the exception of high-ranking Confederate officials and powerful plantation owners, who would be forever barred from government. His plan further required reconstructed state governments to denounce secession and ratify the Thirteenth Amendment. Even so, Johnson pardoned many powerful ex-Confederates and allowed reconstructed Southern governments to be dominated by pro-slavery forces—by Confederate army officers, plantation owners, and former government officials. On the other hand, Congress wanted to deal with reconstruction a different way. They wanted to punish the rioters. Under Johnson’s plan, nearly all Southerners would be pardoned who took an oath of allegiance to the Union, with the exception of high-ranking Confederate officials and powerful plantation owners, who would be forever barred from government. His plan further required reconstructed state governments to denounce secession and ratify the Thirteenth Amendment. Even so, Johnson pardoned many powerful ex-Confederates and allowed reconstructed Southern governments to be dominated by pro-slavery forces—by Confederate army officers, plantation owners, and former government officials. Governed by these Confederate forces, many of the “reconstructed” Southern governments refused to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment and further enforced black codes in an attempt to create a subjugated black workforce. Most states outlawed interracial marriage and jury service by blacks, and banned blacks from the right to testify against whites. Most codes also imposed a curfew on blacks and limited their access to public institutions. South Carolina further required licenses for blacks wishing to enter nonagricultural employment. When Radical Republicans attacked the black codes, Johnson defended the codes along with his overall plan for reconstruction. Congress reconvened in December 1865 and immediately expressed displeasure with Johnson’s Reconstruction plan. Radical Republicans, led by Senator Charles Sumner and Representative Thaddeus Stevens, set out to dismantle Johnson’s Reconstruction plan and to dictate Reconstruction on Congress’s terms. They called for black voting rights, confiscation of Confederate estates, and military occupation of the South. Congress then passed two bills by overriding Johnson’s veto: the Civil Rights Act, which granted blacks full citizenship and civil rights, and an act to extend the life of the Freedmen’s Bureau. Johnson’s attempt to veto these two bills prompted many moderates to ally themselves with the Radicals against his plan. To give the Civil Rights Act constitutional protection, Congress passed the Fourteenth Amendment in 1866, which declared all persons born or naturalized in the United States to be citizens of their states and of the nation, and prohibited states from denying citizens equal protection and due process of the law. Congress thus reversed the Dred Scott decision, which had denied blacks citizenship. Not surprisingly, Johnson opposed the amendment and every Southern state except Tennessee rejected it, leaving the radicals without enough support to ratify the amendment. The second issue was the guarantee of civil rights to African Americans. To fix it, they made The Civil Rights Bill of 1866 was aimed at undoing the effects of Black Codes established by southern governments. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments were to guarantee the civil rights of the former slaves. None of these actions were successful in protecting civil rights. The Supreme Court limited the application of the Civil Rights Bill to national issues. Southern legislators maintained some Black Codes and found other ways, including the later Jim Crow laws, to restrict the rights of the freed slaves. The last issue was the government of rebel slaves. The answer was allowing former slaves, not Confederate leaders, to vote at state party conventions and in elections until states were readmitted, after which the states again set their own rules as to who could vote. Immediately after the war many of the state governments passed important social legislation dealing with schooling and other issues. Reconstruction problems focused on the issue of whether the southern states were ever out of the Union. The Radical Republicans held that they were, and so developed plans to readmit the states that differed from Lincoln's plan, as he believed the states had always been part of the Union, even if in rebellion. The freed slaves were often treated as pawns in teh game of power politics, especcially by northerners who cames south (carpetbaggers). In many southern staes ex-slaves held important political offices and helped to write new enlightened state constitutions. The federal occupation troops were recalled from the South by President Hayes after he was declared the winner of the disputed presidential election of 1876. After 1877, and the withdrawal of all federal troops from the South, for many years the southern states voted for teh Democratic Party on almost all occasions, as a result of the whites' dislike of Radical Republicans. The 13th amendment, in 1865, abolished slavery in the United States. The 14th amendment, in 1868, African Americans were made citizens of the United States. It guaranteed that no state could deny life, liberty, or property without due process of law. The 15th amendment, in 1870, stated that no state can deny the right to vote on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. However, just when the US let up on the African Americans, some anti-African American factions showed up. The Ku Klux Klan was formed to control ex-slaves and to "keep them in their place" and not allow them to change the basic political and social structure of the South. The White League was a white paramilitary group started in 1874 that operated
to turn Republicans out of office and intimidate freedmen from voting and political organizing. Its first chapter in Grant
Parish, Louisiana was made up of many of the Confederate veterans who had participated in the Colfax massacre in April 1873. Chapters were soon founded in other areas of the state and in New Orleans. During the later years of Reconstruction, it was one of the paramilitary groups described as "the military arm of the Democratic Party." Through violence and intimidation, its members reduced Republican voting and contributed to the Democrats' taking over control of the Louisiana
Legislature in 1876. After white Democrats regained power, members of the White Leagues were absorbed into the state militias and the National Guard. Although sometimes linked to the secret vigilante groups of the Ku Klux Klan, the White League and other paramilitary groups of the later 1870s marked a significant difference. They operated openly, solicited coverage from newspapers, and the men's identities were generally known. Similar groups were the Red Shirts, started in Mississippi in 1875 and active in South Carolina. They had specific political goals to overthrow the Reconstruction government. They directed their activities toward intimidation and removal of Northern and black Republican candidates and officeholders. Made up of well-armed Confederate veterans, they worked to turn Republicans out of office, disrupt their political organizing, and use force to intimidate and terrorize freedmen to keep them from the polls. Backers helped finance purchases of up-to-date arms: Winchester rifles, Colt revolvers and Prussian needle guns. There had to be new constitutions for Southern states. They established free public schools for all children, abolished imprisonment for debt, abolished property qualifications for voting and jury duty. The railways, highways, and National Banking System strengthened the federal government. However, after 1877, there was a prevention of voting to counteract the influence of ex- slaves, the South tried to deny them political rights by state measures that limited voting privileges to those who could pass literacy tests, who could pay a poll tax, who owned property, and whose grandfather had voted. The Republican party in the South was made up of Scalawags, white Southerners who joined the party, Carpetbaggers, Northerners who moved South after the war to reform Southern society or to make a fortune, and African Americans eager to vote. The United States presidential election of 1876 was one of the most disputed and intense presidential elections in American history. Samuel J. Tilden of New York defeated Ohio's Rutherford Hayes in the popular vote, and had 184 electoral votes to Hayes' 165, with 19 votes yet uncounted. These 19 electoral votes were in dispute: in three states (Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina) each party reported its candidate had won the state, while in Oregon one elector was declared illegal (on account of being an "elected or appointed official") and replaced. The votes were ultimately awarded to Hayes after a bitter electoral dispute. Many historians believe that an informal deal was struck to resolve the dispute. In return for Southern acquiescence in Hayes' election, the Republicans agreed to withdraw federal troops from the South, effectively ending Reconstruction. This deal became known as the Compromise of 1877. The Compromise effectively pushed African-Americans out of power in the government; soon after the compromise, African-Americans were barred from voting by poll taxes and grandfather clauses. Once president, Hayes pacified the outraged Democrats by ending military
occupation in the South and the Reconstruction Era. In addition, he appointed one Southern Democrat to his cabinet. Nevertheless, the election was called "the great fraud of 1876-1877" by the Democratic Party. Others called the electoral commission's vote the Compromise of 1877, believing Hayes's victory came with the provision that he would end federal occupation in the South.
being too lenient on the South and for not securing any rights for freed slaves. Moreover, these Republicans believed that Congress, not the president, should dictate the terms by which the nation would reunite. In July 1864, Congress proposed its own plan for Reconstruction by passing the Wade-Davis Bill, which declared that each Confederate state would be run by a military governor. After half of each state’s eligible voters took an oath of allegiance to the Union, a state convention could be called to overturn secession and outlaw slavery. Lincoln, however, vetoed the bill by leaving it unsigned for more than ten days after the adjournment of Congress. With Congress and the president in a deadlock over the terms of the Confederate states’ readmission, reconstruction stalled.Radical Republicans opposed Lincoln’s “Ten Percent Plan,”
and instead proposed a more stringent and punitive plan calling for military rule of the South. The Radical Republicans in Congress did succeed in dictating some terms of Reconstruction. To help former slaves adjust to their new lives, Congress established the Freedmen’s Bureau, which offered education, employment, economic relief, and legal aid to freed slaves. The Freedmen’s Bureau helped build hospitals and supervised the founding of black schools throughout the South, including Howard University in Washington, D.C., and Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. It also formed to help the newly freed slaves adjust to their new condition. It was especially important in suppying food and education until it fell under the control of the Radical Reconstructionists, who used it for political purposes. In addition to the Freedmen’s Bureau, Congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment, which abolished slavery. The Amendment was ratified by twenty-seven states in December 1865, though Lincoln did not live to see that day. However, when he died, Johnson took his place in office and altered his plan. Under Johnson’s plan, nearly all Southerners would be pardoned who took an oath of allegiance to the Union, with the exception of high-ranking Confederate officials and powerful plantation owners, who would be forever barred from government. His plan further required reconstructed state governments to denounce secession and ratify the Thirteenth Amendment. Even so, Johnson pardoned many powerful ex-Confederates and allowed reconstructed Southern governments to be dominated by pro-slavery forces—by Confederate army officers, plantation owners, and former government officials. On the other hand, Congress wanted to deal with reconstruction a different way. They wanted to punish the rioters. Under Johnson’s plan, nearly all Southerners would be pardoned who took an oath of allegiance to the Union, with the exception of high-ranking Confederate officials and powerful plantation owners, who would be forever barred from government. His plan further required reconstructed state governments to denounce secession and ratify the Thirteenth Amendment. Even so, Johnson pardoned many powerful ex-Confederates and allowed reconstructed Southern governments to be dominated by pro-slavery forces—by Confederate army officers, plantation owners, and former government officials. Governed by these Confederate forces, many of the “reconstructed” Southern governments refused to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment and further enforced black codes in an attempt to create a subjugated black workforce. Most states outlawed interracial marriage and jury service by blacks, and banned blacks from the right to testify against whites. Most codes also imposed a curfew on blacks and limited their access to public institutions. South Carolina further required licenses for blacks wishing to enter nonagricultural employment. When Radical Republicans attacked the black codes, Johnson defended the codes along with his overall plan for reconstruction. Congress reconvened in December 1865 and immediately expressed displeasure with Johnson’s Reconstruction plan. Radical Republicans, led by Senator Charles Sumner and Representative Thaddeus Stevens, set out to dismantle Johnson’s Reconstruction plan and to dictate Reconstruction on Congress’s terms. They called for black voting rights, confiscation of Confederate estates, and military occupation of the South. Congress then passed two bills by overriding Johnson’s veto: the Civil Rights Act, which granted blacks full citizenship and civil rights, and an act to extend the life of the Freedmen’s Bureau. Johnson’s attempt to veto these two bills prompted many moderates to ally themselves with the Radicals against his plan. To give the Civil Rights Act constitutional protection, Congress passed the Fourteenth Amendment in 1866, which declared all persons born or naturalized in the United States to be citizens of their states and of the nation, and prohibited states from denying citizens equal protection and due process of the law. Congress thus reversed the Dred Scott decision, which had denied blacks citizenship. Not surprisingly, Johnson opposed the amendment and every Southern state except Tennessee rejected it, leaving the radicals without enough support to ratify the amendment. The second issue was the guarantee of civil rights to African Americans. To fix it, they made The Civil Rights Bill of 1866 was aimed at undoing the effects of Black Codes established by southern governments. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments were to guarantee the civil rights of the former slaves. None of these actions were successful in protecting civil rights. The Supreme Court limited the application of the Civil Rights Bill to national issues. Southern legislators maintained some Black Codes and found other ways, including the later Jim Crow laws, to restrict the rights of the freed slaves. The last issue was the government of rebel slaves. The answer was allowing former slaves, not Confederate leaders, to vote at state party conventions and in elections until states were readmitted, after which the states again set their own rules as to who could vote. Immediately after the war many of the state governments passed important social legislation dealing with schooling and other issues. Reconstruction problems focused on the issue of whether the southern states were ever out of the Union. The Radical Republicans held that they were, and so developed plans to readmit the states that differed from Lincoln's plan, as he believed the states had always been part of the Union, even if in rebellion. The freed slaves were often treated as pawns in teh game of power politics, especcially by northerners who cames south (carpetbaggers). In many southern staes ex-slaves held important political offices and helped to write new enlightened state constitutions. The federal occupation troops were recalled from the South by President Hayes after he was declared the winner of the disputed presidential election of 1876. After 1877, and the withdrawal of all federal troops from the South, for many years the southern states voted for teh Democratic Party on almost all occasions, as a result of the whites' dislike of Radical Republicans. The 13th amendment, in 1865, abolished slavery in the United States. The 14th amendment, in 1868, African Americans were made citizens of the United States. It guaranteed that no state could deny life, liberty, or property without due process of law. The 15th amendment, in 1870, stated that no state can deny the right to vote on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. However, just when the US let up on the African Americans, some anti-African American factions showed up. The Ku Klux Klan was formed to control ex-slaves and to "keep them in their place" and not allow them to change the basic political and social structure of the South. The White League was a white paramilitary group started in 1874 that operated
to turn Republicans out of office and intimidate freedmen from voting and political organizing. Its first chapter in Grant
Parish, Louisiana was made up of many of the Confederate veterans who had participated in the Colfax massacre in April 1873. Chapters were soon founded in other areas of the state and in New Orleans. During the later years of Reconstruction, it was one of the paramilitary groups described as "the military arm of the Democratic Party." Through violence and intimidation, its members reduced Republican voting and contributed to the Democrats' taking over control of the Louisiana
Legislature in 1876. After white Democrats regained power, members of the White Leagues were absorbed into the state militias and the National Guard. Although sometimes linked to the secret vigilante groups of the Ku Klux Klan, the White League and other paramilitary groups of the later 1870s marked a significant difference. They operated openly, solicited coverage from newspapers, and the men's identities were generally known. Similar groups were the Red Shirts, started in Mississippi in 1875 and active in South Carolina. They had specific political goals to overthrow the Reconstruction government. They directed their activities toward intimidation and removal of Northern and black Republican candidates and officeholders. Made up of well-armed Confederate veterans, they worked to turn Republicans out of office, disrupt their political organizing, and use force to intimidate and terrorize freedmen to keep them from the polls. Backers helped finance purchases of up-to-date arms: Winchester rifles, Colt revolvers and Prussian needle guns. There had to be new constitutions for Southern states. They established free public schools for all children, abolished imprisonment for debt, abolished property qualifications for voting and jury duty. The railways, highways, and National Banking System strengthened the federal government. However, after 1877, there was a prevention of voting to counteract the influence of ex- slaves, the South tried to deny them political rights by state measures that limited voting privileges to those who could pass literacy tests, who could pay a poll tax, who owned property, and whose grandfather had voted. The Republican party in the South was made up of Scalawags, white Southerners who joined the party, Carpetbaggers, Northerners who moved South after the war to reform Southern society or to make a fortune, and African Americans eager to vote. The United States presidential election of 1876 was one of the most disputed and intense presidential elections in American history. Samuel J. Tilden of New York defeated Ohio's Rutherford Hayes in the popular vote, and had 184 electoral votes to Hayes' 165, with 19 votes yet uncounted. These 19 electoral votes were in dispute: in three states (Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina) each party reported its candidate had won the state, while in Oregon one elector was declared illegal (on account of being an "elected or appointed official") and replaced. The votes were ultimately awarded to Hayes after a bitter electoral dispute. Many historians believe that an informal deal was struck to resolve the dispute. In return for Southern acquiescence in Hayes' election, the Republicans agreed to withdraw federal troops from the South, effectively ending Reconstruction. This deal became known as the Compromise of 1877. The Compromise effectively pushed African-Americans out of power in the government; soon after the compromise, African-Americans were barred from voting by poll taxes and grandfather clauses. Once president, Hayes pacified the outraged Democrats by ending military
occupation in the South and the Reconstruction Era. In addition, he appointed one Southern Democrat to his cabinet. Nevertheless, the election was called "the great fraud of 1876-1877" by the Democratic Party. Others called the electoral commission's vote the Compromise of 1877, believing Hayes's victory came with the provision that he would end federal occupation in the South.