Reconstruction was the period in United States history that followed the American Civil War (1861-1865). The word also refers to the process by which the Union restored relations with the Confederate states after their defeat. Reconstruction lasted from 1865 to 1877. It was one of the most controversial periods in the nation’s history. Scholars still debate its successes and failures.
The American South faced enormous problems in rebuilding itself after the Civil War. Such cities as Atlanta, Georgia, and Richmond, Virginia, lay in ruins. Much of the South’s railroad system, as well as its few factories, had been destroyed. The North, on the other hand, had suffered little damage during the war. Farms and industries in the North had prospered.
Political leaders of the North and South faced many difficult questions during Reconstruction. For example, how should the 11 states that had seceded (withdrawn) from the Union be readmitted? How, if at all, should the Confederate leaders be punished? What rights should be granted to the approximately 4 million people who had been freed from slavery? How should these rights be protected? How should the war-torn South be rebuilt?
Some of the problems were solved during Reconstruction. The Confederate states eventually met various requirements for readmission. All rejoined the Union by 1870. The U.S. Congress passed laws and proposed constitutional amendments to protect the rights of formerly enslaved people and to give them the vote. Newly formed state governments in the South began to rebuild the ruined regions.
Other problems remained, however. Most white Southerners refused to accept Black people as equals. African Americans continued to be poor and powerless. The Reconstruction governments also failed to win enough support from white Southerners to survive without aid from the North. Most white people in the South considered these governments illegal. Some white people used violence to prevent Black citizens from voting.
The North gradually lost interest in Reconstruction. In time, white Southerners regained control of their state governments. They took away many of the rights that African Americans had won during Reconstruction.
The debate over Reconstruction
Soon after the Civil War began in 1861, Northerners started to debate how the Confederate states should be brought back into the Union. These states were Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. Some Northerners believed these states should be treated as territories. Others insisted that, because secession was illegal, the South still belonged to the Union. Still others declared that the Southern leaders—but not the states—should be punished.
Lincoln’s plan.
In December 1863, President Abraham Lincoln announced his plan for Reconstruction. It offered a pardon to every Southerner who took an oath to support the Union. Lincoln proposed that if 10 percent of a state’s voters took the oath, the state could form a new government and adopt a new constitution. The 10 percent would be based on the number of people who had voted in the 1860 presidential election. The state’s new constitution had to prohibit slavery.
Early congressional reaction.
Many Northerners considered Lincoln’s plan too mild. In 1864, Congress proposed that Reconstruction wait until half the voters in a state had taken an oath of loyalty. A national debate then developed over whether Congress or the president should establish Reconstruction policy.
In January 1865, Congress proposed the 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. This amendment called for the abolition of slavery throughout the nation. In March, Congress created the Freedmen’s Bureau to protect the interests of Black people in the South. Most Black people had no homes or money. They also lacked education because Southern laws had barred them from receiving instruction. The bureau supervised labor contracts between former slaves and their employers. It also set up hospitals and schools for African Americans in the South. See Freedmen’s Bureau.
Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865, as the war was drawing to a close. Vice President Andrew Johnson, a former Democratic U.S. senator from Tennessee, succeeded Lincoln as president. The Republicans had added Johnson to their ticket in 1864 to attract Democratic support.
The start of Reconstruction
Johnson’s plan.
In May 1865, Johnson announced his own Reconstruction plan. It offered pardons to all white Southerners except the main Confederate leaders and wealthy Confederate supporters. The defeated Southern states were to hold conventions and form new state governments. These governments had to abolish slavery and vow loyalty to the nation to qualify for readmission to the Union. Johnson’s plan did not offer African Americans a role in the process of Reconstruction. The Southern states were to determine that role themselves. During the summer and fall of 1865, new state governments were organized throughout the South under Johnson’s plan.
Most Northerners hoped the nation could be reunified quickly. They expected the South to renew its loyalty to the Union. They also insisted that the basic rights of formerly enslaved people be protected. The 13th Amendment was ratified in December 1865.
The black codes.
The status of Black citizens soon became the most crucial issue of Reconstruction. The state governments established under Johnson’s plan passed a series of laws called the black codes. One of these codes permitted employers to whip Black workers. Other codes allowed states to jail unemployed Black people and hire out their children. See Black codes.
Violence against Black people.
The former slaves also suffered from attacks by white people. In 1865 and 1866, white people murdered about 5,000 Black people in the South. During race riots in 1866, white mobs killed 46 Black people in Memphis and 34 in New Orleans.
In 1865 or 1866, a secret white organization called the Ku Klux Klan was founded in Tennessee. It grew rapidly and spread terror across the South. Klan members tried to keep African Americans from voting or exercising other rights. They threatened, beat, and even murdered Black people and their white sympathizers. See Ku Klux Klan.
The struggle over Reconstruction
Congress was in recess during the summer and fall of 1865, when Johnson’s plan took effect. When Congress reassembled in December, many newly elected Southern congressmen came to Washington, D.C., to take their seats.
Many of the Southern newcomers had been Confederate officials. Few of the others had remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War. The election of such lawmakers, plus the passage of the black codes, helped convince Republicans in Congress that Johnson’s plan had failed. Congress, which had a Republican majority, refused to seat any of the Southerners who had been elected from Confederate states. Congress wanted to control Reconstruction. It started to develop its own policies for the South.
The Radicals and the Moderates.
When the Civil War ended, the Republican Party included two main groups. They were the Radicals and the Moderates.
The Radicals in Congress demanded a new Reconstruction policy. Their leaders were Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts and Representative Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania. The Radicals felt the federal government should take strong action to protect the rights of Black citizens and loyal white people in the South. They also thought that giving African Americans the vote was the only way to establish Southern governments that were loyal to the Union and controlled by Republicans. Some of the Radicals wanted to confiscate the big Southern plantations. They proposed to divide the plantations into small farms and give them to the former slaves. See Stevens, Thaddeus; Sumner, Charles.
The Moderates made up the largest group of Republicans. They controlled the party. They agreed with Johnson that the states should decide whether to give African Americans the vote. But the Moderates also agreed with the Radicals that the rights of African Americans needed greater protection. They supported the Radicals in demanding that Congress, rather than Johnson, should determine Reconstruction policy.
The Civil Rights Act.
Early in 1866, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act. The act guaranteed various legal rights of people who had been freed from slavery. Johnson vetoed the bill because he opposed federal protection of the rights of Black citizens. Congress then repassed the Civil Rights Act. It was the first major law in U.S. history to be approved over a president’s veto.
The 14th Amendment.
In June 1866, Congress proposed the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. The amendment gave citizenship to African Americans. It also guaranteed that all federal and state laws would apply equally to Black and white citizens. In addition, the amendment barred former federal and state officeholders who had supported the Confederacy from holding high political office again.
None of the defeated Southern states had yet been readmitted into the Union. Congress declared that none could rejoin until it ratified the 14th Amendment. Johnson urged the states to reject the amendment. All the former Confederate states except Tennessee did so. Tennessee then became the first of the 11 defeated Southern states to be readmitted into the Union. The 14th Amendment was finally ratified by the required number of states in 1868.
The Reconstruction Acts.
The stubbornness of Johnson and his Southern supporters helped move the Moderates toward the Radical position. Early in 1867, Congress passed a series of laws called the Reconstruction Acts. These laws abolished the Southern state governments formed under Johnson’s plan. They divided all the states that had seceded from the Union—except Tennessee—into five military districts. A major general commanded each area. Federal troops stationed in each district helped enforce the Reconstruction Acts.
The Reconstruction Acts also outlined the process of readmission for the 10 Southern states that still had not rejoined the Union. Election boards in each state would register as voters all adult Black males and all qualified adult white males. The voters would elect a convention. The convention would adopt a new state constitution. This constitution had to give Black men the right to vote. The voters then would elect a governor and state legislature. Finally, the state had to ratify the 14th Amendment.
Johnson vetoed the Reconstruction Acts. But the Republican-controlled Congress easily repassed them over his vetoes.
The impeachment of Johnson.
Congress passed another measure in 1867 that challenged Johnson’s authority. The Tenure of Office Act prohibited the president from firing Cabinet members and certain other officials without the Senate’s approval. Johnson believed that the measure was unconstitutional. In February 1868, he violated the Tenure of Office Act by dismissing Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, a supporter of the Radicals. Partly as a result, the Radicals demanded that Johnson be removed from office.
On Feb. 24, 1868, the House of Representatives voted 126 to 47 to impeach the president. About three weeks later, his impeachment trial began in the Senate. On May 16, the Senate voted 35 to 19 to remove Johnson from office. This tally was one vote short of the two-thirds majority required for removal. Johnson remained president. See Johnson, Andrew (Johnson’s administration (1865-1869)).
In 1869, Congress proposed the 15th Amendment to the Constitution. This amendment made it illegal to deny citizens the right to vote because of their race. It was ratified by the states in 1870.
The Reconstruction governments
New state governments were established under the Reconstruction Acts. Many white Southerners protested by refusing to vote in the elections that set up these governments. The Republicans, who had little strength in the South before the Civil War, won control of every new state government.
By 1870, all the former Confederate states had been readmitted to the Union. Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina had met the requirements of the Reconstruction Acts by 1868. Georgia, Mississippi, Virginia, and Texas took longer to ratify the 14th Amendment. They were not readmitted until they had ratified the 15th Amendment.
The Republicans in the South
consisted of three chief groups—Black citizens; former Northerners, who became known as carpetbaggers; and white Southerners. The white Southerners were called scalawags by their opponents.
Black people formed the largest group of Southern Republicans. Thousands of African Americans voted in the elections to form the new Reconstruction governments. These voters helped the Republicans win power throughout the South. Opponents charged that Black officials dominated the new state governments. But no state elected a Black governor. Only 17 African Americans won election to Congress during Reconstruction. South Carolina, where Black people made up more than half the population, was the only Southern state with a Black majority in its legislature.
The carpetbaggers were largely former Union soldiers who had been attracted by economic opportunities in the South. Many carpetbaggers bought cotton land or opened businesses in the cities. More than 60 carpetbaggers won election to Congress. Nine carpetbaggers served as governors. Others included missionaries and teachers who wanted to help African Americans. White Southerners made up the term carpetbagger to suggest these Northerners could fit all their possessions in a carpetbag (suitcase) when they came south. See Carpetbaggers.
Most scalawags lived in the hilly areas of the South. They resented the plantation owners who had long dominated Southern politics. Many of them had opposed the Confederacy during the war. See Scalawags.
New state programs and policies.
The Reconstruction governments established the first public, tax-supported school systems in most states of the South. Only one Southern state, North Carolina, had such a system before the war. Many historians consider the school programs to be the most significant achievement of the new state governments. The states took over the schools established by the Freedmen’s Bureau and built many more. Black students, both young and old, flocked to these schools. At first, many white people refused to attend. Most of the Southern states then attracted white students by segregating the schools by race, even though many laws prohibited this action.
Economic problems troubled the Southern state governments. Agriculture, the basis of the South’s economy before the war, recovered slowly. And few Southerners had enough money to launch new industries. The state governments attempted to fight the South’s economic backwardness. For example, they offered aid to railroads and various industries. State officials also worked to attract investment money from the North.
The Reconstruction governments opened the political process to Black Southerners. The new governments did more than ban racial discrimination. They also guaranteed African Americans the right to vote and to hold political office. In addition, the governments held elections for offices previously filled by appointment.
White resistance.
Most white Southerners refused to support the Reconstruction governments. Many of these Southerners considered the governments illegal. They believed the new governments were unlawful because the 14th Amendment prevented many former Southern leaders from holding political office. Some of the governments also took away voting rights from former Confederates. Some white families had land and other property taken from them because they were unable to pay taxes. Corruption in the new governments also angered many white people. A number of Southern legislators accepted bribes from railroad officials. White Southerners were also concerned about rapidly rising taxes and public expenses. But much of the increased state spending was needed to pay for the new schools and other public facilities.
The basic reason for white opposition to the Reconstruction governments was that most white Southerners could not accept the idea of former slaves voting and holding office. Many white citizens stayed away from elections. Others turned to violence. United States Army regiments tried to stop the attacks against Black people and their white sympathizers. But these troops had little success in preventing the Ku Klux Klan and similar groups from terrorizing Black citizens and keeping them from voting.
The end of Reconstruction
The Republicans lose power.
Southern Democrats began to regain control of the South in 1869. Democrats defeated the Republicans in Tennessee and Virginia. Reconstruction—and Republican control—ended in North Carolina in 1870 and in Georgia in 1871.
President Ulysses S. Grant tried to stop the use of violence to keep Black citizens from voting. But the difficulty Black people had in voting played a large part in the Democratic victories. Also during the early 1870’s, many Northerners lost interest in Reconstruction, partly because they were distracted by other issues. These issues included a militant movement pressing for women’s right to vote. There was also widespread suffering and labor violence resulting from an economic depression that began in 1873. United States troops aiding the Reconstruction governments were gradually withdrawn. Alabama, Arkansas, and Texas came under the control of the Democratic Party in 1874. Mississippi did so in 1876.
The 1876 presidential election
led to the end of Reconstruction. In this election, Rutherford B. Hayes, the Republican candidate, opposed Democrat Samuel J. Tilden. The outcome depended on disputed returns from the three states that still had Reconstruction governments—Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina. A compromise resulted in Hayes’s election as president. The compromise included agreement to withdraw the remaining federal troops. Hayes carried out the agreement after he took office in 1877. See Hayes, Rutherford B. (The election dispute) (The end of Reconstruction).
Effects of Reconstruction
During Reconstruction, the Union was restored. The rebuilding of the South started. The public school systems that were established in the South had lasting importance for the region.
However, Reconstruction failed to solve the economic problems of either Black Southeners or the South as a whole. Few African Americans acquired land and thus lacked the economic independence that it provided. Many of them turned to sharecropping. They rented small plots from white plantation owners and paid with a portion of their crop. This system gave Black workers more independence. But it was an inefficient method of production that weakened the South’s agricultural economy. State governments helped develop the South’s natural resources and expand its railroad network. But the South long remained the poorest, most backward section of the country.
In politics, Reconstruction made most white Southerners firm supporters of the Democratic Party. It created what became known as the “Solid South.” For more than 40 years after Reconstruction, no Republican presidential candidate received a majority of the votes in any Southern state.
Reconstruction also failed to bring racial harmony to the South. White people refused to share political power with Black people. Black people set up their own churches and other institutions rather than attempt to join white society. After Reconstruction ended, the African Americans gradually lost many of the rights they had gained. By the early 1900’s, every Southern state had passed laws limiting voting rights. These laws gave the vote only to males who could pass certain educational tests or pay special taxes called poll taxes. Such laws prevented most Black citizens from voting. See Grandfather clause; Poll tax.
The Southern states continued to violate the rights of African Americans for many years after the end of Reconstruction. Yet, perhaps the most lasting effect of the period resulted from the 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution. These amendments established a national system of legal protection of equality before the law. The guarantees of these amendments were often broken through the years. But they remained part of the United States Constitution. And, starting in the mid-1900’s, the 14th and 15th amendments became the legal basis of the civil rights movement, the struggle of African Americans for equality.
