Congressional Reconstruction After the Civil War

Johnson's Reconstruction Plan:

President Johnson's reconstruction plan was named Presidential Reconstruction. He pursued this plan while congress was in recess. It pardoned southerners who swore allegiance to the Union, permitted each state to hold a constitutional convention, and required states to void secession, abolish slavery, and repudiate the Confederate debt. After all this was done, the states were then allowed to hold elections and rejoin the Union. His plan was adapted from Lincoln's reconstruction plan with more generosity towards the south.

Black Codes:
These were laws that severely restricted the freedmen's newfound freedoms and rights. They denied the freed slaves' earned rights. These codes consisted of curfews that restricted people from gathering after sunset, vagrancy laws that said the freedmen needed to work or they would be punished, labor contracts that had to be signed by the freedmen that said they had to work for the whole year and if they quit they would lose their wages, and land restrictions that permitted the freedmen to rent land or homes in rural areas forcing them to live on plantations. These laws were unjust and defeated the whole purpose of freeing the slaves.

14th Amendment:
This amendment was made when President Johnson wanted to veto the Civil Rights Act. Congress decided to build equal rights into the constitution. It defined citizenship and stated that anyone born in the United States is a citizen of it and that the state couldn't make a law that curtailed a citizen's rights or deny the citizen of equal protection from the laws. This stopped the black codes.

Radical Reconstruction:
The Radical Republicans' main goal was to grant African Americans their civil rights. The moderates didn't want this because their were still racial inequalities in the north and they didn't want to impose stricter laws in the South.
White people were being violent towards the freedmen and they killed many of them. Johnson opposed equal rights to African Americans and angry Northerners put Radical Republicans into Congress so they could put their own reconstruction plans into action.
The Radicals in Congress passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867. This act put the south under military rule dividing it into five districts that were governed by Northern generals, ordered southern states to told new election for delegates to create new state constitutions, required states to allow all male voters including African Americans to vote, temporarily bared those who had supported the Confederacy from voting, required southern states to guarantee equal rights to all citizens, and required the states to ratify the 14th Amendment. They later impeached President Johnson because of his lack of will to grant the freedmen their rights and the fact that Johnson's firing of the Secretary of War was unconstitutional. African Americans would later take part in politics.

15th Amendment:
Freedmen started demanding the rights of citizenship such as voting, serving on juries, and testifying in court. This led the Congress, through Radical power, to pass the 15th Amendment to the Constitution. It stated that no citizen may me denied the right to vote by the United States because of their race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

Carpetbagger:
This was the insulting nickname given to northern Republicans who moved to the South. The Southerners felt that these carpetbaggers were profiting from southern misery. They were described as greedy men that wanted to make money but it has been proven that they were well educated men including former union soldiers, black northerners, Freedmen's Bureau officials, businessmen, clergy, and political leaders.

Scalawag:
This is also a nickname that was given to white southern Republicans. They were seen as traitors. Some scalawags were former Whigs who had opposed secession and others were small farmers and former planters. Many were poor.

Newspaper Article from 1865 is Found

The Daily American 1865

We face hard times at the end of the Civil War.

The death tolls for the North are 364,000 soldiers including more than 38,000 slaves. The South lost 260,000 soldiers. Many of these men were still young and have left their children and wives behind. This has been of mourning for the entire country.

The Civil War has left the South devastated and the land barren. Former Confederate soldiers have returned home only to find that their houses have been destroyed and that the cities they had lived in were now in ruins.

Southerners are dealing with the loss of their slaves. Managing their plantations has been hard without them. Not only that, but most of the crops have been destroyed and the cattle killed. This caused a plunge in the prices of southern farm properties. Railroads have also been destroyed as well as factories and this has taken a toll on the South’s economy.

African Americans in the South that have recently been freed are struggling to survive. They have found themselves without food, shelter, or a job. Some slaves have chosen to stay and work at the plantations in exchange for food and shelter. Some white men have been unlawful towards the freedmen. Congress created the Freedman’s Bureau to aid these people who are in need. Little by little, though, the freedmen are gaining rights and becoming a bigger part of our society. Some are starting to buy and own land and have established new black organizations. The most prominent ones are the churches. Many people from all age groups are starting to attend schools as well. Even with their harsh entrance into society, they rejoice for their newly gained freedom.

As we all may know, the Vice President, Andrew Jackson, became President after Lincoln’s death. President Johnson’s pursued his reconstruction plan which he named Presidential Reconstruction. It pardoned southerners who swore allegiance to the Union, permitted each state to hold a constitutional convention, and required states to void secession, abolish slavery, and repudiate the Confederate debt. Then the states could hold elections and rejoin the Union. It is similar to President Lincoln’s reconstruction plan but Johnson’s plan is more generous to the South. The two plans both pardoned southerners that swore allegiance to the Union and hold elections then rejoin the Union. They also both permitted each state to hold a convention to create a new constitution, but Lincoln’s plan required 10% of voters in that state to have sworn allegiance to the Union while Johnson’s plan didn’t require any.

This period of Reconstruction has been very helpful to get our country back on it’s tracks. It is to be hoped that we will be able to fully recuperate from this war that has left many in distress.