Unit 9: Reconstruction

Lincoln's Plan for Reconstruction
10% rule: each Confederate state needed to have at least 10% of its voters pledge loyalty (loyalty oaths) to the Union in order to be readmitted as a state.

Congressional Plans for Reconstruction
Five military zones were created under the Congressional Plan in order to divide up the South. Each zone was appointed a head/governor.

50% of the voters in each state had to take loyalty oaths under the Wade-Davis Bill of 1864. This was drafted by the Republicans as they saw Lincoln's policy as too weak.

Freedmen's Bureau was created in 1865 in order to enhance former slave statuses.

"Ultra"radical Republicans
Demanded absolute civil and political equality for blacks. Led by Senator Sumner

Law
Abolition of slavery

Purpose
Put more at stake during the Civil War; became a fight for freedom of slaves as well

Northern Victory

Effects
All slaves were freed

Black codes came into play (See black codes article)

Law
1. Established black citizenship

2. Gave black equal rights

3. Reduced state power and established federal authority

Purpose
To eliminate black codes/black inferiority

To follow the whole "All men are created equal" deal

Effects
Reduced state power

Also, congress intended the 14th amendment to encompass all aspects of being a citizen. However, because the amendment did not SPECIFICALLY spell out the rights granted to blacks, whites began interpreting the amendment to their advantage/abusing it. And thus the fifteenth amendment was born...see next article...

Law
Gave blacks the right to vote (as in, ACTUALLY SPELLED IT OUT)

Purpose
Because the 14th Amendment wasn't specific enough, they edited it and came out with this guy.

Also, the republicans in congress knew that if blacks were given the opportunity to vote, they would most likely vote for republican candidates; political motive

Effects
Though blacks were guaranteed the right to vote, that right was not effectively protected by the government. Whites used various forms of intimidation to deny blacks this right. This gave rise to the KKK and other racist groups. Eventually, blacks just stayed home on voting days for fear of violence against them.

Significance of 1868 Election
The 1868 election was the election in which Grant (republican) was elected for his first term as president.

--All blacks who did vote (this was a small amount because the 15th amendment hadn't yet been established) voted republican

--The whites who voted also voted republican in an effort to spite Andrew Johnson. As a democratic leader, Johnson, simply put, had failed miserably. Almost all whites voted for Grant because he was not a democrat, not necessarily because he was the best candidate.

Scalawags
Scalawags were southerners willing to cooperate with Republicans in order to advance

Carpetbaggers
Carpetbaggers were Northerners who came down South to help with slaves. Most came for personal gain. Also, many northern blacks joined the carpetbaggers eventually

Sharecropping
Sharecropping, in a sense, was an early form of capitalism. It worked like this:

Recently freed blacks (and some poor whites) soon realized that though they were free, they had to begin earning a living for themselves. Most of them did not have the skills necessary to begin work on their own, so sharecropping gave them an opportunity to start somewhere. Similar to the feudal system, sharecropping consisted of a large land owner allocating small plots of land to a black family/poor white family. That family would be provided with food and shelter, and would work the fields. They were allowed to keep 50% of their crops, and, eventually when they made enough money from their produce, they could move out.

Initially, this system was a great stimulator for the economy. The southern economy was in bad shape after the war; the sharecropping system increased the economic success by about 30% compared to when they had the slave system. However, in the long run, the southern economy did not greatly benefit. There was an initial increase, but after that nothing much changed.

Crop-Lien
Another system developed due to the poor state of the southern economy. Because many people didn't have the means to purchase materials necessary to grow crops. The crop-lien system allowed people to borrow material with promise that they would pay the money back once the crops grew. However, this negatively impacted all aspects of the economy. First off, there is no way to actually predict the success of crops, so many people were unable to return the money owed. Secondly, there was no economic progress whatsoever; rather, the southern economy regressed because of this system.

Stampp Document (Pardon my messiness)
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Realized that these are rotated. Will post rightsideup pictures later.