HIST 2620 1st Edition Lecture 1 Outline of Current Lecture I Reconstruction 1865 1877 Major Outcomes Important Figures Political Conflicts Major Failures II Presidential Reconstruction What is Presidential Reconstruction Turmoil and Overall Impact III Radical Reconstruction What is Radical Reconstruction The Breakdown of Reconstruction IV The Breakdown of Reconstruction The End of Reconstruction Conclusion Political Social Economic and Cultural Impacts of Reconstruction Current Lecture I Reconstruction 1865 1877 Major Outcomes of Reconstruction 13th Amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude unless used as punishment for a crime 14th Amendment Granted equal protection under the law regardless of race 15th Amendment Granted the right to vote regardless of race not regardless of gender Reconstruction was also dominated by the common belief that freedom was based on the idea of free labor The right to choose ones employer or job and to sell their individual labor for wages Important Figures Political Stands During Reconstruction General Sherman During the Emancipation and southern land tenure General William Tecumseh Sherman on his own accord without legitimate permission led a campaign against the revolting confederate states for committing treasonous acts against the United States In a campaign formally known as the March to Sea or Order No 15 Due to the fact that Sherman told his soldiers to do so under his command Sherman made his way along the confederate coast ransacking and destroying confederate property and freeing slaves along the way Sherman also attempted to apply a policy noted as 40 acres and a mule which was done so without the proper authority and ultimately failed These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute Major Martin Delaney Martin Delaney was an African American union soldier veteran who supported land redistribution due to the fact that at the time most of the land owned in the south was by former confederates and slave owners He believed that freed slaves should achieve economic success through land ownership and economic self sufficiency Delaney holds importance because most northerners held a similar viewpoint on how freed slaves should attempt to live their lives post civil war Major Failures of Reconstruction Reconstruction ultimately failed to achieve II Racial equality in politics and public accommodations Land reform redistribution in the south A broader understanding of freedom beyond the mere scope of being able to sell ones labor for a price Presidential Reconstruction What is Presidential Reconstruction Presidential Reconstruction occurred in the mid 1860 s after the death of Abraham Lincoln in 1865 After his death his vice president Andrew Johnson took the presidency beginning with the establishment of the 13 th Amendment which abolished slavery Soon after he began making accommodations to the shamed confederate states such as repealing Sherman s Order No 15 and pardoning former confederates in May of 1865 These actions caused unrest in the north as they felt the presidency was being too soft on the confederate states who had committed treasonous acts against the United States Under Johnson s presidency the Freedman s Bureau was created and set in motion for the purpose of establishing schools and providing aid to the poor 1860s equivalent to today s welfare system also another accommodation to the confederate states so that they would be able to return to their normal lives excluding slavery Turmoil and Overall Impact The failure of presidential reconstruction stemmed from intransigence on both the North and South s part By Johnson returning the government positions back over to the South too quickly did they tend to place the same removed officials back into office This became a problem when the southern government offices obstructed the process and carrying out of new laws Mainly those that benefitted northern or African American agendas The south began to reinstate black codes that stated African Americans could not testify against whites could not own property or sometimes were forced to sign annul labor contracts with former owners These black codes also included vagrancy laws If you were African American and unemployed you could be imprisoned unjustified imprisonment and forced labor Violence was rampant in the south due to the oversight of the north and their intrusion on the southern way of life The Ku Klux Klan was formed 1865 1867 and persisted to terrorize African Americans forcing the hand of republicans to turn to more politically radical means of adherence III Radical Reconstruction What is Radical Reconstruction Radical Reconstruction is thus named due to the strong political action taken by the republicans to control and force the South to follow the laws the United States had set in place regarding the treatment and overall rights of African Americans Radical republicans The main priority of the radical republicans was to establish racial equality in politics voting and legal rights regardless of race The formation of this group created the political ideology of free labor the idea that slave labor was wrong and the belief that an individual should have the right to choose his employer In 1866 the first civil rights bill was passed stating the basics of what would generally lead to the 14 th amendment However this particular civil rights bill did not establish was the 14 th amendment would do so soon after During the course of radical reconstruction 1667 1868 an attempt to impeach president Johnson for firing his secretary for questioning the constitutionality of his southern tenure failed but left him with little public support for the next election In 1868 the 14th amendment was passed granting equal protection under the law regardless of race A set of Reconstruction Acts were also passed which dissolved state governments in the south and organized the former confederacy into five military districts To enforce the freeing of slaves and their rights In the election of 1868 Grant was elected who strongly favored radical reconstruction and soon after established the 15 th amendment in 1869 as well as a set of Enforcement Acts The 15th amendment prohibited federal and state government from denying any citizen the right to vote based on race The fifteenth amendment was followed by the enforcement acts which were