RM 141 Dolores Luna History Lecture 11 13 2013 Reconstruction Key Terms Freedman s Bureau Radical Reconstruction Ku Klux Klan Context April 9 1865 Robert E Lee surrenders the Confederacy The final day of the Civil War Three days later on April 12 1865 Lincoln is assassinated o Lincoln the beacon of hope is gone and replaced by VP Andrew Johnson Presidential Reconstruction 1865 1867 Andrew Johnson s main goal in Reconstruction was the rapid remaking of the nation Andrew Johnson was not a supporter of black civil rights Freedman s Bureau Radical Republicans Radical Reconstruction Established 1865 to protect the legal rights of freedmen former slaves o Helped establish schools hospitals and facilitated land distribution Significant because it was the federal government s first attempt to protect black civil rights New wing in the Republican party led by Thaddeus Stevens Supported black civil rights in the South and worker s rights in the North Gained cohesion though their mutual opposition to President Johnson 1867 1877 Begins once Radical Republicans gained a majority in Congress Divided the South into military districts and placed the former Confederate states under martial law Wanted to ensure the blacks had civil rights The Reconstruction Act of 1867 gave African American men in the South the right to vote Significant because with the vote also came representation o Black men began to run for office and being elected into office o Over 600 African Americans served as legislatures in Reconstruction governments Contributions of Radical Reconstruction Built new asylums and roads Vast expansion of public education Many black colleges are founded Election of 1868 Horatio Seymour is the Democratic candidate o Proposed to bring an end to Reconstruction o Had very derogatory to blacks election material Ulysses S Grant former Union General in Chief is the Republican candidate and wins During Grant s Presidency The coalition which had emerged in 1866 within the Republican Party began to recede in the 1870s with the election of Grant o Two new factions emerge however Business vs Social Justice Panic of 1873 o US economy goes through a depression o Support for Reconstruction begins to waver since the project was so expensive Those in the North were especially annoyed because their tax money was not directly affecting them Rise of racial violence in the South o Aimed to prevent the right to vote and to cause harm to those blacks elected into office Terror in the South The best known of these terrorist organizations to emerge from Reconstruction was the Ku Klux Klan founded by Confederate veterans in Tennessee in 1866 KKK significant because terror was a primary means through which white supremacy was restored in the South The fiercest violence occurred between 1873 and 1876 o Intimately related to the economic crisis FINALS QUESTION How and why reconstruction ends The rise of terror organizations forces reconstruction to end They become so powerful in the South the federal agency is in danger trying to complete their work Also become unpopular because of the economic crisis It was too expensive and citizens did not like it Lastly because of the increased divisions within the Republican Party Radical Recon ceases to get support from Republicans and supporters begin to support the business side 1876 Election Compromise of 1877 elected Republican Rutherford B Hayes promised to deal justly and generously with the South o Reversed the efforts made by the Radical Republicans Result Federal troops withdrew from the South and there is a reassertion of home rule o Reconstruction officially brought to an end when the troops are withdrawn This would permit the imposition of racial segregation and the disfranchisement of black voters Reconstruction Scholarship Early 1900s through WWII o Radical Republicans motivated by hatred for the South and ambition with little popular support o Reconstruction the darkest page in US history 1935 W E B DuBois Black Reconstruction in America 1960s Revisionism takes hold o Radical Republicans committed to black rights and had broad Northern support o Corruption was endemic throughout the nation not limited to the South o Superficial changes no land redistribution continued racism and inequality o Putting the freedpeople centre stage o Focusing on the tangible changes which impacted the freedpeople s lives 1980s Present Conclusion Reconstruction scholarship reminds us that although the past doesn t change the present does and that rather than being a set of static facts history is an on going process of interpretation So go forth and interpret