Nicole MacMillan 1 Who was Blanche K Bruce How did he represent some of the achievements of Reconstruction Blanche K Bruce was originally born into slavery in 1841 due to the fact that his mother was a slave and social status was maternally determined Besides this Bruce s white father and master treated him tenderly just like he would his other white children Bruce was very educated by his teen years and had learned to read and write which was very uncommon amongst slaves In 1861 Bruce made the decision to emancipate himself and leave the plantation Bruce sought a better life and used the exodus as a cover for his travels When he reached Ohio Bruce attended the integrated Oberlin College although he could not complete his degree because of financial instability He later moved to still confederate Mississippi and created a life in Bolivar County a predominately black area There he held positions such as Sherriff Tax Collector and Superintendent of Schools However the essential part of his life which would change history was the position he held as the U S Senator from Mississippi He was sworn in in January of 1875 from a state that had just been a slave state loyal to the Confederacy This accomplishment is an excellent symbol for the goals of reconstruction Before the Civil War the Dred Scott Decision announced that slaves were chattel or human property and the Southern States believed that to be true Amongst these states was Mississippi Now in 1875 that same state had a black man representing them in congress This shows that the states were coming together again and having a slightly more unified belief Also the fact that Blanch K Bruce was the first African American to serve a full term in the senate shows that blacks were beginning to be seen as educated and more capable of having authority Nicole MacMillan 2 Explain the 13th 14th and 15th Amendments See Chapter 15 and the Constitution in the Appendix in the textbook Who objected to parts of the 14th Amendment The 13th 14th and 15th amendments were passed in the time of Reconstruction between 1865 and 1877 They reversed the laws permitting slavery and offered some rights to African Americans The 13th Amendment was ratified in 1865 and stated that Neither slavery nor voluntary servitude except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction This amendment had the same goal as Lincoln s Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 but since the Proclamation was a war measure and had no effect on the Confederacy the 13th Amendment was made to officially abolish slavery in the Union The 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868 and was meant to clarify the rights of American citizens as well as equality before the law It stated No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United Sates nor shall any State deprive any person of life liberty or property without due process of law nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws Although the final wording was compromised within congress there were still groups that were unhappy with the Amendment Advocates for the women s suffrage movement Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B Anthony were upset that the first time in the constitution the word male was directly associated with voting Thaddeus Stevens thought that the Amendment should exclude former Confederates Stevens wanted to not only keep them from holding an office but from voting as well Charles Sumner didn t agree with the fact that states could deny males the right to vote if they accepted less congressional representation The 15th Amendment was ratified in 1870 and was the last addition to the constitution in the time of Reconstruction This Amendment stated The right of citizens of the United Sates to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race color or previous condition of servitude Some Radicals felt the need to add nativity property education or religious beliefs but they were unsuccessful Democrats thought the Amendment intruded on the states right to define voting rights Suffrage advocates disapproved of the Amendment as well since it did not outlaw discrimination based on gender Nicole MacMillan 3 Was Andrew Johnson impeached What happened Who were the Radical Republicans Andrew Johnson a Southern Democrat was Vice President to Republican President Abraham Lincoln When Lincoln was assassinated in 1865 Johnson assumed the office of President Johnson looked to continue Lincoln s vision of Reconstruction which called for relaxed laws regarding the Confederate State s readmission to the Union The Radical Republicans of Congress disagreed with Johnson s views The Radical Republicans were a group within the Republican Party who were strong advocates in the abolitionist s movement and wanted to punish the South for seceding during Reconstruction The Radicals used what power they had to control Reconstruction They overrode Johnson s veto on the Military Reconstruction Act which placed military influence in the former Confederate States The Radicals then cut Johnson from direct communication with the military due to Ulysses S Grant s allegiance to Congress The Tenure of Office Act became the breaking point of the feud between President Johnson and the Radicals of Congress The Act stated that once the cabinet was chosen the president could not replace the members This became a problem when Johnson wanted to remove his Secretary of War Edwin Stanton The act was seen as a violation of the law The House of Representatives then voted and impeached or charged President Andrew Johnson with improper conduct as a public official When a president is impeached the case is given to the Senate however Johnson was not convicted by one vote To be convicted of misconduct there needs to be a one third vote in the Senate but since that was not achieved Johnson completed the rest of his term 4 What was the Mississippi Plan When the South lost the Civil War there was a large group of Southern Democrats who wanted to restore White Supremacy or the belief that whites are the superior race and it s their place to rule all other races Through this groups like the Ku Klux Klan began to form and used extreme terrorist tactics to restore this idea in America They would attack African Americans so they couldn t vote and openly form
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