Andrew Johnson and Reconstruction
Who was Andrew Johnson?
Andrew Johnson was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869, following the assassination of Lincoln.
What was Presidential Reconstruction?
- Presidential Reconstruction can be defined as the period of reconstruction pursued by Andrew Johnson following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
- Johnson's Presidential Reconstruction built upon Lincoln's 10 Percent Plan but offered pardons to former Confederate soldiers and sympathizers.
What was Radical Reconstruction?
Radical Reconstruction is defined as the period of the Reconstruction era led by Radical Republicans in Congress after the ultimate failure and rejection of Johnson's Presidential Reconstruction plans.
How does Downs describe the state of the Federal Military in the south as the year 1865 progressed?
Demobilization and Occupation
If the large numbers of federal soldiers stationed near the Mexican border in Texas are not included, the drops in the rest of the Confederate states are even more striking, from 180,000 in August, to 150,000 in September, to 99,000 in November, and to 61,000 at the end of January 1866.
By September, the demobilization caught up to the military, and the army started to become overstretched and undermanned.
Andrew Johnson
Possible Answers:
- President of the United States
- Failed Presidential Reconstruction Plans
- His Confederate Consolation Implementations, Racism, and Desire to Remain in Presidency at any cost led him to be removed from controlling the path of Reconstruction
What was Johnson's Reconstruction Plan?
The Confederate states would be required to uphold the 13th Amendment, swear loyalty to the Union, and pay off their war debt. Also gave the white South a free hand in regulating their alteration of the individual state constitutions and offered no role to blacks in the politics of the South.
The passage of the Black Codes
After the Civil War ended in 1865, some states passed black codes that severely limited the rights of Black people. These codes limited what jobs African Americans could hold, and their ability to leave a job once hired. Some states also restricted the kind of property Black people could own.
They were laws that attempted to restore as many aspects of slavery as possible.
How were the Radical Republicans able to take control of the Southern Reconstruction plans?
Radical Republicans won over two-thirds of the seats in the House of Representatives and the Senate, which gave them the power to override Johnson's vetoes and pass the bills that they wanted, like the Civil Rights Act.
Why was the occupation by the U.S. Federal army of the Southern states problematic?
The war was technically over, yet armed militants were spread out across the Southern states to maintain order. Seeing armed men in blue coats everywhere you went did not garner a sense of peace during a time of unification in the eyes of Southern citizens.
The Freedmen's Bureau
Possible Answer:
- The Freedmen's Bureau fed millions of people, built hospitals and provided medical aid, negotiated labor contracts for ex-slaves, and settled labor disputes.
How did the former Confederate states view Andrew Johnson?
The Confederate States saw him as the savior for the protection of white supremacy. Lincoln's plans were much harsher on the former Confederate figures, while Johnson's plans gave them the opportunity to regain power and control.
Differing Northern opinions on Reconstruction.
The North was overall immediately joyous about Johnson's plans. The North favored the rapid restoration of the Southern States into the Union, Democrats loved the conservative plan that aligned with their views, Republicans who shared same views with state's rights and racial prejudices, and Republicans who wanted to climb the ladder and ride Johnson's coattails also liked it.
Narrative changed in North after consistent Radical Republican backlash due to persistent violence against the freedmen and the passage of the Black Codes.
Although only Radical Republicans had a view committed to black political rights, many Northerners still insisted that the Freedmen's personal liberty and ability to compete as free laborers must be guaranteed or emancipation would be little more than a mockery.
What were the outcomes of Radical Reconstruction?
Radical Reconstruction represents most of the Reconstruction-era reforms and constitutional amendments we know today including the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments.
What was the result of the demobilization of the Federal Army?
What emerged from the occupation of 1865 was a patchwork of sovereignties, with the military in firm command of some rail lines and coastal regions, planters and freedpeople in control of more distant upcountry and plantation belts, and near anarchy in the contested zones in between.
General Grant
Possible Answers:
- Grant pushed for the removal of the military presence in the South during the time of demobilization
- Grant discharged all volunteer cavalry east of the Mississippi, shifted many black troops out of the countryside and into forts along the Atlantic coast, ordered quick sales of stores and animals, and sped demobilization for the remaining volunteers. It was “radical and sweeping,” the Army & Navy Journal wrote, and turned the volunteer army into “but the shadow of its former self.”
- Late in the administration of Andrew Johnson, Gen. Ulysses S. Grant quarreled with the President and aligned himself with the Radical Republicans.
What were the major flaws of Johnson's Reconstruction plan?
Allowed prominent Southern and Northern whites to be able to shape the transition from slavery to freedom and define the civil status of African American individuals
Johnson's Confederate Sympathizing Pardon Policy
Lenient sentences (if any) for prominent confederates,
Cooperation with wealthy plantocracy to ensure white supremacy in the south and his re-election
How did President Johnson's initial political views and agenda related to Reconstruction shift as his Presidency continued?
He began his presidency by claiming he would implement Abraham Lincoln's Reconstruction plans, however, it quickly became apparent that he had his own agenda.
First, he was inherently a deeply racist individual and did not believe in black autonomy, but also as his presidency continued, he became more focused on how to become re-elected rather than what was actually for the good of all citizens, which led him to sympathize with the ex-Confederates.
How did Radical Republicans gain the support of the Republican Party in the North to advocate for their Reconstruction plans?
Radicals won the support of Northern Manufacturers who saw upwardly mobile black individuals as a new market for their products.
The growing perception of white Southern refusal to change their ways, and President Johnson's indifference to the rights of African Americans, helped propel the Republican party's center of gravity to the left.
Uncompromising opposition to slavery's expansion; emancipation; the arming of black troops - all these at first, had little support, yet all found their way into the mainstream of Republican opinion.
What happened in the Spring of 1865 that caused the demobilization of U.S. Federal Troops across the South?
A brief but crucial financial panic in the spring of 1865 played a key, nearly forgotten role in speeding the discharge of the soldiers. Like almost every wartime nation, the United States depended upon being able to sell bonds and loans at low prices to meet its enormous bills, which totaled nearly $6 billion.
The certified victory of the Union caused a rapid cash deficit and it became cheaper to buy the loans on resale markets than from the government, causing the government to cut spending elsewhere or an economic collapse would occur.
Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner
Possible Answers:
- Radical Republican Figures Opposing Johnson's Presidential Reconstruction Plans and Implementations
- In 1867 Pennsylvania Congressman Thaddeus Stevens and Massachusetts Senator Charles Sumner led the campaign for full voting rights for African Americans across the nation.
What were the main differences between Lincoln's Reconstruction plans and Johnson's Reconstruction Plans?
- The main difference between Lincoln's plans for reconstruction and Johnson's was in regard to the rights of freedmen following the conclusion of the Civil War.
- Lincoln wanted to ensure rights, such as voting, and even limited political representation for the formerly enslaved, while Johnson's plan did not have these same requirements and was relatively lax on former Confederates and Plantation owners.
What were the conventions in the summer of 1865? What was the effect of Johnson's Southern sympathizing on the reconstruction of Southern state constitutions?
During the summer and fall of 1865, most of the Confederate states held constitutional conventions where elected delegates reframed their State's constitution.
Permitted only white persons to vote for convention delegates or to participate in the framing of the new state governments.
None of the state conventions considered extending the right to vote to freedmen.
Pardon Policy allowed ex-Confederates to be elected as delegates to reframe their state's constitution, which ultimately resulted in a purely white supremacist reformation in all aspects of society. In some states, almost all political and economic control was given to the wealthy elite (aka the former wealthy planter class).
How did the white South bring Radical Reconstruction upon itself?
Andrew Johnson's obsession with keeping blacks in order led inevitably to the abandonment of the idea of destroying planters' economic and political hegemony.
Also, the inability of the new Southern governments he created to even ponder upon the idea of African American civil rights or African Americans as anything but plantation laborers ultimately illuminated the realities to the Radical Republicans that the South was trying to reform slavery.
What does this map represent? Explain.
- The U.S. Federal Army posts December 1865-February 1866.
- It shows how the federal government’s occupation shifted from an unusually geographically expansive effort to a much more restrained one. The line of practical sovereignty had been withdrawn; the federal government had concentrated its forces and left much of the countryside under the control of the residents, which alluded to restricted freedoms and ever-imminent danger for African Americans in the South.
William Holden
Possible Answers:
- President Johnson appointed Holden as a provincial governor with the hope that he could stabilize North Carolina as Reconstruction commenced
- Appointed over 4,000 officials, ranging from mayors to judges and constables. Rather than fill these positions with unconditional Union men, the governor used patronage to attract the support of a portion of the South's antebellum and Confederate political leadership.