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Reconstruction and After. Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address.
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Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address • “With malice toward none, and charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds…to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and a lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.” Pres. Abraham Lincoln
Radical Republicans • Most Confederate leaders, who were largely Democrats, were barred from holding office and voting • New State governments headed by Republicans. • Supported by new African American voters • Deeply resented by most white Southerners. Called white Southerners active in government as SCALAWAGS and republican Northerners who came to South as CARPETBAGGERS
Lincoln’s Plan for Reconstruction • Based on the idea that the south had never left the Union. • Pardons given to all southerners who swore an oath of allegiance to the United States. • No pardon for Confederate leaders. • Recognition would be given to all Southern state governments when 10% of all those who in the 1860 election took these oaths and when the states abolished slavery.
Radical Republicans Plan for Reconstruction • Based on harsher treatment for the states that seceded by Republicans who felt that the south had to be punished. • Division of the south into 5 military districts controlled by the US Army. • Martial law was to be established and southerners would lose all of their liberties. • Required all southern states to grant African American males the right to vote. • More than ½ of the population is each state would have to swear allegiance to the US Constitution.
Andrew Johnson • Became President after the assassination of Lincoln • Impeached by the radical republican Congress for “high crimes and misdemeanors” due to his support of Lincoln’s plan • Senate fell one vote short of vote needed to remove him from office • Lost all political power
Ulyyses S. Grant – Hero or Villain • Republican, elected in1868, first election after the Civil War • Administration damaged by corruption and scandal: • 1. Credit Moblier Scandal – RR officials stole from the RR and then bribed members of Congress to block an investigation • 2. Salary Grab – talk about greedy, Congress voted itself a 50% pay raise and added 2 years of back-pay. Public outcry forced this to be repealed • 3. Whisky Ring – distillers paid graft to federal tax collectors rather than pay the tax on liquor
THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE AT WORK? • The South re-emerged and gave Democrats greater power at the national level • Democratic nominee was Tilden, Gov. of NY v. Republican candidate Hayes, Gov. of Ohio • Tilden won the popular vote, but the electoral vote was contested when 4 states sent in disputed returns • A Special Electoral Commission was established to count the votes, which had a Republican majority • All of the disputed electoral votes were given to Hayes, and the election was finalized.
BUT...Here comes the Compromise • Compromise of 1877 saw the Republicans agreeing to: • Withdraw the remaining troops from the south • Name a Southerner to the Presidential Cabinet • Support federal spending in internal improvements in the South
RECONSTRUCTION ENDS The Compromise of 1877 weakened the northern victory over the south and restored power to many Southern families. Many of these families had been instrumental in starting the Civil War to begin with, so here we go again!
