america
...y Opposition - Radical Republicans - 1863-1865 A. Leaders - Charles Sumner and Thaddeus Stevens • 1. Sumner was caned by Preston Brooks in 1856 - it took him 3 years to recover • 2. Stevens (1792-1868) supported confiscation of property and redistribution to blacks o Pennsylvania Congressman o "Forty acres and a mule" - very little redistribution actually occurred B. Goals • 1. educate blacks for equality - political, economic, social • 2. punish the south for discrimination - military rule to enforce laws • 3. land redistribution • 4. keep Republican control of Congress • what do you think of these goals? C. Congress refused to seat new Southern delegates to Congress because • 1. they did not guarantee black suffrage or land redistribution • 2. they did not trust Southern leaders to change o in the states that met the requirements blacks were not treated well • 3. even Moderates thought that the President had exceeded his authority o a. State Suicide - start over as unorganized territory - (Sumner) Congress readmits o b. Conquered Provinces - Stevens - do what we want - deter future challenge • 4. It endangered Republican control of Congress o a. tariffs o b. land o c. banks o d. railroads • 5. Two ways to keep control o a. give slaves vote - Republican o b. keep Confederate leaders out of office • Was this a good idea? Why or why not? D. Wade-Davis Bill - July 1864 • 1. Goals - South = conquered territory o a. punish South - harsh o b. give leadership to loyal Republicans (governor appointed not elected) o c. insure black rights (state constitution required to abolish slavery) • 2. Cancel Confederate debt - weaken former leadership • 3. 50% should take oath of loyalty • 4. Only those who never willingly supported the Confederacy could vote in the election o or write the Constitution • 5. Gave the federal courts the power to enforce emancipation • 6. Lincoln's Response o a. Lincoln used the pocket veto but showed a willingness to compromise in the other 9 states o b. felt that a Constitutional Amendment was required to abolish slavery o c. 12/65 - 13th Amendment • 7. Battle over reconstruction began in the North • 8. Southern states thus reorganized by President under plan rejected by Congress. E. Lincoln's Assassination - April 14, 1865 • 1. Ford's Theater - D.C. • 2. Our American Cousin - comedy • 3. John Wilkes Booth (1838-65) - A pro-Confederate actor o a. Many Southern sympathizers saw Lincoln as a tyrant and Booth thought that he was saving the South. o b. Instead Lincoln's death gave the Radical Republican control of Reconstruction which ended up much harsher than Lincoln had envisioned. o c. Booth was shot and killed two weeks later. IV. Andrew Johnson vs. Radical Republicans A. Andrew Johnson (1808 - 1875) - Personality • 1. Johnson became Vice-President in 1864 o Jacksonian Democrat from Tennessee o Strong champion of small farmers and artisans o Headed loyalist Tennessee government during Civil War Refused to give up seat in Congress when South seceded o Selected as Lincoln's Vice President to balance ticket. • 2. Johnson loved the South o but hated southern plantation owners who he blamed for his hard life as a poor southerner. o This led Congress to believe they could work with him • 3. As a politician many Southerners had looked down on him because of his birth. • 4. Obnoxious, rude - no tact - Inflexible - unwilling to compromise - owned slaves • 5. self-righteous - his was only acceptable plan - no Lincoln • 6. unofficially he recommended giving suffrage to those blacks who could read and write o Southerners ignored this advise o Northerners were upset that his reasons were political he wanted the Republicans to lose support • 7. L...