Epilogue

The Epilogue considers what the Reconstruction accomplished and where and why it failed. Principally, it did, for better or worse, achieve the political re-union of the rebellious South with the rest of the nation, and did so with the basic shape of constitutional federalism reasonably intact and the chief object of the war—the elimination of legalized slavery—put beyond challenge. However, the tidal return of white Democratic rule to the South by 1877 allowed the disfranchisement of black Southerners through the imposition of literacy tests, poll taxes (starting with Georgia in 1871), physical segregation, property requirements, and sheer intimidation.

4. Resistance: May 1868– March 1869

1868 should have been the high mark of achievement for Reconstruction, but, in hindsight, it all happened too fast. ‘Resistance, May 1868–March 1869’ describes how between the Reconstruction acts and the re-admission of the first seven Southern states, voter registration was carried-out, the old Confederate power structure dismantled or disabled, state constitutional conventions called and constitutions written, and elections held for both state and federal legislatures, not to mention a presidential election, which was won by the Republican Ulysses S. Grant. With over half a million paroled Confederate veterans, mostly unemployed and smoldering with resentments, large pools of clandestine white resistance easily sprang to life, the most infamous of these being the Ku Klux Klan.

7. Dissension: September 1872–April 1877

Revulsion fed the Liberal Republican insurrection in 1872, and it paved the way for Democrats to regain control of the House of Representatives in the 1874 elections, for the first time in twenty years. ‘Dissention, September 1872–April 1877’ explains how this increased Democratic power reduced the support for Republican enforcement against corruption and disorder in the South. The non-emergence of a single commanding leader who could bind together the disparate shards of African American identity into a single movement also hindered progress for the black population. The Reconstruction governments contributed mightily to their own demise by their incessant, self-weakening infighting.

1. Vengeance: April–December 1865

‘Vengeance, April–December 1865’ begins with the death of Abraham Lincoln on April 15, 1865, after being shot by the Southerner, John Wilkes Booth, and the swearing in of Lincoln’s vice president, Andrew Johnson, as the seventeenth president. Johnson promised to deal harshly with the guilty Confederacy, but how this was to be translated into policy was another question. Reconstruction of the Union would require dealing with a thorny hedge of legal, constitutional, and political questions. Initially, Johnson had to concentrate his attention on ending the war. His early hard line was soon replaced with a softened approach to the Southern states, much to the anger of the Republicans of the North.

Introduction

The Reconstruction era embraces the twelve years, from 1865 to 1877, of active effort to rebuild and reconstitute the American union after the attempt by the Confederate States of America to secede from it. The Introduction explains how it left a long legacy of bitterness, especially among Southerners who believed that they had fought an honorable war and were handed a dishonorable peace. Reconstruction also coincided with an eruption of unprecedented levels of graft, corruption, and fraud in American civil governments. But Reconstruction is probably best known, and least liked, for its failure to erase the treacherous impact of slavery and race in a reconstructed and unified nation.

2. Alienation: December 1865–March 1867

The Radical Republicans arrived in Washington for the opening of Congress on December 4, 1865 with two major weapons in their hands: one was the party caucus and the other was the lopsided majorities Republicans had won in the House and Senate. ‘Alienation, December 1865–1867’ outlines how the Republican juggernaut would produce, over the next seven months, a flurry of legislation, speeches, and reports designed to dissolve the self-reconstructed governments, extend voting rights to the freedmen by national authority, and reach over Johnson’s hands to seize the reins of Reconstruction for Congress. Despite Johnson vetoing legislation, Congress over-rode these vetoes; presidential-style reconstruction was dead.

6. Law: 1866–1876

So much of Reconstruction is understood as a struggle over race, politics, and the nature of state sovereignty within a federal system that not enough attention is paid to how it was also a constitutional struggle between the branches of the federal government. ‘Law, 1866–876’ describes the key legal debates that were raised during the presidencies of Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, and Ulysses S. Grant. The U.S. Constitution apportioned various federal responsibilities among the three federal branches—executive (the presidency), legislative (Congress), and judicial (the federal courts)—but it did not do so evenly or in the same detail.

5. Distraction: March 1869– May 1872

‘Distraction, March 1869–May 1872’ describes the early part of the presidency of Ulysses S. Grant and the rise of anti-Republican resistance. Instead of signaling caution, Grant proposed to move ahead as swiftly as possible to restore the remaining Southern states: Virginia, Mississippi, Texas, and Georgia. This should have marked the conclusion of Reconstruction, except that the Republican governments in the Southern statehouses were fragile and unstable, and led by political non-entities willing to take off in any direction that would ensure some kind of permanence in office-holding. The Republican South was economically shaky and the Grant administration also struggled with negotiations with the native Indian tribes.

3. Arrogance: March 1867– May 1868

For the survivors of the defeated Confederacy, the first issue was simple survival. The war had wrecked the Southern economy with total direct and indirect costs of the war for the South estimated as close to $13.6 billion. ‘Arrogance, March 1867–May 1868’ describes the victorious Northerners push for free labor to support the new economy, as well as the Southerners struggle to accept changing attitudes to their former slaves. Four Reconstruction bills were passed between February 1867 and March 1868, but Andrew Johnson used his military authority to undermine them. An attempt to impeach the president in May 1868 ultimately failed.