...President Andrew Johnson Although Andrew Johnson was from the Democratic Party, in 1864, Lincoln chose Johnson as his running mate under the National Union Party banner. When Lincoln died April 15, 1865, Johnson became president. He did not have a Vice President. Johnson now had the job of trying to heal the country after the Civil War left the country in ruins. President Andrew Johnson lifted himself out of extreme poverty to become President of the United States. He was a man with little education who climbed the political ladder and held many different high offices. As a strict constitutionalist, Johnson believed in limiting the powers of the federal government. President Johnson was one of the most bellicose Presidents who “fought” Congress, critics, and many others. President Andrew Johnson faced numerous problems post-Civil War Era including reconstructing the Southern states to combine peacefully with the Union, his battles with Congress, and his career ending impeachment. Following Lincoln’s tragic assassination, President Andrew Johnson took on the accountability of making Reconstruction a reality. Andrew Johnson wanted to use Lincoln’s ideas of reconstruction but in a modified form. Since Congress would be in recess for eight more months Johnson decided to go ahead with his plan. Johnson was initially left to devise a Reconstruction policy without legislative intervention, as Congress was not due to meet again until December 1865. Radical Republicans told the...
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...impeached Andrew Johnson In the article “Why They Impeached Andrew Johnson” by David Donald, Donald states that Andrew Johnson was impeached due to his selfish and self-centered personality; also Andrew Johnson’s decisions were made to benefit him as a person and not the country. “President Andrew Johnson was called upon for positive leadership, and he did not meet the challenge. Andrew Johnson’s greatest weakness was his insensitivity to public opinion.” says David Donald explaining more of Andrew Johnson’s flaws. Then Donald goes into listing the differences between President Lincoln, who believed in taking the course of action that was held with agreement with public opinion and Andrew Johnson. Donald says that Andrew Johnson seemed not to realize the weakness of his position. He was the representative of no major interest and had no genuine political following. Basically thought the whole article David Donald list adjectives and reasons Andrew Johnson was not a good president and was impeached. David Donald also states that Andrew Johnson’s relationship with Congress was yet another one of the many reasons that Andrew Johnson was impeached. Andrew Johnson was a southern democrat who had no intentions of working with the northern republicans of congress, and one of the main issues was that Andrew Johnson was not going to continue working on the reconstruction that was started by Abraham Lincoln. Donald says that Andrew Johnson relationship with the radical republicans...
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...Assuming the role of a Radical Republican Senator including arguing the Radical Republicans position of Reconstruction requires examining the highlights of Andrew Johnson’s Reconstruction views for the Union, which include developing an oath under which Caucasian southerners would have to accept upon regaining personal civil including political rights furthermore all property excluding slaves would be given back to the owners. Confederate hierarchies including individuals whose property was worth a specific amount of money were discounted from taking the oath in which these individuals had to apply for an independent pardon. Under Johnson’s plan states had draft new congress including the election of state officials including congress for recognition of new state government and martial law retracted from the state. Ex-confederates influenced Andrew Johnson by methods of threatening his life, which made Johnson conform to ex-confederate influences by writing pardon after pardon while in the public spotlight Andrew Johnson’s proclaim to Reconstruction was complete. Deriving from Johnson’s absurd claim were few followers representing Moderate Republicans who conformed to Johnson while possessing some views similar to Radical Republicans who openly opposed Andrew Johnson’s Reconstruction methods. Radical Republicans idea of Reconstruction centralized on making a mirror copy of the North out of the South while Moderate Republicans hold no regard for social revolution or equality...
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...CHAPTER 22: THE ORDEAL OF RECONSTRUCTION The Problems of Peace Know: Reconstruction 1. "Dismal indeed was the picture presented by the war-wracked South when the rattle of musketry faded." Explain. Not only had an age perished, but a civilization had collapsed, economically and socially. Cities were reduced to rubble, there was no economic life; banks and businesses collapsed. The transportation system had broken down completely. Agriculture was hopelessly crippled. The planter aristocrats were humbled. Southerners were resentful and in denial. Freedmen Define Freedom Know: Exodusters, American Methodist Episcopal Church, American Missionary Association 2. How did African-Americans respond to emancipation in the decade following the war? Many southerners resisted this so they killed many slaves, etc. Some slaves were loyal to their master and resisted the liberating Union armies, other slaves' pent up bitterness burst forth violently on the day of liberation. Many newly emancipated slaves joined union troops in pillaging and some slaves got revenge. When the masters were forced to tell their slaves that they were free, some slaves were suspicious but later they celebrated. Emancipated slaves took on journeys to test their freedom, find lost family, look for jobs, etc. The Freedmen's Bureau Know: Freedmen's Bureau, General Oliver O. Howard 3. Assess the effectiveness of the Freedmen's Bureau. It taught ~ 200,000 blacks how to read and many former slaves...
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...only days after Robert E. Lee’s surrender. | plans for Reconstruction were taken over by Vice President Andrew Johnson, who became president after Lincoln’s death. | President Andrew Johnson | to reunite the United States especially those who served the country. | He messed up with the Radical Republicans when he was forgave them and also by allowing Confederates to return to power. | the Republicans took control of the majority in both the House and the Senate and, Congress began passing bills that would change Reconstruction policy. | Radical Republicans | control of Reconstruction, also wanted change for the South | President Johnson vetoed many bills that Congress passed | Republicans and the Radicals joined together, thusly were able to override the president's vetoes and put their plans in action. | Southern Democrats | Change in Congress and remove the last of the federal troops in the south | they had to be approved to make Rutherford B. Hayes president in 1876 | They agreed to accept Hayes if he removed all remaining federal troops from the South and named a Southern Democrat. | PART 2 What was the main issue relating to Reconstruction that divided Republicans at the end of the Civil War? If you had been a member of Congress at the time, what type of plan for Reconstruction would you have supported and why? The main issue with the Reconstruction that split the Republicans at the end of the Civil War was...
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...surrender | plans for Reconstruction were taken over by Vice President Andrew Johnson, who became president after Lincoln’s death | President Andrew Johnson | to reunite the nation by including amnesty for all who swore loyalty to the United States | he infuriated the Radical Republicans who thought he was too forgiving by allowing Confederates to return to power | the Republicans gained an overwhelming majority in both the House and the Senate and, Congress began passing bills that would change Reconstruction policy. | Radical Republicans | change for the South and, wanted to take control of Reconstruction | President Johnson vetoed many bills that Congress passed | many other Republicans joined the Radicals and together, Republicans in Congress were able to override the president's vetoes and put their plans in action. | Southern Democrats | the removal of all remaining federal troops from the South and a change in Congress | they had to approve the decision of the commission to make Rutherford B. Hayes president in the election of 1876 | They agreed to accept Hayes if he removed all remaining federal troops from the South and named a Southern Democrat to his Cabinet. | //////// June 27th 2013 01.04 Rebuilding the Government: Assignment PART 1 PART 2 What was the main issue relating to Reconstruction that divided Republicans at the end of the Civil War? If you had been a member of Congress at the time, what type of plan for Reconstruction would you have supported...
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...Lincoln’s plans for Reconstruction were shaped by his view of the Civil War. He believed that it was unconstitutional for the Confederacy to secede. He therefore did not recognize the Confederacy as ever having been a “separate” country from the United States. In 1864, the Civil War was nearly over, and President Lincoln wanted to reunite the country as quickly as possible. He began to develop a plan for Reconstruction to achieve his goal. He even chose a southerner, Andrew Johnson, as his running mate during the 1864 election because he felt that this would improve the relationship between the Union states and the Confederate states. The first part of Lincoln’s plan for Reconstruction was to offer amnesty to the former Confederate states....
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...The venue for the trial for the co-conspirators in the assassination was presented to President Johnson. Although it was an enormously unpopular decision, he allowed a military trial to be held in place of a civil court hearing in Washington, D.C. This left many outraged and more determined than ever to punish anyone involved. At the same time the decision was being made on the fate of the assassination conspirators, Johnson was presented with the quandary of what to do with former Confederacy president, Jefferson Davis. The debate dragged on for over two years as a case was made for a trial for treason and later for a military hearing. Johnson and his advisors never reached a decision and Davis was finally released after two years of confinement. These events precipitated a rising anger toward the new administration and the south in general within the Congress of 1865 that would fuel their punitive efforts towards the...
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...Reconstruction • Lincoln dies - Andrew Johnson, a Southern Democrat, becomes president Johnson the Politician • Johnson owned a few slaves and defended slavery and "states' rights" • But he was a small time farmer who did not own slaves early in his life. • He got elected by protecting the rights of non-slaveholding yeoman farmers • He proposed the Homestead Act • But he cared more about the Union than he did about slavery, so when the South seceded, he was the only Southern senator to remain loyal to the Union • That is why the republicans chose him to be Lincoln’s vice-presidential candidate in the 1864 election, so that border states with large slave-holding populations would vote for the Republican candidate • But when Lincoln died, Johnson implemented his own Reconstruction Plan during the first 8 months of his term as president. (It was based on Lincoln’s “Ten Percent Plan”) Andrew Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan • Handed out thousands of pardons to Confederate soldiers and politicians • Enforced Lincoln’s plan to admit states if they ratified the 13th Amendment • Took back the land promised to the slaves of Edisto Island, South Carolina (“40 Acres and a Mule”) • But, Johnson's plan left rebuilding the South in the hands of the same people who controlled the Southern governments during slavery • “States Rights” , to Johnson, meant not just letting the South rebuild what the Union army destroyed...
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... History 125 Being a radical republican makes it a necessity that we remain in control with complete power over both the north and the south. In order to achieve this we must implement a reconstruction of the United States. Restoring the south to the way it was prior to the war is an important issue that we must address and it should take president over the other issues that will arise on the path to reconstruction. In order to rebuild the South to its pre war stature we will need to establish new states, establish new governments, and rejuvenate the economy of the south. The affect of the civil war on the south has been total devastation that includes economic devastation, land devastation and personal devastation. There has been a complete shutdown of all transportation of goods which means that the goods and materials can not be moved from one place to another. For example, the steel that was created in Alabama can not get to Georgia where it is needed to build factories. The main points of my reconstruction plan are that we need to punish the South for their acts of treason in not supporting the Union and we need to ensure that we protect the rights of the freed slaves. If we do not impose stricter polices the South will revert back to the same social and political way of thinking that started this war in the first place (Allard, 2006). What are the consequences of the reconstruction plan that I am proposing? One consequence is stricter...
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...process of rebuilding the South during the Reconstruction period 1865-1877 brought a lot of challenges. In 1865 and 1866 under the supervision of President Andrew Johnson, new Southern state legislatives passed the “black codes” to control the labor and behavior of former slaves and other African Americans. During the Radical Reconstruction in 1869, new enfranchised blacks had a voice in the government for the first time in American history, winning election southern state legislatives, including U.S. Congress. However, forces like Ku Klux Klan reversed changes brought by Radical Reconstruction in a violent reaction that restored white supremacy in the South. In 1865, President Andrew Johnson announced his plans for Reconstruction. According to him, the southern states had never given up their right to govern themselves, and the federal government had no right to determine voting requirements. Under Johnson’s Presidential Reconstruction, all lands that had been confiscated by Union Army would be reverted to their prewar owners. Due to Johnson’s leniency, many southern states in 1865 and 1866 successfully passed laws known as the “black codes,” which were designed to restrict freed blacks’ activity and ensure their availability as a labor force. These codes brought a lot of tension to many people in the North, including members of Congress. In early 1866, congress passed the Freedmen’s Bureau and Civil Rights Bills and sent them to Johnson for his signature. The first bill extended...
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...Strayer University Contemporary U.S. History HIS 105 Professor Regan Smith January 27, 2013 America's Post-Civil War Growing Pains This paper will address the period from Reconstruction through widespread industrialization in the Western United States during the time period of 1865 – 1900. 1. Identify at least (2) two major historical turning points in the period under discussion. The year 1865 began an era of presidential reconstruction. Upon Lincoln’s assassination, Andrew Johnson became president. During this time he unveiled his plan for Reconstruction: (1) scrapping the “40-acres-and-a-mule” plan suggested in the charter of the Freedmen’s Bureau and (2) creating a tough loyalty oath that many southerners could take in order to receive a pardon for their participation in the rebellion (Schultz, 2012, p. 278). Many southern states returned Confederate leaders to political power and they went onto create “black codes” modeled on the slave codes that existed prior to the Civil War (Schultz, 2012, p. 279). Johnson did nothing to prevent the South from re-imposing these conditions on the black population (Schultz, 2012, p. 279). This led The Radical Republican party made up of northerners since no southerners were in congress yet, a time known as Radical Reconstruction. The Radical Republicans moved swiftly to pass the important Civil Rights Act, which counteracted the South’s new black codes (Schultz, 2012, p. 279). A second historical event, The Industrial...
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...RECONSTRUCTION, WHAT WENT WRONG I. Historiography of Reconstruction A. Early Views Journalists, Poets, & Rebels Negative view of Reconstruction Sidney Andrews, The South Since the War (1866) John Dennett, The South as It Is. Southern frame of reference Sidney Lanier (poet) Attempt to justify Civil War B. Early Professional Historians John Ford Rhodes Ohio Democrat Not impartial Blamed North for problems of Reconstruction’ Claimed Black Rule forced on South at point of bayonet John William Burgess Tennessee Unionist Former Union soldier Studied at University of Berlin Organized History Graduate Program at Columbia University Produced historians such as U.B. Phillips and William Archibald Dunning Traditionalist view of Reconstruction Burgess, Phillips & Dunning Basic view: Stressed Southern problems Minimized achievements of Freedmen Regarded White Supremacy as normal in South C. Dunning School And Traditionalism William Archibald Dunning Taught at Columbia University Attracted best historical minds of his day Wrote histories of their own states James W. Garner, Reconstruction in Mississippi (1901) Walter Lynwood Fleming, Civil War and Reconstruction in Alabama (1905) William W. Davis, Civil War and Reconstruction in Florida (1913) Clara Mildred Thompson, Reconstruction in Georgia (1915) Histories very detailed and accurate BUT hostile...
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...As we move on, though, so does all of their “Radical Movements”. One such movement was reconstruction. Reconstruction was a period in our nations time some of us would like to forget. Can it really be said, though, that reconstruction was a complete failure? That all it did was make times hard for freed slaves in the U.S. I for one think that Reconstruction was both a success and a failure. When reconstruction first began in 1865, the people of America had just gotten over the brutal and destructive Civil War. In actually, reconstruction...
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...president, a great man, and could not be replaced. However, now he needed to be replaced because the country needed to be ran and the next in line was Lincoln’s vice president, Andrew Johnson. He was forced into a leading position during one of the nation’s most difficult times, the Reconstruction period after the Civil War, and received a lot of attention, mostly negative. Many suspected him of being very biased towards the South and this ultimately lead to a lot of conflict between Johnson and Congress. The Republicans of Congress at the time, mostly the Radicals, wanted to remove Johnson from office as soon as possible for a number of reasons. First, his plan for reconstruction after the Civil War was much too lenient towards the South. Johnson’s “laid back” plan gave many opportunities for Southern states to move around the rules because none of his terms were even requirements. States chose not to follow his...
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