Chap_16.doc - 182 Chapter 16 Reconstruction An Unfinished...

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Chapter 16: Reconstruction: An Unfinished Revolution, 1865–1877
CHAPTER 16
Reconstruction: An Unfinished Revolution,
1865–1877
CHAPTER SUMMARY
Reconstruction refers to the process by which the nation was rebuilt after the destruction caused by the
Civil War. This rebuilding was social, political, and economic. Since there were no guidelines as to how
it would be accomplished, questions and disagreements arose. Given such disagreements, as well as the
emotional aftermath of four years of war and the force of individual personalities, Reconstruction
proceeded by trial and error.
As early as 1863, some two years before the end of the war, a debate began between the President and
Congress over key questions relating to Reconstruction. In this debate, and in the Reconstruction
proposals put forward by President Lincoln and Congress, it was apparent that the two disagreed over
the scope and objectives of the Reconstruction process. Despite these disagreements, in early 1865
Congress and the President were able to work together to secure passage of the Thirteenth Amendment
and to create the Freedmen’s Bureau.
At war’s end, and as the power struggle between the executive and legislative branches over control of
the Reconstruction process became more pronounced, freed men and women renewed their
determination to struggle for survival and true equality within American society. On one level they
placed faith in education and participation in the political process as a means of attaining equality, but
they also turned to family and religion for strength and support. Denied the possibility of owning land,
they sought economic independence through new economic arrangements such as sharecropping.
However, sharecropping ultimately proved to be a disaster for all concerned.
When Congress reconvened in December 1865, it was faced with a Reconstruction policy advanced by
President Johnson that not only allowed former Confederate leaders to regain power at the state and
national levels, but also obviously abandoned the freedmen to hostile southern whites. Northern
congressmen and the constituents they represented were unwilling to accept this outcome of the long,
bitter struggle against a rebellious South. Believing that it had a constitutional right to play a role in the
Reconstruction process, Congress acted. This action led to clashes with an intransigent President
Johnson and to the passage of two congressional Reconstruction plans.
The first of these plans, the Fourteenth Amendment, evolved when the wrangling between President
Johnson and Congress produced compromises among the conservative, moderate, and radical factions
of the Republican Party. Although Congress passed the Freedmen’s Bureau bill and the Civil Rights Act
of 1866 over the president’s veto, there was concern that the Supreme Court would declare the basic
provisions of the Civil Rights Act unconstitutional. Therefore, those provisions were incorporated into a
constitutional amendment that was presented to the states for ratification in April 1866. The Fourteenth