THE PERIOD OF NATIONAL EXPANSION CHAPTER XXXVIII JOHNSON'S ADMINISTRATION: RECONSTRUCTION AND FOREIGN RELATIONS 1865-1869 357. The impoverished South; the conduct of the negroes. When the soldiers of the South returned to their homes, it was to an impoverished country. Weeds and bushes were choking the land. Hardly any cattle, horses, pigs, or chickens had been left by the devastating armies. Most of the farm buildings and tools had either been destroyed or had fallen to pieces. In the towns and villages there was very little business going on. The banks had failed and their doors were closed. Confederate bills were worthless, and there was not much other money in the country. A third of the men and youths had either been killed in the conflict or were so crippled that they could do little work; and there were many helpless widows and orphans. This was sad enough. But still more serious was the question of what to do with the negroes, who in some of the Southern States were more numerous than the whites. Ever since these poor blacks had been living under civilized conditions, they had been dependent on the white men who owned them, and for whom they worked either under the power of love or of fear. They had now suddenly been released from this dependence, and were freemen. But they were so ignorant and inexperienced that they hardly knew what to do with their liberty. Large numbers of them desired to see the world, so they traveled about from place to place and swarmed into the towns, where they were often disorderly and many committed crimes. The Southern whites were greatly alarmed, and feared that negro anarchy would soon be upon them, which might be even worse than war. 358. President Lincoln's method of reconstruction. Meanwhile, an abundance of other trouble for the South was being prepared at Washington. As the war drew to an end, Federal statesmen began to ask themselves how the shattered Union should be “reconstructed." That is, how and under what conditions should the seceded States be brought back into the Union, and the Secessionists themselves be readmitted to citizenship in the nation? President Lincoln wished to be generous to the defeated Confederates. As commander-in-chief of the army he granted amnesty, or pardon, to large numbers of them who were willing to take an oath of loyalty to the United States. But he would not do this for the officers of the Confederate Government, or for those Confederates who having held United States offices when the war broke out then deserted the Union. He offered to "recognize" any State as being reconstructed when a tenth of its voters had taken the oath of loyalty. Such reconstructed States ought then, he said, to be permitted to send their Senators and Representatives to Congress, as before the war. But of course he realized that only Congress itself could name the conditions under which members of the two houses should be admitted. His liberal ideas were not shared by all of the Congressmen. Had he lived, however, probably his wisdom would have found some way out of that difficulty, and the nation might have been saved much of the serious trouble that followed his death. 359. Johnson succeeds Lincoln. Only a few hours after President Lincoln had passed away, Vice-President Andrew Johnson took the oath of office and became his successor at the White House.1 Upon his shoulders now fell the ex 1 Andrew Johnson was born in North Carolina in 1808. When ten years of age he began to learn the tailor's trade. In his eighteenth year he and his family moved to Tennessee, their household goods being drawn in a two-wheeled cart by a blind pony. There Andrew worked at his bench, and had almost no education until he married, when his wife taught him to write. He became a tremely difficult task of restoring the authority of the Union within the borders of the seceded States. 360. Johnson's reconstruction methods. The new PresiIdent's ideas about reconstruction were much like those of Lincoln. But Lincoln's plan was formed while war was in progress; whereas Johnson's was offered after the contest was over, which was a very different situation. Johnson, also, could not manage men as well as his predecessor did; he was arbitrary and made enemies of those whom he needed as friends. Like Lincoln he granted amnesty to a large number of Southerners who took the oath of loyalty. He went further, however. Congress could not meet until December, several months away. He therefore was free from interruption until that time, and he took advantage of this fact to appoint provisional governors in each of the seceding States. These governors called together constitutional conventions that: (a) Declared null and void the Ordinance of Secession by which the State had joined the Confederacy. (b) Declared that the Confederate debt should never be paid. (c) Ratified the Thirteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution. This Amendment had been proposed by Congress in January, 1865, and went into effect the following December. It forever prohibited slavery in the United States, and did for the entire nation what the Emancipation Proclamation had done for the seceding States alone. (d) Made arrangements for the elections of State Legislatures (who were to elect the Federal Senators) and of Representatives to Congress. 361. Why Congress objected to Johnson's plan. Now, said President Johnson, it only remained for Congress to admit the Senators and Representatives from the South, powerful orator, and prominent in politics. After serving with ability in various State offices, he became a member of Congress, then a Federal Senator, and during the war military governor of Tennessee. He was chosen Vice-President at Lincoln's second election (November, 1864). He was elected a Federal Senator from Tennessee in January, 1875, and died the following July. and reconstruction would be complete. But the Northern Congressmen would not consent to receive them. They believed that the South should not be allowed representation in Congress until it was quite certain that the former slave owners would allow the emancipated negroes to have all the rights of freemen. They said that the President was going beyond his authority in doing as he had done; and that it was for Congress, and Congress alone, to say how reconstruction should be brought about. 362. The Congressional plan of reconstruction. Congress had meanwhile formed a reconstruction plan of its own:(a) First, it resolved to protect the negroes. In March, 1866, it passed the Civil Rights Bill. This gave authority for the former slaves to use the courts for suing persons who owed them debts, or for recovering damages in case of wrongs done to them.1 It also gave to the negroes the protection of the military in case the whites did not give them all their rights as citizens. The President vetoed this measure because not all of the States in the Union were represented in Congress. But that body promptly passed it over his veto. (b) Congress next passed, in June, 1866, the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the States ratified it. This gave to the negro, beyond power of any future Congress to repeal them, all the rights of citizenship, except that the privilege of voting was not assured him; and it prohibited the States from doing anything to take away his rights. It also provided that no man should be elected to Congress or to any important State office who had, previous to secession, sworn allegiance to the United States and after that had taken part in the war. (c) The Reconstruction Act followed, in March, 1867. This placed the unreconstructed States under the management of military governors, with troops to aid them. But if any of the States consented to the Fourteenth Amendment 1 It will be remembered that in the Dred Scott decision the Federal Supreme Court held that negro slaves had no rights before the courts. and adopted new constitutions giving negroes the right to vote, such States were to be readmitted to the Union and to be allowed to send Senators and Representatives to Congress. Under this arrangement six States came back into the fold in June, 1868: North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, and Arkansas.1 (d) In 1869 the Fifteenth Amendment was adopted, making the negro a voter. So far as Federal laws could do it, he was now the political equal of the white man. (e) Congress had in 1865 passed the Freedmen's Bureau Bill. This measure sought to educate and care for the helpless and bewildered negroes; to allow them to buy government land on very easy terms; and to give them still further military protection. In 1868 Congress decided to continue the work of the Bureau; but the President vetoed this decision. Congress, nevertheless, voted that the Bureau should proceed with its undertaking in spite of his objection. 363. The Tenure-of-Office Act. Throughout the four years of his Administration, President Johnson and Congress were continually quarreling over matters like these. In his anger he began to discharge all those men holding important Federal offices who were not of his way of thinking. Most of the Presidents before him, since Jackson's time, had turned out officeholders for a like cause, and Congress had said nothing. But Congress became intensely indignant upon being called by Johnson "a factious, domineering, and tyrannical" body which persisted "in breaking up the Union "; and it also wanted to protect the Federal officers who were carrying out the Reconstruction Act. It therefore passed a law called the Tenure-of-Office Act, which forbade the President to discharge government employees without the consent of the Senate. 364. The President is impeached. President Johnson soon showed his contempt for Congress by removing the Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton, and thus disobey1 Tennessee had been readmitted in March, 1866. |