Reconstruction

"Reconstruction" is the 12-year period from the end of the Civil War (1865) to 1877. The term describes exactly what happened: the South was "reconstructed" from its shambles. To do this, the North sent troops into the South to control its operations. Procedures were established for admitting the Confederate states back into the Union (actually, they supposedly were never allowed to leave, but they did need to be readmitted back into Congress). Obviously much animosity -- and racism -- remained after the end of the actual fighting. New constitutional amendments were required to make slavery illegal and to protect the rights of African Americans (Amendments 13, 14 and 15).

Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 to establish the rights of blacks to testify in court, make contracts, and hold property. President Johnson vetoed the bill, but Republicans enjoyed such a large majority in Congress that it then passed the bill over Johnson's veto (with a 2/3rds majority, which is known as "overriding the veto").

The United States divided the South into five military districts by passing the Military Reconstruction Act in 1867. The federal government then sent in federal troops (the Union army) to govern each military district. This was humiliating to the South. Many northerners (who were given the derogatory name "carpetbaggers") moved to the South to form quasi-military governments, often at the expense of southern taxpayers. The term "carpetbaggers" is still used today to describe any politician who moves to a new state to be elected to office (as when Hillary Clinton moved to New York to become a U.S. Senator in 2000, as a stepping stone to her presidential campaign in 2008). "Scalawags" were white southerners who teamed up with the carpetbaggers who governed the South during Reconstruction.

The 13th Amendment to the Constitution banned slavery, and it was ratified quickly. The 14th Amendment was ratified with more difficulty, as it is a complex Amendment that protects many rights of citizens against interference by any State. It was intended to protect the former slaves and give Congress special powers to protect them further, but in recent years has been expanded by the courts to apply in ways never intended (such as abortion). Congress provided additional protection to former slaves by passing the Civil Rights Act of 1875, which prohibited racial discrimination in hotels, theaters, public transit, employment and other public places and also established the right of former slaves to serve on juries. But later the Supreme Court held the Civil Rights Act to be unconstitutional, deterring Congress from passing more laws like it until the 1960s.

Southern whites interfered with voting (also called "suffrage") by former slaves, and the 15th Amendment was ratified to protect that right: "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. ... The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation."^[18] Much later, in 1964, the 24th Amendment was passed to ban charging a poll tax to interfere with the right to vote.

So remember these Reconstruction Amendments, all of which were added to the U.S. Constitution in the five years following the Civil War (1865-1870):

• 13th Amendments: abolish slavery

• 14th Amendment: give all races equal rights

• 15th Amendment: give all races the right to vote

Meanwhile the South was passing laws of its own to continue to discriminate against African Americans. Beginning in 1866, the South passed Black Codes or "Jim Crow" laws to subjugate blacks and restrict them in voting and from holding office. In 1868, the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was founded in the South. It was a secretive society of white supremacists, who intimidated by burning crosses and killed African Americans.

Unfortunately, the KKK was not a small group. It was widespread across the South and extended even towards the North. It recruited young people. One long-serving and powerful Democratic Senator, Robert Byrd of West Virginia, once belonged to KKK. So did the Democratic Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black in his youth.

Congress cracked down on the KKK by passing the Force Act in 1870, which banned any use of force or terror to interfere with voting based on the person's race. Congress also placed elections in the South under the authority and jurisdiction of the federal officers in order to prevent intimidation of African Americans.

In 1872, Congress passed the Amnesty Act, which pardoned many Rebels from the old Confederacy and allowed them to reenter public life.

Reconstruction was not formally ended until there was a disputed outcome for election of President in 1876. The Compromise of 1877 cut a deal between the North (Republicans) and the South (Democrats) whereby the South consented to Republican Rutherford Hayes becoming President and the North agreed to withdraw the remaining federal troops still in the South.

The Presidential Election of 1876 was a virtual tie, and the compromise to resolve it ended Reconstruction