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Lincoln sets forth 10 percent Reconstruction plan
Lincoln's policy toward readmitting Southern states into the Union. When 10% of a state's population took the oath of allegiance to the Union and denounced slavery, the Union would acknowledge their admittance. http://www.insertfishhere.com/images/Abraham-Lincoln-5-17-04-2 copy.jpg (The actual photo did not contain the dialouge bubble. I added that with Paint!) -
Wade Davis Bill is passed by Congress, but pocket-vetoed by Lincoln
The Wade-Davis Bill was passed by Congress in order to establish how seceeded states would re-enter the Union. Congress had previously refused Lincoln's Ten Percent plan and replaced it with their own. In the Bill, 50% of a state's population had to swear their loyalty before Congress would recognize them. Lincoln politely vetoed the bill because he didn't want to get involved.
(Pictured: B. Wade)
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Johnson moves to reconstruct the south on his own initiative
Johnson appointed prominent southern politicians as the governors of the newly reinstated states. He then made them all declare secession illegal, repudiate the Confederate debt and ratify the 13th Amendment before fully accepting their readmission. The states did some under the table handiwork to continue oppressing blacks which led to more tension between Congress, Johnson and the Southern states http://image.absoluteastronomy.com/images/encyclopediaimages/b/be/benjamin_wade_-_brady-handy.jpg -
Congress refuses to seat representatives and senators eleceted from states re-established under presidential plan
Because certain southern states continued to pass racist legislation against black civil liberties, many of the senators and house representatives refused to let the Southern delegates participate in Congressional hearings. http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1861/February/confederate-states-map.jpg -
Johnson vetoes Freedmen's Bureau Bill
Congress attempted to pass the Freedmen's Bureau Bill to assimilate formers slaves into productive members of society. It was a temporary agency established to provide relief, education, legal help and assitance in obtaining land/employment. Johnson vetoed the bill anyway http://www.capegateway.gov.za/image/2004/8/ct_freed_slave.jpg -
Johnson vetoes Civil Rights Act; it passes over his veto
The Civil Rights Act was to overpower the Southern's states infamous "Black Codes" legislation and guarantee the freedmen's rights. Johnson vetoed but thanks to the wonderful clause of Checks and Balances, Congress passed it anyway! http://media.nowpublic.net/images//c4/8/c48ad1e410cc2ebff1281550fdf34688.jpg -
Congress passes 14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment extended the right of citizenship to anyone born or naturalized in the US. It also guaranteed equality of law to all. http://www.laits.utexas.edu/txp_media/html/cons/features/0206_01/slide4.gif -
Republicans increase their congressional majority in the fall elections
Despite Johnson's less than diplomatic behavior while campaigning for the election, Radical Republicans managed to use his behavior for the advantage and secure a 2/3 majority in both Houses. http://www.jestdesigns.com/images/popular-designs/republican-logo_380x340.jpg -
First Reconstuction Act is passed over Johnson's veto
Placed all of south under army rule by dividing the South into 5 new military districts. http://www.heartpunchstudio.com/images/Reconstruction.jpg -
Johnson is impeached; he avoids convictions by one vote
This lasts from February until May of 1867. Johnson's tactics of removing Radical Republican sympathizers from office led to his impeachment trial. Although Johnson continuously thwarted Congressional agendas, Congress did not secure enough votes to remove him from office, a great Republican embarrassment. http://symonsez.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/johnsontrial1.jpg -
Southern blacks vote and serve in congressional conventions
In certain states where the Redeemers had not seized power or intimidated blacks into compliance, a few black politicians managed to acquire a political office before the Redeemers eventually took over the south's government. http://www.lib.unc.edu/ncc/1898/images/G%20H%20White.jpg -
Grant wins presidential election, defeating Horatio Seymour
Ulysses S. Grant, a Civil War Union general and war hero, secured almost 1 million more popular votes and 134 more electoral votes than his Democratic opponent, Horatio Seymour. 23 electoral votes were not voted, however, because unrestructured states did not participate in the electoral college. http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/24/70724-004-4CB8AA9B.jpg -
Congress passes the 15th Amendment, granting African Americans the right to vote
Much to the Southern States' dismay, Congress approved the 15th Amendment to the United States constitution in 1869 and the states ratified it the following year. This declared that it was illegal to deny any male citizen the right to vote based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude. http://aakulturezone.com/kidz/images/graphics/votingbox.gif -
Congress passes the Ku Klux Klan Acts to protect black voting rights in the South
Also know as the Force acts, they were approved by Congress in an attempt to reduce white supremacy activists and terror spreading through the south. This lasted from 1870 until 1871. http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/images/kkk/KKK-CrystalPool.jpg -
Grant re-elected president, defeating Horace Greeley, candidate of the Liberal Republicans and Democrats
Grant enters his second term as President, defeating the Democratic and Liberal Republican's candidate, Horace Greeley. Greeley died before the electoral college even finished its voting, so it's good Grant won anyway. He may have died because he suddenly looked in the mirror, saw his hair, and died of shock. Hair that bad, it could happen to anyone. :) http://media-2.web.britannica.com/eb-media/63/116363-004-B48EF9E4.jpg -
Financial panic plunges nation into depression
Debate over the greenbacks (money printed during the Civil War that was basically useless) spurred panic and much debate following the closing of the War. Political parties were torn on whether to trade them for real money or continue distributing them, or what to do at all. The indecision, along with a bad cotton crop, led to serious inflation that hit the American people hard, at the most inopportune time. http://www.hypnoprogress.com/images/thumbnails/Panic.png -
Congress passes Specie Resumption Act
A way for Congress to slowly reduce the number of greenbacks in circulation and replace them with specie payments, in an effort to prevent inflation and promote the economy. http://www.cartoonstock.com/lowres/csl0761l.jpg -
"Whiskey Ring" scandal exposed
This controversy shed some light on the incredible amount of corruption that plagued the Grant administration. Several federal revenue officials conspired with some distillers to defraud the government money in liquor taxes. Grant's secretary of war, William Belknap was impeached for having ties to the scandal and Grant was later accused of participating in a cover-up to protect Belknap. http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/img/display_media.php?mets_filename=evm00001466mets.xml&resolution=lowre -
Disputed presidential election resolved in favor of Republican Hayes over Democrat Tilden
Rutherford B. Hayes narrowly succeeded in capturing the title of President after a long battle over electoral votes against Samuel Tilden. The debate ended only when certain Republicans conspired with southern Democrats to swing their electoral votes in favor of Hayes in exchange for all military powers to be removed from the South (The Compromise of 1877). This lasted from the election in November of '76 until the next year in '77. http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2107/2050709278_1fc7b7499b.jpg -
Compromise of 1877 ends military intervention in the South and causes fall of the last Radical governments
This was the result of the Hayes-Tilden stalemate. A group of Republicans conspired with southern Democrats to swing their vote in favor of Hayes (and not the filibuster other Democrats were planning) in exchange for the removal of all troops in the south. http://web.mac.com/rolandgarret/iWeb/site/The Rise and Fall of the Civil Rights Movement _files/droppedImage_1.jpg
