The Era of Reconstuction

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  • Created by: ifif4
  • Created on: 14-11-20 11:18
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  • Background: The USA in 1865
    • The Era of Reconstuction
      • Johnson, Grant, and the failure of radical reconstruction
        • There were problems faced by Lincoln in dealing with reconstruction
          • More radical Republicans wanted to impose a much harsher settlement on the south than Lincoln
          • Lincoln felt it was his role to decide the policy of reconstruction but this led to conflict with Congress.
          • Lincoln also had to decide on what to do with the thousands of ex-slaves.
        • The 10 percent plan was introduced by Lincoln in April 1864 and it states that the rebel states would be admitted if ten percent of their electorate agreed to an oath of future allegiance to the USA.
        • The wade Davis bill of 1865 required 50 percent of the electorate to take a much tougher path of allegiance of past and future loyalty to the union.
        • The new state legislatures in the south passed  a series of laws known as the black codes.
          • African American deemed to be unemployed could be forced into working for white employers.
          • The children of African Americans could be forced into working on plantations as apprentices.
        • Johnson was impeached by Republicans taking place in the Senate in 1868. He was only 1 vote away from being impeached.
      • Interpretations of reconstruction
        • Political effects of reconstruction
          • The north was not harsh on the south during reconstruction.
          • Carpetbagger influence was exaggerated.
        • Hiram Revels was significant because he became the first African-American citizen to ever serve in the US Congress
          • Charles Sumner was an American statesman and United States Senator from Massachusetts.
        • The KKK was set up in 1866 and became active in several states, intimidating African Americans into not voting through beating and lynching.
      • Economic Growth
        • There were no laws on restricting hours of labour and there were no taxes on profits.
          • Congress was very happy to  impose protective tariffs to ensure that foreign manufactured goods were more expensive than home produced goods.
            • Agriculture did not prosper in the same way as industry in the years after the civil war. For most farmers it was a life of subsistence farming and debt.
      • Conflict with Native Americans
        • Demography is the study of the characteristics of population such as size, growth distribution and vital statistics.
        • The timber and Culture act of 1873 gave homesteaders an additional 160 acres provided 40 acres were planted with trees.
        • Desert and Land act of 1877 offered a further 640 acres at 1.25 dollars an acre provided some of it was irrigated.
        • Pull factors for people moving to the plains
          • Offer of free or very cheap land such as offered by the homestead act.
          • It also offered a chance of a new start.
          • Moreover, letters home from those who had already gone west, and who were successfully farming, encouraged people to move to the plains.
        • Treaty of Laramie- the US government had recognised the Black Hills as belonging to the Native American tribe, the Sioux.
      • Foreign Policy 1865-67
        • The USA did also carry out a policy of expansion in the 1860s and 70s. with the movement westward as well as the acquisition of  Alaska.
          • The Alaska purchase was the United States' acquisition of Alaska from the Russian Empire. Alaska was formally transferred to the United States on October 18, 1867, through a treaty ratified by the United States Senate and signed by President Andrew Johnson.
        • Monroe Doctrine was introduced in 1823, by president James Monroe and John Quincy, his secretary of state.
          • US policy was to avoid becoming involved in European wars unless American interests were involved.
          • The American continents were not to be colonised by any European powers.
          • Any attempts at colonisation would be regarded as unfriendly acts.
        • In the 19th century the USA deemed from foreign entanglements. This policy is referred to as isolationism.
        • The Burlingame Treaty of  1868 was signed to promote trade with China.
          • This endorsed the free movement of people and trade between the USA and China.
          • To stimulate Chinese immigration to work on railroad building in the USA.
        • The Dominican Republic in 1869 actually offered itself for colonisation but Congress refused.
          • In the following year an attempt by the federal government to annex the republic stimulated a debate on imperial expansion in Congress.
          • Those in favour argued that the USA would be able to exploit the wealth and resources of the Dominican Republic and sell its goods to a ready market there.
          • Those who opposed to it argued that the USA would not deal with savages .
        • There were strained relations with Britain and China in the years after the civil war.
          • This was because the apparent support given by the British and Canadian to the confederacy during the civil war.
    • Checks and Balances is intended to make sure that no branch or department of the federal government is allowed to exceed its bounds
    • By the 1820s the USA was much more democratic than Britain with almost all white males having the right to vote.
    • Slavery was a system of ruthless exploitation because 25000 African Americans lived in the North where they suffered discrimination.Kenneth Stampp claimed that slavery was harsh.Those who support this view suggest that slaves could be sold, punished and killed by their owners.
    • Consequence of the civil war
      • Emancipation of 3.5 million slaves
  • Many people lost their lives.
    • Consequence of the civil war
      • Emancipation of 3.5 million slaves
    • 618,000 people in total
  • Many people were looking to escape poverty and unemployment in the east.
    • Push factors for people moving to the plains
      • Some moved to the plains to escape religious persecution such as the Mormons.
      • Ex- soldiers from the US civil war saw a lack of opportunity when they returned home, so looked to the west for a new start.

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