Politics of the Civil War and Reconstruction

The politics during the War and Reconstruction were very different than a time of no war. Here are some of the things that happened within the politics of the Civil War and Reconstitution Era.

Conscription in the Civil War

Union

Of the unions 2,100, 000 only about 8 percent were drafted.

Confederate

On March 28, 1862 the first conscription was passed in the confederate.  Lots of people resisted it and compared it to slavery.

Copperheads

Copperheads were a group of peaceful democrats in the union that tried to get the union to come to an instant settlement with the confederate.  They got their name when the Republicans called them copperheads after the vemonous snakes, but they reinterpreted it as a copper "head" as in the likeliness of libery, and so they'd take the heads from the pennies and wear them as badges.

Emancipation Proclamation

This was an executive order made by abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863.  This was allowing slaves to be free in the ten states that were rebelling. this also allowed the freed slaves to enlist in the war effort on the union side.  as the union took over land they started to free more slaves.  Prior to this they had to bring the slaves back to their owners.  once the thirteenth amendment was made, no slaves are allowed to be had at all, this went out of effect.  This broadened the goals of the war.  Lincoln only started with keeping the union together but now with this proclamation he recieved a way to outlaw slavery.

Scalawags

These were white southerners that supported the reonstuction and the Republican party after the Civil War.  This was not a good thing to be a salawag, they were insults like carpetbagger, a white northerner that moved south during Reconstuction.

Carpetbagger

Thiswas a name that southerners gave to Northerners that moved south during the reconstuction era 1865-1877.  This name came from the fact that Northerners coming to the South usually were carrying carpet bags, which were made from carpet, and was used as a derogatory term.  Republican political appointees that came to the south were also called this, because they looked like they were ready to loot and plunder the deafeted south.

Freedmen's Bureau

It was also called the Bureau of refugees, freedmen, and abandon lands.  This was a federal government agency that helped freedmen during reconstruction.  They encouraged the plantation owners to hire the freedmen instead of own them.  They tried to make an employee to employer relationship instead of slave and owner.  They also later expanded it so that they could try to find their family and learn to read and write to better themselves.  In 1869 they got cut from funding and lost most staff.

10 percent plan

On December 1863, Abraham Lincoln made a model of reinstatement for the confederate.  He said that ten percent of the state had to state allegiance to the union in order to be part of the union again.  The Radical party disapproved this plan, they thought it would be better to transform the south by redistributing land, develop industry, and guarantee slave freedom.

Thirteenth Amendment

This made it so that the confederate states had to abolish slavery, once the war was over.

Fourteenth Amendment

This was ratified July 9, 1868.  It made it so that anyone born in or naturalized would now be a citizen and protected under the laws.  It would punish states that wouldn't allow people the right to vote. Congress order former confederate states to ratify this amendment in order to regain federal representation.

Fifteenth Amendment

William Stewart made this amendment, it was ratified on February 3, 1870.  This stopped people from stopping people who were of different race, color and if they were a slave or not from voting.

Tenure of Office Act

This law was passed from 1867 to 1887.  It intended to prevent the president of removing office holders without approval of the senate.

Military Reconstruction Act

This act was passed on March 7, 1867.  This hoped to rebuild the governments of the south just like the north.  it also required southern states to include rights for the freedom of blacks.  They distributed the south into five military sections.  Virginia-first district, North/ South Carolina-second district, Alabama and Florida-third district, Mississippi and Arkansas-fourth district, and Louisiana and Texas-fifth district.  This act also made them pick a new government official, because the politicians.  The last part was they had to accept the 14th amendment.

Compromise of 1877

This compromise ended the reconstruction era.  The terms of this compromise were removing federal troops from the former confederate states.  There has to be at least one southerner Democrat in Hayes's cabinet.  They had to construct another transcontinental railroad going through the south (Texas and the South Pacific). They had to help industrialize the south to help them out after the Civil War.  In exchange for Hayes's presidency.

Video:
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