The Reconstruction Years

1865
The economic recession caused by the war’s devastation was being reversed by increased railroad construction after the war ended. This turned isolated western towns such as Chicago, St. Louis, and Kansas City into great hubs for the delivery of commodities and livestock from the West. It also helped expand industries that facilitated construction, such as coal, timber, and iron. The new Bessemer process converted iron to more durable steel, which enabled even more construction.
The Union Stock Yard and Transit Company opened in Chicago late this year. Within a decade, the Union Stockyards and the growing use of railroads to transport products made Chicago the largest meatpacking center in the world. Chicago soon became the Midwestern capital of commodities trading as well, with products from western farms pouring into the city via rail.
Congress passed the National Banking Act of 1865, which imposed a ten percent tax on state bank currency notes, effective July 1, 1866. This enabled the federal government to monopolize the U.S. monetary system by virtually taxing all non-federal currency out of existence.
William Sheppard produced liquid soap by mixing one hundred pounds of ammonia with one pound of soap, then thinning the mixture with water. William Bullock developed a printing press that used a continuous roll of newsprint instead of pre-cut sheets; the initial model produced up to 15,000 sheets per hour. James Nason patented the coffee percolator. The Nation began weekly publication with E.L. Godkin as editor.
The Presidential Reconstruction Plan
Shortly after taking office, President Andrew Johnson initiated his version of what had been former President Abraham Lincoln’s Reconstruction plan. There was no constitutional provision for restoring seceded states to the Union, and Lincoln and the Republican Congress had disagreed over what the legal process should be. Johnson moved to continue Lincoln’s policies while Congress was in recess.
First, Johnson declared that all state governments in the conquered states were null and void. Second, he recognized the new governments of Virginia, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Tennessee, all of which had been reconstructed according to Lincoln’s plan. Third, Johnson ended trade restrictions with the conquered states to begin rebuilding the devastated southern economy.
Johnson then issued the “Amnesty Proclamation,” which pardoned those involved in the “existing rebellion” if they swore loyalty to the Union and acknowledged the end of slavery. Several classes of southerners were ineligible for amnesty, including those worth more than $20,000. Johnson sought to punish aristocrats that he believed had started the war. Disqualified southerners were required to personally request a pardon from Johnson and “realize the enormity of their crime,” whereupon amnesty would be “liberally extended.”
A second proclamation, drafted by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, restored civil government in North Carolina. Johnson appointed William W. Holden as provisional governor, and after swearing loyalty to the Union, Holden was authorized to organize a convention to draft a new state constitution. Convention delegates would be elected by those who had sworn loyalty to the Union. Delegate eligibility was based on registered voters from the 1860 census, which excluded blacks because they had not been permitted to vote at that time.
The delegates were required to reject the ordinance of secession, repudiate the Confederate war debt, and ratify the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery.
Johnson’s Reconstruction plan was motivated by his desire to restore peace and reunion as quickly as possible, his strong belief in limited federal power, his strict interpretation of the Constitution, the influence of his southern culture, and his belief that whites should govern because blacks were inferior. Johnson also believed that subduing the southern aristocracy would prevent future secession and restore the remaining southerners’ loyalty to the Union.
But perhaps most importantly, Johnson sought to finish what Lincoln had started. The Amnesty and North Carolina Proclamations were very similar to Lincoln’s 1863 Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, and Johnson had told his cabinet that he intended to follow Lincoln’s policies as closely as possible. Republican Party boss Thurlow Weed wrote, “I know he went to the White House with that determination.”
Following Lincoln’s example, Johnson suggested that provisional governors grant black suffrage, if only as a political weapon to use against the Radical Republicans in Congress. Johnson wrote to one governor: “If you could extend the elective franchise to all persons of color who can read the Constitution in English and write their names, and to all persons of color who own real estate valued at not less than two hundred and fifty dollars, and pay taxes thereon, you would completely disarm the adversary (Radicals), and set an example the other states would follow.”
Johnson opposed efforts by Republicans, particularly Radicals, to use the war to expand their political power beyond the constitutional scope. To stop this power grab, Johnson needed a solid bloc that would support his policies in Washington. Thus, Johnson needed to restore the conquered states to the Union as quickly and as magnanimously as possible, preferably before Congress convened in December.
Most northerners considered Johnson’s plan lenient. But former Confederates argued that being forced to denounce secession was being forced to denounce a constitutional right; that repudiating the Confederate debt would ruin southern credit and discourage the outside investment needed to rebuild the region’s shattered economy; and that abolishing slavery was a state, not a federal, prerogative. Johnson’s demands confirmed what southerners had suspected: the North had fought the war to force its morality on the South, expand federal power, and diminish self-government.
Even so, most southerners accepted Johnson’s plan. They were exhausted and impoverished from the war, and their focus shifted to resuming peaceful lives, rebuilding the southern economy, and ending the military occupation of their land. Moreover, southerners feared that a congressional Reconstruction plan would be much harsher than Johnson’s.
The National Intelligencer congratulated Johnson on his efforts to reunite North and South after such a terrible war. However, it also warned that the Radicals were planning to impose restrictions on the southern states that no northern states would tolerate for themselves.