Presidential Legacies: Civil War and Reconstruction

This next grouping is intimately tied to the Civil War and Reconstruction. The war began in 1861 and ended in 1865 consuming Lincoln’s Presidency. Lincoln toyed with Reconstruction in the occupied South. However, he died before being able to start Reconstruction in the South. The Reconstruction issue dominated Johnson’s Presidency and led to his impeachment. In the North, Reconstruction waned as an issue in the Grant Years before ending with the election of Rutherford B. Hayes.

Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865): We know the story. The South left the Union and Lincoln brought them back. Lincoln knew he had the edge, but could not find a general to win the war. They all wanted to be Napoleon. Instead, he got guys like Ambrose Burnside. Eventually, he found Grant and the South was pounded into submission.

While on the way to reunification, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Technically, this freed no one, but Lincoln turned the war into a battle against slavery. This undercut the South. They were now the bad guys and the Civil War became a moral war. Lincoln worked on the 13th Amendment to end slavery. He died before it passed.

Andrew Johnson (1865-1869): At first, Johnson appeared to be the right man to punish the South. He talked tough and announced tough policies. Then, he worked to get the Southern states readmitted as quickly as possible with the pre-war status quo. This angered the Republicans. A war between the executive and legislative branches began.

During the 1866 Congressional Elections, Johnson went campaigned against the GOP. Presidential campaigning was unheard of. They were supposed to sit at home and rest on their records while others campaigned. People were suspicious. He compounded his miscalculation by giving the same speech from stop to stop. It was reprinted in the papers. The audience in Cleveland recited the speech as Johnson tried to give it. He melted down. The Republicans won a decisive victory and Johnson was irrelevant.

The Republicans worked to help blacks in the South while Johnson worked to undermine their rights. The two branches of government continued to collide and Johnson was finally impeached. He survived conviction in the Senate. Johnson’s interference in Reconstruction gave a defeated South new life. It helped lead to the Ku Klux Klan, Night Riders, and other paramilitary terror groups in the South. The country remained at war despite the peace at Appomattox. As a result of Johnson’s actions, the South continued to resist and eventually reclaimed the South and instituted Jim Crow. Perhaps if Lincoln had survived, a second Reconstruction in the 1960s would not have been needed.

U.S. Grant (1869-1877): Grant’s Administration avoided Reconstruction where possible to concentrate on economic development. As money flowed from the Feds, a series of scandals rocked the Grant Administration. Grant’s presidency suffered from the most presidential scandals until the Clintons came to town.

While the administration dealt with scandal, it dealt with a destabilizing force in the South. The Klan was running wild. Grant sent in the troops, declared martial law, and crushed the Klan. The KKK would not be a problem again until the 20th century. However, once the economy tanked, and Northerners decided it best to let the South decide their own fate, Grant was powerless to stop Klan-like groups from emerging in Mississippi and spreading throughout the South.

Rutherford B Hayes (1877-1881): Rutherford B. Hayes lost the popular vote in 1876. However, three states had suspicious returns. Without Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina, Samuel Tilden was one electoral vote short of the presidency. Hayes needed all three states to be president. Democrats worked hard in these states to suppress the vote and stuff the ballot box. Republicans cried foul. Eventually, the two parties cut a deal. Hayes would be president. In return, the military occupation of the South would end. This is a case where the president’s legacy is tied directly to something out of his control. Hayes was a good president and became a hero in Paraguay. However, he is best remembered as Rutherfraud B. Hayes and the Compromise of 1877.