Reconstruction Begins

Chapter 22: Reconstruction Begins

Lesson 22A: The Beginning of Reconstruction

Tennessee State Standards:

8.68 Explain the significance of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

8.73 Trace the rise of the Ku Klux Klan and vigilante justice in the South and in Tennessee, including the role of Governor William Brownlow.

TENNESSEE AFTER THE Civil WAR

Johnson Becomes Governor of Tennessee, Then VP!

When Tennessee came back under union control in 1862, President Lincoln made Andrew Johnson the states military governor. Although Johnson was a Democrat and Lincoln was a Republican, both Lincoln and Johnson were firm supporter of the union. In 1865, Abraham Lincoln chose Andrew Johnson to become his Vice President.

WILLIAM BROWNLOW BECOMES GOVERNOR OF TENNESSEE

William G. Brownlow replaced Andrew Johnson as governor. Brownlow was nominated by the Radical Republicans. He was a Methodist preacher turned newspaper editor. His newspaper the Knoxville Whig was the last pro-union newspaper in the south before the Civil War. Brownlow was exiled to the north until 1863 when he returned to Tennessee to help restore the state government.

TENNESSEE REJOINS THE UNION

Governor Brownlow sided with the Republicans in Congress, in opposition to President Johnson.

He or is the Tennessee legislature to ratify the 14th amendment, and on July 24, 1866, Tennessee became the first state of the former confederacy to be me readmitted to the union.

They save Tennessee from the political fate of the other southern states, which had to go through reconstruction.

Governor Brownlow gave former slaves the right to vote and then mobilized the state militia to protect them from white vigilantes who tried to prevent them from voting.

He also had the state bank issue government bonds to build railroads and other public improvements. After completing his second term in 1869, he served one term in the U.S. Senate.

THE TENNESSEE STATE CONSTITUTION OF 1870

After Governor Brownlow's term ended, ex-confederates in Tennessee regained their voting rights and conservative Democrats once again dominated politics in the state.

A third Constitutional Convention met on January 10, 1870, in Nashville. The conservatives wanted to wipe out many of the changes made by the Radical Republicans. They chose a moderate ex-Confederate General, John C. Brown, to lead the convention. Many of the provisions of the Tennessee State Constitution of 1834 were not changed in the new Tennessee State Constitution of 1870. In keeping with federal requirements, slavery was forbidden, and African-American men were given the right to vote. However, the new Tennessee State Constitution of 1870 allowed the legislature to collect a poll tax, which was a tax people had to pay in order to vote. It would eventually be used to keep African-Americans from voting.

The new constitution limited the powers of both the Governor and the Legislature. For example, it restricted the Governor's ability to use the Tennessee State Militia. The Constitution of 1870 was approved on March 26, 1870. It was Tennessee's third and final constitution.

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