DiAnna Brice APUSH Chapter 15 Reconstruction and the New South Intro: In the years following the Civil

War, American attempted to reunite their shattered nation. The southerners viewed reconstruction as a way for the Northerners to humiliate the southerners while the Northerners viewed it as a necessary process that would prevent another event like the Civil War. Reconstruction was an important first step in the effort by slaves to secure civil rights and economic power but they did not gain any real equality. Reconstruction subordinated African Americans legally and economically but it helped them to created institutions and legal precedents. The Problems of Peacemaking After the war no one in Washington knew what to do with the Southern States. The Aftermath of War and Emancipation I. As a result of the war the South was in ruins. Many southerners had lost property and had to rebuild their lives. About 20% of the southern male population died in the war and as a result many southerners lost family members. There was a heavy feeling of grief among southerners. Confederate heroes were treated with extraordinary reverence. II. After the war, slaves were freed but most had nowhere to go. III. In 1865 southern society was in disarray. Blacks and whites had different conceptions of what freedom was. Competing Notions of Freedom I. Blacks now had to figure out how to acquire rights and protections that would allow them to live as free men and women in the same way that whites did. Some wanted land while others simply wanted legal equality. Nearly all blacks were united in their desire of independence from white control. II. White southerners saw freedom as being able to control their own destinies without Northern or federal government interference. Some whites kept their slaves after the war and they were fighting to preserve local and regional autonomy and white supremacy. III. The Freedmans Bureau was created in the South by Congress in March 1865 and it distributed food to millions of former slaves and it also est. schools. It made modest efforts to settle blacks on land of their own. It wasnt a permanent solution bc it could only operate for a year. Issues of Reconstruction I. When the south rejoined the Union the Republicans feared that they would be weakened and the Democratic Party would be reunited. The Republicans took advantage of the southerners absences in

Congress and they passed a program of economic legislation for the North and the reunification of the Democratic Party would possibly put these programs in jeopardy. Northerners believed that the South should suffer for what they did and that the South should be made over in the Norths urbanized image. II. In Congress there were disagreements btwn Conservatives and Radicals. 1. Conservatives insisted that the South accept the abolition of slavery, Radicals urged that the civil and military leaders of the Confederacy be punished, that whites be disenfranchised, that the rights of blacks be protected, and that southern land be distributed among the freedmen (Radicals led by Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner). The moderates where between the Conservatives and the Radicals and they supported some concessions from the South on black rights. Plans for Reconstruction I. Lincolns Reconstruction plan offered great amnesty to white southern who would pledge loyalty the to govt and accept the elimination of slavery. 1. 10% plan- whenever 10 percent of number of voters in 1860 took the oath in any state those loyal voters could set up a govt. Lincoln hoped to extend suffrage to those blacks who were educated, owned property, and has served the Union army. Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee reestablished loyal govts under Lincolns plan in 1864. II. Republicans believed that Lincolns plan was too mild. The Wade-Davis Bill, passed by Congress on July 1864. The bill authorized the president to appoint a provisional governor for each conquered state. Congress passed the Bill and Lincoln disposed of it with a pocket veto. The Death of Lincoln I. On April 14, 1865 Lincoln was murdered by John Booth. Lincoln died the next morning. His death produced hysteria throughout the North. Booth was a part of a conspiracy with other men. Johnson and Restoration I. Andrew Johnson took Lincolns place and he was to lead the Moderates and Conservatives and this was a task that he wasnt ready for. He did not support black rights and believed that white men alone must manage the South. 1. Johnsons plan for restoration included amnesty to those who took an oath of allegiance, the appointment of a provisional governor for each state who was to invite qualified voters to elect delegates to a constitutional convention and there were different procedures that a state had to take in order to be readmitted into the union. II. By the end of 1865 all of the seceded states had formed new govts some under Lincolns plan and others under Johnsons. Radical Republicans vowed not to recognize then Johnson govts.

Radical Reconstruction Congress refused to seat the representatives of the restored states and created the new Joint Committee on Reconstruction to frame a Reconstruction policy of its own. The Black Codes I. The Black codes were designed to give whites control over the former slaves. The codes authorized local officials to apprehend unemployed blacks, fine them for vagrancy and hire them out to private employers to satisfy the fine. In April 1866 Congress passed the first Civil Rights Acts which gave the fed govt power to intervene in state affairs to protect the right of citizens. The Fourteenth Amendment I. In April 1866the Joint Committee proposed a new amendment which Congress approved in early summer and sent to the States for ratification. The Fourteenth Amendment gave everyone born in the United States and everyone naturalized the rights of a citizen and they were entitled to all the privileges and immunities guaranteed by the Constitution. Former Confederate members couldnt hold state or fed officeunless pardoned by Congress. Radicals offered to readmit those who ratified the amendment, only TN did so. Southern race riots helped lead to the overwhelming republican majority in 1866 Congressional elections. The Congressional Plan I. In 1867 Congress passed three Reconstruction Bills. 1. TN was readmitted into the Union but ten other govts were rejected. Congress formed five military districts with commanders who registered voters for a constitutional convention that must include black suffrage. After the const was ratified it needed Congressional approval, state legislature had to ratify 14th Amendment. By 1868 10former Confederate states fulfilled these conditions and were readmitted to the Union. 2. The Tenure of Office Act forbade the president to remove civil officials without the consent of the Senate and the Command of the Army Act prohibited the pres from issuing military orders except through the commanding general of the army. II. Supreme Court case Ex parte Milligan had declared military tribunals where civil courts existed unconstitutional, Radicals feared same ruling would apply to military districts so proposed bills threatening courtcourt didnt hear Reconstruction cases for 2years. The Impeachment of the President I. Pres Johnson served as an obstacle to the Radical legislation, yet he was tasked with administering Reconstruction programs. In 1868 Johnson was impeached for violating the Tenure of Office Act by dismissing the Secretary of War Stanton. Senate acquitted by 1 vote The South in Reconstruction

Southerners believed that the govts that Congress imposed on them were corrupt and incompetent and they saddled the region with enormous debts, and they trampled the rights of citizens. Black southerners spoke of the failure of state govts to go far enough to guarantee freedmen the most elemental rights of citizenship- a failure that resulted in a harsh new system of economic subordination. The Reconstruction of Governments I. In ten states recognized under congressional plans up to1/4 of whites where excluded from voting and office. These restrictions were later lifted, but the Republicans kept control with the support of many southern whites called scalawags (these were former Whigs, wealthy planters, and businessmen). They felt that Republicans was better for their economic interests than was the Democratic Party. II. Carpetbaggers were northerners (mostly professionals or veterans) who moved to the South after the war to take advantage of new opportunities. They were penniless adventurers who arrived with all of their possessions in a carpet bag. III. Most Republicans were black freedmen who held conventions and created black churches that gave them unity and political self-confidence. Blacks were delegates to constitutional conventions, and they held office- although white charges of Negro rule governments were over exaggerated or false IV. Reconstruction governments had charges of corruption and extravagance. But corruption was also occurring in the North, both result of a rapid economic expansion of govt services and revenues that put new strains on elected officials everywhere. Larger budgets reflected important services that previous govts had not offered in the South. These included public education, public works, and poor relief. Education I. Outside groups helped to improve southern education, these groups included the Freedmans Bureau, Northern private philanthropic organization, Northern women and from southern blacks themselves. II. Schools were segregated; whites and blacks were taught separately and there were efforts to unite schools but these efforts failed. Land Ownership and Tenancy I. There was a failure of land redistribution bc the land that the Freedmans Bureau gave to blacks was later demanded back by southern plantation owners and President Johnson was supporting their demands. Most whites got their land back. II. Congress didnt really support land redistribution and blacks relied on institutions such as the Freedmans Bank which promoted land ownership among blacks. This effort failed.

III. Sharecropping developed and it was work for wages. Blacks became tenants of whites and worked their land for rent. The Crop-Lien System I. African Americans saw a great increase in income after the war. Results of this new black profit included: the increase of black shares and a greater return on labor. II. Many blacks remained in poverty despite redistribution. Black per capita income rose from about 1/4 of white per capita income to about in the first few years after the war. They grew little more afterward. III. Gains of blacks and poor whites were overshadowed by the crop-lien system. This system was centered in large part on local country stores. After the war few credit institutions such as banks returned. IV. Farmers did not have a steady cash flow so they were forced to rely on credit to buy what they needed. Without competition stores charged incredibly high interest rates and no one could stop them from doing this. Farmers had to give lien (claim) on crops as collateral for the loans. Farmers who suffered bad years became trapped in debt cycle. V. Effects included: blacks losing land that they gained during the early years of reconstruction, southern farmers became dependent on nearly all cash crops and a lack of diversity in crops that were planted led to a decline in agric economy. The African-American Family in Freedom I. After slaves were freed they went in search of family members that they were separated from. Black families resisted living on former slaver quarters and moved instead to small cabins scattered across the countryside. The role of women and men resembled that of white families. Women worked in positions that resembled slavery. The Grant Administration I. American voters in 1868 turned to Ulysses S. Grant to guide them through the troubled years of Reconstruction. The Soldier President I. Grant was the Republican nominee and his win was narrow. He entered the White House with no political experience and his performance was clumsy from the start. He appointed people who werent experienced to his cabinet and depended heavily on established party leaders. He used the spoils system. II. Liberal Republicans had come to oppose what they called Grantism. They nominated Horace Greely in 1872 to try and replace Grant but Grant won the election.

The Grant Scandals I. Series of scandals emerged plaguing Grant and other Republicans. It involved French-owned Credit Mobilier which was a construction company that helped to build the Union Pacific railroad. The Company heads made contracts to their construction company, bilking the Union pacific of millions. Stock was given to Congress members to stop investigations. II. Whiskey ring found officials helping distillers to cheat out of taxes. The Indian ring scandal emerged and it involved more bribes. Other scandals assed to the idea that Grantism brought corruption to the govt. The Greenback Question I. Jay Cooke and Company (banking firm) invested too much in postwar railroad building and this led to panic of 1873 which was the worst panic yet and it lasted 4 years II. There was paper currency circulating still that was from the war and more paper money was issued during the panic. The Specie Resumption Act provided that after January 1, 1879 the greenback dollars would be redeemed by the govt and replaced with new certificates firmly pegged to the price of gold. III. The greenbackers formed the National Greenback Party in 1875 which was active in the next 3 presidential elections but it failed to gain support. Republican Diplomacy I. William H. Seward and Hamilton Fish helped were significant in establishing the US in foreign affairs. II. Seward accepted a Russian offer to sell Alaska to the US for 7.2 $million despite criticism from many who considered Alaska wasteland. (Sewards Folly). In 1867 Seward also entered American annexation of Midway Islands. III. Hamilton formed an agreement with England (Treaty of Washington) which provided for international arbitration. The Abandonment of Reconstruction Reconstruction efforts began to wane bc the North was preoccupied with its own political and economic issues. The Southern States Redeemed I. By 1872 all but a handful of Southern whites had regained suffrage. Whites used intimidation (Ku Klux Klan) and other methods to undermine the Reconstruction regimes in places where blacks were the majority or equal to whites in population.

II. The Ku Klux Klan was led by former Confederate Nathan Forrest and it was one of the largest and most effective organizations that terrorized African Americans to stop them from exercising their legal rights. Many southerners considered there societies to be proud, patriotic societies. The Ku Klux Klan Acts I. Republicans tried to stop white repression and passed Enforcement Acts, also known as the Ku Klux Klan Acts, which prohibited the states from discriminating against voters based on race and it gave the fed govt power to supersede state courts in violations of law. II. Enforcement Acts were seldom used as much as they were in SC but they were effective in weakening the Klan. Waning Northern Commitment I. The Enforcement Acts were the peak of Republican enforcement of Reconstruction. After the 15th amendment was adapted many in the North felt that blacks should be left to do things on their own. Liberal Democrats gained support and some moved into the Democratic Party. II. The Panic of 1873 weakened Reconstruction support. Northern industrialists explained the poverty and instability that they experienced thru Social Darwinism which was the belief that those who suffered did so b/c of own weakness. Blacks were subjugated to this. Social Darwinism also favored little govt intervention to help. The depleted treasury led individuals to want to spend little on freed black men, poor state govts cut back on social services. III. In the congressional elections of 1874 the Democrats won the majority in House for the first time since 1861. Grant used the army to maintain Republican control in SC, FL, LA. The Compromise of 1877 I. In 1867 the Republicans chose Rutherford B. Hayes as their nominee and the Democrats chose Samuel Tilden. II. Tilden won the popular vote and he was only one vote short of a majority. Hayes could till win if he managed to receive all 20 disputed votes. In Jan 1877 Congress tried to break the deadlock by creating a special electoral commission to judge the disputed votes, Hayes won the election. III. A result of the compromises btwn Republicans and southern Democrats was that Hayes would withdraw last fed troops from the South if Democrats abandoned filibuster of bill. IV. Compromise of 1877- the appointment of at least one southerners to Hayes cabinet, control of federal patronage in southern areas, generous internal improvements, and fed aid for the Texas and Pacific Railroad. The Legacies of Reconstruction

I. Reconstruction was largely a failure in the end bc although it made important contributions to the efforts of former slaves to achieve dignity and equality in American life, it couldnt erase the problem of race. The people who directed it were not strong enough and their weakness disallowed them to achieve more. The New South In the years following Reconstruction white southerners est. the Democratic party as the only viable political organization for the regions whites. The Redeemers I. By 1877 following the final withdrawal of troops from the Southern states, every southern state govt became redeemed by white Democrats. Redeemers/Bourbons were members of the powerful ruling elite and it was mostly made up of merchants, industrialists, and financiers. This group was committed to home rule, social conservatism, and economic development. II. The new Democratic govts lowered taxes, and reduced services (these included public education). III. By 1870s dissenters were challenging the Bourbans. They protested service cuts and the Redeemer govt commitment to pay off prewar and Reconstruction debts (VA Readjuster movement which demanded that the state revise its debt paymennt procedures so as to make more money available for state services) Industrialization and the New South I. Leaders in the south wanted to develop an industrial economy. This new south would be one of industry, progress, and thrift. II. Literature of this time indicates reference for the Lost Cause and Old South- Joel Chandler Harris 1880 Uncle Remus. There was also a growth in minstrel shows III. The New South included growth in textile manufacturing bc of water power, cheap labor, and lower taxes. The tobacco-processing industry grew, and this included James Dukes American Tobacco Company. The Iron and steel industry also grew. IV. Railroads began to develop at a faster rate. In 1886 the South was more integrated with rest of country when it changed its gauge. V. The average income of the South was still lower than that of the North VI. Manufacturing growth required industrial labor force. Most workers were women; working conditions were not very good. Owners and managers of factories in mill towns controlled life in these towns and suppressed attempts at protest conditions of mill towns led to sense of community. VII. Some industries offered virtually no work for African Americans.

Tenants and Sharecroppers I. The South was still mostly based on farming. In the 1870s and the 1880s, there was a growth of tenantry and debt peonage, and a reliance on cash crops. The crop-lien system resulted in many farmers losing land, the majority of people in the South became tenant farmers II. The sharecropping system was where farmers promised large shares of crop for work. Workers would usually have little money left over after payments. Subsistence farming gave way to the growth of cash crops and this increased poverty. Fence laws prevented ppl from raising livestock and this led to a decline in living self-sufficiently III. The people of the backcountry and blacks affected were important constituents for the populist protests of the 1880s and 1890s. African Americans and the New South I. Some blacks were attracted to the New Souths ideals of progress and self improvement. They entered the middle class by becoming professionals, and by owning land or business II. This small rising group of blacks believed that education was vital to the future of African Americans and they supported black colleges III. Booker T Washington was the leader of this idea (founder of Tuskegee Institute). He believed that blacks should attend school and learn skills in agricultural or trade, and win respect of the white population by adopting middle class standards of dress. His Atlanta Compromise sought to forgo political rights, and it concentrated on self-improvement and economic gains to earn recognition The Birth of Jim Crow I. Support of freed African Americans vanished after 1877. Troops were pulled out from the south, Congress lost interest and the Supreme Court decisions regarding the 14th and 15th amendments (civil rights cases of 1883 prevented state discrimination but not private organizations of individuals). II. The court validated separation of races in Plessy v Ferguson (1896)-separate but equal. In Cumming v County Board of Education (1899)- Court ruled that laws est separate schools for whites were valid even if there were no comparable schools for blacks III. White policies shifted from subordination to segregation. Black voting rights had been used by Bourbons to keep their control of Democratic party, but when poor white farmers saw this they sought to disenfranchise blacks. Southern states were able to get around the 15th amendment by poll tax (property requirement) or literacy(understanding test). IV. Jim Crow Laws segregated almost every area of southern life. In the 1890s there was increased violence towards blacks (lynchings) to stop black movement for equal rights. An anti-lynching

movement did emerge led by Ida B. Wells to pass national law enabling the fed govt to punish those responsible for lynchings. Conclusion Although Reconstruction had some positive effects in the end it was abandoned and it was no longer enforced. It solidifies the power of the Republican Party in the North and ensured that public policy would supprt the continued growth of an advanced industrial economy. In the south it rearranged the regions relationship btwn whites and blacks. The lives of blacks changed dramatically bc they were now freed people. The system of tenantry continued to dominate southern economy. The South remained a rural society with sharply defined class structures. Jim Crow laws gave African Americans less power and it subjugated them to whites.