Reconstruction The New South Key Questions of Reconstruction

Reconstruction & The New South

Key Questions of Reconstruction 1. How do we bring the South back into the Union? 2. How do we rebuild the South after its destruction during the war? 4. What branch of government should control the process of Reconstruction? 3. How do we integrate and protect newlyemancipated black freedmen?

Phases of Reconstruction A. B. C. Phase One: Presidential Reconstruction (1863 – 1866) Phase Two: Congressional (Radical) Reconstruction (1866 – 1873) Phase Three: Redeemer Reconstruction (1873 – 1877)

The Defeated South • Land & Cities in ruins • Wealth (cotton & slaves) gone • Major psychological effects

President Lincoln’s Plan • Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction (December 1863) – a. k. a. 10% Plan • 10% of the 1860 voting population taking an oath of loyalty and establishing a government – the state would be recognized & representatives seated

Radical Republicans • Republicans who took a tougher stance • Wanted to fundamentally change Southern society • Proposed Wade-Davis Bill (1864) – Required 50% of 1860 voters to take an “iron clad” oath of allegiance – Required a state constitutional convention before the election of state officials – Enacted specific safeguards of freedmen’s liberties • Pocket vetoed by Lincoln

Freedmen’s Bureau (1865) • Established to aid the emancipated slaves • Provided social, economic, & educational services • Many northern abolitionists went to the South to help the freedmen • Called “carpetbaggers” by white southerners

President Andrew Johnson • Like Lincoln, never believed the states legally left the Union • Believed it was “Restoration” not “Reconstruction”

Johnson’s Plan (10%+) • State constitutions had to repudiate slavery & secession • Granted amnesty to all who pledged loyalty to the Union • Not granted to major Confederate officials or wealthy landowners – Had to apply directly to Johnson – 90% granted pardons • Fall 1865, 10 of 11 southern states “restored” • Planter elite back in power • State constitutions fell short of recognizing emancipation

Black Codes • Laws passed (in the South) denying rights of citizenship to the freedmen • Purpose: – Guarantee stable labor supply – Restore pre-emancipation system of race relations

13 th Amendment • Concern that the Emancipation Proclamation was not Constitutional • 13 th Amendment ratified December 1865 • Ended slavery in the U. S. «Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Congress Breaks with the President • Dec 1865, Republicans worried about the South • Prevented the seating of Southern representatives in Congress • Spring 1866 passed 2 bills to aid freedmen – Civil Rights bill – Expansion of Freedmen’s Bureau • Both vetoed by Johnson • Congress passed both bills over Johnson’s vetoes 1 st time in U. S. history

th 14 Amendment • Proposed to protect Civil Rights Act (1866) • Ratified in July 1868 – Defined citizenship to include former slaves – Prohibited states from violating the rights of citizens – Gave Congress the power to reduce representation of any state that denied suffrage to males over the age of 21 • Southern states would be punished for denying the right to vote to black citizens

1866 Elections • Referendum on reconstruction – Democrat or Republican? – Presidential or Congressional? • Republicans “Waved the Bloody Shirt” • Republicans (Congress) won Johnson’s “Swing around the Circle”

Congressional Plan for Reconstruction • Constitutional conventions elected by universal manhood suffrage • New constitutions had to protect black suffrage rights and ratify the 13 th and 14 th Amendments • Congress began passing laws to oversee Reconstruction in early 1867 all over Johnson’s veto

Military Reconstruction Act • Restarted Reconstruction in the 10 Southern states (no TN) that refused to ratify the 14 th Amendment • Divided the 10 “unreconstructed states” into 5 military districts • Military now oversaw state governments & voter registration

Tenure of Office Act • President couldn’t remove any officials without the Senate’s consent, if the position originally required Senate approval • Designed to protect radical Republican members of Lincoln’s cabinet (esp. Edwin Stanton, Sec of War) • Johnson removed him anyways Feb 1868 • Fired generals who were in favor of Radical Republican plan Edwin Stanton

Impeachment of a President • Feb 24, 1868 HOR votes to impeach Johnson (12647) – 11 counts of “high crimes and misdemeanors” • Goes on trial in the Senate • Lasts 11 weeks • Acquitted – 35 to convict, 19 to acquit – 1 vote shy of 2/3 vote needed

Reason for Acquittal • Moderate Republicans feared Johnson’s removal – Radical Rep Benjamin Wade would become President • Met with Johnson who agreed to stop challenging Reconstruction • Congress’ plans move forward

Freedmen in Politics • Black men could register and vote in states since 1867 – Military protected them

Freedmen in Politics • More Freedmen registered than white Southerners • Over 2, 000 served in public offices during Reconstruction – 14 in the HOR and 2 in the Senate

Growing Republican Support • Freedmen voted Republican • Carpetbaggers voted Republican • White Southern Republicans were Scalawags – Seen as traitors to their race & region • Southern governments were Republican • By 1868 8 states fully “Reconstructed” – But do these governments represent the Southerners?

The Invisible Empire of the South • The Ku Klux Klan was established in 1866 to combat Reconstruction • Conducted a “Reign of Terror” against Republicans

Election of 1868 • Republicans nominated U. S. • Democrats nominate Grant Horatio Seymour

Strategy of the Republicans • “Wave the bloody shirt” • Associate the Democrats with treason and war

Results

th 15 Amendment • Northern states did not all have black suffrage • 15 th amendment proposed to allow suffrage rights to all men – The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. • Ratified 1870 • Women’s right groups furious they were overlooked • Final 3 Southern states forced to amend & brought back into the Union in 1870

Dealing with the KKK • Reconstruction complete, but still major problems in the South • Enforcement Acts of 1870 & 1871 [also known as the KKK Act] – Outlawed terrorist societies – Allowed the President to use the military to put down any terrorist societies • Effectively ended the Reign of Terror, but not southern resentment

Northern Support Wanes • Problems for the North: – Grant administration’s Corruption – Republicans lose control of HOR in 1874 election – Resurgence of Northern Racism – Concern over westward expansion and Indian wars – Monetary issues remaining from the War – Panic of 1873

Who are the Redeemers? • Redeemers: Democrats who did not oppose Reconstruction but wanted it to end • Wanted to oust the Radical Republican from control & restore or redeem the South back to Democratic control

Effects of the Redeemers • By 1876, 8 Southern states are under Democratic control • African Americans lose gains made during Reconstruction • North tired of interfering

Civil Rights Act of 1875 • Passed before Republicans lost control of HOR • Outlawed racial discrimination in theaters, hotels, RRs, and other public places • Lacked enforcement • Found unconstitutional in 1883 • No new Civil Rights laws passed until the 1960 s

1876 Election • Republicans nominate Hayes • Democrats nominate Tilden

Results • Who wins?

Political Crisis of 1877 • Contested results – both sides claimed to have won FL, LA, & SC – Not a tie, so it doesn’t go to HOR • Special Electoral Commission established – 5 HOR, 5 Senators, 5 SC judges – 8 Rep, 7 Dem • Election went to Hayes

Compromise of 1877 • Democrats & Republicans made a deal • If Hayes won: – Gov’t would pursue a policy of noninterference in the South – Reconstruction is OVER

African American Migration • 1 st instinct after emancipation was to move • Significant shift toward the cities – 10 largest Southern cities saw the black population double • Most stayed or returned to their former plantations

Effects on African-American Culture • Freedom strengthened family ties – Many reunions – Legal Marriages • Changes in Gender Roles – Men took on a more typical head of household role – Women were the more subservient spouse, but still worked outside of the home • Rapid spread of churches and schools

Sharecropping • Most Freedmen hoped to become self-sufficient farmers but couldn’t afford to buy land • Blacks rented land paid their rent by dividing their crop with their landlord (former owner)

Barrow Plantation 1860 Barrow Plantation 1881

Tenancy & the Crop Lien System Furnishing Merchant § Loan tools and seed up to 60% interest to tenant farmer to plant spring crop. § Farmer also secures food, clothing, and other necessities on credit from merchant until the harvest. § Merchant holds “lien” {mortgage} on part of tenant’s future crops as repayment of debt. Tenant Farmer (mainly the Freedmen) § Plants crop, harvests in autumn. § Turns over up to ½ of crop to land owner as payment of rent. § Tenant gives remainder of crop to merchant in payment of debt. Landowner § Rents land to tenant in exchange for ¼ to ½ of tenant farmer’s future crop.

Jim Crow Laws • Discriminatory and segregationist legislation passed in the South beginning in the 1880’s • Meant to forestall racial/social equality in the South • Beginning of the “White Only” and “Colored” signs across the South

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) • Homer Plessy (1/8 black) boarded a white only train in LA to challenge Jim Crow laws • Supreme Court ruled that segregation was legal as long as there were “separate and equal facilities” provided • Segregation sanctioned by the federal government

Loss of voting rights • Literacy tests, Poll taxes & Property qualifications enacted to restrict Black voting • Grandfather clauses: used to get the poor whites exempt from qualifications • 1898 Supreme Court ruled these were a proper means of restricting the ballot to “Qualified” voters • Only 5% of the Southern blacks eligible voted

In the End. . • Slavery was over, but not much changed in the South