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=**Chapter 15: Reconstruction and the New South**=

**Main Ideas:**

 * 1) Radical Reconstruction changed the South in many significant ways, but ultimately fell short of the full transformation needed to secure equality for the freedmen.
 * 2) White society and the federal government lacked the will to enforce effectively most of the constitutional and legal guarantees acquired by blacks during Reconstruction.
 * 3) The policies of the Grant administration moved beyond Reconstruction matters to foreshadow issues of the late nineteenth century, such as political corruption and currency reform.
 * 4) White leaders reestablished economic and political control of the South and sought to modernize the region through industrialization while redrawing the color line of racial discrimination in public life.
 * 5) The race question continued to dominate Southern life well past Reconstruction into modern times.

**Text Resources:**
Loewen's //Lies My Teacher Told Me// - Chapter 5 - Gone with the Wind - the Invisibility of Racism in Textbooks

=

 * Handouts/Homework: DBQs:** Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois offered different strategies for dealing with the problems of poverty and discrimination faced by Black Americans between 1877 and 1915. Assess the appropriateness of these strategies in the historical context in which each was developed. (1989 DBQ)=====

[[file:1877-1915 1989DBQ-BlackAmericans.pdf]] **FRQs:**
Kyle Ward, History in the Making - An absorbing look at how American History Has Changed in the Telling Over the Last 200 Years, The New Press, 2006. ISBN: 987-1-59558-044-3 - Chapter 27: African Americans and Reconstruction - Chapter 28: Birth of the Ku Klux Klan
 * Further Reading:**

Madaras & SoRelle, Taking Sides; Clashing Views in United States History, Vol. 1, McGraw-Hill, 2008. ISBN: 978-0-07-352723-9 - Issue 18: Was Reconstruction a "Splendid Failure"? Eric Foner asserts that although Reconstruction did not achieve radical goals, it was a “splendid failure” because it offered African Americans in the South a temporary vision of a free society. LaWanda Cox explores the hypothetical question of whether Reconstruction would have succeed had Lincoln lived and concludes that, despite his many talents, not even Lincoln could have guaranteed the success of the full range of reform for African Americans.

Courvares, Saxton, Grob, Billias, //Interpretations of American History; Volume One//, Eighth Edition, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2009. ISBN: 978-0-312-42049-3. Chapter 11 – The Reconstruction Era: How Large Its Scope? - Eric Foner, //Reconstruction:// //America////’s Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877//, 1988. - Elliott West, //Reconstructing Race//, 2003.

//The Devastated South// § South was deeply devastated after the Civil War. No other time in America’s history did the destruction match that of the South § Towns gutted, plantations burned, fields neglected, bridges and railroads destroyed § Many once rich men in the south now had no personal possessions such as slaves (freed by emancipation) and no currency (Confederacy bonds were now worthless) § Families had to rebuild fortunes

//Myth of the “Lost Cause”// § More than 258,000 confederate soldiers had died in the war- about 20% of adult while male population of the region § Thousands returned sick or wounded § White Southerners began to romanticize the “Lost Cause” and its leaders, and to look back nostalgically at the South as it once was § White woman wore mourning clothes and jewelry § Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Stonewall Jackson were viewed as almost religious figures § Some white Southerners believed that their loss pushed them to protect what remained of their now-vanished world

//Freedom for the Ex-slaves// § Some freed African Americans demanded redistribution of economic resources such as land. § Others asked for legal equality § All former slaves were united in their desire for independence from white control § They created autonomous African American communities § Established own churches, schools. And societies § Southerners interpreted freedom as the ability to control their own destinies without interference from the North or the federal government

//The Freedmen’s Bureau// § In March of 1865 Congress established the Freedmen’s Bureau, an agency of the army directed by General Oliver O. Howard § It distributed food to millions of former slaves § It established schools staffed by missionaries and teachers sent to the South § Modest efforts to settle blacks on lands of their own § Also assisted poor whites § Only operated for a year

//Conservative and Radical Republicans// § The division in Congress reflected the divisions that created disputes over emancipation during the war § Conservatives insisted on abolition of slavery, but proposed few other conditions for the readmission of the seceded states § The Radicals, led by Thaddeus Stevens and Charls Sumner, urged that civil and military leaders of the Confederacy be punished, and property of wealthy white Southerners who aided the Confederacy to be confiscated and distributed among freedmen § Some Radicals favored granting suffrage to the former slaves and other hesitated because few Northern states permitted blacks to vote.

//Lincoln’s 10% Plan// § Lincoln’s Reconstruction plan, announced in December 1863, that a general amnesty to white southerners could be obtained if they pledge loyalty to the government and accepted the elimination of slavery.

//Wade-Davis Bill// § Radical Republicans were astonished at Lincoln’s mildness § Persuaded Congress to deny seats to representatives from the three “reconstructed” states and refused to count the electoral vote of those states in the election of 1864 § Wade-Davis Bill was Radicals’ first attempt to form their own Reconstruction plan § Passed in July of 1864 § Allowed president to appoint a provisional governor for each conquered state § The new state constitutions would have to abolish slavery, disenfranchise Confederate civil and military leaders, and repudiate debts accumulated by the state governments during the war § After these conditions were met they could readmit to the Union § Bill left up to the states the question of political rights for blacks § Lincoln vetoed it

//Andrew Johnson’s Personality// § Not well suited, either by circumstance or personality, for the task § He was a Democrat until he joined Lincoln in the election of 1864 § Intemperate and tactless, filled with insecurities and resentments § Openly hostile to freed slaves


 * Northern Attitudes Harden**
 * By the end of 1865 all the Southern states had new governments
 * Most were prepared to join the Union as soon as Congress would give them the approval
 * Radical Republicans did not want to recognize these governments because they were formed under Johnson’s and Lincoln’s plans
 * Northern opinions hardened as they were appalled at the leaders the south chose and how little they did for the freed blacks
 * They particularly found Georgia’s choice of Alexander H. Stephens, former Confederate Vice President to be a US Senator to be appalling


 * Johnson’s Vetoes**
 * In 1865 and 66, southern states began adopting black codes which were sets of laws designed to give whites control over former slaves
 * Congress responded by passing an act extending the life of the Freedmen’s Bureau and increasing its power to counteract the black codes
 * In April 1866 Congress passed the first Civil Rights Act which declared blacks to be citizens of the United States
 * Johnson vetoed both these acts but Congress overrode him

o The fourteenth amendment was the first to give a definition of citizenship o Everyone born in the US and everyone naturalized was automatically a citizen and entitled to all the privileges and immunities guaranteed by the Constitution including equal protection of the laws by both the state and national governments o The amendment imposed penalties on anyone who restricted someone else from voting o This gave all black men the right to vote
 * Citizenship for Blacks**


 * Three Reconstruction Bills**
 * Three reconstruction bills were passed in early 1867 and Johnson’s vetoes were overrode
 * These bills put together a plan for reconstruction
 * Congress combined all the southern states except Tennessee which had ratified the 14th amendment into five military districts
 * A military commander would govern each district and was to register qualified voters
 * Once registered, voters would elect conventions to prepare new state constitutions which had to include provisions for black suffrage
 * Once these new constitutions were approved, they could elect a state government
 * Congress had to approve a states constitution and the state legislature had to approve the 14th amendment
 * Once this had happened and once enough states ratified the 14th amendment to make it a part of the constitution, the states would be re-admitted
 * Fifteenth Amendment**
 * In 1868 there was a new amendment that states needed to ratify to get back into the union
 * The fifteenth amendment said that the states and federal government were forbidden to deny suffrage to any citizen on account of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude”
 * Tenure of Office Act/Johnson Acquitted**
 * Radical Republicans saw Johnson as an obstacle to their Reconstruction bills being carried out
 * Early in 1867 they began looking for ways to impeach him
 * They passed the Tenure of Office Act which said that the President could not fire an executive branch member without Congressional approval
 * When Johnson dismissed Secretary of War Stanton despite Congress’ approval to agree, the radicals in the House impeached him
 * The trial in the Senate lasted through April and May of 1868
 * The Radicals put heavy pressure on all Republican senators but the moderates vacillated
 * On the first three charges to come to a vote, seven republicans joined the democrats and independents to support acquittal
 * The vote was 35 to 19, one short of the two thirds majority
 * Scalawags**
 * Southern white republicans were called scalawags
 * It was a derogative term
 * Many were former whigs who never were comfortable in the democratic party
 * They had diverse social positions but shared a belief that the republican party would serve their economic interests better than the democrats

Jess: Carpetbaggers -Republican leaders from the North who went south. - Critics called them carpet baggers which portrayed them to be poor uneducated vagabonds that carried all of their things in a carpet bag. In actuality they were well-educated men deriving from the middle-class. They mostly consisted of teachers, doctors and lawyers. In large part they were veterans of the war championing for the Union. They saw the North as the new frontier- more prosperous than the West. Some settled in the South to start professional businesses or built new farms. Freedmen -Most Republicans in the South were Black freedmen. -Due to their lack of political experience they built institutions enabling them to exercise their newly obtained power. In some states they had held their own conventions to plan their future involvement in society. One convention in 1867, Alabama – the year before they obtained the right to vote they announced that they deserved all the rights and privileges that white men had and that they expected nothing less. - Black churches were established after their emancipation. Many Blacks withdrew from their former white churches that they had been forced to attend under slavery. The new church provided a sense of unity strengthening their political confidence. They held political office of most every kind from 1869-1901. -20 blacks served in the House -2 served in the Senate: Hiram Revels and Blanche K. Bruce; Mississippi. - Some served in the constitutional conventions -Critics called this the “Negro Rule” though none actually became Governor of a southern state. In the South the percentage of black officer holders was significantly lower than the percentage of blacks in the population. Segregated Schools -In the South the education system almost immediately divided. -Efforts in the early stages of reform were a failure. The Freedmen`s Bureau schools were open to students of all races but almost no whites attended. -The Civil Rights Act of 1875 had provisions for educational desegregation removed before it had passed. When Republican governments of Reconstruction were replaced the new Southern Democrats abandoned all efforts of integration.

Failure of Land Redistribution -The Freedmen`s Bureau attempted to redistribute confiscated land to freedmen. By June 1865 they gave 10,000 black families their own land. The effort failed however when the southerners demanded to reclaim their confiscated land. Most of the land was restored to the former land owners under President Johnson. Sharecropping -Most blacks and an increasing number of whites did not own land during Reconstruction. Those who had acquired land during the 1860`s had lost it by the 1890`s. These people worked for others. Some worked for wages, others became tenants and had their rent and whatever resources they used subtracted from their wages or a share of their crop. Changing gender roles -Blacks were living with impoverished circumstances; therefore a second income was absolutely necessary. B lack women worked as domestic servants, taking in laundry or working in the field. By age sixteen most black females were working for wages. Unlike white women they worked in most part when they were married.

U.S. Grant - 1868 Grant could have had the nomination for either party. He supported the efforts of Reconstruction so he decided to run as a Republican his Democratic opponent was Horatio Seymour. Grants win was narrow if he did not have the 500,000 new Black Republican voters he would have lost the popular vote. - He entered the office with no political experience. Basically from the beginning his performance was less than desirable. His cabinet was filled with less than qualified politicians with the exception of Hamilton Fish who was the secretary of state who served for eight years. Grant relied on established party leaders. His administration used the spoils system more blatantly than its predecessors. Grant alienated many northerners who were displeased with the radical reconstruction policies that Grant continued to champion. Many began to suspect corruption within the administration- there was.

-Self-proclaimed anti-Grant republicans -Nominated Horace Greeley as their candidate in the Election of 1872 -The Democrats also named Greeley their candidate, thus making an alliance with the Liberal Republicans in an attempt to oust Grant -Grant was still reelected
 * Liberal Republicans:**

-Credit Mobilier was a French-owned construction company that had helped build the Union-Pacific Railroad -Used stockholdings to file fraudulent charges against railroad, thus stealing money from Union-Pacific and the subsidies paid to it by the federal government -Those behind the scandal offered stock to Congressmen (including Grant’s Vice President Schuyler Colfax) to cover it up -Congress eventually investigated
 * Credit Mobilier:**

-Began with failure of leading firm Jay Cooke and Co. (invested too heavily in post-war railroad building) -Debtors wanted government to pay back war bonds with greenbacks (paper currency that induced inflation) -Congress initially released greenbacks to ease depression, but Republicans later stopped the practice by the Specie Resumption Act, preferring money backed by gold
 * Panic of 1873:**

-Those still in favor of greenbacks formed a party known as the National greenback Party -Never gained enough popularity to put forth a viable candidate, but did keep the issue of currency backing alive
 * National Greenback Party:**

-Secretary Of State William H. Seward purchased Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million - Many saw no hope for Alaska, and considered it money wasted
 * Sewards Folly:**

-Americans were displeased wityh the British for building ships for the Confederacy during the Civil War -Americans wanted Britain to pay for damages caused by the ships -Secretary of State Fish, by the Treaty of Washington, managed to make England apologize for allowing a ship to escape to the Confederacy Ku Klux Klan Enforcement Acts
 * Alabama** **Claims:**

-South Carolina- Enforcement Acts were used severely -effective in the effort by blacks and Northern whites to weaken the clan. -- Southern blacks were gradually losing the support of former backers in the North - 1870- after the adoption of the fifteenth amendment= fight to free blacks is over according to many and that with the vote they should be able to defend themselves now. - next several years= former Radical leaders such as Horace Greeley and Charles Sumner began to call themselves Liberals ( agreed and cooperated with Democrats and denounced what they called black and carpetbag misgovernment.
 * Decline of the Klan**

- Panic of 1874- further undermined the support for Reconstruction - economic crisis = Northern industrialists and their allies looking for an explanation to instability. -Idea of "social darwinism" provides this explanation -it was a harsh theory that argued that individuals who failed did so because of their own weakness and "unfitness" -came to view the number of unemployed vagrants in the North as irredeemable misfits. -social darwinism= encouraged a broad critique of government intervention in social and economic life- further weakened commitment. -congressional elections of 1874- Democrats won control of the House of Representatives for the first time since 1861. - end of 1876- only three states were left in the hands of the Republicans- South Carolina, Louisiana and Florida. - State elections ( after using terrorist tactics) Democrats claimed victory over all three. - Republicans challenged the results and claimed victory as well- stayed in office because of the presence of federal troops.
 * Impact of Social Darwinism**

- Grant hoped to run for another term in 1876 but most Republican leaders were shaken by recent Democratic successes, afraid of scandals Grant was associated with and with his failing health. -He was a former Union army officer, governor and congressman who was a champion of civil service reform. -Democrats united behind Samuel L Tilden - he had been the reform governor of New York who had been instrumental in overthrowing the corrupt Tweed Ring of New York City's Tammany Hall. - little difference between them. both were for moderate reform and were conservative. - November election= apparent Democratic victory. Tilden had carried the South and some larger Northern states= nearly 300,000 votes. -- disputed returns from Louisiana, South Carolina, Florida, and Oregon put the election into doubtHayes could manage to win if he recieved all 20 of the disputed votes. - The constitution= no method to determine the validity of disputed returns. - January 1877- Congress tried to break the deadlock by creation a special electoral commission.
 * Hayes versus Tilden**
 * -** They settled on Rutherford B Hayes because he was not associated with any of Grant's scandals and was one who might entice the liberals back and win over the party.

-- relatively uniform and and highly critical view of Reconstruction prevailed among Historians. -late 19th century- most white Americans in both the north and south felt that there were few differences between the sections that could further divide them. - most white Americans believed blacks were unfit for political and social equality. -William A. Dunning- portrayed reconstruction as a corrupt outrage perpetuated on the prostate South by a vicious and vindictive cabal of Northern Republican Radicals. - ignorant, illiterate blacks thrust into positions of power -Dunning school not only shaped the views of several historians but also reflected and shaped the views of the public. - //Birth of a Nation// and //Gone with the Wind//= tragic exploitation of the south by the north during Reconstruction era.- popularly held view. -- 1940s- believed the records were not nearly as bad as people had been led to believe. - 1960s- Republicans genuine if flawed effort to solve the problem of race in the South. - Recent years- have reviewed the revisionist view. blacks won a certain amount of legal and political power in the South but held it only temporarily. Used it for a time to strengthen their economic and social positions. - Blacks developed a certain independence for themselves in Southern society through the creation of churches and communities.
 * Reconstruction box**

- composed of 5 senators, 5 representatives, and 5 justices of the Supreme Court. -congressional delegation= 5 democrats and 5 republicans. Court delegation 2 democrats and 2 republicans and an independent.independent seat went to someone whos real sympathies were with the Republicans. - voted along straight party lines. 8 to 7. every disputed vote= Hayes. Hayes is inaugurated. behind the resolution= elaborate compromises among the leaders of both parties. -Republicans and Southern Democrats met at Wormley Hotel - South agreed to abandon the filibuster if Hayes would withdraw the last of the federal troops from the South.
 * Special Electoral Commission**

-Hayes was already on record as favoring withdrawal of the troops - Republicans needed to offer more to win. -As the price of their cooperation- Southern Democrats (among them some former whigs) exacted several pledges from the Republicans. -the appointment of at least one Southern officer to Hayes cabinet, control of federal patronage in their areas, generous internal improvements, and federal aid for Texas and the Pacific Railroad. - Haye's inaugural address- "wise, honest and peaceful local government--" for the South. - attacked by critics for paying off the South to win the election.
 * Compromise of 1877**

- withdrawal of federal troops signified that the national government was giving up attempts to control southern politics and to improve the lot of blacks in Southern society. - Reconstruction made some important contributions to the efforts of former slaves to achieve dignity and equality in American life. - In the end it was largely a failure - Because it failed to resolve its oldest and deepest social problem- the issue over race. - the experience disappointed disillusioned and embittered white Americans that it would be nearly a century before they would try again in a serious way.
 * Republican Failure in the south**

- attempts to produce solutions ran up against conservative obstacles deeply embedded into the nation's life. - a profound respect for private property and free enterprise= no real assault on economic privilege in the South. -- common belief that African Americans were inferior- even with the most liberal of whites= obstacle to equality. -- African Americans pride themselves in what little they got because it helped in future attempts. - 14th and 15th amendments.
 * Ideological Limits**

Bourbon Rule The Readjusters Challenge The Minstrel Show Henry Grady Railroad Development Convict-lease system Transformation of the backcountry Black Middle Class

Booker T. Washington -president of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama -advocated for education and black race as a whole -born slave, educated at Hampton Institution, worked his way out of poverty -inspiration for other blacks—urged them to follow his path The Atlanta Compromise -Washington’s goals for blacks: obtain education (industrial), learn skills in agriculture and trade, adopt cleanliness, improve dress and speech -Speech given in 1895- Atlanta Compromise: Blacks will not achieve equality for advocating for rights as much as they will by expanding their industrial potential -did not challenge segregation -self-advancement through self-improvement Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) -federal support for equality gradually faded after 1877 (troops withdrawn) -1883 Supreme Court ruled 14th amendment applied only to state governments, not to individuals à segregation continues -Plessy v. Ferguson- separate seating arrangements at railroads- ruled equality was not challenged if the two seating areas were separate but equal -Cummings v. County Board of Education- schools separate were valid even if no respectable black schools existed Restricting the Franchise -Poll tax and property qualifications denied blacks right to vote -Literacy/Comprehension- required reading ability and education on Constitution to pass as an eligible voter -White tests were usually much easier then that of the blacks -1890’s: black vote decreased by 62%, white by 26% -Grandfather Laws: men who did not pass tests were allowed to vote if their ancestors had voted before Reconstruction -Affluent whites not bothered by poor whites barred from voting The Origins of Segregation -Initial causes of segregation believed to be failure of Reconstruction, AA poverty, white racism -C. Vann Woodward’s //The Strange Career of Jim Crow// argues that segregation comes from the tradition of racial institutions in the south -2 perspectives on black rights existed until 1890- toleration, and racism. Jim Crow laws brought about extreme racism - Populist emergence frightened southern whites, blacks could become a major influence -laws were a major part in segregation -Joel Williamson (1965)- Claimed that blacks and whites began living in separate societies by 1870’s, partly from blacks desire for independence, and partly from white racism -Leon Litwack: version of Jim Crow Laws existed in the North before civil war, reinstated in the South during reconstruction -Howard Rabinowitz argued that segregation came from the development of black facilities which would not be established, and blacks would have no public places (urbanization) - John Cell- segregation and laws providing for it were meant to maintain white supremacy rather than actual desire to maintain control. This was in response to the new labor force invading cities. White Control Perpetuated -Blacks forbidden from using public facilities, and also restricted in social, economic and political ways -Extended laws into cities where blacks tried to escape Lynchings -1890’s violence increased -occurred when victims were accused of crimes and when proper place was not upheld -187 lynchings per year, 80% in the south majority were blacks -Made into public rituals, with lots of spectators (this was rare) -some blacks taken from prison -means of white control -crime could have been presumptuousness (black sexuality towards white women) -Sparked anti-lynching movement- Ida B. Wells, tried to punish those responsible for lynching White Unity -majority approved black suppression, -economics fell behind the actual issue of segregation in politics, making it White v. Black