Transcript Reconstruction Era - Reading Community Schools

Reconstruction Era
1865-1877
What does Reconstruction mean?
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Reconstruction refers to the period after
the Civil War, when the United States
government struggled to bring former
Confederate states back into the Union,
and also to bring citizenship to the
former slaves of the South.
Key Terms
Moderates- Republicans, who wished to make Reconstruction a
quick and simple process.
Radicals- Republicans who wished to make Reconstruction a
difficult and stringent process, distrusting the ex-Confederates.
Carpetbaggers-A derogatory term for Northerners who moved
South during and immediately following the War. Many times
these people were abolitionists who wished to protect the rights
of freedmen. Some were business people who saw potential for
development in the South. Many white Southerners resented
them.
Scalawags- A derogatory term for white Southerners who
cooperated with the Union, the Republican party, and freedmen
in business and politics. Usually these were whites of a modest
background who sought to improve their standing in society
through these alliances, and gain political power that had always
been held by the former planter elite.
Key Terms Continued
Freedmen- The freed slaves in the South. Some of these people
gained power in the Reconstruction governments in the postwar South, working with the whites in the Republican party. They
were bitterly resented by many white Southerners. Most
freedmen worked on plantations as sharecroppers, doing the
same work they had done as slaves, in exchange for residence
on the property and a small share of profit.
Redeemers- Southern white Democrats, who wished to end
Reconstruction and return the political power in the South to
whites, usually the former planter elite that had dominated the
South prior to the war. To do so they worked to gain the
allegiance of many Scalawags, and to intimidate freedmen,
Republicans and others through violence.
Black Codes- laws passed quickly by Southern whites in the 1860’s
designed to discriminate against freedmen. While the
Freedman’s bureau initially stopped these codes, they became
the basis for Jim Crow laws that would later be enacted.
Background
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During the Civil War, there were 11 former states that
had become members of the Confederate States of
America.
 Even before the War was over, President Abraham
Lincoln began to develop a plan to bring the Southern
states back into the Union with as little turmoil as
possible. He understood that if vengeance was the
driving force in Reconstruction policy, it would only
foster bitterness and resentment in the South.
 Lincoln, in his typical homespun fashion, said the
U.S. should “Let ‘em up easy.”
Background Continued
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As the vast majority of
the war took place in
the South, there was
widespread destruction,
especially in Virginia,
Tennessee, Georgia,
and the Carolinas.
The Southern economy
was ruined by the war,
unsettling the region’s
finances, and perhaps
even more importantly,
the traditional social
order.
Lincoln’s Reconstruction
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During the war Lincoln
established military
governors in captured
territory, to keep the
territories under presidential
authority.
Lincoln approved the
creation of the Freedman’s
Bureau to aid freedmen and
white refugees, and to
protect contracts. In this bill
people could lease
confiscated land for 3 years,
and had the right to
purchase up to 40 acres.
Lincoln’s Reconstruction
Continued
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Lincoln made the Amnesty Proclamation, which gave amnesty
to anyone who had not held civil office in the C.S.A., had not
harmed Union P.O.W’s, and would sign a pledge of allegiance.
Lincoln’s 10% Plan required Louisiana to abolish slavery,
freedmen to be paid $10 a day on plantations for up to one year,
and only 10% of the electorate to swear allegiance to be readmitted.
Radicals rejected this plan in favor of the Wade-Davis bill which
required a majority allegiance. Lincoln vetoed the bill.
Controversially, Lincoln did propose colonizing freedmen to
either Central America or Haiti, but this plan was never realized.
Many people have felt this idea to have been hypocritical of
Lincoln, and simply unfair to the freemen.
Andrew Johnson and
Reconstruction
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Johnson became president when Lincoln was
assassinated.
Johnson had made early speeches indicating that he
wished to be hard on the ex-Confederates, but in
most circumstances he was not, including when he
called for the easy restoration of Southern States.
Johnson ended up pardoning many former
Confederate leaders.
In 1865 he allowed restored states to hold elections,
when they elected many ex-Confederate leaders
(who the Senate refused to seat)
Andrew Johnson Continued
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The governments of the South instituted Black Codes,
prompting congress to block their readmission to the Union and
to develop a Civil Rights Bill and re- new the Freedman’s
Bureau.
Johnson vetoed both of these measures, although the
Republicans in congress were able to over-ride his veto of the
Civil Rights Bill.
Congress chose to over-ride Johnson’s veto of the Tenure of
Office Act, which prohibited Johnson from removing officers
without the consent of the Senate. This was simply a bait by the
Radicals to get Johnson out of the way while they implemented
their view of Reconstruction. Johnson took the bait, removed
officers, and was impeached. He missed being removed from
office by one vote in the Senate. (For the record, the T of O Act
was ridiculous and unconstitutional)
Johnson Continued
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Johnson had a very strong
bias against the wealthy
planter class in the South,
but wanted to ensure white
supremacy. As a result, he
helped stop land
redistribution, and made it
possible for Redeemers to
begin to regain power.
Johnson worked to stop the
ratification of the 14th
Amendment. Because of his
impeachment though, he
had become virtually
powerless.
In the end, there is very little
doubt that his leadership
during Reconstruction was a
total failure.
Radical Republicans, Grant, and
Reconstruction
As they gained more power in Congress, the
Radicals, with Support from President
Ulysses Grant, passed the Reconstruction
Acts which:
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Created five military districts in the seceded states not including
Tennessee, which had ratified the Fourteenth Amendment to the
United States Constitution and was readmitted to the Union
Required congressional approval for new state constitutions
(which were required for Confederate states to rejoin the Union)
Demanded Confederate states give voting rights to all men.
Dictated that former Confederate states must ratify the 14th
Amendment
Reconstruction Amendments
13th Amendment- (1865) Abolished
Slavery in the U.S.
14th Amendment- (1868) Ensured full
citizenship, rights, and protection under
the law for all people born or naturalized
in the U.S.
15th Amendment- (1870) Guaranteed that
no male citizen could be denied the
right to vote based on their color or
previous condition of servitude.
White Resistance
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By 1870, all of the former
Confederate States had
been readmitted. Still, many
in the South resented
Reconstruction and attacked
freedmen, Republicans and
others, forming violent
terrorist groups such as the
Ku Klux Klan.
In 1871 Congress passed
Civil Rights legislation
against the Ku Klux Klan that
allowed Grant to use troops
to eliminate it.
Despite removal of the Klan,
Redeemers found other
ways and groups such as
the Night Riders, the White
League, and the Red Shirts
to adopt similar measures.
The Beginning of the End of
Reconstruction
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Grant personally felt sympathy for freed blacks, but as his
administration became marred with corruption, he could not
muster enough political support to keep troops active to protect
them
The Freedmen’s Bureau was dissolved in 1872, and some
troops began to be removed for duty elsewhere.
Many in the North were tired of the Reconstruction politics, and
wished to end the period and reconcile with the South once and
for all, regardless of the social implications.
As the Radical policies were losing favor in the North,
redeemers and the violent white groups such as the White
League took advantage and became even more active.
The Compromise of 1877: The end of
Reconstruction and the beginning of Jim
Crow
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The election of 1876 was widely disputed. A 15
member special commission of 8 Republicans and 7
Democrats were to decide the presidency.
Most historians believe that the Democrats agreed to
give the election to Rutherford B. Hayes in exchange
for the removal of Federal Troops in the South.
Grant began this process, by first removing troops
from Florida. Hayes would remove the rest.
Reconstruction was essentially over, and white
Democrats in the South eventually established a
system of racial segregation that came to be called
Jim Crow.
Legacy of Reconstruction
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For more than a century many Southern sympathizers have
painted the period as a time when the devastation of the war,
the Northern desire for vengeance, and political corruption by
carpetbaggers, scalawags, and freedmen plagued the South.
This is often the popular idea of Reconstruction, even today, due
in part to racist portrayals of the period in films such as Gone
With the Wind, and Birth of a Nation. Though historians have
found that Reconstruction governments were not especially
corrupt, the racist memory of the period lives on .
In fact, Reconstruction, especially the key Reconstruction Acts,
along with the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, was an
important period in attempting to eliminate discrimination based
on race and extend freedom. It was the behavior of the
Redeemers that truly plagued the South, and set back the
region for another 100 years both economically and socially.
Legacy of Reconstruction
Continued
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As Reconstruction ended, Southern
Democrats regained power in the
South, and, ignoring the Reconstruction
Acts and new amendments, established
a system of segregation and white
supremacy which would exist in the
region for more than 100 years.
Jim Crow South
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As the Redeemers gradually regained control
of governments in the South, they worked to
strip the freedmen of their new political power
and create a system of government that
would ensure the second class citizenship of
black Americans.
 The system of laws that segregated the South
is usually called, “Jim Crow”, after a popular
minstrel act of the period.
How Jim Crow worked.
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The first and most important goal of the Jim Crow laws was to
strip blacks of their political power.
To do this, numerous laws were passed that would exclude most
blacks, based on their precarious situation as newly freed
slaves.
Poll taxes, in which voters had to pay an expensive tax to be
eligible to vote. As most of the black people in the South were
poor sharecroppers, this would exclude them.
Literacy tests, in which voters had to prove they were literate to
be eligible to vote. As it had been illegal to teach slaves to read,
and the public school system was virtually non-existent in the
South at this time, very few blacks were literate, and thus, were
excluded from voting (when it was discovered that illiterate poor
whites were excluded too, a grandfather clause was often
instituted that allowed anyone whose relative had been a voter
to vote).
Blacks were essentially eliminated from participating in
government at all. In some states like Louisiana, where blacks
made up close to a majority of the population, only 0.5% of the
eligible black voters were registered.
Results of Political Segregation
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With blacks essentially eliminated from playing any role in
government they had no say in who any of the public officials
would be. Thus, all of the representatives in government at the
local and state level were white, Democrats.
The representatives at the federal level were white Democrats.
Presidential elections were influenced by the lack of almost any
black voters in the South.
Judges, prosecutors, public defenders and local sheriffs would
all be white, as those up for election would not have to worry
about black votes, and those appointed would be chosen by
white Democratic politicians.
Since juries were chosen from eligible voters, no blacks would
be included on juries, even though a jury is supposed to be
made up of your peers.
The result of this disenfranchisement was that whites were free
to pass any laws they wished, including laws that discriminated
against blacks, with blacks having almost no recourse, since the
legal system was also controlled by whites.
Social Segregation
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Segregation in the South was not just
unwritten rules that everyone followed
because “it was just that way”. The all white
governments passed laws designed to
ensure the separation of the races.
 African Americans were forced to eat at
separate restaurants, work at separate jobs,
live in separate neighborhoods, go to
separate schools, separate churches, and
separate stores.
 Marriage between the races was strictly
forbidden, as was virtually any other friendly
interaction.
Attempts to fight against
Segregation and Jim Crow
Many African Americans worked to bring
an end to the racial injustice through
advocacy, like W.E.B. Dubois, and
Booker T. Washington.
 The National Association for the
Advancement of Colored People was
founded in 1909 and worked against
segregation. The often launched
boycotts, held rallies, and filed law suits
to fight Jim Crow.
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Plessy v. Feguson
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In 1892, a multi-racial man, Homer Plessy, working with a New
Orleans based civil rights group, purposefully sat in the white
section of a train car, after informing the driver of his heritage.
He was subsequently arrested under state law that segregated
transportation.
Plessy argued his case and lost, appealed to the Louisiana
Supreme Court and lost, and finally appealed to the U.S.
Supreme Court.
The court ruled that Louisiana was not violating the 13th or 14th
Amendments, and that moreover, there was nothing derogatory
implied by segregated facilities, as long as they were “separate
but equal”.
This “separate but equal” precedent would justify Jim Crow laws
and segregation until the 1950’s and 1960’s.
Enforcing Jim Crow
As all of the state and local governments* in the South were
controlled by whites, blacks found it difficult to get fair trials, and
legal decisions in their favor.
 Often times the police were corrupt, and would unfairly harass
African Americans.
 When the police could not be used to enforce segregation,
armed groups of whites, sometimes members of the Ku Klux
Klan, or other white terrorist groups would form lynch mobs
would attack blacks, or whites that were sympathetic to them.
Many times this resulted in an unsanctioned killing, usually a
hanging.
*During most of the Jim Crow era, the federal government left
states to decide most problems on their own. This just made it
more difficult for opponents of Jim Crow, as appeals to the
higher federal courts were often ignored.
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The Civil Rights Struggle
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As you will learn later in
this course, after years
of struggle against Jim
Crow, African
Americans succeeded
in ending legal
segregation in this
country in the 1950’s
and 1960’s.
Despite many gains, the
fight for equality
continues to this day.