Transcript Reconstruction (1865

Ms. Susan M. Pojer
Horace Greeley HS Chappaqua, NY
1. Why did planters have difficulty
finding people to work for them?
• Nobody seemed to want to do the former
work of slaves, which was very difficult
and paid poorly.
2. Why did sharecroppers rejoice at
the chance to become tenant
farmers?
• Instead of working for a planter and a
meager share of the crop, tenant farmers
rented their own land, worked for
themselves and kept all the profits.
Sharecropping
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
 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.
3. How did the South experience
some success by modeling itself
after the North?
• Cities grew as a resul of increasted
industrilization
4. Did Reconstruction transform
the South into an industrialized,
urban region like the North?
Explain.
• No, farming remained the backbone of the
southern economy. Much of the
indoctrination remained linked to
agriculture or consisted of less profitable
stages of manufacturing
5. How did some southern states
use Reconstruction funds in
beneficial ways?
• Expanded services, such as public
schools to their citizens and rebuilt
infrastructure (the public property and
services that a society uses)
6. How did some Reconstruction
funds serve harmful or corrupt
purposes?
• Legislatures levied heavy taxes on
individuals to pay for the new spending
and much of this money was lost to
widespread corruption.
Key terms
7. Sharecropping: farming a portion of
someone else’s land in return for a share
of the crop
8. Tenant farming: paying rent for a piece
of land that can be planted with whatever
crop the tenant farmer works
The “Invisible Empire of the South”
The Failure of Federal Enforcement
 Enforcement Acts of 1870 & 1871
[also known as the KKK Act].
 These acts banned the
use of terror, force, or
bribery to prevent people
from voting b/c of their
race
 Other laws banned the
KKK entirely and
strengthened military
protection of voters and
voting places
The Civil Rights Act of 1875
 Crime for any individual to deny full &
equal use of public conveyances and
public places.
 Prohibited discrimination in jury
selection.
 Shortcoming  lacked a strong
enforcement mechanism.
 No new civil rights act was attempted
for 90 years!
Civil Rights Video Clip
Northern Support Wanes
 “Grantism” & corruption.
 Panic of 1873 [6-year
depression].
 Concern over westward
expansion and Indian wars.
 Key monetary issues:
*
*
should the government
retire $432m worth of
“greenbacks” issued during the Civil War.
should war bonds be paid back in specie or
greenbacks.
1876 Presidential Tickets
Election 1876 disputed
• Republican Rutherford B. Hayes lost the
popular vote to Democrat Samuel Tilden
(support from solid south)
• Electoral vote was disputed
– Areas of Florida, Louisiana & South Carolina
(still under Republican and federal control)
– Democrats submitted results that Democrat
Tilden had won these states & the presidency
1876 Presidential Election
A Political Crisis: The
“Compromise” of 1877
What happens to decide dispute?
• Congress sets up a special commission to
resolve the election crisis (more
Republicans than Democrats)
• Compromise of 1877
– Democrats agreed to give Hayes the victory in
the presidential election in return the new
President agreed to remove the remaining
federal troops from southern states
– Give huge subsides to southern railroads
Result from Compromise 1877
• Reconstruction ended without troops in the
south Freedmen had no allies
• Opened the way for Democrats to regain
control of southern politics
Video clip Compromise of 1877
Success of Reconstruction
• Union is restored and rebuilding of South
begun
• Southern economic growth is stimulated &
new wealth in the north
• African American gain formal rights of
citizenship & equal treatment (14 & 15
amendments)
• Many black families helped in obtaining
housing, jobs, and schools
Failures of Reconstruction
• African Americans still lack property and
economic opporturnity
• Southern government deny African
Americans the right to vote
• Racists attitudes countinue, in both the
North and South.
• Lasting bitterness between many
Southerners & federal gov’t