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Brinkley, Chapter 15 Notes
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Reconstruction and the New South
Brinkley
Chapter 15
The Astermath of War and Emancipation
3.5 million slaves were Deed with no property, possessions, money, and nowhere to go.
Reconstruction became a struggle to define the meaning of Deedom.
Some blacks believed the only way to secure Deedom was land. Other blacks asked only for legal equality.
White Southerners had a different opinion of Deedom.
They wanted to restore life of the antebellum period and preserve local and regional autonomy and
white supremacy.
The federal government did liLle in the immediate astermath of the war to determine the fate of the South.
Federal troops remained in the south to protect Deed blacks.
The Federal Government however, established the Freedmen's Bureau to distribute food, establish schools, and to staff missionaries. It only had the authority to operate for one year -‐ far too liLle to deal with the enormous problems of the South.
Plans for Reconstruction
Favored a lenient Reconstruction policy.
Proposed extending suTage to educated blacks who owned property, or served in the Union Army.
Included general amnesty to white Southerners (except high ranking Confederate officials) who would pledge an oath of loyalty to the government and accept abolition. When 10% of a state's total number of voters in 1860 took the oath, those loyal voters could establish a loyal government.
Lincoln's 10% Plan
3 Southern states reestablished loyal governments under Lincoln's 10% plan in 1864: LA, AK, & TN.
However, Republicans controlled Reconstruction. They were divided amongst themselves over the issue.
Radical Republicans led by Thaddeus Stevens (PA) and Charles Sumner (MA):
Demanded abolition, encouraged disenDanchisement of white southerners, protection of black civil rights, confiscation of white property who aided the Confederacy, and distribution of white land to blacks.
Conservatives, led by Lyman Trumbull of IL were less harsh, insisting only on abolition and liLle else for re-‐admission to the union.
Wade-‐Davis Bill
Radicals were outraged with Lincoln's plan. They refused to admit representatives Dom LA, AK and TN.
They pushed the Wade-‐Davis Bill through Congress.
The new state constitutions would be required to abolish slavery, forever disenDanchise Confederate civil and military leaders, and repudiate debts accumulated by the state governments during the war.
Did nothing for the political rights of blacks. Lincoln blocked the bill with a pocket veto. This angered Radical Republicans but Lincoln recognized he would have to accept some of their demands.
Called for the president to appoint a provisional governor for each conquered state. When a majority of the white males pledged allegiance to the Union, the governor could summon a state constitutional convention, whose delegates were to be elected by voters who had never bore arms against the US.
Only then would Congress readmit the states to the Union.
The Death of Lincoln
The Lincolns aLended "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theatre with Henry Rathbone and his girlDiend on April 14, 1865. Lincoln, giving in to his wife's demands chose to aLend the comedy rather than celebrating the Union victory with his cabinet and Union soldiers. Assassinated by John Wilkes Booth.
Booth fled to a barn in Maryland where he was
surrounded by Union troops and killed on April 26th.
Booth was enraged by the North's victory in the war and the prospect of Black suTage.
"Sic Semper Tyrranis!"
Brinkley, Chapter 15 Notes
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Secretary of State William Seward was also shot and wounded by Lewis Paine (Powell), an accomplice of Booth.
The North believed the South conspired to kill Lincoln out of biLerness
Dom losing the war.
The Death of Lincoln
Lincoln died Dom his wound on April 15, 1865, but he was not the only assassination target that evening.
George Atzerodt's plan to assassinate Vice President Johnson foiled and were never carried out.
Four were executed for the assassination plot: Mary SurraL, Lewis Paine (Powell), George Atzerodt, and David Herold
The assassination of Lincoln altered the course of
Reconstruction
Johnson and "Restoration"Johnson was now president and charged with the task of re-‐uniting the nation.
Johnson's plan of "Restoration" was a hybrid of Lincoln's plan and the Wade-‐Davis Plan.
Johnson seemed anti-‐Confederate during the election of 1864 but during his presidency he seemed
to sympathize with the South.
Johnson appointed a provisional governor in each state and charged him with inviting qualified voters to elect delegates to a constitutional convention.
In order to win readmission to Congress, a state had to revoke its ordinance of secession, abolish slavery, ratify the 13th Amendment and repudiate Confederate state war debts.
Wanted amnesty to all southerners who swore allegiance to the US except high-‐ranking officials
Northern opinion became more hostile toward the South. Delegates to the Southern
conventions angered much of the North by their reluctance to abolish slavery, refused
suTage to blacks, established Black Codes & elected Confederate leaders to represent them in Congress, such as Alexander Stephens.
Radicals vowed not to recognize restoration governments and took control of Reconstruction
Radical Reconstruction
Began December 1865 when Congress refused to seat representatives of the restored governments.
1865-‐1886 state legislatures in the South enacted the Black Codes -‐ authorized local officials to apprehend unemployed blacks, fine them for vagrancy, and hire them out to private employers to satisfy their fines. Some codes forbade blacks to own or lease farms, or take any other job other than former
slave jobs.
Congress first reacted to the Black Codes by expanding the Freedmen's Bureau so that it could nullify work forced on Deedmen under the Black Codes. April 1866 Congress passed the first Civil Rights Act -‐ declared blacks to be citizens of the US and permiLed the federal government to intervene in state affairs to protect civil rights. Johnson vetoed both bills but Congress overrode both.
Radical Reconstruction Plan
Radicals, dominating both the House and the Senate, passed 3 Reconstruction bills in early 1867 and overrode Johnson's vetoes over all of them. The 3 bills established a coherent plan for Reconstruction.
The Plan:
Congress rejected the Lincoln-‐Johnson governments of the other 10 Confederate states and, combined those states into 5 military districts. A military commander governed each district and had orders to register qualified voters.
Voters would elect conventions to prepare new state constitutions, which had to guarantee black suTage and ratify the 14th amendment. Once voters ratified the new constitutions, they could elect state governments. Congress had to approve a state's constitution.
TN ratifying the 14th amendment was promptly readmiLed.
Probably the most complicated and misused amendment. 4 sections:
1. Anyone born or naturalized in the US were automatically citizens.
2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the states, counting the WHOLE number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed. Representation penalties imposed on the states for denying suTage to any male over the age of 21.
3. No one could hold federal office if they took an oath of loyalty to the Confederacy
The 14th Amendment
No state can abridge the "privileges and immunities" of citizens.
No person can be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.No person could be denied "equal protection of the laws."
4. The US must pay any debts incurred by the federal government
Radicals offered to readmit to the Union states that ratified the 14th amendment. Tennessee was the only state to do so. The amendment was ratified on July, 9 1868.
The Congressional Plan
By 1868, VA, TX and MS were not re-‐admiLed to the Union. By then, Congress added an additional requirement for readmission -‐ ratification of the 15th amendment. By 1870, all states were re-‐admiLed, ratifying both the 14th and 15th amendments.
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.
15th Amendment
Brinkley, Chapter 15 Notes
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Radicals also stopped the Supreme Court Dom interfering with their plans. The Court ruled in the case Ex parte Milligan that military tribunals were unconstitutional where civil courts were functioning. Congress threatened to pass a bill requiring 2/3 of the justices to support a law overruling Congress. From then on, the Supreme Court would not hear cases involving Reconstruction.
Stopping Johnson
To stop Johnson Dom interfering with their plans, the congressional Radicals passed 2 remarkable laws of dubious constitutionality in 1867.
The Tenure of Office Act -‐ forbade the president to remove civil officials, including members of his own cabinet, without the consent of the Senate. The principal purpose of the law was to protect the job of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, who was cooperating with Radicals.
The Command of the Army Act -‐ prohibited the president Dom issuing military orders except through the commanding general of the army (General Grant), who could not be relieved or assigned elsewhere without the consent of the Senate.
Impeachment
Although Johnson was no longer an obstacle to Radical legislation, they believed therefore he was still an impediment to their plans. Early 1867 Radicals looked for a way to remove Johnson Dom office.
Summer of 1867 -‐ Johnson removed Secretary of War Stanton Dom his Cabinet for colluding with Radical Republicans, trying to thwart Johnson's plans for Reconstruction. When the Senate failed to pass a vote dismissing Stanton, Johnson nominated General Lorenzo Thomas nonetheless as Secretary of War.
Johnson believed the Tenure of Office Act was unconstitutional and hoped for the Supreme Court to interpret the law. The House moved for impeachment
and sent the case to the Senate for trial. Radicals pressured Republican Senators to hand down a verdict
of guilty. Democrats and Independents supported acquiLal. The vote was 35-‐19, 1 short of the
constitutionally required 2/3 majority.
Reconstruction Governments
Critics called Southern white Republicans "scalawags" and "carpetbaggers".
Scalawags were former Whigs who lived in remote areas where there was liLle to no slavery.
Carpetbaggers were white men Dom the North, most were veterans of the Union
army who looked on the South as a more promising Dontier than the West and seLled there at war's end as hopeful
planters, businessmen, or professionals.
The most numerous Republicans in the south were Deed black men. In several states, ADican American voters held their own conventions to chart their future course. Their newfound religious independence Dom white churches also helped give them unity and self-‐confidence. Joseph Hayne Rainey,
1st African American to serve in the US House
(SC)
Education
Perhaps the most important accomplishment of the Reconstruction governments was a dramatic improvement of Southern education. Southern whites feared educating blacks would give them "false notions of equality."
In the 1870s, Reconstruction governments began to build a comprehensive public school system. By 1876, more than half of all white children and about 40% of all black children were aLending schools in the South. Several black "academies," offering more advanced education, also began operating.
Landownership and Tenancy
Land reform was a goal held by the Freedman's Bureau and Radical Republicans. Most land reforms made under Lincoln were reversed by Johnson. Most blacks and a growing minority of whites did not own their land during Reconstruction and, instead, worked for others in one form or another. Many black laborers simply worked for wages. Most became tenants of white landowners -‐ they worked their own plots of land and paid their landlords either rent or a share of the crops (sharecroppers). Blacks enjoyed at least physical independence, but they had no economic independence.
Incomes and Credit
The black labor force worked about 1/3 fewer hours during Reconstruction than during slavery.
Income redistribution did not help list blacks out of poverty. Blacks and poor whites alike found themselves virtually imprisoned by the crop-‐lien system.
Few institutions of credit in the South returned aster the war, such as banks. Since farmers did not have a steady cash flow, they usually had to rely on credit Dom merchants in order to purchase what was needed. Most would set interest rates at 50% or higher. Farmers had to give the merchants a lien (a claim) on their crops as collateral for the loans.
Farmers who suffered a few bad years in a row, could become trapped in a cycle of debt Dom which they
could never escape. Those who owned land generally lost it as they fell into debt.
The Grant Administration
Elected 1868, Republican. Victory was surprisingly narrow. Won with 500,000 new black Republican voters.
By the end of the Grant's first term, members of the Dinge of the
Republican Party, Liberal Republicans, opposed what they
called "Grantism." In 1872, they lest the party and nominated Horace
Greely, editor of the New York Tribune as their candidate. Grant
won a substantial victory nonetheless.
Had no political experience. Exploited the spoils system leading to one of the most corrupted presidential administrations in history.
Brinkley, Chapter 15 Notes
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The Grant Scandals
Credit-‐Mobilier
Credit Mobilier was a French-‐owned company that helped build the Union Pacific Railroad. The heads of Credit Mobilier, who owned stock in the Union Pacific RR Company, steered government contracts away Dom Union Pacific and gave them to Credit Mobilier. Organizers of the scheme protected it Dom federal investigation by providing gists of Credit Mobilier stock to Congress. But in 1872, Congress did investigate, which revealed that Grant's Vice-‐President, Schuyler Colfax had accepted the stock.
A series of political scandals plagued Grant and the Republicans during his 2nd term.
"Whiskey Ring"
Grant's 3rd Treasury Secretary, Benjamin H. Bristow, discovered some of his officials and a group of distillers operating as a "whiskey ring" were cheating the government out of excise taxes by filing false reports. A House investigation revealed the ringleader was Grant's personal secretary, Orville Babcock. Grant defended Babcock to prevent him Dom going to jail.
The American population began to believe that "Grantism" = Corruption
The Panic of 1873
This satisfied creditors who worried that debts would be repaid in paper currency with uncertain value. But "resumption" made things more difficult for debtors, because the gold-‐based money supply
could not easily expand. In 1875, the "Greenbackers" formed their own political organization: the National Greenback Party. It failed to gain widespread support.
Began with the failure of a leading investment banking firm, Jay Cooke and Company, which had invested too heavily in postwar railroad building.
Debtors pressured the government to redeem federal war bonds with greenbacks, increasing the amount of money in circulation. Grant and most Republicans wanted a "sound" currency -‐ based solidly on gold reserves -‐ favoring the interests of banks.
There was $356 million in paper currency issued by the Confederacy still in circulation. In 1873, the Treasury issued more in response to the panic. But, in 1875, Republican leaders passed the Specie Resumption Act, -‐ greenbacks would be redeemed by the government and replaced with new certificates, based on the price of gold.
The Abandonment of Reconstruction
Economic pressure was also a tool. Some planters refused to rent land to Republican blacks & storekeepers refused to extend them credit.
In southern states where whites were a majority, Republicans were easily voted out and replaced by Democrats. In states where Blacks were a majority, the KKK, Red Shirts, and White Leagues armed themselves and used terrorism to Dighten or physically bar blacks Dom voting or pressure whites to vote Democratic.
Congress responded to this wave of repression with the Enforcement Acts of 1870 and 1871 -‐ prohibited states Dom discriminating against voters and gave the national government authority to prosecute crimes by individuals under federal law. Also authorized the president to use federal troops to protect civil rights, but were rarely enforced.
Aster the 15th amendment, some Northerners convinced themselves that their long
campaign on behalf of blacks was over.
The Panic of 1873 further undermined
support for Reconstruction.
In the midterm elections of 1874, Democrats won control of the House for the first time since 1861.
The Compromise of 1877Grant wanted to run in 1876 but Republicans nominated Rutherford B. Hayes. Hayes was a three-‐time governor of Ohio and championed civil-‐service reform. The Democrats nominated Samuel J.
Tilden who was instrumental in overthrowing the corrupt Boss Tweed of Tammany Hall.
The electoral votes Dom LA, SC, FL, and OR were disputed (totaling 20 electoral votes). The Constitution had established no method to determine the validity of disputed returns. The decision lay clearly with Congress, but it was not clear which house or method.
The Senate was Republican and the House was Democrat -‐ both chose solutions that yielded them a victory. Late in January of 1877, Congress tried to break the deadlock by creating a special electoral
commission composed of 5 senators, 5 representatives, and 5 Supreme Court justices (3 Republicans, 2 Democrats) By an 8-‐7 vote, the victory went to Hayes.
The Compromise of 1877
Southern Democrats exacted several pledges Dom the Republicans:
The appointment of at least one Southerner to the Hayes cabinet
Control of federal patronage in their areas
Generous internal improvements
Federal aid for the Texas and Pacific Railroad
Removal of federal troops Dom the South.
As soon as Hayes withdrew the troops, critics claimed he paid off the South for winning the election. The South was now solidly Democrat and would survive until the mid-‐20th century.
Reconstruction was over. The Era of Jim Crow was born.
The Legacy of Reconstruction
Reconstruction made important contributions to the efforts of former slaves to achieve dignity and equality.
There was a significant redistribution of landownership.
ADican-‐Americans carved out a society and culture of their own and created and strengthened their own institutions.
Few political changes lasted in the South except abolition.
Reconstruction was most notable for its limitations. The US failed to resolve the deepest social problem -‐
race. It would not be for nearly a century that ADican-‐Americans would make major gains in civil
rights and equality.
Brinkley, Chapter 15 Notes
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The New South and the "Redeemers"Many white southerners rejoiced at the restoration of what they liked to call "home rule". The South quickly fell under control of a powerful Oligarchy called the "Redeemers" or the "Bourbons". Resembled the ruling aristocracy of the Antebellum Era.
Redeemers were a genuinely new ruling class of merchants, industrialists, railroad developers, and financiers. Some of them were former planters, northern immigrants, or upwardly mobile white southerners. They combined a defense of "home rule" and social conservatism with a commitment to economic development.
The various Bourbon governments of the New South behaved in many respects quite similarly. Virtually all the new Democratic regimes lowered taxes, reduced spending, and drastically diminished state services -‐ particularly public education.
Industrialization and the New South
Southern industry did expand most visibly in textile manufacturing. Textile factories appeared in the South due to: abundance of water power, cheap labor, low taxes, and accommodating conservative governments.
The tobacco-‐processing industry, similarly, established an important foothold in the region. In the lower South, the iron industry grew rapidly.
Industrialization and the New South
Railroad development increased substantially. Between 1880-‐1890, trackage nearly doubled. Yet, southern industry developed within strict limits and never compared to that of the North.
The Southern share of manufacturing was only 10% of the nation's total. The average income was only 40% of that in the North. Many profits Dom manufacturing flowed back to the North.
The growth of southern industry required a workforce. From the beginning a high percentage of factory workers were women who desperately needed employment. Hours were long and wages were far below the northern equivalent (appealing to Northern industrialists).
Life in mill towns was rigidly controlled by the owners of factories who rigorously suppressed aLempts at protests or union organization. Company stores sold goods at inflated prices and issued credit at exorbitant rates. Some industries offered no opportunities to ADican-‐American workers.
ADican Americans and the New SouthADican-‐Americans were aLracted to the vision of progress and self-‐improvement of the South. Some elevated themselves into the middle class, acquired property, established small businesses, or entered professions. Expanded the network of black colleges.
Chief spokesman for a commitment to education was Booker T. Washington, founder of the Tuskegee Institute (AL). Born a slave and worked his way out of poverty aster aLending
college at Hampton University. Urged other blacks to follow the same road to self-‐improvement.
Washington's message: ADican-‐Americans should aLend school, learn skills, and establish a solid footing in agriculture and trades. Vocational education should be their goal. ADican-‐Americans should adopt the standards of white middle class. By doing that they would be respected by the white population.
Atlanta Compromise, 1895Washington outlined a
controversial philosophy of race relations known as the Atlanta
Compromise. Blacks should forgo political rights and concentrate solely on self-‐improvement and
preparation for equality. He wanted to assure whites that blacks would not challenge the emerging system
of segregation.
Birth of Jim Crow
Jim Crow -‐ elaborate political and social system of segregation and disenDanchisement.
Few white southerners accepted the idea of racial equality. The Supreme Court only furthered the white cause in the South in their rulings of Plessy v. Ferguson and Cumming v. County Board of Education.
In Plessy, the Court ruled that "separate but equal" was legal so long as it did not deprive blacks of equal rights.
In Cumming, the Court ruled that communities could establish white only schools, even if there were no schools for blacks to aLend. Whites also tried to disenDanchise blacks beginning in the 1890s.
Southern states had to find ways to evade the 15th amendment. In 1900, southern states issued the poll tax or some form of property qualification. Then, southern states established literacy tests. By
the late 1890s, the black vote decreased by 62% and whites decreased by 26%.
Birth of Jim CrowBlacks could not:
Ride in the same railroad cars, sit in the same waiting rooms, use the same restrooms, eat in the same restaurants, sit in the same theaters. Blacks did not have access to: public parks, beaches, or picnic areas, hospitals, or public safety.
Much of the new legal structure did not more than confirm what had already been widespread social practice in the South. Jim Crow laws stripped blacks of many of the modest social, economic, and political gains they made in the late 19th century.
More horrifying was violence against blacks in the south and the "legalization" of lynching. Whites who participated in lynchings osten saw their actions as a legitimate form of law enforcement. It was a way for whites to control blacks -‐ through intimidation.
Ida B. Wells, a black journalist, launched a tireless crusade to stop lynchings. Her movement tried to create support for a federal anti-‐lynching law and punish those responsible for the lynchings.
