The Aftermath of War and Emancipation/ The Devastated South (pg. 402)
● Civil War = Catastrophe in South
○ Towns were gutted
○ Plantations burned
○ Fields neglected
○ Bridges/ railroads destroyed
○ White southerners were stripped of their slaves
○ Confed bonds and currency had no personal property
○ Some white southerners faced starvation and homelessness
Myth of the “Lost Cause” (pg. 402)
● More than 258,000 confed soldiers died in the war
○ More than 20% of the white male region
● Almost all white southerners had people die who they were close to
● Cult of ritualized mourning developed throughout the region in the late 1860’s
○ Mostly among white women
● White southerners began to romanticize the “Lost Cause” and its leaders
● The loss the south suffered reinforced the determination of many whites to protect what
was left
● Conditions were worse for southern blacks
○ 4 mil men and women emerging from bondage
○ Many slaves took the war as an opportunity to leave their owners and search for
freedom
● As soon as the war ended all types of former slaves left their plantations
○ Most had nowhere to go
○ Some went to the nearest town or city
○ Roamed the countryside and camped
○ Gathered around union occupation forces hoping for assistance
○ Others spent months or even years looking for family they have been separated
from
● None of them owned any property and barely had any possessions
● 1865 southern society was in disarray
Freedom for the Ex-Slaves (pg. 403)
● Black people differed on how to achieve “freedom”
○ Some wanted redistribution of economic resources
○ Some wanted legal equality
● All former slaves wanted independence from white control
● Freedom was different for white southerners
○ Meant the ability to control their own destinies w/o interference from the north or
fed govt
● Immediate aftermath of the war they to exercise this freedom by trying to restore their
society into it’s antebellum form
○ Many white planters wanted to continue slavery in an altered form by keeping
black workers legally tied to their plantations
The Freedman’s Bureau (pg. 404)
● Fed govt kept troops in the south after the war to preserve order and protect the freedmen
● March, 1865, congress est.​ The Freedman’s Bureau
○ Distributed food to millions of former slaves
○ Est. schools staffed by missionaries and teachers who had been sent to the south
■ TFB was not a permanent solution
● Had authority to operate for only one year
● Too small to deal effectively w/ enormous problems facing
southern society
Issues of Reconstruction (pg. 404)
● The terms by which the southern states rejoined the union had important implications for
both major political parties
○ Republican victories in 1860/64 had been a result in a large part of the division of
the democratic party
■ Readmitting the south would reunite the democrats and weaken the
republicans
● Republican party took advantage of souths absence from congress to pass a program of
nationalistic economic legislation
○ Railroad subsidies
○ Protective tariffs
○ Banking and currency reforms
■ If the democratic party regained power all of these things would be
jeopardized
Conservative and Radical Republicans (pg. 404)
● Republicans in congress were disagreeing over how to reconstruct
○ Conservatives wanted the south to accept the abolishment of slavery
○ Radicals wanted the civil and military leaders to be punished, large numbers of
southern whites be disenfranchised, that the legal rights of black people be
protected, and that the property of wealthy white southerners who had aided the
Confederacy be confiscated and distributed among freedmen
Lincoln’s 10% Plan (pg. 405)
● Lincoln's reconstruction plan offered great amnesty to white southerners
● Whenever 10% of the number of voters in 1860 took the oath in any state, those loyal
voters would set up a state govt
○ Lincoln hoped to extend suffrage to those blacks who were educated, owned
property and had served in the union army
● Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee, reestablished loyals govts under the Lincoln
formula in 1864
Wade-Davis Bill (pg. 405)
● Radical republicans persuaded congress to deny seats from the three “reconstructed”
states and refused to count the electoral vote of those states in the election of 1864
● Wade-Davis Bill
○ Passed by congress in July 1864
○ The bill left up to the states the question of political rights for blacks
○ Lincoln disposed of it w a pocket veto
■ Enraged the radical leaders
The Death of Lincoln (pg. 405)
● April 14, 1865 Lincoln assassinated by ​John Wilkes Booth
● Hysteria in the north w/ accusations of conspiracy.
● Militant republicans exploited suspicions for months, ensured a mild plan would not
come soon
Johnson and “Restoration”/ Andrew Johnson’s Personality (pg. 405-406)
● Andrew Johnson​ became leader of Moderate and Conservative factions
● Revealed his “Restoration” plan soon after he took office
○ Enacted during summer 1865
● His plan resembled the Wade-Davis Bill
Northern Attitudes Harden (pg. 406)
● End of 1865 all seceded states formed new govts and were prepared to rejoin the union as
soon as congress recognized them
● Radical republicans vowed not to recognize the johnson governments
● Northern opinion had become more hostile toward the south than it had been a year
earlier when congress passed the Wade-Davis Bill
The Black Codes (pg. 406)
● Throughout the south in 1865 and early 1866 state legislatures were enacting sets of laws
known as the​ Black Codes
○ Designed to give whites substantial control over former slaves
○ Codes authorized local officials to apprehend unemployed blacks, fine them, and
hire them out to private employers to satisfy the fine
Johnson’s Vetoes/ Citizenship for Blacks (pg. 407-408)
● April 1866 a new amendment was proposed
○ Became one of the most important of all the provisions in the constitution
● Fourteenth Amendment
○ First constitutional definition of American citizenship
■ Everyone born in the US, and everyone naturalized was automatically a
citizen
● Congressional Radicals offered to readmit to the Union any state whose legislature
ratified the fourteenth Amendment
● Radicals were growing more confident and determined
○ Riots were happening where African Americans were the principal victims
The Congressional Plan/ Three Reconstruction Bills (pg. 407-408)
● Radicals passed three ​Reconstruction Bills​ early in 1867 and overrode Johnson’s vetoes
of all of them
○ Bills est. a coherent plan for Reconstruction
● Congressional plan
○ Tennessee readmitted
○ Combine Lincoln-Johnson states into five military districts
Fifteenth Amendment (pg. 408-409)
● 1868 10 former confederate states were readmitted to the Union
● Fifteenth amendment
○ Forbade states and the fed govt to deny suffrage to any citizen on account of
“race, color, or previous condition of servitude”
● To stop the press from w/ their plans, the congressional radicals passed to remarkable
laws of dubious constitutionality in 1867
○ Tenure Office Act
■ Forbade pres to remove civil officals without the consent of the Senate
● This protected the secretary of war Edwin M Stanton
○ Command of the Army Act
■ Prohibited the pres from issuing military orders except through the
commanding general of the army who could not be relieved or assigned
elsewhere without the consent of the senate
● Congressional radicals also took action to stop Supreme Court from interfering w/ their
plans
The Impeachment of the President/ Tenure of Office Act (pg. 409)
● Radicals wanted to impeach Johnson
○ Johnson dismissed S​ecretary of War Stanton​ even though congress didn’t agree
■ Violated the Tenure of Office Act
■ He was impeached and the case was sent to the Senate for trial
Johnson Acquitted (pg. 409)
● Trial lasted two months
○ Radicals put heavy pressure on Republican senators
○ Moderates vacillated
● Radicals eventually dropped impeachment effort
The South in Reconstruction (pg. 409)
● White southerners spoke bitterly years after about the effects of reconstruction
○ Govts claimed they were incompetent and corrupt
○ Black southerners and their defenders spoke of the failure of the national and state
govts to go far enough to
○ guarantee freedmen even the most elemental rights of citizenship
The Reconstruction of Governments (pg. 409)
● In the 10 states of the south that were reorganized under the congressional plan
approximately ¼ of the white male were at first excluded from voting or holding office
○ This produced black majorities among voters
● Govt lifted suffrage restrictions so nearly all white males could vote
○ Republicans maintained control
“Scalawags” (pg. 409-410)
● Critics called these southern white republicans ​“scalawags”
○ Former whigs
○ Planters or business interested in development of the region
● Scalawags shared a belief that the Republican Party would serve their economic interests
better than the democrats
“Carpetbaggers” (pg. 410)
● Carpetbaggers
○ White men from the north who served as republican leaders in the south
○ Conveyed the image of them as penniless adventurers
Freedmen (pg. 410-411)
● Most numerous republicans in the south were the black freedmen
○ Most had no previous experience in politics
● African American voters held their own conventions to chart their future course
● African Americans played a significant role in the politics of the reconstruction of the
south
● Southern whites complained about “Negro Rule” during reconstruction
○ No such thing actually existed in any of the states
Education (pg. 411)
● Dramatic improvement in southern education for both races
○ Large amount of schools for former slaves created
○ 1870’s large amount of black and white population attended school
Segregated Schools (pg. 411)
● Efforts to integrate schools failed
● Freedmen's Bureau of schools was opened to all races
○ Almost no white people attended
● When the republican govs of reconstruction were replaced, the new southern democrat
regimes abandoned all efforts to promote integration
Landownership and Tenancy/ Failure of Land Redistribution (pg. 411)
● Freedmen's Bureau wanted to make reconstruction the vehicle for fundamental reform of
landownership in the south
○ Failed effort
● Southern plantation owners wanted their property back
○ Pres Johnson was supporting their demands
○ Freedmen's Bureau resisted to no avail
● There was a decline in land ownership among whites
○ 80% before the war to 67% by the end of reconstruction
● During the same time period the proportion of blacks who owned land went from none to
20%
○ Many of them got land through hard work or luck
● Freedmen's Bank
○ Est in 1865 by anti slavery whites in effort to promote land ownership among
blacks
■ Eventually failed bc it was ill prepared
Sharecropping (pg. 411-412)
● Most people didn’t own land during reconstruction
○ Many black agricultural laborers worked for wages only
● Most became tenants of white landowners
The Crop-Lien System (pg. 412-413)
● Years after the war saw economic progress for African Americans
○ Increase in income
● Total profits of southern agriculture were declining
● Black per capita income rose from ¼ and for whites ½
New System of Credit (pg. 413)
● Crop-Lien system
○ Credit sys that became widely used by cotton farmers in the US south
● Farmers didn’t have a steady flow of cash
○ Relied on credit to buy things
○ Stores charged v high interests rates (50-60%)
● Farmers sometimes became trapped in a cycle of debt that they could never get out of
● Credit sys had a lot of effects on the region
○ Some blacks who acquired land lost it as they fell into debt
■ So did (not as many) white small landowners
○ Small farmers became dependent on nearly all cash crops to try to escape debt
○ Decline in agricultural econ bc of lack of diversity
The African American Family in Freedom (pg. 413-414)
● Black response during reconstruction was an effort to build or rebuild family structures
○ Desire to find lost relatives and reunite families
● Gender roles came into play
○ Women and children ceased working in the fields
■ Believed it was a badge of slavery
■ They cooked, cleaned, gardened, raised children, etc
Changing Gender Roles (pg. 414)
● Economic necessity required many black women to engage in income-producing
activities
○ These activities included some that resembled slavery, so some women and men
resisted
■ Working as domestic servants
■ Taking in laundry
■ Helping in the field
The Southern States “Redeemed” (pg. 416)
● 1872 nearly all southern whites regained suffrage
● In states where blacks were the majority, whites used intimidation and violence to
undermine reconstruction regimes
○ KKK
○ Knights of the White Camellia
■ Used terrorism to frighten or bar blacks from voting or exercising
citizenship
Ku Klux Klan (pg. 416)
● KKK was the largest and most effective of these organizations
○ Formed in 1866 and led by Confed Gen Nathan Forrest
○ Worked to advance interest of those who would gain from white supremacy
■ Planter class, democratic party
Ku Klux Klan Acts (pg. 416-417)
● Republicans tried to stop white repression
● 1870 and 1871 they passed two Enforcement Acts (aka KKK Acts)
○ Prohibited states from discriminating against voters on race
○ Fed govt given power to prosecute violations
○ Allowed the pres to use military to protect civil rights and to suspend the right of
habeas corpus
● Pres Grant declared a “state of lawlessness” in nine counties in SC
Waning Northern Commitment (pg. 417)
● The Enforcement Acts ​were at the peak of the Republican party
● Southern blacks were losing support of many of their former supporters in the north
○ After 1870 whites began to feel like black people should take care of themselves
Impact of Social Darwinism (pg. 417)
● Panic of 1873 undermined support for reconstruction
● Social Darwinism
○ Harsh theory that argued that individuals who failed did so bc of their own
weakness and unfitness
■ Encouraged a broad critique of govt intervention in social and economic
life
● Congressional elections of 1874 democrats won control of the House of Reps for the first
time since 1861
○ By the end of 1867 only 3 states were left in the hands of the republicans
The Compromise of 1877/ Hayes vs Tilden (pg. 417)
● Grant wanted to run for another term in 1867
○ Republicans chose ​Rutherford B Hayes ​instead
○ Democrats chose ​Sam Tilden
● Tilden won popular vote
○ One away from electoral vote majority
○ Hayes needed all 20 votes to win
■ Up to congress
Special Electoral Commision (pg. 318)
● Congress created a special electoral commision to judge the disputed votes
○ Hayes won election
● Resolution result of compromises between republicans and southern democrats
Compromise of 1877 (pg. 419-420)
● Compromise involved more financial aid for railroads and internal improvements in the
south
○ This would help democrats grow business and industrialize
The Legacies of Reconstruction (pg. 420)
● Reconstruction made some important contributions to the efforts of former slaves to
achieve dignity and equality in American life
○ Ultimately it was a failure
■ Failed to resolve the problem of race
■ Created bitterness so much that it would be almost a century until people
started directing the problem again
The “Redeemers”/ Bourbon Rule (pg. 421)
● End of 1877 every southern state govt had been redeemed by white Democrats
● “Redeemers”/ “Bourbons”
○ Merchants, industrialists, railroad developers, financiers
○ “Home rule” and social conservatism
● Democratic govt lowered taxes and reduced services
○ Including public education
The Readjuster Challenge (pg. 421)
● 1870’s significant dissenting groups were challenging the Bourbons
● VA ​Readjuster Movement
○ Demanded the state revise its debt payment procedures
Industrialization and the “New South”/ Henry Grady (pg.421-424)
● People argued that the south lost the war b/c it’s economy couldn’t compete w/ the
north’s
● Henry Grady
○ Editor of the​ Atlanta Constitution
○ Advocated for important changes in southern values
■ Rarely white supremacy
■ Included thrift, industry, and progress
● Southern writers were extolling the virtues of industrialization
○ Painting nostalgic pics of the old south in their literature
○ Whites embraced romantic talk of the “Lost Cause”
● Growth in textile manufacturing
○ Tobacco industry grew
○ Iron and steel industry
Railroad Development (pg. 424)
● Railroad development increased substantially post-reconstruction
○ More work forces
■ Hours were long
■ Wages were low
■ Some workplaces (textile industry for ex) allowed blacks
“Convict-lease” System (pg. 424)
● Convict-lease ​sys
○ Southern states leased gangs of convicted criminals to priv interests as a cheap
labor supply
■ Sys exposes convicts to brutal and fatal mistreatment
● Paid nothing
● Denied employment in railroad construction and other projects to
the free labor force
Tenants and Sharecroppers/ Transformation of the Backcountry (pg. 424-425)
● Southern region remained primarily agrarian
● Forms of tenantry
○ Some farmers paid an annual cash rent for land
○ Broke farmers
■ Landlords would provide them w land and equipment for a share of their
crop
● Farmers had to grow cash crops instead of food crops
● Backcountry changed b/c of ​fence laws
○ Required farmers to fence their animals
African Americans and the New South/ Black Middle Class (pg. 425-426)
● Blacks were attracted to growth and progress
○ Black people became middle class by
■ Getting property
■ Starting small businesses
● Maggie Lena became the 1st female bank pres in 1903
○ Black people also became
■ Doctors
■ Lawyers
● They only served people of their race
● Booker T. Washington
○ Spokesman for education for other black people
○ President of Tuskegee Institute in AL
○ Born enslaved got out of poverty w/ aid of edu.
■ Wanted others to have this opportunity
● Atlanta Compromise
○ 1895 washington gave speech about race relations
○ Said eco gain was more important than social equality
Birth of Jim Crow (pg. 427-430)
● Plessy v. Ferguson
○ White southerners didn’t recognize racial equality
○ Courtcase
■ “Separate but equal”
■ Racial segregation laws stayed intact
● Lynching
○ White violence against blacks bc of jim crow laws
○ 187 lynches a year