MAIN IDEA
READING Focus
In time, various
forces led to the
end of Reconstruction, and African
Americans lost
many ofthe rights
and freedoms they
had gained.
• What problems did Reconstruction
lead to, and how did they affect
black and white southerners?
~ILDING
• Why and when did Reconstruction
come to an end?
KEY TERMS AND
PEOPLE
Ku Klux Klan
Enforcement Acts
sharecropping
tenant farming
Samuel J. Tilden
Rutherford B. Hayes
Compromise of 1877
BACKGROUND
I ;~ 870 five years of Reconstruction
had produced some major achievements. Congress
had readmitted all of the former Confederate states to the Union. The United States was
whole once again. At the same time, Reconstruction amendments and laws had greatly
expanded democracy. After some 200 years of slavery, African Americans had gained not
only freedom but also citizenship and political power. But in 1870 the Democrats began
to regain power in the South, and blacks soon lost many of the gains they had made. II'
Problems with Reconstruction
Despite the progress that Republicans made in the South, the majority of white southerners strongly opposed Congressional Reconstruction. They disliked having federal
soldiers stationed in their states and disapproved of black men holding political
office. In addition, white southern Democrats accused the Republican governments
of spending too much and claimed that they were corrupt. This white opposition led
to recurring violence across the South during Reconstruction.
White Resistance and Violence
White southerners' rage and fear over the changes occurring under Reconstruc~ tion frequently erupted into violence. White mobs attacked African Americans and
~ burned black churches and schools-sometimes
with the help oflocal police. Race
1':
.g' riots broke out in cities and towns. Many African Americans and the white Ameri<;:
" cans who supported them were injured or killed.
~
3:
To try to restore white supremacy, some white southerners organized terror~ ist groups. The best -known group was the Ku IKlu~lan.. Founded in Tennessee in
ic 1866, the Klan began as a social club but quickly developed into a secret terrorist
'3 society. Members wore hoods and robes to hide their identities and often carried
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~ out attacks at night. The Klan used threats, burnings, beatings, whippings, and even
~ murder to scare and punish blacks, especially those who were successful or leaders .
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~o White Republicans and other southerners who supported blacks were also targets.
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1. Is the underlined sentence in
the paragraph to the left a fact
or an opinion? How can you tell?
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BLACKS IN THE RECONSTRUCTION ERA
157
... This 1874 political cartoon refers to the violence
of white terrorist groups
such as the Ku Klux Klan
as "worse than slavery."
The Ku Klux Klan spread rapidly throughout
the South. All types of white southerners joined
the Klan's hooded night riders, from poor farmers
to influential and respectable citizens. Many similar terrorist groups existed in the South as well,
among them the White League and the Knights of
the White Camelia. Although only a small minority of white southerners actually joined terrorist
groups, many people supported their goals. Moreover, local officials in the South rarely prosecuted
white citizens who committed terror or violence
against blacks.
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In 1870 and 1871 Congress passed three
j 'Enforcement· A$ to try to stop the violence in
1;the South. These laws banned the use of disguises
to deprive any person of his or her rights and set
heavy penalties for anyone attempting to prevent
a citizen from voting. The new laws also empowered the U.S. Army and the federal courts to arrest
and punish members of the Ku Klux Klan. Federal marshals arrested thousands of
Klansmen, and within a few years the Klan's power was broken. Other white terrorist
groups continued to operate actively throughout the South, however.
New Labor Systems and Economic Hardship
2. Use the graphic
organizer to compare
and contrast sharecropping
and tenant farming.
Similarities
Differences
158 CHAPTER 6
The violence of the Ku Klux Klan and other white terrorist groups was just one of the
many problems with Reconstruction. Another problem was the government's failure
to provide adequate support to enable freedpeople to gain economic independence.
Although some former slaves became successful and even grew wealthy, the majority
remained trapped in poverty.
Because few African Americans in the South c0u!d afford to buy or even rent
land, many former slaves returned to working on plantations. However, most African
Americans were not content with the low wages that planters were willing to pay. In
addition, black farm laborers no longer wanted to work in supervised groups as they
had under slavery.
As a result, a new agricultural labor system gradually developed in the South.
Under this system, called sharecropping, a landowner provided a worker with land,
seed, tools, a mule, and a cabin. The worker then farmed the land in exchange for a
share, or a part, of the crop. For this reason, farmworkers became known as sharecroppers. The system benefited landowners because they no longer had to pay their
workers-and money at the time was scarce. The sharecropper benefited by having
a specific plot ofland to farm. By the end of the 1870s most freedpeople and many
poor white southerners had become sharecroppers.
_
Sharecroppers who saved up enough money could move up to tenan._tJarming.
Tenant farmers rented their land, which enabled them to grow whatever crops they
wanted. Sharecroppers were often forced to grow cotton. Many tenant farmers preferred growing food crops because they provided food as well as an income.
Most sharecroppers and tenant farmers hoped to save enough money that they
could one day buy their own farms. Only a few ever achieved this dream, however.
Instead, most sharecroppers and tenant farmers became trapped in a cycle of debt
that kept them in poverty. Because most farmers had little if any cash, they had to
buy their food and other goods on credit. Later, when the farmers sold their crops,
they hoped to payoff these debts. However, bad weather, poor harvests, or low crop
prices often made paying off debts nearly impossible. Thus, with each passing year,
many sharecroppers and tenant farmers found themselves deeper in debt.
The sharecropping system also helped keep the South's economy tied to one-crop
agriculture. Sharecroppers often grew cotton, one of the South's major cash crops.
When too many farmers planted cotton, though, the supply became too great. As a
result, the price per bale of cotton dropped. In 1873 a nationwide depression caused
cotton prices to fall for several years. In response, southerners grew even more cotton
to try to increase their profits. But crop surpluses only drove prices lower, plunging
many sharecroppers and tenant farmers even deeper into debt.
Reading Check
3. Find the Main Idea How
did terrorist groups and the rise
of sharecropping affect African
Americans in Reconstruction?
The End of Reconstruction
By the early 1870s, support for Reconstruction was declining in both the North and
the South. A number of factors contributed to this loss of support, among them the
ongoing violence in the South. Eventually, Reconstruction came to an end in ,1877.
With its end, African Americans saw many of their gains and hopes fade away.
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4. List the gains
and hopes that African
Americans lost as Recon·
struction came to an end.
Declining Support for Reconstrudion
As the violence in the South continued, northern support for Reconstruction
declined. The continuing need for federal military forces to keep peace in the South
dismayed many northerners. They wondered how effective the southern Republican
governments could be if they were not able to stop the violence themselves. This
reaction was exactly what the white terrorist groups in the South wanted.
In Congress, support for Reconstruction was declining as well. The two strongest supporters of Reconstruction-Representative
Thaddeus Stevens and Senator
Charles Sumner-had both died. Several other Radical Republicans had retired or
left office. Many of the new leaders in Congress were more concerned with other
issues than with Reconstruction and the problems of freedpeople.
In the South, Republicans began losing faith in Reconstruction. Southern blacks
remained unhappy about their widespread poverty and the lack ofland reform.
Southerners of both races were discouraged by the region's poor economic condition,
despite the Republicans' costly programs. Moreover, the high cost of these programs
had plunged the southern states into debt. Just as bad, southern Democrats accused
some Republican officials, especially those tied to railroad building, of corruption.
In 1870 white Democrats began to regain control of state governments inthe
South. The General Amnesty Act of 1872 contributed to this change. This act pardoned many former Confederates and let them once again vote and hold political
office. Many prewar southern leaders began to be elected, replacing black officeholders. Most of the new white leaders belonged to the Democratic Party, which became
known in the South as the party of white supremacy.
BLACKS IN THE RECONSTRUCTION
ERA
159
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5. Identify the
u.s. presidents
that
held office during the
Reconstruction era.
Reconstruction
Presidents
18611865:
_
(Republican)
18651869:
_
(Republican)
18691877:
_
(Republican)
18771881:
_
(Republican)
iI1Reading
Check
What factors
and events contributed to the
end of Reconstruction?
6. Summarize
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While losing support in the South, Republicans also began to lose support at the
national level. Several scandals plagued the Republican administration of President
Grant. Although voters re-elected Grant in 1872, the scandals in his administration
cost him and the Republican Party the support of many voters. This loss of support
helped the Democrats regain control of the U.S. House of Representatives in 1874.
Economic problems then further weakened support for Reconstruction. The
Panic of 1873 marked the start of a severe five-year economic downturn. Soon, an
estimated 2 million Americans were out of work. Both Republican and Democratic
leaders began to focus less on Reconstruction and more on economic issues.
As support for Reconstruction declined, violence in the South increased. Some
white southern Democrats began using intimidation, violence, and other methods
to regain political control. On election days, armed Democrats stole or destroyed
ballot boxes and drove black voters from the polls. Republican candidates and their
supporters were threatened, beaten, and even murdered in broad daylight. When
Mississippi's governor asked for federal help in 1875, President Grant refused, saying
that the public was "tired out" by the South's problems. The U.S. Supreme Court then
began to limit the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments' protection of blacks' civil
rights, including blacks' right to vote. By 1876 white Democrats had regained control
of all but three southern states-South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida.
The fmal blow to Reconstruction came with the presidential election of 1876. In
that election, the Democratic candidate, Samuel J. Tilden, beat the Republican candidate, Rutherford B. Hayes, by an extremely narrow margin of victory. However,
Republicans challenged the election results in four states, three of them in the South.
In the Compromise of ~87il, the Democrats agreed to let Hayes become president
if Republican leaders agreed to remove all remaining federal troops from the South.
The Republicans agreed, and with the removal of the troops Reconstruction ended.
White control once again reigned over black destiny in the South. Even as times grew
worse for blacks in the South, though, some African Americans were determined to
one day regain the rights they had briefly held. ~
Reviewing Ideas, Terms, and People
7. Recall What was the Ku Klux Klan, and how did it and similar groups disrupt life in
the South during Reconstruction?
8. Explain Why did African Americans lose some of the gains they had made?
9. Evaluate What were the effects of Reconstruction on the economic life of African
Americans?
160 CHAPTER 6