1)
3acaistiiCtoit
,
IAPTER FOCUS
flEWfl48 HSTOllY
his chapter describes Reconstruction, the period following the Civil War, in which
efforts were made to rebuild the southern states. In Wimshington, the nation’s leaders
argued bitterly over how best to reunify the nation. In the South, meanwhile, African
Americans began exercisi, ig their newly won freedom, and southerners worked to reb u iii /
T
the regions eConomy.
The iimv iiiily i1L4or3? page at the end o/tlns chapter explores the
COiiiit’CliOti
between black voting rights, which African Americans wom i t Ia rim ig Recom istri mci’ ion,
anti black representation in Congress today.
378
Richmond, Virginia, like the
South in general, faced an
enormous rebuilding task
following the Civil War.
Government In what
ways did the South
political institutions need
to be “rebuilt” as well?
18651863
1864
tincoln
Reconstruction plan
Wade-Davis
Act
1865
1865
Civil War
Freedmen’c
Bureau created ends
Johnsons
Reconstruction
plan
1863
i
Preshieiitiai
Reconstruciio
SECTION PREVIEW
:
Describe the condition of the South in the
aftermath of the Civil War.
Compare the Reconstruction plans of Lincoln
and Johnson.
Explain how newly freed slaves began to
rebuild their lives and how the federal
government helped them.
Key Terms Define: Reconstruction; pardon.
he Soul h was the ma in battlegroti nd of the
Civil War and its largest casualty. I lardly a
farm or family remained unscarred by the
trnie sol(lieis l)eaI1 straggliiw home. A north
em journalist described the once—gracious city
of (Tharleston, South Carolina: “A city of
ruins, of desolation, of vacant houses, of wid—
owed women, of fl 01 i m wharves, of deserted
T
warehouses, of weed—wild gardens, of grassgrown streets.”
The federal governments controversial
effort to repair the damage to the South and to
restore southern states to the Union is known
as Reconstruction. ‘l’he Reconstruction Iro
gram was carried out from 1 865 to 1 877 and
involved fiu r American Presidents.
7
r
/
At the start of Reconstruction, it was clear that
the nation—especially the South—had been
changed forever by the war. l’he changes
reached into families and farms.
The Physical Toll War had destroyed two thirds
of southern shipping and 9,00() miles of rail
roads. It had devoured farmland, farm buildings,
During the Reconstruction era, the federal govern
ment put forth plans to allow southern states to
resume participation in the Union.
Organizing Information As you read, list the main
headings of the section in a chart. Beneath each
heading, list at least two key facts.
and farm machinery; work animals and one
third of all livestock; bridges, canals, and levees;
and thousands of miles of roads. Factories, ports,
and cities lay smoldering. 1 ‘he value of southern
farm property had plunged 70 percent.
The Human Toll 11w (;ivil War destroyed a
generation of you ng, healthy men—fat hers,
brothers, and husbands. The North lost
364,000 soldiers, including more than 38,000
African Americans. The South lost 260,00()
soldiers, one fifth of its adult white men. One
out of three southern men were killed or
wounded. Many of the survivors were
permanently scarred in mind or body.
In addition, the North’s decision to
destroy southern homes and property resulted
ifl countless civilian deaths. Children were
made orphans; brides became widows.
South
three major groups of people.
was made
Each group faced its own hardships and fears.
(1) Black southerners. Some 4 million freed
people were starting their new lives in a poor
region with slow economic activity. As slaves,
they had received food and shelter, however
Southerners’ Hardships 1’he
up
postwar
of
Chapter 1
•
Section 1
379
In the final days of the Civil War, Lincoln visited Richmond,
Virginia, the captured Confederate capital. In this painting he
is shown being greeted by war-weary residents of the city.
Economics How does the painting show the damage that
Richmond suffered during the war?
inadequate. Now, alter a lifetime of forced
labor, many found themselves homeless, job
less, and hungry.
(2) Plantation owners. Planters lost slave
labor worth about $3 billion. In addition the
Captured and Abandoned Property Act of
1863 allowed the federal government
to
seize $100 million in southern
Liti !ki3I
plantations and cotton. With worth
less Confederate money, some farm—
What temporary and
e rs could n t a ffu rd to hire workers.
permanent changes
others had to sell their property to
did the Civil War bring
cover debts.
to southern life?
(3) Poor white soiiihcriicrs. Many
white laborers could not flnd work any
more because of the new job competition from
freedmen. Poor white families began migrating
to frontier lands such as Mississippi and lixas
to find new opportunities.
The Changing Plantation ‘l’he history of one
southern plantation illustrates the complex
issues brought about by the war and its after
math. In 1824, Richard Arnold bought a rice
plantation near Savannah, Georgia, which he
called White Hall. The Arnolds were among
36(),00() white northerners who lived and
worked in the South in 1860.
380
hapter13
•
Sectioni
Richard opposed secession. He
sold the plantation to his son
Thomas, a Confederate supporter, so
the Confederacy would not seize it.
At the war’s end, Richard’s northern
connections saved White Hall from
being seized by the federal govern
ment. In 1 865 Richard bought White
Hall hack from Thomas and put him
in charge of the rebuilding effort.
The White Hall plantation had
suffered considerable damage. But
more shocking to I’homas was the
attitude of the plantation’s freed
slaves. ‘1hey were unreliable, he
reported; they refused even to speak
to him. Ihomas brought in a Union
colonel to tell the freedmen that they
would be wise to trust Arnold and
agree to work for pay. But, Thomas
said, one slave spoke up and “said
they had made up their minds never
to work fur me again.”
Yet throughout the South, some freed
slaves chose to continue working for their for
mer masters, Amos Morel and his wife, Cretia,
did stay on to help rebuild the plantation. By
the early I 870s, White I lall was one of the
largest rice plantations in the South.
Most southerners accepted the war’s outcome
and focused on rebuilding their lives. In
Washington, however, peacetime launched
new battles so fierce that some historians call
Reconstruction an extension of the Civil War.
l’he full of the Confederacy and the end of
slavery raised tough questions. I low and
when should southern states be allowed to
resume their role in the Union? Should the
South be punished fur its actions, or be for
given and allowed to recover quickly? Now
that black southerners were free, would the
races have equal rights? lfso, how might those
rights be protected? 1 )id the Civil War itself
point out a need for a St ron ger federal
government?
\t stake were basic issues concerning the
1
nations political system. Yet it was not even
clear which branch of government had the
authority to decide these matters.
On these key questions, the Constitution
was silent. The Framers had made no provi
sions for solving the problems raised by the
Civil War,
Lincoln’s Plan With no road map for the
future, Lincoln had begun postwar planning as
early as December 1863, when he proposed a
iPercent Plan for Reconstruction. The plan
was forgiving to the South:
(1) It offered a pardon, an official forgive
ness of a crime, to any Confederate who would
take an oath of allegiance to the Union and
accept federal policy on slavery.
(2) It denied pardons to all Confederate
military and government officials and to
southerners who had killed African American
war prisoners.
(3) It permitted each state to hold a constitu
tional convention only after 10 percent of voters
in the state had sworn allegiance to the Union.
(4) States could then hold elections and
resume full participation in the Union.
Lincoln’s plan did not require the new
constitutions to give voting rights to black
Americans, Nor did it “readmit” southern
states to the Union, since in Lincoln’s view,
their secession had not been constitutional.
Lincoln set a tone of forgiveness for the
postwar era in his Second Inaugural Address:
With malice toward none’ with
charity for all; with firmness in
the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us
strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up
the nation’s wounds. to do all which may
achieve and cherish a just, and a lasting peace,
among ourselves, and with all
.
.
—Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address,
Mczrclz 1865
F
Congress, however, saw Lincoln’s
Reconstruction plan as a threat to congression
al authority. The Republican leadership
warned that Lincoln “should confine himself
to his executive duties—to obey and execute,
not make the laws
and leave political reor
ganization to Congress.”
Much of Lincoln’s opposition came from
a group of congressmen from his own party.
The group, known as the Radical Repub
licans, believed that the Civil War had been
fought over the moral issue of slavery.
Therefore the Radicals insisted that the main
goal of Reconstruction should be a total
restructuring of society to guarantee black
people true equality.
The Radical Republicans viewed Lincoln’s
plan as too lenient. in July 1864 Congress passed
its own, stricter Reconstruction plan, the WadeDavis Act. Among its provisions, it required
.
.
.
ex-Confederate men to take an oath of past and
future loyalty and to swear that they had never
willingly borne arms against the United States.
Lincoln let the bill die in a pocket veto.
Lincoln’s hopes came to a violent end less
than a month after his second inauguration.
As discussed in the previous chapter, Lincoln
was murdered on April 14, 1865, by John
Wilkes Booth. The assassination plunged the
nation into grief and its politics into chaos.
Johnson’s
Plan With Lincoln’s death,
Reconstruction was now in the hands of a one
time slave owner from the South: the former
Vice President, Andrew Johnson. Born poor in
North Carolina, Johnson grew up to become a
tailor. He learned to read and write with the
help of his wife and later entered politics in
Tennessee as a 1)emocrat.
Johnson had a profound hatred of rich
planters and found strong voter support among
poor white southerners. He served Tennessee
first as governor, then in Congress. Johnson was
the only southern senator to remain in
Congress after secession. Hoping to attract
Democratic voters, the Republican party chose
Johnson as Lincoln’s running mate in 1864.
When Johnson took office in April 1865,
Congress was in recess until l)ecember.
t
I)uring those eight months, Johnson pursued
his own plan for the South. His plan, known as
Presidential Reconstruction, included these
provisions:
(1) It pardoned southerners who swore
allegiance to the Union.
(2) It permitted each state to hold a Con
stitutional convention (without Lincoln’s 11)
percent allegiance requirement).
(3) States were required to void secession,
abolish slavery, and ratify the Thirteenth
Amendment.
(4) States could then hold elections and
resume participation in the Union.
Presidential Reconstruction reflected the
spirit of Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan
but was more generous to the South.
Main Ides
Although officially it denied pardons
to all Confederate leaders, in reality
How did Johnson’s
Johnson often issued pardons to those
Reconstruction plan
who asked him personally. In 1865
differ from Lincoln’s?
alone, he pardoned 13,000 southerners.
t Until the mid-1900s, a typical session of the United
States Congress lasted only four or five months.
Today, Congress remains in session throughout
most of the year.
Chapter 13
•
Section 1
381
Freedom
opened new
opportunities
for African
Americans, such
as forming
choirs (top left),
preaching
(above), and
getting an edu
cation (right).
Culture Why
do you think
northerners
volunteered to
teach at freed
mens schools?
f:ie Paste
1 Preetozti
As politicians debated, African Americans cele
brated their new freedom. No longer were they
mere property, subject to the whims of white
slave owners.
The
was
overwhelming.
feeling
“Everybody went wild,” said Charles Ames, a
(;corgia freedman. “We all felt like horses.
We was free. Just like that, we was free.”
Hooker T. Washington, a future leader in
black education, was nine years old when the
news came: “IWJe were told that we were all
free and could go when and where we pleased.
My mother, who was standing by my side,
leaned over and kissed her children, while tears
of joy ran down her cheeks.”
Freedom of Movement During the war,
enslaved people had simply walked away from
the plantations upon hearing that a northern
army approached. “Right off colored folks
started on the move,” said James, a freed cow
hand from Texas, “They seemed to want to get
closer to freedom, so they’d know what it was
like—like it was a place or a city.”
Many freed people took to the roads look
ing for family members who had been torn
from them by slavery. Not all were successful in
fInding loved ones, but many joyful reunions
did occur. In addition, many couples who had
been forbidden to marry under slavery now
found each other and got legally married.
382
Chapter 13
•
Section 1
Freedom to Own Land Black leaders knew
that emancipation—physical freedom—was
only a start. True freedom would come only
with economic independence, the ability to get
ahead through hard work.
Freed people urged the federal govern
ment to redistribute southern land. ‘I’hey
argued that they were entitled to the land that
slaves had cleared and fhrrned for generations.
A Virginia freedman put it this way: “We
have a right to the land where we are located.
For why? I tell you. Our wives, our children, our
husbands, have been sold over and over again to
purchase the lands we now locate upon; fbr that
reason we have a divine right to the land.”
Proposals to give white-owned land to
freedmen got little political support. t Instead,
small—scale, unofficial land redistribution took
place. For example, in 1871 Amos Morel, the
freedman who stayed on at the White Hall
plantation, used his wages to buy more than
400 acres of land. He sold pieces to other freed
men and later bought land for his daughter.
tIn 1865, Union general William Tecumseh Sherman
had set up a land-distribution experiment in South
Carolina. He divided confiscated coastal lands into 40acre plots and gave them to black families. Soon the
South buzzed with rumors that the government was
going to give all freedmen “forty acres and a mule.”
Sherman’s project was highly successful. However,
President Johnson eventually returned much of the
land to its original owners, forcing the freedmen out.
Freedom to Worship In their struggle to sur
vive, African Americans looked to each other
for help. New black organizations arose
throughout the South. The most visible were
churches. African Americans throughout the
South withdrew from racially mixed congrega
tions to form their own churches. They also
started thousands of voluntary groups, includ
ing mutual aid societies, debating clubs, drama
societies, and trade associations.
Freedom to Learn Historians estimate that in
1860, 90 percent of black adults were illiterate,
partly
r
because
many
southern
states
had
banned the educating of slaves.
One supporter of black education was
Charlotte Forten, a wealthy black woman from
Philadelphia. In I 862, afer Un ion troops
occupied Port Royal, South Carolina, Forten
went there to teach. She observed:
AMERICAN
‘I never before saw children
so eager to learn. Coming to
school is a constant delight and recreation to
them.
Many of the grown people [also] are
desirous of learning to read. It is wonderful how
a people who have been so long crushed to the
earth
can have so great a desire for knowl
edge, and such a capability for attaining it.’
.
.
.
..
—Charlotte lOit’,i
Help came from several directions. White
teachers, often young women, went south to
start schools. Some freed people taught
SECTION
themselves and one anoth
er. Between 1865 and 1870,
black educators founded
thirty African American
colleges.
Near the White Hall
plantation, two former
slaves purchased property
in 1870. There they creat
ed a center of education
and vocational training
for African Americans.
The Freedmen’s Bureau
lb help black southerners
adj list to freedom, Congress
created the Freedmen’s Bu
reau in March 1865, just
-
/
,
prior to Lincoln’s death.
It was the first major
federal relief agency in United States history.
The Freedmen’s Bureau lacked strong sup
port in Congress, and the agency was largely
dismantled in 1869. Yet in its short existence
the bureau gave out clothing, medical supplies,
and millions of meals to 1)0th black and white
war refugees. More than 250,000 African
American students received their first fbrmal
educat ion in bureau schools.
For a time, the bureau also distributed
confiscated Confederate land to firmers,
I lowever, when President Johnson ret urned
these properties to their white owners, black
This child
proudly
displays
clothes and
a book fur
nished by the
Freedmen
Bureau.
farmers again Ibund themselves landless.
REVIEW
that time line, in your opinion, had the great
1..
Key Terms Define: (a) Reconstruction;
(b) pardon.
Summarizing the Main Idea How did
Johnson’s Reconstruction plan differ from
Lincoln’s?
3. Organizing In formation Create a chart that
describes the challenges faced by three
2
different groups of southerners after the
Civil War.
L””
t
I
.
tr
4. Analyzing Time Lines Review the time line
at the start of the section. Which event on
est long-term importance? Explain your rea
soning.
5.. Determining Relevance Why was it more
difficult for freedmen to exercise their freedom
to own land than it was for them to exercise
their freedoms to worship or to become
educated?
W rtç
6..
Actt’’h
Writing a Persuasive Essay Should the
federal government have taken land from
white southerners and given it to former
slaves? Write an essay in support of or in
opposition to this idea.
Chapter 13
•
Section 1
383
Geography
Graphs and charts
110w Mans Show
change over Time
n important task of historians located? (b) What dates are given on
is identifying change over time. the maps? (C) What physical features
4
i
One far-reaching change that took do the maps show?
place in American life after the
Civil War was the breakup of plan 2., Analyze the key to determine
tations. Maps can show important the type of data that it provides. Map
keys use symbols and colors to illus
evidence of such a development.
trate
specific data, (a) What do the
below
historical
maps
The
show the changes to 2,000 acres of brown squares represent in the map on
land in the post—Civil War South. the left? (b) What do the green squares
Use the following steps to identify represent in the map on the right?
the changes ftr which the maps (c) How is the symbol for a church dis
tinguishable from the symbol for a
provide evidence.
schoolhouse?
Identify the location, time peri
I
od, and subject matter covered by 3 Analyze the data in the maps.
the maps. (a) What specific area of Now compare these maps to draw
land do the maps show, and where is it conclusions about the change over
F
time that they indicate. (a) Over what
period of time has the change taken
place? (b) How has the location of
dwellings on the plantation changed
during this period? (c) What new build
ings have been added? (d) What his
torical events and trends helped to
produce the changes that these maps
illustrate?
If the years of the maps were not
labeled, would you be able to tell
which map showed the plantation in
1860 and which showed the land in
1881? Explain your answer.
The Barrow PIantationOgIethorpeCounty Georgia
LJ
1881
I
PC”
I,
House’S
4
\
-
\
4
I
0
Sharecroppers
houses
Slave quarters
Church
Schoolhouse
Source: Eric Foner, A Short Histoly
of Reconstruction, 1863—1877,
New York: Harper & Row, 1990
384
1/2
O
O
1/2
1/2
1 Mile
1 Kilometer
o
1/2
1 Mile
1 Kilometer
865
1867
Southern stales
pass black codes
1865
Radical
Reconstruction
1868
1870
1868
Fifteenth
Amendment
ratified
President Johnson Fourteenth
impeached
Amendment ratified
1870
1866J
eonvressionai ReconstruCtioll
2
SECTION PREVIEW
Describe the relationship between the black
codes and Fourteenth Amendment.
Summarize the effects of Radical
Reconstruction and of the Fifteenth
Amendment.
Analyze conditions in the South under
Republican government.
Key Terms Define: black codes; Fourteenth
Amendment; civil rights; impeach; Fifteenth
Amendment; carpetbagger; scalawag.
I
fdce(l unseen dan
tile road to freedom. For many
African Americans, 1 lie initial surge of joy quick
ly turned to a t I 1( iti sand W( inisi in e quest iom is.
How won 1(1 treed inei feed and house
themselves? Who would take care of the old,
the sick, and the orpha ned? I low con 1(1 ía m
lies leave the plantation to seek a l)etter life?
Where could I hey gel help iii a place where
some anrrv ex-( onfe(lerdtes still carried a gun
and a grudge?
soutlierneis iii
gers
Black
Oil
Defeat in war had not changed the fact that
white people still dominated southern society.
As one white Georgian noted: “I l’he freed—
mani has no land; he can make no crops
except the white man gives him a chamice.
He can scarcely get work anywhere but in the
rice—fields and cotton plantations.
What
sort of freedom is that?”
Indeed, one of the main goals of the Civil
War, freedoms for enslaved people, was being
.
.
.
As southern states moved to limit freedmen’s rights,
Congress took over Reconstruction and passed new
laws to protect African Americans’ freedom.
Problem Solving In the late 1 860s, southern states
were putting ex-Confederates back in power and try
ing to keep freedmen in slavelike conditions. List
some possible solutions to this problem. As you read,
take specific notes on how Congress actually
responded.
rolled back. ( )ne by one, son t hem states met
Johnson’s Reconstruct mon deman(ls and were
restored to the Union. Ihe first order of busi
ness iii t liese new, white-run ()vern men Is was
to enact black codes, laws that rest ricted
freedmen’s rights. l’he black codes established
virtual slavery with provisions such as these:
(iir/’ivs. ( ;erill, black people could
ii 01 gal her a fler sunset.
/t’iiiailcy loivs. Freedmen convicted of
vagrancy—that is, not working— could be
lined, whipped, or sold fi r a yea r’s labor,
Jo lie i coil! reels. Freed m en had to sign
agreements in January for a year of work.
I hose who quit in the middle of a contract
often lost all the wages they had earned.
Luoits oil WOiilL’ilS ngliis. Mothers who
wanted to stay home and care for their families
were forced instead to do farm labor.
Land restrictions. Freed people could rent
land or homes only in rural areas. This forced
them to live on plantations.
Southern defiance of Reconstruction
enraged northern Republicans in Congress.
Chapter 1
•
Section 2
385
dq
They blamed President Johnson for southern
Democrats’ return to power. Determined to
bypass Johnson, Congress used one of its great
est tools: the power to amend the Constitution.
Tiirnii Point:
ourteenth AmenLbnent
In early 1866 Congress passed a Civil Rights
Act that outlawed the black codes. Johnson
vetoed the measure. As President, Johnson was
head of the Republican party. Yet instead of
leading congressional Republicans, he was
often at odds with them.
As an unelected former Democrat,
Johnson had no mandate to govern. A man
date is voter approval of a politician’s policies
that is implied when he or she wins an election.
Lack of a mandate limited Johnson’s ability to
influence Congress.
INT:
TKHIN
Congress overrode the President’s veto.
Then it took further action. Concerned that
courts might strike down the Civil Rights
Act, Congress decided to build equal rights
into the Constitution. In June 1866 Congress
passed the Fourteenth Amendment, which
was ratified by the states in 1868. The amendment states:
“All persons born or natural
ized in the United States.. are
citizens of the United States and of the State
wherein they reside. No State shall make or
enforce any law which shall abridge the privi
leges or immunities of citizens of the United
States; nor shall any State deprive any person
of life, liberty, or property, without due process
of law; nor deny to any person within its juris
diction the equal protection of the laws
—i,iirtt’c,itii /iiie’fltItiiciit, iriicic
Section I
.
The Fourteenth Amendment
Ratification of this landmark amendment made possible future victories for American citizens
seeking “equal protection of the laws,” as the time line below illustrates.
1938
1863
The Fourteenth
Amendment is
ratified.
Congress passes the
Fair Labor Standards
Ac banning child
labor and setting a
minimum wage and
maximum hours.
I
386
Chapter 13
•
Section 2
1920
American women gain the
right to vote with passage of
the Nineteenth Amendment.
Photo (left) shows women
filling in a map to show
states that had approved the
amendment.
In the I 960s and
beyond women and
minorities sought
“equal protection
11 in
!ob housing, and
other areas.
1992
Carol Moseley-Braun
becomes the first
African American
woman eleded to the
United States Senate.
The full text of the Fourteenth Amend
ment is on page 166—167. Its effects have
echoed throughout American history, as
shown in the time line on the previous page.
Radical Reconstructio,
The congressional Republicans who drafted
the Fourteenth Amendment consisted of two
major groups. One group was the Radical
Republicans. Radicals were small in number
but increasingly influential, Most Republicans,
however, saw themselves as moderates. In pol
itics, a moderate is someone who supports the
mainstream views of the party, not the more
extreme positions.
Moderates and Radicals both opposed
Johnson’s Reconstruction policies, opposed the
spread of black codes, and favored the expansion
of the Republican party in the South. But mod
erates were less enthusiastic over the Radicals’
goal of granting African Americans their civil
rights, citizens’ personal liberties guaranteed by
law, such as voting rights and equal treatment.
(See Government Concepts at right.) Racial
inequality was still common in the North, and
moderates did not want to impose stricter laws
on the South than those in the North.
The North Grows Impatient This reluctance
began to dissolve in early 1866, as word spread of
new violence against African Americans, In
April, the 1imous Civil War nurse Clara Barton
gave graphic testimony in Congress about
injured black victims she had treated. 1)uring the
next three months, white rioters went on ram
pages against African Americans in Memphis,
Tennessee; New Orleans, Louisiana; and New
York City. White police joined in the stabbings,
shootings, and hangings that killed hundreds.
1)espite public outrage against the brutal
ity, Johnson continued to oppose equal rights
for African Americans. In the 1866 congres
sional elections, he gave speeches urging states
not to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment.
Angry northern voters responded by sweeping
Radical Republicans into Congress. Now,
Radicals could put their own Reconstruction
plans into action.
Stnct Laws Imposed Calling for “reform, not
revenge,” Radicals in Congress passed the
Reconstruction Act of 1867. Historians note
that this was indeed a “radical” act in American
history. These are its key provisions:
(1) It put the South
GOVERNMtNT tONCiEPTS
under military rule,
civil rights: the rights to which
dividing it into five dis
every
citizen is entitled
tricts, each governed by
a northern general. (See
V The Historical Context: The first
map on the next page.)
Civil Rights Act, in 1866, guaran
(2) It ordered south
teed citizenship to African
ern states to hold new
Americans. The second, in 1875,
elections for delegates
guaranteed them equal rights in
to create new state con
public places. More fundamentally,
stitutions.
in 1868 the Fourteenth Amendment
(3) It required states
made protection of civil rights part
to allow all qualified
of
the Constitution.
male voters, including
African Americans, to
V The Concept Today: Violations of
vote in the elections.
African Americans’ civil rights con
(4) It temporarily
tinued and even increased following
Reconstruction. Nearly a century
southerners
barred
later, the civil rights movement of
who had supported
the
1950s and 1960s fought to
from
the Confederacy
laws that discriminated
erase
voting.
African Americans. Today it
against
(5) It required south
to discriminate on the
illegal
is
ern states to guaran
race.
basis
of
tee equal rights to all
citizens.
(6) lt required the
states to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment.
Congress and the President The stage was
now set for a showdown that pitted Johnson
against two powerful Radical Republicans in
Congress. Massachusetts Senator
Charles Sumner, a founder of the
Main Ide
Republican party, was a passionate
abolitionist who sought voting rights
What were the main
for black Americans.
goals of Radical
In the House, Johnson faced
Reconstruction?
Thaddeus Stevens, a Pennsylvania con
gressman with a stern face and a per
sonality to match. Stevens led the charge that
threatened to bring down Johnson’s presidency.
At face value, the contest was a test of wills
between the President and his congressional
adversaries. Yet it was also a power struggle
between the legislative and executive branches
of government, a test of the system of checks
and balances established by the Constitution.
-
A Power Struggle The crisis began in early
1868, when Johnson tried to fire Secretary of
War Edwin Stanton, a Lincoln appointee.
Johnson wanted Stanton out because, under
the new Reconstruction Act, Stanton, a friend
of the Radicals, would preside over military
rule of the South.
Chapter 13
•
Section2
387
conviction, Johnson would be
come the first and only President
ever removed from office.
The historic vote took place
on May 16, 1868. When all the
“ayes” and “nays” were counted,
Johnson had escaped by the clos
est of margins: one vote.t The
crisis set the precedent that only
the most serious crimes, and not
merely a dispute with Congress,
could remove a President from
othce.
Radical Rule of the South
Date of readmissiori
tthU
mm’.
ma.
Ohio
md.
W.Va,
Mo.
Ky.
Indian
Territory
New
Mexico
Terr.
0
190
150
300 Mites
300 Kilometers
President Lincoln had hoped to restore southern state gov
ernments to “successful operation, with order prevailing and
the Union reestablished,” by December 1865, Under Radical
Republican rule, however, this did not happen for more than a decade.
Place Which state was the first to rejoin the Union? Which states
rejoined in 1870?
The tiring of Stanton directly challenged
the Tenure of Office Act just pasSed by
( ongress in 1 867. ‘l’he act placed limits on the
President’s power to hire and tIre government
oHicials.
Under the Constitution, the President
must seek Senate approval for candidates to
liii certain jobs, such as Cabinet posts. ‘l’he
‘[‘enure of Office Act demanded that the Senate
approve the firing of those officials as well,
thereby limiting the Presidents power to cre
ate an administration to his OWfl liking. l’he
act also took away the President’s constitu
tional powers as commander in chief of the
armed forces.
Johnson Impeached Led by the fiery Stevens,
the I louse fou iid that Joh nson’s tiring of
Stanton was unconstitutional. On February 24,
1868, House members voted to impeach
him—to charge him with wrongdoing in office.
Johnson became the first President to be
impeached.
As called for by the Constitution, in May
1868 the Senate tried President Andrew
Johnson for “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
If two thirds of the senators were to vote for
388
Chapter
13
•
Section 2
Grant Is Elected President John
son, as the saying goes, “WOil the
battle but lost the war.” I Ic served
the remaining months of his
term, but with no mandate and
no real power. Rejected by the
party that had never really
em braced him, Johnson went
back to ‘hnnessee and regained
his Senate seat —as a 1 )emocrat.
In the I 8b8 elect ion, Repub
licans chose a trusted candidate
who was one of their own: the
victorious ( ivil \‘Var general,
Ulysses S. (rant. In a Jose race, (Jrant beat
I)emocrat I Ioratio Seymour, former gover
nor of New York. Now, ( ongress and the
President were allies, not enemies.
Across the South, inca ii while, freed men were
beginning to demand the rights of citizenship:
to vote, to hold public otlice, to serve on
juries, and to testify in court. In a letter to the
li.nnessee constitutional convention dated
january 9, I 8(35, Nashville freedmen do—
queiitly presented the case for black voting
rights:
t All but one senator had declared their votes even
before the trial had begun. The lone holdout was
Kansas Republican Edmund G. Ross, an opponent
of Johnson. His yes vote would have given Radicals
the two-thirds majority needed to convict. Despite
bribes and threats, Ross insisted on hearing the
evidence before deciding. In the end he felt there
was insufficient evidence, and he voted with the
Democrats and six other Republicans not to convict.
For following his conscience, Ross was severely
condemned and eventually forced out of office.
If [freedmen] are good law
abiding citizens, praying for its
prosperity, rejoicing in its progress, paying its
taxes, fighting its baffles, making its farms,
mines, work-shops and commerce more pro
ductive, why deny them the right to have a
voice in the election of its rulers?
AMERICAN
—‘l’lie “b/tick citizens of Nashville
The letter received no known response. Yet
African Americans, and their supporters in
Congress, pressed on. (See Comparing
Primary Sources on the right.)
in February 1 869, at the peak of Radical
power, Congress passed the Fifteenth
Amendment to the ( onstitut ion. It stated that
no citizen may be denied the right to vole “by
the United States or by any State on account of
race, color, or previous condition of servi
tude.” Ratified in March 1 870, the Fifteenth
Amendment was the last major piece of
Reconstruction legislation.
The Supreme Court added its weight to the
federal Reconstruction effort in 1869. In 7’xas
v. White, the ( ourt upheld Congress’s right to
restructure southern govern ments. The ruling
added new support for federal power over
states’ rights.
In 1 870, with federal troops stationed
across the South and wit Ii the Fiflcent h
Amendment in place, southern black men
proudly voted for the first time. Most voted
Republican, while many angry white voters
stayed home, The unique situation swept
Republicans, including hundreds of freedmen,
into public office in the South.
More than 60() African Americans were
elected to southern legislatures. Louisiana
gained a black governor, P.B.S. Pinchback.
Sixteen black men went to Congress. In 1 874,
Mississippi sent to the Senate a ftrmer slave,
Blanche Bruce.
LLqh(I( I
A boy born into slavery in
expect little
more
tude. Blanche K. Bruce was more fortunate
than sonic. Growing up in Virginia and
Missouri, he shared a tutor with his master’s
son. Bruce later attended Oberlin College in
Ohio, until his money ran out.
Bruce then moved to Mississippi and
recruited Republicans from among freedmen
VOTING RIGHTS FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS
The question of whether to extend voting rights to African
Americans was hotly debated in the I 860s.
In Favor of Voting Rights
Opposed to Voting Rights
“If impartial suffrage is excluded
in rebel States, then every one of
them is sure to send a solid rebel
representative delegation to
Congress, and cast a solid rebel
electoral vote. They. . . would
always elect the President and
control Congress. . . . I am for
negro suffrage in every rebel
state. If it be just, it should not be
denied; if it be necessary, it should
be adopted; if it is a punishment
to traitors, they deserve it.”
—Speech by
Thaddeus Stevens,
Radical Republican,
January 3, 1867
“Most of the whites are disen
franchised [not legally able to
vote] and ineligible for office,
whilst the Negroes are [granted]
the right of voting. The political
power is therefore thrown into the
hands of a mass of human beings
who, having just emerged from a
state of servitude [slavery], are
ignorant of the forms of govern
ment and totally unfit to exercise
this, the highest privilege of a free
people.”
—Henry William Ravenel,
South Carolina plantei
journal entry for
February 24, 1867
ANALYZING VIEWPOINTS Compare the main arguments
made by the two writers.
on the plantations. In 1 871 he ran for sheriff of
Bolivar County, Mississippi. In a debate, his
opponent, a white l)emocrat, called Bruce “a
slave who did nothing but wait on his master.”
“It is true that I was a house slave,”
Bruce replied. “But 1 freed myself, edu
cated myself, and raised myself up
in the world. if my opponent had
started out where I did, he would
still be there.”
Bruce won the sheriff’s
post, and held other govern
ment jobs as well. He worked
to ease racial and political ten
sions, earning respect from
Radical and moderate Repub
licans—even white planters who
opposed Reconstruction. In 1874
Bruce won election to the United
States Senate.
Blanche K. Bruce
In Congress Bruce worked to help
(184 1—1898)
African Americans. He opposed moves
Chapter 13
•
Section2 389
to encourage black people to relocate in the
West African country of Liberia. Instead he
urged freedmen to stay, get an education, and
fight for equality. At his death in 1898,
Blanche Bruce was said to be second only to
Frederick Douglass as a leader of African
Americans.
During Radical Reconstruction, the Repub
lican party was a mixture of people who had
little in common but a desire to prosper in the
postwar South. This strong bloc of voters
included freedmen and two other groups.
Carpetbaggers Northern
Republicans Who moved
to the postwar South be
came known as carpet
baggers. Southerners
gave them this insult
ing nickname, which
referred to a type of
cheap suitcase made
from carpet scraps. The
name implied that these
northerners had stuffed
some clothes into a
carpetbag and rushed
in to profit from
southern misery.
The carpetbag
became a symbol of
corruption and greed.
SECTION
‘
390
Scalawags In the postwar South, to be white
and a southerner and a Republican was to he
seen as a traitor. Southerners had an unflatter
ing name ftr white southern Republicans as
well: scalawag, originally a Scottish word mean
ing “scrawny cattle.” Some scalawags were for
mer Whigs who had opposed secession. Some
were small farmers who resented the planter
class. Still others were former planters. Many
scalawags, but not all, were poor.
Many Southern whites, resenting the
power of freedmen, carpetbaggers, and
scalawags, criticized the Reconstruction gov
ernments as corrupt and incompetent. In
reality, Reconstruction legislatures included
honest men and dishonest men, qualified
Politicians and incompetent ones, literate
men and a few illiterate ones. Today, most his—
torians agree that these officials were no worse
and no l)etter than officials in other regions of
the country at this time.
REVIEW
ni ,r h n son
1 Key Terms Define: (a) blackcodes;
(b) Fourteenth Amendment; (c) civil rights;
(d) impeach; (e) Fifteenth Amendment;
(f) carpetbagger; (g) scalawag.
2 Summarizing the Main Idea Why did
Congress take over Reconstruction, and what
policies did it create?
3 Organizing Information Create a causeand-effect chart on Radical Reconstruction.
4
Carpetbaggers were often depicted as
greedy men seeking to grab power or make a
fast buck. Certainly the trainloads of north
erners who disembarked in southern cities
included some profiteers and swindlers. Yet
historians point out that most carpetbaggers
were honest, educated men. They included
former union soldiers, black northerners,
Freedmen’s Bureau officials, businessmen,
clergy, and political leaders.
Analyzing Time Lines Review the time line
at the start of the section. Write a phrase or
Chapter 13
•
Section 2
3
sentence that connects each entry to the
entry that follows it.
Drawing Conclusions How was the im
peachment of Andrew Johnson a test of the
nation’s system of checks and balances?
Irtnq cttvty
G Writing an Expository Essay From the
perspective of a journalist traveling in the
postwar South, write an expository essay
describing the effects of Republican
government on the region.
I 872
1865
Thirteenth
Amendment
ends slavery
3
1866
Southern
Homestead Act
All southern
states have
public schools
1872
Rebuilding of southern
raifroads complete
Birth of the “New $ovttr
SECTION PREVIEW
Summarize the post—Civil War changes in
southern agriculture.
Explain the achievements and limitations of
urban and industrial growth in the South.
List the beneficial and the harmful ways in
which Reconstruction funds were used.
Key Terms Define: sharecropping; tenant
farming; infrastructure.
a
getting poorer
N I witmanbout black
southerner
O
..an work
nother man’s land
and poorer
wrote during
every year,” a
Reconstruction. ( )ne black family in postwar
Alabama found this out the hard wily.
‘ihe I loltzcliiw family worked on the cotton
farm of a white planter. Lvery year at harvest time
they received part of the cotton crop as payment
for their work. Hut you can’t eat cotton, and most
years the I lolt,claws’ share of the harvest didn’t
earn them enough money to feed themselves.
Some years the planter gave them nothing
at all. So the mother worked as a cook. The
father hauled logs at a sawmill for 6() cents a
day. ‘[he children would wade knee—deep in
swamps gathering anything edible. This was
not the freedom they had hoped for.
The Holtzclaws were part of an economic reor
ganization in the “New South” of the 1870s. It
was triggered by the ratification of the Thirteenth
Amendment in 1865, which ended slavery and
shook the economic foundations of the South.
The loss of slave labor raised grave ques
tions for southern agriculture. Would cotton
Reconstruction transformed the South’s economy, as
plantations adjusted to the loss of slave labor and the
region began to attract investment and industry.
Formulating Questions Reread the Main Idea above.
Then rewrite it as a question. As you read, take notes
that help answer that question.
still be king? If so, who would work the plan
tations? Would freed people flee the South or
stay? How would black emancipation affect
the poor white laborers of the South? No one
really knew.
Wanted: Workers Although the Civil
War left southern plantations in
tatters, the destruction was not
permanent. Many planters
managed to hang on to their
land, and others regained theirs
after climbing out of debt.
Planters complained, however, that they
couldnt find people willing to work for them.
Nobody liked picking cotton in the blazing
sun. It seemed too much like slavery. Workers
often disappeared to look for better, higherpaying jobs. For instance, railroad workers in
Virginia in the late I 860s earned $1 .75 to $2.00
a day. Plantation wages came to 50 cents a day
at best. Women in the fields earned as little as
6 cents a day.
In simple terms, planters had land but no
laborers, while freedmen had their own labor
but no land. Out of these needs came new pat
terns of farming in the South.
Chapter 13
•
With shovels
and pickaxes,
workers built
railroads that
crisscrossed
the New
South.
Section 3
391
CAUSES
• Slavery is abolished.
• Small farmers lack capital to buy land,
• Planters need a stable work force.
—
-4B
y’-w
-
_
ir ii’Liwg’ 7IJ’I7!ftfIFVfr1N&II 11
EFFECTS
• Farmers are caught in a cycle of debt
• Planters and merchants prosper.
• Agricultural focus shifts from food crops to cash crops.
Interpreting Charts Whether white or black, most southern farmers remained poor in the years follow
ing the Civil War—as did this Florida family (right), thought to be sharecroppers or tenant farmers. The
chart (left) shows some of the problems that poor families faced. Economics How did farmers get
caught in a cycle of debt?
Sharecropping ‘l’he most common new
farming arrangement was sharecropping. A
sharecropping family, such as the lloltz—
claws, farmed some portion ot a planter’s
land. As payment the family was promised a
share of the crop at harvest time, generally
one third or one half of the yield. The
planter usually provided housing for the
family.
Sharecroppers worked under close super
vision and under the threat of harsh punish
ment. They could be fined for missing
a single workday. After the harvest,
lain idea
some dishonest planters simply evicted
the sharecroppers without pay. Others
In what ways did
charged
the families for housing and
Reconstruction
other
expenses,
so that the sharecrop
change agriculture in
pers
often
wound
up in debt at the end
the South?
of the year. Since they could not leave
before paying the debt, these share
croppers were trapped on the plantation.
-4i1
Tenant Farming If a sharecropper saved
enough money, he might try tenant farming.
Like sharecroppers, tenant farmers did not own
the land they farmed. Unlike sharecroppers,
however, tenant farmers paid to rent the land,
just as you might rent an apartment today.
Tenants chose what to plant and when to
work. Thus they had a higher social status
than sharecroppers.
392
Chapter 13
•
Section 3
The l-loltzclaws managed to move from
sharecropping to tenant farming. They rented
l() acres of land. l’hey bought a mule, a horse,
and a team of oxen. William Floltzclaw was a
child at the time. “We were so happy at the
prospects of owning a wagon and a pair of
mules, and having only our father for boss, that
we shouted and leaped for joy, he later recalled.
Effects on the South (Thanges in farming
during Reconstruction affected the South’s
economy in several important ways:
(iiangcs iii i/ic Itibor /orcc. Befire the Civil
War, 9() percent of the South’s cotton was har
vested by slaves. By 1875, white laborers, most
ly tenant farmers, picked 4() percent of the crop.
Enipliasis on ens/i crops. Sharecropping and
tenant farming encouraged planters to grow
cash crops, such as cotton, tobacco, and sugar
cane, rather than food crops. l’he South’s post
war cotton production soon surpassed prewar
levels. As a result of the focus on cash crops, the
South had to import much of its food.
(]ycle of debt. By the end of Reconstruction,
rural poverty was deeply rooted in the South,
among blacks and whites alike. They remained in
a cycle of debt, in which this year’s profits went to
pay last year’s bills. The Southern Homestead Act
of 1866 attempted to break that cycle by offering
low-cost land to southerners, black or white, who
would farm it. By 1874, black farmers in Georgia
owned 350,000 acres. Still, most landless farmers
could not afford to participate. In the cotton
states, only about one black family in 20 owned
land after a decade of Reconstruction.
Rise of merchants. iènant farming created
a new class of wealthy southerners: the mer
chants. Throughout the South, stores sprang
up around plantations to sell supplies on cred
it. “We have stores at almost every crossroad,”
a journalist observed. By 188() the South had
more than 8,00() rural stores.
Some merchants were honest; others were
not. Landlords frequently ran their own
stores and forced their tenants to buy there at
high prices.
After four years of tenant farming, the
Holtzclaws watched as creditors carted away
everything they owned, “They came and took
our corn and, finally, the vegetables from our
little garden, as well as the chickens and the
pig,” Holtzclaw said. The family had no choice
but to return to sharecropping.
Cities and Industry
I
Southerners who visited the North after the
Civil War were astounded at how industrial
ized the North had become, The need for
large-scale production of war supplies had
turned small factories into big industries that
dominated the North’s economy. Industrial
ization had produced a new class of wage earn
ers. It had ignited city growth and generated
wealth, Could all this happen in the South?
Some southern leaders saw a unique
opportunity for their region. They urged the
South not simply to rebuild its old agricultural
economy but to build a new, industrialized
one. One of the pro-business voices was Henry
Grady, editor of the Atla,ztn Constitution. He
called for a “New South” of growing cities and
thriving industries.
The Growth of Cities Atlanta, the city so
punished by Sherman’s army, took Grady’s
advice, Only months after the war, the city was
on its way to becoming a major metropolis of
the South, as one observer noted:
‘A new city is springing up with marvelous
rapidity. The narrow and irregular and numerous
streets are alive from morning till night. with
a never-ending throng of. eager and excited
and enterprising men, all bent on building and
trading and swift fortune-making.”
.
.
.
A major focus of Reconstruction, and one
of its greatest successes, was the rebuilding and
extension of southern railroads. By 1872,
southern railroads were totally rebuilt and
about 3,300 miles of new track laid, a 40
percent increase.
Railroads turned southern villages into
towns, and towns into cities. Commerce and
population rose not only in Atlanta, but also in
Richmond, Nashville, Memphis, Louisville,
Little Rock, Montgomery, and Charlotte. On
the western frontier, the lèxas towns of I)allas,
Houston, and Fort Worth were on the rise.
Limits of Industrial Growth Despite these
changes, Reconstruction did not transform the
South into an industrialized, urban region like
the North. Most southern factories did not
make finished goods such as furniture, They
handled only the early, less profitable stages of
manufacturing, such as making lumber or pig
iron. These items were shipped north to be
made into finished products and sold.
Most of the South’s postwar industrial
growth came from cotton mills. New factories
began to spin and weave cotton into undyed
fabric. The value of cotton mill production in
South Carolina rose from about $713,000 in
l86() to nearly $3 million by 1880. However, the
big profits went to northern companies that
dyed the fabric and sold the finished product.
Still, the growth of southern industry plant
ed seeds of economic change. For example,
Alabama, already the nation’s biggest iron pro
ducer, would become a major producer of steel.
r:
25
20
U,
°‘15
1,0
0.5
0
1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870
Year
Source: Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970
.
—Visitor to Atlanta, 1865
Interpreting Graphs Cotton production was the South’s main eco
nomic activity until 1930. EconomIcs What accounts for the drop
in production in the middle of this chart?
Chapter 13
•
Section 3
393
Corruption Today, corruption in government
and
business is vigorously uncovered and
The Republicans who led Congress agreed with
prosecuted. That was not the case a centu
southern legislatures on the importance of
ry
ago. Government officials in both the Nort
promoting business. The strong convictio
h
n
and South regularly used their positions for
that the growth of business would bring bette
r
personal profit.
times for everyone was called the “gospel of
During Reconstruction, a time of many
prosperity.” It guided the Reconstruction
large
and costly government projects, enormous
efforts of Congress and the Reconstruction leg
sum
s
of money changed hands rapidly in the
islatures throughout the 1 870s.
form of loans and grants.
The worst cases of fraud involved the rail
Raising Money In a sense, the postwar South
roads. A crooked businessman might bribe
a
was one giant business opportunity. The
key state senator to win a government contract
region’s infrastructure, the public property
for construction of a new railroad. The busi
and services that a society uses, had to be
nessman would then collect the construction
almost completely rebuilt. That included
money, use it ft)r personal investments or even
roads, bridges, canals, railroads, and telegraph
a vacation, then declare bankruptcy. in this
lines.
way numerous railroads were never built, and
in addition to the rebuilding effort, some
millions of dollars raised to rebuild the South
states used Reconstruction funds to expand
evaporated without a trace.
services to their citizens. For instance, follow
Participants in such schemes included
ing the North’s example, all southern state
s
blacks and whites, Republicans and Demo
created public school systems by 1 872.
crats, southerners and northern carpetbaggers.
Reconstruction legislatures poured money
“You are mistaken if you suppose
that all the
into infrastructure. Some of the money came
evils
result from the carpetbaggers and
from Congress and from private investors. l’he
negroes,’ a Louisiana man wrote to a northern
rest, however, was raised by levying heavy taxes
fellow I)emocrat. l)emocrats and Republica
ns
on individuals, many of whom were still in
cooperated “whenever anything is proposed
deep debt from the war. White southerners,
which promises to pay,” he observed. The
both wealthy and poor, resented this added
South Carolina legislature even gave $1,000 to
fInancial burden.
the speaker of the I louse to cover his loss on
a
Spending by Reconstruction legislatures
horse race!
added another $130 million to southern debt
.
Not every politician or businessman gave
What further angered southerners was evidence
in to temptation. Yet those who did gave
that much of this big spending for infrastruc
Reconstruction a reputation for waste and
ture was being lost to corruption.
corruption.
.
SECTION
2
3
4
394
.
REVIEW
tprnnton
Key Terms Define: (a) sharecropping;
(b) tenant farming; (c) infrastructure.
Summarizing the Main Idea What effects
did Reconstruction have on agriculture and
industry in the South?
Organizing In formation Create a diagram to
illustrate sharecroppers’ cycle of debt. Begi
n
with this entry: “Sharecropper signs one-year
contract with planter.”
c4 r trq
Analyzing Time Lines Review the time line at
the start of the section. Pick one event that was
Chapter
.
13
•
Section 3
largely successful and one that was not. Writ
e
a sentence to explain each of your choices.
3. Drawing Conclusions Do you think more
Reconstruction money was spent on rebuild
ing infrastructure, or on housing, jobs,
and
education for freed people? Explain your
answer.
irthiq Aciit’y
6. Writing an Expository Essay Write an
essay explaining how southern farming
changed after the Civil War.
1870
1866
Ku Klux Klan
formed
4
The Enil
Anti-Klan laws;
1872
last states
rejoin Union
Grant reelected
President
187€
Hayes wins
1877
presidency
ends
Reconstruction
of Reconstrudlloi
SECTION PREVIEW
Assess the impact of racial terrorism on the
South.
2 Explain why the Reconstruction period came
to an end.
3 List the major successes and failures of
Reconstruction.
4 key Terms Define: solid South; Compromise
of 1877,
i
n March 187() the last southern states were
restored to the Union. Yet the United States
was still far from united. From 1868 through
1871, groups of white southerners launched a
violent backlash against Radical Reconstruction,
At the head of the campaign was an organiza
tion that started in 1866 as a social club in
Tennessee: the Ku Klux Klan, or KKK.
The Klan quickly evolved into a terrorist
organization. Klansmen pledged to “defend
the social and political superiority” of whites
against what they called the “aggressions of an
inferior race.” The membership consisted
largely of ex-Confederate officers and planta
tion owners who had been excluded from pol
itics. The group also attracted merchants,
lawyers, and other professionals. The Klan was
supposed to be a “secret society,” but in fact
most members’ identities were well known to
their local communities.
I
5prcadirq Terro;
During Radical Reconstruction, the Klan
sought to eliminate the Republican party in
the South by intimidating Republican voters,
In the 1870s, white Democrats regained power in the
South, and public interest in Reconstruction declined.
The program was both a success and a failure.
Readinç trateçjy
Analyzing Cause and Effect Create a cause-andeffect chart entitled “Why Reconstruction Ended,”
using the chart in Section 3 as a model As you read,
add Information to your chart.
both white and black. The Klan’s long-term
goal was to keep African Americans in the role
of submissive laborers. This motive still drives
Klan activity today.
The Klan’s terror tactics varied, Often,
horsemen in long robes and hoods appeared
suddenly at night, carrying guns and whips.
They encircled the homes of their victims, and
planted huge burning crosses in their yards.
People were dragged from their homes and
harassed, tortured, kidnapped, or murdered.
Anyone who didn’t share the Klan’s goals
and hatreds could be a victim: carpetbaggers,
scalawags, freedmen who had become pros
perous—even those who had merely learned
to read. \‘Vith chilling frequency, black women
went to claim the dead bodies of their hus
bands and sons.
The Klan left
miniature
coffins like
this, contain
ing written
death
threats, at
the doors of
many freed
men and
their white
supporters.
The Federal Response The vio
lence kindled northern outrage.
At President Grant’s request,
Congress passed a series
of anti-Klan laws in 1870
and 1871. The Force Act of
1870 banned the use of
Chapter 13
•
Section 4
395
terror, force, or bribery to prevent people from
voting because of their race. Other laws
banned the KKK entirely and strengthened
military protection of voters and voting places.
Using troops, cavalry, and the power of
the courts, the government arrested and
tried thousands of Klansmen. Within a year
the KKK was virtually wiped out. Still, the
thinly spread federal army could not be
everywhere at once. As federal troops grad
ually withdrew from the South, black suf
frage all but ended.
A Dying Issue By the mid-1870s, voters had
grown weary of Republicans and their decadelong concern with Reconstruction. Historians
cite several reasons for this shift:
(1) Reconstruction legislatures taxed and
spent heavily, putting southern states into
deeper debt.
(2) Reconstruction came to symbolize cor
ruption, greed, and poor government.
(3) As federal troops withdrew from the
South, more and more freedmen were
prevented from voting, allowing white
southerners to regain control of state
govern ments.
(4) White-dominated southern states
blocked many federal Reconstruction policies.
(5) Northern voters never fully supported
the Radicals’ goal of racial equality.
President Grant, who Won reelection jn I $72,
continued to pursue the goals of Reconstruc
tion, sometimes with energy. However, the
widespread corruption in his administration
reminded voters of all that was wrong with
(6) A nationwide economic downturn in
1 873 diverted public attention from the move—
men t for eq ual rights.
l’he era of Republican
control of the South was com
ing to a close. In I $72 the last
cx -( o n federates had been
pa rdo ned. ‘l’li ey ‘ 0mb ned
Reconstruction.
IésidntIa[ Election o 1 876
tdaha
Tarr
with other white southerners
to flrm a new bloc of
I )emocratic voters known as
the solid South, I )emocrats of
the solid South reversed many
reforms of the Reconstruction
legislatures.
N.
Mont.
Terr
Dakota
Toir.
Wyø
Terr.
Utah
Terr,
Candidate/Party
Electoral
Popular
Vote
Vote
LjRutherford B. Hayes (Republican) 185
Samuel J. Tilden (Democrat)
184
Peter Cooper (Greenback)
States with disputed results
LI
4034,311
4,288,546
75,973
% Electoral
Vote
% Popular
Vote
7fl\
)
(ij
1.0
In the tarnished election of 1876, the electoral votes in three states
under federal control were disputed, but went to Hayes when he
promised to end Reconstruction. Location In which states were
election results disputed?
The Compromise of 1877
Reconstruction politics took
a final, sour turn in the
presidential election of 1 876.
Republan Rut li erford B.
I laves lost the popular vote to
l)emoc rat Sa in uel Ti Iden,
who had the support of the
solid South. The electoral
vote, however, was disputed.
The map on the left shows
the results.
I layes claimed victory
based partly on wins in
Florida, Louisiana, and South
Carolina. Those states were
still under Republican and
federal control. l)emocrats
submitted another set of tallies
showing Tilden as the winner
in those states, and thus in the
presidential race.
396
Chaoter 13
•
Section 4
Congress set up a special commission to
resolve the election crisis. Not surprisingly, the
commission, which included more Repub
licans than I)ernocrats, named Hayes the
victor. However, Democrats had enough
strength in Congress to reject the commis
sion’s decision.
Finally the two parties made a deal. In the
Compromise of 1877, the Democrats agreed
to give Hayes the victory in the presidential
election he had not clearly won. In return, the
new President agreed to remove the remaining
federal troops from southern states. He also
agreed to give huge subsidies to southern rail
roads. The compromise opened the way for
Democrats to regain control of southern poli
tics and marked the end of Reconstruction.
1
Efiects of Reconsi uci lot
Until quite recently, historians saw Recon
struction as a dismal failure, a time simply of
corrupt and incompetent government in the
South. Today most historians argue that the
truth is more complex.
Successes of Reconstruction The Recon
struction era included several important
accomplishments:
(1) Republicans carried out their two main
goals, to rebuild the Union and to help repair
the war-torn South.
(2) Reconstruction stimulated economic
growth in the South and created new wealth in
the North.
(3) The Fourteenth and Fifteenth amend
ments guaranteed African Americans the
rights of citizenship, equal protection under
the law, and suffrage. African Americans
gained the right to testify in court and to sit
on juries.
(4) The Freedmen’s Bureau and other
organizations helped many black families
obtain housing, jobs, and schooling.
(5) Southern states adopted the system of
tax-supported, mandatory education practiced
in the North. Increased access to education
would benefit whites and blacks alike.
Failures of Reconstruction Yet the Recoii
struction era had a number of failures as well:
(1) As in the era of slavery, most black
southerners remained in a cycle of poverty that
allowed almost no escape. African Americans
still lacked property, economic opportunity,
and political power.
Atlanta, Georgia, rose from the devastation left by the Civil
War to become a bustling commercial center, as this 1887
picture shows. Government In what other ways was
Reconstruction successful?
(2) After the withdrawal of federal troops
from the South, southern state governments
and terrorist organizations such as the Ku Klux
Klan effrctively denied African Americans the
right to vote.
(3) Racist attitudes toward African
Americans continued, in both the South and
the North.
(4) Reconstruction left a lasting bitterness
among many white southerners toward the
federal government and the Republican party.
(5) While Reconstruction pro
grams resulted in the rebuilding and
Ihar Iae
expansion of southern infrastructure,
the region was slow to industrialize,
What trends in the
The southern economy continued to
South helped bring
emphasize agriculture and to lag far
about the end of
behind the industrialized economy of
Reconstruction?
the North.
Why do most histo
(6) Reconstruction did not address
rians now believe
concerns of groups such as farmers
that Reconstruction
was not a complete
wanting regulation of railroads, work
failure?
ers seeking safer conditions, and advo
cates of woman suffrage.
Civil Rights Battles Continue Members of the
women’s suffrage movement were angry and
disappointed when some Radical Republicans
refused to endorse voting rights for women.
“Either the theory of our government is false,
or women have a right to vote,” suffrage
worker Lydia Maria Child told the Senat&s
Radical Republican leader, Charles Sumner,
in 1872.
Chapter 13
•
Section 4
397
1865
13th Amendment
1865, 1866
Freedmen’s Bureau
Provides services for war refugees and
newly freed people
1867
Reconstruction Acts
Establishes Radical Reconstruction
1868
14th Amendment
Defines citizenship; guarantees due process
of law and equal protection
1870
15th Amendment
Guarantees that voting rights are not denied
on the basis of race
1875
Civil Rights Act
Protects African Americans’ rights in public
I
Abolishes slavery
Interpreting Tables The political cartoon at right shows President Hayes “plowing under” the Reconstructi
on pro
gram. During Reconstruction, the federal government struggled to create a new social and political order
in the
South. Government What purpose do most of these laws have in common?
In the decades before the Civil War,
women had played prominent roles in the abo
litionist movement. I)uring Reconstruction,
womens leaders had backed equal rights for
African Americans. In both struggles, women
pointed out the parallels between the denial of
equal rights to blacks and to women. When
Reconstruction legislation avoided the issue of
women’s voting rights, it severed the longtime
alliance between abolitionists and the suffrage
movement.
lor African Americans in the South,
Reconstruction’s promise of freedom and
opportunity would not begin to be realized
until the civil rights movement of the 1 950s
and I 960s. In the words of African American
leader W.E,B. du l3ois, “The slave went free;
stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved
back again toward slavery.” Or as historian
Samuel Eliot Morison concluded, “The North
aiiay have won the war, but the white South
won the peace.”
SECTION A REVIEW
irror h n
and explain why it was a turning point in the
Reconstruction period.
1 Key Terms Define: (a) solid South; (b) Com
promise of 1877.
5
Z. Summarizing the Main Idea What were
some of the major successes and failures of
Reconstruction?
3
Organizing Information Create a causeand-effect chart of the events that led to the
Compromise of 1877.
4 Analyzing Time Lines Review the time line
at the start of the section. Choose one entry
39 B
Chapter 13
•
Section 4
Identifying Alternatives What tactics did
some white southerners use to challenge
Reconstruction? What might they have done to
try to improve Reconstruction governments?
1rrvj Ac”p
6. Writing a Persuasive Essay In your view,
did Reconstruction’s successes outweigh
its failures? Write an essay explaining your
opinion. Support it with specific examples.
I
II
I
A
Si€4
—
Congress Represents AtE Americans
Although the first African American representatives to Congress were elected during
Reconstruction, only in recent years has their number increased substantially,
a
Ihe right of citi—
zens of the United
Slates 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
nur
i iTi1.
servitude.” With
ratification of
the Fifteenth
African American congressmen
during Reconstruction
Amendment in
1 870, African
Americans won the right to vote. Between I 87(1
and 1 877 sixteen African Americans, including
one senator, were elected to Congress.
Many southern whites mobilized against
Reconstruction. lhrough terror and intimida
tion, the Ku Klux Klan prevented black men from
exercising their right to vote. After Recon
struction, the number of black representatives
dropped sharply. Only after the civil rights move
ment secured legal protection of black voting
rights in 1965 did the number of black represen
tatives rise again.
,,I
government. (The percentage of black represen
tatives in Congress is lower than that of African
Americans in the population as a whole.)
Opponents of the new districts claim that they
violate white voters’ rights. The Supreme Court
has ruled that some of these new districts must
he redrawn.
As the number of black representatives has
grown, so has the diversity of their views. For
example, recent black representatives have dis
agreed on the degree to
which race affects their
role in Congress.
I )emocratic senator
Carol Moseley-Braun of
Illinois, for example,
defended government
programs that encour
age the hiring of minori
ties. “As a minority,”
said Moseley-Braun, “1
have seen first-hand the
Representative J. C.
benefits” of such pro
Watts of Oklahoma
grams. By contrast,
Republican representative
J. C. Watts of Oklahoma stated that he “didn’t
come to Congress to be a black leader or a white
leader but a leader.”
-
T hNp! IOIi
The number of black representatives has risen in
the 1990s—in part because several states redrew
congressional boundaries to create districts with a
large percentage of black voters. Supporters of
these “majority-minority districts” see them as a
way to give African Americans an equal voice in
I bU
Should voters take race into account when choos
ing a candidate? Write an essay explaining how
you, as a future voter, will or will not consider
race in elections. As you write your essay,
address arguments against your position.
399
‘aaj1JJ1i -J
The major concepts of Chapter 13 are presented
below. See also GuIde to the Essentials of
American History or Interactive Student
Tutorial CD-ROM, which contains interactive
review activities, time lines, helpful hints, and test
practice for Chapter 13.
For each of the terms below, write a sentence
explaining how it relates to the post—Civil War
period.
I . Reconstruction
6. scalawag
2. pardon
7
3. black codes
8. tenant farmer
Reviewing the Main Ideas
4. impeach
The end of the Civil War was the beginning of a massive
program to repair the South, restructure its economy,
reshape its society, and reunite it with the North.
Reconstruction forced the nation to grapple with two key
issues: the control of southern wealth and political power,
and the role and rights of newly freed African Americans.
5. carpetbagger
;cori : Presidential Reconstruction
Presidents Lincoln and Johnson sought to pardon the South,
not to punish it, as freedmen pursued education and jobs.
£1 n 2: Congressional Reconstruction
Southern defiance of Reconstruction provoked a showdown
between President Johnson and Congress and led to major
new civil rights laws and Republican control of the South.
sharecropping
9. infrastructure
10. solid South
Name three major problems the South faced
at the end of the Civil War.
2. 1 low did l.incolns plan for Reconstruction
compare to Johnsons?
3. 1 low did African Americans try to improve
1
heir lives after emancipation?
4. Why did Johnson and Congress clash over
Reconstruct ion?
5. What were the goals of the Fourteenth and
Fifteenth amendments?
ciion 3: Birth of the “New South”
Corruption-plagued programs to repair southern war dam
age brought about limited economic growth.
crIon ,: The End of Reconstruction
White southerners undid many Republican reforms, as
dwindling northern support brought Reconstruction to
an end.
The first African American representatives to Congress were
elected during Reconstruction. However, only in recent years
has their number increased substantially.
400
& 110W did Republicans gain control of south—
erii governments?
7. 1 low were Reconstruction legislatures
unique in American history?
8. 1 low did the economy of the South change
after the Civil War, and in what ways did it
remain unchanged?
9. ‘vVhen and why did Reconstruction end?
On a separate sheet of paper, copy the chart below
to organize the main ideas of each section in this
chapter. Provide at least two supporting details for
each main idea.
1
jr
1. This cartoon depicts President Grant riding in
a carpetbag. (a) What does Grant represent?
(b) \,i\1j-j do the soldiers represent? (c) ‘What
does the woman represent?
2. State in a sentence or two the message of this
cartoo ii.
3, What was the bias of the cartoonist, and how
can you tell?
Applying the Chapter Skill lvaluate
Reconstruction from the point of view of
(a) a black sharecropper, (b) an ex—( on federate,
(c) a carpetbagger, (d) a Radical Republican.
2. Identifying Assumptions Congress accused
President Johnson of abusing his presidential
powers, and Johnson thought that Congress over
stepped its authority in carrying out Radical
Reconstruction. What difiring assumptions led to
these conclusions?
3. Identifying Central Issues In what ways was Recon
struction basically a struggle for political power?
4. Recognizing Ideologies Why were the strong poli
cies of Radical Reconstruction largely ineihctive
in changing the attitudes of white southerners
toward African Americans?
Turn to the “American
Voices” quotation in Section
‘vVhich statement best represents
the meaning of the quotation?
(a) Freedmen are responsible
citizens. (b) Freedmen deserve
the right to vote because they
earn money for the country.
(c) Freedmen deserve the right
to vote because they are fulfilling
the responsibilities of citizen
ship. (d) Freedmen deserve to
rule themselves.
2. What is the most likely reason
the writers never received a
-MtEt flCflUhfY
Fo,
VOflO:.
p--
Access Prentice Hall’s America: Pathways to the
Present site at www.Pathways.phschool.com for the
specific URL to complete the activity. Additional
resources and related Web sites are also available.
Write a report about Tennessee’s Reconstruc
lion experience. Begin by describing Reconstruc
tion in general, then in Tennessee. How did that
state’s experience differ from Reconstruction
elsewhere in the South? How did Reconstruction
politics affect Tennessee’s African Americans?
2.
response? (a) White Tennesseeans
did not want freedmen to vote.
(h) White Iènnesseans did not
want freedmen to become citi
zens. (c) White Tennesseans
thought freedmen should have
economic rights, not political
rights.
3. Writing Do you think the authors
emphasized the most important
arguments in their letter? Explain
your reasoning.
Essay Writing Refer to
the Turning Point in
Section 2. Research and
write an essay on one
group of Americans
today that has benefited
from the Fourteenth
Amendment. Address
these questions: (a) What
equal protections have
they sought? (b) In the
last 50 years, what laws
have been passed to
grant them equal rights?
401
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.2
The ieh \\ Ott Id lIOF) lip his head the ‘aiik would
(1(1 the same.
“I lain t \‘Oli ot aiiv cot Ice. Johnny
“Na’r a hit, hut plenty ol rot—gui
‘‘All imehi; we’ll ha’e a trade.’’
They would meet, while several others would hal
low the C\ am pie. liii UI there won 1(1 he a regii ar hat—
ten nt mart estahi i shed. In some eases the men won Id
c( )iue to k ii( w each other s well, that they w tm Id
/)/7( 7,
ot ten call out.
.(;ft(
oolK
“Look out, meh: were eoini. to shoot, or “I
(lilt. Yank, were coimie to 511(5)1. as the ease iiiav he.
On one occasion t lie men were holdm nii a I riend ly reunion of this sort, when a
Blasted by Union
rehel iiiajoi caine liiv ii in i eteat fury, antI ordered the men hack. .‘\s the were
artillery fire, the
oiiiu hack, he ordered tlieiii to hie omi the Letleials.ihev ief used, as they had iiiade
Potter house was
a truie. The iiiiijor swore and storiiietl, and iii his rage he snatched the gun mom one
one of countless
of the men, and hre(l at a Lederal soldier, \s()undiiie miii. A cry of execration at such
buildings damaged
or destroyed by
a hreaeh of faith rose from all the mcmi, and they called out, “Yanks, we conldn t help
Shermans forces.
it.” At miiht these men deserted into our lines. assiumimiie as a reason, that they could
not with honor ser e aiiy loiirer in an ariiiv that thus violated private trnees.
Our caiiipaicii all thiiongfi Central Georma was one delirlitl iii picnic. We had lit
tle or no hglitiiig. and good living. Ilie lanmi-yai(ls. cellars, and crihs of the planters
kept ourselves and aiim miials well stored wit Ii pmo\isions and I orage.
Iii passi mm tlirouicli the camp one ii iglit I saw a lot of jolly soldiers squatted outside t lie
amid het\\ ecu tliemmi a taNe richl stocked with meats and lowls ol dilferent kinds.
huts
‘1 icy thought campaigning in Georgia ahotit (lie
I Ian ked h several hottles of hu’aiid
ileasantest soil of Ii fe out, amid they wondered what would hecome of the poor dog—gone
folks they had left s itlu then fingers in their mouths, and little else to put in them,
Many of on r harageis, sc sits, and hangems-on oF all classes, thought. like CromweU, that
hey were (1(11mm t lie work of t lie I asd. in wantonly destr( vi ng as much pi’opeu’ty as possi he.
1 lionuli this ‘ as done exieiisi\ clv in Geomgmi. it was only in South Carolina that it as
hrongiit to icilectu rn
A planter’s house was overrun in a jitf\: hoses, drawers, and
escri ho cs were ransacked v it Ii a landahle teal. and emptied of thei u
contents. If the spoils were ammiple. the depredators ere satisfied.
To learn more about the topics discussed
and went off iii peace: if not, evciytliiiig was tommi and destroyed, and
in this selection, you might want to read
t lie O\\ 1cm was tick led wit Ii shamp hayomiets in to a conIes
ii lost like I
the following books:
suon wheme lie had Ii is treaslimes Ii id ....S orglimmmn harrels weme
For Cause and Comrades: The Will to Com
k miocked open. hee I iives ri fled, while thei m aiigr sw anus rushed
bat in the Civil Wa by James M. McPher
I rantmcalfv ahoumt. Imideed, I ha\ e seemu a soldici kmuock a Plantei down
son (New York: Oxford University, 1997)
heea ii se a bee slIt ng lii ni I logs a me hav )net tetl. and (lien in mug in
Marching Through Georgia: The Story of
quamters on the bayonets ki hlced: chickens, geese. amid (uikc\ 5 are
Soldiers and Civilians During Sherman is
: cows amid
knocked over and luring iii garlands I mmii the saddles
Campaign. by Lee B. Kennett (New York:
cal \ es. so wietchiedly tlui ii diat they drop dow ii amid per shi on the fm st
HarperCollins, 1995)
da\ ‘s iiiamcli, are driven along. iii. ml too weak to travel, are shot, lest
Mary Chesnutis Civil Wa edited by C. Vann
I icy sluon Id gi e aid to t lie cue mv
Woodward (New Haven: Yale University
Should the house he deserted, (lie furnittmie is smashed mu pieces.
Press, 1981)
iiiusic is poumided out of four hundred dollar pianos Vv mth the emids of
A fter all was cleared ortt. iiiost Ii kely some set of strag
iiitmskets.
glems wanted to emio a good hue, and set the house. dehrms of Iuirmuiture, aiid all the suiToliiid—
mugs. iii a hilate. This is (lie wa Sheniiian’s armii lived oii (lie cotmuutm’y. Thie\ were riot ordered
to (1(1 50, huit I aiii afm’aid they were not hrought
to task br it mLich either.
,.“
_(
‘
...,
.
...
.
.
Source Sherman March Through the South
by David Conyngham. Sheldon & Co.. 1865.
IO3