Chapter 15, part 2

Factors that weakened northern support for Reconstruction

- 1873: US plunged into economic depression; dealt South a severe blow and further weakened the prospect that Republicans could revitalize the region's economy. - Before new Congress met (in which for 1st time Democratic party took control of the House), old one enacted a final piece of Reconstruction legislation, the Civil Rights Act of 1875.

The destruction of slavery led feminists to search for ways to make the promise of free labor real for women. What did the new women's rights journal, *The Agitator*, state regarding this?

(Edited by Mary Livermore) carried stories complaining of the limited job opportunities and unequal pay for females who entered the labor market. Demands for liberalizing divorce laws and recognition of woman's control over her own body became central concerns.

Achievements of Reconstruction govts in South (Republican power)

- Established South's first state-supported public schools, which served both black and white children (New Orleans had integrated schools and S Carolina admitted black students to its university (elsewhere, schools were segregated by race) - New govts also pioneered civil rights legislation; made it illegal for railroads, hotels, etc. to discriminate on basis of race. Established at the state level a standard of equal citizenship and a recognition of blacks' right to a share of public services. - Also passed laws to ensure that agricultural laborers and sharecroppers had 1st claim on harvested crops, rather than merchants to whom landowner owed money to.

- Who was born free and became first black senator in American history? - Only four African Americans since 1875 have held seats in the Senate. Who served briefly as America's first black governor? - Some 700 blacks sat in state legislatures during Reconstruction.

- Hiram Revels - Pinckney Pinchback

*Carpetbaggers*

A derogatory term applied to Northerners who migrated south during Reconstruction to take advantage of opportunities to advance their own fortunes by buying up land from desperate Southerners, and by manipulating new black voters to obtain lucrative government contracts.

Triumph of the Redeemers

Democrats who claimed to have "redeemed" the white South from corruption, misgovernment, and northern and black control.

The Liberal attack on Reconstruction contributed to a resurgence of racism in N. How does *The Prostrate State* (1874) by James Pike, who favored Greeley, support this?

Depicted a state engulfed by political corruption, drained by governmental extravagance, and under control of "mass black barbarism." Said that South's problems arose from "Negro govt"

Failed quest for prosperity in the South

Economic development remained weak, and few Northern investors went to Reconstruction South due to opportunities in West. To their supporters, the govts of Radical Reconstruction presented a complex pattern of disappointment and accomplishment. - Most African-Americans were locked in poverty

The Fifteenth Amendment and feminists

Fifteenth Amendment outlawed discrimination in voting based on race but not gender. - Some leaders like Susan B. Anthony opposed Fifteenth Amendment because it didn't enfranchise women. Moved to sever the women's rights movement from anti-slavery ties. - Other abolitionist-feminists like Abby Kelly insisted that despite their limitations, amendments represented steps in direction of universal suffrage and should be supported.

"The tocsin (warning bell) of freedom sounded and knocked at the door and we walked out like free men and shouldered the responsibilities" was said by...

James K. Green, a former slave in Alabama, and a League organizer, who went on to serve 8 yrs in Alabama legislature

Affect of blacks in office on the South

Made real difference in southern life, ensuring that blacks accused of crimes would be tried before juries of their peers and enforcing fairness in such aspects of local government as road repair, tax assessment, and poor relief.

New state constitutions during Reconstruction

New state constitutions had substantial black representation and established region's 1st state-funded systems of free public education, and they created new penitentiaries, orphan asylums, and homes for the insane

*Civil Rights Act of 1875*

Outlawed racial discrimination in places of public accommodation like hotels and theaters. Despite this being put into place, it was clear that the northern public was retreating from Reconstruction.

Liberal Republicans

Party formed in 1872 (split from the ranks of the Republican Party and Grant's admin.) who nominated Horace Greeley for president. Claimed that corrupt politicians had come to power in the North by manipulating the votes of immigrants and workingmen, while men of talent and education like themselves had been pushed aside. Also thought power in the S should be returned to the region's "natural leaders" and "better men."

1871 and President Grant

President Grant dispatched federal marshals, backed by troops, to arrest hundreds of accused Klansmen. They went out of existence and in 1872, peace reigned in most of the former Confederacy.

Feminists and radicals

Radical Republicans insisted that Reconstruction was the "Negro's hour"

Why did Radical Reconstruction wane in the 1870s?

Radical Republicans were replaced by politicians less committed to the ideal of equal rights for blacks, and who thought that the South should be able to solve its own problems without constant interference (*Liberal Republicans*)

What was the key to transforming South into society of booming factories, towns, and diversified agriculture?

Railroad construction

Events in S Carolina directly affected outcome of presidential campaign of 1876. Who did each party nominate?

Republicans chose Rutherford B Hayes and Democrats chose Samuel J. Tilden. (By this time, only S Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana remained under Republican control.)

What was the result of internal conflict between feminists and the Fifteenth Amendment?

Result was split in movement and creation in 1869 of two hostile women's rights organizations--the *National Woman Suffrage Association*, led by Stanton and Anthony, and the *American Woman Suffrage Association*, w/ Lucy Stone as president.

*Slaughterhouse Cases (1873)*

Ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment safeguarded a person's rights only at a federal level, not at a state level.

Among former slaves, the passage of the Reconstruction Act inspired an outburst of political organization.

These gatherings inspired direct action to remedy long-standing grievances--plantation workers organized strikes for higher wages; speakers, male and female, spread out across South; Frances Harper's "Literacy, Land, and Liberation."; James D. Lynch's organization of Republican meetings. - Thousands joined Union League, an organization closely linked to the Republican party

The black office-holders

Thru out Reconstruction, black voters provided the bulk of Republican party's support. However, highest offices remained in white hands, and only in S Carolina did they form a majority of the legislature. Majority of officeholders were former slaves who had established their leadership in the black community by serving in Union army, working as ministers, teachers, or engaging in Union League organizing.

1876, South Carolina; Democrats nominated Confederate general __________ for governor; his supporters launched a wave of intimidation, wanting to carry the election.

Wade Hampton

*Land Commission* in S Carolina

Settled 14,000 black families and a few poor whites on their own farms

Reconstruction opponents in the South

South's traditional leaders (planters, merchants, and Democratic politicians) opposed new govts--saw them as corrupt, inefficient, and examples of "black supremacy." - Rapid growth of state budget and public aid = bribery, insider dealing, and get-rich quick atmosphere. - Rising taxes for schools and other public facilities and to assist railroad development were another cause of opposition. - Most basic opposition was that most white southerners could not accept the idea of former slaves voting, holding office, and enjoying equality before the law. *Democratic opponents launched violent campaign against Republican rule.*

1876: United States v. Cruikshank

The Court gutted the Enforcement Acts by throwing out the convictions of some of those responsible for the Colfax Massacre of 1873.

*Civil Rights Cases (1883)*

The Fourteenth Amendment, the Court held, did not protect the much broader range of rights granted by the individual states. Court held that the Civil Rights Act of 1875, which had prohibited racial discrimination in hotels, trains, and other public places, was not constitutional under the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments. Justice Joseph Bradley, who authored the majority opinion, said that neither the Thirteenth or Fourteenth Amendments gave Congress the power to enforce laws dealing with racial discrimination by private citizens or businesses.

*Scallawags*

Coined by former Confederates to Southern Republicans, whom they saw as traitors. - Most scalawags were non-slaveholding white farmers from southern upcountry. Many were wartime Unionists and cooperated with Republicans to prevent "rebels" from returning to power. - Others hoped Reconstruction govts would help them recover from wartime economic losses by suspending the collection of debts and enacting laws protecting small property holders from losing their homes to creditors.

Since the election of 1876 turned out to be very close, what did Congress, in 1877, do as a result?

Congress in 1877 appointed a 15-member Electoral Commission, composed of senators, representatives, and Supreme Court justices: The members decided that Hayes (Republican) had carried the disputed southern states and had been elected president.

"A reign of terror" and Colfax (1873)

In wide areas of the S, secret societies sprang up with aim of preventing blacks from voting and destroying the organization of the Republican Party by assassinating local leaders and public officials (ex. the Klu Klux Klan) - Bloodiest act took place in Colfax, Louisiana in 1873, where armed whites assaulted the town with a small canon. Hundreds of former slaves were killed.

1872 election

Grant had defeated Greeley by a large amount. But Greeley's campaign placed on the northern agenda the one issue on which the Liberals and Democrats could agree--a new policy toward the S.

*The Bargain of 1877*

Hayes leaders agreed to recognize Democratic control of the entire S and to avoid further intervention in local affairs. Also pledged that Hayes would place a southerner in cabinet position of postmaster general (David Key of Tennessee) and work for federal aid to TX and Pacific railroad (follow a southern route). Democrats promised not to dispute Hayes's right to office and respect rights of blacks (which never happened)

Violence of 1875 and '76

In contrast to KKK, violence took place in broad daylight, as if to underscore Democrats' conviction that they had nothing to fear from Washington (in states where Reconstruction govts survived). - Grant admin. did not intervene--said that the northern public was "tired out" by southern problems. - In Mississippi on election day, armed Democrats destroyed ballot boxes and drove former slaves from the polls; result as Democratic landslide and end of Reconstruction in Mississippi.

The conservative elite in the South

The conservative elite that dominated govt from colonial times to 1867 found itself excluded from political power, while poor whites, newcomers from N, and former slaves cast ballots, sat on juries, and enacted/administered laws.

In response to KKK in 1870-71, Congress adopted *3 Enforcement Acts*, outlawing...

terrorist societies and allowing the president to use the army against them. *Continued expansion of national authority during Reconstruction.* KKK's actions were defined as federal offenses rather than violations of state laws.