Chapter 15 History

The quest for properity

1. During Reconstruction, every state helped to finance railroad construction. a. They saw this as key to economic development in the region. b. But economic development was weak. 2. Investment opportunities in the West lured more northern investors than southern investors, and economic development remained weak in the South.

The end of recontructions

1. Reconstruction ended in 1877, but in some states blacks continued to vote and hold office until the 1890s. 2. Even while it lasted, however, Reconstruction revealed some tensions inherent in the nineteenth-century discussions of freedom

The triumph of the redeemers

1. Redeemers claimed to have "redeemed" the white South from corruption, misgovernment, and northern and black control. a. Violence occurred in broad daylight. b. Grant refused to provide federal help to stop the violence.

Southern Republicans in power

1. Southern Republican governments established the South's first state-supported public schools. 2. The new governments also pioneered civil rights legislation. 3. Republican governments took steps to strengthen the position of rural laborers and to promote the South's economic recovery.

The liberal republicans

1. The North's commitment to Reconstruction waned during the 1870s. 2. Some Republicans, alienated from Grant by corruption in his administration, formed the Liberal Republican Party. a. Horace Greeley 3. Liberal Republicans believed that power in the South should be returned to the region's "natural leaders." 4. Grant easily defeated Greeley, the Liberal Republican and Democratic Party candidate, to win reelection in 1872. D. The North's Retreat 1. The Liberal attack on Reconstruction contributed to a resurgence of racism in the North. a. The Prostrate State depicted corruption in South Carolina and blamed African-American politicians. 2. The 1873 depression also distracted the North from Reconstruction. 3. The Civil Rights Act of 1875, which outlawed racial discrimination in places of public accommodation, was the final piece of Reconstruction legislation, and it was clear that the northern public was retreating from Reconstruction. 4. The Supreme Court whittled away at Congress's guarantees of black rights. a. Slaughterhouse Cases (1873) b. United States v. Cruikshank (1876)

The disputed election and bargain of 1877

1. The election between Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican) and Samuel Tilden (Democrat) was very close, with disputed electoral votes from Florida, Louisiana, and South Carolina. 2. Congress set up a special Electoral Commission to determine the winner of disputed votes. 3. Behind the scenes, Hayes made a bargain to allow southern white Democrats to control the South if his election was accepted. 4. The compromise led to Hayes's election and the Democrats' having a free hand in the South.

The Radical Reconstruction

Andrew Jackson; Identified himself as the champ;ion of the honest yeomen and foe of large planters The radicals fully embraced the expanded powers of the federal government born of civil war;Charles Summer, Thaddeus Stevens. Thaddus stevens most cherished aim was to confiscate the land of disloyal planters and divide it among former slaves and northern migrants; his plan was too radical for most other of congress

Blacks and meaning of freedom

Destruction of slavery made freedom the central question African Americans understanding of freedom was shaped by their experience as slaves and observation of the free society Blacks relished the opportunity to demonstrate their liberation from the regulations associated with slavery; many moved to southern cities and towns

Land,labor, and freedom

Former slaves' ideas of freedom were directly related to land ownership.; Many former slaves insisted that through their unpaid labor, they had acquired a right to the land. Ex slaves definition of freedom resembled whites; self ownership, family stability, religious liberty, political participation, economic autonomy

The reconstruction era

Johnson campaigned against the 14th amendment in 1866 midterm elections All southern states except Tennessee refused to ratify the 14th amendment. In march 1867 over johnsons veto congress adopted the reconstruction act which: divided the south into 5 military districts & called for creation of new southern state governments with black men given the vote The reconstruction act thus began radical reconstruction which lasted until 1877

The origiins of civil rights

Most republicans were moderates, not radicals. Senator Lyman trumbull of illionois propsed two bills to modify johnsons policy: one would extend the life of the freedmens bureau & in civil rights bill, equality before the law was central, and it sought to overturn the black codes Johnson voted both bills; it would centralize power in national government and deprive states of the ability to regulate themselves & it discriminated "against the white race" Congress passed civil rights bill over his veto later extended the life of the freedmens bureau

Radical reconstruction In the south

Reconstruction act inspired outburst of political organizations Blacks used direct action to remedy long-standing grievances; sit-ins, strikes, and speaking tours Union league aided blacks in public sphere.

The 15th amendment

Republican Ulysses S. Grant won the 1868 presidential election. Congress approved the 15th amendment in 1869. It provide black suffrage: had many loopholes, extended women's suffrage

Toward a new south

Sharecropping came to dominate the cotton south and much of the tobacco belt. Sharecropping arose as a compromise between black desire for land and planters desire for labor discipline. (blacks=gang labor preferable)

The urban south

Southern cities experienced remarkable growth after the Civil War and a rise of a new middle class.

Boundaries of freedom

That the united states was white mans government had been widespread belief before the civil war. Reconstruction republicans belief in universal rights also had its limits; Asian immigrants were still excluded from the naturalization process.

The white farmer

The aftermath of the war hurt small white farmers; The crop lien system involve the use of crops as collateral for loans for merchants for supplies, White farmers increase cotton cultivation cotton prices plummeted and they found themselves unable to pay back loans. both black and white farmers found themselves caught in the sharecropping and crop lien systems

The rights of women

The destruction of slavery led feminists to search for ways to make promise of free labor real for women. Other feminists debated how to achieve "liberty for material women"

Families in freedom

The family was central to the post-emancipation black community; widows of black soldiers successfully collected pensions. Freedom subtly altered relationships within the family. Black women with drew from work as field laborers and house servants; eventually black women would go to work because of dire poverty.

The fourteenth amendment

The fourteenth amendment placed in the constitution the principle of citizenship of all persons born in the united states and empowered the federal government to protected the rights of all American; it did not provide black suffrage. The 14th amendment produced an intense division between the parties.

Feminists and radicals

To attract female emigrants, Wyoming b/c the second state new jersey to allow women to vote in 1890. Talk of woman's suffrage and redesigning marriage found few sympathetic male listeners Some feminists (Elizabeth cady Stanton, Susan b Anthony) opposed the 15th amendment b/c it did not enfranchise women Divisions among females led to the creation of two hostile women rights organizations; national women suffrage association led by Stanton, American women suffrage association was led by stone Reconstruction left the gender boundary largely intact

Impeachment and the Election of Grant

To demonstrate his dislike for the Tenure of Office Act, Johnson removed the secretary of war from office in 1868. Johnson was impeached and the Senate fell one vote short from removing him from office.

The black officeholder

Two thousand African-Americans occupied public offices during Reconstruction. a. Fourteen were elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. b. Two were elected to the U.S. Senate. 2. The presence of black officeholders and their white allies made a real difference in southern life. 3. The majority of state and local black officeholders were former slaves. C. Carpetbaggers and Scalawags 1. Carpetbaggers were northern-born white Republicans who often held political office in the South. 2. Scalawags were southern-born white Republicans. a. Some were wealthy (e.g., James Alcorn, a Mississippi planter). b. Most had been upcountry non-slaveholders before the Civil War, and some had been Unionists during the war.

The overthrow of reconstruction

A. Reconstruction's Opponents 1. Corruption did exist during Reconstruction, but it was not confined to a race, region, or party. 2. Opponents could not accept the idea of former slaves voting, holding office, and enjoying equality before the law. B. "A Reign of Terror" 1. The Republican presence in the South led to more organized opposition and violence by 1868. 2. Secret societies sprang up in the South with the aim of preventing blacks from voting and destroying the organization of the Republican Party. 3. The Ku Klux Klan was organized in 1866. a. It launched what one victim called a "reign of terror" against Republican leaders, black and white. b. One example was the Colfax, Louisiana, massacre (1873). 4. Congress and President Grant, with the passage of three Enforcement Acts in 1870 and 1871, put an end to the Ku Klux Klan by 1872.

Failure of Land Reform

Blacks wanted land of their own, not jobs on plantations. President andrew jackson ordered nearly all land in federal bans returned to its former owners. No land distribution took place, vast majority of rural freed people remained poor without property during reconstruction.

Free Labor Vision

The victorious Republican North tried to implement its own vision of freedom. Free labor The Freedmen's Bureau was to establish a working free labor system.

The great constitutional revolution

The laws and amendments of Reconstruction reflected the intersection of two products of the Civil War era—a newly empowered national state and the idea of a national citizenry enjoying equality before the law. Before the Civil War, American citizenship had been closely linked to race. Naturalization act of 1790 Dred scott in 1857 denied blacks U.S. citizenship It transformed the relationship between the federal government and the states. Played key role in many supreme court decisions that expanded rights of American citizens

Aftermaths of Slavery

The reconstruction era debates over transitioning from slavery to freedom that parallels another western have hemispheres countries where emancipation occurred in the 19th century; generally planters encouraged or required former slaves to work on plantations, while former slaves sought to assert independence & planters sought other laborers to replace their slaves forces. Only in the United States did former slaves gain political rights quickly; Right to vote

Political freedom

The right to vote inevitably become central to the former slaves desire for empowerment and equality ; being denied suffrage meant "the stigma of inferior" To demonstrate their patriotism, blacks throughout the south organized fourth of july celebrations; For years, many white southerners would remain indoors on this holiday

Church and school

The rise of the independent black church with methodist and baptist's commanding the largest followings redrew the religious map of the south; black ministers came to play a major role in politics Blacks of all ages flocked to the schools established by northern missionary societies, the freed men's bureau, and groups of ex-slaves;Education also took place outside classroom & black colleges such as Fisk, Hampton, and Howard started.

Masters without Slaves

The souths defeat was complete and demoralizing; plantee families faces profound changes Most planters defined black freedom in the narrowest manner, as a privilege, not as a right

The Freedmen's bureau

The task of the bureau-establishing schools, providing aid to the poor and aged, settling disputes, etc. 1,000 agents ; direction of O. I Howard, experiment gov. social policy as part of 20th century