Unit 2: Civil War through Jim Crow
What are the Reconstruction Acts?
"The Reconstruction Acts, or Military Reconstruction Acts, were four statutes passed during the Reconstruction Era by the 40th United States Congress. Fulfillment of the requirements of the Acts was necessary for the former Confederate States to be re-admitted to the Union." To Southerners the Reconstruction Acts are equivelent to a declaration of war. Since Johnson was powerless, the ex-confederates were victim to the wrath of the radicals. The Reconstruction acts abolish the governments in the south (to rebuild them). They eliminate all confederate leaders. They divide the south into parts and create military zones that enforce the reconstruction process.
What was presidential reconstruction?
(1865-1866) After Lincoln is killed, Johnson president. Than the midterm elections happen causing Radical reconstruction?
What are the Reconstruction Amendments?
-13th Amendment: (happens bc of Emancipation Proclomation). Adopted in 1865. Stated: "Neither slavery not involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States..." (said this bc blacks did not have enough money to pay fines, debt slavery created in loopholes of 13th amendment). During Radical Reconstruction: -14th Amendment: EQUAL PROTECTION- defines who is citizen. Adopted in 1868. It addresses the citizenship rights and equal protection of the laws, and was proposed in response to issues related to former slaves following the American Civil War. -15th Amendment: Adopted in 1870. It granted African American men the right to vote. (14th should have, but people found loopholes, so the 15th clearly lays it out.)
Where did the Civil War start and end?
-Begin: 4/12/1861 in Fort Sumter, South Carolina -Ends: 4/9/1865 in the Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia
What is separate but equal?
-Blacks forced to use separate facilities that were "equal" in quality (but not really). Schools, trains, cars, restrooms, parks, etc. -Whites used this as an excuse to exclude blacks and deny them service
What was the relationship between Johnson and Congress?
-Congress was filled with Moderate and Radical Republicans that pushed for protection of African-Americans. -i.e. Freeman's Bureau and Civil Rights Act of 1866, which forbade black codes -President Johnson would veto many efforts to provide protection of African Americans -Republicans were divided amongst themselves.
How did the Supreme Court uphold constitutionality?
-Homer Plessy challenged LA state law authorizing separate train cars -Supreme Court upheld state court verdict 8 to 1 in Plessy v Ferguson -Gave South "green light" to segregate -De Jure segregation persisted through 1950s until Brown v Board in 1854 (1st case that challenges segregation).
How does the supreme court undermine reconstruction?
-Laissez-faire: Supreme court allows the states to pass laws to undermine the 13th, 14th, and 15th, amendments. -literacy tests -poll taxes -the Grandfather clause -Plessy vs Ferguson (1896): Homer Plessy = 1/8th black - LEGALIZED segregation (they exposed loopholes to segregate - 2nd class citizenry)
What is the Compromise of 1877?
-The Election of 1876 is disputed. -special Congressional commission gives disputed vote to Rutherford B Hayes -Southern democrats accept on 2 conditions -guarentee of Federal Aid to the South -removal of all remaining Federal troops -Hayes agreement ends reconstrution (Rep. sold out to the south bc wanted to maintain the executive position - lost the popular vote, but won the presidency) -allows DIXICRATS to take control of the south
Notes of the Freedman's Bureau
-The Freedman's Bureau was established to help poor blacks and whites in the south -They established schools in the south -laws against educating slaves during the Civil War meant that most ex-slaves did not know how to read and write. -40 acres and a mule - reparation (Freedman's Bureau was a response to the lack codes)
What is the reign of terror in the South?
-White backlash against reconstruction - Ku Klux Klan - used terror tactics to keep blacks out of the political process -1870s: Congress tries to supress KKK, other Southern terrorist groups. (but there is only so much you can do to contol underground organizations.) -By 1876, Republicans only control South Carolina, Louisiana, and Florida -Northern support for military action wanes
What were some advantages the South had?
-better military leaders: But they were working with an unorganized government so it was hard for these leaders to get money -motivation: their motivation was for slavery, but the south said it was for their "honor." Their motivation was so strong so they did not give up. -they knew the land (fighting to protect that land)
Who was Booker T. Washington?
-blacks should work to gain economic security before working for equal rights (aka temporarily sacrifice rights) -developed job and vocational training at the Tuskeegee Institute -Outlines his views in the Atlants Exposition Speech -Whites: "Cast down your buckets" -Soothes white man -said blacks could remain segregated by comparing society to a hand. [A group can be separate like fingers but work together like a hand He thought the south was not going to automatically switch to equal rights so the blacks must sacrifice some rights and through bettering themselves, they could show the advancements of black society
Who was W.E.B DuBois?
-demanded immediete equality for blacks, as promised under the constitution -believed talented black students ("talented tenth") should rise up through education to lead (the prominant blacks had to be the voice for the rest - counted upon them to lead the way) -believed it was wrong to expect citizens to 'earn their rights.' Must demand them -founded the NAACP -opposed Washingtons support of segregation Believed the white child is automatically born with rights while a black child must earn those rights. This was wrong
What were some of the advantages the North had?
-more people: much more immigrants and southern migrants because there was more opportunity in the North -manufactured more than 90% of US goods: they had more resources -more railroads: allowed for transportation -The Federal Government was organized (the South had a newly created constitution) -They had industry which gave them money (they were able to reform factories towards the war effort)
How did Jim Crow rise?
-redeemer Democrats systematically exclude black voters -Jim Crow laws legalize segregation and restrict black civil rights -by 1910, the process was complete (completely segregated) -The North and the federal government did little or nothing to prevent it -lynching - 187 blacks lynched yearly 1889-1899 -"Reunion" accomplished as North tacitly acquiesces in Southern discrimination (acquiesces - accept something reluctantly but without protest.)
What are all the facts about President Johnson?
-took office after Lincoln's death -only Southern senator to remain loyal to the union -Democrat -Thought that Confederate leaders should be punished, all others would be "decieved" (met with leniency). -did not support equal rights
How were voting rights restricted?
-violence: lived in constant fear -literacy test -poll tax -"Grandfather clause": (shows the extent at which they were willing to go to limit blacks - pushes off generations) -poor whites were struggling with tax and test -If a man failed the literacy test or could not afford the tax, he could vote if... -he or his father had been eligable to vote before Jan. 1, 1867 -14th amendment - 1868 (citizenship clause): Establishes blacks as citizens (don't have to apply like immigrants.)
How did Johnson become powerless?
2/3 of the senate was filled with Radicals, so they overrode his veto on all the bills he didn't want to pass. RR were very powerful because of this.
What happened at Mechanics Hall in New Orleans in 1866?
At Mechanics Hall they were having a meeting about black's right to vote. Black union soldiers marched to show they wanted to vote. Conferate loyalists made an army. There was a huge clash between the marchers and white supremicists, shots are fired. The New Orleans massacre begins. President Johnson played a role because he allowed it to happen bc he told Federal troops to not get involved (even though they were needed). After this people question if the Civil War is really over. People are still targets in the South and they don't know if they can walk down the street without being targeted. "The national reaction of outrage at the Memphis riots of 1866 and this riot nearly three months later led to Republicans gaining a majority in the United States House of Representatives and the Senate in the 1866 election, and support for the Fourteenth Amendment, extending suffrage and full citizenship to freedmen, and the Reconstruction Act, to establish military districts to oversee areas of the South and work to change their social arrangements."
What are the 20th century distractions?
Despite early efforts to secure equal rights, the CRM wouldn't gain momentum until after WWII -reform era (1900s-1910s) -WW1 -Return to normalcy (roaring 20s - just got out of war, didn't want to focus on negative) -great sepression -oppression (Slavery by another name - complicit gov't) These things caused people to not think about civil rights.
How did the Civil War start?
Divisions between the free North and the slaveholding South erupted into a full-scale conflict after the election of Abraham Lincoln. 11 souther states seceded from the Union, collectively turning their back on the idea of a single American nation. Lincoln declared these acts of secession illegal, and asked Congress for 500,000 soldiers to crush what threatened to be an agressive rebellion. In April 1861, the first shots were fored at Fort Sumter and what followed became a national tragedy of unimaginable proportions. More than 600,000 soldiers were killed and million more wounded; large sections of the South were ravaged by violent battles; and the Union nearly collapsed under determined Confederate forces.
How does the South segregate?
Does this through violence, fear and terror... 1. Economically: they limit opportunity by restricting blacks from jobs and not giving them a good education. By keeping the blacks impovershed it kept them silent 2. Politically: blacks would not vote (voting gives power and now blacks would not be able to influence/change society 3. Socially: separate accomodations
What is the response to Jim Crow?
EXODUS OUT OF SOUTH -Migration to the North increased enormously -~500,000 blacks moved North between 1915 and 1920 -Key push factors: -Escape racial discrimination -Pull factors: -Job opportunites in the North (Henry Ford - 1914, WWI) -Drop in Eurpoean immigration -Immigration Act of 1924 reduced immigration (Nativist movement led to more job opp. for blacks bc they needed ppl to fill the jobs)
What was Johnson's plan of Reconstruction?
He wanted to restore the old south minus the slavery and plantations. He was ok with the black codes and inferority. This caused de facto slavery - slavery put in place by society (by fact not by law).
What was Congressional/Radical Reconstruction?
In the midterm elections the house and senate get filled with Radical Republicans and they have the 2/3 majority. This gives them the power to override the veto against Johnson. With this power they pass the Reconstruction acts and the Reconstruction amendments. The RR wanted equality and to give blacks the right to vote. If you don't have the right to vote, you can't make change. Voting gives people rights.
Why do many historians consider former president Andrew Jackson to be a white supremacist?
Johnson was against slavery but not bc it was immoral. He was against it bc of the power of class in the South. Slacery gave the top class a lot of power. He thought the slaveocracy was wong and that the common man was shut out. So to get rid of the slaveocracy, slavery must end (only wanted southern society without slaveocracy, to help poor whites.) He was indifferent to equal rights and he had no desire to grant blacks any rights.
What happened in the election of 1864?
Lincoln gets reelected. He stresses reunification. He said that there would be no harsh punishment, he just wanted the union together again. "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 care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish..." (quote by Lincoln)
What is de jure segregation?
Not just customary but by law. Laws were able to segregate. Different than de facto segragation (customary).
What happened during the war on January 1, 1863?
On Jan 1, 1863, Lincoln issued his Emancipation Proclomation freeing all slaves in captured Confederate territory. From that point on, the war officially became one over the issue of slavery. Still, it was not until after the war, in December 1865, that the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified, finally freeing all slaves in America.
Who were the Southern leaders?
President: Jefferson Finis Davis Military: Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson -these leaders are still propelled into heroic light for many americans, but it must be remembered that they fought for slavery and against the union.
Who were the Northern leaders?
President: Lincoln - He was the voice of reason -in 1864 he runs for reelection with Andrew Johnson as his running mate. Lincoln wanted to make it clear that there would be no harsh punishment for the South. He just wanted to bring the union together. Military: Ulysses S. Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman -these leaders came in later to save the North. They embraced total war and changed it from a war of attrition.
What happened to those who remained in the South during Jim Crow?
SHARECROPPING -Many freedman kept to themselves; continued to work on farms -exchanged labor for rights to use the land, housing, and farming supplies -Laborers bound in servitude due to debt -perpetual debt was common for most sharecroppers (debt tied them to land - no opportunity) -By the 1890s the majority of blacks in the south were sharecroppers -sharecropping maintained the system of second class citizenship by economically exploiting most blacks.
What is Sherman's March to the Sea?
Sherman's March to the Sea (also known as the Savannah Campaign) was a military campaign of the American Civil War conducted through Georgia from November 15 until December 21, 1864, by Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman of the Union Army. The campaign began with Sherman's troops leaving the captured city of Atlanta on November 15 and ended with the capture of the port of Savannah on December 21. His forces destroyed military targets as well as industry, infrastructure, and civilian property and disrupted the Confederacy's economy and its transportation networks. The operation broke the back of the Confederacy and helped lead to its eventual surrender. Sherman's bold move of operating deep within enemy territory and without supply lines is considered to be one of the major achievements of the war.
What was the Civil War about?
Slavery. Some people say it was about agriculture or tyranny, but if that was true the war would have happened before. The truth is the war is only about slavery.
What was the quest for equality?
The Civil Rights Movement -Integration vs Separation -Featured Names: -Booker T. Washington, WEB DuBois, Martin Luther King, Malcom X
What happens when reconstruction begins?
The Civil War ends in April 9, 1865 and Lincoln gets killed on April 14 (very soon after). The goals for the union for reconstruction was to end slavery and help freed slaves. The goals for the south were to restore their economy, repair the land, and pay for formerly freed slaves.
What is the Freedman's Bureau and what did it do?
The Freedman's Bureau was made by Radical Republicans and it was America's first major relief agency. The goal was to help blacks (educate them and bring them into society). The said "40 acres and a mule," bc this what was meant to be given to all past slaves. -"Forty acres and a mule refers to a promise made in the United States for agrarian reform for former enslaved black farmers by Union General William Tecumseh Sherman on January 16, 1865." If blacks were not given resources they could never do anything to get opportunity. they needed assets or else they would be left to work with whites who did have ownership.
Who were the Radical Republicans and what did they hope to achieve?
The Radical Republicans were a political group that wanted the most change (and wanted to make the change now). They wanted to completely revolutionize Southern society so that there would be complete equal rights for blacks. This included the right to vote (also a little selfish bc they wanted to give blacks this right to give political group power). The RR became targets becaue southern society did not want blacks to have any rights. They fought a lot against the right to vote for blacks.
What is a war of attrition?
The goal in a war of attrition is to weardown/outlast the enemy. The hope is that this will eventually make them give up. In the war of attrition the North thought they would win because of all their advantages, but they underestimated the Southern motivation. -"Attrition warfare is a military strategy consisting of belligerent attempts to win a war by wearing down the enemy to the point of collapse through continuous losses in personnel and material. The war will usually be won by the side with greater such resources."
What is true about the motivation for the North and South during the Civil War?
The south had a very strong motivation. They really wanted to keep slavery and they said they were fighting for their "honor." On the other hand, the North's motivation was to keep the union together and it was not as strong as the South. This was an advantage for the South.
What happened to Southern industry when slaves were freed?
The southern industry evaporated. There was a complete loss of investment (bc slaves were their investment, and they did not get returns on it, they just lost it). This is another big reason why the south hated the north (complete loss of money).
What is total war?
The total war takes the war to civilians. The idea is that you must break their will to fight. In the total war, they burned everything (espicially in Sherman's March to the Sea)
What are Black Codes?
These were laws designed to regulate the lives of blacks. It essentially made blacks slaves again. It controlled their movement, it limited their education, limited the industry available to them, did not allow them to have fire arms or liquor, and made it so that they could only farm/work in agriculture. This created de facto slavery (slavery put in place by restrictions). The black codes were similar to passbooks during apartheid in South Africa. -The legacy of black codes is that it brought many blacks to a landless existance bc generations were not provided for due to lack of opportunity.
What happens to the South after the reconstruction acts?
They feel helpless. Question what to do. They resort to fear and terror. They create organizations like the KKK to limit reconstruction. The KKK was the invisable empire (no one knew who was in it bc of masks). If a black man voted, the KKK would kill their family. Suppressed opposition.
What did black union soldiers feel they deserved the right to vote?
They had fought in the Civil War (for the country) so they deserved the right to vote. They fought for liberation, so they didn't want to be second class citizens.
What is the selfish reason Radical Republicans wanted to give African-Americans the right to vote?
They needed the black people's vote to bring the party to power. There was a political motivation.
What were the Radical's plans of reconstruction?
They wanted a revolution to give blacks equal rights. Especially the right to vote.
What were the white land owners attempting to achieve through violence in reconstuction?
They wanted to keep blacks OBEDIENT. They wanted to keep cheap labor in the field (make slaves obedient). They used violence, fear, and terror to do this and they would not just do it to blacks, but to anyone who was against them. There was an extreme hatred by confederates to unionists.
How did many confederates regain government power in the Southern states?
They were elected. Johnson allowed this to happen by just letting all Southern states back in the union. He easily allowed all confederates to be elected bc he placed no restrictions on confederate leaders.
Why was the Freedman's Bureau unsuccessful?
They were understaffed and underfunded. They only had 900 agents in the South. President Johnson uses his veto which causes the Freedman's Bureau to be underfunded and understaffed.
Who gets elected in 1868?
U.S. Grant elected. He was a republican so they could now reconstruct easier with so many republicans in power
What is a carpetbagger?
a Northerner in the South after the American Civil War usually seeking private gain under the reconstruction governments
What are redeemer democrats?
self-imposed term used by nineteenth-century southern Democrats fond of talking about "redeeming" their states from the alleged "misrule and corruption" wrought by Republican carpetbaggers, scalawags, and their black allies who assumed control as Congressional Reconstruction began in 1867-68.