VII. The Baleful Black Codes

1. VII. The Baleful Black Codes One of the first things the new Southern governments did was pass black codes Varied in severity from state to state All tried to regulate affairs of freed blacks and assure a stable and subservient labor force Work contracts resembled slavery itself Blacks were left out of the political process Although a few new rights were recognized (freedomish, marriage) they mocked the idea of emancipation

2. VII. The Baleful Black Codes Freedmen lacked capital, had little to offer except labor Many blacks and poor landless whites became slaves to soil and creditors and slipped into the status of sharecroppers (crop-lien system) This lasted well into the 20th century After the Civil War many in the north wondered if these people were still being enslaved, had the North really won the war?

4. VIII. Congressional Reconstruction • December 1865 Congressional delegations from the south came to reclaim their seats, northerners shut them out • Voters across south turned to experienced leaders, many leaders were tainted with association of Confederacy • While war went on Republican leaders had a free had and passed legislation favorable to the North • Politicians became attached to northern business interests, western farmers and free labor. • Congress passed tariff legislation, financing of a transcontinental railroad, Homestead Act (offered land to settlers that occupied the land for 5 years), Morrill Land Grant Act (provided land for colleges)

5. VIII. Congressional Reconstruction • Republicans worried that he South would increase power in Congress • Blacks were now counted as a whole person, not 3/5ths of a person • South gained 12 electoral votes, 12 more Congressional members • Republicans feared that they would perpetuate black codes, get rid of Republican economic program

6. IX. Johnson Clashes with congress • 1866 Republicans wanting to keep Johnson in check pass Civil Rights Bill to strike back at the Black Codes • Johnson tried to veto, overturned by Congress • Civil Rights bill became 14th Amendment • Citizenship to all persons regardless of race • Reduced representation if conditions not met • Disqualified former Confederates from federal and state office • Guaranteed federal debt • Did not grant the right to vote • Issue between Congress and President was Reconstruction to be carried on with or without 14th Amendment • 1866 Congressional elections showed country favored Republican plan

7. X. Republican Principles and Programs • Republicans won a veto proof control of Reconstruction policy in Congress • Radicals opposed rapid restoration of Southern states (led by Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner) • Wanted to transform society and economy of south with federal government • Moderates did not want states to take away rights of A-A’s but did not want federal government involved in people’s everyday lives • Both groups wanted blacks to have the right to vote

8. XI. Reconstruction by the Sword • 1867Reconstruction Act divides south into 5 military districts controlled by Union general and policed by Union army • Had to ratify 14th Amendment and guarantee suffrage for black men • Purpose was to create electorate that would vote states back into Union and free federal government from direct responsibility of protection of black rights • 187015th Amendment passed that guaranteed suffrage in the Constitution

9. XI. Reconstruction by the Sword • Military Reconstruction of the South took away power of president as commander in chief and set up regimes that were possibly unconstitutional • By 1870 all states had met conditions of readmission into the Union • When federal troops left states they swiftly went back to old governments and became solidly Democratic (Redeemers) • Passage of 13th, 14th, 15th Amendments disappointed advocates for women’s rights, many had been abolitionists and viewed the causes as similar • Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton actively campaigned against passage of the 14th Amendment