Reconstruction and the New South (1865-1896)

1. Reconstruction and the New South (1865-1896)

2. Reconstruction Debate • Main Idea: Government leaders disagreed about how Southern states could rejoin the Union • Southern states, because they had left the Union in 1861, needed to be readmitted • The economy and society of the South needed to be rebuilt

3. Lincoln’s Plan • Ten Percent Plan: When 10% of the voters of a state took an oath of loyalty to the Union, that state could be readmitted. • Punishing the South was useless • Offered amnesty to all white Southerners willing to swear loyalty to the Union.

4. The Radical’s Plan • Radical Republicans headed by Thaddeus Stevens believed Lincoln’s plan was too forgiving. • Radical Republicans controlled Congress and voted to deny seats to representatives from any state readmitted under Lincoln’s plan. • Passed the Wade Davis Bill

5. Wade Davis Bill • July 1864 – passed by Congress • To rejoin the Union, a state had to meet the following requirements • Majority of white males must swear loyalty to the Union • Only white males who did not fight against the Union could vote for delegates to a state constitutional convention • Had to ban slavery

6. The Freedmen’s Bureau • Set up by Lincoln and Congress to help African Americans adjust to freedom • Provided food, clothing and medical services • Set up schools • Helped freed people acquire land or find work

7. Assassination of Lincoln • Shortly after the Freedmen’s Bureau was founded, a tragic event took place that shocked the nation. On April 14, 1865, President Lincoln attended a play at Ford’s Theater in Washington D.C. John Wilkes Booth, an actor and Confederate sympathizer, entered the private box and shot Lincoln in the head. Lincoln died several hours later.

8. Assassination of Lincoln • When Lincoln died, Vice President Andrew Johnson became president. Johnson was born in the South but supported the Union during the war. Johnson soon revealed his plan for Reconstruction.

9. Johnson’s Plan • Grant amnesty to most Southerners once they swore loyalty • Desired to humiliate Southern Confederate leaders by making them appeal to him personally for a pardon • Opposed equal rights for African Americans • States had to ratify the 13th Amendment before allowed back in the Union • By the end of 1865, all states, except Texas, had new governments and were ready to join the Union.

10. The Thirteenth Amendment • December 6th, 1865 • The first of the Reconstruction Amendments • Abolishes and continues to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude

11. Radicals in Control • Black Codes • Laws to control freed men and women that resembled slavery • Examples • Arrest and fined jobless African Americans • Banned from renting or owning farms • Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 which granted full citizenship to African Americans and overturned the Black Codes

12. The Fourteenth Amendment • Congress, fearing that the Civil Rights Act of 1866 might be overturned in court, passed this in 1866 • Granted full citizenship to all people born in the United States • “Equal protection of the laws” • Excluded citizenship of Native Americans

13. Radical Reconstruction • After winning the congressional elections of 1866, the Radical Republicans were able to put their version of Reconstruction into action • President Johnson could do little to stop the Republicans because they could easily override his vetoes in Congress. Thus began a period known as Radical Reconstruction.

14. What were the results of Radical Reconstruction? • African Americans gained full citizenship, although protecting these rights proved difficult • African American voters helped to put Republicans in control of Southern gov’t • By 1870, all Southern states had met the requirements under Radical Reconstruction and were restored to the Union.

15. Reconstruction Acts of 1867 • Divided 10 Southern states into military districts • Run by a military commander until a new government could be formed • Guaranteed African American men the right to vote in state elections • Banned former Confederate leaders from holding office • States had to pass 14th Amendment to reenter the Union.

16. Readmission of States • With help of African American voters, all ten states were readmitted to the Union by 1870.

17. Impeaching the President • So that Johnson could not control the military governors as commander-in-chief, Congress passed a series of laws to limit his power • Tenure of Office Act: Prohibited president from removing government officials without the approval of the Senate

18. Impeaching the President (cont.) • Johnson removed Secretary of War Edwin Stanton without Senate’s approval • Outraged by his actions, the House of Representatives moved to impeach Johnson • Senators could not get a 2/3 majority because some Republicans said Johnson should not be removed from office due to political differences • Johnson stayed in office until 1869

19. The Fifteenth Amendment • 1896 • Prohibits the state and federal governments from denying the right to vote to any male citizen because of “race, color or previous condition of servitude.” • Right to Vote!!!

20. The South During Reconstruction • Main Idea: As African Americans began to take part in civic life in the South, they faced resistance, including violence from the Whites.

21. African Americans in Government • Played important roles in Reconstruction politics as voters and officials • Contributed heavily to some Republican victories

22. Scalawags and Carpetbaggers • Scalawags • Southern whites who were non-slave holding and backed Republicans • Carpetbaggers • Northern whites to moved south after the war and backed Republicans • Many Southerners accused Reconstruction governments of corruption. Although some officials made money illegally, probably less corruption occurred in the South than in the North.

23. Resistance to Reconstruction • Most Southern whites opposed efforts to give rights to African Americans • African Americans were often • Refused land to rent • Refused credit at stores • Not hired by white employers

24. Ku Klux Klan • Secret society who used fear and violence to deny rights to freed men and women. • Killed thousands of African Americans while wearing sheets and hoods • Burned African American schools, churches and homes • Supported by many Southern planters and Democrats • Congress passed several rather unsuccessful laws to stop the Klan in 1870 and 1871.

25. KKK

26. Education • Education improved for both races during Reconstruction • 1870s – public schools created for both races • Attended separate schools

27. Farming • Sharecropping • Farmer works land for an owner who provides equipment and seeds and receives a share of the crops

28. Change in the South How did the South change politically, economically and socially when Reconstruction ended?

29. Panic of 1873 • Severe economic depression • Small banks close, stock market plummets • Blame for hard times fell on the Republicans and the Grant Administration

30. Election of 1876 • Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican) vs. Samuel Tilden (Democrat) • Hayes wins although the outcome of the election is disputed

31. Compromise of 1877 • Hayes presidential victory is disputed and Democrats threaten to challenge the decision. Party leaders meet in secret to work out an agreement. • Agreement includes some favors for the South • New gov’t would give more aid to the South • Republicans would withdraw all troops from the South • Democrats in turn, promised to maintain African American rights

32. A New Policy • Hayes announces intention to let Southerners handle radical issues • Federal government would no longer attempt to reshape Southern society • Reconstruction has come to an end

33. Change in the South • After Reconstruction, the South experienced a political shift and industrial growth.

34. Democrats in Control • Large landowners, merchants, bankers, business leaders • Adopted conservative practices • Lower taxes • Cut government spending • Eliminated many social services begun during Reconstruction • Cut public education

35. Rise of the “New South” • By the 1880s, forward-looking Southerners were convinced that their region must develop a strong industrial economy. They argued that the South lost the Civil War because its industry didn’t match the North’s.

36. Rise of the “New South” • Built industry based on coal, iron, tobacco, cotton and lumber • Textile mills, tobacco manufacturing, iron and steel mills • Industry grows as a result of cheap, reliable workforce • Agriculture is still the South’s main economic activity

37. Rural Economy • Supporters of the “New South” hope to advance agriculture as well • Too much debt for farmers • To repay debt, farmers rely on cash crops like cotton • Too much cotton forced prices down • Sharecropping and reliance on one cash crop keeps Southern agriculture from advancing

38. A Divided Society • As Reconstruction ended, African Americans’ dreams for justice faded. In the last 20 years of the 1800s, racism became firmly set in the culture. Individuals took steps to keep African Americans separated from white and to deny them basic rights.

39. Jim Crow Laws • What is it? • Laws that required African Americans and whites to be separated in almost every public place • Impact • Segregation! Unequal facilities and accommodations

40. Poll Tax • What is it? • A fee people had to pay to vote • Impact • Most African Americans could not afford the tax and therefore could not vote

41. Literacy Test • What is it? • Voters take a test in which they have to read and explain difficult parts of the Constitution in order to vote. • Impact • Because most African Americans had little education, literacy tests prevented many from voting.

42. Grandfather Clause • What is it? • Law that allowed people whose fathers or grandfathers had voted before Reconstruction to vote. • Impact • Literacy tests could keep some whites from voting. These laws allowed them to do so. Because African Americans could not vote until 1867, they were excluded.

43. Lynching • What is it? • When an angry mob kills a person by hanging • Impact • Fear! African Americans were lynched because they were suspected of crimes, or because they did not behave the way they should.

44. Lynching

45. Plessy vs. Ferguson • The Supreme Court decides to uphold the idea of “segregation of the South” by handing down the decision of Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896) • Impact: Said separate is equal. The problem is however, that the facilities are separate but in no way, equal. Gave legal support to Southern segregation and inequality.