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12/7/2015 Outline: Reconstruction and redemption I. II. III. IV. V. VI. Framing concerns Presidential reconstruction (review) Radical reconstruction The challenge of enforcement Redemption Conclusions Key question: Why did Reconstruction fail? In what sense did it fail? 1. The Republican Party failed to hold power in the southern states 2. Party politics once again failed to resolve disputes without recourse to violence 3. Efforts to secure the civil and political rights of the former slaves (“freedpeople”) failed 4. If the war wound up being about the destruction of slavery, why did the effort to protect the rights of the freedpeople fail so completely? Why did the political system fail so horribly at its primary function? 1 12/7/2015 “One Vote Less,” Harper’s Weekly (August 8, 1868), p. 512. Explanations for failure 1. “Racism” Factors related to the failure of the Republican Party in the South 1. Internal divisions within Republican coalition in the southern states 2. Increasing tax burdens and reputations for corruption and mismanagement sapped popular support 3. Loss of crucial southern white “swing” vote Republicans FreedPeople (captured electorate) Northern whites (“carpetbaggers”) Democrats Southern whites 2 12/7/2015 Explanations for failure (cont.) Factors stressing the political system as a whole 1. Frymer’s argument African Americans a “captured’ electorate from start of Radical Reconstruction Republicans’ negative incentive to champion civil rights (issues that alienated white voters) My questions for Frymer: If “race” issues were such losers, why did Republicans care about civil rights at all? Why exactly were “race” issues losers, given war’s sacrifices? And, once committed to those issues, why did the commitment to them wane? 2. 3. Political violence (remember your Clausewitz) The key: The limits of permissible government intervention Narrative of party politics 1. National parties in the Second Party System (1828-1854) operated to suppress sectionally-divisive issues related to slavery 2. “Agitation” over slavery-related issues polarizes national politics; party system reformulates along sectional lines (the Civil War Party System, 1854-1860) 3. This “breaks” the system (formal politics cannot resolve the sectional controversy) when election of Lincoln leads to secession and war (18611865) 4. War suspends the normal operations of national party politics (though muted party politics remain important in the Union) 5. With Union victory, slavery’s abolition, and national reunification there is a return to the party system Outline: Reconstruction and redemption I. Framing concerns II. Presidential reconstruction (review) 1. Black codes 2. Race riots 3 12/7/2015 Black Codes • • • • • • Rapid return of former Confederates to office Laws passed by southern state governments, 1865 Strict controls over terms of labor Vagrancy laws kept freedpeople a docile, immobile labor force Denial of basic civil rights Violation of free market principles “The rebels of New Orleans have proved worthy of their cousinship to the rebels in Memphis. They have fleshed their maiden swords in the blood of the negro. . . . [They demonstrate] their devotion to the President’s [lenient] policy by a riot or massacre, inaugurated in order to suppress free speech and to prevent the people of Louisiana from enjoying their Constitutional right to assemble peacefully and petition for the redress of grievances. . . .” Chicago Tribune (August 1, 1866) "The Riot in New Orleans," Harper's Weekly (August 25, 1866). Outline: Reconstruction and redemption I. Framing concerns II. Presidential reconstruction (review) III. Radical reconstruction 1. Military reconstruction 2. Guarantees of black civil rights 3. Black political participation 4 12/7/2015 Radical Reconstruction: The Military Reconstruction Act of 1867 The former Confederacy was divided into military districts during Congressional (or “Military”) Reconstruction Congressional Reconstruction (1867-77) • a.k.a. “Radical” or “Military” Reconstruction • Reconstruction Act of 1867 a response to Southern intransigence on black rights • All former Confederate states removed from Union (except Tennessee) . . . • . . . and placed under temporary military rule . . . • . . . until they met new conditions for re-entry into Union: – New state constitutional conventions – No racial exclusion in voting for or serving as delegates to the conventions – Stricter loyalty oath (“ironclad oath”) required – The constitutional conventions had to ratify the 14th Amendment Civil Rights Act (1866) • Intended to ensure that federal and state citizenship were the same – Closes loophole opened in the Dred Scott case of 1857 • Defined new “civil” rights: – “Freedom” means the minimum rights conferred by citizenship • Federal government becomes guarantor – Because states could not be relied upon to do so – A reversal of longstanding principles of federalism? • Johnson’s veto (overridden) 5 12/7/2015 Civil Rights Act (1866) “All persons born in the United States and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed, are hereby declared to be citizens of the United States; and such citizens, of every race and color, without regard to any previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall have the same right, in every State and Territory in the United States, to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, and give evidence, to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal property, and to full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and property, as is enjoyed by white citizens, and shall be subject to like punishment, pains, and penalties, and to none other, any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, to the contrary notwithstanding.” The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, 1868 Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Constitution, amend. XIV. 1. Closes “dual citizenship” loophole; state citizenship confers national citizenship. 2. Privileges and immunities clause 3. Due process clause 4. Equal protection clause The state constitutional conventions of 1867-68 were remarkable. In no other post-emancipation society did those formerly enslaved become full participants in the formal political process. Once in office, African Americans supported the Republican Party in launching a sweeping agenda that promised to revolutionize the South. 6 12/7/2015 Delegates to all ‘67-’69 constitutional conventions 38 8 Southern whites Outside whites 257 Blacks 549 Unclassified whites 159 Unclassified delegates 8 6 10 35 8 17 72 45 Arkansas 14 68 South Carolina Texas Number of Black Elected Federal and State Legislators Who Served Terms During the Reconstruction Period, by State: 1869 to 1901 Federal State Senators Representatives Total Senators Representatives State total Total Alabama 0 3 3 6 69 75 78 Arkansas 0 0 0 2 12 14 14 Florida 0 1 1 10 38 48 49 State Georgia 0 1 1 3 37 40 41 Louisiana 0 1 1 24 97 121 122 Mississippi 2 1 3 6 58 64 67 North Carolina 0 4 4 22 56 78 82 South Carolina 0 8 8 33 17 210 218 Tennessee 0 0 0 0 12 12 12 Texas 0 0 0 4 35 39 39 Virginia 0 1 1 14 78 92 93 Total 2 20 22 124 670 794 816 African Americans elected to state and federal legislatures, 1869-1901 Tennessee 1% Texas 5% Virginia 11% Alabama 10% Arkansas 2% Florida 6% Georgia 5% Louisiana 15% South Carolina 27% North Carolina 10% Mississippi 8% 7 12/7/2015 “Hon. H.R. Revels,” Harper’s Weekly, February 19, 1870, p. 116. “Tim Works Wonders,” Harper’s Weekly, April 9, 1870, p. 232. The Radical state governments • Blacks hold office in most states • Public schools, social institutions, internal improvements – But new tax burdens contribute to reputations for corruption • Republican coalition in southern states – African Americans – Northern whites (“carpetbaggers”) – Southern whites (“scalawags”) • This is the origin of how African Americans became a “captured” constituency of the Republican Party • All southern states fall out of Republican hands by 1877 – Leaving southern blacks captive to a Republican Party that is powerless in the South Outline: Reconstruction and redemption I. II. III. IV. Framing concerns Presidential reconstruction (review) Radical reconstruction The challenge of enforcement 1. 2. 3. 4. Ku Klux Klan and racial terror Federal response Klan skepticism and backlash The Liberal Republicans bolt 8 12/7/2015 Typically, the Klan is said to have begun in Pulaski, TN, when former CSA cavalry general Nathan Bedford Forrest began a “social club” with six other CSA veterans. The organization soon grew into an institution of racial terror. While Forrest eventually recanted his participation in the Klan, his own record on race was highly suspect (he commanded CSA forces at the Fort Pillow Massacre of black troops during the Civil War). 1st. No man shall squat negroes on his place unless they are all under his employ male and female. 2d. Negro women shall be employed by white persons 3d. All children shall be hired out for something. 4th. Negroes found in cabins to themselves shall suffer the penalty. 5th. Negroes shall not be allowed to hire negroes. 6th. Idle men, women or children, shall suffer the penalty. 7th. All white men found with negroes in secret places shall be dealt with. . . . 8th. For the first offence is one hundred lashes – the second is looking up a sap lin [limb]…. National Archives, Records of U.S. Army Continental Commands, 1821-1920 9 12/7/2015 The federal response • Congress holds “Klan hearings” to investigate – Amos Akerman, Attorney General under Grant, headed efforts by (new) Department of Justice to prosecute Klan crimes Attorney General Amos Akerman Report of the Joint Select Committee to Inquire into the Condition of Affairs in the Late Insurrectionary States, 13 vols. (1872) Over 6,000 pages of detailed testimony on Klan abuses The federal response • Congress holds “Klan hearings” to investigate – Amos Akerman, Attorney General under Grant, headed efforts by (new) Department of Justice to prosecute Klan crimes • Congress passes new laws to help Grant – Enforcement Act of 1870: Preventing the vote through force and violence crimes prosecutable under federal law – Enforcement Act of 1871: Citizens may call upon federal government to oversee local elections – Klan Act (Force Bill) of 1871: President may suspend writ of habeus corpus and use military to prosecute criminal conspiracies 10 12/7/2015 “Ku-Klux Outrages,” New Hampshire Patriot and State Gazette, March 29, 1871, p. 1. “TOO THIN, MASSA GRANT.” U.S.G. (as a manipulator of Ku-Klux figures)---”Look here, Sambo; if you don’t vote for Grant, these Ku-Klux fellows will put you back into slavery.” Sambo---“Massa, it am no use to get up dem horrid figgers. Sambo knows dat he’s free, and dat neider you nor any oder man can make him a slave again. I vote for Greeley, dat good man who helped made me free.” Matt Morgan, "Too Thin, Massa Grant,“ Leslie's Illustrated (September 14, 1872), p. 1 “Bayonet Rule,” Richmond Whig (May 24, 1872), p. 2. 11 12/7/2015 “Radical Tyranny--The Last Usurpation,” Albany Argus (October 16, 1861), p. 2. Lyman Trumbull, the Illinois Senator (Republican) who had crafted the Civil Rights Act of 1866, rejects the Force Act of 1871: “I am not willing to . . . enter the States for the purpose of punishing individual offenses against their authority committed by one citizen against another. We . . . have no constitutional authority to do that. When this Government was formed, the general rights of person and property were left to be protected by the States, and there they are left to-day. . . . I do not believe the Senator from Vermont entertains the opinion that the Congress of the United States has the right to pass a general criminal code for the States of the Union.” Radical Republican Carl Schurz rejects the Klan Acts on constitutional grounds, 1872: “Study it attentively, — the bayonet law, the Ku-Klux law, as they now present themselves in retrospective view. . . . Not only did they, in protecting the rights of some, break down the bulwarks of the citizen against arbitrary authority, and by transgressing all Constitutional limitations of power, endanger the rights of all; not only did they awaken in the breasts of many, however well disposed, the grave apprehension that a government or a ruling party assuming so much would stop at nothing, but such measures served directly to sustain in power the very adventurers who by their revolting system of plunder were violently keeping alive the spirit of disorder which that legislation was to repress.” 12 12/7/2015 Election of 1872 • Liberal Republicans “bolt” from Republicans (led by Radicals), 1870-74 – Platform stresses return of local self-government and “largest liberty consistent with public order” • Fuse with “New Departure” Democrats – Ostensibly concede basic policies of Reconstruction – Focus on tax burdens and “clean government” • Republican (U.S. Grant) v. Liberal Republican (Horace Greeley) – Grant wins, but Democrats “redeem” 7 of 11 former CSA states by 1874 Outline: Reconstruction and redemption I. II. III. IV. V. Framing concerns Presidential reconstruction (review) Radical reconstruction The challenge of enforcement Redemption 13 12/7/2015 Redemption: the 1876 election cycle • Widespread political violence in remaining Republican states, especially South Carolina and Mississippi • Safe elections require • President Grant to Mississippi Governor Adelbert Ames: – “The whole public are tired out with these annual autumnal outbreaks in the South, and the great majority are ready now to condemn any interference on the part of the Government.” “For Reform and Better Times! Democrats Doing Their Duty. First Grand Rally of the Campaign,” Cleveland Plain Dealer (September 15, 1876) “National Notes. The Congressional Committees in South Carolina - Democrats Disgusted to Find a Fair Election,” Jamestown (NY) Journal (December 29, 1876). Compromise of 1877 • Presidential election of 1876 (R-Hayes; D-Tilden) • Disputed outcome in Electoral College leads to constitutional crisis 14 12/7/2015 Compromise of 1877 • Presidential election of 1876 (R-Hayes; D-Tilden) • Disputed outcome in Electoral College leads to constitutional crisis • Backroom deal: southern Democrats concede contested delegates (and White House) in exchange for • The deal: – Southern Democratic appointment to cabinet – Promises of federal support for southern transcontinental railroad and other aids for southern business – Removal of last federal troops from southern states • Effectively, de facto state of affairs in South affirmed at national level Thomas Nast, “Compromise-Indeed!,” Harper’s Weekly (January 27, 1877). 15 12/7/2015 Outline: Reconstruction and redemption I. II. III. IV. V. VI. Framing concerns Presidential reconstruction (review) Radical reconstruction The challenge of enforcement Redemption Conclusions Conclusion • The Sectional Crisis (1848-1861), Civil War (1861-65) and Reconstruction (1865-1877) resolved questions established at the nation’s founding • Union victory “positives” – Slavery was dead – The union was inviolable and the federal government supreme • Union victory “negatives” – Evisceration of black civil rights leads to their sub-citizenship – Plantation zone becomes semi-autonomous within the union Narrative of party politics 1. National parties in the Second Party System (1828-1854) operated to suppress sectionally-divisive issues related to slavery 2. “Agitation” over slavery-related issues polarizes national politics; party system reformulates along sectional lines (the Civil War Party System, 1854-1860) 3. This “breaks” the system (formal politics cannot resolve the sectional controversy) when election of Lincoln leads to secession and war (18611865) 4. War suspends the normal operations of national party politics (though muted party politics remain important in the Union) 5. With Union victory, slavery’s abolition, and national reunification there is a return to the party system 6. It falls to extra-political dissent (insurgency) on issues of race, leaving oneparty rule in the South (1876-1932/48/64/present) 16 12/7/2015 Take-aways: What was it about? • In seeking to vindicate the war and render its sacrifices meaningful, Radical Reconstruction reconfigured federal-state relations – Defines national citizenship and makes federal government ultimate guarantor • Driven by political dialectic over the meaning of black freedom between metropole and periphery – White supremacists exploit desire to return to “normal” politics – Republican efforts ultimately delimited by ideas of acceptable reach of federal power • Reconstruction fails; once again, traditional party politics insufficient to resolve disputes without resource to violence Take-aways: What did it mean? • The war was not over – No theory for prosecuting an asymmetrical insurgent war – Ackerman: “Really these combinations amount to war and cannot be effectively crushed on any other theory.” – Concern for civil liberties and fears of “centralization” – Insurgency raised the political costs of enforcement to unacceptable levels – Reconstruction thus constitutes the nation’s first failure to control a terrorist insurgency 17