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The Economic Effects: The New South
Without slave labor, the old plantation system could not be restored.
Share Cropping and Tenant Farming
Many plantation owners entered into share-cropping arrangements with their former slaves. The landowner
provided a cabin, a mule, tools, and land to the share cropper. The share cropper, in turn, gave a large share of
his crop to the landowner as a form of rent. Other freedmen became tenant farmers, renting the land but
providing their own tools and provisions. Few freedmen were able to become landowners themselves.
Agricultural Progress and Industrial Growth
After the war, the introduction of new farming methods increased the yield per acre. New crops, like fruits and
vegetables were added to old staples like cotton, tobacco, rice, and sugar. With financial backing from the
North, railroads, cotton mills, and steel furnaces were built. With industrial expansion, people began moving
from farms into Southern cities looking for jobs. This encouraged the growth of Atlanta and several other large
cities.
Leading Agriculturalist - George Washington
Carver
George Washington Carver was an African American
scientist who trained at the Tuskegee Institute. His
discoveries helped revolutionize Southern agriculture by
teaching farmers about scientific farming, such as rotating
crops to prevent soil erosion. Carver taught them to plant
peanuts, sweet potatoes, and other crops to restore nitrates to
the soil. He is credited with developing hundreds of new
products and helping to end the South's dependence on cotton.
Photograph of George Washington Carver taken
by Frances Benjamin Johnston in 1906.
Industrial school established for ex-slaves in Richmond, Virginia during Reconstruction
Family of sharecroppers in Alabama, 1939
Source: A History of the United States, Volume 2, v. 1.0.2
by David J. Trowbridge
adapted by: Christopher Leadingham (v1.0.2 - Published)
The Politics of Reconstruction
Plans for Reconstruction
After the South surrendered in April 1865, the first major issue confronting the national government was how
the Southern states were to be admitted back into the Union. A bitter power struggle followed between the
President and Congress over which branch had the power to determine the conditions for admission.
The Presidential Plan
President Lincoln believed that in order to rebuild national unity, Southern states should be treated leniently.
He proposed that in theory, the Southern States had never even left the Union. But in 1865, only a few days
after the South surrendered, Lincoln was assassinated. The new President, Andrew Johnson, lacked Lincoln's
authority. Nevertheless, he sought to follow Lincoln's plan of lenient treatment. Johnson recognized newly
formed Southern state governments and pardoned most rebel leaders. Many Southern states chose former
Confederate leaders for seats in the new Congress.
The Congressional Plan for Reconstruction
Many Northerners were outraged at the election of rebel leaders in the South. The Radical Republicans, a group
of Northern Congressmen, wanted the freedmen to be granted political equality. They passed a Civil Rights
Bill guaranteeing freedmen's rights, and restored military rule over the South. To ensure that this legislation
would not be held unconstitutional by the Supreme Court, they rewrote the Civil Rights Bill as the Fourteenth
Amendment. This amendment granted citizenship to all former slaves. It also prohibited state governments
from denying any citizen the right to a fair trial or equal protection of the laws. In effect, the Fourteenth
Amendment allowed federal courts to protect individual rights from state governments. Before being
readmitted into the Union, Southern states were forced to ratify the amendment.
A political cartoon of Andrew Johnson and Abraham Lincoln from 1865, during the Reconstruction era of the United
States (1863–1877). Cartoon print shows Vice President Andrew Johnson sitting atop a globe, attempting to stitch
together the map of the United States with needle and thread. Abraham Lincoln stands, right, using a split rail to
position the globe. Johnson warns, "Take it quietly Uncle Abe and I will draw it closer than ever. " While Lincoln
commends him, "A few more stitches Andy and the good old Union will be mended. "
Source: Boundless. “Lincoln's Plan and Congress's Response.” Boundless U.S. History. Boundless, 14 Nov. 2014.
Retrieved 02 Jan. 2015 from https://www.boundless.com/u-s-history/textbooks/boundless-u-s-historytextbook/reconstruction-1865-1877-19/the-battle-over-reconstruction-139/lincoln-s-plan-and-congress-s-response-7371986/
The Impeachment of President Andrew Johnson
To enforce its program, Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act, limiting the President's power to dismiss his
own Cabinet members. Johnson refused to obey this law, which he believed was unconstitutional. When
Johnson dismissed his Secretary of War, Congressional leaders attempted to remove Johnson from office
through the process of impeachment. Johnson was impeached by the House of Representatives, but the
Radical Republicans fell one vote short in the Senate of removing Johnson from office.
The Social Effects: The Segregated South
The social system that developed in the aftermath of Reconstruction was one of racial segregation and white
supremacy, depriving African Americans of their political and civil rights.
The Failure to Achieve Equality
There were several reasons why Reconstruction failed to achieve true equality:
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Economic Dependence. The failure to give freedmen their own land after the Civil War meant that
African Americans in the South remained dependent on their former masters. Most freedmen were
uneducated, weakening their ability to compete with whites on equal terms. To protect their livelihoods,
African Americans were often afraid to assert their political rights.
White Terrorism. Starting in 1866, some whites created secret organizations to hold blacks down by
using terrorist tactics. The most important of these organizations was the Ku Klux Klan. The Klan
terrorized African Americans with violence against those who asserted their rights. Faced with such
intimidation, most African Americans were afraid to challenge the Klan.
A cartoon threatening that the KKK would lynch carpetbaggers (Northerners who went South to help
freedmen or profit from Reconstruction)
Source: Independent Monitor, Alabama, 1868
African Americans Lose the Right to Vote
In the years after Reconstruction, Southern state governments systematically stripped African Americans of
their rights. Based on their own prejudices and the need to satisfy poor whites, Southern legislators passed new
laws in the 1890s to prohibit African Americans from voting.
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Literacy Tests were introduced as a requirement for voting. Most freedmen lacked a formal education
and were unable to pass this test.
Poll Taxes were registration fees for voting. These poll taxes were imposed on African Americans who
were too poor to pay for them.
Grandfather Clauses were state laws that allowed those whose ancestors qualified to vote in 1867
without passing a literacy test or paying a poll tax. These clauses exempted poor whites but not poor
African Americans, since few African Americans were qualified to vote in 1867.
Racial Segregation: The Jim Crow Laws
In the 1880s and afterward, the Southern legislatures passed laws segregating (separating) African Americans
from whites. African Americans were not permitted to ride in the same train cars, attend the same schools, or
use many of the same public facilities was whites. These laws became known as "Jim Crow" laws. In 1896, the
Supreme Court upheld racial segregation in Plessy v. Ferguson.
Segregated Drinking Fountains
. . . We believe you are not familiar with the description of the Ku Klux Klans riding nightly over
the country, going from county to county, and in the county towns, spreading terror wherever they
go by robbing, whipping, ravishing, and killing our people without provocation [reason], compelling
[forcing] colored people to break the ice and bathe in the chilly waters of the Kentucky river.
The [state] legislature has adjourned. They refused to enact any laws to suppress [stop] KuKlux disorder. We regard them [the Ku-Kluxers] as now being licensed to continue their dark and
bloody deeds under cover of the dark night. They refuse to allow us to testify in the state courts where
a white man is concerned. We find their deeds are perpetrated [carried out] only upon colored men
and white Republicans. We also find that for our services to the government and our race we have
become the special object of hatred and persecution at the hands of the Democratic Party. Our people
are driven from their homes in great numbers, having no redress [relief from distress] only [except]
the United States court, which is in many cases unable to reach them.
We would state that we have been law-abiding citizens, pay our taxes, and in many parts of the
state our people have been driven from the polls, refused the right to vote. Many have been
slaughtered while attempting to vote. We ask, how long is this state of things to last? . . .
— Petition to the United States Congress, March 25, 1871, Miscellaneous Documents of the United States Senate,
42nd Congress, 1st Session, 1871
Based on the document, how did the Ku Klux Klan terrorize African Americans?
Photographs of the South at the end of the Civil War
The Social Effects: Accomplishments of the Reconstruction Governments
Among the greatest accomplishments of the Reconstruction governments were new public schools, laws
banning racial discrimination, and the rebuilding of public roads, buildings, and railroads.
Freedmen actively participated in running Southern governments. During Reconstruction, over 600 African
Americans served as state legislators and sixteen were elected to the U.S. Congress.
First African American Senator and Representatives: Sen. Hiram Revels (R-MS), Rep. Benjamin S.
Turner (R-AL), Robert DeLarge (R-SC), Josiah Walls(R-FL), Jefferson Long (R-GA), Joseph
Rainey and Robert B. Elliott (R-SC)
Source: Library of Congress
New Constitutional Amendments granted African Americans more rights:
• 13th Amendment: Formally abolished slavery.
• 14th Amendment: Guaranteed citizenship to African Americans.
• 15th Amendment: Grants African American males voting rights.
. . . 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. . . .
— 14th Amendment, Section 1, 1868
How does the Fourteenth Amendment define citizenship?
An
1867 Harper’s Weekly illustration features three figures symbolizing black political leadership: a skilled
craftsman, a sophisticated city dweller, and a Union Army veteran.
Freedmen's Bureau
The U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, popularly known as the Freedmen's
Bureau, was established in 1865 by Congress to help former black slaves and poor whites in the South
in the aftermath of the U.S. Civil War (1861-65)
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Oversaw over 3,000 schools for freedpersons
o Howard University
o Hampton Institute
Established a system of free labor
Secured justice for blacks in state courts
Settled disputes and enforced contracts between white landowners and their black labor force.
The Freedmen's Bureau's staff was cut drastically in 1869 due to lack of Northern and Southern
political support. It ceased operations in 1872.
Women's Suffrage and Reconstruction
Suffragists were greatly disappointed to learn that women were excluded from the Fifteenth
Amendment that granted all men the right to vote. However, they continued to protest, march,
and organize in the hope that they would soon be able to legally vote.
.
Long Term Effects of Reconstruction
"Accidental Racist" by Brad Paisley Feat. LL Cool J.
They called it Reconstruction,
fixed the buildings, dried some tears.
We're still sifting through the rubble,
after 150 years.
Is there any truth to what Paisley is saying? Presumably he's not referring to literal
rubble, but is the South still suffering from some negative consequences of
Reconstruction?
The 'Supreme Court' Ship declares: "Except for a few outliers... Racism is over!"
(Racism in American is still apparent with Stop and Frisk; Donald Sterling; Cliven Bundy; Trayvon Martin; and
Paula Deen wearing their KKK hoods on an island alone in the ocean
The shooting of Michael Brown occurred on August 9, 2014, in Ferguson, Missouri,
a suburb of St. Louis. Brown, an 18-year-old black man, was fatally shot by Darren Wilson, 28,
a white Ferguson police officer. The disputed circumstances of the shooting and the resultant
protests and civil unrest received considerable attention in the U.S. and abroad, and sparked a
vigorous debate about law enforcement's relationship with African-Americans, and police use
of force doctrine in Missouri and nationwide.
Tens of thousands of protesters poured through the streets of Manhattan on Saturday in New
York City's largest demonstration since a grand jury decided not to indict an NYPD officer in
the death of Staten Island resident Eric Garner.
On December 21, 2014, two New York City police officers were "assassinated," shot
"execution-style" as they sat in their patrol vehicle in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of
Brooklyn, city officials said.
NYPD Commissioner William Bratton said the two officers were shot with "no warning, no
provocation."