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MS Studies
Ch. 6
Reconstruction & Transition
After the War
• MS went from very wealthy to ruins
• Cities, roads, bridges, towns, buildings, all were
destroyed
• 1/3 of white males were killed or injured during
the war
• 400,000 freedmen (former slaves) now existed
• Homeless, uneducated, jobless
• MS social order was gone
• Blacks were free
• Whites had hard time accepting them as equal
Freed Slaves
• Freedmen’s Bureau was created to help former
slaves with food, shelter, work, education and
assimilate to freedom.
• Rumors stated that every black male would receive
40 acres of land and a mule. This never happened.
• Most land was confiscated during the war was
returned to the owners.
Chapter 6 (Reconstruction)
6
Presidential Reconstruction
• Lincoln’s Plan for Reconstruction
• All Southerners, except high ranking
Confederate officials, would be pardoned
after signing oath of loyalty
• When 10% of people signed oath, they could
create a state government and be readmitted.
•Johnson’s Plan for Reconstruction
• Same as Lincoln’s except high ranking
military and Confederate officials and those
owning more than $20,000 worth of property
were not pardoned.
• Congress wanted tougher requirements and
pressured Johnson to add the following:
• States must repeal Secession Ordinances
• Void their War Debt
• Ratify 13th Amendment
Lincoln & Johnson
Constitutional Convention 1865
• William L. Sharkey named temporary governor by
President Johnson
• MS was first to hold convention and everyone was
watching.
• 100 men met on Aug. 14, 1865. Most were prewar leaders.
• They created a government just like the one before
the war.
• Blacks were not given voting rights.
• Most white Mississippians agreed with the
delegates at the convention.
William Sharkey
Herschel Johnson
led the state
constitutional
convention in 1865.
MS’s Post War Government
• Benjamin Humphrey’s was elected governor
(former Confederate general).
• Most elected officials had served in the
Confederate government and refused to grant rights
to blacks.
• Legislature passed the Black Codes to control
blacks.
• Black marriages legal, but interracial
marriage was illegal.
• Blacks could sue in court, but blacks could
not testify against whites.
• Black could only rent or lease land in cities or
towns.
• Blacks had to have employment contracts and
were arrested if contract was broken.
• Blacks could not carry firearms or weapons.
• Blacks could not assemble without permission.
• Jailed blacks could be rented out to anyone
who paid their jail fine.
Benjamin Humphreys
U.S. Congress
• U.S. Congress refused to seat MS Representatives
and passed the 14th Amendment guaranteeing all
people their rights “white or black”.
• March 2, 1867 Congress passed the Reconstruction
Act which divided the South into 5 military districts
and made readmission to the Union much harder.
• MS was in the 4th district and Major Gen. Edward
O. Ord became military governor in MS.
14th Amendment
Reconstruction Map
MS During Reconstruction
• All eligible males registered to vote regardless of race.
• MS Politics included:
• Democrats – white southerners who did not support
black rights
• Republicans – whites and blacks who supported
black rights.
• Scalawags – southerners who supported the
Republican Party
• Carpetbaggers – northern whites who were
Republicans and moved to MS.
• The Republican Party used their majority of votes (black
and white) to call for a new state constitutional
convention.
Carpetbagger
Constitution of 1868
• 100 delegates – 17 black, 29 scalawags, 25
carpetbaggers, 17 Democrats
• They created the states 3rd and most democratic
constitution.
• Universal male suffrage granted
• Free public education for ages 6 – 18
• No discrimination in public transportation
• Property qualification for voting or holding
office eliminated
• Property rights granted to women
• Disfranchised all persons who supported
secession and helped Confederacy
• Whites had to sign oath stating “all men are
created equal”
• This constitution was not ratified at first because
of the disfranchising clause and equality
oath. When President Grant eliminated those
provisions in 1869, the Constitution was ratified.
President Ulysses S. Grant
Primary School
in Vicksburg
Freedmen school
Republican Rule
•
•
•
•
Republicans ruled MS
1869 James Alcorn was elected governor.
Republicans had majority in state legislature.
State ratified 14th (citizenship/rights) and 15th
(male voting rights) amendments and was
readmitted to the Union on Feb. 23, 1870.
• Hiram Revels became the first black to serve in
U.S. Senate when he was appointed to fill Jefferson
Davis’ unexpired term
• Adelbert Ames was elected to the other Senate seat.
• Ames defeated Alcorn for governor in 1873.
James Alcorn
Adelbert Ames
replaced James
Alcorn as governor
in 1873. He was a
Union General in the
Civil War.
Hiram Revels
born free in NC
•
apprenticed as a barber
•
Attended a seminary school
and became a Methodist
Episcopal preacher
•
Served as principal to a
black high school in
Baltimore
•
Fought in the Siege of
Vicksburg
•
Became a minister for
Natchez, MS
•
Founded schools for black
children
•
1st black to serve in U.S.
Senate and Congress
Black Political Power
• Blacks served as early as 1868 in political roles.
• 1868 Benjamin Montgomery became justice of the
peace and is believed to be first black to hold public
office in MS.
• Many blacks served in the MS House and Senate.
• A.K. Davis was elected Lieutenant Governor in
1873.
• John Lynch served as MS’s only black member in the
U.S. House of Representatives.
• Blanche K. Bruce of MS was the first black elected
to the U.S. Senate and the first to serve a full term.
John R. Lynch
Blanche K. Bruce
1st African
Americans
in Congress
Education
• Constitution of 1868 created free public schools (tax based)
• State supported them with funding and elected a state
superintendent who appointed county superintendents.
• The following colleges were created:
• University of MS (whites) expanded 1871
• Alcorn State College (blacks) 1871
• MS Agricultural and Mechanical College (whites).
Now MS State University 1877
• Jackson State (blacks) 1877
• MS University for Women (whites) 1884
• Millsaps College (whites) 1892
• Mississippi College (whites) expanded 1907
University of MS
Alcorn College
MS University for Women
Millsaps College
Mississippi College
End of Republican Rule
• From the beginning of Reconstruction, white
Democrats tried to regain political power in MS.
• Those who wanted to return control of the state to
the Democrats were called redeemers.
• The election of 1875 was the turning point.
• White Republicans were threatened with violence
and became social outcasts if they did not become
Democrat.
• Blacks were driven from voting polls with violence
or forced to vote Democrat by their employers.
• The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was the terror group
used to intimidate voters.
• Republicans won 4 of 6 congressional seats and
claimed the majority in the state congress.
• Republican senators were later replaced by
Democrats.
• Republican Governor Adelbert Ames was
threatened with impeachment and resigned.
Ku Klux Klan (KKK)
Chapter 6 (Reconstruction)
47
1925
Chapter 6 (Reconstruction)
52
Presidential Election of 1876
• Democrat candidate – Samuel Tilden
• Republican candidate – Rutherford B. Hayes
• Neither candidate won a majority. Some electoral
votes were contested.
• Commission was formed to pick a winner.
• Southern Democrats used a filibuster (continuous
speechmaking to delay action) to slow the
commission.
• If Hayes promised to withdraw troops from the South,
Democrats agreed to stop the filibuster and support
Hayes.
• Hayes won the election and military occupation ended
Rutherford Hayes & Samuel Tilden
Constitution of 1890
• MS called Constitutional convention in 1890
• MS reapportioned (redrew district lines) to give
white majorities power over black populated areas
• Delegates met in Jackson in Aug. 1890
• One black (Isaiah Montgomery) attended
• New voting requirements:
• Register at least 4 months before election
• Live in the state for 2 years before voting
• Live in voting district for 1 year
• Pay a $2 poll tax
• Pass literacy test. Had to read any section
of the state constitution or “understand it
when read to them”. This was the
understanding clause.
• Black voters dropped from 142,000 to 8,615
• White voters dropped 30,000
Isaiah Montgomery