Download APUSH The New South

The "New South"
#14
By the late 1860s, some Southerners were already calling for a more diversified economy -- cotton was no
longer "king." Increasingly there was a move from farm to factory, and many people encouraged
industrialization in the South and an increased capital investment in the Southern economy from outside
sources. This lecture explores the economic transformation and the racial politics of the "New" South after
the Civil War. (Please watch “Aftershock” video from SOHAPUSH to better understand the South) :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIC8ifQlDVY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=si0QubYTW-Q&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXUc0zXbUHY
Some questions to keep in mind:
1.
2.
3.
How did the Civil War transform the South? Was it really a "New" South? Why or why not?
Were freed slaves better off in the South after the Civil War? Why or why not?
What were the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments? Did they transform American society? If so,
how?
General observations about the South
1. The South was never monolithic - it has never had a monopoly on racism, violence, or one-party-politics.
These have been more overtly evident in the South, however, than elsewhere in the nation.
2. Only white Southerners have been defeated in war and had their territory occupied by the enemy. That
experience has fueled tensions within Southerners between their regional and their national loyalties.
3. Until 1950, a majority of blacks in America lived in the South. Until then, racial intermingling was more
common in the South than elsewhere, although white Southerners have tried to escape that intermingling.
4. The term "Solid South" refers to the fact that no Republican presidential candidate carried a Southern
state in the elections between 1877-1920. This is no longer true - Richard Nixon carried every Southern
state in 1972.
The "New South"
In the 1870s, Southerners recognized the need to present a new image of themselves to the world and to
stimulate economic development. Henry Grady, editor of the Atlanta Constitution, was a strong proponent
of this "New South." In 1886 he spoke before the New England Society on the "New South." The major
points of his speech were:
1.
2.
3.
The United States was no longer two separate nations -- Southerners had erased the MasonDixon Line
The Southern economy had changed -- industrialization had replaced plantation agriculture
Race relations had changed -- blacks were now partners in the "New South"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMW7dQcKaOo
Henry W. Grady
Born in 1840. Henry W. Grady, a native of Atlanta, Georgia, received a thorough education. After
engaging for some years successfully in business, his ambition turned to journalism. He was the leading
writer of several popular newspapers, and became the Georgia correspondent of the New York Herald.
His writings through a series of letters under the title of "Sheep, Gold, and Oranges," aroused the interest
of many Southerners in industrial development.
Subsequently he became the editor and part-owner of the Atlanta Constitution which became (and
remains) one of the most influential organs of the South. He contributed numerous articles on Southern
subjects to both Harper's and the Century Magazine that attracted national attention. The influence of
the Atlanta Constitution in political affairs was widely felt throughout the Southern states. Its doctrines
advocated closer ties between North and South in all things that promoted the prosperity of the nation.
Two ways to examine Grady's claims of a "New South"
1. Economically
2. Race Relations
1. Economically
After the Civil War a major undertaking was the reconstruction of Southern railroads, ports, roads, and
communication systems. Federal grant money supported this reconstruction. Between 1865 and the early
1870s, over 8,000 miles of new railroad track were laid. By the end of the 1880s, the South had one of the
best railroad systems not just in the United States, but in the world. However, in rebuilding their own
economy and infrastructure, Southerners had become dependent on aid from the federal government.
Once the new infrastructure was firmly in place, Southerners began arguing for the need to industrialize.
After the war, many southerners could no longer depend solely on cotton plantations, especially while
the rest of the country was investing in industry." Leaders called for a move from the farm to the factory.
Businessmen, such as Richard H. Edmond, did everything possible to encourage Northerners and
foreigners to invest in Southern industry.
Richard H. Edmonds was an important leader of the "farm to factory" movement. As editor of The
Manufacturers' Record, the leading business journal of the South, Edmonds had two goals: (1) to
encourage outside capital investment in the South's economy and (2) to promote every possible form of
industrial development.
Three major industries emerged in the South after the Civil War
1.
2.
3.
Cotton
Iron
Tobacco
Cotton: In the 1870s a "cotton crusade"
began. Initial attempts to encourage
construction of Southern mills with Southern
finance capital gave way to a mill industry
(1880 - 160 mills; 1900 - 400+mills), largely
controlled by outside (Northeastern United
States and foreign) capitalists. Racist hiring
practices dominated employment in the new
industry.
Great Olympian Cotton Mill in Georgia
Most factory jobs went to whites with blacks doing only
unskilled jobs if they were employed at all. Mill owners
justified this discrimination by saying that whites had
suffered in competition with blacks for agricultural jobs
before the Civil War. Mill owners also used racial tensions
to squash white labor from organizing by threatening to
hire black workers if white workers did not cooperate.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSJZ12iMzvQ
Cotton picking in Mississippi
Iron and Steel: Southerners tapped rich coal and iron ore reserves so effectively that by 1900, the South
led the world in coal production. At the same time, they fostered (1880-1900) tremendous growth in iron
and steel mills. Initial financing of the steel and iron industries came from Southern sources, but by 1900,
foreign investors and Northerners such as Andrew Carnegie largely controlled these industries.
Tobacco: Traditionally tobacco was grown but seldom processed in the South. In the late 1870s and early
1880s, however, Southern capitalists established prosperous tobacco factories. By 1900, tobacco
processing was a major industry. As was the case with cotton and iron/steel, outside capitalists controlled
the industry.
In sum, Northerners had indeed reconstructed the Southern economy, one they now controlled, but they
did little to change the South itself (and particularly traditional racial and social relations).
2. Race Relations
For most of America's history the majority of African Americans have lived in the South. No other section
in the United States has experienced such an intermingling of African and European, master and slave.
However, a major theme of southern history prior to 1863 was the prevention of intermingling between
the different races, cultures and classes.
After the war, the most significant issue for a handful of Northern leaders was the status of freed slaves.
In response to questions about the legality of the Emancipation Proclamation (1863), Congress passed
the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution. The amendment, which declared slavery illegal, was
ratified by the necessary number of states, although not by any Southern states.
Amendment XIII
Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, *except as a punishment for crime whereof the party
shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their
jurisdiction. (all the African American has to do is break a crime)
Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
In the wake of the Thirteenth Amendment, many southern states began passing "Black Codes" which
took property ownership and the franchise away from blacks. Mississippi and South Carolina passed the
first and toughest measures late in 1865, and other southern states soon followed.
In response, Congress next enacted (and enough states ratified) the Fourteenth Amendment in 1868. The
first clause of that Amendment was clearly directed at clearing up the status of African-Americans as
citizens.
Go to Amendment XIV
When Southerners claimed that blacks were not citizens, Congress and the states adopted, in 1870, the
Fifteenth Amendment that dictated that no state shall deny any citizen the right to vote on account of
race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Amendment XV
Section 1. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United
States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Many Southerners did everything they could to avoid compliance with the spirit and letter of these three
major amendments.
Ku Klux Klan
The KKK was a white fraternal organization that used fear, violence, and intimidation to persecute blacks
and to prevent black men from voting. Initial purpose was to keep southern blacks from voting for
republican representatives.
Redeemers (also called Bourbons)
In the 1870s, conservative white Southern democrats, called Redeemers or Bourbons, began to take
control of state governments. A leading example was South Carolina.
"Mississippi Plan" - In 1890, Mississippi's new state constitution banned blacks from voting and office
holding in order to "purify" Mississippi politics.
"Grandfather Clause" - Many Southerners and Northerners alike had made challenges against property
and literacy tests, claiming that states were using them as a way to prevent blacks (and many poor
whites) from voting. In 1898, Louisiana responded to these challenges by legislating the so-called
"Grandfather Clause" which stated that voting tests would not apply to voters whose fathers or
grandfathers were registered voters on January 1, 1867, when no black man in the state was registered
to vote.
"Jim Crow" laws - a system of laws ensuring social segregation in transportation, accommodations,
schools, courts, etc. which arose in every Southern state.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChWXyeUTKg8
Plessy v. Ferguson - In 1896, the United States Supreme Court ruled, in a 7-1 vote, that "separate but
equal" accommodations on railroad cars conformed to the Fourteenth Amendment's guarantee of equal
protection. That decision was used to justify segregating all public facilities, including schools. Most
school districts, ignoring Plessy's "equal" requirement, neglected their black schools. This ruling held until
1954 when in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, the Supreme Court ruled that separate
institutions are inherently unequal.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s54MsnV2Dp0&feature=related
The Plessy case came from Louisiana, which, in 1890, passed the Separate Car Law, providing that
separate cars be provided for whites and blacks. In 1892, passenger Homer Plessy refused to sit in a Jim
Crow car. He was brought before Judge John H. Ferguson of the Criminal Court for New Orleans. In the
original trial, Plessy is found guilty, and this decision was upheld by the Louisiana Supreme Court. The law
was later challenged in the U. S. Supreme Court on grounds that it conflicted with the 13th and 14th
Amendments.
When pressed to define exactly what "South" or "East" or "Midwest" means, we run into difficulties, as
regions of the country are culturally, economically, and historically complex. One case that highlights this
difficulty is especially interesting: the American attempt to define (and often redefine) the "American
West."