Download Freedmen. - Jessamine County Schools

Between 1865 and 1877, the federal government
carried out a program to repair the damage to the
South and restore the southern states to the Union.
This program was known as Reconstruction.


Freedmen (freed slaves) were starting out their new
lives in a poor region with slow economic activity.


Plantation owners lost slave labor worth $3 billion.
Poor white Southerners could not find work because of
new job competition from Freedmen.
The war had destroyed two thirds of the South’s
shipping industry and about 9,000 miles of railroad.

The Taste of Freedom
Freedom of movement: Enslaved people often walked
away from plantations upon hearing that the Union
army was near.
 Exodusters: moved to Kansas and Texas
Freedom to own land: Proposals to give white-owned
land to freed people got little support from the
government. Unofficial land redistribution did take
place, however.
Freedom to worship: African Americans formed their
own churches and started mutual aid societies,
debating clubs, drama societies, and trade
associations.
Freedom to learn: Between 1865 and 1870, black
educators founded 30 African American colleges.
1865, Congress created the Freedman’s
Bureau to help former slaves get a new
start in life. This was the first major relief
agency in United States history.
Bureau’s Accomplishments
Built thousands of schools to educate Blacks.
Former slaves rushed to get an education for
themselves and their children.
Education was difficult and dangerous to gain.
Southerners hated the idea that Freedmen
would go to school.
Letter by a Teacher teaching freedmen
on the importance of education, 1869:
“It is surprising to me to see the amount of
suffering which many of the people endure
for the sake of sending their children to
school. Men get very low wages here---from
$2.50 to $8.00 month usually, while a first
rate hand may get $10.00, and a peck or two
of meal per week for rations-----and a great
many men cannot get work at all.
The women take in sewing and washing, go
out by day to sour, etc. There is one woman
who supports three children and keeps them
at school; she says, “ I don’t care how hard I
has to work, if I can only send Sallie and the
boys to school looking respectable.”
Importance of Educ to freedmen
Freedmen’s
Bureau 4
Freedmen’s Bureau 5
Lincoln’s speech
“With malice
toward none; with
charity for all; with
firmness in the
right, as God gives
us to see the right,
let us strive on to
finish the work we
are in; to bind up the nation’s
wounds….to do all which may achieve
and cherish a just and a lasting peace,
among ourselves, and with all nations.”
• State can be brought back into the Union
when 10 percent of its voters from the 1860
election take an oath of allegiance to the
United States and abide by emancipation.
• Lincoln’s “Ten Percent Plan”
pardon
• 50 percent of a state’s voters must take oath
of allegiance
• Emancipation for slaves
• Congress will administer Reconstruction
• Lincoln pocket-vetoes the bill, and
Congress responds by refusing to seat
delegates from Louisiana government
created by Lincoln’s plan
Amnesty: Presidential pardon
•Rebels sign an oath of allegiance
•10% of the population
• Leading Confederates lose right to vote, BUT
•Even high ranking Confederate officials can petition for pardons
Write new state Constitutions
•approve the 13th Amendment
•reject secession and state’s rights
•submit to U.S. Government authority
No mention of
•Education for freedmen
•Citizenship and voting rights
•Remained loyal to the
Union during the Civil War.
•Lincoln chose him as his VP
to help with the South’s
Reconstruction.
•Supported Lincoln’s Plan
•Engaged in a power
struggle with Congress over
who would lead the country
through Reconstruction.
•Would be impeached but
not removed from office.
John Picture background info
Plans compared
Reconstruction Act of 1867--76 (Harsh)
•Amnesty : Presidential pardon
•oath of allegiance---50%
•high ranking Confederate officials
•lose voting rights if you don’t sign oath
•Write new state Constitutions
•Ratify: 13, 14 & 15 Amendments
•reject secession and state’s rights
•submit to U.S. Government authority
•Help for Freedmen
•Freedmen’s Bureau for education
•40 acres and a mule
•Divide the South into 5 military districts
Charles Sumner
Thaddeus Stevens
•Wanted to see the South punished.
•Advocated political, social and economic equality
for the Freedmen.
•Would go after President Johnson through the
impeachment process after he vetoes the Civil
Rights Act of 1866.
Radical Republicans
Thaddeus Stevens, in Congress, 1866
“Strip a proud nobility of their bloated
estates, send them forth to labor and you
will thus humble the proud traitors.”
Thaddeus Stevens, in Congress, 1867
“I am for Negro suffrage in every rebel
state. If it be just, it should not be denied:
if it be necessary, it should be adopted: if it
be a punishment of traitors, they deserve
it.”
As southern states were restored to the Union under
President Johnson’s plan, they began to enact black
codes, laws that restricted freedmen’s rights.
The black codes established virtual slavery with
provisions such as these:
Curfews: Generally, black people could not gather after
sunset.
Vagrancy laws: Freedmen convicted of vagrancy– that is,
not working– could be fined, whipped, or sold for a year’s
labor.
Labor contracts: Freedmen had to sign agreements in
January for a year of work. Those who quit in the middle of a
contract often lost all the wages they had earned.
Land restrictions: Freed people could rent land or homes
only in rural areas. This restriction forced them to live on
plantations.
•President Johnson
vetoed the Civil Rights
Act of 1866
•Gave $$$$ to
Freedmen’s Bureau for
schools and granted
citizenship to the
Freedmen
•Congress believed
Johnson was working
against Reconstruction
and overrode his veto.
•Leads to the 14th
Amendment
An inflexible President, 1866: Republican cartoon
shows Johnson knocking Blacks of the Freedmen’s
Bureau by his veto. Johnson’s Veto
Impeachment: Bringing charges against
the President. Two steps involved……
1st Step: U. S. House of Representatives hold
hearings to decide if there are crimes committed.
They then vote on the charges and if there is a
majority, then, charges are brought against the
President.
2nd Step: U.S. Senate becomes a courtroom.
The President is tried for the charges brought
against him. The Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court is the judge. Once trial is completed,
Senators must vote to remove President with a
2/3’s vote.
Impeachment process
Brought up on 11
charges of high crimes
and misdemeanors.
Tenure in Office Act:
Law Congress passed.
President can’t fire any
of his cabinet members
without consulting
Congress.
 Presidency would suffer as
fired Edwin Stanton
a result of this failed
Missed being removed
impeachment.
from office by 1 vote
 President would be more of
a figure-head.
 Saved the separation of
powers of 3 branches govt.
Civil
Rights: What Blacks want
“All persons born in the U.S. are
citizens of this country and the state
they reside in. No state shall make or
enforce any law which deprives any
person of life, liberty, or property,
without due process of law, nor deny
to any person within its jurisdiction to
the equal protection of the laws.”
The Congress shall have power to
enforce by appropriate legislation, the
provisions of this article.
14th
14th: Rights of
Citizens
“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”.
The Congress shall have power to
enforce this article by appropriate
legislation.
14th
15th: Voting Rights
•13th Amendment
Abolished slavery
(1865)
•14th Amendment
Provided citizenship &
equal protection under
the law. (1868)
•15th Amendment
Provided the right to
vote for all men which
included white and
black men. (1870)
Voting rights
The 14th and 15th Amendments
In 1867 and 1869 Congress passed the 14th and 15th
Amendments, granting African American males
citizenship, equality under the law and the right to vote.
In 1867 and 1868, voters in southern states chose
delegates to draft new state constitutions. One quarter of
the delegates elected were black.
The new state constitutions guaranteed civil rights,
allowed poor people to hold political office, and set up a
system of public schools and orphanages.
In 1870, southern black men voted in legislative elections
for the first time. More than 600 African Americans were
elected to state legislatures, Louisiana gained a black
governor, and Hiram Revels of Mississippi became the
first African American elected to the Senate.
First Black
Senators and
representatives
in the 42st and
42nd Congress.
Senator Hiram
Revels, on the
left was elected
in 1870 to
replace the seat
vacated by
Jefferson Davis.
Black Congressmen
Once
Johnson is
impeached,
Congress passes
Reconstruction Act
of 1867.
The
South would
be reconstructed
under the Radical
Republicans plan.
Republicans
would elect Grant
as their President
and he would carry
out the Radical
Reconstruction.
“The Strong
Government”,
1869-1877. Grant
enforcing the
Reconstruction Act
of 1867 and
“forcing” the South
to change.
Military
Reconstructio
n
Each number indicates the
Military Districts
•Women rights
supporters refused
to support the 14th
Amendment giving
African American
Men citizenship
unless women were
added to it.
•Abolitionists would
not support
women’s rights
Abolitionists vs Women’s rights
New
South
New South
•Becomes
industrialized
•Cities rebuilt
•Railroads
•Schools, over
a thousand
•Hospitals, 45
in 14 states
•Diversify
economy.
Funding Reconstruction
Rebuilding the South’s infrastructure, the public
property and services that a society uses, was one giant
business opportunity.
Roads, bridges, canals, railroads, and telegraph lines had
to be rebuilt.
Funds were also needed to expand services to southern
citizens. Following the North’s example, all southern
states created public school systems by 1872.
Congress, private investors, and heavy taxes paid for
Reconstruction. Spending by Reconstruction legislatures
added another $130 million to southern debt.
Ku Klux Klan refers to
a secret society or an
inner circle
Organized in 1867, in
Pulaski, Tennessee by
Nathan Bedford Forrest.
Represented the ghosts
of dead Confederate
soldiers
Disrupted
Reconstruction as much
as they could.
Opposed Republicans,
Carpetbaggers,
Scalawags and
Freedmen.
Spreading Terror




The Ku Klux Klan
The Klan sought to eliminate the
Republican Party in the South by
intimidating voters.
They wanted to keep African
Americans as submissive
laborers.
They planted burning crosses on
the lawns of their victims and
tortured, kidnapped, or
murdered them.
Prosperous African Americans,
carpetbaggers, and scalawags
became their victims.
The Federal Response
 President Grant’s War On
Terrorism.
 The Enforcement Act of
1870 banned the use of
terror, force, or bribery to
prevent people from
voting.
 Other laws banned the
KKK and used the military
to protect voters and
voting places.
 As federal troops withdrew
from the South, black
suffrage all but ended.
kkk
ALL HATED BY THE KKK
Carpetbaggers
Northerners/Republicans sent to help
reconstruct the South….
Scalawags
Southerners who helped Carpetbaggers
Freedmen
Blacks who tried to vote or were
involved in the reconstruction of their
states governments.
During Radical Reconstruction, the Republican
Party was a mixture of people who had little in
common except a desire to prosper in the
postwar South. This bloc of voters included
freedmen and two other groups: carpetbaggers
and scalawags.
Northern Republicans who moved to the postwar
South became known as carpetbaggers.
Southerners gave them this insulting nickname,
which referred to a type of cheap suitcase made
from carpet scraps.
Carpetbaggers were often depicted as greedy men
seeking to grab power or make a fast buck.
White southern Republicans were seen as traitors
and called scalawags.
This was originally a Scottish word meaning
“scrawny cattle.”
Refers to one who is a “scoundrel”, reprobate or
unprincipled person.
Some scalawags were former Whigs who had
opposed secession.
Some were small farmers who resented the planter
class. Many scalawags, but not all, were poor.
kkk
Sharecroppers were Freedmen
and poor Whites who stayed in
the South and continued to
farm.
Freedmen signed a work contract
with their former masters .
Picked cotton or whatever crop the
landowner had.
Freedmen did not receive “40 acres
and a mule”
•Sharecropping is primarily
used in farming
•Landowner provided land,
tools, animals, house and
charge account at the local
store to purchase necessities
•Freedmen provided the labor.
•Sharecropping is based on the
“credit” system.
Advantages
Disadvantages
Part
of a business
venture
Raised their social
status
Received 1/3 to 1/2 of
crop when harvested
Raised their self
esteem
Blacks
stay in South
Some
landowners
refused to honor the
contract
Blacks
Sharecroppers
poor and in debt
Economic
slavery
6. Sharecropper
cannot leave the
farm as long as he
is in debt to the
landlord.
1. Poor whites and
freedmen have no
jobs, no homes, and
no money to buy
land.
2. Landowners need
laborers and have no
money to pay
laborers.
3. Hire poor whites
and freedmen as
laborers
5. At harvest time,
the sharecropper is
paid.
•Pays off debts.
•If sharecropper
owes more to the
landlord or store
than his share of the
crop is worth;
4. Landlord keeps track
of the money that
sharecroppers owe
him for housing, food
or local store.
•Sign contracts to
work landlord’s land
in exchange for a
part of the crop.
Sharecroppers
1876 Election
•Tilden did not
receive enough
electoral votes.
*
•Special
Commission
gives votes to
Hayes.
•Hayes wins the
election
*Disputed
Electoral votes
164
369 total electoral votes, need 185 to win.
•Democrats
refuse to
recognize Hayes
as President
Rutherford B. Hayes
Samuel Tilden
The Democrats and Republicans work out a deal to
recognize Hayes as President
In return, President Hayes must end Reconstruction
and pull the Union troops out of the South.
Once this happens, there is no protection for the
Freedmen and the South will regain their states and go
back to the way it was.
Agreement between
Democrats and
Republicans
•Hayes pulls the troops
out of the South.
•Southerners take over
their state governments
called “REDEEMERS”
•Successes Freedmen
would be lost because
Southerners would take
over their state
governments.
•Jim Crow laws kept
Blacks from voting and
becoming equal
citizens.
social reality
After Reconstruction, 1865 to 1876, there
were several ways that Southern states
kept Blacks from voting and segregated,
or separating people by the color of their
skin in public facilities.
Jim Crow laws, laws at the local and state
level which segregated whites from blacks
and kept African Americans as 2nd class
citizens and from voting.
poll taxes
literacy tests
grandfather clause
social reality
The systematic practice of
discriminating against and
segregating Black people,
especially as practiced in the
American South from the end
of Reconstruction to the mid20th century
Derogatory name for a Black
person, ultimately from the
title of a 19th-century minstrel
song.
Goal: Take away political
and constitutional rights
guaranteed by Constitution:
Voting and equality of all
citizens under the law.
JC laws
Jim Crow Laws: segregated
Whites and Blacks in public
facilities became the law after
Reconstruction:
schools, parks,
transportation,
restaurants,
etc….
•kept Blacks, minorities
and poor whites from
voting and as 2nd class
citizen status
•Used at the
local, state
levels and
eventually the
national to
separate the
races in
Poll Taxes: Before you could vote, you had
to pay taxes to vote. Most poor Blacks
could not pay the tax so they didn’t vote.
Literacy Test: You had to prove you could
read and write before you could vote….
Once again, most poor Blacks were not
literate.
Grandfather clause: If your grandfather
voted in the 1864 election than you could
vote…..Most Blacks did not vote in 1864, so
you couldn’t vote….
Reconstruction Ends
There were five main factors that
contributed to the end of Reconstruction.
•Corruption: Reconstruction legislatures & Grant’s
administration symbolized corruption & poor government.
•The economy: Reconstruction legislatures taxed and spent
heavily, putting the southern states deeper into debt.
•Violence: As federal troops withdrew from the South, some
white Democrats used violence and intimidation to prevent
freedmen from voting. This tactic allowed white Southerners to
regain control of the state governments.
•The Democrats’ return to power: The pardoned exConfederates combined with other white Southerners to form a
new bloc of Democratic voters known as the Solid South. They
blocked Reconstruction policies.
•The Country: The Civil War was over and many Americans
wanted to return to what the country was doing before the war.
Successes and Failures of
Reconstruction
Successes
Failures
Union is restored.
Many white southerners bitter
towards US govt & Republicans.
South’s economy grows and new
wealth is created in the North.
14th and 15th amendments
guarantee Blacks the rights of
citizenship, equal protection
under the law, and suffrage.
The South is slow to
industrialize.
After US troops are withdrawn,
southern state governments and
terrorist organizations effectively
deny Blacks the right to vote.
Freedmen’s Bureau and other
organizations help many black
families obtain housing, jobs,
and schooling.
Many black and white
southerners remain caught in a
cycle of poverty.
Southern states adopt a system of
mandatory education.
Racist attitudes toward African
Americans continue, in both the
South and the North.
Quote by Frederick Douglass 1
Quote by Frederick Douglass 2
Social equality vs. legal equality
Which way would the scale tip?
social reality
Supreme Court decision which
legalized segregation
throughout the nation.
•“Separate but Equal” as long as
public facilities were equal
•Problem: Black facilities would
never be equal to White facilities
•Our nation would be segregated
until the 1960’s.
Booker T. Washington
How do Black Americans overcome segregation?
Southern Perspective
•Former slave
•Wrote a book/Up From Slavery
•Before you are considered equal in society--must be
self sufficient like most Americans
•Stressed vocational education for Black Americans
•Gradualism and economic self-sufficiency
•Founder of Tuskegee Institute
W.E.B. Dubois
How do Black Americans overcome segregation?
Northern Perspective
• Fought for immediate Black equality in society
• Talented 10%: Demanded the top 10% of the
talented Black population be placed into the “power
positions”
• Gain equality by breaking into power structure
• Founder of NAACP
 National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People