Download Reconstruction: A Failed Revolution - IB

Reconstruction:
A Failed Revolution
Thesis Statement
During Reconstruction, the federal government
missed a unique opportunity to radically
restructure southern society along more
egalitarian lines. While conditions for AfricanAmericans began to improve during
Reconstruction, many of their gains were
quickly erased during the “Jim Crow” period
that followed.
Presidential Reconstruction
Johnson
Lincoln

10% Plan…
90% could
refuse loyalty
oath

No loyalty oath
required
Opposed helping
former slaves
Both

•Wanted to go easy on the South… heal the wounds of the war as
fast as possible.
•Supported the 13th Amendment… Ended slavery everywhere
•Liberally issued pardons to former Confederates
•Believed Southern states had NOT actually left the Union…
therefore Reconstruction was primarily a military endeavor, and
should be under the control of the executive branch.
Radical Reconstruction
•Harsh, punishing philosophy toward the South
•Wanted more help for former slaves
•50% Loyalty Oath
•Wanted to strictly exclude former Confederates
from political office
•Military Reconstruction Act of 1867 (5 Military
Districts)
•Believed that southern states had committed “state
suicide” and had to re-apply for statehood
(therefore Reconstruction should be in the hands of
the legislative branch).
Thaddeus Stevens
Charles Sumner
Help for Freedmen






Freedmen’s Bureau... Help w/ schools,
labor contracts, etc.
Civil Rights Act of 1866… Granted
African-Americans citizenship & all
rights of citizens
14th Amendment... Citizenship for
African-Americans, “Equal Treatment
under the Law
15th Amendment: Right to vote can't be
denied by race
Klan Acts (Force Acts) of 1870 &
1871… Gave military authority to
target the KKK… forced it to be more
secretive
BUT… No land redistribution
The 1866 Bi-Election
 A referendum on Radical Reconstruction.
 Johnson made an ill-conceived propaganda
tour around the country to push his plan.
 Republicans
won a 3-1
majority in
both houses
and gained
control of
every northern
state.
Johnson’s “Swing around
the Circle”
Reconstruction Acts of 1867
 Military Reconstruction Act
*
Restart Reconstruction in the 10 Southern states
that refused to ratify the 14th Amendment.
*
Divide the 10 “unreconstructed states” into 5
military
districts.
Black & White Political Participation
The Balance of Power in
Congress
State
White Citizens
Freedmen
SC
291,000
411,000
MS
353,000
436,000
LA
357,000
350,000
GA
591,000
465,000
AL
596,000
437,000
VA
719,000
533,000
NC
631,000
331,000
Republican Governments in the South




Freedmen: Freed slaves
“Carpetbaggers:” Northern
migrants who moved South
to help freedmen, or exploit
economic & political
opportunities
“Scalawags:” White
southern Republicans
How well did they do?...
Probably no better or worse
than Democratic
governments.
Racist Political Cartoon Depicted
Republican Governments in the South
Freedom Schools
Thousands of African-Americans (young and old) flocked to schools created by
the Freedmen’s Bureau and by Republican state governments.
Establishment of Historically
Black Colleges in the South
Illiteracy by Race
Sharecropping



Sharecropping:
Landowner provided
land, seeds, tools, and
lent $ for expenses in
exchange for a portion
of the crop
Tenant Farming:
Renting land
Debt Peonage: Both
systems usually trapped
poor farmers (white &
black)
Tenancy & the Crop Lien System
Furnishing Merchant
 Loan tools and seed
up to 60% interest
to tenant farmer to
plant spring crop.
 Farmer also secures
food, clothing, and
other necessities on
credit from
merchant until the
harvest.
 Merchant holds
“lien” {mortgage} on
part of tenant’s
future crops as
repayment of debt.
Tenant Farmer
 Plants crop,
harvests in
autumn.
 Turns over up to ½
of crop to land
owner as payment
of rent.
 Tenant gives
remainder of crop
to merchant in
payment of debt.
Landowner
 Rents land to tenant
in exchange for ¼
to ½ of tenant
farmer’s future crop.
Percentage of Sharecropped Farms
Race & Sharecropping
Slavery vs. Sharecropping
Northern Support Wanes
 “Grantism” & corruption.
 Panic of 1873 [6-year
depression].
 Concern over westward
expansion and Indian wars.
 Key monetary issues:
*
should the government
retire $432m worth of
“greenbacks” issued during the Civil War.
*
should war bonds be paid back in specie or
greenbacks.
The “New South”
•Some
industrialization
begins to take place in
southern cities like
Birmingham, AL
•Much of the
economic growth was
financed by investors
& entrepreneurs from
the North (a.k.a.
“carpetbaggers”)
A Steel Manufacturer in Birmingham, Alabama
The Ku Klux Klan
• Founded in Tennessee in
1866
• Terrorized southern
blacks, and whites who
sympathized with them
• Largely (but temporarily)
eradicated after the antiKlan Acts of 1870 &
1871
• It re-emerges after the
Union army pulls out in
1877
Lynching
Grant Administration Scandals
 Grant presided over an era of
unprecedented
growth and
corruption.
*
Credit Mobilier
Scandal.
*
Whiskey Ring.
*
The “Indian
Ring.”
And They Say He Wants a Third Term
The Election of 1872
 Rumors of corruption
during Grant’s first
term discredit
Republicans.
 Horace Greeley runs
as a Democrat/Liberal
Republican candidate.
 Greeley attacked as a
fool and a crank.
 Greeley died on
November 29, 1872!
1872 Presidential Election
The Panic of 1873
 It raises “the money
question.”
*
debtors seek
inflationary
monetary policy by
continuing circulation
of greenbacks.
*
creditors, intellectuals
support hard money.
 1875  Specie
Redemption Act.
 1876  Greenback Party formed & makes gains in
congressional races  The “Crime of ’73’!
1876 Presidential Tickets
1876 Presidential Election
The Political Crisis of 1877
 “Corrupt Bargain”
Part II?
A Political Crisis: The
“Compromise” of 1877
The Jim Crow Laws


Jim Crow Laws:
Segregated Blacks
& Whites in Public
Places
Plessey v. Ferguson
(1896)... “Separate
but Equal” does not
violate the 14th
Amendment
Voting Restrictions
Redeemers & the
“Solid South”…
Wanted to replace
Republican state
governments w/
Democratcontrolled white
supremacist govs.