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57 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
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Conservative Democrats
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for slavery
white southerners for them |
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Liberal Republicans
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against slavery
all blacks were for them, and northerners |
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Radical Republicans
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liberal, yet wanted things done fast
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Conservative Republican
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liberal, yet wanted things done slower
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Moderate Republicans
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in between the two
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Devastated South
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• Everything was destroyed; there was nothing left
• More than 258,000 Confederate soldiers had died in the war |
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Myth of the ‘Lost Cause’
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• In the late 1860’s White Southerners began to look back at the time before the War nostalgically, treating Confederate heroes (such as Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis) with extraordinary reverence
• Communities build elaborate memorials to their war dead |
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Freedom for the Ex-slaves
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• 4 million Blacks were now free, yet weren’t sure what to do (they had no money, property, etc)
• They wanted to live the same way as Whites did, and overall wanted independence from White control • Blacks began to create autonomous African-American communities |
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The Freedmen’s Bureau
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• Established by Congress in 1865
• Distributed food to former slaves, established schools, and made modest efforts to settle Blacks onto their own land, and helped some of the poorer Whites • However, wasn’t a permanent solution – only operated for a year |
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Conservative and Radical Republicans
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• Republicans disagreed over the way to start Reconstruction
• Conservatives insisted that the South accept the abolition of slavery, but didn’t propose anything else • Radicals urged that civil and military leaders of the Confederacy be punished, that large numbers of Southern whites be disenfranchised, that the legal rights of former slaves be protected, and that the property of wealthy white Southerners who had aided the Confederacy be confiscated and distributed among the freedmen • Between them were the uncommitted Republicans; the Moderates |
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Lincoln’s 10% Plan
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• Offered a general amnesty to White Southerners, who would pledge loyalty to the government and accept the elimination of slavery
• Whenever 10% of the voters took the pledge, they could set up a state government |
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Wade-Davis Bill
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• Passed in 1864, was the Radicals first effort for their Reconstruction plan
• It authorized the president to appoint a provisional governor for each conquered state • When the majority of the white males pledged their allegiance to the Union the governor could summon a state constitutional convention • The new state constitutions would have to abolish slavery, disfranchise Confederate civil and military leaders, and repudiate debts • After it had met those conditions, Congress would readmit the State to the Union |
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Andrew Johnson’s Personality
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• An intemperate and tactless man, filled with resentments and insecurities
• Was openly hostile to the free slaves and unwilling to support any plans that guaranteed them civil equality or enfranchisement |
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Northern Attitudes Harden
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• By the end of 1965 all of the States had formed new governments, and were going to be readmitted to the Union as soon as Congress would let them
• However, Northern opinions had become more hostile toward the South; they were disturbed by the reluctance of some delegates to abolish slavery, and by the refusal to grant suffrage to blacks |
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Johnson’s Vetoes
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• In the South the governments were creating Black Codes, which were giving whites control over the former slaves
• In 1866 Congress passed the first Civil Rights Act, declaring that African-Americans were citizens of the USA, and gave the federal government power to interfere in sate affairs to protect the rights of citizens • Johnson vetoed both bills, but Congress overrode him on both |
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Citizenship for Blacks
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• The Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution defined an American citizen; everyone born/naturalized in the USA was automatically a citizen and entitled to the privileges etc.
• Congress Radicals offered to readmit the Southern States if they would accept that; only Tennessee did, the others refused |
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Three Reconstruction Bills
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• Tennessee was readmitted into the Union
• The other ten Confederate states were divided into 5 military districts, and a military commander governed each district and registers qualified voters (all adult black males and white males who hadn’t been in the War) • Voters would then elect conventions to prepare new state constitutions, which would include provisions for black suffrage, and once the voters ratified new constitutions, they could elect state governments • Congress had to approve the State’s constitution and the state legislature had to accept the Fourteenth Amendment, and then they would be readmitted into the USA |
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Fifteenth Amendment
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• It forbade the states and the federal government to deny suffrage to any citizen on account of ‘race, colour, or previous condition of servitude’
• Was an additional requirement for admission to the USA |
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Tenure of Office Act
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• The Radicals believed President Johnson was an impediment to their plans, so they found grounds for impeachment, when Johnson dismissed Secretary of War Stanton despite Congress’s refusal to agree, thus deliberately violating the Tenure of Office Act
• Elected Radicals quickly impeached the President, and sent the case to the Senate for trial |
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Johnson Acquitted
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• The trial lasted throughout April and May, and the Radicals were putting pressure on all the Republican Senators
• However, 7 Republicans joined the Democrats and independents to support acquittal • The vote ended up being 35 to 19, one short of the constitutionally required 2/3 majority • After that, the Radicals dropped the impeachment effort |
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Scalawags
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• Nickname for the Southern white Republicans who lifted most suffrage restrictions so that white males could vote, and because of that they stayed in power
• A lot of them were former Whigs |
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Carpetbaggers
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• Republican leaders in the South who were white men from the North
• Middle-class people, most were veterans of the Union Army who thought the South was promising |
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Freedmen
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• All were Republican aligned (Democrats were for slavery)
• Were the most numerous Republicans in the South • Some joined the party, and held positions of power o Held public offices, served in State legislature and in State offices, but were never governors of State • Corruption was plentiful in the North and South, but more so in the South o Blacks were uneducated and inexperienced, therefore did not know what to do in the political world – led to corruption |
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Segregated Schools
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• After the war, there was a big improvement in Southern education
• In the beginning they were integrated schools, but whites stayed away – their efforts failed • Eventually segregated schools – whites went to one, blacks to the other • As soon as the Republican governments of Reconstruction were replaced with Democratic, there weren’t any more efforts for integrated schools |
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Failure of Land Distribution
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• Most ambitious goal of the Freedmen’s Bureau make a reform of the landownership in the South
• By June 1865, 10000 blacks had their own land (mostly from abandoned plantations), but later in that year white Southerners began demanding their property back, and the President gave it to them • For whites – landownership went from 80% to 67% • For blacks – landownership went from 0% to 20% • Freedmen’s bank opened in 1865; was a place for blacks to get loans so that they could buy property, but the bank invested in unsuccessful enterprises so they went out of business in 1874 • Many black agricultural labours (25%) became tenants on land owned by whites, but then were at least working for money, and got a sense of independence |
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Economic Progress for Blacks
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• Postwar years were very good (economically) to African-Americans
• The per capita income of Southern blacks rose 46% between 1857 and 1879 • Blacks were now working for money, and they were generally working less hours for more |
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New System of Credit (Crop-Lien System)
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• Was centered on local county stores, and everyone depended on these stores for necessities
• Since farmers didn’t have a steady income, they relied on a line of credit with these stores • Most local stores had no competition, and could set interest rates very high (50-60%) • Farmers had to give merchants a claim on their crops (a lien) for collateral for loans, and if they had a few bad years in a row they would never escape the debt • System had bad effects: blacks who acquired land gradually lost it through debt, and so did some white landowners, Southerners became completely dependent on land crops, and the Southern agriculture became more one-dimensional than ever • Whole thing contributed to the decline of Southern economy |
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Changing Gender Roles
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• When blacks married the women tended to stop working in fields etc. and began to work domestically
• However, economic necessity meant that often they had to work, which their husbands weren’t happy about because it reminded them of slavery • At the end of Reconstruction, half of the black women over 16 were working for wages |
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U.S. Grant
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• Believed Republican Reconstruction policies were more popular in the North; accepted their nomination
• Grants triumph was narrow; without the black voters he would’ve had a minority • Performance was inefficient from the start; he relied on established party leaders |
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Liberal Republicans
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• Opposed “Grantism”
• In 1872 they nominated Horace Greeley as did the Democrats, in an attempt to overthrow Grant • Didn’t work; Grant still won |
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Crédit Mobilier
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• First of a series of political scandals involving Grant
• Heads of Crédit Mobilier used their positions as Union Pacific stockholders to steer large fraudulent contracts to C.M., taking the Union Pacific’s money • More scandals followed; all involved corruption in government |
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Panic of 1873
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• National financial crisis which lasted 4 years
• Began with failure of Jay Cooke and Company, which had invested too heavily in postwar building • Debtors pressured government to print greenbacks so there would be more money in circulation • Grant wanted a “sound” currency, based on gold reserved • In 1875 Congress passed an Act so that greenback money would be replaced with new certificates, pegged to the price in gold |
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National Greenback Party
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• “Greenbacks” (the inflationists) formed their own political organization; National Greenback Party
• Didn’t get lots of support, but kept the money issue alive |
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“Sewards Folly”
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• Was a Secretary of State, had served with Lincoln and remained in office till 1869
• He accepted Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million; most people thought it was a wasteland |
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Alabama Claims
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• Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State, served through two terms of Grant Admin.
• Fish resolved a controversy with England over American claims that Britain violated neutrality laws by building the Confederate ships (Ex. Alabama) in England • Treaty of Washington in 1871 agreement |
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Ku Klux Klan
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• Used terrorism to frighten blacks from voting, so that whites would vote and the Democrats could win; worked to gain white supremacy
• Formed in 1866 and led by former Confederate general, Nathan Bedford Forrest • Eventually absorbed the other terrorist groups and became one big one • Did “midnight rides” bands of men in white sheets and masks, with horses covered in white and their hooves muffled o Frightened black communities • White southerners considered KKK to be patriotic |
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Enforcement Acts (KKK Acts)
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• Republican passed two Enforcement Acts, which were to turn back white repression
• Prohibited states from discriminating against voters on basis of race • Gave courts the power to prosecute • Grant sent in troops to South Carolina and hundreds of KKK members were arrested by 1872, Klan violence against blacks was declining |
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Impact of Social Darwinism
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• North industrialists needed a reason for the instability around them; they concluded that if blacks were unemployed in the South, it was because of their own lack of intelligence
• “Social Darwinism” theory that said that individuals who failed did so because of their won weakness • Black support in the North began to wane; all services to blacks ended in the South; people thought it was their own fault |
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Hayden vs. Tilden
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• Republicans (worried about Democrats success) nominated Rutherford B. Hayes
• Democrats nominated Samuel J. Tilden • Not much difference of principles between candidates |
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Special Electoral Commission
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• Deadlock between candidates in election, so Congress created a special electoral commission to judge the disputed votes (4 states that decided the fate)
• Hayes won; judges sympathized with Republicans |
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Compromise of 1877
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• Compromise between Hayes and Democrats so they would let him win
• Hayes said he was going to remove troops from South let Democrats take over State governments appoint one Southerner to each cabinet |
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Republican Failure in South
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• President hoped to create “New Republican” organization in South; failed
• Resentment of Republicans was rooted too deeply • Withdrawal of troops gave the idea that Republican had given up |
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Ideological Limits
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• Reconstruction overall failed
• Why solutions went against what was rooted so deeply a pervasive belief that blacks were inferior • However, blacks did achieve something 14th and 15th Amendments |
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Bourbon Rule
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• Every Southern state had been “redeemed” by white Democrats
• Under Bourbon Rule (term for aristocrats used by some of their critics) • In some places ruling class was the same, but in most, it changed merchants, industrialists, railroad developers and financiers ruled • Bourbon governments of the South behaved similarly o Corrupt o Lowered taxes, reduced spending, and diminished state services o Ex. In Virginia the support for school systems was eliminated |
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Readjuster Challenge
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• In late 1870’s groups were protesting Bourbon Rule
• “Readjuster” movements emerged, demanding state make more money for state services • In 1879, Virginia Readjusters won control of legislature, and later captured the governorship and a US Senate seat • States had similar movement, but by the mid 1880’s conservative southerners had destroyed those movements |
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Henry Grady
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• South wanted to build a “New South”, where their economy was better
• Henry Grady advocated important charges in Southern values (but not white supremacy) • New South enthusiasm helped Southern industry expand, so it became more of the economy • Industries textile tobacco iron steel |
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Railroad Development
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• Increased substantially in Post-reconstruction years
• Between 1880 and 1890 the trackage in the South doubled • In 1880 they changed the width of their track so it was the same as the North • However, overall they just gained back what they had lost in the war • Required lots of workers; many were women |
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“Convict-Lease” System
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• Southern states leased gangs to private interests as cheap labour supply
• It exposed them to mistreatment, was sometimes fatal, and did not pay them at all • It also denied employment to the unemployed |
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Transformation of the Backcountry
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• There was an impoverished state of agriculture
• The 1870’s and 80’s increased the trends that had been occurring; systems of tenantry and debt • “Sharecropping” : when landlords supplied their farmers with tools, and in return would be given a share of the crop • There was a harsh social and economical transformation • Factors Crop-Lien System Animals being fenced in; reduced families chances of living self-sufficiently |
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Black Middle Class
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• Blacks supported the “New South creed”
• Many had visions of progress, and propelled themselves into the middle class; they managed to own small businesses, acquire property, and have proper careers (as doctors, lawyers, nurses, or teachers) • Some made small fortunes by establishing banks (first female bank president was a black woman; Maggie Lena) • Blacks considered education very important, and managed to expand their own |
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Booker T. Washington
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• Chief spokesperson for the black commitment to education
• Was born into slavery, but made his way out by getting an education; used that example to encourage other blacks to do the same |
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The Atlanta Compromise
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• A speech by Washington in Georgia in 1895, outlining the philosophy of race relations
• Said that blacks should engage and struggle for economic gains, because no race that contributes to the markets of the world is excluded • Said that if African Americans wanted the rights and privileges of citizenship, they had to show they were ready for it • Was also a promise that African Americans wouldn’t challenge the system of segregation that the whites were building |
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Plessy V. Ferguson
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• Was a case involving a Louisiana law that required separate seating arrangements for the races of the railroads
• Court argued that as long as the separate accommodations were equal, there was no deprivation o That decision was the basis of segregated schooling for years to come • Even before this, white Southerners were working to separate their races as much as possible |
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Restricting the Franchise (the right to vote)
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• Disfranchisement had begun almost as soon as Reconstruction ended
• In the 1890’s, franchise restrictions became more strict • Small white farmers and members of the conservative elite argued for complete disfranchisement • To disfranchise black males, Southern states had to find ways to evade the 15th Amendment • Two ways came out before 1900 poll tax or some form of property qualification a “literacy” test which required voters to read • By late 1890’s black votes had dropped by 62% and white votes had dropped by 26% • One state passed a grandfather law; you could vote if your ancestors had voted before Reconstruction, which allowed poor whites to vote but barred blacks • Supreme Court was compliant didn’t pass the grandfather law but passed the literacy test • Laws were called Jim Crow laws |
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White Control Perpetuated
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• Blacks and whites were completely segregated
• Jim Crow laws stripped blacks of social, economical and political gains they’d made • 1890’s showed a dramatic increase in violence against blacks |
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Lynching (to put to death by mob action and without legal authority)
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• Lynching reached appalling levels; average of 187 lynching’s per year (most were black)
• Most celebrated lynching’s occurred in cities, where well-organized mobs took black prisoners and hanged them in public rituals, sometimes with the polices authority • They were planned in advance and attracted large audiences • However, more dangerous/frequent lynch’s were performed by smaller mobs • Some victims of lynching’s had committed crimes, but it was more to keep the black population scared • Black men who had made sexual advances to white women were often victims; keeping them sexually segregated was a big part of the belief system • Rise of lynching’s shocked white Americans in ways that it hadn’t before; from the start there was an anti-lynch movement • Movement gained strength from whites, particularly white women in both the North and South |
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White Unity
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• White opposition to lynching’s was unusual support for the African Americans
• Shared commitment to white supremacy created class divides between poorer whites and Bourbon oligarchy (power of the government in a few people) |
