Michael Chiu

AP US History
Period 2
12/12/09

Outline of Chapter 15: Reconstruction and the New South

The Problems of Peacemaking

The Aftermath of War
-After the Civil War, the South was devastated
-Southerners looked back at the pre-Civil War South with nostalgia – was the “Lost Cause” –
Civil War leaders were treated with reverence
Competing Notions of Freedom
-Blacks debated on how to get freedom: some wanted the land that they worked on while
others just wanted legal equality – all blacks wanted independence from white control
-Blacks began creating new black communities
-White Southerners felt that freedom meant controlling of their own destinies without
interference from the North
-In 1865, Congress established the Freedmen’s Bureau, an agency of the army which gave
food to former slaves and poor whites – directed by Oliver O. Howard – operated for 1 year
Issues of Reconstruction
-Among the Republicans in Congress, the Conservatives thought that the South accept the
abolition of slavery, but proposed few other conditions for readmission of seceded states
-Radicals, led by Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner, urged that the military leaders of
the Confederacy be punished and that many Southern whites should be disenfranchised
Plans for Reconstruction
-Lincoln agreed with the Moderates and Conservatives
-In Lincoln’s Reconstruction plan, he offered amnesty to white settlers who would pledge
loyalty to the government and accept elimination of slavery – when 10 percent of any state
took this oath, they could set up a state government
-However, the Radical Republicans supported the Wade-Davis Bill, which would let the
president appoint a governor for each conquered state – when a majority of the white males
of the state pledged allegiance to the Union, governor would summon state constitutional
convention – elected delegates had to swear by Ironclad Oath, that they would never bear
arms against the U.S. – new state constitutions had to abolish slavery and disfranchise
Confederate civil and military leaders
-Wade-Davis bill was passed by Congress in 1864 abut was vetoed by Lincoln
Johnson and “Restoration”
-Lincoln’s successor, Andrew Johnson, had to lead Moderates and Conservatives
-He was a Democrat until joining the Union ticket with Lincoln – hostile to freed slaves
-By the end of 1865, all seceded states had formed new governments – however, Radical
Republicans did not want to recognize these governments as part of the Union – North began
to have a more hardened attitude toward the South
Radical Reconstruction
The Black Codes
-Black codes enacted by the South gave whites more control over former slaves – allowed
officials to apprehend unemployed blacks, fine them, and hire them out to employers
-Congress countered by extending the life of the Freedmen’s Bureau and allowing it to
nullify work agreements forced onto freedmen under the Black Codes
-In 1866, Congress passed the first Civil Rights Act – declared blacks to be citizens of the
United States and allowing federal government to intervene in state affairs to protect rights of
citizens
-President Johnson vetoed both of these bills, but Congress overrode him
The Fourteenth Amendment
-Fourteenth Amendment offered first constitutional definition of American citizenship:
Everyone born in the United States and everyone naturalized was automatically a citizen
-Amendment also imposed penalties on states that denied suffrage to adult male inhabitants
-Amendment also prohibited old members of Congress that aided the Confederacy from
holding any state or federal office unless 2/3 of the Congress voted to pardon them
-Radicals allowed any state that ratified the amendment to be readmitted to the Union – only
Tennessee did – all others refused, so the amendment did not have necessary approval
The Congressional Plan
-Congressional Radicals, now stronger in numbers, passed 3 Reconstruction bills and
overrode all of Johnson’s vetoes on them – these bills established plans for Reconstruction
-Under bills, Tennessee, which ratified 14th Amendment, was readmitted to the Union
-By 1868, seven of the ten former Confederate states were readmitted to the union
-the 15th Amendment forbade states and federal government to deny suffrage to any citizen
on account of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude”
The Impeachment of the President
-After Johnson dismissed Secretary of War Stanton, he violated the Tenure of Office Act –
Radicals in the House impeached him and sent to the case to the Senate for trial
-Johnson was acquitted by the Senate
The South in Reconstruction
-Southern whites claimed that the established governments by Congress were corrupt
-Black Southerners condemned Reconstructions – said that state governments failed to
guarantee freedmen any rights of citizenship
The Reconstruction Governments
-Critics of the Southern whites who helped maintain Republican control called them
“scalawags” – many of these whites were former Whigs who didn’t feel right as Democrats
-Scalawags believed that the Republican Party would better serve their economic interests
than the Democratic Party
-White men from the North who served as Republican leaders in the South were referred to
as “carpetbaggers” – most were veterans of Union army that looked at South as new frontier
-Most numerous Republicans in the South were black freedmen – in several states, African-
American voters held their own conventions – one was in Alabama in 1867 –wanted equality
Education
-there were also positive accomplishments during the Reconstruction – one was education
-However, southern education was being segregated into black and white school systems
-Efforts to integrate the two failed – new Southern Democratic regimes abandoned efforts
Landownership and Tenancy
-Efforts to reform landownership in the South failed
-Sharecropping was when laborers worked for their own plots of land and paid their
landlords with a share of their own crop
The Crop-Lien System
-During the postwar years, African Americans made significant economic progress
-In the “crop-lien system”, farmers had to give storeowners or merchants a claim or lien on
their crops as guarantee for the loans – farmers were often trapped in a cycle of debt
-The crop-lien system generally led to a decline in the Southern agricultural economy
The African-Americans Family in Freedom
-During Reconstruction, many slaves tried to rebuild families and seek relatives
-Within the black family, male and female roles came to resemble that within white families
-However, this was hard to sustain because of economic necessity – required black women to
engage in income-producing activities, such as working as domestic servants
The Grant Administration
-American voters in 1868 turned to Grant, the hero of the war
The Soldier President
-Grant accepted the Republican nomination because he believed Republican Reconstruction
was more popular in the North
-Democrats nominated former governor of New York Horatio Seymour
-Grant’s performance was ineffectual and clumsy – no political experience – used the spoils
system very blatantly – some Republicans suspected corruption in Grant administration
-At the end of Grant’s first term, a part of the party, Liberal Republicans, opposed
“Grantism”
-In 1872, left the party and nominated Horace Greeley for president – Democrats nominate
him as well, hoping that an alliance would help them defeat Grant
-However, Grant still won a substantial victory
The Grant Scandals
-During the 1872 campaign, the first of many scandals came to light in Grant’s
administration – the heads Credit Mobilier, a construction company that helped build the
Pacific Railroad, and Union Pacific stockholders, steered large fraudulent contracts to their
construction company – to prevent investigations, directors had given Credit Mobilier stock
to key members of Congress
-Congress investigated, revealing that some highly placed Republicans had accepted stock
The Greenback Question
-the Panic of 1873, the worst one yet, began with the failure of banking firm Jay Cook and
Company – invested too heavily in postwar railroad building
-Resulted in formation of the National Greenback Party – failed to gain widespread support
but kept the money issue alive
Republican Diplomacy
-the Johnson and Grant administrations had great success in foreign affairs because of their
Secretary in States William H. Seward and Hamilton Fish
-Seward was an expansionist – bought Alaska from Russia, despite criticism from many who
considered Alaska a frozen wasteland – called it “Seward’s Folly”
-Seward also carried out America’s annexation of the tiny Midway Islands west of Hawaii
-Hamilton Fish had to deal with resolving controversy about England breaking neutrality by
allowing English shipyards to build ships for the Confederacy – Americans demanded that
England pay for the damage that these vessels had caused – known as “the Alabama claims”
-Fish finally forged an agreement, the Treaty of Washington – provided for international
conciliation and Britain would express regret for the escape of the Alabama from England
The Abandonment of Reconstruction
-Many Southern States ended up “redeeming” their state governments
The Southern States “Redeemed”
-Many whites used violence to undermine Reconstruction regimes – to prevent black voting
-Most effective was the Ku Klux Klan, formed by former Confederate Nathan Bedford
Forrest – gradually absorbed smaller terrorist organizations
The Ku Klux Klan Acts
-Republican Congress tired to hold the white repression back by passing two Enforcement
Acts, known ass the Ku Klux Klan Acts – prohibited states from discriminating against
voters on the basis of race and gave federal government power to prosecute violations of law
-The Enforcement Acts weakened the Klan and violence declined by 1872
Waning Northern Commitment
-The Panic of 1873 spurred Northern industrialist to find a new idea known as “Social
Darwinism”, arguing that individuals who failed did so because of their own weakness
The Compromise of 1877
-Although Grant hoped to run for anther term in 1876, most Republican leaders resisted –
nominated Rutherford B. Hayes – Democrats nominated Samuel J. Tilden
-There were disputed votes, so Congress tried to break the deadlock by creating the Special
Electoral Commission, composed of five senators, five representatives, and five justices
-Hayes was inaugurated
-In the Compromise of 1877 that led to Hayes’ inauguration, the Republican had to promise
Southern Democrats the withdrawal of troops, the appointment of at least one Southerner to
Hayes cabinet, control of federal patronage in their areas, generous internal improvements,
and federal aid for the Texas and Pacific Railroad
-Although the president and his party had hoped to build up a “new Republican” organization
in the South, their efforts failed – due to deep popular resentment of Reconstruction
The Legacies of Reconstruction
-Reconstruction was ultimately largely a failure - failed to resolve deepest social problem –
problem of race
-Failed because proposed solutions went against conservative obstacles that were deeply
embedded in the nation’s life – pervasive belief that African Americans were inherently
inferior served as an obstacle to equality
The New South
The “Redeemers”
-By 1877, all federal troops had been withdrawn from the South and every southern state
government had been “redeemed” by white Democrats
-Many white southerners rejoiced at the restoration of “home rule”, however, political power
in South was held by conservative oligarchy – known as “Redeemers” or the “Bourbons”
-Many groups started challenging the Bourbons – protested cuts in services – “Readjusater”
movement emerged in Virginia – won control of the legislature – however, by the mid-1880s,
conservative southerners had effectively destroyed most of these dissenting movements
Industrialization and the “New South”
-Many southern leaders felt their region should have a vigorous industrial economy – to build
a “New South” – Henry Grady and other spokesmen rarely challenged white supremacy but
did advocate other important changes in southern values – promoted industry and progress
-Railroad development increased greatly in the post-Reconstruction years
-Between 1880 and 1890, trackage in the South more than doubled
-The growing industry in the South required region to recruit a large work force for first time
-at times, industrialization proceeded with no wage-paying employment at all – through the
“convict-lease” system, southern states used convicted criminals as cheap labor supply –
were not paid – money went to the states
Tenants and Sharecroppers
-Despite significant growth in Southern industry, region remained mainly agrarian
-Tenantry took several forms – farmers who owned equipment, usually paid annual cash rent
for land –but man farmers who did not have equipment, were supplied with land, a crude
house, and tools by landlords – farms would promise landlord a large share of annual crop
-Crop-lien system contributed to harsh social and economic transformation of the southern
backcountry
African Americans and the New South
-Many African-Americans were attracted by the vision of progress and self-improvement –
some succeeded in elevating themselves into a distinct middle class – acquired property
-One of the main beliefs of this rising group of blacks was that education was vital to future
-Booker T. Washington was the chief spokesman for this commitment to education –
founded the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama
-In his famous speech in Georgia, he outlined a philosophy of race relations known as the
Atlanta Compromise – blacks must show they were “prepared for the exercise of these
privileges”, if they were ever to win the rights of citizenship
The Birth of Jim Crow
-In Plessy v. Ferguson, the Supreme Court held that separate accommodations did not
deprive blacks of equal rights if the accommodations were equal
-In Cumming v. County Board of Education, Court ruled that laws establishing separate
schools for whites were valid even if there were no comparable schools for blacks
-Even before these decisions, white southerners already wanted disfranchisement of blacks –
had to find ways to evade the 15th Amendment – one way was the poll tax or some form of
property qualification – few blacks could meet such requirements – another way was the
“literacy” test, which required voters to demonstrate ability to read and interpret Constitution
-Laws restricting the franchise and segregating schools were known as the Jim Crow Laws –
institutionalized an elaborate system of segregation – means for white control of social power
-A dramatic increase of white violence against blacks also served to prevent black agitation
for equal rights – worst violence was lynching of blacks by white mobs – way for whites to
control the black population through terror and intimidation – blacks couldn’t prove
innocence to accused crimes
-the shared commitment to white supremacy helped dilute class animosities between poorer
whites and the Bourbon oligarchies – commitment to white supremacy was a burden for poor
whites as well as for blacks