Chapter 15: Reconstruction and
the New South
Issues of Reconstruction
• Social
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Fatherless families, destroyed cities, returning wounded
How would the South rebuild?
Both Whites and Blacks in the South were destitute
Freed Slaves? Freedman’s Bureau
• Political
– Readmitting Southern Democrats would weaken Republicans
• New policies in danger:
– Banking reform
– Railroad subsidies
– Protective tariffs
– Should the South be punished?
– Should it be remade to mirror the industrialized North?
Radicals vs. Conservative Republicans
• Conservatives
– South should accept abolishment of slavery
– Did not wish to punish the South
• Radicals
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Punish Southern leaders
Disenfranchisement
Confiscate lands for freedmen
Some called for suffrage for former slaves
• Although, few Northern states granted suffrage
– Protection of legal rights of slaves
• Moderates
– Lincoln supported Moderates and Conservatives
Lincoln’s 10% Plan
• When 10% of the number of voters in 1860
took the loyalty oath
– They could set up a new state government.
– Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee were first in 1864
– Black suffrage
• Property owner, educated, veterans
– Angered Radical Republicans
• Wade-Davis Bill
Wade-Davis Bill
• Majority pledge allegiance
– Provisional governors
– State constitutional conventions
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Abolish slavery
Disfranchise ex-military and civil leaders
Eliminate debts
States would decide themselves about black rights
These steps would allow readmission to the Union
• Vetoed by Lincoln but he knew he would have to
compromise
• Plan not known before his death
Johnson’s “Restoration”
• Similar to Wade-Davis
• Not acceptable to Radical Republicans
because Northern opinion more hostile to
new Southern governments:
– Southern reluctance to abolish slavery
– None granted suffrage
– Appointment of prominent Confederates to
Congress and state positions
Radical Reconstruction
• New reconstruction policy directed by Radical
Republicans
• Joint Committee on Reconstruction
The Black Codes
• Passed by Southern legislatures
– Apprehend unemployed blacks
• Fines for vagrancy
• Hire “offenders” out to private employers to pay the
fine
– Forbade ownership or leasing of farms
– Restricted employment to plantations or domestic
service.
14th Amendment
• First constitutional definition of citizenship
– Everyone born in the US
– Naturalized
– Guaranteed all rights in the Constitution
– Imposed penalties (electoral and representatives)
on states that denied suffrage to any adult male
– Prohibited former Confederates from holding
office unless pardoned.
The Congressional Plan
• 3 Radical Reconstruction Bills
– Requirements
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5 military districts formed
Ratify 14th and later 15th Amendment
Congressional approval of state constitutions
Must include black suffrage
Radicals vs. Johnson and the
Constitution
• Tenure of Office Act
– Forbade president from removing civil officials
w/o consent of Senate
• Command of the Army Act
– President must issue military orders through
commanding general
Radicals vs. the Supreme Court
• Supreme Court
– Ex parte Milligan 1866
• Military tribunals unconstitutional if civil courts in place
• Threatened military districts planned for the South
– Radical Reaction
• Proposed bills
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2/3 of justices needed to overrule Congress
Deny Court jurisdiction in Reconstruction cases
Reduce Court to 3 members or possibly abolish it
Succeeded in intimidating the Court (didn’t take any
Reconstruction cases).
Impeaching Johnson
• Johnson violated Tenure of Office Act
– Fired Sec. of War
– Radicals impeached but could not win removal
• Moderates would not support, one vote short
How many Presidents have been impeached?
• Richard Nixon was facing impeachment, but resigned the Presidency to
avoid it.
There have been 2 Presidents Impeached in the U.S. history. The 17th
president Andrew Johnson was impeached by the House of
Representatives in 1868 for violation of the Tenure in Office Act of 1867.
However, the Senate was one vote short of convicting Johnson. The 42nd
president Bill Clinton was impeached in 1998 by the House for perjury and
obstruction of justice. As with Johnson, the Senate could not come up
with the two-thirds majority to convict Clinton. President Nixon was not
impeached. While the House issued articles of impeachment for bribery,
obstruction of justice, illegal wiretapping, and bribery Nixon resigned the
Presidency before the House voted for impeachment. Most certainly had
he not resigned he would have been impeached.
The South in Reconstruction
– White Southern
Criticism
• Imposed
Governments
– Incompetent
– Corrupt
– Saddled South
with large debts
– Violated rights of
citizens
Opposing Criticism of
Reconstruction
– Black Southerners
• National and State
governments didn’t
protect rights of
freedmen
• Allowed a system of
subordination
Reconstruction Governments
• “Scalawags”
– White Southerners who supported Republicans
• Usually economic reasons
– Wanted greater economic development and opportunity
• “Carpetbagger”
– Northern white serving as leaders in the South
Black Rule During Reconstruction
• Black Rule
– Some gains made in representation and power
• 1869-1901- 20 blacks served in the House, 2 in the
Senate
• Never controlled state legislature
• Still underrepresented based on population
Spending and Corruption
• Rapidly expanding Govt.
– Led to new temptations and revenues
• Corruption
– Was a problem but perhaps no more than in the
North
• Spending
– New services
• Public education, poor relief, public works
Education
• Origins: Education
reform came from
outside groups.
– Freedmen’s Bureau
– Northern Charities
– Northern women both
white and black
– Also, Southern black
educators
• Results
– Greater access to public
education
– 4,000 schools- 1876
• 40% of school age blacks
• >50% of whites
– Black Colleges
• Fisk, Moorehouse
– Failed attempt at
integration
Landownership and Tenency
Goal: Land redistribution to freedmen
Result:
-Returning landowners demanding property
back (supported by Johnson)
-Was it constitutional to confiscate property?
-Some gains achieved: 20% freedmen owned
land. Decline in White ownership.
Sharecropping
• Many who had land in the 1860’s
– Lost by the 1890’s
• Many worked for wages
• Tenant farmers
– Work and give a share to owner
– More independence for freedmen
– Less responsibility for landowners
Crop-Lien System
• Few banks after the war
• Replaced by “store owner” lenders
– Poor white and black farmers depended on most
for most durable goods
– Seasonal “cash crops” required the need to
borrow until harvest
– No competition
• High interest: 50-60%
– Trapped: Cycle of debt
– Effect: Loss of farms, less diversified Southern
economy
Grant Administration
• Politically inexperienced
– “Clumsy and ineffectual” from the start
– Appointed many unqualified cabinet members
– Relied on Spoils System heavily
– Alienated Northerners who were tired of Radical
Reconstruction
– Corruption in the admin.
– Liberal Republicans opposed “Grantism”
• United with Democrats in 1872: Grant wins reelection
The Grant Scandals
• Credit Mobilier: French Railroad contractor
– Fraudulent contracts: Millions stolen
– Bribes (Stock) paid to high officials in Grant
Admin.
• High as VP Colfax
• Whiskey Ring
– Grant officials and distillers cheating on taxes
• Indian Ring
– Secretary of War Belknap
• Bribes to keep someones position as Indian post trader
Abandonment of Reconstruction
• Southern states began “Redeeming” the South
– Taking back control and reinstating suffrage for
white males.
Ku Klux Klan
– In states with more black
power
– Used to intimidate
voters and deny rights
– “policed” elections
– Forced all white males to
join Democrats
– Led by former
Confederate soldiers
– White Sheets and
“Midnight Rides”
Ku Klux Klan Acts
• Enforcement Acts (1870-1871)– Prohibited States from discriminating against
voters based on race.
– Gave Fed the power to supersede state courts and
prosecute violations of the law.
– First time Fed claimed the power to prosecute
crimes by individuals under Fed law.
– Gave Fed attorneys the power to take action
against efforts to deny blacks:
• Voting Rights, holding office and serving on juries
• Authorized president to use the military to
protect civil rights
• Suspend “habeus corpus” if crimes were
egregious. (Right to be brought before a
judge)
• Grant sent in troops to South Carolina
– Klan members arrested and jailed without trial for
long periods
– Helped cause decline of the Klan for a period.
Waning Northern Commitment
• 15th Amendment
– Reformers convinced that enough had been by
giving right to vote.
• Growing Democratic Party power
– Election of 1874- Democrats take House
– Only Fed troops maintained power in 3 States
• Louisiana, Florida, South Carolina
Social Darwinism
– Individuals who failed did so because of their own
weaknesses.
– Critiqued government intervention in social and
economic life
– Contributed to cutbacks in social services
Election of 1876
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Rutherford B. Hayes- Republican
Samuel J. Tilden- Democrat
Initial apparent victory for Democrats
Disputed electoral votes in 4 states left 20
electoral votes up for grabs.
• No clear Constitutional solution
– Special Electoral Commission
• Tilted by 1 vote in favor of Republicans (8-7 vote)
• South Threatened to filibuster
Compromise of 1877
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Withdrawal of Federal Troops from South
One Southern appointment to Cabinet
Infrastructure improvement to South
Fed aid to Texas and Pacific Railroad
Hayes nicknamed “His Fraudulency”
– Undermined his political power
– Undermined Republican power in the South
Legacy of Reconstruction
• Some contributions made
– South brought back into the Union
– Public Education
– 14th and 15th Amendments
• Failures
– Blacks did not receive dignity and equality
– Old Resentment from war persisted
– Corruption and waste
The New South
• Democratic Party- only viable option for
Southern Whites
• “Redeemers”- New Southern power elite
– Planters
– Industrialists, developers, bankers
– Ambitious lower class businessmen
• Agenda
– Social conservatism
– Economic development
– Home Rule/ States Rights
Industrialization and the New
South
• Belief of some Southerners
– South lost war because of the industrial might of
the North
• Henry Grady- Atlanta Constitution
– Advocated for changes in the South
• Frugality
• Industry
• Progress
• Textile Industry
– No longer shipped North
– Businesses drawn to
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Water power
Cheap labor
Low taxes
Conservative governments promoted industry
• Tobacco
– James B. Duke of North Carolina- American
Tobacco Company
• Iron and Steel production
– 1890- 1/5 of nations production
• Railroads -1880-1890- Trackage doubled
• Effects on South
– Industrialism still less profound than in North
– South mainly regained what it already had prewar.
– Per capita income
• Grew rapidly but still only 40% of North by 1900
• 1860 > 60%
The Southern Workforce
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Opportunities for women. Why?
Ex-Farming families from failed farms
Long hours
Low pay: 50% cheaper than North
– Attraction for businesses
• Life controlled by factory managers
– Fought against unions and protest
• Inflated goods from company stores (no
competition).
• Strong sense of community
Industrial Opportunities for
Freedmen
• Some opportunity but usually lowest paid
• Caused
– racial friction
– Increased determination to protect white
supremacy
• Convict-Lease system
– Free labor from criminal justice system
– Reduced opportunities for wage labor force
Difficulties of the Southern
Economy
• Tenants and Sharecroppers
– Crop-Lien System
– Reconstruction- 33% Tenants
– 1900- 70% Tenants
• The Backcountry
– Subsistence farming to Cash Crops
– Livestock farming- “Fence Laws”
– Decline of the Open Range
– Primary constituents of the later Populist
Movement
African Americans and the New
South
• Rising black middle class
– Small businesses
– Property
– Doctors, lawyers, nurses, teachers
– Maggie Lena
• First female bank president in the US.
Booker T. Washington
• Commitment to
Education
• Tuskegee Institute in
Alabama
• Ex-slave
• Advice to blacks
– Pushed for economic
and social assimilation
– Argued that equality
would come with
educational and
economic gains
• De-emphasized the need to push for political
equality NOW.
• Atlanta Compromise
– Believed in the power of economic influence
– “No race that has anything to contribute to the
markets of the world is long in any degree
ostracized.”
– Implied promise that blacks would not challenge
the system of segregation.
Jim Crow
• Political rights not a reality in the South
• Civil Rights Cases of 1883- “Private”
discrimination allowed
• Plessy vs. Ferguson 1896- “Separate but
equal”
• Cumming vs County Board of Educ. 1899– Permitted separate schools for white children
Disfranchisement
• How could Southerners get around the 15th Amendment?
– Poll Tax or property requirement
– Literacy Test
• Unequal application- easier test for Whites
• Affected poor white voters as well
– Grandfather Clauses- You could vote if ancestors BEFORE
reconstruction had voted
– 1890’s Voting Declines
• Blacks- 62% decline
• Whites- 26% decline
– Supreme Court allowed states to decide
Extent of Jim Crow
• Permeated every facet of social life
– Parks, restaurants, hospitals, buses, water
fountains, etc.
• Segregated most social and political activities
• Designed to subjugate African-Americans
especially in newer growing urban areas.
• Gave legal backing to discrimination
• Lynchings- skyrocketed. 187/yr. in 1890
• Ida B. Wells- international anti-lynching
movement