THE PERIOD OF RECONSTRUCTION
1. This is called the period of the “angry scar” in American history.
2. Lincoln wanted a benevolent peace by there was a big problem.
A. The South seceded on constitutional reasons so how do you effect unity (and leave the current constitution)?
B. Reconstruction was interpreted as a re-inauguration of national authority —not like a war between two independent states—in this case there was not one with whom to negotiate.
C. They proposed amnesty to all would take an oath of allegiance to the Union.
D. So it all boiled down to a battle between the President and a hard-nosed Congress.
3. There was much writing done about the atrocities in Southern Prisoner of War camps—like Andersonville –this outraged Northerners.
4. The radicals thirsted for blood.
5. After Lincoln’s death the reconstruction policy was formed by:
A. Certain practical politicians
B. Idealists/zealots of the Republican party
C. Some of the emerging new Black leaders
D. Economic realist who intended for the North to remain in the dominant position economically.
E. Scavengers known as “carpetbaggers.”
6. Those who were in charge of the reconstruction were united in 3 ways:
A. Ideological hatred for the South
B. A desire to create a new South in their own image
C. And there was no desire to help the Blacks in the North
7. There was a mistreatment of the South as a matter of Policy
A. The South was stripped and pillaged by marauding soldiers as the war drew to an end
B. The “scorched earth” policy=burn the crops and kill the livestock and destroy all forest.
C. This brought a drop of per captia income in the South
(1) depressed markets
(2) burdensome tax system
(3) forced to sell everything to the Yankees
D. There was no aid program of any kind for the Blacks
E. It created almost forced migrations to the southeast and the west or to Latin America
F. A complete way of life was destroyed
G. The vindictiveness of the North rekindled the spirit of rebellion-Thaddeus Stevens (Yankee) said “grind down the traitors in the dust.”
8. The immediate problem was what to do with the Negro?
A. North called for radical reconstruction.
B. In the South, there was a fear of Massacre —wanted the blacks to settle down
9. The North came up with the idea of the “Freedman’s Bureau.”
A. Correlate the relief work
B. Promised land and mules to the Blacks
C. But all of this passed into the control of corrupt politicians
10. The question of amnesty:
A. Many of the “unreconstructed rebels” refused to take the oath of allegiance
B. Southerners believed that the constitution gave them the right to secede—Lincoln said that Texas had the right to secede from Mexico (he said that in 1848)
C. The northern & southern churches split even further over loyalty to the Union as a requirement for fellowship —this also caused the Black churches to pull away from the White Churches.
11. The Radicals take over:
A. There was an ongoing debate in regards to federalism and the states’ rights (important question in the South because 500,000 illiterate blacks were added to the voting roles)
B. Andrew Johnson opposed the radicals on the grounds that the Blacks were not yet ready to vote
C. There came a showdown on the issue
—Johnson was overwhelmed by a radical congress
—Grant was overwhelmed by the radicals
—in the South they fight back through intimidation, terrorism/murder (KKK)
WHILE ALL OF THIS IS GOING ON REMEMBER THAT THERE IS STILL NO BLACK VOTING TAKING PLACE IN THE NORTH!
D. Many northern industrialists looked on the South in terms of economic imperialism.
E. The South is divided into five military districts which was done “in the first reconstruction” act.
----commanders were autocrats but not brutal
— there was a great deal of paternalism
— and much fraternization
—this “bayonet rule” was considered the supreme insult against the South
12. The Impact on Voting
A. In the 1867 voting, 150,000 voters were disenfranchised by the Union
—this left 627, 000 whites
—and 703,000 blacks to vote
13. The radical program centered on the following:
A. Universal voting (but only in the South, not allowed In North)
B. Universal education (forced integration of schools)
C. Forced the creation of new state constitutions
—rule by simple majority
—then there was the role of the scalawag and carpetbaggers
—this was rejected by Texas, Virginia, Mississippi and those states remained under military rule.
D. Poorhouses, bridges, and roads were all built and paid for by the confiscation of private property.
E. The public debt increased until attempts at recording ceased.
F. Land owners lost their property and it was put up for sale in small tracts
G. Radicals increased the number of appointive offices and used them effectively.
H. The biggest schemers were the railroads.
—the landowners were then forced to sale all of their land
—the price was cheap and the railroaders acquired vast tracts
14. By 1870 many of the conservative whites began a political comeback
A. KKK rose in influence (which was a revolt against lawlessness)
B. But many whites took the oath of allegiance and could vote again
15. A summary of the years 1866-1876:
A. For the Blacks=much disillusionment
B. For the carpetbaggers=good pickins
C. For the southern Whites = resentment and violence
D. For the U.S.=destruction of the revolutionary dreams and the puritan culture
16. The battle over education:
A. The issue was the education of former slaves
—South opposed it (approved of “craftsman skills” only).
—North favored it
B. The major problem —was the lack of funds
—led to illiteracy for Black and White
—education was largely in the hands of the private schools& churches
—but only the rich could go
—there was a prejudice against the Blacks and the “poor white trash.”
—many teachers came from the North but were run off by the Klan
C. All of this doomed Southern mass education for a century
D. Missionaries founded schools for Blacks but southern Whites approved of the Tuskeegee Institute (Booker T. Washington) type of trade school.
17. The issue of violence:
A. KKK started in 1865 in Pulaski, Tenn.
—A secret circle of 6 young Confederate veterans
—took name of Kanklos (Gk. For circle) + Clan
—started out as a secret group just to have fun
— put on sheets and masks and galloped and were really surprised at the fear they caused when people saw them.
B. The spirit of the South in those days is summed up in one word
RESISTANCE!
C. Blacks now lost the physical safety they had as slaves
—lynching
—race riots, ambushes, reprisals, anarchy, murder
D. KKK began night trips to warn “Negroes”
E. They were immediately idealized and romanticized all of the South.
F. KKK NOW DREW ALL KINDS OF MEN AND IT BECAME A COVER FOR PERSONAL VENDETTAS.
G. In Nashville, in 1868 wrote a charter and published a creed
—creed called the INVISIBLE EMPIRE
—“to protect the weak against lawlessness”
—“to defend the U.S. constitution
H. Subdued the Negroes and drove out the carpetbaggers by using guerrilla warfare (what we now call urban warfare)
—many more reasonable Whites quit in disgust at the excesses
—by 1870 there were 5,000 cases of excesses presented to Congress and Congress did nothing.
I. There were other strategies
—in 1874, the Mississippi Plan (the shotgun plan) used intimidation to control elections.
—ignored race issue and concentrated on the radical’s hypocrisy
—the federal government refused to give aid to state governments (Southerners used the words, “we won’t hire Republicans)
—La. , S. Car. , adopted this Miss Plan
J. The upshot of all of this is that he white leagues ran the radicals out.
18. The role of the land in the reconstruction of the new South:
A. The South still had the land and the land meant survival
B. Blacks were defrauded out of the land in many ways
C. So the South turned to “sharecropping.”
—kept the Blacks in the fields
—it was the only non-revolutionary move
—replaced the aristocratic plantation system
D. The plain folks were family centered and uneducated and were tied to the land.
— became the backbone of the South
— they became apolitical
E. Sharecropping lasted until the mid 20th century when it was destroyed by mechanization.
F. This then in turn drove the Blacks and the poor Whites to the cities
19. The overall aftermath:
A. In 1865= 3,500,000 slaves were freed
B. The problem? =what to do with them
C. They thought of various options which were not workable
—deportation to Liberia
—amalgamation was out of the question - (fellowship)
D. So they were freed but for what— they immediately went into vagrancy
—a caste system developed imitating the While culture.
E. Treason toward the South by the “scalawag” or those who collaborated with the North (“scamp”=filthy little swamp animals brought from Scotland), and modified into scalawag.
F. Carpetbaggers were despised and run off
G. There was a complete political realignment between:
—conservatives in the North and South
—versus the agriculture rebels of the west and labor rebels of the east
H. Eventually troops were removed from the South
I. Radical Reconstruction ended in 1877 - and the general consensus was that the only way to rehabilitate the South was through its leading men.
20. In time the North forgot the promise to the Black about their civil rights.
—struggles in the South began between the “haves” and the “have nots.”
—“haves” began to work to strengthen control over the whole South
—developed political machines.
—tight economic measures (austerity to pay the levies)
—many states rewrote their constitutions
21. The rise of the Red necks:
A. This was an agrarian revolt - white farmers suffering from the invasion and defeat/and reacted to radical reconstruction and Black political activity.
B. 1890 the red-necks won victories over the industrialists who kept prices down and the banks who kept them in debt
C. Mobilized by Tom Watson
—he was defeated in a congressional bid in 1896
— a bigot
—1905 he published a magazine which attacked ‘special privileges” in all its forms, the railroads, trusts, federal subsides, defended the lynching of Blacks
22. The Jim Crow Laws:
A. A measure t make Black political power impotent
B. Involved continued reminders of the Black inferiority
C. Examples:
— all attempts at disenfranchising the Blacks
—residency requirements
—poll tax
—flexibility in interpreting the state constitution against the Blacks
—1900 these laws were adopted by all southern states
—concentrated on the inferiority of the Black
E. These campaigns put the Black in his place in these ways:
—economically
—psychologically
—socially
—politically
F. The North was unwilling to attempt to do anything about this form of injustice
—the Supreme Court nullified the decisions that favored the Blacks
—1896 the Supreme Court upheld the Louisiana law of “separate but equal.”
—involved railroad travel, restroom facilities, etc.
23. Ultimately the South ends up a culture distinct:
—Agricultural
—Conservative & Pietistic
—Tied together by blood (race)
—Shared the ordeal of defeat
—loyalty to an idealized past and the lost cause
—dedication to maintaining the ‘social order.’
EVEN GEORGE WASHINGTON AND OTHERS DEFENDED THE BLACKS AND OPPOSED SLAVERY BUT ALSO DISTINGUISHED BETWEEN CIVIL AND SOCIAL EQUALITY
— South not industrialized like the North
—Not penetrated by massive continental migration like the North
—idealized womanhood
—still a frontier land in some respects
—suspicious of strangers
—tolerant of violence
By Lane Rogers