Purpose of Black Codes
Reject African Americans their emancipation by convincing them to sign work contracts, putting them back into bondage Disallow Blacks to rent land or borrow money to buy land Cannot testify against whites Putting a new definition of slavery that is not as direct as before Keep African Americans lower-class Bending the Union to give southerners the ultimate victory of the civil war
Long Lasting effects of the Southern Reconstruction
Incapable of industrial development as most remained poor farmers Transportation Public education system Economic development in the South during Reconstruction Internal improvements Black communities Drive for autonomy Freedmen’s Bureau Sharecropping as a response to the lost compulsory labor
Sharecropping
“The landlord provided the seed and other needed farm supplies in return for a share (usually half) of the harvest” (300). “Sharecroppers usually remained either dependent on the landowners or in debt to local merchants” (300).
Compromise of 1877 deets
Rutherford B. Hayes VS Samuel J. Tilden Tilden won popular vote Democrats only needed one more vote from contested states South Carolina, Florida, or Louisiana Commission gave all the votes to Hayes, winning him the presidency Democrats were mad, Compromise of 1877 effective End federal support for Republicans in the South Southern Transcontinental Railroad Accepted Hayes as the new president, who followed the compromise well
Southern resistance to Reconstruction
White Supremacy and KKK Nathan B Forrest “burned black-owned buildings and flogged and murdered freedmen to keep them from exercising their voting rights” (302)
Racial equality - a reality?
Abraham Lincoln wanted to carry out policies to get African Americans closer to equality Cannot carry out due to assassination
15th amendment
Getting closer to equality, but blacks are still viewed as low-class and labor source “In a series of decisions in the 1880s and 1890s, the Supreme Court struck down one Reconstruction law after another that protected blacks from discrimination” (303). Not going to happen until post-civil rights movement
Is there a way around the 15th Amendment?
Kill them, intimidate them (KKK) If you try hard enough you can get around anything Making people register to vote No registering on voting days No secret ballot
How did the Union try to help former slaves during Reconstruction?
Freedmen’s Bureau Food, shelter, medical aid tried resettling freed blacks on confiscated farmlands, Johnson pardoned Confederate owners in retaliation
14th and 15th amendments
Civil Rights Act of 1866 Civil Rights Act of 1875 equal accommodations African Americans in jury sadly unenforced
Effects of the 14th Amendment
Declared that all persons born or naturalized in U.S. are citizens obligated the states to respect the rights of U.S. citizens and provide them with “equal protection of the laws” and “due process of law” (clauses full of meaning for future generations disqualified former Confederate political leaders from holding either state or federal offices Repudiated the debts of the defeated governments of the Confederacy Penalized a state for keeping anyone eligible from voting by reducing states representation in congress and electoral college For the first time the constitution required that states and federal government to uphold the rights of citizens Later Became the keystone of civil rights for minorities, women, children, disabled and people accused of crimes
What does the 15th amendment state?
Prohibited any state from denying or abridging a citizen’s right to vote “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” Ratified in 1870.
Purpose of the 14th Amendment
Counteract ruling in Dred Scott case Force states to respect rights of U.S. citizens, therefore respecting freedmen Make freedmen legal citizens Uphold the rights of all citizens
How is racial justice manifested during Reconstruction?
14th and 15th amendment Drive for autonomy and equality African American legislators Education, black communities and colleges No more ⅗ compromise, so increased southern representation and electoral votes
Why did Reconstruction eventually end?
POLITICAL: Grant Administration Corruption Southern Political Supreme court Decisions Texas vs White Slaughterhouse Cases Bradwell vs Illinois US vs Cruikshank US vs Reese SOCIAL: Rise of Sharecropping Increase in Black codes advent of Jim Crow Laws Increase in Violence and Lynching Ku Klux Klan Force Acts White League Segregation and socio-economic disparity ECONOMIC: Limited Southern Industrialization Textiles, tobacco, processing railroads 11k-29k miles Coinage Act Demonetization of silver Panic of 1873 Collapse of Southern Economy Cotton ½ value Widespread bankruptcy Specie Resumption Act Back to gold standard
Why do Radical Republicans want the South to suffer?
What events made the Radical Republicans uneasy about readmission? Civil War Wants to remain in power and keep Southern Democrats out of seats in Congress Lincoln’s Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction Radical republicans felt Lincoln should be harsher on them, ex: 50% required to take loyalty oath instead of 10% (Wade-Davis Bill) Radical Republicans argued 10% would allow a reconstructed state government ran under disloyal secessionists President Johnson pardoned “disloyal” southerners Also vetoed services and protection offered by Freedmen’s Bureau Radical Republicans thought Johnson was too forgiving towards the South Punish south for immoral behaviors Suffer because they suck
Black code
southerners didn’t really care about the laws
Consequences of sharecropping for former slaves?
Landowners had lost their labor force so they contracted workers to farm on pieces of their land Also gave poor people of rural south jobs so took jobs away from blacks Gave opportunity for blacks to “own” land and farm to feed their families New form on indentured servitude
Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan and beliefs about southern readmittance
He wanted to continue Lincoln’s plan with additional revisions Revisions were disfranchisement of all former leaders & officeholders of the confederacy And confederates w/ more than $20k in taxable property He also retained the power to grant individual pardons (escape clause) Continued with the 10% plan, southern states must take an oath of allegiance and accept emancipation of slaves
What did former slaves do in order to survive?
They went to free states Search for their families Get a public education Sharecropping
Why did Congressional Reconstruction end in 1877? (Election of 1876??)
North was tired of South’s bs North was making all these laws to help create an easier transition but the south didn’t like these ideas, so they accepted them while simultaneously creating their own laws to go against what they needed to be considered a state again Election of 1876- Tilden won a clear majority but Hayes won electoral Democrats were outraged Compromise of 1877
Issues facing the Union at the end of the Civil War?
4 million freed African Americans South having more representation in Congress due to the lift of the 3/5th Compromise How to deal with the South rejoining the U.S Immediate population growth South’s lack of labor
