Reconstruction in the South

Reconstruction Conflict and Compromise in the South

Before Lincoln was able to carry out his restoration plans, he was assassinated in April of 1865. He was replaced by his Vice President Andrew Johnson. Johnson was a racist man who thought it would be better to allow the South to reconstruct itself than for the federal government to get involved.

Johnson undid Sherman's work by taking the land from the black families and returning it to the original plantation owners. Johnson saw an issue with taking the land of white Confederates to give to African Americans, but he had no such problems when he relocated Native Americans to reservations and gave their land to white settlers.

Fig. 2- Andrew Johnson.

During the Memphis Massacre, African Americans were attacked, raped, and murdered but this was not a singular occasion. Their schools were burnt down, Confederate veterans were killing freedmen, and Andrew Johnson refused to help. He would not sign the 14th Amendment which defined citizenship and guaranteed police protection to the freedmen. He also allowed Confederate states to rejoin the union once they paid off their debts and removed the Confederate government. Confederates could still hold office and when the former Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens was elected to the Congress, Republicans had had enough.

Civil Rights of 1866

The Civil Rights Act of 1866 gave more rights to freedmen and guaranteed access to courts. Johnson vetoed the bill, but Congress overturned his veto with a 2/3 majority. In response, twenty-four Southern African American politicians were killed, and their homes burnt.

Radical Reconstruction in the South

In 1866, Republicans won the majority of Congress three to one. The Republican party was able to begin the reconstruction that they wanted. With the Reconstruction Act of 1867, the Confederate states were divided into five territories each with a US general in charge of it. Former Confederate states had to deny Confederates the right to vote. Johnson, of course, vetoed this bill but Congress overturned his veto.

Fig. 3- Military Division Map.

Radical Republicans made strides in the South. They created soup kitchens, offered legal aid to people who could not afford lawyers, and offered some free healthcare. Women were given the right to own property while more schools were created for African Americans and poor whites. The Civil Rights Act of 1875 gave African Americans full and equal rights to juries and public transportation.

The 15th Amendment

Fig. 5- Freedman voting.

African American suffrage movements campaigned for the voting rights of African American men. One of the most notable advocates was Franklin Douglass. Some women wanted to join the cause to advocate for voting rights for African Americans and women, but this was shot down. Women were considered selfish for taking attention away from African American men.

Some white women thought that they deserved voting rights more than African American men while other women stood behind the freedmen hoping that they would get their chance next. The 15th Amendment passed in 1870 giving African American men the right to vote but women would have to wait another ninety years for their "turn".

Economic Changes in the South During Reconstruction

Fig. 5- Sharecropping.

Northern politicians wanted African Americans to vote but were not willing to give them land. Without land, they were forced to make arrangements with former slave owners. The freedmen would live on the land and farm it. They normally harvested cotton.

Half of the harvest went to the landowner and the freedmen kept the other half in a system called sharecropping. The freedmen had to buy food, tools, and seeds on credit from bankers and landowners. This created a seemingly endless cycle of debt.

What was the role of women in all of this? Well, freedmen wanted to imitate the living style of Northern people so women shouldn't work, instead, they would take care of their homes and children. That was an unrealistic goal because the sharecropping system kept African American families in poverty. Women had to work the farms or in the homes of rich white women. These former plantation owners' wives never had to do domestic labor, so they hired African American women to do it for them.

Restrictions on African American Life

While some families were reunited after slavery ended, others were separated. Laws were passed in the South that allowed African American children to be taken from their families and placed in apprenticeships with former slave owners.

Fig. 6- African American Sharecropper on his porch on a Sunday Morning.

There were voting restrictions which included poll taxes and literacy tests to prevent African Americans from voting. Grandfather laws allowed anyone who could vote before 1867 to continue to vote without the tax or tests. Jim Crow laws legalized separating people based on race.

When Did Reconstruction End in the South?

Southerners began to undo the work done by the Republicans. In their minds, they were undoing a system of injustice but in actuality, they were reinforcing white supremacy. The Ku Klux Klan, the KKK, was formed to terrorize African Americans. They murdered political rivals as well as African Americans. In 1876 a Supreme Court Case, US versus Cruikshank, decided it was ok if private organizations like the KKK blocked African Americans from voting as long as the State itself did not prevent them from voting.

Grant's presidency came to an end and Rutherford Hayes was to take his place. His election was murky because it was unclear if Hayes or his Democratic opponent had won. Hayes made an official deal with the Democratic party in exchange for them to back him. This is called the Compromise of 1877 and marks the end of the Reconstruction era.

• Federal government must pull troops from the South
• A Southern Democrat must be in Hayes' cabinet
• A transcontinental railroad from Texas and the Pacific

This is known as the Great Betrayal because Reconstruction ended when the troops left the South.

Post-Civil War South

African Americans were freed, and their men were given the right to vote. They were never given land and never given the means to escape poverty. This leads many historians to believe that Reconstruction could have been better. Yes, African Americans were freed but they were still stuck working on plantations and in a cycle of debt. What do you think, was Reconstruction successful?