Reconstruction Chapter 16 (Part II)

Reconstruction in the South

Reconstruction Governments During Reconstruction more than 600 African Americans won elections for political office Hiram Revels became the first African American in the U.S. Senate

Reconstruction governments created many new programs The first state funded schools in the South New: Hospitals, Prisons and Orphanages

These were all intended to help the southern economy to recover Constructed: Railroads, Bridges, and Public buildings These were all intended to help the southern economy to recover

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is a secret society opposed to civil rights Use violence and terror against African Americans Wear robes and masks to hide their identities Local governments didn’t try to stop them

Reconstruction Ends

The General Amnesty Act of 1872 allowed former Confederates to hold public office

Election of 1876 Republicans ran Rutherford B. Hays as their candidate for office Democrats nominated Samuel Tilden The election was close and it seemed Tilden had won however the electoral votes were challenged in four states

Congress and the Supreme Court had to settle the issue All disputed votes went to Hayes

Democrats agreed to accept Hayes’ victory if All remaining federal troops were removed from the South, Funding was given for the improvement of the South and A southern Democrat was appointed to the president’s cabinet

In the South a poll tax was established to prevent African Americans from voting Poll Tax – a special tax people had to pay before they could vote

African Americans also had to pass a literacy test before they could vote There was also a grandfather clause that stated if your father or grandfather voted before 1867 you didn’t have to pay a poll tax or pass a literacy test (almost all whites could vote without restriction)

Segregation was also introduced Segregation – the forced separation of whites and African Americans in public places

Jim Crow laws were laws that enforced segregation in the southern states

Plessy v. Ferguson Homer Plessy – an African American refused to leave the whites-only train car and was arrested for breaking segregation laws

Plessy sued the railroad company because it violated equal treatment protected under the 14th Amendment

The Supreme Court heard the case and ruled that segregation was allowed because “separate but equal” facilities were provided

Many African Americans remained on plantations and became sharecroppers Sharecropper – shared their crops with the owner of the land

Landowners provided the: Tools and Supplies In return the sharecroppers provided the labor

Most sharecroppers were always in debt because they never made enough money to buy the goods and clothes they needed

Rebuilding Southern Industry The most successful industry in the South was textiles African Americans were not allowed to work in factories, But there were many small farming families that did

Entire families worked in cotton mills (including women and children) Work days were 12 hrs/day, 6 days/week Many people acquired lung diseases, injuries or died