Ultimately, Reconstruction failed Part 2 Ultimately, Reconstruction failed

SOUTH'S COUNTER REVOLUTION K K K SOUTH'S COUNTER REVOLUTION Although government industrialization plans helped rebuild the Southern economy, these plans also cost a lot of money. High tax rates turned public opinion, already antagonistic to Reconstruction, even more hostile. Opponents waged a propaganda war against Reconstruction, calling Southerners who cooperated scalawags and Northerners who ran the programs carpetbaggers. Freedmen Blacks who tried to vote or were involved in the reconstruction of their states governments. Carpetbaggers Northerners/Republicans sent to help reconstruct the South…. Scalawags Southerners who helped Carpetbaggers ALL WERE ATTACKED BY THE KKK

THE REPUBLICAN SOUTH During Radical Reconstruction, the Republican Party was a mixture of people who had little in common except a desire to prosper in the postwar South. Carpetbaggers referred to a type of cheap suitcase made from carpet scraps. Often depicted as greedy men seeking to grab power or make a fast buck. White southern Republicans were seen as traitors and called scalawags (Scottish word meaning “scrawny cattle.”). Refers to one who is a “scoundrel”, or unprincipled person.. Carpetbaggers was the name came from the suitcases they carried, implying they had come to the South merely to stuff their bags with ill-gotten wealth. Many who participated in Reconstruction were indeed corrupt, selling their votes for money and favors.

K K K Ku Klux Klan refers to a secret society or an inner circle Organized in 1867, in Polaski, Tennessee by Nathan Bedford Forrest. Represented the ghosts of dead Confederate soldiers Disrupted Reconstruction as much as they could. Opposed Republicans, Carpetbaggers, Scalawags and Freedmen. KKK Meanwhile, the Ku Klux Klan spearheaded a war of intimidation. They targeted those who supported Reconstruction; it attacked and often murdered Southerner who cooperated with Reconstruction, black and white Republican leaders, community activists, and teachers. The Klan successfully intimidated many of its opponents, preventing a more complete implementation of Reconstruction.

Spreading Terror K K K The Federal Response The Ku Klux Klan President Grant’s War On Terrorism. The Enforcement Act of 1870 banned the use of terror, force, or bribery to prevent people from voting. Other laws banned the KKK and used the military to protect voters and voting places. As federal troops withdrew from the South, black suffrage all but ended. The Ku Klux Klan The Klan sought to eliminate the Republican Party in the South by intimidating voters. They wanted to keep African Americans as submissive laborers. They planted burning crosses on the lawns of their victims and tortured, kidnapped, or murdered them. Prosperous African Americans, carpetbaggers, and scalawags became their victims.

Letter About Ku Klux Klan Terror* State of Mississippi. Monroe County. March 30, 1871 My beloved Sister: I will endeavor to answer your joyfully received letter. I must tell you something about the Ku Klux, they are raging on the other side of the River. They have whipped several white men, whipped and killed several Negroes. They whipped Colonel Huggins, the Superintendent of the free schools nearly to death, and everybody rejoiced when they heard it, for everybody hated him. He squandered the public money, buying KKK Quote 3

pianofortes, organs, sofas, and furniture for the Negro School house in Aberdeen. The people are taxed beyond endurance. The Ku Klux gave him seventy lashes, and then gave him ten days to leave the country. He left and went to Jackson. There was a Regiment of Militia came into Aberdeen Friday. They are sent here to put down the Ku Klux. Huggins has come back with the Militia, but I wouldn't give a straw for his life, for he will be killed.     It is the opinion of most everybody there will be war. The Yankees coming here will make the Negroes more insolent. KKK Quote 3

Give my love to all the Connections and write soon. Yours, Jennie With Country full of Yankees, things are going too far, for the free whites of the South are determined not to put up with it. A Negro can kill a white man, take it in Court, get a Negro jury, clear him and then turn him loose, things can't go on this way. We are in a most peculiar situation.     Give my love to all the Connections and write soon. Yours, Jennie   *Mrs. Webb was the wife of William J. Webb, who owned and operated the City Hotel on the site of the Plainview Hotel, on the Block North of the Monroe County Courthouse, Aberdeen, Mississippi. The Shaw Family patronized this Hotel. Colonel Huggins left Aberdeen in the night and went back North. KKK Quote 3

SOUTH'S COUNTER REVOLUTION kkk

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SHARECROPPING Sharecroppers involved Freedmen and poor Whites who stayed in the South and continued to farm. Freedmen would sign a work contract with their former masters . Picked cotton or whatever crop the landowner had. Freedmen did not receive “40 acres and a mule” When it became evident that the government would not redistribute land, blacks looked for other ways to work their farms. The Freedman’s Bureau attempted to establish a system in which blacks contracted their labor to whites, but the system failed. Instead, blacks referred sharecropping, in which they traded a portion of their crop in return for the right to work someone else’s land.

Sharecropping is primarily used in farming Landowner provided land, tools, animals, house and charge account at the local store to purchase necessities Freedmen provided the labor. Sharecropping is based on the “credit” system. The system worked at first, but unscrupulous landowners eventually used the system as a means of keeping poor farmers in a state of near slavery and debt.

A VICIOUS CYCLE OF DEBT ECONOMIC SLAVERY 1. Poor whites and freedmen have no jobs, no homes, and no money to buy land. 6. Sharecropper cannot leave the farm as long as he is in debt to the landlord. 2. Landowners need laborers and have no money to pay laborers. ECONOMIC SLAVERY 3. Hire poor whites and freedmen as laborers Sign contracts to work landlord’s land in exchange for a part of the crop. 5. At harvest time, the sharecropper is paid. Pays off debts. If sharecropper owes more to the landlord or store than his share of the crop is worth; 4. Landlord keeps track of the money that sharecroppers owe him for housing, food or local store. Disenchantment with white society led many freedmen to found communities as far removed from the sphere of whites as possible. Black churches sprang up as a means by which the black community could bond and gain further autonomy.

Advantages Disadvantages SHARECROPPING Advantages Part of a business venture Raised their social status Received 1/3 to 1/2 of crop when harvested Raised their self esteem Disadvantages Blacks stay in South Some landowners refused to honor the contract Blacks poor and in debt Economic slavery Sharecroppers

Abuses of the sharecropping system grew more widespread at the end of Reconstruction, at which point no court would fairly try the case of a sharecropper against a landowner.

LANDOWNERS AND SHARECROPPERS. FREEDMEN'S BUREAU ACTED AS THE MEDIATOR BETWEEN LANDOWNERS AND SHARECROPPERS.

Sharecroppers

SOUTH'S COUNTER REVOLUTION Because Reconstruction did nothing to redistribute the South’s wealth or guarantee that the freedmen would own property, it did very little to alter the basic power structure of the region. Southerners know that when the Northerners left, as they inevitably would, things would return to a condition much closer to the way they were before Reconstruction.

As early as 1869, the federal government began sending signals that is would soon ease up restrictions. President Grant enforced the law loosely, hoping to lesson tensions and thereby hasten an amicable reunion. Soon nearly all Southern states had restrictive laws that effectively prevented blacks from voting.

1876 Election Tilden did not receive enough electoral votes. Special Commission gives votes to Hayes. Hayes wins the election Democrats refuse to recognize Hayes as President * *Disputed Electoral votes 369 total electoral votes, need 185 to win. By 1876 Southern Democrats had regained control of most of the region’s state legislatures. The election of 1876 was extremely close, with the vote in several states contested on charges of fraud.

Election of 1876 vs Rutherford B. Hayes Samuel Tilden The Democrats and Republicans then work out a deal to recognize Hayes as President Compromise of 1877: If Hayes became president, he would end Reconstruction and pull the Union troops out of the South. The South liked this bargain because there would virtually be no protection for the Freedmen and the South would go back to the way it was. Although Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was ultimately declared the victor, the election demonstrated that the nation was now evenly split on Reconstruction. The final withdrawal of federal troops from the South began with Hayes’ inauguration.

Agreement between Democrats and Republicans Hayes pulls the troops out of the South. Southerners take over their state governments. Successes Freedmen had made were lost because Southerners took over their state governments and implemented the Black Code. Cartoon of Hayes: end of Reconst

South’s Backlash1 The right to vote was taken away from the Freedmen after Reconstruction

Worse, throughout th.e 1860s and 1870s

Lynchings of Whites/Blacks 0 to 20 20 to 60 60 to 100 100 to 200 200 or more When Reconstruction ended, many blacks anticipated the fate that awaited them in the South and left. These people, called exodusters, picked up and moved to the Midwest (especially Kansas) where they attempted to start fresh in a new black community.

Reconstruction Ends There were five main factors that contributed to the end of Reconstruction. Corruption: Reconstruction legislatures & Grant’s administration symbolized corruption & poor government. The economy: Reconstruction legislatures taxed and spent heavily, putting the southern states deeper into debt. Violence: As federal troops withdrew from the South, some white Democrats used violence and intimidation to prevent freedmen from voting. This tactic allowed white Southerners to regain control of the state governments. The Democrats’ return to power: The pardoned ex-Confederates combined with other white Southerners to form a new bloc of Democratic voters known as the Solid South. They blocked Reconstruction policies. The Country: The Civil War was over and many Americans wanted to return to what the country was doing before the war. Grant’s administration was so thoroughly corrupt that it tainted everything which it was associated, including Reconstruction.

Successes and Failures of Reconstruction Union is restored. Many white southerners bitter towards US govt & Republicans. South’s economy grows and new wealth is created in the North. The South is slow to industrialize. 14th and 15th amendments guarantee Blacks the rights of citizenship, equal protection under the law, and suffrage. After US troops are withdrawn, southern state governments and terrorist organizations effectively deny Blacks the right to vote. Freedmen’s Bureau and other organizations help many black families obtain housing, jobs, and schooling. Many black and white southerners remain caught in a cycle of poverty. Southern states adopt a system of mandatory education. Racist attitudes toward African Americans continue, in both the South and the North.

Solid South Political term that describes how the South would vote in future elections…… Always voted for the Democrats because they hated the Republicans. Reconstruction Map