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The Problems of Peacemaking The South in 1865 was a desolate place after the war, plantations burned, fields neglected, railroads destroyed, white southerners were stripped of their slaves through emancipation, the capital they had invested in Confederate bonds and currency was no worthless, many families had to rebuild without the help of adult males, more than 20% of the adult male population died, some southerners faced starvation and homelessness, many women mourned their losses for a number of years
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Charleston, SC 1865
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The Problems of Peacemaking Romanticized the "Lost Cause", looked back with nostalgia for the society of the South before the war, Lee, Jackson and Davis treated with extraordinary reverence almost religious icons, built monuments to their war dead in town squares all throughout the South, this tremendous sense of loss reinforced the determination of many whites to protect what remained of their now vanished world
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The Problems of Peacemaking During the war thousands of slaves took advantage of wartime disruptions to leave their owners in search of freedom, nearly 200,000 slaves had fought for the Union and 38,000 had died, others worked as spies or scouts for the Union in the South
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The Problems of Peacemaking After the war thousands of free slaves left their plantations, they had nothing except the clothes on their backs, owned no land or property, roamed the countryside, searched for relatives,
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The Problems of Peacemaking For African Americans freedom meant an end to slavery and all the injustices and humiliation they associated with it, it also meant the acquisition of rights and protections that would allow them to live as free men and women in the same way that white people did, but they differed on how to achieve that goal, some wanted a redistribution of economic resources, especially land, others asked simply for legal equality – all were united in desire for independence from white control
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The Problems of Peacemaking Freed blacks immediately created autonomous African-American communities, they established their own churches, they created fraternal, benevolent mutual aid societies, where they could they began their own schools
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The Problems of Peacemaking For many white southerners freedom meant the ability to control their own destinies without interference from the North or the federal government, many white planters wanted to continue slavery by keeping black workers tied to plantations, they were fighting above all to preserve local/regional autonomy and white supremacy
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The Problems of Peacemaking After the war, the federal government kept troops in the South to preserve order and to protect the freedmen, the Freedmen's Bureau directed by Oliver Howard, distributed food to millions of former slaves, established schools, made modest efforts to settle blacks on land of their own – it authority to operate for only one year, and was too small to solve the major problems
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The Problems of Peacemaking Readmitting the South would weaken the Republicans and jeopardize their program of nationalistic economic legislation – western railroads, protective tariffs, banking and currency reforms – that benefited northern business leaders and industrialists
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The Problems of Peacemaking Many northerners believed that the South should be punished in some way for the suffering and sacrifice its rebellion had caused, also believed that the South should be transformed, its supposed backward, feudal, undemocratic society civilized and modernized
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The Problems of Peacemaking Republican Conservatives believed that the South should accept the abolition of slavery, but proposed few other conditions for the readmission of the seceded states
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The Problems of Peacemaking Republican Radicals, led by Thaddeus Stevens (PA) and Charles Sumner (MA) urged that civil and military leaders of Confederacy be punished, that large numbers of whites be disenfranchised, that the legal rights of blacks be protected, that property of wealthy white southerners who had supported the Confederacy be confiscated and distributed among freemen, some also advocated the granting of suffrage
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The Problems of Peacemaking Republican Moderates rejected the punitive goals of the Radicals, supported extracting at least some concessions from the South on black rights
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The Problems of Peacemaking Lincoln believed in a lenient Reconstruction policy, which he thought would entice southern unionists and former Whigs to join the Republican Party and thus offset the strength of the Democrats once they were readmitted
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The Problems of Peacemaking In December 1863, Lincoln offered a general amnesty to white southerners (other than high Confederate officials) who would pledge loyalty to the government and accept the elimination of slavery
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The Problems of Peacemaking Lincoln’s 10% Plan – whenever 10% of the number of voters in 1860 took the oath in any state those voters could set up a state government, Lincoln also hoped to extend suffrage to those blacks who were educated, owned property, and had served in the Union army
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The Problems of Peacemaking Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee, which were all under Union army occupation, reestablished loyal governments under Lincoln’s plan in 1864
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The Problems of Peacemaking The Radical Republicans were astonished at the leniency of the Lincoln Plan and persuaded Congress to deny seats to representatives from those reconstructed states and refused to count the electoral vote of those states in the election of 1864
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The Problems of Peacemaking Wade-Davis Bill – authorized the president to appoint a provisional governor for each conquered state, when a majority of white males (not Lincoln’s 10%) pledged allegiance to the Union, the governor could summon a state constitutional convention, whose delegates were to be elected by those who swore that they had never borne arms against the United States (the Ironclad Oath)
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The Problems of Peacemaking The new state constitutions would have to abolish slavery, disfranchise Confederate civil and military leaders, and repudiate debts accumulated by the states during the Civil War, Lincoln disposed of the Wade-Davis bill with a pocket veto and enraged the Radical Republican leaders in Congress
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The Problems of Peacemaking April 14,1865 – John Wilkes Booth shot Lincoln in the head at Ford’s Theater in Washington DC, producing something close to hysteria throughout the North, the murder of the President seemed evidence of an even greater conspiracy masterminded and directed by the unrepentant leaders of the defeated South
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The Problems of Peacemaking Andrew Johnson succeeded Lincoln, a former Democrat until he joined the Union ticket with Lincoln, he was openly hostile to the freed slaves and unwilling to support plans that guaranteed them civil equality or enfranchisement, “White men alone must manage the South”
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The Problems of Peacemaking Johnson's Plan for Restoration – implemented during the summer of 1865 when Congress was in recess, he offered amnesty to those southerners who would take an oath of allegiance (high-ranking Confederate officials and any white southerner with land worth $20,000 or more would have to apply to the President for individual pardons), resembled the Wade- Davis bill, the President appointed a provisional governor who was to invite qualified voters to elect delegates to a constitutional convention, he implied that a majority of white voters would have to take the oath in order to participate in this process
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The Problems of Peacemaking In order for a state to gain readmission to the Union, it would have to revoke its ordinance of secession, abolish slavery, ratify the 13th Amendment and repudiate the Confederate and state war debts, then they could elect a state government and send representatives to Congress
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The Problems of Peacemaking By the end of 1865 all the seceded states had formed new governments and were ready to rejoin the Union as soon as Congress recognized them, but the Radical Republicans would not recognize any of the Johnson governments just like they refused to recognize the Lincoln governments
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The Problems of Peacemaking Northern opinion had become more hostile toward the South, they were disturbed by the southern delegates apparent resistance to abolish slavery, the refusal of all southern governments to grant suffrage to any blacks, and the election of prominent leaders of the Confederacy as state officials, especially Georgia’s election of Alexander Stevens (the former Vice President of the Confederacy) as a U.S. Senator
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Radical Reconstruction Reconstruction under President Johnson (Presidential Reconstruction) continued only until congress reconvened in December 1865, at that point Congress refused to seat the representatives of the “restored” states and created a Joint Committee on Reconstruction, which would begin the period of Congressional or Radical Reconstruction
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Radical Reconstruction Throughout 1865 and early 1866, southern state legislatures were enacting sets of laws known as the Black Codes designed to give whites substantial control over the former slaves, the Codes authorized local officials to apprehend unemployed blacks, fine them for vagrancy, and hire them out to private employers to satisfy the fine, other Codes forbade blacks to own or lease farms, or to take any jobs other than as plantation workers or domestic servants
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Radical Reconstruction Congress originally responded by extending the life of the Freedmen’s Bureau and widening its powers so that it could nullify work agreements forced on freedmen under the Black Codes
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Radical Reconstruction Then in April 1866, Congress passed first Civil Rights Act which declared blacks to be citizens of the US and gave federal government power to intervene in state affairs to protect rights of citizens, President Johnson vetoed both bills but Congress overrode his veto each time
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Radical Reconstruction The 14th Amendment offered the first constitutional definition of citizenship, everyone born in the US and everyone naturalized is automatically a citizen and entitled to all the “privileges and immunities” guaranteed by the Constitution, including equal protection of the laws by both the state and national governments.
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Radical Reconstruction The amendment also imposed penalties such as the reduction of representation in Congress and in the Electoral College on any state that denied suffrage to any adult male inhabitant, it also prohibited former members of Congress or other former federal officials who had aided the Confederacy from holding any state or federal office without 2/3 of the Congress voted to pardon them
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Radical Reconstruction Congressional Radicals offered to readmit to the Union any state whose legislature ratified the 14th Amendment, only Tennessee ratified it, all other Confederate states refused to do so (including Delaware and Kentucky)
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Radical Reconstruction Bloody race riots broke out in southern cities (New Orleans especially) in which African Americans were the principle victims, strengthened the Radicals hand going in to the 1866 Congressional Election
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Radical Reconstruction In the 1866 Congressional Election President Johnson campaigned for conservative candidates, but in the end voters returned an overwhelming Republican majority to Congress (42 – 11 in the Senate, and 143 – 49 in the House) Congressional Republicans were now strong enough to enact a reconstruction plan of their own even over the presidents objection
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Radical Reconstruction Under the Congressional Plan of reconstruction Tennessee was readmitted into the Union, but Congress rejected the 10 remaining states governments created under the Lincoln-Johnson plans, and combined the remaining Confederate states into 5 military districts, a military commander governed each district and registered all qualified voters (all adult black males and white males who had not participated in the rebellion)
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Reconstruction 1866-1877
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Radical Reconstruction Once registered these voters would elect conventions and write new state constitutions which had to include provisions for black suffrage, once Congress approved the new state government and that state ratified the 14th Amendment it would be readmitted to the Union, by 1868 seven of the remaining ten confederate states had done so and were readmitted (Texas, Mississippi, and Virginia did not)
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Radical Reconstruction By then Congress had added another requirement for readmission to the Union, passage of the 15th Amendment, which forbade the states and federal government to deny suffrage to any citizen on account of "race, color or previous conditions of servitude"
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Radical Reconstruction Radical Republicans passed two laws to prevent the President from interfering with their plans, these were passed over Johnson’s veto
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Radical Reconstruction The Tenure of Office Act (1867) forbade the president from removing civil officials, including members of his own Cabinet, without the consent of the Senate, the purpose of the law was to protect Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, who was cooperating with the Radicals
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Radical Reconstruction The Command of the Army Act (1867) prohibited the President from issuing military orders except through the commanding general of the army (Grant), who could not be relieved or assigned elsewhere without the consent of the Senate
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Radical Reconstruction The Radicals believed that Johnson was an impediment to their plans, so they began to search for a way to impeach him, Johnson gave them the reason they were looking for when he fired Secretary of War Stanton without the consent of the Senate, violating the Tenure of Office Act, and hoping to test the law before the courts
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Radical Reconstruction House Radicals quickly impeached President Johnson and sent the case to the Senate for trial which began in the spring of 1868, the Radicals put heavy pressure on all Republicans but Moderates were beginning to lose faith in the Radical plan for reconstruction, several Moderates joined with the Democrats making the vote for impeachment 35 – 19, one vote short of the 2/3rd requirement for removal
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The South in Reconstruction When white southerners referred to Reconstruction they were talking about the state governments Congress helped impose on them, these governments they believed were incompetent and corrupt, they saddled the region with enormous debts and trampled on the rights of the citizens
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The South in Reconstruction When black southerners referred to Reconstruction they were talking about the failure of the national and state governments to go far enough to guarantee freedmen even the most elemental rights of citizenship, a failure that resulted in harsh new system of economic subordination
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The South in Reconstruction 10 states were reorganized under the Congressional plan 25% of white males were excluded from voting or holding office, which produced a black majority among voters in Mississippi, South Carolina, Louisiana, Alabama, and Florida, but these governments soon lifted most suffrage restrictions so that nearly all white males could vote, after this Republicans could only remain in control with the support of southern whites
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The South in Reconstruction Scalawags were southern white Republicans largely former Whigs who had never felt comfortable in the Democratic Party, wealthy planters interested in the economic development of the region, poor farmers who wanted internal improvements and believed Republicans would serve their economic interests better than Democrats
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The South in Reconstruction Carpetbaggers were whites from the North who served as Republicans in the South, well educated people of middle-class (doctors, lawyers, teachers), veterans of the Union who looked on the South as a new frontier more promising than the West
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The South in Reconstruction Most numerous Republicans in the South were black freedmen who held "colored conventions" advocating equal rights, black churches served to give unity to the freedmen, many served in public offices, both in the House and Senate of Congress (Hiram Revels and Blanche Bruce - MS), whites referred to this time period as “negro rule”, but no black was ever elected governor of Southern state or did they have a majority in any state legislature
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The South in Reconstruction Critics contend that reconstruction governments were corrupt and financially extravagant, but no more so than the corruption that pervaded northern state governments during the same time period and resulted from a rapid expansion of government services
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The South in Reconstruction Southern state governments attempted to provide public education, public works programs, poor relief, and other costly new commitments that antebellum governments had never offered (South Carolina’s debt went from $7 million to $29 million in 8 years)
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The South in Reconstruction Dramatic improvement in southern education created a large network of schools for former slaves, largely staffed by the Freedmen’s Bureau or white northerners who came south to help, there were 4,000 schools and 9,000 teachers teaching 200,000 students by 1870, over the objections of whites who didn’t want to give blacks “false notions of equality”
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The South in Reconstruction In the 1870’s public school systems were teaching over 50% of white children and 40% of black children, but in predominantly segregated schools, whites simply stayed away and would not send their children to school with blacks
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The South in Reconstruction Several black “academies” began operating, offering more advanced education, these would become Fisk University and Morehouse College
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The South in Reconstruction One major goal of Reconstruction was the redistribution of land to the freedmen, the Freedmen’s Bureau did oversee the redistribution of land in places like the Sea Islands of Georgia and parts of Mississippi, by 1865 the Freedman’s Bureau had settled 10,000 freedmen on their own
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The South in Reconstruction Some freedmen began to dream of “40 acres and a mule”, however by 1866, southern plantation owners were returning to their farms and demanding the restoration of their property, President Johnson was supporting them, very few northern Republicans believed that the federal government had the right to confiscate property, white landownership went from 80% to 67% while black landownership went from 0% to 20%
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The South in Reconstruction Most blacks and poor whites did not own their own land, they worked for others in one form or another for wages, most however became tenants of white landlords, Sharecropping – most worked their own plots of land and paid their landlords either a fixed rent or a share of the crop, as tenants and sharecroppers blacks enjoyed at least a physical independence from their landlords and worked their own land even if they could never dream of actually owning it, landlords were relieved of any responsibility for the physical well-being of their workers
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The South in Reconstruction After the Civil War the per capita income of southern blacks rose 46%, while the per capita income of southern whites declined by 35%, the total profits of the southern economy was declining following the war, the black labor force worked about 1/3 fewer hours than under slavery, however these gains were wiped out by the crop-lien system
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The South in Reconstruction New system of credit emerged after the Civil War that centered around local country stores, all southerners depended on these country stores for food, clothing, seed, and farm implements, customers usually had to rely on credit from these merchants in order to purchase what they needed, merchants went out of their way to insure that the had no competition, allowed them to set interest rates as high as 50, or 60%
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The South in Reconstruction Crop-Lien System – farmers had to give the merchants a lien (claim) on their crops as collateral for the loans they needed to purchase supplies, blacks lost land as they fell into debt, southern farmers became almost wholly dependent on cash crops (cotton) because on these crops offered any hope of getting out of debt, led to a exhaustion of the land, not only did the crop-lien system impoverish farmers it also caused a decline in southern agricultural production
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Cotton Production
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The Crop-Lien System in 1880
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The South in Reconstruction Blacks in Reconstruction made a tremendous effort to rebuild family structures and protect them from the interference that occurred under slavery, blacks left plantations by the thousands to find loved ones, marriages were recognized by churches and by the law, women and children ceased working in the fields believing it was reminiscent of slavery, but economic necessity caused 60% of all black women over the age of sixteen to work for wages
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The Grant Administration Election of 1868 – the Republican nominee was Ulysses S. Grant, the Democrats nominated governor Horatio Seymour of New York, Grant won by a narrow margin supported by 500,000 black Republican voters in the South
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The Grant Administration Grant entered the White House with no political experience, except for Secretary of State Hamilton Fish the members of his cabinet were ill equipped for their tasks, Grant relied on established party leaders for advice but they were more interested in patronage, Grant’s administration used the spoils system even more blatantly than earlier administrations, Grant continued to support Radical Reconstruction even though the North was tiring of those policies
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The Grant Administration By the end of his first term Liberal Republicans had came to oppose "Grantism" – in the election of 1872 bolted the party and nominated Horace Greeley, the Democrats nominated him as well forming an alliance with the Liberal Republicans but Grant won once again in 1872 by a vote of 286 – 66 in the electoral college (56% of the popular vote)
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The Grant Administration The Credit Mobilier scandal centered around a construction company that obtained fraudulent contracts from the Union Pacific (of which they were stockholders) these contracts were worth millions, the directors of Credit Mobilier gave stock to key members of Congress (and Schuyler Colfax, Grant’s VP) to prevent investigations of the contracts
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The Grant Administration The Whiskey Ring centered around officials in Grant’s administration and whiskey distillers filing false tax reports and keeping the difference, the Indian Ring centered around the Secretary of War (Belknap) taking bribes to keep in place unscrupulous Indian post traders
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The Grant Administration Panic of 1873 began with the failure of a leading investment firm (Jay Cooke and Company) which had invested too heavily in postwar railroad building, this depression lasted for four years, debtors now pressured the government to redeem federal war bonds with greenbacks which would increase the amount of currency in circulation, Grant and most Republicans wanted a sound currency based on gold reserves which would favor the interests of banks and other creditors
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The Grant Administration Specie Redemption Act (1875) – provided that after Jan. 1,1879 the greenback dollars (whose value constantly fluctuated) would be redeemed by the government and replaced with new certificates firmly pegged to the price of gold, “resumption” made things more difficult for debtors, because the gold-based money supply could not easily expand
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The Grant Administration In 1875, the Greenbackers (people who wanted the inflation of paper currency) formed their own political organization, National Greenback Party, failed to gain widespread support, but the money question will remain active for the rest of the 1800’s
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The Grant Administration Secretary of State William Seward was an ardent expansionist, accepted a Russian offer to sell Alaska to the U.S. for 7.2 million (many described this as Seward’s Folly due to its barrenness), and annexed the Midway Islands in 1867
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The Grant Administration Secretary of State Hamilton Fish tried to resolve the longstanding controversy with England over American claims that it had violated neutrality laws during the Civil War by permitting English shipyards to build ships (notably the Alabama) for the Confederacy which resulted in American demands that the British pay for the damages caused by the Alabama (the Alabama claims) which were resolved by the Treaty of Washington which provided international arbitration for the damages, and England expressed regret for the escape of the Alabama
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The Abandonment of Reconstruction The Grant administration continued to protect Republican governments in the South, not because it wanted to improve the position of the freedmen, but because it wanted to prevent the reemergence of a strong Democratic party
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The Abandonment of Reconstruction By the time Grant had left office, Democrats had "redeemed" 7 of the 11 former Confederate states, for the other states (South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana) the end of Reconstruction would occur when the last of the federal troops left in 1876 (Tennessee was never a part of Congressional Reconstruction)
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The Abandonment of Reconstruction “Redeemed” states were ones where there southern whites had regained suffrage and were a clear majority of the electorate (upper South), all that remained to do was organize and vote for their candidates, if the two races were equal or almost equal in terms of population, whites used intimidation and violence to prevail
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The Abandonment of Reconstruction Secret societies such as the Ku Klux Klan, the Knights of the White Camellia, and others used terrorism to frighten or physically bar blacks from voting or exercising citizenship
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The Abandonment of Reconstruction Paramilitary organizations such as the Red Shirts and White Leagues armed themselves to "police" elections and worked to force all white males to join the Democratic Party and exclude blacks from political activity
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The Abandonment of Reconstruction The Ku Klux Klan was the largest and most effective of these organizations, its leaders devised rituals, costumes, secret languages, and other airs of mystery to make it more terrifying to the freedmen it was trying to intimidate, the Klan’s Midnight Rides created terror in black communities throughout the South, many southerners viewed the Klan as a proud patriotic society that was continuing the battle against northern rule
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The Abandonment of Reconstruction Even more effective than the Klan was simple economic pressure, planters refused to rent land to black Republicans, storekeepers refused to extend them credit, employers refused to give them work
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The Abandonment of Reconstruction Enforcement Acts of 1870 and 1871 (Ku Klux Klan Acts) prohibited the states from discriminating against voters on the basis of race and gave federal government power to supersede the state courts and prosecute violations of the law.
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The Abandonment of Reconstruction Federal district courts were empowered to take action against conspiracies to deny African Americans such rights as voting, holding office, and serving on juries, authorized the president to use the military to protect civil rights and to suspend the right of habeas corpus when violations of the rights seemed particularly egregious, by 1872 Klan violence against blacks was in decline throughout the south
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The Abandonment of Reconstruction With the adoption of the 15th Amendment some reformers convinced themselves that their long campaign on behalf of black people was now over, with the right to vote, blacks should be able to take of themselves
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The Abandonment of Reconstruction Former Radical leaders such as Charles Sumner and Horace Greeley, began calling themselves Liberals and started to cooperate with Democrats, within the south many white Republicans joined the Liberals and even moved into the Democratic party
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The Abandonment of Reconstruction Social Darwinism was a harsh theory that argued that individuals who failed did so because of their own weakness and “unfitness” - weakened commitment to Reconstruction program as it encouraged a broad critique of government intervention in social and economic life
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The Abandonment of Reconstruction Support for land redistribution declines after the Panic of 1873, willingness to spend federal money to freedmen also declined, and state/local governments began to find themselves short of money and began to cut back on social services
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The Abandonment of Reconstruction In the Congressional election of 1874 Democrats won control of the House of Representatives for the first time since 1861, by 1876 only 3 states were left in the hands of Republicans (South Carolina, Louisiana and Florida), and after the elections in 1876 Democrats had claimed victory in all three of those states, the Republicans as well claimed victory and were able to stay in office because of the presence of federal troops
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The Abandonment of Reconstruction In the Presidential Election of 1876 the Republicans nominated Rutherford B. Hayes (over Grant who wanted a third term), the Democrats united behind Samuel J. Tilden - both were committed to moderate government reform, the November election produced apparent Democratic victory but disputed returns from Louisiana, South Carolina, Oregon and Florida threw the election in doubt.
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Election of 1876
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The Abandonment of Reconstruction Congress tried to break the deadlock by creating a special electoral commission to judge the 20 disputed electoral college votes - independent seat went to a justice who had sympathies for Republicans - all disputed votes went to Hayes along a party line vote of 8 - 7, who won the election
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The Abandonment of Reconstruction Compromise of 1877 – Southern Democrats exacted several pledges, in addition to the withdrawal of the federal troops from the South, the Democrats wanted the appointment of at least one southerner in Hayes cabinet, control of federal patronage in their areas, generous internal improvements, and federal aid for Texas and Pacific Railroad
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The Abandonment of Reconstruction Hayes was called “his Fraudulency”, reflecting the fact that his election appeared was less than honest
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The Abandonment of Reconstruction The withdrawal of federal troops signaled that the national government was giving up its attempts to control southern politics and to improve the lot of blacks in southern society
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The Abandonment of Reconstruction Reconstruction was largely a failure, the experience so disappointed, disillusioned, and embittered white Americans that it would be nearly a century before they would try to address the problems of race relations
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The Abandonment of Reconstruction Reconstruction failed for several reasons – a veneration of the Constitution sharply limited the willingness of national leaders to infringe upon the rights of states and individuals, a profound respect for private property and free enterprise prevented any real assault on economic privilege in the South, a belief among most whites that African Americans were inherently inferior, however the 14th and 15th Amendments are tremendous achievements of Reconstruction
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The New South By the end of 1877 every southern state government had been redeemed, that is political power was returned to the Democrats, this return to “Home Rule” meant that the Democratic party was the only viable political organization for the whites in the South
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The New South Political power in the South was soon more restricted than any time since the Civil War, the south fell under the control of a powerful, conservative oligarchy known as the Redeemers (or to their critics the Bourbons) some were like the old aristocratic planter class, others were industrialists, merchants, railroad developers, and financiers who were socially conservative but committed to economic development.
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The New South They lowered taxes, reduced spending, drastically diminished state services, and cut back on funding for public schools, they were challenged by the Readjusters who wanted to maintain social spending (at least for whites)
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The New South Henry Grady, editor of the Atlanta Constitution, argued that the reason the south lost the war was that the south’s economy could not keep up with the north’s modernized manufacturing capacity, therefore the south needed to “out-Yankee the Yankees” and build a New South, they promoted virtues of thrift, industry and progress which were viewed as northern negatives before the war
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The New South Southern literature of the time period was nostalgic for the old south, most whites embraced talk of the “lost cause”, Joel Chandler Harris wrote Uncle Remus, romanticized the "Old South" and the racial harmony between the two races
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The New South New South industrialists helped encourage growth in the textile industry, the tobacco processing industry, and the iron and steel industry also grew, between 1880 and 1890 the South more than doubled the amount of railroad trackage and in 1886 it changed the gauge of its tracks to match the north
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The New South Region had done no more than regain what it had lost during the war, its share of national manufacturing was what it was in 1860, the average income in the south was 40% of that of the north, those areas that had developed after the war (textiles, iron, and railroads) were financed by northern capital
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The New South Most factory workers were women, the heavy male casualty rates in the Civil War created a labor shortage and critical need for jobs on the part of women left behind, wages in the south were much lower than in the north, which was very attractive to northern businesses, there was a very repressive attitude towards unions, and business owners work together to eliminate competition
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The New South Blacks were offered little opportunity to work in some industries, tobacco, iron and lumber industries allowed only the most menial and lower paid positions to be offered to African Americans
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The New South Convict Lease System – southern states leased gangs of convicted criminals to private interests as a cheap labor supply, there was no free labor force working on the railroad construction projects in the south
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The New South By 1900 70% of all farmers in the south had became tenants or sharecroppers, the Crop- Lien system contributed to harsh social and economic conditions, farmers were constantly in debt and had to rely on cash crops to try and get themselves out of debt
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The New South Many African Americans were attracted to the vision of progress and self-improvement of the New South, some blacks succeeded in elevating themselves into the middle class, they acquired property, established small businesses, and entered professions serving their own race, the cardinal tenant of this rising black middle class was that education was vital to the future of their race
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The New South Booker T. Washington was the founder and president of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, believed that African Americans should attend school, learn skills, industrial education should be their goal, they should adopt the standards of the white middle class
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The New South Then once they have won the respect of the whites they should press for larger social gains, blacks should forgo agitating for political rights and concentrate on self- improvement and preparation for equality “The wisest among my race understand that the agitation of questions of social equality is the extremist folly”
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The New South The Atlanta Compromise was built on self- advancement through self-improvement, if blacks were ever to win the rights and privileges of citizenship they must first show that they were “prepared for exercise of those privileges”, in this message is the implicit promise that in exchange for economic opportunity blacks would not challenge the system of segregation that was being created around them
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The New South In the Civil Rights Cases of 1883, the Supreme Court ruled that the 14th Amendment prohibited state governments from discriminating against people because of race but did not restrict private organizations or individuals from doing so, thus railroads, hotels, theaters, etc. could legally practice segregation
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The New South In Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) the Supreme Court ruled that segregation did not deprive blacks of rights if accommodations were equal, in Cumming v. County Board of Education (1899) the Supreme Court ruled that laws establishing separate schools for whites were valid even if there were no schools for blacks comparable to the white schools
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The New South White farmers began to demand disfranchisement of blacks, they believed their voting rights were being used against them by the Bourbons, so ways to evade the 15th Amendment had to be created
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The New South Devised poll tax or some form of property qualifications, created literacy and understanding tests, by the 1890's the black vote had decreased by 60% and the white vote decreased by 26%, so grandfather clauses were created to just exclude blacks
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The New South Jim Crow Laws – laws restricting the franchise and segregating schools, could not ride in same railroad cars, sit in same waiting rooms, use washrooms, eat at same restaurants – means for whites to regain social control, if these did not work lynchings were available to keep blacks in their place which were seen as an effective law-enforcement technique
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The New South Ida B. Wells was a committed black journalist who launched what became an international anti- lynching movement
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