Greg M., Steven P., Stephen L., Ben K., Russell B.

Written:  June, 2005

1)     Introduction

a)     After the war ended, there was controversy over whether or not land in slave areas was owned by the Whites who had owned the land in the past, or the slaves who had worked the land.

b)     Union soldiers supported Blacks’ right to the land, but did not stay around long enough to make sure they ended up keeping the land.

2)     Note:  It is possible that Union soldiers did not stay around long enough because the controversy over whether or not the Blacks ended up keeping the land was not a very big issue to them.

a)     In some cases, Blacks willingly gave up land to Whites, while in other cases, they resisted.

3)     The United States in 1865

a)     The condition of the States which had seceded was unclear.

b)     The Republican Party ruled, while the Democratic Party was “virtually in shambles.”

i)        Note:  This is not a surprise.  The Republicans had just won a war.

c)     The North was relatively productive, while the South was basically in ruins.

4)     Hopes Among Freedmen

a)     At first, as Union and Confederate troops passed through areas, slaves’ status would shift back and forth from free to enslaved.

i)        Note:  Isn’t this a deficiency on the part of the Union army?  If they win freedom for an area, shouldn’t they make sure it stays free?

b)     Newly freed Blacks exercised rights such as marriage, changing names, leaving plantations, and owning their own land.

5)     The White South’s Fearful Response

a)     4 million freed men are now trying to make their way in American society

b)     Plantation owners and yeoman farmers not only needed to adapt to a totally different economic state, depressed by the war, but a whole different culture

c)     “…poor whites stood side by side with rich planters in bread lines looking forward to the restoration of their land and livelihood.

i)  It’s important to realize and perhaps a little difficult to accept, the south lost the war and thus its cause for secession was no longer up for debate.

ii)Southerners still expected some restitution from the North for the damage it had wrought on the South.  The Union government did very little to help the South recuperate and rebuild, even though these were reasonable legitimate concerns and request.

d)     White Southerners responded to the postwar crisis with feelings of outrage, loss and injustice.  These were due to the immense troubles of the postwar period.

e)     Note: Its no wonder they felt injustice, since the whole move for secession, at least partly was fueled by a legitimate clause in the Constitution allowing them to secede and now the government said they had no such right.

6)     The entire societal structure was shattered.

a)     Without slavery and the slave system, many southerners felt utterly lost. They could not imagine a society without slaves because they had modeled their entire society upon it.

b)     They feared for both themselves and their families because they didn’t know how to make a living.

c)     Anther shock to the Southern system was that blacks were now their equals, when before they were their slaves.

d)     Note: You must realize that the equality issue between the races caused resentment that many Southerners felt toward the blacks.  The Southerners also blamed a lot of their economic troubles on the freedmen.       

e)     As a consequence, wealthy planters worked vigorously to install the “black codes”.  Their goal was to restore the old planter-slaver social order.

i)        Note: Although the black codes granted freemen to marry, sue, be sued, testify in court, hold property, and other freedoms, the federal government had already established the primary function of the black codes were to make it near impossible for blacks to exercise these rights.

f)       The national government had to decide whether or not they supported the black codes and whether they would uphold the freedmen. 

7)     President Johnson issued two proclamations setting forth his reconstruction program. 

a)     The first one granted amnesty and pardon to all Confederates who would now swear allegiance to the Union and Constitution; this included restoration of property.

b)     Johnson’s second proclamation accepted the newly reconstructed government of North Carolina and outlined how other states could achieve valid state governments.  It required that states ratify the thirteenth amendment, repudiate all Confederate debts, and elect a new state government.

8)     Congressional Reconstruction:  Northern leaders after reconstruction realized that almost none of their postwar goals had been dealt with in any significant way, including:  Southern reconstruction, which didn’t seem to have reconstructed Southern governments at all, freedmen’s treatment, which was beyond poor, and a new election, that with a democratic win might achieve what secession had not for the South.

a)     Congress established the Joint Committee for Reconstruction, which investigated the conditions in the South and enacted bills to protect the newly freed blacks and their rights.

b)     Due to all the race riots and conflicts, the 14^th amendment was passed, which defined freedmen as citizens and provided them with permanent constitutional protection for their rights.

c)     Johnson, backed by the democrats, urged the South to not ratify the 14^th amendment. His own party, however, called him a traitor.  Because of this, the Republicans won a resounding victory, but it was clear that the first plan for Reconstruction had failed.

d)     Three more Reconstruction Acts were passed.

e)     Qualified voters would have to elect new delegates, they would have to write up a new constitution for the state guaranteeing black suffrage, and the state would have to ratify the 14^th amendment before admittance.

9)     The President Impeached

a)     Congress approved bills to restrict the President’s power.

b)     Because of Johnson’s contrary ideas and carious moves, which radical Republicans charged as usurpation of powers he was nearly impeached if not for the efforts of some moderate republicans.

10) Congressional Moderation

a)     Impeachment crisis revealed that most Republicans were interested in themselves rather than freedmen.  They focused on their party’s wants and needs rather than the rights and welfare of freedmen.

b)     Note: Do you think that Congress could have done better in their reconstruction if they had not been concentrating on taking down a President and preserving their parties?  What comes first; self preservation or ones’ duty to others they pledged to serve? Think back to Enlightenment.  As you read Ch. 16, think about whether or not you think the government, in particular the Congress, did its reconstruction job well.

c)     Please note on Pg. 551 the paragraph which lists all the “failures” of Congress during this time.  These issues and unsolved problems may help but not completely answer the questions above.  Among these are the government did not mandate a national education program for the 4 million ex-slaves and the government did not confiscate and redistribute land to the freedmen. 

d)     Finally in 1868 did Congressional Republicans take another look at a suffrage amendment as a way to get black votes for their party. 

i)        1870- Fifteenth amendment to the Constitution says no state can deny the vote to anyone on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

ii)      Thaddeus Stevens argued that forty acres and a hut would be more valuable to a freedman than the right to vote during that time.  The Southern Homestead Act of 1866 is passed, but it failed to meet the needs of the freedmen. 

e)     Women had problems with the new amendments to the Constitution because they did not include women suffrage.  Women put aside their suffrage movement and equality issues during the war to help the soldiers, the slaves, and the sick and wounded.  They expected to be recognized for their efforts and patience and instead received none. 

i)        Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony fought for decades for an amendment that resolved the suffrage issue but in the end, the movement died as a result of discouragement and splits within the movement itself.

ii)      Note: They felt discouraged and beaten and would not fight as hard for several decades after this movement died.)

11) Life after Slavery

a)     Freedmen’s Bureau- given the enormous task of issuing emergency rations of food and providing clothing and shelter for the homeless, hungry victims of the war.  Medical care and hospital facilities as well as transportation were issues for them as well.  Also, they had a myriad of other jobs and assignments that can be read about on page 554.

i)        Many of the bureau’s agents were former union officers more concerned with social order than social transformation and the bureau’s members were often accused of partisan Republican politics, corruption and partiality to blacks.

ii)      Note: Funny, huh, they are doing the job that many people didn’t want to deal with or do themselves and this bureau put in more effort than they should have been required to and yet all they got was criticism. Regardless of whether or not they ran a perfect organization, they deserved respect, no?

iii)     The agents spent a lot of time solving employment complaints and land disputes instead of being able to just find jobs and give aid. Accomplishments of the bureau were the following: they issued 20 million rations, reunited families and treated some 450,000 cases of illness and injury, built 40 hospitals and hundreds of schools, provided learning, building materials, and land to freedmen.

iv)    Economic failures by the bureau and congress forced many freedmen into new economic dependency on their former masters. 

(1)  Most farms now concentrated on one crop, mostly cotton and were dependent on the international market. 

(2)  Conditions for the “laborers” was not much different in the postwar era.

v)     Note: Now, instead of in bondage, they are “slaves of servitude.”  Great Improvement, NOT!

b)     Slaves all over began to show resentment, and participated in strikes, complaints, and causing other difficulties for land owners.  They demanded land of their own and better conditions often causing former plantation owners to go bankrupt or lose money.  This was one of many reasons for the change from the contract system to tenancy and sharecropping.  Sharecroppers were given seed, fertilizer, farm implements, and all necessary food and clothing to take care of their families.  In return, the landlord told them what to grow and how much they could keep. So, they were, at least, semiautonomous.

c)     These changes affected the yeoman and poor white farmers as well as the freedmen.  This raised a threat of a coalition between poor black and pro-Unionist white farmers.  Also, since cotton production doubled and food crops were not being grown as much, a greater dependency on foreign markets came about.

d)     The health, isolation and poverty of poor white farmers in the mountainous regions of the south increased and worsened in the reconstruction era after the war. 

i)        Their lifestyles reflected their pride and lowly position.

ii)      Poor whites were more persistent in the belief of white superiority in part because they constantly had to compete with blacks for land, jobs and other necessities.  Many poor whites were Ku Klux Klan members but, although the poor whites did have trouble competing with blacks, the blacks in the end had a harder time.

e)     Note: Who had it worse, the blacks or poor whites?  Did the blacks’ situation improve or decline after slavery was abolished?  Was the government to blame for the poor reconstruction efforts, the bureau, the south or another group?

12) Blacks will need to free themselves

a)     White abolition organizations will not do it

b)     Note: Why won’t the whites help the blacks to gain their liberty? Would it possibly threaten the white supremacy within the nation? Did they think that blacks were not their equals? Any other possibilities?

c)     The blacks are the only ones who will, in reality, do it

d)     The black community, namingly the church, will help those in need

e)     Note: Why were churches so powerful? Was it because they commanded respect? Or was it something more, something intangible?

13) Education was a big thing in this period for the freedmen

a)     Note: Why did the newly freed blacks want education so much? Was it because they wanted to exercise freedom to their greatest possibility? Or was there some deeper reason?

b)     Note: These schools became community centers. Why did they become community centers? Is it because they had the education to lead the community? Or is there some other reason?

14) White opposition to black land ownership and education stimulated “black nationalism and separatism”

15) Republicans made the new state governments in their ideals, they were able to make them this way because most white southerners would not vote.

a)     Note: it was not the southerners that actually controlled these states; it was the northerners. For the most part, it was the aristocrats, the former union soldiers, missionaries, and the like.

b)     Note: Why would these people be able to control a southern state, even if the whites did not vote? Did the blacks want them in control? Or, of those whites that voted, did they believe that they were the brothers of the north again, so they should reconcile?

16) Black politicians joined the government so that they would have access to the democratic power that they deserved

17) Modernizing the government, and the southern states (even where the people did not want it), was achieved by the Republican-held State Congresses

18) Many secret organizations, such as the Ku Klux Klan, used force to reestablish the supremacy of the white man, and the Democratic party

a)     Note: Why would they use force? Did they deem the situation that dire? Or was there some other reason?

b)     Note: They called the victory of winning the election in Mississippi “redemption”. Why would they call it this? Is it some sort of salvation to defeat the republicans? Were the republican governments that bad?

c)     Congress tried to stem the violence of the Klan, but stopped because they realized that they did not really want black voters voting anyway

i)        Note: This shows the white supremacy thought of the time. Even though some did not want to admit it. They all believed that they were superior to the blacks.

ii)      The laws that were passed were disregarded and overturned by the southerners and the Supreme Court

iii)     Note: Why were they disregarded? Was there something that the Republic did not take into account when they passed these laws? Like the fact that everyone discriminates against blacks?

iv)    Note: Is it possible that this disregard shows that the South is still bitter about loosing the Civil War? . . . Are they not still bitter today, at least to some extent?

19) Special Reading:  Novels

a)     Novels serve to display different authors' (and citizens') viewpoints and opinions on historical topics from the era when they happened.

b)     Note; A novel is a work of fiction.  Therefore, while a novel may be historically accurate, the writer of the piece might still have an objective in mind.

20) Reconstruction, Northern Style

a)     Americans tired of battles over the freedmen and shifted attention to labor

b)     Labor parties flourished, such as the National Labor Union in 1866

c)     The Republican Party changed from a party of moral reform to a party of material interest.

d)     Multiple scandals occurred involving the embezzlement of public money.

e)     Note: These scandals represented the party itself, which was becoming involved only in material affairs.

f)       In 1872 Grant was elected for a second term over the liberal Republican and Democrat candidate Horace Greeley

21) The End of Reconstruction

a)     During Grants second term, a financial depression occurred throughout the mid-1870’s

b)     Economic issues dominated the politics

c)     Election of 1876

i)        After voting disputes, Republican nominee was elected

ii)      Democrats resisted the electoral votes

iii)     “compromise of 1877”

(1)  Democrats suspended resistance to electoral votes

(2)  Federal troops removed from the South

(3)  South handled its own racial affairs

iv)    Note: This compromise reminds us of the years before the Civil War.  Did the war do anything except slightly change the issue from slavery to racial relations?

22) Conclusion

a)     Reconstruction brought about compromise for the North and South

b)     The South retained their control of their lands and racial relations

Id’s

15^th Amendment- forbidding all states to deny the vote to anyone “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”

George Julian- proposed the Southern Homestead Act of 1866

Southern Homestead Act- made public lands available to blacks and loyal whites in five southern states

Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony- leaders of the Women’s Loyal League; fought for women’s suffrage

Freedmen’s Bureau- an organization founded to give aid to freedmen and others who were negatively affected by the war as well as to help with reconstruction

General O. O. Howard- commissioner of the bureau, very influential man

Republican Party – the party of Abraham Lincoln, was in control in 1865

Democratic Party – party opposing Republicans, was in shambles in 1865

Negro Baptist Church- a church for blacks, one that helped them in a time of need.

Esther Douglass- a “schoolmarm” that taught the black children in the south.

Ku Klux Klan- an organization that used scare tactics to get blacks to give up voting and other such things

Grant – President for two terms after the Civil War.

Henry Adams – critiqued Grant as a president.

Tilden – Democratic nominee in the election of 1876.

Hayes – Republican nominee in the election of 1876.  He won the presidency after much dispute over the electoral votes.

Edwin Stanton- Secretary of war, the president tried to get rid of him, but to no avail, it lead to his impeachment.

Geography:

North Carolina

The North

The South

Washington DC

The Southern states that employed the Mississippi Plan

Vocabulary:

Suffrage- the right to vote, women’s movement for freedoms (social and economic)

Sharecropper- a tenant farmer who gives a share of the crops raised to the landlord in lieu of rent.

Yeoman- a farmer who cultivates his own land

Freedman – an emancipated slave

Black codes- the laws that limited the freedom of the blacks, even though they were now “equal”

Radical Republicans- the republicans who were extremely fervent in their beliefs

Africanization- the turning of something into the African culture

Impeachment-when a president is put up for trial, by the senate, to be removed from office for his crimes