Benjamin Butler, a Radical Republican, once said, "The true touchstone of civil liberty is not that all men are equal but that every man has the right to be the equal of every other man – if he can." The Civil War devastated the South, but it had to rejoin the Union. The Radical Republicans took a hard stance, the South couldn't rejoin unless African Americans had rights and opportunities. Let's take a closer look at the Radical Reconstruction that aimed to give African Americans in the South equal opportunities.
Radical Reconstruction Definition
Radical Reconstruction was the political and social restructuring of the South led by the Radical Republicans after the Civil War. These individuals wanted equality for African Americans which included protection from white Southerners as well as voting rights. One of the leaders of the Radical Republicans was Thaddeus Stevens. Stevens was an abolitionist during the Civil War and promoted African American rights. This period began in the 1860s and ended in the 1870s.
Fig. 1- Thaddeus Stevens
Reconstruction in the South
Abraham Lincoln began Southern reconstruction, but he was assassinated before he could make the needed changes. Lincoln's vice president, Andrew Johnson, was the next president but Johnson was racist towards Black people and didn't want them to gain equality. Johnson planned to give control of reconstruction over to the Southern government regardless of what that meant for African Americans.
Whatever Andrew Johnson may be, he certainly is no friend of our race.
-Fredrick Douglass
In 1866 the Republican party won the majority of seats in Congress. This gave them the power to control reconstruction in the South. Let's look into the changes that they made.
Radical Reconstruction Plan
Radical Reconstruction began with the passing of the 14th Amendment. The 14th Amendment made African Americans citizens. They would receive all the rights that American citizens had like the right to a fair trial. Even though African Americans had these rights on paper, in reality, the South would not obey the new amendment unless they were forced to.
Radical Reconstruction Act of 1867
The Radical Reconstruction Act of 1867 forced Southern states to accept reconstruction. The former Confederate states weren't allowed to rejoin the Union until they met the terms of the act. The states were split into five divisions with military generals leading each section. The general registered all eligible men, Black and white, to vote. He presided over constitutional conventions and maintained the safety of the Black people who voted.
Fig. 2- Military Districts
Each state had to draft a new constitution and then the citizens voted. The new constitution had to have the majority approval before a state was allowed to re-enter the Union. African American men had to have a vote if the state wanted to rejoin the Union. The states also had to ratify the 13th and 14th Amendments.
13th Amendment:
This amendment freed enslaved people in America
- Act of 1867
- Divide Southern states into five regions with a military general in charge of each section
- Terms for Confederate states to rejoin the Union
- Accept the 13th and 14th Amendments
- Create New Constitutions
- New Constitution voted in by a majority of voters (voters must include Black people)
Voting in America
The Fifteenth and final amendment passed during reconstruction was the right for African American men to Vote. This was the accumulation of years of campaigning from Black and white people. Radical Republicans and Black people agreed that the right to vote was a necessity for equality in America.
The Fifteenth Amendment still allowed for literacy tests and poll taxes. The Southern states would use these as ways to keep African Americans from voting. The poll tax was one dollar which might feel small to us but to someone living in poverty in the 18th century that was a lot of money. The literacy test required someone to read the constitution or prove that they understood a passage from it. African Americans had only just received the opportunity for their children to learn to read.
Women and African American Suffrage
Women supported African American suffrage because they believed that both oppressed groups could receive voting rights with the Fifteenth Amendment. This did not last as women were considered selfish for trying to receive the voting right at the same time as African American men. Franklin Douglass, African American civil rights activist, pleaded that women put African American men first unless their situation was as dire as that of African Americans. Douglass and many men of the movement conveniently forgot that African American women would not be able to vote even though they suffered the same as African American men.
The women's suffrage movement split with some helping African Americans and others focusing solely on women's suffrage. The women who chose not to assist African American men made racist remarks because they believed they were more deserving of the right to vote. African American women saw this and the divide between white and Black women grew. When women's suffrage rose in popularity, white women continued to exclude African American women.
Radical Reconstruction and Social Change
Along with the Freedmen's Bureau, the Radical Republicans made social changes in the South. Hospitals and orphanages were built. The Freedmen's Bureau assisted African Americans with their work contracts. Soup kitchens were created to feed the poor. Perhaps the most important change was the building of schools.
Poor whites and African Americans were able to send their children to these newly formed schools. Parents understood the value of literacy. Enslaved people were not allowed to learn to read so many formerly enslaved Black people wanted their children to learn. By the mid-1870s over half of African American children attended schools.
Fig. 3- Carpetbagger
Schools were often taught by Northern men who were called carpetbaggers because of the cheap material that their suitcases were made out of. Southern democrats demonized these men as money-hungry Northerners who traveled to the South for easy work. While this may be true of some of them, some of these men just wanted to educate Southern people.
Another demonized group was Southern white republicans who were called scallywags. Southern Republicans were thought of as corrupt traitors even though many of them just wanted equality for African Americans. This group consisted primarily of poor white Southerners who believed that the slavocracy hurt poor whites as well as African Americans.
Slavocracy:
White Southern elite plantation owners who financially benefitted from slavery
Failure of Radical Reconstruction
Reconstruction began to deteriorate around 1871 when a worldwide depression began. Banks went bankrupt like the Freedmen's bank which was associated with the Freedmen's Bureau. The Freedmen's bank was used and trusted by African Americans and when it went bankrupt, they did not get their money back.
The Republicans pushed a lot of social reform programs that were paid for by taxpayers. Many white southerners were angered by this because they felt these programs helped Black people. They wanted programs that only helped white people.
Fig. 4- African American Man Voting
Through Black voter suppression and violence, the democrats were able to put former Confederate politicians in office and like-minded individuals. The Southern Democrats then began the process of undoing as much of the Civil Rights of the reconstruction as they could.
Sharecropping
Thaddeus Stevens believed that African Americans were owed land because they had been enslaved for four hundred years working that land. His fellow republicans did not agree. They did not believe that formerly enslaved person was owed anything that would truly put them on equal grounds with white people.
African Americans were not given land after they were freed from enslavement. They had no money, no homes, and many of them had little to no opportunities. They were left with one option, work on the formerly enslaved person's owners' farms. The Black person could live on the land with their family, but they had to farm it. Half of the produced goods went to the landowner. This was called sharecropping.
Fig. 5- Cotton Sharecropping Farm
The African American family did not have farming equipment, seeds, clothes, or food. They would have to buy these items on credit and then repay them (with large interest rates) when the crop was harvested. The family was left with little funds after repaying everyone. They became trapped in a system of debt.
Radical Reconstruction Significance
Radical Reconstruction was important because it brought about the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments. It established schools for African Americans in the South and gave Black people a chance to become literate. Though Thaddeus Stevens argued that reconstruction did not go far enough because it did not give land to African Americans forcing them to work unfavorable contracts on former plantation owners' land.
Radical Reconstruction - Key takeaways
- Radical Reconstruction began after the Civil War ended. It was led by Thaddeus Stevens and the Radical Republicans
- Andrew Johnson was a Southern man who owned enslaved people. He was a difficult opponent for the Radical Republicans
- The South was divided into military districts with different generals leading them. This insured that African Americans were able to use their new rights and that the former Confederates couldn't control the South
- African Americans were made into citizens and given the right to vote
- Radical Reconstruction ended when the Radical Republicans lost power and the banks failed
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