As the Civil War came to an end, Union politicians had to answer two questions. What should happen with the newly freed people and how should the South be reconstructed. The Southern states had to rejoin the Union but what should that look like? Republicans and Democrats both had contradictory ideas about reconstruction. Let's explore the period of 1865 to 1877 for a better understanding of Reconstruction in the South!
Reconstruction in the South Summary
With the Civil War still raging, Unionists were unsure of what would happen to the freed slaves, also known as freedmen. In January of 1865, General Sherman issued Special Field Order No. 15 which confiscated lands from plantations and redistributed them amongst freed black families.
The Civil War ended in 1865 and President Abraham Lincoln signed the 13th Amendment that abolished slavery. He proposed that the former Confederate States should be allowed to rejoin the Union as long as ten percent of the men pledged loyalty to the Union. Republican Congressmen felt the Ex-Confederates were getting a slap on the wrist, so they proposed the Wade-Davis Bill. The majority of a state's white men would have to pledge loyalty and Confederates could not hold office. Lincoln vetoed this bill.
Fig. 1-President Abraham Lincoln.
In March of 1865, the Freedmen's Bureau was created. Their goal was to help freedmen and poor whites by building schools, offering legal counsel, giving food, housing, medical aid, and more. Schools were a game-changer for the African American community. Children who could read and write had far more opportunities than their parents who couldn't. Freedmen made many sacrifices to send their children to school because they knew the value of education.
Reconstruction Conflict and Compromise in the South
Before Lincoln was able to carry out his restoration plans, he was assassinated in April of 1865. He was replaced by his Vice President Andrew Johnson. Johnson was a racist man who thought it would be better to allow the South to reconstruct itself than for the federal government to get involved.
Whatever Andrew Johnson may be, he certainly is no friend of our race.
-Fredrick Douglass
Johnson undid Sherman's work by taking the land from the black families and returning it to the original plantation owners. Johnson saw an issue with taking the land of white Confederates to give to African Americans, but he had no such problems when he relocated Native Americans to reservations and gave their land to white settlers.
Fig. 2- Andrew Johnson.
During the Memphis Massacre, African Americans were attacked, raped, and murdered but this was not a singular occasion. Their schools were burnt down, Confederate veterans were killing freedmen, and Andrew Johnson refused to help. He would not sign the 14th Amendment which defined citizenship and guaranteed police protection to the freedmen. He also allowed Confederate states to rejoin the union once they paid off their debts and removed the Confederate government. Confederates could still hold office and when the former Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens was elected to the Congress, Republicans had had enough.
Memphis Massacre (1866)
On May 1, 1866, a three-day race riot erupted. In Memphis Tennessee, a white police officer attempted to arrest a black soldier. The soldier resisted arrest and was assisted by African Americans who showed up in support. The General sent the soldiers to the barracks which left the Black People in Memphis unprotected. African Americans were attacked and murdered while their schools and homes were burned down. At least seven women were sexually assaulted.
The white mob was made up of former Confederate soldiers, firemen, police officers, and other local men. The mayor refused to intervene, and the violence only stopped when American soldiers, both Black and white, were sent in to end the chaos. Tennessee was forced to accept the Fourteenth amendment, which made Black people citizens. As citizens, Black people were owed the same protections as white people, though Southern states found different ways to deny it.
Civil Rights of 1866
The Civil Rights Act of 1866 gave more rights to freedmen and guaranteed access to courts. Johnson vetoed the bill, but Congress overturned his veto with a 2/3 majority. In response, twenty-four Southern African American politicians were killed, and their homes burnt.
Radical Reconstruction in the South
In 1866, Republicans won the majority of Congress three to one. The Republican party was able to begin the reconstruction that they wanted. With the Reconstruction Act of 1867, the Confederate states were divided into five territories each with a US general in charge of it. Former Confederate states had to deny Confederates the right to vote. Johnson, of course, vetoed this bill but Congress overturned his veto.
Fig. 3- Military Division Map.
Radical Republicans made strides in the South. They created soup kitchens, offered legal aid to people who could not afford lawyers, and offered some free healthcare. Women were given the right to own property while more schools were created for African Americans and poor whites. The Civil Rights Act of 1875 gave African Americans full and equal rights to juries and public transportation.
The 15th Amendment
Fig. 5- Freedman voting.
African American suffrage movements campaigned for the voting rights of African American men. One of the most notable advocates was Franklin Douglass. Some women wanted to join the cause to advocate for voting rights for African Americans and women, but this was shot down. Women were considered selfish for taking attention away from African American men.
Some white women thought that they deserved voting rights more than African American men while other women stood behind the freedmen hoping that they would get their chance next. The 15th Amendment passed in 1870 giving African American men the right to vote but women would have to wait another ninety years for their "turn".
Economic Changes in the South During Reconstruction
Fig. 5- Sharecropping.
Northern politicians wanted African Americans to vote but were not willing to give them land. Without land, they were forced to make arrangements with former slave owners. The freedmen would live on the land and farm it. They normally harvested cotton.
Half of the harvest went to the landowner and the freedmen kept the other half in a system called sharecropping. The freedmen had to buy food, tools, and seeds on credit from bankers and landowners. This created a seemingly endless cycle of debt.
Laws were passed that required freedmen to have contract labor jobs. These contracts lasted for one year and if a freedman left it then he had to return all of his wages to his employer. There was a 100$ yearly tax on freedmen who had jobs outside of labor.
What was the role of women in all of this? Well, freedmen wanted to imitate the living style of Northern people so women shouldn't work, instead, they would take care of their homes and children. That was an unrealistic goal because the sharecropping system kept African American families in poverty. Women had to work the farms or in the homes of rich white women. These former plantation owners' wives never had to do domestic labor, so they hired African American women to do it for them.
Restrictions on African American Life
While some families were reunited after slavery ended, others were separated. Laws were passed in the South that allowed African American children to be taken from their families and placed in apprenticeships with former slave owners.
Fig. 6- African American Sharecropper on his porch on a Sunday Morning.
There were voting restrictions which included poll taxes and literacy tests to prevent African Americans from voting. Grandfather laws allowed anyone who could vote before 1867 to continue to vote without the tax or tests. Jim Crow laws legalized separating people based on race.
When Did Reconstruction End in the South?
Southerners began to undo the work done by the Republicans. In their minds, they were undoing a system of injustice but in actuality, they were reinforcing white supremacy. The Ku Klux Klan, the KKK, was formed to terrorize African Americans. They murdered political rivals as well as African Americans. In 1876 a Supreme Court Case, US versus Cruikshank, decided it was ok if private organizations like the KKK blocked African Americans from voting as long as the State itself did not prevent them from voting.
Grant's presidency came to an end and Rutherford Hayes was to take his place. His election was murky because it was unclear if Hayes or his Democratic opponent had won. Hayes made an official deal with the Democratic party in exchange for them to back him. This is called the Compromise of 1877 and marks the end of the Reconstruction era.
- Federal government must pull troops from the South
- A Southern Democrat must be in Hayes' cabinet
- A transcontinental railroad from Texas and the Pacific
This is known as the Great Betrayal because Reconstruction ended when the troops left the South.
Post-Civil War South
African Americans were freed, and their men were given the right to vote. They were never given land and never given the means to escape poverty. This leads many historians to believe that Reconstruction could have been better. Yes, African Americans were freed but they were still stuck working on plantations and in a cycle of debt. What do you think, was Reconstruction successful?
The Post-Civil War South - Key takeaways
- Reconstruction began in 1865 and lasted until 1877. The goal was to rebuild the South after the Civil War.
- Radical Republicans wanted African Americans to have more rights. They passed legislation that made Black people citizens of the United States and gave African American men the right to vote
- There were discussions and promises to give land to African Americans. They never received land and were forced to work for their former enslavers.
- Reconstruction ended in 1877 and much of what had been accomplished was undone. When Southerners controlled the South, they found different ways to disenfranchise African Americans.
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