hine_ch13_lecture

Copyright ©2011, ©2008 by Pearson Education, Inc.

All rights reserved.

The African-American Odyssey, Fifth Edition

Darlene Clark Hine • William C. Hine • Stanley Harrold

THE

AFRICAN-AMERICAN ODYSSEYFIFTH EDITION

Chapter

The Meaning of Freedom: The Failure of Reconstruction1868–1877

13





These are the first African Americans to serve in the U.S. Congress.





Constitutional Conventions

• Delegates

Former Confederate states elect delegates,

1867–1868

265 black men in ten Southern states

• Progressive Constitution

Statewide public education

State support for private businesses





Constitutional Conventions (cont'd)

• Carpetbagger

The derogatory term used during

Reconstruction to describe Northerners who

came South following the Civil War to take

advantage of political and economic

opportunities. They were labeled

"carpetbaggers" because they ostensibly

carried all of their possessions in a solitary

carpetbag.





Constitutional Conventions (cont'd)

• Scalawag

The derogatory term used during

Reconstruction to identify a native white

southerner who supported black and white

Republicans. They were considered traitors to

their people and the Democratic Party.





Elections

• First time black men cast ballots

Mostly Republicans

All adult males vote





Black Political Leaders

• White Republicans dominate

1,465 black men held political office

378 free blacks before the Civil War

• Most from Mississippi and South Carolina

Majority of representatives in state houses

were black men

Did not dominate any state politically

None elected governor

- Six lieutenants





Black Political Leaders (cont'd)

• 14 served in the U.S. House of

Representatives

Some educated, well-qualified

Some illiterate, former slaves

Farmers, artists, tailors, some wealthy

- Few former slave owners





AFRICAN-AMERICAN POPULATION AND OFFICE HOLDING DURING

RECONSTRUCTION IN THE STATES SUBJECT TO CONGRESSIONAL

RECONSTRUCTION





The Issues

• Promote the welfare of all citizens





Education and Social Welfare

• Improve literacy and education for black

people

Public schools

Segregated (except New Orleans)

Compulsory education

- Uneven results





Education and Social Welfare (cont'd)

• Establish state-supported schools

The deaf, the blind, and the insane

- Criminal reform





Civil Rights

• Civil rights

Public facilities for all people

Introduce laws to prohibit discrimination

Seen by whites as attempt at social equality

• White politicians defeated anti-

discrimination bills

South Carolina passed but not effectively

enforced





Economic Issues

• Enacted laws to prevent abuse of laborers

Paid before or when crop sold

Some even wanted to regulate laborers'

wages

- Stay laws

• Protect land and property of small farmers

against seizure

• Republicans hoped to gain support from

white yeomen





Land

• No programs to provide land to landless

Except South Carolina

State land commission, 1869

Loans on generous terms

- 14,000 families gain land

- Corrupt and inefficiently managed

• High property taxes

Forced landowners to sell





Business and Industry

• Expanding railroad network

Employment

Prosperity

Corrupt financing

• Black entrepreneurs

Difficult to get financing





Black Politicians: An Evaluation

• Failed to significantly improve lives

Outnumbered by white Republicans

Could not enact their own agenda

Disagreement among black leaders

- Divided by class and prewar status





Republican Factionalism

• Southern Republicans

Factious

Disagreements

• Who should run and hold political office

Desperate for an office that paid a salary

Ran against each other

Re-nomination and re-election unusual

- Inexperienced leadership





Opposition

• White Southerners

Opposed black men in the political system

Did not accept the Fourteenth Amendment

Blamed Republicans for waste and corruption

- Redeemers





The Ku Klux Klan

• Militant terrorist organizations

Knights of the White Camellia

The White Brotherhood

The Whitecaps

• Remove black men from politics

Accepted the use of violence

Threats, intimidations, rapes, beatings, and

murder





The Ku Klux Klan (cont'd)

• Established in Pulaski, Tennessee, 1866

Social club

Confederate veterans

- General Nathan Bedford Forrest

• Attracted all classes of white society

Active in areas they could influence voting

Never appeared in Carolina and Georgia Low

Country






• Ku Klux Klan

A secret society founded by former

Confederates in Pulaski, Tennessee, in 1866.

It transformed itself into a terrorist

organization during Reconstruction to drive

black and white Republicans from political

power in southern states.






• Ku Klux Klan (cont'd)

It disappeared by the late nineteenth century

but was revived near Atlanta, Georgia, in

1915, as a powerful, white, Anglo-Saxon,

Protestant political force in many states

outside the South. It was revived again in the

1950s to oppose the civil rights movement.





The West

• Native Americans

Fought for the confederacy

Resented sharing land with freedmen

• Black people struggled for rights

Creeks/Seminoles

Choctaw/Chickasaw

Other territorial governments





FEDERAL RECONSTRUCTION LEGISLATION 1869–1875





This optimistic 1870 illustration exemplifies the hopes and aspirations generated during

Reconstruction as black people gained access to the political system.





The Fifteenth Amendment

• All races had right to vote

Did not guarantee women right to vote

Did not outlaw:

- Poll taxes

- Literacy tests

- Property qualifications

• Northern black men able to vote





The Fifteenth Amendment (cont'd)

• Fifteenth Amendment, 1870

This constitutional amendment stipulated that

the right to vote could not be denied on

account of race, color, or because a person

had been a slave





The Enforcement Acts

• Northern response to Southern terrorism

Increased federal authority

1870 Act

Outlawed disguises and masks





The Enforcement Acts (cont'd)

• Ku Klux Klan Act, 1871

Federal offense to:

- Interfere with voting, hold office, serve on jury

Authorize President to send in federal troops

Suspend the writ of habeas corpus

• South Carolina up country






• Enforcement Acts

Also known as the Force Acts, these

measures were passed by Congress in the

early 1870s to undermine the Ku Klux Klan

and other terrorist organizations by

authorizing the president to use military force

and to suspend the writ of habeas corpus






• Habeas corpus

A court order that a person arrested or

detained by law enforcement officers must be

brought to court and charged with a crime

and not held indefinitely





The North and Reconstruction

• Northern commitment weakened

Other issues

Patronage, veterans benefits, tariffs

• Legislation could not create equality

Blacks must work to achieve acceptance

• Economy

Panic of 1873





The Freedmen's Bank

• Founded 1865, many black employees

• Only white men served on board of

directors

• Unwise investments

Closed June 1874

African American depositors

Lost more than $1 million





The Freedmen's Bank (cont'd)

• Freedmen's Savings Bank

A private financial institution chartered by

Congress in 1865. Many black people and

organizations deposited funds in the bank,

which went bankrupt in 1874.





The Civil Rights Act of 1875

• "Full and equal enjoyment"

Prohibit racial discrimination

Public facilities, conveyances, theaters, and

others

• No attempt to enforce

U.S. Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional,

1883





The Civil Rights Act of 1875 (cont'd)

• Civil Rights Act of 1875

This federal legislation outlawed racial

discrimination in public accommodations such

as hotels and restaurants, and in

transportation, including railroad coaches and

steamboats. The Supreme Court invalidated it

in 1883.





Violent Redemption

• In every Louisiana election, 1868–1876

Colfax Massacre

White League





Violent Redemption (cont'd)

• Redemption

The term used for the process, often violent,

by which white conservative Democrats

regained political control of a southern state

from black and white Republicans during

Reconstruction





Violent Redemption (cont'd)

• Colfax Massacre

At least 105 African Americans were

murdered on Easter Sunday in 1873 in

Colfax, Louisiana, in the single worst episode

of violence during Reconstruction





Shotgun Policy

• Mississippi declared open war on black

majority

Masks and hoods discarded

Black voters hid on election day

Adelbert Ames





The Hamburg Massacre

• Rifle clubs

Red Shirts

Federal troops sent to South Carolina

South Carolina adopts "Shotgun Policy"





The Hamburg Massacre (cont'd)

• Hamburg Massacre

White Democrats attacked black Republicans

in July 1876 in the village of Hamburg, South

Carolina. Five black men were murdered as

the Democrats began a violent effort to

redeem the state.





The Compromise of 1877

• Election 1876

Samuel J. Tilden, one vote shy of victory

Rutherford B. Hayes, needed nineteen

electoral votes

Election fraud

- Florida, Louisiana, South Carolina





The Compromise of 1877 (cont'd)

• Republican North, Democratic South

compromise

Hayes wins

- Removal of federal troops





The Compromise of 1877 (cont'd)

• Compromise of 1877

This informal arrangement between national

Democrats and Republicans settled the

disputed presidential election of 1876 by

permitting Republican Rutherford B. Hayes to

become president while allowing Democrats

to complete redemption by taking political

control of Louisiana, Florida, and South

Carolina





MAP 13–2 THE ELECTION OF 1876





Conclusion

• Despite freedom, citizenship, right to vote,

Reconstruction unsuccessful

Bloody era

Persistent racism

• Black people not prepared for roles in

government

hine_ch13_lecture

Documents

pearson education

hine stanley harroldelections

hine stanley harroldthese

african americans

time black men

political office

advantage of political

states subject