ms studies ch. 6 reconstruction & transition. chapter 6 (reconstruction)2

MS StudiesCh. 6

Reconstruction & Transition

Chapter 6 (Reconstruction) 2


After The War

• MS went from very wealthy to ruins– Cities, roads, bridges, towns, buildings, all

were destroyed• 1/3 of white males were killed or injured

during the war• 400,000 freedmen (former slaves) now

existed– Homeless, uneducated, jobless

• MS social order was gone– Blacks Free– Whites had hard time accepting them as

equal


Freed Slaves

• Freedmen’s Bureau – created to help slaves find food, shelter, work, & assimilate to freedom.

• Rumors stated that every black male would receive 40 acres of land and a mule. This never happens.

• Most land confiscated during the war was returned to the owners.


Presidential Reconstruction• Lincoln’s Plan for Reconstruction

– All Southerners, except high ranking Conf. officials, would be pardoned after signing oath of loyalty

– 10% of people signed oath, they could create a state gov. and be readmitted.

• Johnson’s Plan for Reconstruction– Same as Lincoln’s except high ranking

military & Conf. officials and those owning more than $20,000 worth of property were not pardoned.

• Congress wanted tougher requirements & pressured Johnson to add the following.– States must repeal Secession Ordinances– Void their War Debt– Ratify 13th Amendment


Lincoln & Johnson


Constitutional Conv. 1865• William L. Sharkey named temp.

Governor by Pres. Johnson• MS was first to hold Conv. & everyone

was watching• 300 men met on Aug. 14, 1865. Most

were pre-war leaders• They created a government just like

the one before the war.• Blacks were not given voting rights• Most white Mississippians agreed with

this Convention.


William Sharkey


• Herschel Johnson led the state constitutional convention in 1865


MS’s Post War Government• Benjamin Humphreys elected Governor (Conf.

General)• Most elected officials had served in the Confederate

Government & refused to grant blacks rights• Legislature passed the Black Codes to control

blacks– Black marriages legal, blacks could sue in court.– Interracial marriage illegal, blacks can’t testify against

whites– Blacks could rent or lease land in cities or towns– Blacks had to have employment contracts and were

arrested if they broke the contract.– Blacks could not carry firearms or weapons, and

could not assemble w/o permission– Jailed blacks could be rented out to anyone that paid

their jail fine.


Benjamin Humphreys


U.S. Congress• U.S. Congress refused to seat MS

Representatives & passed the 14th Amendment.– 14th Amendment guaranteed all people their

rights “white or black”

• March 2, 1867 Congress passed the Reconstruction Act.– South divided into 5 Military districts and

readmission to the Union was much stricter.

• MS was in the 4th district and Major Gen. Edward O. Ord became military governor in MS.


14th Amendment


Reconstruction Map


MS During Reconstruction• All eligible males registered to vote regardless

of race• MS Politics included

– Democrats – White southerners that didn’t support black rights

– Republicans – Whites and blacks that supported black rights.

– Scalawags – Southerners that supported the Republican Party

– Carpetbaggers – northern whites that were Republicans and moved to MS.

• The Republican Party used their majority of votes (black & white) to call for a new state constitutional convention


Carpetbagger


Constitution of 1868• 100 delegates. 17 black, 29 scalawags, 25

carpetbaggers, 17 Democrats• They created the states 3rd & most democratic

constitution.– Universal Male Suffrage granted

– Free Public Education Ages 6-18

– No discrimination in public transportation

– Property qualification for voting or holding office eliminated.

– Property rights granted to women

– Disfranchises all person who supported secession and helped Confederacy

– Whites had to sign oath stating “all men are created equal”

• This constitution failed to ratify due to the disenfranchising clause & equality oath. These were eliminated by Pres. Ulysses S. Grant in 1869 & the Constitution was ratified.


President Ulysses S. Grant


Primary School in Vicksburg


Freedmen school


Republican Rule

• Republicans ruled MS• 1869 James Alcorn elected governor.• Republicans had majority in legislature• State ratified 14th & 15th amendments & was

readmitted to the Union Feb. 23, 1870.• Hiram Revels (black) filled Jefferson Davis’

unexpired Senate term & Adelbert Ames was elected to the other.– Revels is the first black in the U.S. Senate

• Ames defeated Alcorn for governor in 1873


James Alcorn


• Aldelbert Ames replaced James Alcorn as governor in 1873. He was Union General in Civil War.


Hiram Revels


Adelbert Ames


Black Political Power

• Blacks served as early as 1868 in political roles

• 1868 Benjamin Montgomery became justice of the peace. Believed to be first black to hold public office in MS

• Many blacks served in the MS House and Senate.

• A.K. Davis elected Lt. Governor in 1873• John Lynch served as MS’s only black

member in the U.S. House of Reps.• Blanche K. Bruce of MS was the first

black elected to the U.S. Senate and the first to serve a full term.


John R. Lynch


Blanche K. Bruce


1st African American

s in Congress


Education• Const. of 1868 created free public

schools (tax based)• State supported them with funding and

elected a state superintendent who appointed county superintendents.

• The following was created– University of MS expanded 1871– Alcorn State College (black only) 1877– MS A & M (later MS State)– MS University for Women 1884– Jackson State 1877– Millsaps College 1892– Mississippi College 1892


University of MS


Alcorn College


MS University for Women


Millsaps College


Mississippi College


End of Republican Rule• From the beginning of Reconstruction, white Democrats

were trying to regain political power in MS• Those that wanted to return control of the state to the

Democrats were called Redeemers• The election of 1875 was the turning point

– White Republicans were threatened with violence and becoming a social outcast if they didn’t become Democrat

– Blacks were driven from voting poles with violence, or forced to vote Democrat by their employers.

– The Ku Klux Klan (KKK) was the terror group used to intimidate voters.

• Democrats won 4 of 6 Congressional seats, and claimed the majority in the State Congress

• Republican Senators were later replaced by Democrats• Republican Governor Adelbert Ames was threatened w/

impeachment and resigned.


Ku Klux Klan (KKK)


KKK March on Washington D.C.


Presidential Election of 1876• Dem. Candidate Samuel Tilden & Repub.

Candidate Rutherford B. Hayes• No candidate won a majority. Some electoral votes

were contested.• Commission was formed to pick a winner.• Southern Democrats used a filibuster (continuous

speechmaking to delay action) to slow the commission.– Democrats agreed to stop the filibuster and support

Hayes, if Hayes promised to withdraw troops from the South

• Hayes won the election & military occupation ended


Rutherford Hayes & Samuel Tilden


Constitution of 1890• MS called Constitutional convention in 1890• MS reapportioned (redrew district lines) to give

white majorities power over black populated areas

• Met in Jackson in Aug. 1890• One black (Isaiah Montgomery) attended• Constitution said

– Voters had to• Register at least 4 months before election• Live in the state for 2 years before voting• Pay a $2 poll tax• Pass Literacy Test. Had to read any section of the state

constitution or “understand it when read to them”. This was the understanding clause

• Black voters dropped from 142,000 to 8,615


Isaiah Montgomery

ms studies ch. 6 reconstruction & transition. chapter 6 (reconstruction)2

Documents

reconstruction act

blacks rightslegislature

wo permissionjailed

war debtratify

rights white

high ranking military

lease land

acres of land