Reconstruction

Better Times to Collapse1865-1877

Reconstruction

• Reconstruction was the time frame after the Civil War in which the U.S. Government began to rebuild the South and was also the process of Southern state’s readmittance to the Union

• One of the most important Amendments to the Constitution was made during this timeframe: The 14th Amendment

• All persons born or naturalized in the United States…are citizens of the United States…No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges of citizens of the United States…nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws

15th Amendment This Amendment is introduced to further

solidify freed slaves’ right to voteIt states:

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United

States or bay any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.

The Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation

Success In Reconstruction

• Blacks took an active role in politics during Reconstruction

• Although still seriously outnumbered in the House of Representatives, 16 were elected during the Reconstruction timeframe

• Hiram Revels became the first black man to serve in the U.S. Senate

Blacks in Political Office Hiram Revels

White Southerners Resist • White Southerners had great resistance to or just

flatly refused to accept the new status of blacks, especially the idea of equal rights

What is the purview of the law?

What can one reasonably expect a law to change? Does the law change people’s inherent beliefs? Feelings? Attitudes?

The “Invisible Empire of the South”The “Invisible Empire of the South”

Black Codes & SharecroppingBlack Codes & Sharecropping Purpose:

* Guaranteed stable labor supply now that blacks were emancipated

* Restored pre-emancipationsystem of race relations & the social construct of the South

Forced many blacks to become sharecroppers, keeping them virtually enslaved

SharecroppingSharecropping

Reconstruction Begins to Collapse• Lincoln’s assassination, the Ku Klux Klan and the

breakdown of the Republican party all lead to the collapse of Reconstruction

• In the Presidential race of 1876, the Democratic candidate, Samuel Tilden, won the popular vote but was one vote short of the electoral victory

• A political deal was made, known as the Compromise of 1877, to cast the remaining electoral votes for the Republican candidate, Hayes, in exchange for the removal of the remaining Reconstruction troops in the South

1876 Presidential Tickets1876 Presidential Tickets

Was it simply a political compromise to end the Presidential conflict?

What was the overall perception of black equality – not just in the South?