Topic 1: 'Free at last',, 1865-77

Reasons for the 13th amendment

• civil war (1861-65) - 620,000 dead and 4 million slaves freed

• Emancipation Proclamation (Sept 23rd 1862 preliminary announced) + Jan 1863 in Confederation states slaves are declared free

• Lincoln - was morally against slavery + had pressure from abolitionists to create something legally concrete

• practically - thousands had already left plantations/slavery collapsed/collapsing

Consequences 13th amendment - economic position of ex-slaves and development of sharecropping

• freed 4 million - BUT were illiterate, unskilled, lacking all capital (so dependent on white-owned capital)

• sharecropping development - 1880 80% cotton-producing land in South farmed by sharecroppers, some black people gained independence but often indistinguishable from slavery

• crop lein + peonage system = cycles of debt, black men trapped in unpaid labour

• land redistribution efforts limited - Sherman’s Field Order No. 15 (1865) ‘40 Acres and a Mule’ was revoked by President Johnson + Southern Homestead Act (1865) put aside 44 million acres in SS but were poor quality (only 4,000 AA benefit)

• Freedmen’s Bank (1864-74) = gained $3.3mil deposits by ‘74, allowed for some Black businesses but then collapsed post ‘73 panic → major loss of savings

• black share of south’s wealth during Reconstruction = 1.3% vs proportion of pop = ~30%

Consequences of the 13th Amendment - social tensions created in the South

interpetation of freedom = mobility, ownership, respect and autonomy

• white resistance + racial backlash = feared revenge, loss of control and racial equality, Elizabeth Meriwether of Memphis TN ‘distressed’ by AA ‘swaggering’, rural whites complained of ‘insolence’ and ‘insubordination’, huge violence (East Texas 1865 2,000 AA murered + Nashville 1867 reports of continued beatings and killings by ex-owners)

• black assertion of rights = refuse to sign contracts, black churches emerge, urban migration (1865-70 black population in South’s 10 largest cities +2x), assertiveness encouraged ‘apostles of black equality’

• Freedmen’s Bureau (1865-72) = General Howard lead it, distributed 21 million rations, created 46 hospitals, helped negotiate 50,000 labour contracts, established 4,500 schools + hired 9,500 teachers + 247,333 black students enrolled in its schools - funding shortages + Ex Parte Miligan ‘66 weakened its effectiveness

• Education = concerned whites, 1870 80% of 20+ yrs = illiterate → big push on education, Bureau spent $5mil+, Black colleges eg Howard, Fisk and Hampton - improvement slow as 1890 64% still illiterate

• ‘the Master he says we are all free, but it don’t mean we is white. And it don’t mean we is equal’ - George King, freedman

Consequences of the 13th Amendment - need for a political solution on how to reincorporate the South into the Union

• Lincoln’s 10% Plan 1863 = reconstruction began Dec ‘63, if roughly 10% (of state) 1860 votes took oath of allegiance to USA then could be re-admitted - designed for quick reunification

• North wanted that South: accepted emancipation, guarantee basic freedoms to all citizens, reunify under the US gov

• Johnson became President 1865 = Southern Dem, seemed tough on south saying ‘traitors must be punished’ but also felt AA were inferior, quickly revealed hostility towards Black equality and favoured a rapid + lenient integration of SS

Consequences of the 13th Amendment - Johnson’s response to Reconstruction and reactions of states

• May 1865 Proclamation = gives mass pardons to ex-Confeds, by end of summer Johnson was pardoning ~hundred per day, creates provisional gov for North Carolina and grants vote to those who voted before civil war (not freedmen, but resellers)

• voting = left up to states who should be able to vote, didn’t support black suffrage or civil rights in this sense

• Southern states = several (eg Mississippi) resisted ratifying 143th, state Govs underwent minimal changes so Confeds still in power, Gov of Louisiana ‘this is a white man’s gov, intended for white men only’

• Black codes established (1865-66) = many denied right to vote, labour control strong (eg those who refused work under white employer’s terms could be arrested and fined), black children in involuntary apprenticeships, Florida → allowed whippings for ‘impudence or disrespect’, SC → black people could not own property in towns, ALL → undermined 13th, support for radical reps grew, sense of new form of slavery had emerged

• ‘the community as a whole now controls the blacks as a group’

Causes + Consequences of Radical Reconstruction for Southerns - reasons why Congress took over reconstruction

• Southern state elections - former Confederates being chosen

• Johnson vetoes key legislation - 1866 Civil Rights Act (introduced by Senator Lyman Trumbull), and Freedmen’s Bureau Bill Feb 1866 (although both vetos were overridden by Congress)

• Johnson seen as too soft on Southern States in reconstruction - eg Johnson calls extension of FB an ‘unjustified wartime measure’ and moderate Republicans were appalled, Johnson had previously nullified all attempts of FB to redistribute land

• Despite military defeat in Civil War, many SS refused to accept outcome

• Republicans had growing support in Congress - elections of 1866 all but 3 states were Rep and they had the 2/3 necessary to override presidential veto

• Johnson’s leniency and failures were fundamental to the shift of control into Congress’ hands

Causes + Consequences of Radical Reconstruction for Southerns - the 14th amendment, causes and consequences

• proposed by Congress June 1866 and ratified July 1866

• causes - to reinforce Civil Rights Act 1866 and protect it from future challenges from SC or political majorities, aimed to guarantee citizenship and equal protection under the law without relying on legislation (constitutional amendment is stronger), states that denies voting rights would lose congressional representation

• enforcement - southern states had to ratify amendment to be readmitted to Union

• effects - struck down Black Codes, extended constitutional protections to apply against actions by state Govs and not just the federal, united Radical Reps and became a central platform for Reconstruction

• southern reaction - all former confederates states (except Tennessee) rejected the amendment which infuriated the North (whit supremacy emerging, racial violence, southern refusal to accept defeat)

• consequence - Congress moves to impose own Reconstruction policies beginning with Military Reconstruction Act 1867

Causes + Consequences of Radical Reconstruction for Southerns - the 15th amendment, causes and consequences

• approved by Congress Feb 1869, ratified 1870

• what - prohibited federal and state Govs from denying right to vote based on colour, race, or previous condition of servitude

• celebrated by Rad Reps as major victory - Rep. James Garfield said it placed AA’s futures in their own hands

• limitations - did not guarantee right to hold political office, no uniform voting standards, di not ban use of literacy tests/property requirements/educational qualifications (thus allowed for legal loopholes to discriminate against black voters), women excluded

Causes + Consequences of Radical Reconstruction for Southerns - impact of military rule on the South

• Military Reconstructions Act = invalidated Johnson-approved state govs (except Tennessee), required new state govs to grant voting rights to all adult males + ratify 14th + hold new elections in all states (except Texas) before readmission

• Habeas Corpus Act = allowed southern citizens to bring cases to federal courts rather than biased state ones

• Command of the Army Act = required all presidential military orders to go through Army’s General HQ (under Grant) thus limiting Johnson

• Tenure of Office Act = barred the president from removing federal officeholders without Senate approval

• Military gov’s role = to protect freepeople + scalawags + carpetbaggers, enforce reconstruction policies, combat white supremacist violence

• opinions = freedpeople + Republicans saw military rule as protection whereas Southern whites viewed it as an oppressive ‘army of occupation’

• political and electoral impact = 15% white electorate (formed confederates officeholders) were temporarily disenfranchised, 703,000 ex-slaves enfranchised, in states eg SC and Louisiana → Black voters form majority, Carpetbaggers moved South from North encouraging Black Political Participation

Causes + Consequences of Radical Reconstruction for Southerns - the significance of the presence of black representatives in federal and state legislatures

• participation = 1867 many AA attending state conventions and joining union League to support Republican Party, but only 1 state constitutional convention had a majority of black delegates

• elected officials = 600 AA (mostly ex-slaves) served as state legislators, no governors but in Louisiana P.B.S. Pinchback elected lieutenant governor, AA elected to positions eg state treasurer and sec of state

• Republicans in Congress = Hiram Revels and Blanche K Bruce were Black Senators from Mississippi, 14 AA in House

• challenges = politically inexperiences, accusations of being controlled by carpetbaggers and scallywags, Southern Whites blamed Black legislators for financial mismanagement (used to discredit Reconstruction), racist narratives that AA political participation was a failure, fed erosion of support for reconstruction

Causes + Consequences of Radical Reconstruction for Southerns - causes and consequences of the 1875 Civil Rights Act

• 1875 Radical Reconstruction on the wane - 1874 Congressional elections Democrats made gains (but Republicans maintained majority in both houses)

• 1 March 1875 CRA passed = last act of Reconstruction in favour of black Americans, equality before law and justice for all citizens, full employment by all citizens of ‘inns, public conveyance on land and water, theatres, and other places of public amusement’ - but NO mention of schools

• prevented some segregation at the time but obviously not effective in preventing in later years under Jim Crow and into the 20th century