Reconstruction and the Contested West: Comprehensive Study Notes

Reconstruction: National Crisis and Reform (1865–1877)

• Reconstruction is defined as the period following the Civil War, beginning in $1865$ and concluding in $1877$.

• The era concluded when federal troops were removed from former Confederate states and those states were readmitted to the Union.

• The period was marked by significant political turbulence, including the first assassination of a United States President, Abraham Lincoln.

• The period also saw the first impeachment of an American President, Andrew Johnson.

The Reconstruction Amendments and the Freedmen’s Bureau

• Positive constitutional changes occurred through the creation of the Reconstruction Amendments ($13^{\text{th}}$, $14^{\text{th}}$, and $15^{\text{th}}$).

• The $13^{\text{th}}$ Amendment established Freedom.

• The $14^{\text{th}}$ Amendment established Citizenship and Equal Protection.

• The $15^{\text{th}}$ Amendment granted Suffrage (the right to vote).

• These amendments follow a logical progression: Freedom is required before one can be a citizen, and citizenship is required before one can vote.

• The language of the $15^{\text{th}}$ Amendment extended suffrage specifically to men, notably African American men, but did not include women or Native Americans.

• The Freedmen’s Bureau was established as a federal agency to oversee Reconstruction and aid newly emancipated slaves.

• Functions of the Freedmen’s Bureau included:

  • Helping freedmen find employment.

  • Reuniting families separated by slavery.

  • Providing medical care.

  • Building schools to assist African Americans in becoming truly free citizens.

Southern Resistance: Black Codes and Jim Crow

• Southern states contested federal law by passing "Black Codes," later known as Jim Crow laws, after Reconstruction.

• These laws were designed to define and limit the rights of African Americans in Southern society, functioning as a modified form of slavery.

• The codes were a form of blatant discrimination intended to give Southern whites control over the lives of African Americans.

• Codified at the state level after Reconstruction, these laws denied voter registration through various mechanisms:

  • Literacy tests.

  • Grandfather clauses.

  • Poll taxes.

  • White-only primaries.

• By $1877$, the Democratic Party had regained political power in the entirety of the former Confederate South, effectively disenfranchising African American men.

The Ku Klux Klan and Political Violence

• Intimidation and violence were used to maintain control over African Americans, most notably by the Ku Klux Klan ($KKK$).

• The Klan claimed its formation was for "self-defense" and to protect livelihoods, but in reality, they targeted blacks and their school’s using intimidation and political violence.

• The Klan sought racial subordination in every form of Southern society.

• Targeted groups included both black and white Republicans.

• $1868$ was a year specifically associated with widespread political killings.

  • In Arkansas, approximately $300$ blacks were killed.

  • In Louisiana, over $1,000$ people were killed for their political views.

• Prior to the end of Reconstruction, federal legislation and Supreme Court rulings targeted the Klan, but power eventually reverted to the states.

• Under Southern Democratic Party dominance, segregation was firmly established, and legal cases against Klan violence became almost nonexistent.

The Compromise of 1877 and the End of Reconstruction

• The Presidential election of $1876$ ended in a stalemate with contested results in three Southern Republican states: Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida.

• A congressional committee determined that Rutherford B. Hayes, the Republican candidate, would become President.

• To prevent a boycott by the Democratic Party, the Compromise of $1877$ was reached.

• The exchange required Hayes to be brought into office in return for ending Reconstruction and removing all federal troops from the South.

• By agreeing to this, the Republican Party, which had been synonymous with civil rights support, was seen by many as placing politics over principle.

Federal Indian Policy and the Sioux Nation

• Post-Civil War, the federal government sought to control the lives of all native people as Americans moved west in massive numbers.

• The Treaty of Ft. Laramie ($1868$) stipulated that whites would not settle on or pass through the sacred Black Hills of the Sioux people.

• In exchange, the treaty signers agreed to live on reservations when not hunting buffalo.

• Major Sioux leaders, including Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse, did not sign or contemplate signing this treaty.

• President Ulysses S. Grant introduced a "Peace Policy" in $1869$ to end hostilities between whites and native peoples through the expansion of the reservation system and a form of segregation.

• The U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs oversaw these reservations via federal agents.

The Battle of the Little Bighorn and the Decimation of Tribes

• In $1874$, George Custer officially entered the Black Hills, leading to a violation of the Treaty of Ft. Laramie when gold was discovered, causing an influx of white settlers.

• In $1876$, the U.S. Army and the $7^{\text{th}}$ Cavalry were sent to return native populations to reservations.

• The Battle of the Little Bighorn, also known as "Custer's Last Stand," resulted in the death of Custer and all men in the $7^{\text{th}}$ Cavalry.

• The news reached the nation during the national centennial celebration of $1876$.

• Following this last great victory for the Northern Plains tribes, the Sioux became the primary target of federal retaliation.

• The federal government sought to eradicate the buffalo in the $1870^{\text{s}}$ to force native dependence on the reservation system.

The Dawes Act, Cultural Assimilation, and Wounded Knee

• The Dawes Act of $1887$ aimed to assimilate native people by making them sedentary farmers and private landowners.

• To hold land, an individual had to separate completely from their tribe and culture.

• Land not claimed by native individuals was seized and sold by the federal government.

• Children were sent to Indian schools, such as the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, for cultural indoctrination.

• The Ghost Dance movement was a religious movement where tribes sought a return to their traditional life, including the return of the buffalo and the absence of white men.

• Anglo-Americans perceived the Ghost Dance and "Ghost Shirts" as an act of resistance.

• Sitting Bull was killed prior to the Massacre at Wounded Knee in $1890$.

• The Massacre at Wounded Knee resulted in the deaths of over $200$ men, women, and children, marking the end of the Indian Wars on the Plains.

Economic Expansion: Mining and the Transcontinental Railroad

• The Comstock Lode was a major mining discovery; Virginia City was known as the "Queen of the Comstock."

• "Buffalo Soldiers" were African American soldiers serving in the West, known for their low desertion rates compared to other units.

• The Pacific Railroad Act authorized two companies, the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific, to build the Transcontinental Railroad.

• Railroad companies were powerful players, receiving:

  • $6,400$ acres of land for every mile of track laid.

  • Payments ranging from $16,000$ for level track to $48,000$ for mountainous terrain.

• The two lines joined at Promontory Summit, Utah, in $1869$.

• Chinese laborers were the largest nationality involved in construction and sacrificed the most, with $1,500$ dying during the process.

• By $1870$, a significant percentage of Chinese immigrants lived in California; they later faced the Chinese Exclusion Act of $1882$, the first group excluded based on nationality.

• the Irish were the second largest nationality of workers, followed by Civil War veterans.

The Homestead Act (1862) and Westward Settlement

• The Homestead Act allowed an individual head of household ($21$ years or older) to receive up to $160$ acres of land.

• Requirements: live on the land for $5$ years to receive it for free, or buy it for $1.25$ per acre after living on it for $6$ months.

• The act provided opportunities for marginalized groups, including women, immigrants, and "Exodusters" (African Americans fleeing the South).

• Homesteaders faced challenges including isolation, harsh terrain, and the pressure of finding ways to make the homestead successful.

Questions & Discussion

1. What is the central purpose behind the Reconstruction amendments?

2. Who were Freedmen? During what time frame did the Freedmen’s Bureau exist, who did it provide assistance to, and what types of assistance did they provide?

3. What were the ‘Black Codes’ or Jim Crow laws, and who passed them? What was their purpose? What types of laws defined the ‘Black Codes’?

4. What three groups were the core of the Republican Party in the South during Reconstruction?

5. Who did the Ku Klux Klan target, what tactics did they use, and why was the federal government unable to suppress their activities?

6. What was sharecropping and the crop lien system? Who was caught in these systems that led to indebtedness?

7. What did the political parties agree to in the Compromise of $1877$, and how did that decision impact the lives of Freedmen/Freedwomen?

8. What happened to the status of native people as a result of the Indian Appropriation Act of $1871$?

9. For what purpose did George Custer officially go into the Black Hills in $1874$?

10. How did native people, like the Sioux nation, utilize the buffalo? Why did the federal government seek to eradicate the buffalo in the $1870^{\text{s}}$?

11. What rationale was given by the federal government that prompted the Battle of the Little Bighorn?

12. What happened at the Battle of the Little Bighorn and immediately afterwards to the members of the $7^{\text{th}}$ Cavalry and to the Sioux? How long did the battle last, and did George Custer realize the size of the encampment he was attacking? What event were Anglo-Americans celebrating at this time that made it impactful? Where did Sitting Bull go immediately after the battle?

13. Where did Crazy Horse go after the Battle of the Little Bighorn, and when was he killed?

14. Who was the most prominent chief of the Nez Perce, and what ultimately happened to the tribe in $1877$?

15. What type of resistance was encouraged by Geronimo, and what happened to the Apache and his tribe after surrendering to Gen. Nelson Miles in $1886$?

16. What was the purpose of the Dawes Act of $1887$?

17. By $1890$, what percentage of former native lands was controlled by the federal government?

18. What was lifelike for children while at Indian schools, like Carlisle Indian Industrial School?

19. What was the significance of the Ghost Dance, and what was prophesied to happen? What was the significance of the Ghost Shirts, and it was largely associated with what tribe? What did whites fear would happen as a result of the movement?

20. What happened to Sitting Bull prior to the Massacre at Wounded Knee?

21. What happened at the Massacre at Wounded Knee?

22. What was the Comstock Lode?

23. What was known as the ‘Queen of the Comstock’ and what was unique about it?

24. Who were ‘Buffalo Soldiers’ and how did their desertion rate compare to others?

25. What were some of the challenges of constructing the railroad?

26. Name the two largest nationalities that worked on the Transcontinental Railroad? Of these two, which nationality was the largest in number and also sacrificed the most in terms of lives lost?

27. By $1870$, what percentage of Chinese immigrants lived in California?

28. What was the Chinese Exclusion Act ($1882$) and how did it impact those Chinese who were already here?

29. What were the provisions of the Homestead Act of $1862$?

30. Who were the Exodusters?