Comprehensive Study Notes: The Freedmen's Bureau and the Compromise of 1877

The Freedmen's Bureau: Origins and Operations

Establishment and Oversight - Created in the $1860s$ . - It was a government agency directed primarily by the United States Army. - Although technically a government agency, most operations on the ground were conducted by military personnel.
Primary Purpose - Acted as a liaison for former slaves during the transition to freedom. - Addressed the needs of approximately $4,000,000$ people who had been recently emancipated.
Core Functions and Responsibilities - Food Distribution: The Bureau helped distribute food throughout the South for everyone, including former slaves and poor whites who had struggled with food security during the war. - Labor and Employment: Helped former slaves find paid work. - Addressed the "weird impasse" where white farmers and business owners were reluctant to hire former slaves. - Negotiated labor contracts to ensure former slaves received paperwork and payment. - Note: Not everyone found wage work; a significant portion of former slaves eventually resorted to sharecropping.
The Freedmen's Schools - Educational Context: Illiteracy rates were high across the South for all races, but specifically reinforced for slaves by state laws banning their education. - Scope: Established schools to educate both children and adults. - Staffing: Approximately $2,000$ teachers from the North (the speaker notes this number may be an underestimate) came down temporarily. - Sustainability: Northern teachers trained African American adults to become teachers, ensuring they could take over the schools permanently once the white teachers left. - Success Metrics: Considered the most successful aspect of the Bureau. - Cut the Southern illiteracy rate nearly in half by $1,900$ . - Southern illiteracy rates were in the $80s$ (presumably percentages) and dropped to roughly $48\%$ by the turn of the century.
Legacy: Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) - Some Freedman's Schools evolved into modern HBCUs. - Howard University: Located in Washington, DC; cited as a very well-known institution that started as a Freedman's School.

Questions & Discussion: Teacher Training and Normal Schools

Question: What kind of training did the teachers have?
Response: - The Northern teachers were professionals, often elementary or secondary school teachers, rather than university professors. - Their presence in the South was never intended to be permanent. - They immediately began training adult students to be their own replacements.
Definition: Normal Schools - In the $1800s$ , if an institution was called a "Normal School," it was specifically for training teachers. - Many of these schools eventually evolved into universities, but at the time, they were focused on pedagogical training. - The speaker notes their own undergraduate degree in Oklahoma came from a school that began as a Normal School.

The Election of 1876 and the Constitutional Crisis

The Candidates - Democrats: Samuel Tilden (a Northern Democrat). - Republicans: Rutherford B. Hayes.
Previous Presidential Context - Following Lincoln's assassination, Andrew Johnson (a Democrat) served, followed by Ulysses S. Grant (Republican). - Grant is described as a great general but a poor president due to appointing friends to cabinet positions and allowing corruption to occur.
Election Results and Contestation - Tilden won the popular vote by approximately $250,000$ votes. - Tilden technically led in electoral votes initially, but the Republicans contested the results in three Southern states: Louisiana, Florida, and possibly North Carolina (speaker is uncertain if the third state was North Carolina). - If Hayes carried all three contested states, he would win the presidency.
Basis for Contestation - Republicans argued that Black voters (who were almost exclusively Republican at the time) were illegally turned away or intimidated. - Voter Suppression Evidence: The speaker cites a county in Louisiana where $1,200$ Republican votes were counted in a midterm election, but only $1$ Republican vote was recorded in the presidential election two years later. - Tactics: Evidence included laws targeting the $15^{th}$ Amendment (Jim Crow laws) and reports of physical violence and intimidation at polling places.

The Compromise of 1877 (The Bargain of 1877)

The Independent Commission - An independent commission took months to decide the election. - The election was in November, but a decision was not reached until March (the month of inaugurations at the time). - The commission awarded the presidency to Rutherford B. Hayes.
The Informal Agreement - Democrats threatened violence and marches on Washington, DC. - Behind the scenes, a compromise was reached to allow Hayes to take office in exchange for specific concessions.
Democratic Demands (The Four Points) - Transcontinental Railroad: Demand for a Southern transcontinental railroad funded by the federal government to match the existing northern route (which opened in $1868$ and ran from Nebraska to California). - Infrastructure in New Orleans: Federal funding to repair the levees in New Orleans, which were damaged during the Civil War and are critical for a city below sea level. - Cabinet Representation: Appointment of a Southerner to a cabinet position; specifically, the Postmaster General (overseeing the mail). - Removal of Troops: The withdrawal of federal troops that had occupied the South since the end of the Civil War.

The End of Reconstruction

Withdrawal of Forces - The removal of federal troops is identified as the most important part of the compromise. - Hayes was inaugurated in March; the troops were removed around August or September of that year. - The removal of the last troops signifies the official end of the Reconstruction era.
Evaluation of Reconstruction - Described as "two steps forward and two giant steps backward." - The speaker uses the metaphor that Reconstruction had "good bones" (referencing the underlying legal framework) but lacked the "tendons" (the necessary social/political support structures) to hold it together.