Reconstruction, the 15th Amendment, and the Rise of Redemption

Key Terms and Foundational Concepts of Reconstruction

• The Fifteenth Amendment: A pivotal addition to the U.S. Constitution (ratified in $1870$) that focused on voting rights for men. It followed the Fourteenth Amendment ($1868$), which established birthright citizenship (recently upheld again by the Supreme Court).

• Union League: An informal but organized arm of the Republican Party that operated in the South; it sponsored mass meetings and voter education for newly emancipated African Americans.

• Ulysses S. Grant: A former Union General (Ohio native) who accepted Robert E. Lee's surrender; he served as the $18^{\text{th}}$ President and supported robust Reconstruction, despite his administration being marred by scandals.

• Sharecropping: A labor system where former slaves and poor whites farmed land owned by others in exchange for a portion of the crops, often leading to a cycle of perpetual debt.

• Redemption: A political and social movement by white Southern Democrats using both political and violent means to overthrow Reconstruction and restore the pre-war social hierarchy.

• Rutherford B. Hayes: The Republican President (from Ohio) whose election in $1876$ was the result of a compromise that effectively terminated the Reconstruction era.

The Fifteenth Amendment and the Expansion of Suffrage

• Legislative Timeline: The amendment was written and passed by Congress in $1869$ and ratified in $1870$.

• Section 1 Verbatim Definition: "The rights of citizens of The United States to vote shall not be denied on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."

• Significance of Language:

  • "Previous Condition of Servitude": Explicitly protected former slaves from being denied the vote based on their history of enslavement.

  • The Inclusion of "Men": The amendment specified the right to vote for men. While implied in earlier contexts, the explicit mention was a hard stance taken by Congress against the burgeoning women’s rights movement.

• The Gender Rift:

  • Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony: Both women were outspoken abolitionists and women's rights advocates (dating back to the $1848$ Seneca Falls Convention). They felt betrayed by Congress for not extending suffrage to women during this constitutional overhaul.

  • Abolitionist Disagreement: They broke ties with former allies like Frederick Douglass.

  • Douglass's Argument: He deemed it the "Negro hour," arguing that the survival and rights of freedmen had to be the immediate priority. He believed pushing for both Black and female suffrage simultaneously would cause the entire effort to fail in Congress.

  • Long-term Result: Women did not receive the federal right to vote until the passage of the $19^{\text{th}}$ Amendment in $1920$.

Political Activism and Reconstruction Governance

• The Reconstruction Act of 1867: Instituted by Radical Republicans in Congress, this act introduced African American suffrage as a federal requirement and defined freedom as including citizenship and political rights, not just the absence of forced labor.

• Constitutional Conventions: The Act required Southern states to rewrite their constitutions. These new documents had to acknowledge the legality of the $13^{\text{th}}$ Amendment (abolishing slavery), declare secession unconstitutional, and guarantee Black voting rights. This process was overseen by a mixed electorate of Black and white citizens.

• Black Political Participation: Following the $15^{\text{th}}$ Amendment, there was an enormous outburst of activism. Unlike the low voter turnout often seen today, the immediate aftermath of suffrage saw a vast majority of eligible Black men participating.

• The Union League Role: This group served as an educational hub, helping people learn about candidates, policies, and the voting process.

• Representation Statistics:

  • $600$ Black individuals were elected to state legislatures.

  • $16$ Black men were elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

  • $2$ Black men were elected to the U.S. Senate.

The Grant Presidency and Political Coalitions

• Election of 1868: Ulysses S. Grant won largely due to the votes of freedmen in the South. White Southerners generally supported the Democratic Party, identifying the Republicans as the "Party of Lincoln."

• Radical Reconstruction Platform: Unlike his predecessor Andrew Johnson (a white supremacist who declared Reconstruction finished prematurely), Grant favored federal intervention to protect civil rights.

• Support Groups for Black Republicans:

  • Scalawags: Southern white Republicans, often from poor regions, who supported a more equal society. They were labeled "traitors" or "opportunists" by white Democrats.

  • Carpetbaggers: Northern transplants (often former Union soldiers) who moved south with luggage made of carpet material. While some were exploitative opportunists looking to buy cheap land, many sought to help help build a more democratic and industrial South.

• Southern Modernization: Together, these groups established the first public school systems in the South (previously, education was private or non-existent) and expanded railroad construction, bringing the South into the industrial $19^{\text{th}}$ century.

Sharecropping and Debt Peonage

• The System's Origin: In a war-torn, cash-poor economy, landowners needed labor and the poor needed jobs.

• The Contract Mechanics: Landowners provided land and sometimes tools; the sharecropper provided labor. The crop was split at harvest.

• The Cycle of Debt (Loan Sharking): Sharecroppers often had to buy seeds, tools, and food on credit from the landowner. If a bad harvest occurred (drought or plague), the debt compounded. Some interest rates were described as high as $\text{70}\%$.

• Poverty and Control: Critics labeled the system "Debt Peonage" (debt labor) or "Slavery by another name." Because workers could be jailed or forced back onto the land if they left while in debt, they lacked true agency and mobility.

The Redemption Movement and Vigilante Violence

• The Goal of "Redemption": An effort by white Southerners to overthrow Reconstruction, restore Democratic control, and save white supremacy. It was often framed as a religious crusade.

• The Ku Klux Klan (KKK): A white supremacist terrorist organization active between $1868$ and $1872$. It acted as an extra-legal arm of the Democratic Party.

• Tactics of Terror: Members wore masks (later full uniforms) to hide their identities. They used night raids, beatings, arson, rape, and murder to intimidate Black and white Republicans.

• Impact on Voting: In one Georgia county, Republican votes dropped from $1,222$ in April $1868$ to just $1$ in November $1868$ following KKK activity.

• Sub-groups: Other groups included the White League and the Red Shirts, who eventually became more brazen, operating openly in daylight without masks.

Significant Acts of Violence and the "Mississippi Plan"

• Colfax Massacre (1873): Occurred in Grant Parish, Louisiana; between $\text{80}$ and $\text{150}$ African Americans were murdered.

• New Orleans Coup (1874): The White League unseated the Republican governor of Louisiana by force.

• The Mississippi Plan (1875): A systematic campaign of violence used by Mississippi Democrats to regain the state legislature. This became a model for other Southern states to achieve "Redemption."

• Vicksburg Incident (July 4, 1875): On the $99^{\text{th}}$ anniversary of American independence, a group of armed white men disrupted a meeting of Black Republicans, killing several. This highlighted the violent restriction of freedom despite federal laws.

The Election of 1876 and the Compromise of 1877

• Candidates: Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican) vs. Samuel Tilden (Democrat).

• The Disputed Results: In $1876$, the election was a tie with disputed results in three "unredeemed" states: Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida.

• The Special Commission: Congress formed a commission to resolve the dispute.

• The Compromise of 1877: To secure the presidency, Hayes made a series of concessions to Southern Democrats:

  1. He would support the Democratic candidates for governor in the three disputed states.

  2. He would withdraw remaining federal troops from the South.

  3. He would end the Freedmen's Bureau and the formal focus on Reconstruction.

• Conclusion: This compromise effectively ended Reconstruction, leaving the South fully "redeemed" under Democratic control and removing the federal protections for the rights of freedmen.

Questions & Discussion

• Interaction: The Professor asked if anyone knew what the $15^{\text{th}}$ Amendment did.

• Response: A student correctly identified that it allowed all men the right to vote.

• Discussion on Sharecropping: A student named Alexander described sharecropping as being like a "loan shark" system, where missing a payment leads to permanent debt and potential imprisonment in "debtor's prison," essentially forcing people to stay on the property forever.

• Professor's Clarification on Redemption: The Professor clarified that while the term sounds positive, it meant "getting [the South] back as close as they could to what it was like before the war" politically, focusing on white supremacy and Democratic control.