Reconstruction and the Closing of the West: 1865-1900

Reconstruction Goals and Realities

• Goals: Rebuild the South, ensure rights for African Americans, and heal the nation.

• Realities: Southern obstruction, federal amendments for rights, but ultimate failure to fully heal the divide.

Key Amendments

• 13th Amendment (1865): Abolishes slavery. "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude…shall exist."

• 14th Amendment (1868):

  • Section 1: Grants citizenship to African Americans and guarantees due process.

  • Sections 3 & 4: Bars ex-Confederates from office; invalidates Confederate debts.

• 15th Amendment (1870): Voting rights for African American males. "…right to vote shall not be denied…on account of race…"

Benefits and Resistance

• Benefits: Amendments, Freedmen's Bureau for education and advocacy, African American representation in Congress.

• Southern Resistance: Black Codes, Jim Crow laws, KKK violence to suppress African American rights.

Reconstruction Acts and Resistance

• Reconstruction Act of 1867: Divides South into military districts to enforce rights.

• Southern Resistance: State laws creating de facto slavery, KKK violence, Plessy vs. Ferguson Supreme Court Case.

Johnson's Reconstruction Views

• Johnson: Favored Southern control, opposed African American rights, lenient pardons.

• Impact: Encouraged Black Codes and Jim Crow laws.

Civil Rights Act of 1866

• Radical Republican Congress passed it; Johnson vetoed, Congress overrode.

• Granted citizenship to those born in the U.S. Legislation granted all citizens the “full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and property."

Reconstruction Act of 1867 Details

• Terms: New constitutions ratified by African American voters, ratification of 13th/14th Amendments.

• South divided into 5 military districts to enforce laws.

Freedmen's Bureau

• Goal: Racial equity via food, education, legal help, HBCU establishment.

• Impact: Assisted African Americans economically, socially, politically.

The Ku Klux Klan

• Origin: Founded in Pulaski, TN, to restore white supremacy.

• Objectives: Intimidation, violence against African Americans, Republicans, and supporters of civil rights.

Sharecropping System

• System: Renting land for a portion of the harvest.

• Cycle: Debt, limited economic independence due to falling cotton prices.

Black Codes

• Purpose: Southern laws to control African Americans; forced labor contracts, restrictions on rights.

• Examples: Taxes on non-farming businesses, limits on land ownership, marriage, court testimony, gun ownership.

Hiram Revels

• First African American Senator (Mississippi).

• Elected by state legislature.

• Grandfather clause, literacy tests were used to violate the 15th amendment.

Enforcement Acts/Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871

• Purpose: Combat KKK violence and election interference.

• Provisions: Presidential intervention, protection of 14th Amendment rights, suspension of habeas corpus.

Colfax Massacre (1873)

• Event: Whites attacked African Americans at Colfax courthouse, resulting in mass murder.

• US vs. Cruikshank: Supreme Court limited federal prosecution, weakened enforcement.

Panic of 1873

• Cause: Stock market crash linked to railroad investments.

• Impact: Bank failures, job losses, Democratic gains.

Election of 1874

• Democrats regained the House due to economic concerns and Southern governance issues.

• Threatened African American civil rights.

Election of 1876

• Hayes (R): Civil rights, Southern pacification.

• Tilden (D): End reconstruction, civil service reform.

Compromise of 1877

• Terms: Hayes became President, federal troops withdrawn from South, Southern Democrat in cabinet, federal aid for Texas and Pacific RR.

• End of Reconstruction.

Transcontinental Railroad

• Completed May 10th 1869 in Pronmontory, UT

• Pacific Railroad Act chartered the Union Pacific and Central Pacific RR to build a transcontinental railroad linking east and west

• Chinese labor was used heavily

Homestead Act (1862)

• Allowed citizens, freed slaves to move west if they could build a home and run a farm for five years.

• Requirements: Be at least 21 and the head of your household and two neighbors had to vouch for you that you were telling the truth.

Little Big Horn

• Throughout the 1860s and 1870s the US and Native Americans had clashed. Sioux and Lakota tribes were on reservations through treaties in the Dakotas and Montana

• Gold was discovered in the Black Hills inside the Greater Sioux Reservation

Dawes Act (1887)

• Allows the Federal Goverment to break up Native American lands into plots for sale

• Wanted to assimilate Native Americans into American culture and Tribal lands were considered “surplus” and sold to American citizens

Wounded Knee Massacre and Sitting Bull

• Sitting Bull had been among the warriors at Little Big Horn

• He travelled with Wild Bill’s Western show touring the country and returned to his tribe in the Sioux Reservation in the Black Hills of South Dakota

• There they began a “Ghost Dance”

  • Blend of Native American spiritualism and christianity

Captains of Industry

• Vanderbilt, Carnegie, Rockefeller, Morgan, Edison, Tesla and Ford

• Responsible for the rising middle class and industrialization in the United States

• Also called Robber Barrons by those who thought their wealth was wrong, wicked, or unjust

Urbanization and the Rise of US cities

• Urbanization is the grow of cities

• More Americans are going to the cities to find jobs

• Chicago is growing as a major city because of the importance of railroads and its position on the Great Lakes

  • Cities attract the very wealthy and trap the very poor

    • Eventually more “middle class” families will move to the suburbs after WWII

Standard Oil and John D Rockefeller

• Standard Oil is America’s first monopoly

• Began in Cleveland Ohio in 1870 and was responsible for most of the oil refinement, production, and distribution in the county

• Rockefeller began buying up railroad companies and other refineries and would often shut them down to eliminate competition

Steel and the Bessemer Production Method

• William Kelly used the Bessemer Production method pattened by Henry Bessemer in Britain

• Takes “pig iron” super heats it with blowing in oxygen to remove impurities.

• This enables steel to be used to build America’s cities in the late 1800s

  • Homestead steel plant incident resulted in a labor strike where a private army was hired to take over the plant and resulted in the death of several steel workers

Homestead Plant Strike 1892

• Henry Fink, Carnegie’s 2nd in command hired the Pinkerton detectives (police force for hire) to break the strike

• This resulted in multiple deaths on July 6th 1892

Henry Ford’s Model T and Assembly Line

• While Henry Ford did not invent the automobile, he revolutionized the production and affordability of his Model T

• By having an assembly line Ford found that he could produce more cars at a higher quality for lower costs and prices to the end consumer

• In 1914, to improve labor relations, he increased the daily wage of $2.14$ to $5$

Thomas Edison and Electricty

• Thomas Edison was an inventor in New Jersey

  • Notable inventions: Lightbulb Phonograph Automatic telegraph Carbon telephone transmitter Kinetograph Alkaline storage battery

• One needed to run electrical wires through their homes and the first power plants to power cities

  • Banker JP Morgan financed most of Edison’s inventions and wanted to bring electricity to New York City.

George Eastman and Communicaton

• George Eastman founded the Kodak company in Rochester, NY in 1892

• While photography had been used for some time now, he invented photographic film that replaced glass frames needed for photography

  • This invention helped with the motion picture industry

Wright Brothers First Flight

• 1903 Kitty Hawk North Carolina

• The Wright Brothers invented an airplane that was heavier than air that could fly

  • Even though it didn’t go very far, it paved the way for airplanes and air travel

Living and Tenement Conditions

• Living conditions in New York and other major cities were cramped and dirty

  • Apartments seldom had windows, which did not allow for proper ventilation

• Laws and ordinances needed to be passed when new buildings were erected to help improve living conditions for all residents

  • This began in 1867 wih the Tenament and Hosing Act in New York City

Working Conditions

• Factories employed low skilled workers

  • Low skilled workers did not earn much money

  • The average male worker made $435$/year Women would have made $6,500/year and children made less

• Workers were expected to work 10-14 hour days six days a week

  • Factories did not have safety precautions or any regulations compelling companies to have those in place

Sanitation and Public Health

• The late 1900s is called the Great Sanitation Awakening

• The understanding of germ theory and public health becomes problematic as cities rise in population

• Smallpox typhoid fever tyfus spread among the poorer areas of cities

  • This impacted the labor force and resulted in unnecessary deaths of family members

    • Sewage systems were created along with sanitation workers to properly dispose of trash and waste

Coal Mines and Company Towns

• Coal mines in WV KY PA and OH would have company towns too

• Coal mines employed thousands of people and provided their workers with cheap homes to rent

• They would pay their workers with company script

  • Getting paid in Talons essentially

    • As unions gained a foothold and unions protected the workers, practices like script and a lack of safety regulations went away

Election of 1880

• Stalwarts and Half Breeds

• Republicans are split between Stalwarts and “Half Breeds”

• Republicans tried to elect US Grant for a 3rd term, but at the Convention, Garfield was nominated after several ballots

  • Tarrifs were pretty much the only issue between Democrats and Republicans in the actual election

Stalwarts and Half Breeds

• Stalwarts were Republicans who believed in political patronage

  • Aka the Spoils System

• The Half Breed’s believed in giving civic jobs based on merit and did not think that one should be giving political jobs to their freinds

  • Half Breed was a slur from the Stalwarts calling them “half Republicans”

Tuskeegee Institute and Booker T Washington

• The first school for Colored Teachers established at the Tuskeegee Institute now Tuskeegee University in Alabama

  • Booker T Washington named first President of the college

Pendleton Act

• The Pendleton Act provided a system for standardizing civil service jobs within the government.

  • Job seeks needed to take civil service examinations

• This system made it more difficult for people to lose their jobs for political reasons

Arther Administration Highlights

• Negotiates to reduce tariffs . At this time, Republicans favored higher tariffs and Democrats favored lower tariffs

  • Remember tariffs were the main way the federal government was funded as there was no income tax

• Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 passed

  • Arthur initially vetos it, but that upset labor unions

    • A revised version of the Chinese Exclusion Act, which reduces the period of non-immigration to ten years but maintains the ban on Chinese citizenship, becomes law. The act will be renewed regularly into the twentieth century.

Election of 1884

• Blaine- Republican

  • Leader of the “Half Breeds” in the GOP

    • Ran on higher tariffs which favored big business

      • Mudslinging campaign against Cleveland

• Cleveland- Democrat

  • Ran on lowering tariffs that benefitted farmers and southern and western states

    • Got support from Republican faction “Mugwamps”

1st Cleveland Adminstration Highlights

• Marries the youngest first lady in US History Francis Folsom

• Statue of Liberty is finished

• Cleveland signs the Dawes Act which assimilates Native Americans by dividing their tribal lands into plots and then selling off the extra to citizens

  • Cut pensions to Civil War veterans and their dependants becuase he said the program was rife with fraud

The Rise of Labor Unions

• The first labor unions were started immediately after the Civil War

  • The Progressive Movement and Teddy Roosevelt will use this in his Presidential campaign in 1912 “8 hours to work, 8 hours for rest, and 8 hours to do what you will.”

The Haymarket Riots May 4th 1886

• Happens in Chicago between police and labor leaders

• Met in Haymarket Square to protest police brutality during a labor strike

  • Someone threw a bomb into the crowd killing seven police officers and injuring several others

Election of 1888

• Cleveland- Democrat

  • This election is all about the tariff

    • wins the popular vote but loses the election 2nd time since 1876

• Harrison- Republican

  • Supports the tariff because it “protects” American industry

The Harrison Administration Highlights

• Passed a bill funding the pensions of union soldiers during the Civil War

  • Cleveland had vetoed the bill during his administration

• Passage of the Sherman Antitrust Act 1890

  • Restricts the ability of major corporations to create monopolies

    • The law was rarely enforced until the Theodore Roosevelt Administration in 1901

Election of 1892

• Cleveland- Democrat

• Harrison- Republican

• Weaver- Populist

  • Also wanted “free silver”

    • Ran on ideals that helped small farmers and urban workers

2nd Cleveland Adminstration Highlights

• Pulled out of Hawiaan Annexation Treaty

• Gold reserves fall to below $100$ million

  • A British bank did not give us back gold for US holdings abroad causing an impace of gold as currency

• US government stops buying silver to support the US dollar

  • Pullman Strike 1893 Cleveland sends in Federal troops to put down the strike

Panic of 1893- Gold and Currency Problems

• Gold reserves fell from $190$ million to $100$ million in 1890

• People could trade in their cash for gold back then since we were still on the gold standard

• Economic recession and then depression caused a run on the banks for people to take their money out

  • The panic ended when Europe resumed shipping gold to the US and the supply balanced out

Election of 1896- Main Issue is Money Supply

• Bryan- Democrat

• Advocated for free and unlimited silver and gold to support the currency

  • Gave the “Cross of Gold Speech

• McKinley- Republican

  • Supported the gold standard to make the currency stronger

President McKinley Highlights

• Digney Tarrif raises the tariff on imported goods to 97%. This makes prices go higher and big business doesnt need the protection

• Coal mining strikes in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia

  • McKinely focuses away from a non-interventionist foreign policy like Cleveland

Spanish American War-Causes 1898

• Independence movements were growing in Cuba and the Philippines against Spanish rule

  • McKinley sends the USS Maine to Havana harbor on a friendly mission

• The Maine explodes when the main powder magazine explodes

War in the Pacific- Phillipines and Guam

• Admiral Dewey’s fleet leaves Hong Kong filled with coal and ammo for Manilla Bay to take the Phillipines

• Destroys Spain’s Pacific squadron. Spain cannot defend the rest of its pacific islands like Guam

• Guam is taken without a battle and Spanish forces surrender to the Americans

  • Guam is a vital trade and shipping island for the Pacific

War in the Caribbean

• Teddy Roosevelt and the “Rough Riders” are famous in this victory

• Puerto Rico was more of a stalemate

  • Puerto Rico had been gaining more independence prior to this

• The fighting ends after the Americans and Cuban attempt to take Santiago de Cuba

Treaty of Paris 1898 ratified 57-27

• The United States is given Cuba Puerto Rico, the Marinana Islands, and will hold Manilla in the Philippines until they figure out the situation there and Guam

• America will expand outside her borders and be a major player on the world stage

• The end of the Spanish American War helps to begin the American century

Election of 1900- American Imperialism

• Bryan- Democrat

  • Wanted an independent Philippines

• McKinley- Republican

  • Expansionist foreign policy and American domination in the Philippines as the war there continues against Filipino revolutionaries

President McKinley Highlights

• Philippine American war begins aginast Filipino independence leader Amilio Aguinaldo

• Mckinely retreats from Civil Service reform protecting 3,000-4,000 jobs against needed to take a civil service exam

• Hay-Poncefoute Treaty proposed to build a canal across the isthmus of Panama

  • Birtain will reject this allow the US to do it and own it