CHAP 23-24 APUSH

Chapter 23 – The Ordeal of Reconstruction, 1865-1877

The Human Toll

- an entire generation of men was shattered

- North lost 364,000 soldiers; South lost 260,000 soldiers (1/5th of all white men of military age)

- 1/3 of all adult southern white men were casualties (i.e., killed or wounded); widows, orphans, and amputees were literally everywhere

What would “Reconstruction” mean?

 nullification and secession were laid to rest w/ the end of the Civil War

 U.S. was again united geographically... but not spiritually... even politically, the U.S. had a long road ahead!

KEY QUESTIONS IN THIS ERA:

 Who would be in charge of Reconstruction?

 the President? Congress? North or South, or perhaps both?

 How would the South be rebuilt?

 Should the South be helped or punished? If so, how much?

 How would liberated blacks be treated as a minority?

 Should the races have equal political and social rights?

 How would the South be politically reintegrated?

 How should former Rebels, and especially their leaders, be treated? Should they be permanently jailed, or disenfranchised?

The “Old South” Lay in Ruins

- socially and economically devastated

- banks & businesses were closed; factories & machinery ruined; agriculture crippled; runaway inflation

- value of southern farm property dropped 70%; much farmland lay fallow; 1/3rd

of all livestock had been lost

- there are sad stories of desperate men hitching themselves to plows (no draft animals left)

- not until 1870 did the cotton crop match the output in 1860, the last antebellum year

- major southern cities (Richmond, Charleston, Atlanta) were wrecked

- transportation infrastructure, which had always lagged behind in the South, was now set back years

- southern shipping dropped by 2/3rds, including 9,000 miles of railroads torn up by Generals such as Sherman

- bridges, canals, and levees had been destroyed

- 1,000 of miles of roads were gone

“Hang Jeff Davis from a Sour Apple Tree”...?

• actually, the former Confederate president served only a 2-year jail term

– Virginia juries would not convict him and other “conspirators” of high treason

• President Andrew Johnson later pardoned all Rebel leaders in Dec. 1868

– has been described as “sort of a Christmas present” before Johnson left office

– yet, hundreds of Rebel leaders were not fully re-enfranchised until 30 years later, and Davis’ citizenship was only

posthumously restored

Dangerous Defiance in the South

 planter aristocrats were temporarily humbled

 $2 billion in slave property had simply evaporated

 HOWEVER, former Confederates insisted that their view of secession had been correct, and that they’d committed no crimes

 they cursed the “damn yankees” of the North; felt as if they were the real victims

 nostalgia: called their effort to maintain the highly romanticized antebellum way of life in the South the “Lost Cause”

Emancipation of Former Slaves

 more complex issue than how it’s often been portrayed

 obviously there was celebration... but freedom for blacks came haltingly & unevenly throughout South

 some slaves remained loyal to their plantation masters during the war

 others joined Union troops in looting their masters’ possessions

 one group of slaves in Virginia gave their master a dose of his own medicine ➔ 20 lashes on the back!

 many slaves had no idea that they had even been freed according to the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amend.

 example: “Juneteenth” (June 19, 1865), when slaves in Texas were informed that they were now free, is now a state holiday

 former slaves tested their freedom by traveling to cities and towns, sometimes seeking new jobs

 searched for separated/missing relatives

 exercised their right to formalize “slave marriages” by legally marrying

 sought new educational possibilities, which had previously been denied to them

 yet, many of the emancipated were virtually re-enslaved as sharecroppers, and they were terrorized against both exercising their new

rights and leaving the South

 those who tried to leave were often found dead, their corpses hanging along riverbanks and roads... WHY DO YOU THINK THAT IS?

“Exodusters” (1878-1880) African American Migrants

• 25K blacks from LA, TX, and MS fled to Kansas... until steamboat captains began refusing to transport them across the Mississippi River

[please note: while this information appears in Ch. 23, this actually took place after the “Reconstruction” period had ended]

• “Exodusters” were an exception to the rule; the vast majority of African Americans (+90%) remained in the South well into 20th century

Black Community Life

 many blacks were finally able to form their own churches led by black ministers

 membership in Black Baptist and African Methodist Episcopal churches tripled/quadrupled after the Civil War

 blacks schoolhouses were seen as proof of true independence

 many of their teachers were humanitarian Northern white women sent by the American Missionary Association

The Freedmen’s Bureau (the “Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands”)

 created by Congress on March 3, 1865 (about one month before Lee surrendered to Grant and Lincoln was shot)

 expired in June 1872

 could be called first federal social “welfare” agency, or the first major relief agency, in U.S. history

 aim was to assist the large # of former slaves who were unskilled, unlettered, penniless & propertyless... and w/out much of

the knowledge necessary to survive as a free community

 provided clothes, medicine, food, and education to former slaves

 also supervised the negotiation of labor contracts to prevent mischief! [please note: your textbook gets this backward!... trust me]

 headed by Union General Oliver O. Howard (later the founder of the historically black Howard University)

 greatest success of the Freedman’s Bureau was in education; eventually taught 200K blacks how to read/write

 blacks wanted to close the knowledge gap between themselves and whites, and they wanted to read the Bible

 Southern whites saw Bureau as a “meddlesome” federal attempt to upset white supremacy; President Andrew Johnson vetoed it twice

Were there plans to give land to freedmen?

- some blacks were temporarily given lands formerly owned by whites

- “40 acres and a mule” ➔ this was going to be part of a land policy begun by General William T. Sherman in Jan. 1865 on the

“Sea Islands” off the coast of South Carolina; however, Pres. Johnson returned the lands to their former white owners

President Andrew Johnson [1865-1869]

 born into poverty in NC; orphaned; apprenticed to a tailor at age 10

 never attended school; self-made man; taught himself to read; wife later helped him learn to write & do simple arithmetic

 although he owned a few slaves, Johnson was a passionate defender of poor whites in Tennessee

 a long-time champion of states’ rights, he revered the Constitution; was the only southern Senator not to support secession before the war

 unfortunately, he was also dogmatic, hotheaded, and stubborn

 he had little understanding of the North, he did not have the trust of the South, he was a Democrat not accepted by Republicans, and he

was seen as an “accidental President” after Lincoln’s assassination; had only been VP for one month before becoming President!

 Johnson was the wrong man, in the wrong place, at the wrong time

“Presidential Reconstruction”

 1863: Lincoln’s “10% plan” ➔ said that when 10% of voters who’d participated in the 1860 election pledged allegiance to the Union and

accepted the emancipation of slaves, those states could then hold conventions & reapply for admission to the U.S.

 later they could hold elections and resume full participation in the Union

 this plan denied pardons to all military and govt. officials, and to Southerners who had killed black POW’s

 however, Republicans Benjamin Wade and Henry Davis thought Lincoln’s plan was too lenient; they worried that secessionist “planter

aristocrats” would return; Wade & Davis wanted the South to be treated as “conquered provinces” to pay for their sins

 one could argue that when Lincoln was shot by Booth, it was actually a calamity for the South in the long-run

 1864: Wade-Davis Bill ➔ Republicans in Congress proposed that 50% of voters from 1860 should be needed to reapply for admission,

and that voters had to take an “ironclad oath” swearing that they had never willingly supported the Confederacy

 Lincoln refused to sign it before Congress adjourned, and so the bill died ➔ this is called a “pocket veto”

 shows deep differences between President and Congress, even under Lincoln; also shows moderate (majority) and radical (minority)

factions arising w/in the GOP

 after Lincoln’s assassination, Johnson began speaking of “restoration” rather than “reconstruction”

 Republicans in Congress were immediately alarmed

 Johnson’s plan was similar to Lincoln’s, but even more generous

 called for state conventions to repeal secession ordinances, repudiate Confederate debts, and ratify the 13th Amendment freeing the

slaves... w/out even requiring 10% of voters, let alone 50%, to pledge allegiance to the Union beforehand!

 Johnson personally issued thousands of pardons to Confederate leaders (practically all southerners who asked received a pardon)

 Johnson’s plan enraged Congress, which was in recess when his plan was enacted!... i.e., he never even consulted Congress

“Black Codes” in the South, 1865-66

 retaliation for the ratification of the 13th Amendment

 Mississippi passed the first ones in Nov. 1865

 purpose was to restore antebellum conditions as much as possible by virtually re-enslaving blacks (i.e., destroying their civil liberties)

 required that blacks sign work contracts of 1 year w/ the same employer for a “pittance”

 violators would forfeit all wages, or be charged w/ “idleness” and forcibly dragged back to work by paid “Negro catchers”

 “vagrancy laws” ➔ unemployed blacks could be fined, whipped, or sold for a year’s labor on “chain gangs”

 kept blacks from economic independence

 blacks were forbidden from

- voting - serving on juries or testifying against whites

- drinking alcohol - owning knives or firearms

- gathering after sunset - black minors had to have white “guardians”

 “Black Codes” mocked the ideals of freedom that blacks had dreamed about, and for which Union soldiers had spilled their blood

Sharecropping

 lacking capital, many blacks (and some poor whites) became sharecroppers, growing cash crops much as they had as slaves

 worked land for 1/3 or 1/2 of the crop at harvest

 former slaves were now at the mercy of their former plantation masters, who “loaned” them their seeds and farm tools

 interest rates were often outrageous

 many farmers became trapped on the same lands for generations in a cycle of “debt peonage” as slaves to their creditors

 if they were lucky, blacks could become tenant farmers who rented land and decided when to work & what to grow

 tenant farmers had a slightly higher social status than sharecroppers

Congressional Reconstruction by “Radical Republicans”

How/why did the Republicans in Congress become “radicalized”?

 Dec. 1865: many ex-Rebel statesmen/officers showed up in D.C. and tried to reclaim their old seats in Congress

 Republicans were furious and refused to admit them

 between 1861-1865 ➔ Republicans had passed much legislation favoring the North

 Morrill Tariff; Pacific Railroad Act; Homestead Act

 Southern Democrats would now be stronger than ever in Congress, earning 12 more seats in Congress and 12 more Electoral votes

(because ex-slaves were now counted as 5/5ths of a person!)

 might Democrats win the White House? expand Black Codes? re-route the transcontinental RR? or repeal the Homestead Act?

Radical Republican Leadership:

...in the House — Rep. Thaddeus Stevens (PA) ...in the Senate —Sen. Charles Sumner (MA)

see also: Joint Committee on Reconstruction

Congressional Reconstruction by “Radical Republicans,” continued

 “Radical Republicans” stood not just for black rights, but they demanded racial equality

 they sought to keep Southerners from obstructing Reconstruction policy

 Dec. 1865: Pres. Johnson had already announced that the Union was “restored” – (only 8 months after the Civil War had ended!)

 Radical Republicans thought this was ludicrous

 Feb. 1866: Johnson vetoed the renewal of the Freedmen’s Bureau; his veto was overturned by Congress

 March 1866: Congress passed the first Civil Rights Bill in U.S. history to stop the “Black Codes”

 again, Johnson tried to veto it... and again, Congress overturned his veto

 at this point, Congress increasingly began to take control of Reconstruction policy....

Fourteenth Amendment

 passed in 1866; became law in 1868

 intended to protect the civil rights of blacks, strike down “Black Codes”

 said that States could not deprive any person of “life, liberty, or property, without due process of law” nor deny any person “equal

protection” under the law

 also proportionately reduced representation in Congress for all states that denied suffrage to blacks

 disqualified from office former Rebels who had once sworn, and then broken their oath, to support the Constitution

 guaranteed to pay the Federal debt while repudiating the Confederate debt

Pres. Johnson’s “Swing Around the Circle”— 1866 Midterm Elections

 1866 elections are among the most important midterms in U.S. history

 ratification of the 14th Amendment was the hot-button issue

 Pres. Johnson traveled by railroad around the country; in a series of speeches, he urged voters to elect men who would reject the 14th

Amendment

 he also falsely accused the GOP of planning recent anti-black riots

 May 1866: mob violence in Memphis (46 blacks and 2 whites killed)

 July 1866: mob violence in New Orleans (34 blacks and 3 whites killed)

 Johnson’s actions backfired wildly; Republicans gained 2/3rds majorities (veto proof) in both houses of Congress

“Waving the Bloody Shirt”

 Republican election tactic of reminding voters that Democrats were the “party of rebellion” (i.e., former Confederates)

Military Reconstruction

 many moderate-Republicans had steered away from the Radicals’ program.... until the 1866 elections, when Pres. Johnson antagonized

them so badly that they began siding with their “Radical Republican” colleagues in Congress

 March 1867: responding to violence against blacks in the South, Radical Republicans in Congress passed the Reconstruction Act

 this Act placed the South under military rule w/ 5 districts, each governed by a northern general

 federal troops were stationed at the polls to protect black voters

 the South now had to hold new elections and create new state constitutions

 the South had to guarantee equal rights to all citizens

 states were required to ratify the 14th Amendment before readmission into the Union

 allowed all qualified males (including blacks) to vote

 barred Confederate sympathizers from voting

 by June 1868, six Southern states had satisfied the new requirements: NC, SC, FL, AL, AR, and LA

 GA, TX, MS, and VA continued to refuse... TN had already been fully readmitted

The “Reconstruction Amendments” ➔ 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments

 15th Amendment was passed in 1869, ratified in 1870

 all men were allowed to vote in all elections w/out regard to race, color, or “previous condition of servitude”

 by 1870, all Southern states had been reorganized w/ full rights; but the hated “bluebellies” (Federal troops) often remained for several

more years to keep the Republican Party in power

 as soon as these troops left, white Southerners quickly elected Democratic Party govts. called “Redeemers” or “Home Rule” regimes.

First Black U.S. Senators

Hiram Rhodes Revels (R-MS), 1870-1871; elected to finish the term of Jefferson Davis, former Confederate president

--and--

Blanche K. Bruce (R-MS), 1875-1881; first African American to be elected to and serve a full term

Supporters of the “Radical Regimes” ➔ the Republican Coalition in the South during Reconstruction

1) free blacks

2) “carpetbaggers” ➔ Northerners who moved to the South to make or to run for office; although some were sleazy swindlers, most

were honest men (many were former Union soldiers)

3) “scalawags” ➔ poor Southern whites—often Unionists, or former Whigs—who voted Republican & supported Northern Reconstruction

policy; especially hated by most Southern whites b/c they were seen as traitors

What about Women?

 Women had played a prominent role in abolitionism.

 During the Civil War, women’s rights activists such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton temporarily put aside

their own demands, and the little known Woman’s Loyal League gathered 400,000 signatures on petitions to support the 13th

Amendment.

 But after the war was over, early feminists were deeply disappointed when the 14th and 15th Amendments failed to mention women.

 Stanton and Anthony actually campaigned against the 14th Amendment because of this (much to the chagrin of black

abolitionist Frederick Douglass). Sadly, some of their rhetoric occasionally even appealed to racist sentiments.

 Feminists later demanded that the 15th Amendment include the word “sex”... but it would be another 50 long years before women

finally received suffrage with the 19th Amendment.

The “New South”

- heavily promoted by journalists such as Henry Grady of the Atlanta Constitution

- sought greater industrialization, factories; urged the South to abandon its traditional economic dependence on cash-crop agriculture

- tried to attract businesses to move to the South; the South did have a great deal of cheap labor and untapped natural resources

- bigger cities slowly emerged, as many southerners migrated to urban areas

- railroad tracks were repaired, expanded; northerners and foreigners invested capital in mining, lumber, iron/steel production

- however, the Southern economy continued to lag far behind the North’s... and agriculture (cotton, tobacco) still remained prominent

- corruption and graft were rampant

- and white racism was as bad as ever (perhaps even worse)

The Ku Klux Klan ➔ a.k.a., the “Invisible Empire of the South”

 terrorist organization founded in 1866 in Pulaski, TN, to oppose “upstart” blacks

 former Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest was elected the first “Grand Wizard”

 goals of the KKK: to maintain “white supremacy” and to keep blacks as a submissive labor force

 has been described as the “terrorist wing of the Democratic Party” in the South [see: historian Eric Foner, Columbia Univ.]

 methods included intimidation, beatings, floggings, kidnapping, torture/mutilation, and murder (“lynching”)

 many freedmen and white Republicans shunned the polls because of the Klan’s intimidation

The U.S. Govt. Battles the Klan

• Congress passed “Force Acts” of 1870 & 1871, which outlawed the KKK as a terrorist organization

• hundreds were arrested & imprisoned, and the Klan was wiped out w/in a year

• however, many former members went “underground” and continued their violence & discrimination in the years to come...

• example: Massacre at Colfax, Louisiana (Easter Sunday, 1873); the “White League,” similar to the KKK, killed ~100 black

militiamen as a result of a disputed governor’s election

• NOTE: The KKK would be resurrected in 1915 by a southern Methodist minister named William Simmons in Stone Mountain, Georgia

The Impeachment of President Andrew Johnson

 began w/ accusations about his alleged heavy drinking; falsely accused of maintaining a harem of “dissolute women”

 Radical Republicans hated Johnson because he had openly sided w/ the former Confederates in the South

 Tenure Office Act, 1867 ➔ required Congress’ approval to dismiss previous Executive branch appointees; was passed over Johnson’s veto

 Sec. of War, Edwin M. Stanton, of Lincoln’s Cabinet, was outwardly a supporter of Johnson... but he was secretly spying for the Radicals

 Johnson abruptly dismissed Stanton in early 1868

 House Republicans now had an excuse to dubiously impeach Pres. Johnson (by vote of 126 to 27) for “high crimes and misdemeanors”

 trial took place in the Senate beginning in March, w/ the House prosecuting (called the “Trial of the Century” by the media)

 in May 1868, Johnson escaped conviction by just one vote

 2/3 vote needed to convict

 Tenure of Office Act was probably unconstitutional

 Johnson’s removal might have upset the system of checks and balances by weakening the Executive branch

 no one knows who would’ve become President had Johnson been convicted... he had no Vice President!

Secretary of State William Seward

 U.S. purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867 for $7.2 million in gold

 perhaps the only positive accomplishment of Johnson’s presidency, and it wasn’t even Andrew Johnson’s doing!

 Russia sold its “frozen asset” due to Alaska’s defenseless state; another war with Britain would finish it off

 furthermore, the Russians believed that Alaska might create a barrier between Siberia and British-occupied Canada

 Alaska was at first criticized as “Seward’s Folly” or “Seward’s Icebox”

 most Americans were isolationist (anti-expansionists); too preoccupied w/ Reconstruction & westward migration closer to home

 over time, Alaska was much more appreciated for its rich natural resources (gold, natural gas, oil, timber, fisheries, etc.)

 during the Cold War it also proved to be a vital asset to forewarn the U.S. against future attacks by the USSR

Chapter 24 – Politics in the Gilded Age, 1869-1889

What does the term “Gilded Age” mean?

• Gilded Age = roughly 1870-1900; saw massive growth of industry & wealth, which supported unchecked materialism & political

corruption [comes from title of 1873 book by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner]

• means that society’s problems were “covered with a thin layer of gold” during this era

• thin layer of prosperity covered up society’s poverty & corruption (govt. waste, extravagance, speculation, graft); there were

some “rags-to-riches” success stories... but most of the growing urban poor suffered from low wages, debt, and very little

sympathy from the well-to-do

The “Bloody Shirt” Elects Grant

 Grant = greatest hero to emerge from the Civil War

• Congress vs. Johnson battles had soured people on professional politicians

 the public thought great generals would make great presidents... but Grant proved to be inept – and seemingly corrupt...

• after the war, citizens of Philly, Washington, and Galena, IL (his hometown) each gave him a house; NY gave him a check for

$105K; Grant accepted such gifts w/ open arms

Grant was a “Greenhorn”

• “greenhorn” = i.e., “rookie” (untrained; inexperienced; naïve; easily swindled)

 yet, became Republican candidate for Pres. in 1868

• had actually voted Democrat in 1856

 while Grant said, “Let us have peace,” the rest of the GOP “waved the bloody shirt” and urged men to “vote as you shot!”

 500,000 grateful former slaves give Grant popular victory over defeated former NY Gov. Horatio Seymour

 Grant lost the election among whites; GOP had to keep the ballot in the freedmen’s hands; only way to win the South

• Grant tried to work w/ Congress, instead of against it...

“The Era of Good Stealings”

 1870 Census: 37 million (up 26.6% since 1860) U.S. population now #3 in Western world behind Russia and France

 but moral stature of U.S. govt. fell short of physical size

• political + economic aspirants threw money around with wild abandon; a few “skunks” polluted the whole atmosphere of U.S.

business/politics; too many judges & legislators had put their power “up for sale”

Notorious Financiers

 “Jubilee Jim” Fisk and Jay Gould hatched a plot in 1869 to corner the gold market

 bribed Grant’s brother-in-law w/ $25K to help them; led to a Congressional probe...

 Grant was cleared, but made his Admin. look crooked...

“Boss” William Marcy Tweed

 “Boss” Tweed ran the Democratic Party’s unethical Tammany Hall “political machine” in NYC

 bribed supporters + rigged elections to milk the city of $200 million!

 New York Times exposed the corruption in 1871

 political cartoonist Thomas Nast mercilessly pilloried Tweed

 NY attorney Samuel J. Tilden gained fame heading the prosecution

 The “Tweed Ring” collapsed in 1873... and Boss Tweed died in jail in 1878... but Tammany Hall lived until the 20th century

Crédit Mobilier Scandal, 1872

 Grant was too easygoing; his Cabinet was filled w/ favor-seeking “spoilsmen,” grafters, and incompetents

 Crédit Mobilier = sham transcontinental RR construction company created by Union Pacific insiders to line their own pockets

• hired themselves, then charged $50K/mile when it only cost $30K/mile (paid 348% dividends in one year!)

 fearing whistle blowers, the company paid stock to key Congressmen to keep them quiet

 NY newspaper finally exposed it; two Congressmen were censured; even the VP had accepted money

The “Whiskey Ring,” 1875

 embezzled $4 million of revenue from U.S. Treasury by not paying excise-taxes

 Grant said, “Let no guilty man escape”... but then his own private secretary was implicated

• other Grant scandals:

 “salary grab” of 1873 had doubled President’s salary and gave 50% raise to all Congressmen; repealed in 1874

 in 1876, Grant’s Sec. of War was shown to have pocketed $24K by selling junk supplies to Indians; unanimously

impeached by House, then he resigned

Election of 1872

 New “Liberal Republican Party” w/ slogan, “Turn the rascals out!” urged purification in D.C.

 nominated Horace Greeley, the fearless but erratic editor of the New York Tribune

 Greeley had been highly critical of the South (called them “traitors, slave shippers, saloon keepers, horse thieves, and idiots”) but

Democrats, North and South, also endorsed Greeley just to vote the hated Republican Grant out

• general vs. journalist – both unqualified by temperament

• Greeley was denounced as an atheist, communist, free-lover, vegetarian, and co-signer of the bail bond that released

Confederate Jefferson Davis from jail; one of Grant’s campaign slogans became, “Grant beat Davis—Greeley bailed him.”

 although the Democrats also supported Greeley, Grant was reelected by a wide margin

 Greeley went mad & died shortly thereafter... Republicans began mild reforms such as the General Amnesty Act of 1872,

reduced tariffs, and mild civil service reform

The Panic of 1873

 financial crash rapidly paralyzed the economy; effects lasted for over 5 years; +15K businesses went bankrupt; unemployment rose to

15%; this Depression also killed any remaining support for Reconstruction

 capitalists had flooded markets w/ too many railroads, mines, & factories, while bankers loaned out more than could be repaid

 may also have been caused by Grant Admin.’s monetary policies (favoring gold over “greenbacks” – i.e., restricting money supply to

create deflation)

• NY banking firm Jay Cooke & Co. (which had largely financed Civil War) collapsed; then Northern Pacific Railroad declared

bankruptcy; soon 1⁄4 of the nation’s railroads went under; massive wage cuts led to the Great Railroad Strike of 1877

Demands for Inflation

 Debtors (esp. farmers) wanted inflationary policies—such as printing more “greenbacks”—to lessen the value of money

• more in circulation ➔ cheaper, and hence, easier to pay back debts

 Creditors wanted “hard money” policies ➔ they favored the withdrawal of greenbacks from circulation and the redemption of paper

currency for gold at face value; less money in circulation = $ more valuable, and hence, lenders will be paid back more

“Sacred” Silver

 Treasury valued 1 oz. of silver at only 1/16th oz. of gold (open market value was higher); silver miners stopped selling to Fed govt.

• bad luck: new silver deposits were found in the 1870s, which drove value of silver down even further

 1873: Congress stopped minting silver dollars; debtors & Western miners called this the “Crime of `73” — they also wanted inflation

• Republicans believed that the only “sound money” policy was “contraction” (or deflation)

Bland-Allison Act, 1878

 compromise bill; U.S. Treasury would buy/coin between $2-4 million of silver bullion per month

 but “silverites” were still unhappy

 GOP money policy had a backlash... Democrats became House majority in 1874

 spawned 3rd party – Greenback Labor Party

Political Parties

 both relied on patronage (“spoils system”)

 campaigns were often petty, yet raucous affairs; nearly 80% of eligible voters participated (“straight ticket” voting was common)

 sharp ethnic + cultural differences between the 2 parties

 GOP ➔ Midwest; rural & small town Northeast; freedmen in South

 Dems ➔ Southern whites; Northern industrial cities

Differences Between Political Parties

- Republicans were favored by industrialists, bankers, and bonanza farmers.

- Democrats were supported by immigrants, laborers, planters, and farmers.

- Republicans:

o wanted gold-backed, hard money supply

o higher tariffs to protect American businesses

o generous Union soldier pensions for the “Grand Army of the Republic”

o govt. subsidies to railroads

o strict immigration limits

o enforcement of Puritanical “blue laws” to regulate morality & private activities (like no alcohol on Sundays)

- Democrats:

o wanted silver-backed, loose money supply

o lower tariffs on imported goods

o higher prices for farm goods

o less govt. aid to big business

o fewer “blue laws”; no single moral standard

o more tolerance for immigrant religions, such as Lutherans Roman Catholics

The “Grand Army of the Republic”:

 Union Civil War veterans; extremely powerful lobby

 Confederate Civil War veterans in the South didn’t get a penny of their large pensions

Republican Factions

 “Stalwarts” – led by Sen. Roscoe Conkling (NY); openly swapped civil-service jobs for votes

 “Half-Breeds” – led by Sen. James G. Blaine (ME); showed mild support for civil-service reform

Republican Retreat from Reconstruction Panic of 1873

 May 1872: General Amnesty Act – allowed most former Confederate leaders to vote and hold office

 1873: Slaughterhouse Cases – Supreme Court narrowly defined the 14th Amendment civil rights

 1874: Democrats gained a majority in House of Reps. for the first time since 1856

 Civil Rights Act of 1875: only small victory; “born toothless”... it went virtually un-enforced in the South

Election of 1876

• Grant almost ran a 3rd time... but after the House reminded him of the 2-term tradition, he sat out

 GOP picked Gov. Rutherford B. Hayes from “swing” state of Ohio; obscure, but a wounded Civil War vet

 Democrats picked Gov. Samuel J. Tilden of NY, famous for having prosecuted “Boss” Tweed

 Tilden got 184 of 185 electoral votes needed, w/ 20 more electoral votes in 4 states still undecided

 voter fraud alleged; returns questioned in LA, SC, and FL, where Repub. regimes hadn’t been “redeemed” by Southern Dems yet

• each state submitted 2 competing sets of returns

Constitutional Crisis!

 12th Amendment only says that electoral returns shall be opened in the presence of the House and Senate, by the president of the

Senate...

 but it does not say who shall count the votes!

 the president of the Senate was a Republican, whereas the Speaker of the House was a Democrat

The Compromise of 1877: “Tilden or Blood!” (Democratic Party Threat)

 Democratic hotheads threatened violence

 Senate & House met together to settle dispute; Electoral Commission voted along strict partisan lines (8 to 7) to give Hayes victory

• outraged Southern Democrats, who threatened a filibuster

 deadlock not broken until 3 days before scheduled Inauguration Day (March 1, 1877)

 behind closed doors, GOP agreed to withdraw all remaining troops from the South, thus quietly abandoning ideal of black equality, in

exchange for Hayes being declared winner

• also agreed to subsidize Southern trans-cont. RR line (promise was later broken) and put a Southerner in Hayes’ Cabinet

 Hayes won, but was called “His Fraudulency” by opponents, who referred to 1876 as a “stolen election.”

“Friendless Blacks”

 disenfranchised by intimidation & fraud; devious methods included literacy tests; poll taxes; “grandfather clause”

 “crop-lien” system = storekeepers extended credit to small farmers for collateral (their harvest) – led to perpetual debt

Jim Crow Laws

 formal system of segregation to keep blacks 2nd class citizens

 1896 Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson said “separate but equal” facilities were OK

 reality = facilities/equipment were never equal !

 by the 1890s, Southern whites dealt harshly (i.e., lynchings) w/ blacks who asserted themselves politically

Successes of Reconstruction

1. Republicans carried out 2 main goals; Union was restored and much of war-torn South was rebuilt

2. stimulated economic growth in South (and wealth in North)

3. 14th & 15th Amendments passed

4. Freedmen’s Bureau helped many blacks (education, housing, and jobs)

5. public education in the South

Failures of Reconstruction

1. most blacks still in cycle of debt

2. most blacks still denied right to vote by KKK & other racist/terrorist groups

3. racist attitudes continued (in both North & South)

4. many white Southerners were bitter towards Federal govt. and Rep. Party

5. Southern economy still lagged far behind Northern economy

6. Reconstruction didn’t address problems of everyday workers & women’s rights

Pres. Rutherford B. Hayes

 single termer; idealistic “Goody Two-Shoes”; married his childhood sweetheart, who served no alcohol in the White House; she

became known as “Lemonade Lucy” and his “cold-water administration” had few accomplishments

Great Railroad Strike of 1877

 “class warfare”?... began in Martinsburg, WV, when Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O) announced 10% wage cut; quickly spread

• 3 more railroads followed suit

 strikes across U.S. turned violent [PA, MD, NJ, NY, OH, IN, IL, MO, NE, and as far away as CA]

 Pres. Hayes sent in federal troops to put down riots; violence claimed over 100 lives in two weeks; millions of in property damage

Anti-Chinese Sentiment

 poor, uneducated, single men from China came to the U.S. to dig for gold; later helped build RRs; known as “coolies” (9% of California

population by 1880)

• as many as 1⁄2 went back to China; many who remained became cooks, laundrymen, or domestic servants; loneliness; had

trouble finding Chinese wives

 in San Fran., Irish-born demagogue Denis Kearney incited terror against Chinese in the struggle for jobs

• “beef eaters” vs. “rice eaters”

• Congress passed bill against Chinese immigrants in 1879, but Pres. Hayes vetoed it b/c it violated existing treaty w/ China

 Chinese Exclusion Act, 1882: Congress banned all Chinese immigration; in effect until 1943

The “Forgotten Presidents”

- James A. Garfield - Chester Arthur (Garfield’s VP)

- Grover Cleveland (only U.S. president to serve 2 non-consecutive terms) - Benjamin Harrison

1880 Election: James A. Garfield

• another compromise candidate from Ohio due to Stalwart/Half-Breed deadlock; born in a log cabin, he had served in the Civil

War as a major general

• Democrats also nominated a former Union General, Winfield Scott Hancock

• major issues were the tariff and civil-service reform

• despite accusations of having received $329 during the Crédit Mobilier scandal, Garfield won

• Garfield awarded his political benefactor, Blaine, by making him Sec. of State; he then began to go after Blaine’s corrupt

nemesis, Roscoe Conkling of NY

 after only 6 months in office, just as he was beginning to make some progress with civil-service reform, Garfield was shot in the back in a

D.C. railroad station; assassin was a deranged office-seeker/Stalwart loyalist (backer of Conkling) named Charles Guiteau

 Garfield died after 11 weeks of agony; this enhanced his reputation as a martyr against the spoils system

• some historians believe Garfield may have been inadvertently killed by his own doctors

Reforming the “Spoils System”

 civil-service reform came w/ the Pendleton Act (1883)

 passed administration of Chester A. Arthur (Garfield’s VP)

• irony: before he was elevated to Presidency, “Chet” Arthur had been one of Conkling’s corrupt cronies in New York state

 created merit-system based on aptitude rather than “pull”

 created a Civil Service Commission; applicants had to pass a competitive exam

New Political “Bosses”

 instead of mobilizing small voting armies on election day, politicians now used from big corporations to influence policy

Election of 1884: James G. Blaine v. Grover Cleveland

 both parties resorted to excessive mudslinging; race was about personalities, not principles (one of the dirtiest races in U.S. history)

 character assassination attempts included exposing the fact that Cleveland had fathered an “illegitimate” child w/ a Buffalo, NY, widow,

while Blaine was portrayed as a man “tattooed” with too many financial scandals

 some high-minded Republicans saw their party’s candidate (Blaine) as a shady man [see: “Mulligan letters”] so they bolted from the GOP

to vote for the Democrat candidate, Grover “the Good” Cleveland, the Gov. of NY and a noted reformer [example: E.L. Godkin, editor of

The Nation]

 they become known as “Mugwumps” (Native American word meaning “chief” or “holier than thou”)

“Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion”

 foolish comment by Republican clergyman, insulting NYC’s Irish voters, just before introducing James Blaine—who for some reason,

remained silent

 w/in hours, NYC’s Irish neighborhoods were blanketed w/ pamphlets denouncing Blaine...

President “Grover the Good” Cleveland

 1

st Democrat elected president in 28 years

 problems: Cleveland was a Democrat who didn’t fight in the war, and he did not work well w/in his own party’s politics; was tactless!

 laissez-faire approach to business ➔ “Though the people support the govt., the govt. should not support the people.”

 wanted to pursue civil-service reform, but caved into his party’s demands and dismissed almost 2/3rds of all 120K Federal employees,

including 40K Republicans

 Cleveland knew that Union vets’ military pensions were an expensive problem; it was being abused

• but if Cleveland attacked it too vigorously, the GAR would complain w/ great voting power, or turn to Congressmen for

special private bills

 yet, in 1887, he vetoed a bill that would have added hundreds of thousands of new pensioners

 Cleveland also argued for a lower tariff, which he felt would lower prices for consumers; but this would also put an end to the Treasury’s

$145 million surplus, which was being spent on various “pork-barrel” projects

 Democrats were distressed, so in 1888, they were not wholeheartedly behind their candidate’s re-election

Election of 1888

 Republicans picked Benjamin Harrison, a former senator from Indiana and the grandson of Whig Pres. William Henry Harrison

[remember the Battle of Tippecanoe, 1811?]

• nicknamed “the human iceberg”

 when voters learned that a British minister preferred Cleveland because of his support for lower U.S. tariffs and “free trade,” Grover lost

the crucial Irish vote in NYC

• GOP raised a “war chest” from big business—$3 million—and shamelessly bought votes in Indiana for $20 each!

 Cleveland thus became 1st sitting President voted out since Martin Van Buren in 1840

Benjamin Harrison and the “Billion Dollar Congress”:

• The surplus created by the tariff was used to support a variety of “pork-barrel” projects

• Legislation by 1890: McKinley Tariff Sherman Silver Purchase Act

Sherman Antitrust Act Dependent Pension Act

• popular outrage set stage for Democratic victories in 1890 midterms.