Civil War and Reconstruction

1. Civil War and Reconstruction Lecture 1

2. Administrative • Reading for next class – all reading for this topic • Essay Reminder

3. Review • The continued importance of forced labor in the American Republic • The limited rights of free labor in the USA • Early unions developed around crafts • The government intervened early on the side of employers, criminal conspiracy

4. Today • Workers during the Civil War • African-American workers during Reconstruction

5. I- Workers During the Civil War • Which side did most workers support? • Why? • How did working people participate in the War? • What was the effect of the Emancipation Proclamation on worker attitudes?

6. Workers During the Civil War • What role did African-American’s and African-American workers play? • How were they treated by the Union? • How were they treated by white workers in the North? • 13th amendment abolishing slavery was not adopted until after the war

7. II- African-American Workers in Reconstruction • Really three phases • Immediately after the war, Andrew Johnson puts southern whites back in charge • Reconstruction bans confederates and former slave owners from positions of power, beginning in 1867 • End of reconstruction and the reinstallation of racialist society, by early 1870s • Few of hopes of ex-slaves realized

8. Phase 1 • Former confederate states adopted “Black Codes.” What were they? • Widespread violence against freedpeople

9. Phase 2 • Passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 • Gave all Americans (except Native Americans) equal right to benefits of citizenship without regard to race • Was routinely ignored in the South • What was done in this period to distribute land to former slaves?

10. Phase 3 • Reinstitution of white control • Creation of system of segregation • Development of the sharecropping system • What was this? • How did it work? • What was the impact on African-American farm workers

11. In the North • Even in the north, continued employment segregation • Also routinely paid less than white workers • In both north and south, African-Americans resisted and demanded equal treatment

12. Next Time • Alternative groups of workers • Development of Unions

13. Civil War and Reconstruction Lecture 2 Development of Unions and Working Class Protest

14. Administrative • Reading for next time • Essay reminder • Not accepted any other time • Don’t put your name on the essay • Hard copy and e-mail • Read instructions, especially re citations

15. Review • Role of workers during the Civil War • African-Americans in the Reconstruction period

16. Today • Other groups in the labor force • National Labor Union • Knights of Labor • Colored National Labor Union • Panic of 1873

17. I. Other Groups in the Labor Force • Were African-Americans the only racial group to suffer significant discrimination? • How were the Chinese treated? • How were women treated? • Still paid less • Still subject to occupational segregation

18. II. National Labor Union • Founded 1866 • President was William H. Silvis, 1st truly national labor leader • Ended in 1872 over decision to emphasize currency reform and National Labor Party project • Why would workers be interested in currency reform? • Why no labor party in the United States?

19. III. Knights of Labor: Origins and Philosophy • Founded by nine Garment Cutters in Philadelphia, Dec. 1869 • The Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor • Membership open to anyone who had ever worked for a wage

20. Knights of Labor • Secret and highly ritualistic organization with quasi‑religious overtones • Uriah Stephens ‑ 1st Grand Master Workman • Trained for the Baptist Ministry • Had to abandon school and become tailor after Panic of 1837 • Stephens completely obsessed with secrecy

21. Stephens • “Cultivate friendship among the great brotherhood of toil” • Eventually he became interested in politics and currency reform • Ran for Congress on the Greenback ticket in 1878 and resigned from the Knights

22. Goals and Philosophy • "to raise the wage earner above the narrow view of his class, or trade or job“ • Antithesis of craft unionism • Objected in principle to strikes • Alternatives • Cooperation – definition • Arbitration - definition

23. Structure • Individual workers joined the Knights and its districts directly • Also, whole unions affiliated and became districts • Dominance of the “mixed district assembly” • More about Knights later

24. IV. Colored National Labor Union • Founded in Washington, D.C. 1869 • Called for equality of job opportunity and equality before the law • Called for land for freedmen • Endorsed the Republican Party

25. V. Panic of 1873 • Almost total collapse of unionism • 2/3 of national unions disappeared • Union membership fell to less than 20% of its previous total • Employers took advantage to promote racial divisions • For an idea of what times were like in the coal mines, see the film “The Molly Macguires”

26. Tomkins Square Riot • January 1874 New York’s unemployed rallied in Tomkins Square • Mayor sent the police who began clubbing people on all sides • Witnessed by a young cigar maker, Samuel Gompers

27. Next Time Begin Labor in the Gilded Age