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Reconstructing a Nation

Reconstructing a Nation. Classic Historiographical Debate. Reconstruction as tragedy, folly Reconstruction as democratic experiment. Family Record, a lithograph marketed to former slaves after the Civil War. What Now?. Union experimented w/ wage labor on plantations during war

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Reconstructing a Nation

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  1. Reconstructing a Nation

  2. Classic Historiographical Debate • Reconstruction as tragedy, folly • Reconstruction as democratic experiment

  3. Family Record, a lithograph marketed to former slaves after the Civil War

  4. What Now? • Union experimented w/ wage labor on plantations during war • Elsewhere, slaves were given Jefferson Davis’s land • “Rehearsal for Reconstruction”

  5. Plans, Plans, Plans • Lincoln wants moderate “10% Plan” • Radicals oppose • Want majority to pledge loyalty • Plus black equality • Wade Davis Bill

  6. End/Beginning • Grant finally takes Richmond (1865) • Lincoln assassinated days after surrender • Southern Democrat Andrew Johnson becomes Prez

  7. Constitutional Revolution? • Before Lincoln’s death, 13th Amendment bans slavery • But Johnson opposes further progress

  8. New Boss, Same as the Old Boss • “Presidential Reconstruction” (1865-1867) • Johnson lets old elites return to power • Pisses off Radical Republicans

  9. New Boss, Same as the Old Boss • Black Codes (1866-1868) • Forces ex-slaves back to plantation • Labor contracts • Right to marry, own property • But not to vote, serve on juries, etc.

  10. Free at Last? • Civil Rights Bill (1866) 1st law ever passed over Prezveto • 14th amendment redefines citizenship • Birthright • Equal protection!!! • 15th amendment ensures right to vote

  11. Here Come the Radicals • “Radical Reconstruction” (1867-1877) • Reconstruction Act (1867) • Divides South into 5 military districts Thaddeus Stevens

  12. A New World • Freedmen’s Bureau • Northern whites want to teach ex-slaves bourgeois values • Wage labor • Saving • Blacks build churches, schools, etc.

  13. Birth of Black Politics • Ex-slaves support Republicans • Draft new state constitutions • w/ public schools, orphanages, etc. • end whipping, debt prisons • 2 blacks elected to US Senate, 14 to House • SC has majority black legislature

  14. 1866 Campaign Literature

  15. The Labor Problem • “40 acres and a mule”? • Need for cotton • Lack of cash • Sharecropping compromise • “The settle”

  16. Independent No More • Ruined by war, poor whites sucked into market production

  17. Murder of Louisiana, an 1873 cartoon

  18. The Reign of Terror

  19. Redemption? • Soon, white majorities take control in states like NC, TN, TX • “Redeemers”

  20. Democracy is not just the voting, but the counting….

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