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Chapter 15

Chapter 15. Norton Media Library. Chapter 15. “What Is Freedom?”: Reconstruction, 1865–1877. Eric Foner. I. “Sherman Land”. II. The Meaning of Freedom. Blacks and the Meaning of Freedom

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Chapter 15

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  1. Chapter 15 Norton Media Library Chapter 15 “What Is Freedom?”: Reconstruction, 1865–1877 Eric Foner

  2. I. “Sherman Land”

  3. II. The Meaning of Freedom • Blacks and the Meaning of Freedom • African-Americans’ understanding of freedom was shaped by their experience as slaves and observation of the free society around them • Blacks relished the opportunity to demonstrate their liberation from the regulations, significant and trivial, associated with slavery • The Black Family in Freedom • The family was central to the post-Emancipation black community • Freedom subtly altered relationships within the family • Black women withdrew to their private sphere

  4. II. The Meaning of Freedom (con’t) • Church and School • The rise of the independent black church, with Methodists and Baptists commanding the largest followings, redrew the religious map of the South • Black ministers came to play a major role in politics • Blacks of all ages flocked to the schools established by northern missionary societies, the Freedmen’s Bureau, and groups of ex-slaves themselves • Political Freedom • The right to vote inevitably became central to the former slaves’ desire for empowerment and equality • Being denied suffrage meant “the stigma of inferiority” • To demonstrate their patriotism, blacks throughout the South organized July 4th celebrations

  5. II. The Meaning of Freedom (con’t) • Land, Labor, and Freedom • Former slaves’ ideas of freedom were directly related to land ownership • Many former slaves insisted that through their unpaid labor, they had acquired a right to the land • Masters without Slaves • The South’s defeat was complete and demoralizing • Planter families faced profound changes • Most planters defined black freedom in the narrowest manner • Freedom was defined as a privilege, not a right

  6. II. The Meaning of Freedom (con’t) • The Free Labor Vision • The victorious Republican North tired to implement its own vision of freedom • Free labor • The Freedmen’s Bureau was to establish a working free-labor system • The Freedmen’s Bureau • The task of the Bureau was daunting • The Bureau’s achievements in some areas, notably education and health care, were striking

  7. II. The Meaning of Freedom (con’t) • Land and Labor • Blacks wanted land of their own, not jobs on plantations • President Andrew Johnson ordered nearly all land in federal hands returned to its former owners • Because no land distribution took place, the vast majority of rural freed people remained poor and without property during Reconstruction • Toward a New South • Sharecropping came to dominate the cotton South and much of the tobacco belt • Sharecropping initially arose as a compromise between blacks’ desire for land and planters’ for labor discipline

  8. II. The Meaning of Freedom (con’t) • The White Farmer • Aftermath of the war hurt small white farmers • Crop lien • Both black and white farmers found themselves caught in the sharecropping and crop lien systems • Every census from 1880 to 1940 counted more white than black sharecroppers • The Urban South • Southern cities experienced remarkable growth after the Civil War • Rise of a new middle class

  9. III. The Making of Radical Reconstruction • Andrew Johnson • Johnson identified himself as the champion of the “honest yeomen” and a foe of large planters • Johnson lacked Lincoln’s political skills and keen sense of public opinion • Johnson believed that African-Americans had no role to play in Reconstruction

  10. III. The Making of Radical Reconstruction (con’t) • The Failure of Presidential Reconstruction • Johnson’s plan for Reconstruction offered pardons to the white southern elite • Johnson’s plan allowed the new state governments a free hand in managing local affairs • The Black Codes • Southern governments began passing new laws that restricted the freedom of blacks • These new laws violated free-labor principles and called forth a vigorous response from the Republican North

  11. III. The Making of Radical Reconstruction (con’t) • The Radical Republicans • Radical Republicans called for the dissolution of Johnson’s state governments and new ones established without “rebels” in power that gave blacks the right to vote • The Radicals fully embraced the expanded powers of the federal government born of the Civil War • Charles Summer • Thaddeus Stevens • Thaddeus Stevens’s most cherished aim was to confiscate the land of disloyal planters and divide it among former slaves and northern migrants to the South • His plan was too radical

  12. III. The Making of Radical Reconstruction (con’t) • The Origins of Civil Rights • Most Republicans were moderates, not radicals • Senator Lyman Trumbull of Illinois proposed two bills to modify Johnson’s policy • Extend the life of the Freedmen’s Bureau • Civil Rights Bill • Johnson vetoed both bills • Congress passed the Civil Rights Bill over his veto

  13. III. The Making of Radical Reconstruction (con’t) • The Fourteenth Amendment • It placed in the Constitution the principle of citizenship for all persons born in the United States, and empowered the federal government to protect the rights of all Americans • It did not provide for black suffrage • The Fourteenth Amendment produced an intense division between the parties • The Reconstruction Act • Johnson campaigned against the Fourteenth Amendment in the 1866 mid-term elections • In March 1867, over Johnson’s veto, Congress adopted the Reconstruction Act

  14. III. The Making of Radical Reconstruction (con’t) • Impeachment and the Election of Grant • To demonstrate his dislike for the Tenure of Office Act, Johnson removed the secretary of war from office in 1868 • Johnson was impeached and the Senate fell one vote short to remove him from office • Ulysses S. Grant won the 1868 presidential election • The Fifteenth Amendment • Congress approved the Fifteenth Amendment in 1869 • Provided for black suffrage • Had many loopholes • Did not extend suffrage to women

  15. III. The Making of Radical Reconstruction (con’t) • The “Great Constitutional Revolution” • The laws and amendments of Reconstruction reflected the intersection of two products of the Civil War era—a newly empowered national state and the idea of a national citizenry enjoying equality before the law • Before the Civil War, American citizenship had been closely linked to race • Naturalization Act of 1790 • Dred Scott decision of 1857 • The new amendments also transformed the relationship between the federal government and the states

  16. III. The Making of Radical Reconstruction (con’t) • The New Boundaries of Freedom • That the United States was a “white man’s government” had been a widespread belief before the Civil War • Reconstruction Republicans’ belief in universal rights also had its limits • Asians still excluded from citizenship • The Rights of Women • The destruction of slavery led feminists to search for ways to make the promise of free labor real for women • Other feminists debated how to achieve “liberty for married women”

  17. III. The Making of Radical Reconstruction (con’t) • Feminists and Radicals • Talk of woman suffrage and redesigning marriage found few sympathetic male listeners • Feminists were divided over their support for the Fifteenth Amendment • National Women Suffrage Association • American Woman Suffrage Association • Despite their limitations, the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments and the Reconstruction Act of 1867 marked a radical departure in American and world history

  18. IV. Radical Reconstruction in the South • “The Tocsin of Freedom” • Among the former slaves, the passage of the Reconstruction Act inspired an outburst of political organization • These gatherings inspired direct action to remedy long-standing grievances • The Union League aided blacks in the public sphere • By 1870 the Union had been restored and southern states held Republican majorities

  19. IV. Radical Reconstruction in the South (con’t) • The Black Officeholder • Two thousand African-Americans occupied public offices during Reconstruction • Fourteen elected to the House of Representatives • Two elected to the Senate • The presence of black officeholders and their white allies made a real difference in southern life • Robert Smalls of South Carolina

  20. IV. Radical Reconstruction in the South (con’t) • Carpetbaggers and Scalawags • Carpetbaggers were northerners who often held political office in the South • Scalawags were white southern Republicans • Southern Republicans in Power • Established the South’s first state-supported public schools • The new governments also pioneered in civil rights legislation • Republican governments also took steps to strengthen the position of rural laborers and promote the South’s economic recovery • Every state during Reconstruction helped to finance railroad construction

  21. V. The Overthrow of Reconstruction • Reconstruction’s Opponents • Corruption did exist during Reconstruction, but it was confined to no race, region, or party • Opponents could not accept the idea of former slaves voting, holding office, and enjoying equality before the law

  22. V. The Overthrow of Reconstruction (con’t) • “A Reign of Terror” • Secret societies sprang up in the South with the aim of preventing blacks from voting and destroying the organization of the Republican Party • Ku Klux Klan organized in 1866 • It launched what one victim called a “reign of terror” against Republican leaders, black and white • The Challenge of Enforcement • Congress and President Grant put an end to the Ku Klux Klan by 1872

  23. V. The Overthrow of Reconstruction (con’t) • The Liberal Republicans • The North’s commitment to Reconstruction waned during the 1870s • Some Republicans formed a new party called the Liberal Republicans • Horace Greeley • Liberal Republicans believed that power in the South should be returned to the region’s “natural leaders”

  24. V. The Overthrow of Reconstruction (con’t) • The North’s Retreat • The Liberal attack on Reconstruction contributed to a resurgence of racism in the North • The 1873 depression also distracted the North from Reconstruction • The Supreme Court whittled away at the guarantees of black rights Congress had adopted • The Triumph of the Redeemers • Redeemers claimed to have “redeemed” the white South from corruption, misgovernment, and northern and black control • Violence was in broad daylight

  25. V. The Overthrow of Reconstruction (con’t) • The Disputed Election and Bargain of 1877 • The election between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel Tilden was very close • Congress intervened • Hayes won the election through a compromise • Reconstruction ended in 1877 • Even while it lasted, however, Reconstruction revealed some to the tensions inherent in the nineteenth-century discussions of freedom

  26. The Barrow Plantation • pg. 553 The Barrow Plantation

  27. Sharecropping in the South, 1880 Sharecropping in the South, 1880 • pg. 561

  28. The Presidential Election of 1868 The Presidential Election of 1868 • pg. 569

  29. The Presidential Election of 1876 The Presidential Election of 1876 • pg. 582

  30. Reconstruction in the South, 1867–1877 Reconstruction in the South, 1867–1877 • pg. 583

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  47. http://www.wwnorton.com/foner/ Go to website

  48. End chap. 15 This concludes the Norton Media Library Slide Set for Chapter 15 Give Me Liberty! An American History by Eric Foner W. W. Norton & CompanyIndependent and Employee-Owned

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