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Explore the period of Reconstruction in America (1865-1876), analyzing achievements, conflicts, and ongoing impact. Understand the struggles of democracy, power, social class, race, and labor issues post-Civil War.
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Reconstruction, 1865-1876 Achievements, Conflicts, Failures, and Ongoing Impact
Interpretive Framework for the Course • America/U.S. – as an idea, a nation, a people – is a work in progress • It is a project • It has not developed in linear fashion • It has not always progressed towards ideals • Consistent conflict over the shape of the nation • Conflict over who should be included and excluded
Major Course Topics • Democracy • Power • Social Class • Race and Ethnicity • Inclusion and Exclusion • Labor Issues • Reform and Social Movements • Role of the State
Background to Reconstruction Slavery and the Origins of the Civil War
Civil War Review • Slave system was basis of southern society, economy, and culture • Reasons for Civil War • Growing divide between North and South, economically, culturally, and politically • “States Rights” – the right of white southern elite planters to own and control black slaves, often supported by poor whites
Slavery & the Civil War: Review of the Data • Analyze the statistics on slavery in the U.S. leading up to the Civil War • What conclusions can you make? • Questions? • What statistics are most useful in understanding the onset of the Civil War?
Conclusions about Slavery and the Civil War • Slavery was an economic system, social hierarchy, form of domination and control, supported and justified by a cultural framework • Slave system was major cause of Civil War • The ongoing impact of slavery and the fate of the freed slaves were the main issues during Reconstruction
Why Did Poor Southern Whites Fight in Civil War? • Many lower-class whites bought into southern hierarchy – household • Control of land, household, labor, and political rights Male Planter Elite /\ White Women & Children /\ White Laborers /\ Slaves & Free Blacks Poor White Landowner or Renter /\ Wife & Children /\ Slaves and Free Blacks
Why Did Northerners Fight? • Abolitionist minority – fund. opposed to slavery – slavery was an evil, a stain on the nation – represented belief in full INCLUSION of blacks into nation • Free Labor majority – opposed to expansion of slavery • Slavery hurts free labor • Free labor = economic and political independence • Free people would not allow themselves to be enslaved • Republican and “republican” • Pro-Union – unification of nation [under free labor ideals] • Belief a pivot point to judge whether people are worthy of citizenship or rights
Ways of Understanding Reconstruction • Divided country after Civil War • Different, often conflicting, goals & ideals – Different definitions of freedom and equality • Achievements • Tragedies • Conflicts • Unresolved Problems • Lasting impact on later U.S. history
Traditional Interpretations of Reconstruction • Emphasized presidential and Congressional conflicts • Emphasized personal conflicts among leaders • Emphasized white leaders’ ideas and actions • Problems with this model? – left out the people most affected by slavery, the transition to freedom, and life on the ground in the Reconstruction south
Slaves, Freedpersons, and Freedom • Emphasis on freedpersons and their attempts to realize American ideals • Slaves had already made great efforts to achieve freedom during slavery and Civil War • Resistance during enslavement • Emancipation Proc. (Jan. 1863) • Fought for Union • Fled to Union lines • Attempted to reunify with families
Definitions of Full Freedom: • Conflicts over the definition of freedom for newly-freed slaves • What would FULL FREEDOM look like? (documents & class opinions): • Financial freedom • Life, liberty, pursuit • Right to work of choice • Education, knowledge, thought • Equal opportunity • Geographic mobility • Religious freedoms • Do unto others – respect • Collective
Freedpeople’s Definition • LAND – economic freedom • Govt. protection, assistance • Fruits of own labor • Living with family and friends • Not property • Equality as human beings • Their own churches and pastors • Marriage and families • Vote • Education • W/o threat of violence • Means of protecting themselves
Major Questions of Reconstruction: • Would nation fulfill its ideals of freedom and equality? • Would ex-slaves be fully incorporated as citizens into the new nation? • Would whites accept their integration into society? • Would the revolutionary possibilities of the Civil War and Reconstruction be fully realized? • What shape would new nation and regions take after the war?
Different Definitions of Reconstruction • Documents readings:
The Cotton Pickers, 1876 Winslow Homer
Sunday Morning in Virginia, 1877 Winslow Homer
Shaw Memorial, 1900 Augustus Saint-Gaudens
Shaw Memorial, Soldier's Head, 1883-93, bronze. Augustus Saint-Gaudens Link to short video on Shaw Memorial
Radical Republican Attitudes(based on 4 images) Class reactions: Why did it matter what white northerners thought of southern blacks?:
Achievements of Reconstruction: An Opening • Freedpersons fought for and claimed freedom and rights • 13th, 14th, 15th amendments (ended slavery, citizenship, voting for all men) • Founded black schools and churches • Black political participation, leadership • Republican Party and Union Leagues • Got land in very small areas • Southern states readmitted to Union – reunification of country
Black Efforts to Achieve Full Freedom, Barrow Plantation, Georgia Evidence?
Occupation of the south: Divided into Military Districts Freedmen’s Bureau Northern white financial support No. white teachers
Southern White Tactics to Regain Power? • Violence and intimidation – voting • Burning churches and schools • Black Codes: limit freedom, marrying within race, work contracts, illegality of unemployment, apprenticeship programs • KKK and other vigilante groups • Democratic Party
Southern White Tactics to Regain Power • Black Codes in early years of Reconst. • Ex. – can only marry within race • Ex. – forced former slaves to work • Ex. – control over work; imprisonment • Attempts to reinstitute slavery in fact, if not name • Organized violence: KKK and White Leagues • Organized political violence: Dem. Party used race-baiting and stereotypes to regain power – “Redemption” of the south
Southern White “Redemption” • Whites believed they had to “redeem” the south • Take it back from blacks, Republicans, and northerners • Used legal, political, and violent means • Political strategies • Racist images of black politicians • Used fear of blacks - threat to white womanhood • Intimidated and scared white Republicans • Fraud, voter intimidation • Very effective – “took back” all southern states
Process of Redemption: Dates in () = When white Democrats retook political control = Southern White Democratic Party, the Solid South
Labor in the South: Compromise • Sharecropping and debt peonage • Positive spin: a compromise between blacks and whites in south – neither got what wanted • Negative: blacks tied to land and poverty through debt • Negative: south tied to staple crop agriculture • Negative: regional econ. and political differences reinforced • Negative: southern white racism and discrimination not uprooted
Spread of Sharecropping by 1880: Percentage of farms sharecropped by county Most in areas of cotton and tobacco farming: Dark Green Areas
Effects of Sharecropping, Barrow Plantation, Georgia Positives and Negatives?
Failures of Reconstruction:The Closing • Continued political and regional divisions • Federal retreat from black rights • Southern white racism and denial of black rights • No women’s suffrage • Redemption – southern Dem. Party became white party linked w/ denial of black rights • No widespread land redistribution or change in southern economy to support black freedom
Causes of Failures • Most white Americans did not change their definitions of freedom, justice, or equality • They continued to define “America” in exclusive ways: people of certain races and women were not worthy of full citizenship rights • America as Inclusive or Exclusive? • Included former slaves if they met white goals and expectations • But whites fell back into stereotypes and power: freedpersons not worthy of inclusion or rights
Northern White Attitudes Expressed in this Graphic? Quote: “Is This a Republican Form of Government? Is This Protecting Life, Liberty, or Property? Is This the Equal Protection of the Laws?”
Columbia – “Shall I Trust These Men, And Not This Man?”
“This Is a White Man’s Government.”
Thomas Nast, “Colored Rule in a Reconstructed (?) State” Columbia: “You are aping the lowest whites. If you disgrace your race in this way you had better take Back Seats”
Thomas Nast, “The Ignorant Vote: Honors Are Easy”
The Veteran in a New Field, 1865 Winslow Homer (American, 1836–1910) Oil on canvas
Attitude Change & Political Compromise • Southern white opposition to black freedom and social change • Northern whites lost political willpower • Turned against freedpersons • Pres. Grant – corruption and lack of resolve • Northern Rep. redefined as northern party, focused on spoils of power from new urban/industrial economy • Compromise of 1876 – Hayes Pres., withdrawal of fed. troops from south to get Presidency • Panic of 1873 – economic problems; industrial labor question supplanted southern labor and civil rights
Conclusion: • Blacks fought for and won freedom • Positive legal and constitutional advances • Southern white violence and political opposition, and Northern white loss of willpower, combined to end high hopes of “new birth of freedom” for ex-slaves • Ideals of freedom, justice, and equality were sacrificed for political compromise between whites of both regions
Questions? • Who really won the Civil War? – militarily, economically, socially, culturally? • Can you make direct links between Reconstruction’s failures and later problems in U.S. history?
