Reconstructing Society

1. Reconstructing Society Ch 12 Sect 2 Pg 383

2. Conditions in the Postwar South • South had to physically rebuild the region. • Property values plummeted • Investors in Confederate bonds lost all their money. • Small farms were ruined. • Southerners in every economic class were poorer. • Region’s population was devastated. • 1/5 of the white males were killed.

3. Public Works Programs • Republican gov. built roads, bridges, railroads, orphanages, & the first public schools. • Programs were expensive • Few financial resources were available and northerners did not want to invest. • Southern gov. raised taxes furthering the recovery process.

4. Scalawags & Carpetbaggers • Scalawags – white southerners who joined the Republican Party. • Hoped to gain political offices w/ help from African Americans. • Use those offices to enrich themselves. • Carpetbaggers – northerners who moved to the south after the war • Freedman’s Bureau agents, teachers, ministers • Others wanted to buy land or start legitimate businesses. • Some were dishonest business people

5. African American Voters • Made up the largest group of southern Republicans. • Gained voting rights w/ 15th amendment • African Americans registered to vote for the first time. • Eager to exercise their voting rights • 90% of African Americans who could vote voted.

6. Political Differences • Conflicting goals among the Republican Party. • Scalawags did not share the Republican commitment to civil rights & suffrage. • Republican governors began to appoint white Democrats to office to gain white votes. • African Americans felt betrayed.

7. New-Won Freedoms • Some African Americans were cautious about test freedoms. • African Americans took advantage of being able to go where they wanted. • African Americans were eager to leave the plantations. • Moved to southern cities

8. Reunification of Families • Freed African Americans took advantage of their new mobility to find family members. • Freedman’s Bureau worked to reunite families. • Many families were never reunited.

9. Education • 80% of African Americans could not read or write. • All freed people begin to seek education. • African Americans established schools. • Hampton Institute • Whites responded to black schools w/ violence.

10. Churches & Volunteer Groups • African Americans began to found their own churches. • Baptist & Methodist • Services similar to earlier “praise meetings” • Ministers emerged as community leaders. • Established political organizations, fire companies, ect. • Fostered independence & financial & emotional support for African Americans.

11. Politics & African Americans • Former slaves began to play an active role in political organizations. • African Americans still held a minority of the political offices. • Hiram Revels – first black senator

12. Laws against Segregation • Most states repealed the black codes. • Many anti-segregation laws were not enforced. • African Americans focused more on bringing up their own communities that on total integration.

13. 40 Acres and a Mule • Sherman promised African Americans 40 acres and a mule. • Former slaves were then evicted from their land by President Johnson. • Few African Americans held the resources to farm successfully.

14. Restoration of Plantations • Planters feared they would not make a profit when paying laborers. • Former slaveholders resented paying former slaves. • Planters faced labor shortages. • African American women & children refused to work in the fields. • Former planters were determined not to let African Americans get land.

15. Sharecropping and Tenant Farming • Without land freed blacks could not farm. • In exchange for wages, housing, & food freedmen worked in the fields. • Led to sharecropping & tenant farming. • Sharecropping – landowners divided their land & gave each worker a few acres, along w/ seed and tools. • Tenant Farming – rent land for cash from planters.

16. Cotton No Longer King • Demand for Southern cotton began to drop during the war. • Textile mills and new industry sprang up in the South. • Agriculture began to diversify.

17. Answer the following What was the economic condition of the South at the end of the Civil War? What changes in population occurred as a result of the war? How did Southern states finance their improvements? What were carpetbaggers and scalawags? What were the differences among Southern Republicans? What freedoms were new from former slaves? Why were so many African American families separated? What steps were taken for educating former slaves? How did churches and volunteer groups assist former slaves? How did Reconstruction bring African Americans into politics? Why was land important to freed slaves? Why did planters need the help of freed slaves? What economic arrangements resulted from planters lacking cash? How did falling cotton prices lead to economic diversification?