The New South

In the South, the period following the Civil War or Reconstruction, was a time for rebuilding homes, towns, businesses, farms, government, and yes, lives and hearts. With leadership from men and women alike, Georgia recover physically from the Civil War quickly, however, rebuilding hearts and minds of Georgians was more difficult. While groups like the Freedmen’s Bureau worked on changing lives, other people and groups like the Bourbons and the Ku Klux Klan worked just as hard to maintain the “old South” ways.

Two Reconstruction Plans

Lincoln’s assassination took place before his reconstruction plan took effect. President’s Lincoln’s reconstruction plan is called the “Presidential Reconstruction” plan. White Southerners who joined the Republican Party and supported the Presidential Reconstruction plan were called scalawags. President Andrew Johnson continued Lincoln’s plan after his death.

However, President Johnson followed a much more moderate policy and allowed former Confederate officials to enter important government posts and Congress. President Johnson also pardoned many Confederate war criminals and did not carry out many war crime trials. In addition, President Johnson did not forcefully pursue race equality in Southern states which allowed Southern states to enforce black codes, establish terror groups like the Ku Klux Klan, and allowed for freed black slaves to be disenfranchised.

President Johnson’s reconstruction plan was called the “Federal Reconstruction” plan. The Federal Reconstruction phase ended in 1877 with the presidential election of Rutherford B. Hayes and the withdrawal of military troops and Republican rule in southern states.

Once Republican rule ended in Georgia, Democrats alleged corruption under radical control, through violence and fraud gained majority in most of the state legislatures. Hate groups such as Klu Klux Klan ruled in south and committed violence against freed blacks. The condition of freedmen deteriorated under the rejuvenated democrat rule in south and it took another 100 years for Blacks to gain true equality. Moreover, President Johnson’s moderate polices led many southerners to victimize blacks legally in the south.

The Bourbon Triumvirate

Three Democrats~ Joseph E. Brown, Alfred H. Colquitt, and John B. Gordon~ lead Georgia through the “Redemption” period or the time when the state “redeemed” itself from hardships and adversity of Reconstruction. All three leaders became the governor of Georgia, believed Georgia needed a stronger economy tied with the industrial north, and believed in white supremacy. These men are known as the Bourbon Triumvirate or “the ruling class of three”.

Under the Bourbon Triumvirate, the state’s war debts were reduced, taxes were lowered, and business and industry expanded. But, they did little to help the poor, improve education, reform factory working conditions, improve mental hospitals, or improve the lives of blacks or convicts.

William & Rebecca Latimer Felton

The Felton’s, calling themselves independent Democrats, disagreed with the policies of the Bourbon Triumvirates. William Felton, a doctor from Cartersville, and his wife, Rebecca Latimer Felton, worked for fairness and justice for Georgians. Mrs. Felton also worked for women suffrage (voting) and temperance (anti-alcohol) movements in Georgia. Mrs. Felton was a writer and wrote columns in the Atlanta Journal for many years. In addition, the Felton’s criticized the convict lease system, a prisoners leasing (hired-out) system in Georgia that exchanged labor of inmates for housing and food that was abusive to convicts.

Convict Lease System

Henry Grady

Henry Grady, a journalist and brilliant orator, led the “New South” movement in Georgia. Grady wrote in the Atlanta Daily Herald of the “New South”, or the south’s need to be more industrial like the north. He also gave speeches in Georgia and across the country, especially in northern states, to convince northerners to bring their businesses to the south. Henry Grady also became managing editor of the Atlanta Constitution and wrote about race relations, improving education and better farming techniques in Georgia.

Henry Grady is known as the “south’s best salesman” and the “voice of the New South” for his ability to sell the concept of a “New South” to the north that helped bring jobs, recognition, and investments to the recovering Georgia economy. Henry Grady was one of the principal planners for the Atlanta’s 1881 International Cotton Exposition, a state industrial fair designed to show off the south’s latest technology in transportation, manufacturing, textile mills, coal mining, iron ore mining, tobacco and other agricultural products.

The International Cotton Exposition helped to attract investors to Georgia, highlighted Atlanta as a regional business center, and spotlighted improvements in race relations of African Americans as partners in developing this “new south”.