Chapter 18.2 – 18.3: End of Reconstruction EQ: How does Reconstruction help the South? (give examples…Compromise?)

First Taste of Freedom Now free, African Americans - Travel to find families, look for work Freedmen’s Schools to become educated full citizenship (14th Amendment) Could legally marry Males had the right to vote (Reconstruction Act 1867)

Finding Work Many returned to plantations as paid workers Often thought pay was “extra” and housing and food should still be provided Often still treated poorly by plantation owners, who would cheat them out of wages or other benefits

Sharecropping Sharecropping = worker rents plot of land to farm, landowner providing tools, – at harvest time sharecropper gives landowner a share of the crop Farmers wanted to grow food for family,landowners wanted cash crops like cotton often caught in cycle of debt due to needing to buy food and other goods Whites also became sharecroppers (lost land in war or to taxes)

Sharecropping

Ku Klux Klan African Americans still faced violent racism Planters and former Confederates didn’t want blacks to have more rights Formed secret group called Ku Klux Klan (KKK) in 1866 Goals included restoring Democratic control of South and keeping former slaves powerless Attacked, beat, and burned down homes of blacks – sometimes even lynching them, often without consequences

15th Amendment Ulysses S. Grant wins presidential election of 1868 with help of Republicans 500,000 African Americans vote in election despite KKK attacking them Radical Republicans worried Southern states might try to keep blacks from voting in future elections, so purpose 15th Amendment guaranteeing African Americans right to vote 15th Amendment = Citizens could not be stopped from voting on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude

Ways around the law…. To make it harder for African Americans to vote, states introduced poll taxes and literacy tests

FOR YOUR INFORMATION: Literacy Tests Sometimes including reciting the entire US Constitution or Declaration of Independence from memory Were often written exams which were worded poorly and confusing to the test taker Literacy tests used through the 1960s in some parts of the country to try and stop African Americans from being able to vote

Example of 1960’s Literacy Test

Compromise of 1877 1876 presidential race between Samuel Tilden (D) and Rutherford Hayes (R) too close to call – Republicans and Democrats make deal allowing Hayes to become president and… Compromise of 1877 = Govt removed federal troops from South Govt provided land grants, loans, and funds for improvement projects and construction of railroads linking North and South President Hayes appoints Democrat to his cabinet Democrats promised to respect African Americans’ civil and political rights

End of Reconstruction Compromise of 1877 marked end of Reconstruction Passing of 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments all helped to correct injustices created by slavery Reconstruction helped African Americans to make gains but they still lacked full rights by the time Reconstruction ended