 Cities, roads, and bridges damaged.  MS wealth gone – now in extreme poverty

 1/3 of adult white male population dead or unable to work because of war wounds

 400,000 freedmen homeless, poor, & uneducated. › Feared re-enslavement › Wanted equality  Freedmen’s Bureau was created by the federal government. › Help with adjustment to free society › Provided food, shelter, education, health care, & helped them find jobs

 Southern whites feared consequences of secession by the federal government.

 All southerners (except high ranking Confederate officials) would be pardoned after taking an oath of loyalty to the United States.  After 10% of the population took the oath, the state could form a legal government and rejoin the Union.

 Lincoln’s plan not implemented because of his assassination in April of  His Vice President Andrew Johnson became president.

 High ranking Confederate officials, military, and those who owned property worth more than $20,000 had to apply to the President for a pardon.  Southern states had to: › Write a new state constitution abolishing slavery › Repeal their secession ordinances › Void their war debt › Ratify 13 th Amendment (abolished slavery)

 Legalized marriage between blacks  Prohibited interracial marriages

 Restricted blacks’ testimony in court cases involving whites  Limited black land ownership  Prohibited from carrying firearms or other weapons  Provided for the arrest, fining, or imprisonment of blacks who assembled without permission or were unemployed - Blacks who were arrested could be hired out to anyone who paid the fine.  Black workers had to have a written employment contract witnessed by 2 whites. If broken, they could be arrested and returned to their employer.

 Because of the Black Codes and MS and many other southern states’ refusal to ratify the 13 th & 14 th Amendments, Congress took over Reconstruction.  Reconstruction Act (1867) carved the south into 5 military districts. MS was in the 4 th Military District headed by Major General Edward Ord.

 Scalawags: White Mississippians who supported Congressional Reconstruction. James Alcorn

 Carpetbaggers: Northern whites who had come to MS after the war. Adelbert Ames from Maine would become governor.

 MS black leaders › Hiram Revels

 Mississippi and other former Confederate states refused to ratify the 13th Amendment. › In response, Congress refused to seat Mississippi’s delegation in Washington.  14th Amendment came up for ratification in The 14 th Amendment: › granted citizenship to all: black and white › forbade states from depriving any person of life, liberty or property without due process › gives power to pardon to Congress › voided Confederate war debt

 Congress eventually took control of Reconstruction because MS and other southern states refused to ratify the 14 th Amendment.  The Reconstruction Act carved the south into 5 military districts and set new, strict requirements for restoring government  Mississippi was in District 4 under the command of Major General Edward Ord.

 Ord’s first (and perhaps the most important) task of the military commander was to register all eligible voters. › When the registration process closed in 1867, 137,000 adult males qualified to vote. › 29 counties had a white majority. › 32 counties had a black majority of voters.

 In the first election, voters decided to write a new state constitution and elected delegates.  100 delegates made up the 1868 constitutional convention (also known as the “Black and Tan” convention). Among the 100 were: › 17 black Republicans › 29 scalawags › 25 carpetbaggers › 17 conservative Democrats

 The 1868 constitution became the most democratic of all of MS’s constitutions.  1868 MS constitution: › Universal male suffrage* › Free public education* for children ages 6–18 › Forbade discrimination in public transportation › Eliminated property qualifications for voting or holding office › Extended property rights to married women *Major concerns of MS freedmen

 Conservative Democrats did not approve the following additions to the new constitution: › Disfranchisement of secession supporters and those who gave aid to Confederacy › Increased power of governor › Requirement of former Confederates to take oath acknowledging that all men are created equal

 The 1868 constitution was not ratified the first time around. › Many conservative whites refused to vote and Ku Klux Klan used violence and intimidation to keep blacks from polls.  It was finally passed in 1869 when the disfranchisement of former Confederates and the loyalty oath were deleted.

 The adoption of the new constitution began Republican rule in Mississippi.  James L. Alcorn was elected the first Republican governor in 1869.

 After the 1868 elections, the Republicans had a majority in the state legislature.  Mississippi was readmitted as a state in 1870 when the state legislature ratified of the 14th and 15th Amendments. › MS did not officially ratify the 13 th until 2013!

Mississippi’s two U.S. Senators: Adelbert Ames Hiram Revels

 Adelbert Ames – carpetbagger from Maine › Provisional governor of Maine  Hiram Revels – from Missouri but moved to Natchez  1st black to serve in U.S. Senate  Finished Jefferson Davis’ term

 James Alcorn was governor of all the people.  Under his leadership:  Economy improved  Land value increased  Public schools expanded  Laws more democratic  Though a successful governor, he decided to resign in order to run for the U.S. Senate when Revels finished his term. › Revels became the 1 st president of Alcorn University.

 The Mississippi Republican party was weakened by a conflict between Alcorn and Ames during the 1873 governor election. › Alcorn accused by Ames of deserting the Republican party and siding with Democrats. › He also stated that Ames was not protecting blacks from Klan violence. › Ames won but the Republican party split between supporters of Ames and Alcorn.

 Benjamin Montgomery › Black planter appointed by Ord as justice of the peace › 1st black to hold a public office in the state.

 Blanche K. Bruce › 1st African-American to serve in the U.S. Senate to serve a full term › The custom in the Senate is for the state’s senior senator to escort the new senator to his seat. › James Alcorn refused. › Senator Roscoe Conkling of NY did it instead. Bruce named his first son after him.

 John R. Lynch › Speaker of MS House of Representatives › Only black member of MS delegation to U.S. House of Representatives  Robert H. Wood › First black mayor of any American city (Natchez)

 Mississippi’s Reconstruction government established tax supported public schools.  Public school enrollment of Mississippi in 1875 was 89,813 black & 78,404 white.

 Higher Education › Expanded University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) › Established Alcorn University = Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College › Established Industrial Institute – 1st state supported college for women in the U.S. (MS University for Women) › Established MS Agricultural and Mechanical College (MSU) as a segregated school for whites

 Conservative Democrats opposed Reconstruction from the beginning. › They wanted to return control of MS government back to native whites. › They named themselves the Redeemers since they were to “save” the state from Republican rule.  To ensure Democrat victories, the KKK and other groups used intimidation and violence to prevent blacks from voting. › Blacks were not just threatened with physical violence but with loss of their jobs.

 Warren County Riot (1874) › 500 whites forced black sheriff Peter Crosby to resign › Riot occurred when blacks tried to help Crosby get his job back › 2 whites, 29 blacks killed › Federal troops called in to maintain order.  Clinton Riot (1875) › Group of whites ambushed and killed black Republican Charles Caldwell because “he belongs to this Republican party and sticks up for those Negroes.”

 1876 Presidential Election › Rutherford B. Hayes (Rep) & Samuel Tilden (Dem) tied in electoral votes. › Democrats made a secret compromise with Republicans to allow Hayes to be president if federal troops were pulled out of the southern states. › They agreed and Hayes became president.

 Democrats called for another constitutional convention to change the 1868 constitution.  Major changes to voting: › Pay an annual poll tax › Had to read a section of the state constitution or “understand it when read to them” = Understanding clause  Result: black voters dropped from 142,000 to 8,615 and more than 30,000 whites were too poor to pay the poll tax.

Democrats would rule Mississippi until the 1990s.