T HE N EW S OUTH 15.1

O BJECTIVES Explain how the southern economy changed in the late 1800s. Analyze how southern farmers consolidated their political power. Describe the experience of African Americans in the changing south.

K EY P ARTS Industries and Cities Grow Southern Farmers Face Hard Times Black Southerners Gain and Lose

I NTRODUCTION Read Section 15.1 Answer questions 5-6 on pg. 495

I NDUSTRIES AND C ITIES G ROW After reconstruction ended the south struggled to develop its industry. Henry Grady was an advocate for the “New South” he wanted agriculture to continue to boom but also to see mills and factories flourishing. Before the Civil War the south produced raw goods and shipped them to refineries to complete the manufacturing process.

C ONT. The new goal of the south was to create the refineries in the south so that they could produce a finished product. Also during this time the south’s agriculture began to diversify; it was no longer only cotton but tobacco, grain and fruit crops. Investment in coal, iron and steel processing created urban centers in Nashville and Birmingham.

C ONT.. The key component of industrialization is transportation, as we saw it in the north. Southern rail lines began to expand; joining rural areas with urban hubs. (major ports or cities) Soon the south had two connecting rail lines that went to the north. They were able to afford this by using prison labor to keep the costs down.

C ONT … Despite these positive changes the south was still behind the rest of the country economically. The south still struggled with rebuilding after the war, so this slowed progression. There are three factors to industry; natural resources, labor, and capital investment. The south had plenty of natural resources but lacked the other two.

C ONT …. Economic development requires workers who are well trained and efficient as well as consumers who have enough capital to spend to continue stimulation. Also the south spent very little money on education so the workers didn’t have the knowledge to progress. Wages were less in the factories in the south so this kept very many new employees coming down to the south for work.

S OUTHERN F ARMERS F ACE H ARD T IMES Cash crops still led the south despite the efforts to diversify. Cotton remained the centerpiece of the southern agricultural economy. This is extremely risky to base your economy on one crop. European textile factories had found other sources of cotton besides the south so it lowered the price of cotton thus hurting the southern economy further.

C ONT. The boll weevil was a beetle that would lead to the destruction of cotton. This beetle appeared in Texas in the early 1890s, over the next ten years it dropped the cotton cultivation by 50%. The farmers face serious difficulties, so they formed alliances to work to lower the cost of freight prices to be able to get their products to market cheaper.

B LACK S OUTHERNERS G AIN AND L OSE The 13,14,15 th amendments had change African Americans legal status. The gains were soon pushed back by a series of Supreme Court decisions. Black southerners were able to vote, own property and business, also worked together with whites in the farmers alliance.

C ONT. The frustrations in the south led to focusing on reversing the gains that African Americans had received during the Civil War. Church’s began to become segregated again, new laws supported eliminating black government officials. Southern municipalities began to take advantage of this by deciding through a series of civil rights cases in 1883 that it was a local and state decision if blacks would be allowed certain rights.