1. Reconstruction,

2. Reconstruction Issues
Closure: when is the Civil War period over?
Fate of defeated Confederates
Fate of former slaves
How to integrate Confederate states back into the U.S.
Role of federal gov’t vs. state gov’t
Role of gov’t in racial issues
Race and American society, especially politics

3. Reconstruction and Race Relations
– radical potential
Early achievements for racial equality
Not seen again until 1960’s [!]
1877 – conservative outcomes
South not much different than in 1860

4. Reconstruction – Key Players
Radical Republicans
Northern (white) moderates
Southern Democrats
Ku Klux Klan
African Americans
Presidents – Andrew Johnson, U.S. Grant
Congress

5. Radical Republican approach
Punish Confederates for treason
Guarantee civil rights for former slaves
Extensive reform in Southern states’ laws
Support Republican Party’s power in South
Sincere about racial equality AND used racial equality for political benefit
The more Confederates disqualified, the more Republicans benefit
The more freed slaves vote, the more votes Republicans get

6. Southern Democrat approach
Resist federal involvement in Southern states
Lightest punishment possible for former Confederates
Return to 1860 as much as possible
Limit African American rights, participation
Democratic Party embraced white supremacy as an official doctrine
KKK became unofficial terrorist arm of the Democratic Party

7. Republican/Federal Retreat from Reconstruction
Most N. whites w/ little sympathy for racial equality
Blacks disfranchised in North and West as well
Even in the 1866 Civil Rights Act:
States punished for disfranchising voters
Punishment proportional to % of voters
Small black population in state: little penalty
Large black population: big penalty
In 1866, easier to restrict Afr. Am. voting in North than South [!]

8. Republican/Federal Retreat from Reconstruction
Grant’s presidency,
Honest man w/ corrupt executive branch
N. distaste for military occupation of South
Anti-KKK operations
1872 open, fair election in South
Most open and fair until 1960’s
1873 recession
14% unemployment
Many blame Reconstruction and Republicans

9. Compromise of 1877 Peaceful, statesmanlike transfer of power?
Corruption of the democratic process?
1876 election for President, very close
Hayes – Northern Republican
Tilden – Southern Democrat
Disputed ballots in 3 states, including Florida
Both campaigns work out a deal
In a Washington, DC hotel owned by an African American
Hayes becomes president – Republicans benefit
Hayes promises to end Reconstruction – So. Democrats benefit

12. Sharecropping Pay debts with a portion of harvest
Common among former slaves
Almost all left slavery w/o any property
Had only farm skills to offer
Many poor whites in similar situation
Economically, a lot in common
Politically divided along racial lines

13. Sharecropping Often creates a cycle of debt
Hard to earn economic independence
Debts first, then food
Landowner w/ legal and economic leverage
Lenders demand cash crops = cotton
Cotton prices stagnant or in decline
Meanwhile, farm costs increasing
International market fluctuations

14. Sharecropping Combined with “Black Codes”:
Restrict jobs available to former slaves
Vagrancy laws
Harsh punishment: forced labor
13th Amendment allows bondage as punishment
Result:
African Americans in South often in same place
Few opportunities besides farm labor
Former slaveowners  landlords
Confederacy wins the Civil War after all?

16. Racial Segregation “Jim Crow” laws
Named for a minstrel (blackface) character
Public spaces segregated by race
Education, transportation, cemeteries, etc.
Temporal segregation – Memphis zoo
Enforced by police, courts, and vigilantes
White-only juries, judges, and mobs
Combined w/ voting restrictions
More extensive and more overt in the South, but existed across the entire U.S.

17. Racial Segregation “Jim Crow” laws
Plessy v. Ferguson, 1896, U.S. Supreme Court
Can be separate as long as equal
Increased over late 19th C
South more segregated than under slavery [!]
Nationwide increase
Ebbs and flows
Increases in response to civil rights movement
Major League Baseball integrated, then segregated, then integrated again
Jackie Robinson NOT the first

18. Thomas Nast, “Worse than Slavery”

19. Thomas Nast, “This is a White Man’s Government,” 1868

22. “The Chinese Question,” 1871

25. The “Confederate Flag”

26. First “National” Flag of the CSA

27. Battle Flag of the Army of Northern Virginia

28. Second “National” Flag of the CSA

29. Virginia battle flag not a central symbol until Reconstruction
“The Confederate Flag” after the fact
Becomes symbol of opposition to Reconstruction; the “lost cause”
More common 100 years AFTER the Civil War
Popularity in response to civil rights movements in 20th century
First appeared over S. Carolina capitol:
1961