Reconstruction
Radical Reconstruction
As before the Civil War, Americans feared a large, powerful federal government. However, without the federal government leading the way to rebuilding the nation, Reconstruction would be over before it started. The enormous task fell on President Andrew Johnson and Congress.
African Americans were promised citizenship.The Freedman's Bureau provided assistance in the form of food, shelter, and medical attention to African Americans. Eventually the bureau established schools However, Southern ways would find ways to be hostile to African Americans.
African Americans were promised citizenship.The Freedman's Bureau provided assistance in the form of food, shelter, and medical attention to African Americans. Eventually the bureau established schools However, Southern ways would find ways to be hostile to African Americans.
Black Codes and Share Cropping
Southern legislatures adopted "Black Codes" to restrict the actions, movements, and freedoms of all African Americans. Under these codes, African Americans could not own land, so they were tied to small plots of land leased from a landowner. The Black Codes began the vicious circle system known as sharecropping. Sharecroppers would "lease" land and borrow supplies to till their plots, while giving a significant portion of their harvest to the landowner as payment for the "loan". The farmers were never able to pay off the land owner and were stuck in debt.
Southern Governments
How quickly Southern states were recognized as legitimate depended on how soon the federal government's demands were met. African Americans soon realized the power of voting and took positions in the lower house or in Congress. Southern Republicans named scalawags by Southern Democrats was a derogatory term meaning that the Southern Republicans sought to steal from their own governments. Carpetbaggers were Northern Republicans who moved and sought to seek their fortune in the South. The Souths infrastructure, education, and transportation improved while buildings were modernized.
Although slavery had ended racism still existed. The Ku Klux Klan, an underground society of whites, sought to frighten both black and white Republicans in the South by using terrorist tactics. The Force Acts authorized federal troops to quell violence and enforce the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. There was also a growing movement to restore political control of the South to Southerners by Redeemers.
Although slavery had ended racism still existed. The Ku Klux Klan, an underground society of whites, sought to frighten both black and white Republicans in the South by using terrorist tactics. The Force Acts authorized federal troops to quell violence and enforce the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. There was also a growing movement to restore political control of the South to Southerners by Redeemers.
Freedmen in the Postwar South
The Reconstruction was a confusing time for African americans in the South- many were not told they were emancipated. Once freed by soldiers some joyfully left the their plantation to look for a new life while others were reluctant and remained with their slave masters. Eventually, all slaves in the South were freed, under federal martial law.
The Impact of Reconstruction
White Southerns emerged form the Civil War and Reconstruction embittered and angry. They would not in their lifetimes see the South reclaim the glory days. Many white Southerners turned radical in their resentment of freedom and Northerners. By offering pardons and quick re-admittance for former Confederate states, it was hoped that the South would readily rejoin the Union. In the end, African Americans were no longer held as involuntary slaves, but they were widely relegated to inferior positions through economic, political, and social restrictions to their rights. The prewar South was revived by the actions of Republicans who had sought to dismantle it once and for all.