Life In The South During Reconstruction

1
Life In The South During Reconstruction

• 1865 - 1877

2
State Governments in the South

• Led by Republicans (supported Northerners and
  viewed as traitors)
• Former Confederate officials (Democrats) were
  banned in
• Government officials unpopular with constituents
  (voters)
• Not good in a democracy

3
Carpetbaggers

• Northerners who came to South to help
  reconstruction
• Viewed by Southerners as making profits on their
  sorrow
• Named carpetbaggers because of their expensive
  luggage
• Hated in the South

4
(No Transcript)
5
(No Transcript)
6
The Carpetbaggers by N.C. Wyeth
7
Scalawags

• Republicans from the South helping Congress with
  Reconstruction
• Viewed as traitors in the South and very
  unpopular

8
What is the story of the Trojan Horse? How does
the Trojan horse relate to the scalawags and
Washington, D.C.?
9
Blacks Elected to Government

• Because of the Fifteenth Amendment, blacks could
  vote
• Many black leaders were elected
• Hiram Revels - first black man elected to
  Congress, he served as Senator from Mississippi.
  (Cool Fact - Took over Jefferson Davis seat!)
• Blanche K. Bruce - Senator from Mississippi

10
Hiram Rhodes Revels Revels wanted to seek common
ground between African Americans and white
Southerners. He felt that in most places in
Mississippi, white people accept as a fact that
all men are born free and equal and are ready to
guarantee my people every right and privilege
guaranteed to and American citizen.
11
Jefferson Davis (as Iago from Shakespeares
Othello, The Moor of Venice) looks on as Hiram
Revels takes his seat
12
Blanche K. Bruce - Senator from Mississippi In
Mississippi, the election of 1876 was
controversial. Many people thought that Blacks
were pressured to vote for white Democrats.
Bruce stated, The conduct of the last election
in Mississippi put into question and jeopardy
the sacred rights of the citizen.
13
Resistance to Reconstruction

• Most white Southerners did not want blacks to be
  equal
• Most landowners refused to rent property to
  blacks
• Violence against blacks, carpetbaggers, and
  scalawags was common

14
Ku Klux Klan

• Secret society started in Tennessee that quickly
  spread across the South
• Wearing white robes and hoods,
• Members used terror and violence to stop
  Reconstruction efforts
• Killed thousands of Blacks and white supporters
• Burned homes, schools, and churches
• Government struggled to stop the KKK because few
  people would testify against them in court
  because of fear or support

15
A cartoon threatening that the KKK would lynch
carpetbaggers, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Independent
Monitor, 1868.
16
The Ku Klux Klan was active in elections. This
cartoon depicts the KKK supporting two Democratic
candidates for a political office, saying they
used to be members of the CSA, and now are
members of the KKK, so you should vote for them.
17
Mississippi KKK members in the disguises in which
they were captured. This appeared in Harper's
Weekly, January 27, 1872. The accompanying news
story states that these men were captured in
September 1871 in Tishamingo County by US
Attorney G. W. Wells and assisted by US Marshall
J. H. Pierce and his deputy John M'Coy.
18
(No Transcript)
19
Sharecropping - Cycle of Poverty

• Most common form of farming for freedmen
• Landowner contracts with laborer (sharecropper)
  for a percentage of crops produced
• Landowners charged unfair amounts, keeping
  freedmen in debt season after season
• Very similar to slavery

20
(No Transcript)