Section 1 Life after Slavery

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Blacks in the Reconstruction Era

• Section 1 Life after Slavery
• Section 2 The Politics of Reconstruction
• Section 3 The Emergence of Black Political
  Leaders
• Section 4 Reconstruction Comes to an End

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Section 1 Life after Slavery
Main Idea Near the end of the Civil War, the
U.S. government took action to end slavery and to
help southerners, including newly freed African
Americans.

• Reading Focus
• How did the end of slavery affect the lives of
  African Americans?
• In what ways did the Freedmens Bureau help
  freedpeople and white southerners after the war?
• What steps did the U.S. government take to help
  freedpeople become landowners?

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Building Background
On April 9, 1865, Confederate forces surrendered.
The Union had won the Civil War. Although the
wars end was a time of great rejoicing, it was
also a time of great sadness. More than 500,000
military personnel had been killedalmost as many
as in all other U.S. wars combined. In the South,
the land lay in ruins. Countless homes and
buildings were destroyed, and many farms and
plantations had been abandoned. Confederate money
had become worthless, and many southerners faced
starvation and economic ruin. The U.S. government
stepped in to help southernersboth black and
white.
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Slavery Comes to an End
After the Civil War ended, the U.S. government
faced Reconstruction, the challenge of reuniting
the nation and rebuilding the defeated South.

• Freedom at Last
• Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 freed only
  limited number of enslaved African Americans
• Slavery still existed in the rest of the South,
  including border states
• January 1865 Congress proposed the Thirteenth
  Amendment making slavery illegal throughout the
  entire United States took effect on December 18,
  1865
• More than 3.5 million African Americans who had
  endured bitter lives under slavery were free
• African Americans still without U.S. citizenship
  or the right to vote
• Frederick Douglass, a black abolitionist leader,
  insisted slavery is not abolished until the
  black man has the ballot vote

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FreedomA New Way of Life

• Slaverys end opened up a world of new
  opportunities for freedpeople
• Black couples held ceremonies to legalize their
  marriages
• Free to travel without a pass, former slaves
  searched for family or traveled to test their new
  freedom
• Woman explained, I must go, if I stay here Ill
  never know Im free

• Freedpeople took steps to gain respect and
  equality
• Under slavery most black adults were given
  slaveholders last names, and were addressed by
  first names
• After slavery took new last names, addressed as
  Mister or Missus
• Some freedpeople worked to gain the same rights
  as white citizens
• One freedman argued, If I cannot do like a white
  man I am not free

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Seeking Economic Opportunity

• Finding New Jobs
• Former slaves could look for better jobs many of
  these blacks no longer wanted to work on the
  farms or slave plantations
• Some former slaveholders were shocked when
  freedpeople left
• Freedpeople moved to cities to seek work between
  1865 and 1870 the black population of the Souths
  10 largest cities doubled
• Some freedpeople moved to cities in the North
• Others went west to start businesses or work as
  miners, soldiers, or cowboys

• Remaining in the South
• Majority of former slaves remained in the rural
  South
• Willing to work hard, freedpeople faced numerous
  obstacles most freedpeople had little or no
  money and few belongings
• Few were educated this limited job prospects
• Souths economy badly crippled by war
  southerners needed a new labor system to replace
  slavery
• Job prospects were bleak for all southernersboth
  black and white

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Reading Check
Summarize How did the Thirteenth Amendment
affect the lives of African Americans?
Answer(s) The Thirteenth Amendment freed all
African Americans, who gained many new
opportunitiessuch as the ability to travel, look
for loved ones, legalize marriages, and find
paying jobsbut also many new challenges because
they had little or no money, property, or
education.
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The Freedmens Bureau
The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned
Lands (Freedmens Bureau) was created in March
1865.

• Relief for Southerners
• Main goal of the Bureau to provide relief to
  southerners both black and white
• Nations first large-scale relief organization,
  the Bureau provided food, clothing, fuel, and
  medical services to hundreds of thousands
• By 1867 the Bureau had set up 46 hospitals in the
  South and provided medical treatment to more than
  450,000 people

• Education for Freedpeople
• Providing help finding work and locating loved
  ones, the Freedmens Bureau also assisted with
  education.
• Denied schooling under slavery, few freedpeople
  could read or write
• Northern groups such as the American Missionary
  Association had started black schools in
  Union-held areas of the South
• Former slaves had founded their own black schools
  as well

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• Schools and Teachers
• The Bureau built upon early education efforts
  founding more than 4,000 black schools
• Thousands of teachers, mainly from the North,
  volunteered
• Charlotte Forten and Susie King Taylor wrote
  about their experiences

• Problems with Opposition
• Many freedpeople were eager to learn many white
  southerners did not want former slaves to be
  educated
• Worried about competition for jobs and power
  some southerners burned down schools and attacked
  teachers and students
• By 1877 more than 600,000 African Americans in
  schools in the South

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Reading Check
Find the Main Idea What was the purpose of the
Freedmens Bureau?
Answer(s) to provide relief to needy black and
white southerners and assistance such as
education to freedpeople
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Landownership

• Freedpeople dreamed of owning land as a means to
  economic independence meant true freedom from
  white control
• U.S. government helped by offering abandoned
  Confederate land former slaves could save money
  and one day buy the land
• Example off Georgia and South Carolina coastsSea
  Islands captured by Union forces early in the
  war most of white population fled
• U.S. government seized the abandoned land and
  hired freedpeople to work some of it
• Early 1865 Union general William T. Sherman
  divided the lands into 40-acre plots offered
  freed families the plots along with army mules
  for plowing
• At wars end, more than 40,000 freedpeople were
  farming land on the Sea Islands
• Forty acres and a mule a slogan for
  freedpeople, who hoped U.S. leaders would
  continue to give them land

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Free Land

• Hope for Land
• Former slaves thought it only fair they receive
  free Confederate land
• Payment for all the years that slaves worked
  without pay
• Federal government had given free land to white
  settlers in the past

• Radical Republicans
• Some more-radical Republicans proposed bills for
  giving away Confederate land none passed
• Freedpeople did obtain some abandoned Confederate
  land through the Freedmens Bureau

• Working the Land
• In some parts of the South, African Americans
  took over abandoned lands on their own
• In 1866 more than 800 freedpeople established a
  village called Slabtown in Hampton, Virginia

• Temporary Ownership
• Freedpeople did not get to keep all Confederate
  land
• U.S. leaders returned most of the land to the
  original white owners.
• Former slaves had to leave or work for the white
  landowners

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• Public Land
• In 1866 Congress passed the Southern Homestead
  Act law set aside 45 million acres of public
  land in five southern states
• Black and white southern families could obtain
  free 80-acre homesteads
• Few freedpeople could afford the supplies needed
  to work a farm those who did, few were able to
  support themselves long enough to achieve success
• Law later repealed in 1872

• Challenges and Successes
• Freedpeople faced discrimination in obtaining
  land
• If could afford to buy land no guarantee white
  landowners would sell to them
• White southerners hoped to maintain control over
  blacks and a supply of cheap labor
• Freedom and independence are different things,
  a Mississippi planter wrote in his diary A man
  may be free and yet not independent

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Success and Tragedy

• Despite challenges, some freedpeople were able to
  buy land
• In Mississippi, for example, 1 out of every 12
  black families owned land by 1870
• In 1865 Isaiah T. Montgomery and some of his
  relatives leased the Mississippi plantation where
  they had been slaves
• They prospered and by 1868 had saved enough to
  buy the land
• Became the states third-largest cotton producers
• Tragedy struck heirs of the plantations
  original white owners demanded the land back
• Fearing violence, Montgomery signed over his
  property for a quarter of the price it was worth
• But Montgomery did not give up family bought
  swampland in Bolivar County and labored for years
  to clear the land
• Founded the village of Mound Bayou there

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Reading Check
Analyze How successful was the U.S. government
at helping freedpeople own land?
Answer(s) The government was not very
successful. Only a few freedpeople were able to
own land and be successful at farming it.
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Section 2 The Politics of Reconstruction
Main Idea U.S. leaders had differing views about
how to reconstruct the United States and about
what rights to extend to African Americans.

• Reading Focus
• What were the main points of presidential
  Reconstruction under Lincoln?
• What were the main points of presidential
  Reconstruction under Johnson, and what conflicts
  arose between Johnson and Congress?
• What were the major policies and achievements of
  Congressional Reconstruction?

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Building Background
After the Civil War, the U.S. government began
Reconstruction, the process of rebuilding the
South and reuniting the nation. While the
government helped former slaves begin the
difficult task of building new lives, northern
leaders debated how to treat the defeated
Confederate states. Deep-seated animosity
remained between the North and the South, and
many northerners supported stiff penalties for
the rebel southern states. President Abraham
Lincoln, however, stated in 1865 that he hoped
northerners would treat the South with malice
toward none, with charity for all.
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Reconstruction under Lincoln

• Developed a plan for restoring rebel states in
  1863
• Plan known as the Ten Percent Plan
• Southerners (except high-ranking Confederate
  officials) who swore loyalty to the U.S. and
  agreed that slavery was illegal would receive
  amnesty and regain citizenship
• New state governments could be formed after 10
  percent of the states 1860 voters swore loyalty
• The states constitution had to be amended to ban
  slavery for the state to be recognized as part of
  the Union
• Wars end, AR, LA, and TN rejoined Union under
  plan elected new members to Congress

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• Opposition to Lincolns plan
• Many Republicans thought it too lenient
• Presidents power to allow states to rejoin Union
  questioned
• Congress refused to seat new members from
  Lincolns Ten Percent states
• Proposed stricter Reconstruction plan

• Wade-Davis Bill
• Proposed by Congress with two conditions
• Loyalty oath taken by majority of states adult
  white males
• State constitution amended to abolish slavery and
  prohibit secession
• Voluntary supporters of the Confederacy could not
  vote or hold office
• Pocket-vetoed by Lincoln who felt tough
  conditions make Southerners more willing to fight
  on

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The Assassination of Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was shot fatally on April 14,
1865 by a southerner named John Wilkes Booth at
Fords Theater in Washington.

• Consequences
• Huge crowds gathered to show respect
• Lincolns final Reconstruction plans unknown
• New plan left to Andrew Johnson, Lincolns vice
  president
• White southerners concerned Johnson a Union
  supporting southerner

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Reading Check
Find the Main Idea What was the Ten Percent
Plan, and why did many Republicans in Congress
oppose it?
Answer(s) Ten Percent PlanLincolns
Reconstruction plan Why opposedthought it was
too lenient and that Congress, not the president,
had the power to admit states.
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Reconstruction under Johnson
Congress hoped that Johnson would support a tough
stand against the Confederacy, as he had done
during the Civil War, but conflict soon erupted.

• Johnsons Reconstruction Plan
• White southerners swore loyalty for amnesty,
  getting back citizenship and property
• High-ranking Confederates and owners of property
  over 20,000 needed presidential pardon for
  amnesty (most were pardoned)
• State delegates had to abolish slavery, repeal
  secession, and nullify all Confederate debts
• Could then form new state government

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Plan Moves Forward

• Johnsons Reconstruction plan moved forward
  during the summer of 1865with surprising results
• Had strong words against treason but pardoned
  nearly every planter and former Confederate
  official who applied
• Pardons enabled many prewar leaders and former
  Confederates to gain political office

• Southern voters elected to the U.S. Congress 10
  former Confederate generals, two former
  Confederate cabinet members, and the former vice
  president of the Confederacy
• Many Republicans were not satisfied
• When Congress met for its session in December
  1865, members refused to seat the newly elected
  southern representatives

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Black Codes

• Discriminatory laws
• With Johnsons approval of most new southern
  state governments, states legislatures quickly
  started passing discriminatory laws against
  African Americans
• Called Black Codes, the laws resembled the slave
  codes that had controlled African Americans under
  slavery
• Deep-rooted prejudice continued in the South
  white southerners hoped to restore white power
  structure
• Black Codes were laws meant to ensure white
  planters of a dependent black labor force

• Rights given, rights denied
• Black Codes varied by state
• Some rightsin most states blacks could marry
  and testify in court against other blacks
• Denied rights (differ by state)
• Enforced segregation, or racial separation, in
  public areas
• Guns forbidden to blacks
• Interracial marriage banned
• African Americans prohibited from testifying in
  court against white citizens

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• Discriminatory laws
• All states Black Codes limited former slaves
  economic opportunities
• Some states taxed freedpeople who did not work on
  plantations or as servants
• Some states banned former slaves from buying land
  or renting property in certain areas

• Labor contracts
• Most states required freedpeople to sign labor
  contracts
• Workers who left before their labor period ended
  could be arrested or lose their wages
• In many states, freedpeople without labor
  contracts or jobs could be arrested, fined, and
  then forced to work to pay off the fines

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• The Black Codes denied African Americans many
  rights and restored the Souths white power
  structure
• Southern blacks were subjected to curfews,
  arrest, and humiliating treatment

• Local law officers invaded African Americans
  homes and seized their property
• Unable to obtain land or better jobs, former
  slaves went back to plantations under labor
  contracts

• The Freedmens Bureau and the U.S. military were
  able to prevent some Black Codes from being
  enforced
• The Bureau tried to help freedpeople obtain fair
  labor contracts

• Black Codes angered African Americans black
  Civil War veteran asked, If you call this
  Freedom, what do you call Slavery?
• Some black leaders in the South held conventions

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• In South Carolina a black convention sent a
  petition to state officials
• Historys Voices
• We simply ask . . . that the same laws which
  govern white men shall govern black men . . .
  that, in short, we be dealt with as others arein
  equity equality and justice.
• Convention of the Colored People of South
  Carolina, 1865

• A few took more direct action to oppose the Black
  Codes
• Louisville, Kentucky, horse-drawn streetcars
  restricted to whites only
• Young black men would board streetcars and refuse
  to leave until arrested the streetcar company
  changed its policy to allow black riders
• Gutsy stands foreshadowed the struggles of the
  civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s

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Reading Check
Identify Cause and Effect How did Johnsons
Reconstruction plan affect African Americans in
the South?
Answer(s) led to the return of many prewar
leaders, who helped pass Black Codes that greatly
limited the freedoms of African Americans
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Congressional Reconstruction
Opposition to Johnsons Reconstruction plan
increased as the months passed. Many northerners
thought that the nations enormous wartime
sacrifices would be wasted if the South returned
to its prewar ways. A growing number of members
in Congress agreed and soon moved to take control
of Reconstruction.

• Congress Opposes Johnson
• Radical Republicans fiercely opposed to Johnsons
  Reconstruction plan group was led by Senator
  Charles Sumner of Massachusetts and
  Representative Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania
• Wanted to impose harsh terms and force dramatic
  changes before states could rejoin the Union

• Enfranchise Enemies
• Radicals criticized Johnson for not providing
  African Americans with the right to vote or with
  any role in the new state governments
• Johnson thought that each state should decide
  what black civil rights to provide, such as the
  right to vote
• Johnson declared, It is the people of the states
  that must for themselves determine this thing

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• Moderate Republicans
• Frederick Douglass responded, You enfranchise
  give the vote to your enemies and
  disenfranchise your friends
• Moderate Republicans formed the largest group in
  Congress
• Mainly disliked Johnsons Reconstruction plan,
  but they hoped to work with him
• Opposed the Black Codes and saw the need to
  protect freedpeoples rights

• Congressional Bills
• Two bills in early 1866 first was the Freedmens
  Bureau Bill extended bureaus life and enabled
  it to try some cases
• Civil Rights Act of 1866 next provided African
  Americans same legal rights as whites
• Both bills vetoed by Johnson but Congress passed
  both bills over the vetoes
• Battle for control of Reconstruction had begun

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The Fourteenth Amendment

• Republicans in Congress worried that the U.S.
  Supreme Court might later overturn the Civil
  Rights Act of 1866
• To ensure the rights it protected, Congress
  passed the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S.
  Constitution
• Ratified in 1868, granted U.S. citizenship to all
  people born or naturalized in the United States
  overturned the Dred Scott decision of 1857, now
  African Americans would be U.S. citizens
• Guaranteed all U.S. citizens equal protection
  under the law and prohibited any state from
  depriving a citizens rights without due process
  of law barred states from depriving a person of
  their rights without due process of law
• Prohibited all prewar officials who had supported
  the Confederacy from holding state or national
  political office
• Fourteenth Amendment infuriated many white
  southerners

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Ratification at Risk

• Every seceded state but Tennessee refused to
  ratify the Fourteenth amendment
• President Johnson and many northern Democrats
  strongly opposed the amendment and the 1866
  congressional elections had civil rights for
  African Americans as a key issue
• Johnson began a tour of the nation to promote his
  policies and the candidates who supported them
• Often argued with his audiences and lost some
  peoples support
• Race riots broke out in Louisiana and Tennessee
  when white mobs attacked and killed African
  Americans
• Events helped increase support for the
  Republicans, and northern voters elected them in
  large numbers

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Radical Reconstruction

• Strong Reconstruction Acts passed by Congress in
  1867 and 1868
• Invalidated southern state governments approved
  by Johnson
• Divided the South into five military districts
  under U.S. Army control
• Requirements for seceded states
• Ratify the Fourteenth Amendment
• Give adult black male citizens the vote
• Let voters, including black men, elect new state
  government officials
• Fought against by Johnson
• Johnson vetoed the acts Congress overrode every
  veto
• Congress passed a law requiring Senate approval
  for the president to remove Cabinet members
  Johnson refused to obey it
• The House of Representatives impeached Johnson in
  1868
• The Senate was one vote short of removing him
  from office

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The Fifteenth Amendment

• Reconstruction Acts gave the vote to black
  menbut only in the South
• To give all black men the vote, in 1869 Congress
  passed the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S.
  Constitution

• Ratified in 1870, stated that no U.S. citizen
  could be denied the right to vote because of
  race, color, or previous condition of servitude

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Reading Check
Identify What did the Reconstruction Acts do?
Answer(s) divided seceded states (with the
exception of Tennessee) into military districts
states had to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment,
give adult black men the vote, and hold new state
elections
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Section 3 The Emergence of Black Political
Leaders
Main Idea During Congressional Reconstruction,
African Americans held political offices and
worked to improve their lives.

• Reading Focus
• What key political offices did black state and
  local leaders hold?
• Who were some of the significant black
  congressional leaders?
• What changes did Republican control bring to the
  South?

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Building Background
During 1867 and 1868 Congress and the U.S. Army
took charge of Reconstruction. The southern state
governments created under President Johnson were
dismantled, and many white southerners lost
political power. These changes enabled the
Republicans to gain control in many southern
states. Republican officials included loyal white
southerners as well as northerners who had come
south. However, by far the largest group of
Republicans in the South was a newly empowered
political groupblack men. With the vote, African
Americans would emerge as political leaders for
the first time.
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Black State and Local Leaders
Under Congressional Reconstruction, political
power in the South shifted. Black voters
outnumbered white voters in five southern states.

• African Americans Participate
• Reconstruction Acts required seceded states hold
  state conventions to write new state
  constitutions
• Large numbers of black men turned out to vote
  black delegates were elected to every convention
• In Louisiana equal number of black and white
  delegates
• South Carolina black delegates formed the majority

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The First Colored Senator and Representatives by
Currier Ives
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• State Constitutions
• New state constitutions
• Black delegates helped write
• Expanded democracy and improved life for African
  Americans in several ways

• Requirements
• Followed Reconstruction Acts requirements
• All of the constitutions abolished slavery
• Gave black men the right to vote

• Removed Barriers
• Many state constitutions also did away with
  property qualifications for voting
• Property requirements not required for holding
  political office

• Fewer Appointments
• Several of the constitutions changed civil
  structure
• Made more state offices elected rather than
  appointed
• Increased voters power

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African Americans Gain Political Office

• Republican Party supported by black male voters
  in the South
• Republicans gained control of almost all of the
  new southern state governments black men won a
  number of government offices
• 600 African Americans were elected to southern
  state legislatures
• Other black leaders won important state offices
  and more were elected to local political offices
• During Reconstruction more than 1,500 African
  Americans served state and local offices in the
  South came from variety of backgrounds
• Southerners and northerners formerly enslaved
  and those free from birth
• Black leaders in political office tended to be
  better educated and wealthier than most African
  Americans in the South
• Often community or church leaders gained
  political experience by participating in black
  conventions
• At the state level, black officeholders were more
  likely to have been free before the war than
  enslaved

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• Other Southern States
• Black leaders held several offices but had less
  influence on state politics
• African Americans were underrepresented in the
  state governments in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida,
  North Carolina, and Tennessee
• In Virginia
• Democrats kept control of the state government
• Few African Americans gained political office

• Problems Taking Office
• In some states, black officeholders met with
  fierce resistance from white southerners
• In Georgia, the state legislature initially
  refused to let the elected black members take
  their seats
• A year later the Georgia Supreme Court approved
  the black legislators
• Finally African Americans were able to take
  office in that state

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Reading Check
Identify Cause and Effect How did black men
gaining the right to vote affect southern state
governments?
Answer(s) Black voters helped the Republicans
gain control of most southern state governments
and also helped black leaders win political
offices at the national, state, and local levels.
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Black Congressional Leaders

• Hiram Revels
• Senator from Mississippi
• Freeborn minister and educator
• First black U.S. senator
• Fought against racial segregation

• Blanche K. Bruce
• First black senator to serve a full six-year
  term briefly presided over Senate in 1879
• Attacked election fraud
• Supported increased civil rights

• Joseph Rainey
• First black Representative served three terms
• Escaped slavery during the Civil War
• Fought for civil rights

• Robert B. Elliott
• Highly educated lawyer
• Held several state offices
• Tried to have the vote taken away from all
  southern white men

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Reading Check
Identify Which four prominent black men served
in the U.S. Congress during Reconstruction?
Answer(s) U.S. senatorsHiram Revels and Blanche
K. Bruce U.S. representativesJoseph H. Rainey
and Robert B. Elliott.
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Republican Control in the South

• New state governments repealed the Black Codes
• Some states also made discrimination against
  African Americans illegal in public facilities
• Some expanded rights for married women
• Improved state services and facilities
• Established public school system
• Built hospitals, orphanages, and mental
  institutions
• Built bridges, roads, and railroads
• Raising the money
• Governments issued bonds and raised taxes,
  particularly for large landowners
• Decreased taxes for poor southern farmers
• Angered many white southern leaders

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Black Institutions

• Blacks raised funds to build soup kitchens,
  orphanages, schools, employment agencies, and
  churches
• Churches served as important community centers
• Black religious leaders became important
  community leaders
• Many black southerners joined northern black
  religious groups
• Many southern black colleges were founded during
  this time
• Morehouse College in Georgia was founded by
  Springfield Baptist Church to educate ministers
  and teachers
• Howard University was founded in Washington in
  1867 and named for the head of the Freedmens
  Bureau
• Hampton Institute in Virginia was founded by a
  Union general who had led black troops focused
  on job training
• Fisk University, along with six other black
  colleges, was founded by the American Missionary
  Association

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Reading Check
Summarize What did the Republican-dominated
state governments accomplish under Congressional
Reconstruction?
Answer(s) They repealed the Black Codes
prohibited some discrimination against African
Americans improved rights for married women
created public school systems and built new
bridges, roads, and railroads.
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Section 4 Reconstruction Comes to an End
Main Idea In time, various forces led to the end
of Reconstruction, and African Americans lost
many of the rights and freedoms they had gained.

• Reading Focus
• What problems did Reconstruction lead to, and how
  did they affect black and white southerners?
• Why and when did Reconstruction come to an end?

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Building Background
By 1870 five years of Reconstruction had produced
some major achievements. Congress had readmitted
all of the former Confederate states to the
Union. The United States was whole once again. At
the same time, Reconstruction amendments and laws
had greatly expanded democracy. After some 200
years of slavery, African Americans had gained
not only freedom but also citizenship and
political power. But in 1870 the Democrats began
to regain power in the South, and blacks soon
lost many of the gains they had made.
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Problems with Reconstruction

• Majority of white southerners strongly opposed
  Congressional Reconstruction
• Disliked federal soldiers stationed in their
  states objected to black men holding political
  office
• Accused the Republican governments of spending
  too much and claimed that they were corrupt
• White southerners rage and fear erupted into
  violence
• White mobs attacked African Americans
• Race riots broke out
• Black churches and schools were burned
• Terrorist groups formed
• Best-known is the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) kept
  identities hidden
• Used burnings, beatings, and murder to subdue
  blacks and their supporters

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• Ku Klux Klan
• White southerners joined, from poor farmers to
  influential and respectable citizens
• Other groups existed, like the White League and
  Knights of the White Camelia
• Small minority actually joined terrorist groups
• Many people supported their goals
• White citizens who committed terror or violence
  against blacks rarely prosecuted by local
  officials

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Enforcement Acts

• Congress passed three Enforcement Acts in 1870
  and 1871
• Banned the use of disguises to deprive any person
  of his or her rights
• Set heavy penalties for anyone attempting to
  prevent a citizen from voting
• New laws empowered the U.S. Army and federal
  courts to arrest and punish members of the KKK
• Thousands of Klansmen were arrested and the
  Klans power was broken within few years
• Other white terrorist groups continued to operate
  throughout the South

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New Labor Systems and Economic Hardship

• Other problems with Reconstruction
• Government failed to provide support for African
  Americans to gain economic independence
• Some achieved success and wealth, but the
  majority remained trapped in poverty with no
  options returned to working on plantations
• Most African Americans unhappy with the low wages
  and supervised work groups of plantations
• A new agricultural labor system gradually
  developed in the South

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• Sharecropping
• Few African Americans could afford to buy or rent
  land
• With sharecropping, landowner provided land, seed
  (often cotton), tools, a mule, and a cabin in
  exchange for labor and most of the crop
• Landowners didnt have to pay constant wages
• Sharecroppers got a specific plot of land to farm

• Tenant farming
• Sharecroppers who saved enough money could move
  up to tenant farming
• Tenant farmers rented their land and could choose
  which crops to grow (sharecroppers often had to
  grow cotton)
• Many preferred growing food crops to supply food
  as well as an income

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• Most farmers were trapped in a cycle of debt
• Farmers had little cash and bought food and
  supplies on credit
• They planned to pay off their debts when they
  sold their crops
• Poor harvests, bad weather, or low crop prices
  often made it impossible to pay off debt
• Sharecropping kept the South tied to one-crop
  agriculture
• Most sharecroppers grew cotton
• If the supply became too great, the price dropped
• Farmers grew more cotton to increase their
  profits, but the surpluses only drove prices even
  lower

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Reading Check
Find the Main Idea How did terrorist groups and
the rise of sharecropping affect African
Americans in Reconstruction?
Answer(s) Terrorist groups terrorized and
brutalized African Americans, and sharecropping
trapped them in poverty.
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The End of Reconstruction
As southern violence continued and other issues
became important, support for Reconstruction at
the state and national levels declined.

• Northerners thought southern governments should
  be able to control violence without federal
  troops
• Poor southern economy continued to cause
  dissension
• Southern states were plunged into debt by the
  Republicans costly programs
• Southern Democrats accused Republicans of
  corruption
• General Amnesty Act of 1872 pardoned many
  Confederates and many were elected to offices
• White southern Democrats used violence to control
  vote

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• Congressional support declined
• Most Radical Republicans had retired or died
• Republican scandals caused the loss of many votes
• Panic of 1873 caused Congress to focus on
  economic issues
• Presidential Election of 1876
• Democrat Samuel J. Tilden beat Republican
  Rutherford B. Hayes by a very narrow margin
• Republicans challenged election results
• With Compromise of 1877 Hayes became president in
  exchange for removing all remaining federal
  troops from the South and ending Reconstruction
• White control once again reigned over black
  destiny in the South

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Reading Check
Summarize What factors and events contributed to
the end of Reconstruction?
Answer(s) declining support for Reconstruction
Democratic resurgence in the South scandals in
Grants administration Panic of 1873 rising
violence in the South Compromise of 1877