Chapter 14: Now That We Are Free: Reconstruction and the New South, 1863-1890

1. 1 Visions of America, A History of the United States
CHAPTER
1 Visions of America, A History of the United States
Now That We Are Free
Reconstruction and the New South, 1863–1890
14
1 Visions of America, A History of the United States

2. 2 Visions of America, A History of the United States

3. 3 Visions of America, A History of the United States
Now That We Are Free
I. Preparing for Reconstruction
II. The Fruits of Freedom
III. The Struggle to Define Reconstruction
IV. Implementing Reconstruction
V. Reconstruction Abandoned
VI. The New South
RECONSTRUCTION AND THE NEW SOUTH, 1863–1890
3 Visions of America, A History of the United States

4. 4 Visions of America, A History of the United States
Preparing for Reconstruction
A. Emancipation Test Cases
B. Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan
C. Radical Republicans Offer a Different
Vision

5. 5 Visions of America, A History of the United States
Emancipation Test Cases
How did freedmen define freedom in the
Sea Islands?
Why did Union officials define freedom for
former slaves so narrowly in Louisiana?

6. 6 Visions of America, A History of the United States

7. 7 Visions of America, A History of the United States

8. 8 Visions of America, A History of the United States
Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan
What advantage did Lincoln see in a
moderate Reconstruction policy?

9. 9 Visions of America, A History of the United States
Lincoln’s Ten Percent Plan
Ten Percent Plan – Pardoned all
Southerners (except high-ranking military
officers and Confederate officials) who took
an oath pledging loyalty to the Union and
support for emancipation
–As soon as 10 percent of a state’s voters took
this oath, they could call a convention,
establish a new state government, and apply
for congressional recognition.

10. 10 Visions of America, A History of the United States
Radical Republicans
Offer a Different Vision
Freedmen’s Bureau – Relief agency for the
war-ravaged South created by Congress in
March 1865
–Provided emergency services, built schools,
and managed confiscated lands

11. 11 Visions of America, A History of the United States
The Fruits of Freedom
A. Freedom of Movement
B. Forty Acres and a Mule
C. Uplift through Education
D. The Black Church

12. 12 Visions of America, A History of the United States
Freedom of Movement

13. 13 Visions of America, A History of the United States
Forty Acres and a Mule
Why did freedmen believe they were owed
land?

14. 14 Visions of America, A History of the United States
Uplift through Education
Why did education become such a priority
for African Americans?

15. 15 Visions of America, A History of the United States

16. 16 Visions of America, A History of the United States

17. 17 Visions of America, A History of the United States
The Black Church
How did the black church become such a
vital institution in freedmen communities?

18. 18 Visions of America, A History of the United States

19. 19 Visions of America, A History of the United States
The Struggle to Define Reconstruction
A. The Conservative Vision of Freedom:
Presidential Reconstruction
B. Congressional Reconstruction and the
Fourteenth Amendment
C. Republicans Take Control

20. 20 Visions of America, A History of the United States
The Conservative Vision of Freedom:
Presidential Reconstruction
What was Andrew Johnson’s primary
motivation in devising his lenient
Reconstruction policy?
What events in the South in 1865–1866
angered Northern Republicans?
How did Black Codes calling for freedmen to
sign labor contracts curtail their freedom?

21. 21 Visions of America, A History of the United States
The Conservative Vision of Freedom:
Presidential Reconstruction
Black Codes – Laws designed by the ex-
Confederate states to sharply limit the civil
and economic rights of freedmen and create
an exploitable workforce

22. 22 Visions of America, A History of the United States

23. 23 Visions of America, A History of the United States

24. 24 Visions of America, A History of the United States
Competing Visions
DEMANDING RIGHTS, PROTECTING PRIVILEGE
Delegates to the
Convention of Colored
People claimed the
rights of suffrage and
of equal protection
under the laws.
The Mississippi
legislature passed
vaguely-worded Black
Codes that allowed
freedmen to be
arrested at will.
What is significant about the freedmen’s use of the
term citizen?

25. 25 Visions of America, A History of the United States
Congressional Reconstruction and the
Fourteenth Amendment
How did the Civil Rights Act promote equal
rights for all Americans, regardless of race?

26. 26 Visions of America, A History of the United States
Congressional Reconstruction and the
Fourteenth Amendment
Fourteenth Amendment – Drafted by
Congress in June 1866, it defined
citizenship to include African Americans,
guaranteed equal protection before the law,
and established the federal government as
the guarantor of individual civil rights

27. 27 Visions of America, A History of the United States

28. 28 Visions of America, A History of the United States
Republicans Take Control
Why did moderate Republicans decide not
to remove Johnson from office?

29. 29 Visions of America, A History of the United States
Implementing Reconstruction
A. The Republican Party in the South
B. Creating Reconstruction Governments in
the South
C. The Election of 1868
D. The Fifteenth Amendment
E. The Rise of White Resistance

30. 30 Visions of America, A History of the United States
The Republican Party in the South
Why did many Northerners move south after
the Civil War?

31. 31 Visions of America, A History of the United States
The Republican Party in the South
Carpetbagger – White Southerners’
derogatory term for Northerners who came
south after the war to settle, work, or aid the
ex-slaves
–It falsely suggested they were penniless
adventurers who came south merely to get
rich.

32. 32 Visions of America, A History of the United States
The Republican Party in the South
Scalawag – White Southerners’ derogatory
term for fellow whites considered traitors to
their region and race for joining the
Republican Party and cooperating with
Reconstruction policy

33. 33 Visions of America, A History of the United States

34. 34 Visions of America, A History of the United States
Creating Reconstruction
Governments in the South
How did African American voting affect the
political situation in the South in 1876–
1868?
Why did Southerners charge that
Reconstruction governments were corrupt?

35. 35 Visions of America, A History of the United States

36. 36 Visions of America, A History of the United States
The Election of 1868

37. 37 Visions of America, A History of the United States
The Politics of Racism

38. 38 Visions of America, A History of the United States

39. 39 Visions of America, A History of the United States
The Fifteenth Amendment
Why did some women’s rights activists
oppose ratification of the Fifteenth
Amendment?

40. 40 Visions of America, A History of the United States
The Fifteenth Amendment
Fifteenth Amendment – Constitutional
amendment passed by Congress in 1869
providing an explicit constitutional guarantee
for black suffrage

41. 41 Visions of America, A History of the United States
The Rise of White Resistance
Why did groups like the Klan indulge in anti-
black violence?

42. 42 Visions of America, A History of the United States

43. 43 Visions of America, A History of the United States
Reconstruction Abandoned
A. Corruption and Scandal
B. Republican Disunity
C. The Election of 1872
D. Hard Times
E. The Return of Terrorism
F. The End of Reconstruction

44. 44 Visions of America, A History of the United States
Corruption and Scandal
How did the scandals of the Grant
administration undermine Reconstruction?

45. 45 Visions of America, A History of the United States
Republican Disunity
Why did Liberal Republicans lose faith in
Reconstruction by the early 1870s?

46. 46 Visions of America, A History of the United States
The Election of 1872

47. 47 Visions of America, A History of the United States
The Return of Terrorism
What was the political impact of the
resurgence of white vigilante violance?

48. 48 Visions of America, A History of the United States
The Return of Terrorism
Mississippi Plan – Campaign of violence
and intimidation waged by armed groups of
whites closely allied with the Democratic
Party that drove Republicans from power in
the Mississippi state elections of 1874
–Copied by other Southern states

49. 49 Visions of America, A History of the United States
The Return of Terrorism
Redeemers – Name for white Southern
political leaders who successfully returned
their states to white Democratic rule in the
mid-1870s
–The name was intended to depict these
leaders as saviors of Southern society from
rule by freedmen, scalawags, and
carpetbaggers.

50. 50 Visions of America, A History of the United States
The Return of Terrorism
Civil Rights Act of 1875 – Passed by
Congress in 1875, it required state
governments to provide equal access in
public facilities such as schools and to allow
African Americans to serve on juries. In
1883 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled it
unconstitutional.

51. 51 Visions of America, A History of the United States

52. 52 Visions of America, A History of the United States
Images as History
What makes political cartoons so popular and effective?
POLITICAL CARTOONS REFLECT THE SHIFT IN PUBLIC OPINION

53. 53 Visions of America, A History of the United States
Images as History
POLITICAL CARTOONS REFLECT THE SHIFT IN PUBLIC OPINION
“Columbia” symbolizes
America and democracy.
The cartoonist, Thomas
Nast, believed blacks
had earned their
citizenship through
service and sacrifice.

54. 54 Visions of America, A History of the United States
Images as History
POLITICAL CARTOONS REFLECT THE SHIFT IN PUBLIC OPINION
An Irish immigrant (left),
an ex-Confederate
(center), and a Northern
capitalist (right) crush a
freedman.
The ballot box has
been kicked aside.

55. 55 Visions of America, A History of the United States
Images as History
POLITICAL CARTOONS REFLECT THE SHIFT IN PUBLIC OPINION
Columbia chastises
African American
leaders.
Nast’s views have
changed; Blacks
now are caricatured
as inept and selfish.

56. 56 Visions of America, A History of the United States
The End of Reconstruction
Why is the eventual result of the election of
1876 considered the end of Reconstruction?

57. 57 Visions of America, A History of the United States
The End of Reconstruction
Compromise of 1877 – Resolution of the
disputed presidential election of 1876 that
handed victory to Republican Rutherford B.
Hayes over Democrat Samuel J. Tilden
–Democrats agreed to the deal in exchange for
patronage and the continued removal of
federal troops from the South.

58. 58 Visions of America, A History of the United States

59. 59 Visions of America, A History of the United States

60. 60 Visions of America, A History of the United States
The New South
A. Redeemer Rule
B. The Lost Cause
C. The New South Economy
D. The Rise of Sharecropping
E. Jim Crow

61. 61 Visions of America, A History of the United States
The New South
New South – Optimistic phrase white
Southerners used to describe the post-
Reconstruction South, reflecting the South’s
development of a new system of race
relations based on segregation and white
supremacy and pointing to a profound
economic transformation that swept across
the region

62. 62 Visions of America, A History of the United States
Redeemer Rule
What groups constituted the political
leadership of the New South?

63. 63 Visions of America, A History of the United States
The Lost Cause
How was the Lost Cause a useful myth for
Southerners?

64. 64 Visions of America, A History of the United States

65. 65 Visions of America, A History of the United States
The New South Economy
What weaknesses limited the success of the
New South economy?

66. 66 Visions of America, A History of the United States

67. 67 Visions of America, A History of the United States
The Rise of Sharecropping
How did sharecropping provide limited
independence to freedmen?

68. 68 Visions of America, A History of the United States

69. 69 Visions of America, A History of the United States

70. 70 Visions of America, A History of the United States
Jim Crow
What role did the black middle class play in
the Jim Crow South?
How did the poll tax and literacy test allow
Southerners to circumvent the Fifteenth
Amendment?

71. 71 Visions of America, A History of the United States

72. 72 Visions of America, A History of the United States

73. 73 Visions of America, A History of the United States
Choices and Consequences
• Homer Plessy was an African American
who challenged Louisiana’s law requiring
separate train cars for black and white
passengers.
• Plessy bought a first-class ticket and was
arrested for sitting in the whites-only car.
SANCTIONING SEPARATION

74. 74 Visions of America, A History of the United States
Choices and Consequences
Choices Regarding Laws Imposing
Segregation
SANCTIONING SEPARATION
Refuse to hear
the case
Rule in favor of
Plessy and strike
down the
Louisiana law
Reject Plessy’s
appeal and uphold
the Louisiana law

75. 75 Visions of America, A History of the United States
Choices and Consequences
Decision and Consequences
• The Supreme Court rejected Plessy’s claim.
• The court established the “separate but equal”
interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal
protection clause.
• Segregation became entrenched in schools, hospitals,
parks, theaters, and restaurants.
• Segregation laws also targeted Mexicans and Asians.
SANCTIONING SEPARATION
How did the Supreme Court play a role in the
imposition of segregation?

76. 76 Visions of America, A History of the United States
Choices and Consequences
Continuing Controversies
• How should African Americans respond to
the imposition of Jim Crow laws?
SANCTIONING SEPARATION