Reconstruction and Redemption
A). The Civil War
? The cause of the Civil War was the western expansion of slavery
? Some people say it was caused over states right, but the reason states rights
were being infringed was because of the expansion of slavery
? The South wanted to say new states could adopt slavery but the North said it
could only be in existing states
? Some people say another reason was because only 25% of white Americans
owned slaves
? Southern whites that did not own slaves were usually poor and benefited
from slaves because it provided them with status
? If slavery was taken away the poor whites could be the bottom of society
? Slavery created a society of white supremecy and poor whites benefited
from this society
? Slavery also eased class tensions because poor whites and rich whites were
both above slaves.
? Northern whites were racist and white supremacy was still the society
? Northern whites didn want slavery to spread because factory owners would
buy slaves and fire the whites
? Slave labor effected whites livelihoods and whites would fight for that
B). Reconstruction
? In 1865 the civil war ended and the South lost
? During Reconstruction the 13th Amendment was added to the Bill of Rights
? The 13th Amendment abolished slavery
? Lasted from 1865-1880ish
? Was meant to bring America back together
? There are three time periods in Reconstruction and two questions answered
during Reconstruction
? The first question is èat to do with former Confederates?¿ Confederates were considered to commit treason against the US
? The usual punishment for treason is death
? They didnt know if they needed to punish or forgive the Confederates
? Question two was èat to do with the slaves?¿ The first period of Reconstruction was Presidential Reconstruction
? Abraham Lincoln was the president during the Civil war
? He wanted to forgive the Confederates and move on
? He probably would have leaned toward equality but we don’t know because
he was assassinated
? Lincoln’s VP Andrew Johnson became president
? For question one Johnson leaned towards leniency
? People who were in power before the war were now back in power after the
war
? In regards to question two Johnson did NOT believe in equality
? With Johnson’s blessing southern states started passing laws known as the
Black Codes
? Mississippi was the first to enact Black Codes
? Under Black Codes Freedmen couldnt vote or hold political office so they
couldn’t hold political power
? They also couldn’t serve on jurys or testify against whites in court
? The last aspect of Black Codes were Vagrancy Laws
? Under the Vagrancy Laws, Freedmen had to have a contract or proof that
they were employed or working
? If they didn’t have that contract they would be arrested and they would be
charged a fine
? If they couldn’t pay the fine a white landowner would pay the fine for them
? Then the Freedman would have to work for the landowner for free to pay off
this fine
? They would put extreme interest on the money so the Freedman would
essentially be a slave again
? Black Codes were put into place from 1865-1867
? Andrew Johnson was okay with this
? The Radical Republicans saw this and thought the Southern should be
punished so on question one they favored punishment and for question two
Radical Republicans favored equality
? This was an extremely liberal idea (equality)
? The Radical Republicans passed the 14th Amendment
? In 1866 the 14th Amendment was put before the states
? If Southern States did not adopt this Amendment then the state would be put
under military control
? Tennessee was the only Confederate state to adopt this amendment
? The first section of the 14th Amendment states that everyone born on
American soil is an American citizen
? This meant the Freedmen would be citizens and have rights
? With section 3 of the 14th Amendment was that you could not hold political
office of you supported the confederacy
? The only exception is if you got a congressional pass to be in office
C). Congressional Reconstruction (1867-1877)
? Confederates at this point are being punished
? During this time we had equality for the former slaves
? During this period the 15th Amendment to the constitution was passed
? This amendment guarantees all men the right to vote
? This means former slaves could now vote
? During Congressional Reconstruction most southern white men couldn’t
hold office
? So the first group of people that controlled southern votes were Yankees
? The second group was called the Scallywags
? Scallywags were considered traitors because they received the congressional
pardon
? The third group in power was former slaves
? Former slaves were holding political power
? During Congressional Reconstruction the south was controlled by
Republicans (liberals)
? This started the first civil rights movement
? White southerners were extremely angered by this
? White southerners believed that they were being controlled by the
government and their government officials did not represent them
? This made whites lose their status and made them pay taxes
D). The Redemption Period (1870-1875)
? During Redemption white southerners wanted to redeem the south
? There goals were to overthrow republican governments, put conservative
Democrats back in power, and restore a society based on white supremacy
? They overthrew governments by using extreme voter fraud, terroism and
violence
? The KKK first emerged during the Redemption period
? The KKK and other groups used terroism to overthrow governments
? African American voters and Republican office holders were targeted
? The Compromise of 1877 was the document that ended Reconstruction
? In 1876 the Democrat Samuel Tilden won the popular vote
? Tilden appeared to win the electoral vote, but voter fraud occurred and we
could not determine who won
? Since it was a tie Congress decided who won the Presidency
? Congress was controlled by Republicans and they gave the Presidency the
the Republican Rutherford B. Hayes
? With Hayes being president Democrats were pissed and they began speaking
of succeeding again
? Hayes made a compromise with the Democrats
? He said he would only serve one term and he would remove the military
from the south
? The Southern Democrats agrees and Hayes became President
? Northerners by 1877 was tired of the Southern problems
? They let the South deal with there black problems
E). The Gilded Age (1868-1900ish)
? This period is called the Gilded Age because of Mark Twain
? He said America was Gilded in Gold because on the surface things looked
great but under the surface there were still many problems under the surface
F). Politics in the Gilded Age
? Free Market Capitalism dominated the Gilded Age
? The government was completely hands off the economy and off the markets
? There was a lot of political corruption in the Gilded Age
? The patronage of the spoil system corrupted the government
? Under the patronage system government contracts and positions were given
out based upon loyalty
? Political Machines (Bosses) also contributed to the corruption
? People would pay political bosses to acquire government positions
? Boss Tweed was a political boss in New York and he controlled not only the
government but the people too because he made the government for the
people
? There were reform efforts but the were very minimal
? The tariff was the issue that people argued over in the Gilded Age
? A tariff is a tax on imported goods
? Is was a big argument because the tariff funded the federal government and
because the state of the tariff shows whose interest the government was
trying to protect
? A high tariff helps and protects American industry because it raises the price
of imported goods
? So it motivated people to buy American because American goods would be
cheaper
? A tariff can also hurt consumers because the government raised the price on
imported goods and helped bring down competition making prices going up
? In the 1890s there was a severe economic depression
? Ulysses S. Grant was a president during the Gilded Age
? Grant won the Civil War but his presidency is known for his scandals
? In these scandals people were appointed to positions due to spoils system
and they stole from the government
? Another president was Rutherford B. Hayes
? Hayes created the Compromise of 1877
? The Election of 1880 was split between people who wanted to keep the spoil
system and those that didn’t
? James A. Garfield was a reformist and didn’t want the spoil system
? Garfield was shot
? Chester Arthur was Garfield’s Vice President and was anti reform
? After Garfield death Arthur supported the Pendleton Service Act
? It was a baby step to reform
? Arthur faced Grover Cleveland in the 1884 election and Grover Cleveland
won
? In 1888 Grover Cleveland went against Benjamin Harrison and Harrison
won the presidency
? Harrison is known as the billion dollar Congress
? Thanks to high tariffs the government had an extreme surplus of money
? In 1892 it is a rematch between Grover Cleveland and and Benjamin
Harrison and Grover Cleveland won the presidential election
G). Industrialization
? During the Gilded Age America became an industrialized economy and the
economy grew
? One industry that grew and dominated economy was the railroad industry
? Railroads were used to move goods across the country
? Another big industry was the steel industry
? The coal industry was very important in the Gilded Age
? Trains needed coal, homes were heated with coal, and coal was needed to
build steel
? The oil industry also became prominent in the Gilded Age
? Industry became dominated by monopolies
? The problem with monopolies was that it hurt consumers because there was
no competition
? The men who owned these monopolies were called Robber Barons and were
extremely wealthy
? The economy is growing but it is only helping the monopoly owners. The
wealth is not being spread across American society
? Workers during the Gilded Age worked brutally long hours for very little
pay and in dangerous working condition
? Children as young as four and five worked these extreme hours
H). Urbanization
? Cities started rapidly growing
? People were leaving farms and moving to the cities
? Urbanization was causing problems like who was going to provide
infrastructure
? Infrastructure problems were there were no roads for transits, no cars so
cities ran on horses that pooped in the street, and where did human waste
and feces go
? Another problem was housing
? In these cities most these people lived in tenants (slum or extremely small
home)
I). Immigration
? America was getting hundreds of thousands of immigrants
? Old Immigration was from 1840-1880
? Old Immigration was mainly WASP (White Anglo Saxon Protestants)
? Anglo Saxons trace their heritage back to Great Britain
? Anglo Saxons were considered the greatest race
? Protestants are non Catholic Christians
? Protestant was now the preferred religion
? A WASP was considered the ideal people because the men who founded the
nation were WASP
? In 1880-1924 started the period known as New Immigration
? People were coming into America by the hundreds of thousands and they
were NOT WASP
? These people were primarily from Southern Europe
? These people had a variety of language, ethnicities, and religious practices
? Ellis Island was the doorway to the United States for these immigrants
? These new immigrants would fan out across the northeast and midwest and
settle in Immigrant Communities
? In these communities they would find others from there home country and
speak their native language and cook native foods together
? These immigrants had the most dangerous and low paying jobs
? Immigrants helped America succeed because they had the lowly jobs that no
one else wanted
? New Immigration gave rise to nativism
? Nativism is simply the belief that if one is not born in America then they are
not American
? Nativist argued that immigrants were lowering wages, that they were taking
American jobs, and they were criminals
? In 1882 the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed and that kept all Chinese
people out
J). Capital vs Labor
? Capital is business owners
? Labor are workers
? Workers want higher wages, shorter hours, and the right to join a union
? Unions are an organization that gives workers the right to collectively
bargain
? Blacklisting was common during the Gilded Age
? Blacklisting was when someone who wanted to start a union would be put
on a list and no business owner would hire them
? The Knights of Labor (1869-1890s) was the first Union in America
? Anyone could join the Knights of Labor
? They accepted skilled workers
? Most skilled worker were white American men
? Knights of Labor also accepted unskilled workers
? Unskilled workers in the Gilded Age was immigrants, women, and African
Americans
? The Haymarket Riot (1886) caused the decline of the Knights of Labor
? The Haymarket Riot was a strike that turned into Knights of Labor having a
shootout against police
? The Knights of Labor were now seen as radical and anti-American
? The started the rise of the AFL (American Federation of Labor)
? The AFL was created by Samuel Gompers
? He wanted to create a less radical union
? So the AFL only accepted skilled men
? This excluded women, immigrants, and African Americans
? The AFL became the largest Union and AFL is still here today
? We see clashes between capital and labor in 1892
? The Coeur d’Alene Struggle happened in 1892
? Cops were called out here and workers got nothing
? The Pullman company declared workers were going to have to take a pay cut
in 1894
? Workers at the Pullman Company went on strike
? Eugene Debs was head of the American Railway Union
? He asked all railroad workers to go on strike
? And all railroad workers went on strike
? Debs reached out to Samuel Gompers to have his men go on strike as well,
but Gompers refused and the AFL did not join the strike
? The Pullman strike was ended when cleveland got the military to put men
back to work and the workers got nothing
? Why did strikes fail?
? They failed because the government sided with capital
? Another reason these strikes failed was because workers failed to organize
and failed to create a proletariat
? Why did workers fail to organize?
? Immigration was a big reason workers did not organize
? The language barrier and people not having the same beliefs
? Another reason is the idea of individuality
? Men thought that if they just worked hard enough they would become rich
K). The American West
? This is states on the west side of the Mississippi River
? The frontier makes America unique from other countries
? The frontier was from 1690-1920 was unsettled land that people could move
into
? It reinforced the belief of individuality
? The frontier helped ease class tensions
? People who moved to the frontier usually did one of 3 economic activities
1).Ranching
? Having cattle on your land and selling the animals to the people in the East
? This also starts the American myth of cowboys
? People thought cowboys were free and did whatever they wanted whenever
they wanted but it was not true
? Cowboys worked brutal work hours, did not make much money, and worked
very dangerous conditions
2).Farmers
? The Homestead Act made people take up farming in the west
? The Homestead Act gave people free land in the frontier
? Half of all farmers had to declare bankruptcy and had to move back to the
cities and work in the factories
3).Mining
? Mining is taking minerals from the earth
? Most miners worked long hours for big companies and made very little
? Mining also had a large environmental impact
? Strip mining became a thing
? A civil war broke out between white settlers and Native Americans
? From the white perspective Native Americans were savages and they needed
to be removed from the land
? Three things made them savages
1. They were not Christian
2. They did not believe in private ownership of land
3. They did not use the land properly
? In 1887 the Indians were defeated and the west could be settled
? The Dawes Act was passed and it was seen as the humane way to deal with
the Indian problem
? It broke up Indian reservations and gave each Indian there own plot of land
? They did this so the indians would give up the communal lifestyle and begin
living more like Americans
? Another aspect of the Dawes Act was converting Native Americans to truly
adopt the American way of life
? Native American children were taken from their parents and go to boarding
schools
? If they did not do this they would die and it made it a humanitarian act
? The Dawes Act also changed the policy for how we treated Native
Americans
? We had always dealt with Native Americans as sovereign nations but the
Dawes Act broke that up
? Native Americans did not like this
? Wovoka was a native american prophet and he told native americans to do
the ghost dance and the Native American god would eradicate the white
people
? Whites saw the ghost dance as threatening and whites began stopping the
Native Americans from doing it
? At Wounded Knee, South Dakota native americans were told to stop doing
the ghost dance and to give up their guns
? The native americans would not give up their guns and a gun fight occurred
? About 100 native americans were killed and this was the last fight in
America with native americans
L). The South
? During the Gilded Age the American South is best described as a place full
of poverty and white supremacy
? This poverty stay until 1950
? Before the civil war the old South was quite prosperous but the most of the
civil war was fought in the south
? Farms and cities were destroyed
? While the North industrialized the South was rebuilding
? Before the war the production of cotton is what made the South profitable
? The most efficient way to grow cotton was through slave labor
? After the civil war there is no more slavery and the southern economy goes
back to growing cotton
? Cotton again became a large part of the southern economy but with slavery
gone they still needed a labor force
? Sharecropping emerged to meet the labor needs
? Landowner would make a contract with their workers
? The workforce would be provided with land and equipment and they would
grow the cotton
? Once the cotton was grown the workforce and the landowners would share
the profit usually 50/50
? The problem with sharecropping is they would only get paid once a year and
they had no idea how much that paycheck would be
? As a result of this people found themselves in debt
? People would buy things on credit as they waited on their paychecks
? Landowners would put a shop on their land and they would charge large
interest rates
? African americans were quickly found in the sharecropping debt
? Starting in the 1890s whites found themselves in the cycle of debt because of
sharecropping
? In the 1890s the price of cotton dropped
? In 1900 75% of blacks in the south were sharecroppers and 50% of whites
were sharecroppers
? These white southerners were Conservative Democrats
? The New South Movement (1880) was an effort to try and break the cycle of
poverty in the South
? The New South Movement was lead by Henry Grady
? There were three things in the New South Movement
1. Diversify Agriculture
2. Southerners needed to Industrialize
3. Reconciliation with the North
? They needed Northerners to move to and invest in the South
? Another movement was the Lost Cause Movement (1880-1920)
? The New South and Lost Cause Movements overlapped and fed off each
other
? The Lost Cause Movement was a way for Southerners to understand why
they lost the war
? Losing the Civil War was a large psychological blow to the Southerners
? Reconciliation was a main aspect of the Lost Cause Movement
? Southerners began creating myths about the Old South and the Civil War
? The first myth was that the South was not defeated but that they were
overwhelmed by a superior force
? The second myth they created was that secession was legal
? Another myth was that slavery was a good thing
? They said that slavery introduced a group of people to Christianity and
civilization
? Another myth was that the Old South was the ideal society
? The last thing of the Lost Cause movement was commemorating the war
? This meant they built monuments to glorify Confederate soldiers
? The United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC) wanted kids to learn these
myths as truths so they out these myths in their textbooks
? Kids were now believing that these myths were true because they were being
taught these things
M). Populist Movement
? The populist and the Populist Party was a political movement
? The poplulist movement was started by angry farmers
? The Populist Movement started in the Farmers Alliance
? One thing farmers rallied around railroad rates and they demanded
governments help regulate railroad rates
? Railroads had a monopoly and farmers had to use the railroads to transport
their crop
? The Farmers Alliance wanted to pull the US off the Gold Standard because
the farmers wanted more money in circulation
? On the Gold Standard the US could only print as much money as they had in
gold
? Farmers wanted more money in circulation so it would cause inflation and
that would make prices go up
? The Farmers Alliance also wanted to lower the tariff
? Millions of people joined the Farmers Alliance and it became powerful
? Both Republicans and Democrats wanted the backing of the Farmers
Alliance
? But once the politicians got into office they did not fulfill their promises and
did not enact the policies they said they would
? In 1892 the Farmers Alliance created their own political party called the
Populist Party
? They tried to carve out a third party, a party for the people and enacted the
Omaha Platform
? The Omaha Platform called for the nationalization of railroads or at least
regulated
? This meant the government would own the railroads
? The second thing the Omaha Platform wanted was take the US of the Gold
Standard
? The third thing was to lower the tariff
? The fourth thing was a graduated income tax
? This meant the more someone made the more they were taxed
? The fifth thing was change the Constitution and they wanted the direct
election of US senators
? The last thing the Omaha Platform called for was sub treasuries
? Sub Treasuries would be a way for the government to provide farmers with
low interest loans
? In the South the Populist wanted a Biracial Political Coalition
? They wanted poor whites and poor blacks voted for the Populist party
? The Election of 1896
? The economy was really at its bottom in 1896
? High unemployment and unrest
? The Populist Party believed they could win
? In 1896 the Populist wanted William Jennings Bryan
? He was known for big speeches against business
? He was very popular and people loved him
? The Democrats nominated William Jennings Bryan in 1896 because they
had their meeting before the Populist
? The Populist decided they also would nominate William Jennings Bryan
? The Republicans nominated William McKinley
? The Republicans blasted Williams Jennings Bryan for being a socialist
? McKinley won the election of 1896
? The Populist were hurt bc they could not get the biracial vote in the south
? After 1896 the economy begins to improve and the Populist party begins to
fade away
? The most successful third party in the US was the Populist
? They are important because they are a little ahead of their time
N). African Americans
? In the 1880s there is the rise of De Facto Segregation in the US
? De Facto Segregation is segregation by custom
? African Americans begin moving into their own churches and their own
communities
? Starting in the 1890s we see the rise of De Jure Segregation
? This is segregation by law
? AKA Jim Crow System or the Color Line
? Jim Crow existed to recreate a society built upon white supremacy
? African Americans were constantly being reminded that they were below
whites
? In 1896 the Supreme Court issued the infamous Plessy v Ferguson
? In 1896 the Supreme Court ruled separate but equal
? They are saying that as long a segregation laws keep things equal it was
constitutional
? The Federal Government was not pushing for equality in 1896
? These segregation laws stayed in place until 1964, 75 years of segregation
? Disfranchisement – taking away the right to vote
? The Populist started calling southern states to find ways to keep blacks from
voting
? In 1890 Mississippi changed the constitution and created a poll tax
? Poll tax was simply of someone wanted to vote they needed to pay a tax
? With this poll tax the registered black voters ceased to exist
? Mississippi also established the Understanding Clause
? Under the Understanding Clause you had to take a test to vote
? The test was to see if they understood the Mississippi constitution
? The test was designed to keep blacks from voting
? There was now a poll tax in every southern state
? Other states used Grandfather Clause to keep African Americans to vote
? Under the Grandfather Clause you could not vote unless you had someone in
your family registered to vote in 1860
? Blacks were slaves in 1860 and had no one to grandfather them in
? There were many lynchings/violence in the 1890s
? About 3 lynchings a week occured in the 1890s
? Lynching served 2 purposes
1. It was a way of enforcing the Color Line
2. It helped reinforce white supremacy
? They reinforced white supremacy because now whites had power over death
? Lynchings continued all the way to the 1960s
? Lynch mobs loved allegations of rape
? If a white woman said a black man raped her lynch mobs would form
O). African American Response
? Booker T. Washington emerged as a black leader in the 1890s
? He was born a slave and was now the owner of the Tuskegee Institute
? Washington urged African Americans to accept these changes, not push for
equality
? He also urged them to learn a skill or some type of trade
? With this skill or trade you could earn economic independence
? He told them to be model citizens, hard working or don’t drink or gamble
? He said if blacks did this then whites would begin to respect them and
segregation would fix itself
? Whites loved Washington but people in his black community criticized him
? W.E.B Dubois was the biggest critic of Washington
? Dubois was born in Massachusetts and was the first African American to
earn a degree from Harvard
? Dubois argued that blacks SHOULD fight for equality
? Bc of this he was very active in the NAACP
? The NAACP tried to challenge the Jim Crow laws were separate and
unequal
? He was part of the Talented Tenth
P). Foreign Policy in the Gilded Age (1870ish-1902)
? There are a few things forcing America to look beyond her borders for new
territory
? The closing of the frontier and expanding and capturing new economy made
America look outside its border
? Global Imperialism also pushed the US to expand
? Global Imperialism is becoming an empire, and an empire is having land
outside your country
? In the 1870s Europe began colonizing Africa and Asia beginning to build
their empires
? This causes the US to want to build an empire
? American Idealism also helped with American expansion
? America wanted to spread their free ideals and also because they wanted to
make money
? The idealism sugar coats the self interest of making money
? There is also the element of race in our foriegn policy
? We were expanding into lands with darker skin people
? The White Man Burden started in Britain as an excuse to colonize
? This says that white men need to bring civilization to the lesser folks
? Scientific Racism was quite prolific in the Gilded Age
? Scientist were trying to prove that Anglo Saxons were the superior race
Q). Hawaii
? Hawaii was the first place that America expanded their borders
? Hawaii was seen almost as a gas station for steam boats
? American business interest also wanted the sugar cane in Hawaii
? American businessmen passed the Bayonet Constitution which made the
Queen of Hawaii give up her crown and live under the Bayonet Constitution
R). Cuba
? Cuba was a colony of Spain
? In 1897-98 Cuba launched an independence movement
? There was then a movement for the United States to join the war to help
Cuba gain their independence
? William Randolph Hurst was a big pusher of joining the war
? Hurst owned many newspapers and wanted the US to go to war bc he would
sell more newspapers
? The explosion of the USS Maine caused us to join the war
? Spain was immediately blamed for this
? Congress then passed the Teller Amendment
? The Teller Amendment confirmed that the US was fighting to help Cuba
gain independence and would not take Cuba over
? The first fight of the Spanish-American War was in the Philippines
? The Philippines were also a Spanish colony so we attacked them
? The war only lasted 3 months
? The high point of the war was Teddy Roosevelt and the rough riders
charging up San Juan