What was the impact of radical reconstruction on the south?
During Radical Reconstruction, which began with the passage of the Reconstruction Act of 1867, newly enfranchised Black people gained a voice in government for the first time in American history, winning election to southern state legislatures and even to the U.S. Congress.
How did the south change after the Civil War?
Racism was still a potent force in both South and North, and Republicans became more conservative and less egalitarian as the decade continued. In 1874—after an economic depression plunged much of the South into poverty—the Democratic Party won control of the House of Representatives for the first time since the Civil War.
What did white Southerners and African Americans expect from reconstruction?
African Americans had discovered a new way of life. Many white Southerners also had high hopes for the future. State governments throughout the South were making economic and social improvements designed to launch the region into a new era. Manufacturing, which had never been a Southern strong point, was on the rise during Reconstruction.
What happened after Reconstruction came to an end?
Reconstruction Comes to an End. After 1867, an increasing number of southern whites turned to violence in response to the revolutionary changes of Radical Reconstruction.
How was the South treated during Reconstruction?
After 1867, an increasing number of southern whites turned to violence in response to the revolutionary changes of Radical Reconstruction. The Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist organizations targeted local Republican leaders, white and Black, and other African Americans who challenged white authority.
Why did the South not like Reconstruction?
The essential reason for the growing opposition to Reconstruction, however, was the fact that most Southern whites could not accept the idea of African Americans voting and holding office, or the egalitarian policies adopted by the new governments.
What problems did the South have during Reconstruction?
The most difficult task confronting many Southerners during Reconstruction was devising a new system of labor to replace the shattered world of slavery. The economic lives of planters, former slaves, and nonslaveholding whites, were transformed after the Civil War.
Why was Reconstruction of the South a difficult process?
Reconstruction was a massive logistical, political, Constitutional, economic challenge like the country had never faced. It had now faced the challenge of all-out war. It had mobilized to defeat the South. It had created the largest armies in the history of the world to conduct this war.
What were the three main reasons for the defeat of Reconstruction in the South?
The end of reconstruction efforts in the United States after the Civil War came in 1877. Some of the general factors contributing to the failure of Civil War reconstruction included resistance, economics, and poor law enforcement.
What were the failures of the Reconstruction?
The failure to stop violence and protect the political gains of Reconstruction was a policy failure: the U.S. government failed to coordinate and plan to suppress a nascent insurgency; failed to deploy enough troops or use the troops with consistency; failed to consider other options to secure the rights of Black ...
What was the South like after Reconstruction?
Following Reconstruction, Southern state governments systematically stripped African- Americans of their basic political and civil rights. Literacy Tests. Many freedmen, lacking a formal education, could not pass these reading and writing tests. As a result, they were barred from voting.
What were the biggest challenges facing the post Reconstruction South?
The biggest challenge of the post-Reconstruction South was maintaining a constant subservient workforce, giving birth to the sharecropping system. Keeping African Americans in their 'place' was another 'challenge'. This was why Jim Crow laws were created.
What were the 3 major issues of Reconstruction?
Reconstruction encompassed three major initiatives: restoration of the Union, transformation of southern society, and enactment of progressive legislation favoring the rights of freed slaves.
What were five problems facing the South after the Civil War?
PROBLEMS IN SOUTH AFTER CIVIL WARThe land was in ruins.Confederate money was worthless.Banks were runied.4.No law or authority.The souths transportation system was in complete disorder.Loss of enslaved workers,worth two billion dollars.Government at all levels, had dissapeared.
What problems faced the South at the end of the Civil War?
What problems faced the South at the end of the Civil War? The South was in ruins & refugees needed food, shelter, & work. Why did the South have greater difficulty than the North in recovering from the Civil War? Because of vast destruction in the South & the South had fewer resources to work with.
Why did the New South fail?
Its banks had failed, its currency was worthless, the transportation systems were unreliable, and many plantations and farms lay idle. About 258,000 Southern men had died and many who survived were maimed for life and incapable of supporting themselves.
What was the South during reconstruction?
The South During Reconstruction. Surprisingly little has been written of the dark period of American history known as the Reconstruction Era. Though, through the years the Yankee narrative has crushed the Southern perspective, the simple fact remains that Southerners faced appalling atrocities, arguably worse than those committed by ...
What was the impact of the South's freight rates after the war?
Additionally, the South faced discriminatory freight rates for many generations after the War, keeping the prosperity of the American economy from penetrating the region . Lumber industry expanded greatly within the region, primarily at the behest of carpetbagger corporations.
How did carpetbaggers capitalize on the blacks' newfound freedom?
The most galvanized carpetbaggers capitalized on the blacks’ newfound freedom by setting up various political organizations and local groups to organize them as a voting bloc. The most infamous of these groups formed was a series of lodges known as the Loyal Leagues.
What did farmers and planters do to diversify the agrarian sector?
Additionally, many farmers and Planters set about diversifying the agrarian sector, making inventions and finding various methods to harvest crops. That being said, many regions of the South diversified the crop market whereas others continued producing cotton.
Why did men not vote in the South?
Mass swathes of while males in the South could not vote due to disfranchisement. Initially, any former Confederates who were officers in the Confederate Military, were secessionists who held public office, or enlisted in the Confederate Army while having more than $20,000 worth of property value could not vote.
What was the South's economy based on?
The South primarily based its economy on that of agrarianism, which utilized a rigid hierarchy constituted from a plantation slave system, as well as, poor farms. The South, ultimately, had to face the reality that its entire way of life and economy needed to be rebuilt.
Which states did the Republican radicals disfranchise?
The Republican Radicals were thorough in their disfranchisement of white Southerners, and allowed their constituent governors to run rampantly unchecked under the Grant presidential administration, most notably in Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Texas.
What was the growth of the South during reconstruction?
State governments throughout the South were making economic and social improvements designed to launch the region into a new era. Manufacturing , which had never been a Southern strong point , was on the rise during Reconstruction.
What were the opportunities for African Americans during reconstruction?
One of the high points of Reconstruction was the new rights and opportunities it brought to African Americans. For the first time, they were free . Slavery was a thing of the past, and many African Americans hoped for a bright future.
Why were white southerners at risk?
White Southerners were at risk if they even appeared to cooperate with Republican-led state governments. Even though the federal government crushed the KKK in the early 1870s, their ideas of white supremacy remained. Backtracking. By the mid-1870s, Southern Democrats were resuming control of the South.
What were the two sides of reconstruction?
Two Sides of Reconstruction. The Radical Republican takeover of Reconstruction in 1867 produced a mixed bag of results for the people of the South. On one hand, rights and opportunities for African Americans reached a pinnacle, and many former slaves held bright hopes for the future. The South's economy seemed to be improving, too.
What did the Southern Democrats do in the mid-1870s?
By the mid-1870s, Southern Democrats were resuming control of the South. Calling themselves ' Redeemers ,' they worked hard to remove Republicans and limit African American rights, often through fraud, intimidation, and violence. African Americans were soon being pushed away from the polls and kicked out of office.
What was the rise of manufacturing during reconstruction?
Manufacturing, which had never been a Southern strong point, was on the rise during Reconstruction. All Southern states showed improvement in this area, but seven of them could boast an increase of over 50% in capital investments. This led to new factories, new products, and new jobs.
When did the Democrats get rid of the African Americans?
African Americans were soon being pushed away from the polls and kicked out of office. In 1877, the Democrats' 'redemption' was complete, and Reconstruction was over. By this time, many African Americans and poor whites were struggling to realize the dreams that had seemed so real early in Reconstruction.
What were the achievements of reconstruction?
Among the other achievements of Reconstruction were the South’s first state-funded public school systems, more equitable taxation legislation, laws against racial discrimination in public transport and accommodations and ambitious economic development programs (including aid to railroads and other enterprises).
What did Andrew Johnson do to help the South?
At the end of May 1865, President Andrew Johnson announced his plans for Reconstruction, which reflected both his staunch Unionism and his firm belief in states’ rights. In Johnson’s view, the southern states had never given up their right to govern themselves, and the federal government had no right to determine voting requirements or other questions at the state level. Under Johnson’s Presidential Reconstruction, all land that had been confiscated by the Union Army and distributed to the formerly enslaved people by the army or the Freedmen’s Bureau (established by Congress in 1865) reverted to its prewar owners. Apart from being required to uphold the abolition of slavery (in compliance with the 13th Amendment to the Constitution ), swear loyalty to the Union and pay off war debt, southern state governments were given free rein to rebuild themselves.
What was the purpose of the reconstruction?
Reconstruction (1865-1877), the turbulent era following the Civil War, was the effort to reintegrate Southern states from the Confederacy and 4 million newly-freed people into the United States. Under the administration of President Andrew Johnson in 1865 and 1866, new southern state legislatures passed restrictive “ Black Codes ” to control ...
What did the Reconstruction Act of 1867 do?
The following March, again over Johnson’s veto, Congress passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867, which temporarily divided the South into five military districts and outlined how governments based on universal (male) suffrage were to be organized. The law also required southern states to ratify the 14th Amendment, which broadened the definition of citizenship, granting “equal protection” of the Constitution to formerly enslaved people, before they could rejoin the Union. In February 1869, Congress approved the 15th Amendment (adopted in 1870), which guaranteed that a citizen’s right to vote would not be denied “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
What happened after 1867?
After 1867, an increasing number of southern whites turned to violence in response to the revolutionary changes of Radical Reconstruction. The Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist organizations targeted local Republican leaders, white and Black, and other African Americans who challenged white authority.
What did Lincoln say about the right to vote?
In a speech delivered on April 11, while referring to plans for Reconstruction in Louisiana, Lincoln proposed that some Black people–including free Black people and those who had enlisted in the military–deserved the right to vote.
What was the Republican Party in the South?
During Reconstruction, the Republican Party in the South represented a coalition of Black people (who made up the overwhelming majority of Republican voters in the region) along with "carpetbaggers" and "scalawags," as white Republicans from the North and South, respectively, were known. Emancipation changed the stakes of the Civil War, ...
What was the purpose of the Reconstruction and Repression Act of 1865?
In 1865, following the Civil War, southern state legislatures began enacting Black Codes to restrict freedmen's rights and maintain the plantation system. The Republican-controlled Congress responded to these measures by passing the three great postwar constitutional amendments (Thirteenth, Fourteenth, ...
What were the Civil Rights cases of 1883?
The Civil Rights Cases of 1883 greatly limited the rights of blacks and strengthened Jim Crow laws in the South. I n Plessy v.Ferguson,the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the concept of separate but equal public facilities, thus ensuring racial segregation and discrimination, especially in education.
Why did the Whites use the 14th and 15th amendments?
The passage of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments was partly responsible for a rising focus of women's rights activists on the right to vote.
What was the challenge of reconstruction?
Reconstruction was a massive logistical, political, Constitutional, economic challenge like the country had never faced. It had now faced the challenge of all-out war. It had mobilized to defeat the South. It had created the largest armies in the history of the world to conduct this war.
What did Sherman say on the march?
Sherman says when he starts out on the march, "I can make Georgia howl.".
What does Sherman say when he starts out on the march?
Sherman says when he starts out on the march, "I can make Georgia howl.". He's bringing the war to the civilian population. He doesn't kill civilians. He doesn't attack them, but he destroys property; he destroys their livelihoods and he liberates their slaves.
Why is land important to African Americans?
For African Americans, land is essential to really enjoying freedom. The person who is dependent, economically dependent on someone else for their livelihood, is not truly free. Now, that's not an idea that was limited only to African Americans.
Why do they have to portage across the river?
The train tracks have been blown up, so they have to portage across a river because the bridge has been blown out, and then be pulled backwards in a train car from another part of the track. They stay in miserable accommodations on the way down.
Who led the Great Army of the West?
Eric Foner: The great army of the West, commanded by General William T. Sherman, enters Savannah, Georgia, at Christmas of 1864. They have just come on their march to the sea, starting out in Atlanta. They have marched through the heart of Georgia...