Civil Rights - FP1 - How did Reconstruction end? Flashcards
Intimidation and Violence
Mississippi Plan 1875 - systematic campaign of threats and violence that allowed Dems to take control, same in South Carolina 1876
Undermined Repubs and forced AA out of their vote
Democrats back in the South
By 1875, only Louisiana, Florida and South Carolina still had Repub state govts - all other former confed states were under Dem control
Longest period of Repub rule 8.5 years
Actions of Ulysses S Grant
Administration ridden with scandal(eg, Crédit Mobilier 1872 bribery), and keen to end concentration upon South and effect a reconciliation
May 1872 - Amnesty Act restored rigths to 150,000 ex confeds
1872 Freedmen’s Bureau allowed to lapse, senate rejected force bill 1875 and refused to act in Mississippi Plan
Changes within the Repubs
Disunited over social and eco policy - 1870 few Northern Repubs showed interest in the South, radical influence of Stevens, Sumner and Wade was all gone
Split between stalwart and liberal republicans who were not satisfied with grant and condmned overestension of federal powers into South
1873 Economic Depression
Panic in 1873 - 1872-77 cotton prices dropped 50%
Repubs lost 96 seats in 1874 and Dems won the House
1874 Freedmen’s savings bank collapsed
Northern businessmen pressuring federal to reconcile with South to stimulate eco activity
Actions of the Supreme Court
1866 Ex Parte Milligan - military courts for Freedmen’s Bureau overextension of states rights
1873 Slaughterhouse decision - slaughterhouse argued 14th amendment protected civil rights were being infringed upon by Louisian govt decision to introduce a slaughterhouse monopoly
Court ruled that 14th protected national rights such as interstate travel but not state rights - 14 = little power
1876 US v Reese - declared parts of enforcement act unconstitutional - states alone confer voting rights
1876 US v Cruikshank for Colfax massacre
Changing opinion in the North
Tired with violence and reconstruction in the South - helped by developement of Social Darwinism and derogatory stereotypes
Many still cherished the idea of states’ rights - felt federal govt no longer had to intervene in state affairs
General opinion that it was time for AA to stand on their own feet
Civil Rights Act 1875
Mar 1875 Civil Rights Act - tribute to radical repub Sumner who died just before the act was introduced - supported equality before the law for all citizens, including in public spaces - did NOT include schools - uneven educational opportunities
Repubs had left the civil rights act in such a weakened state as they rushed to pass that the limited protection it did afford was soon stripped by the SC
Hayes Comprimise
1876 election - Dem Tilden v Repub Hayes - Hayes believed leaving the South alone would be best - Tilden Nov 1876 wom the most votes but Hayes won one more electoral college vote - the result was disputed but Hayes was allowed in with the compromise - troops withdrawn from South, Southerner in cabinet, 3 remaining repub states in south fell under Dem control - all South to white rule 1877 = the solid south - one party system
