Lecture 10/24 (Condition of the South and a Note on BTW)

Question 1

Aftermath of the Civil War (Constitutional Amendments)

Answer 1

i. 13th amendment: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude… shall exist within the United States.”
1. Constitutionally abolished slavery in the U.S.

ii. 14th amendment: No state shall “deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.”
1. Due process amendment
2. Forbids states from denying equality under the law of the U.S.

iii. 15th amendment: The right to vote “shall not be abridged… on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
1. Designed to protect the right of the freed slaves to vote
2. The right to vote is a key to Democratic society: choosing who represents you.
3. Fundamentally changed the legal landscape

Question 2

Reconstruction (1865-1877): Physical reconstruction of the south

Answer 2

1. The south was physically destroyed
   a. The major battle fields were in the south
   b. The civil war was almost exclusively fought in the south
   c. Buildings were bombed out
   d. Sherman’s march: Destroy the lands, the crops, the homesteads, anything to dwindle the south’s infrastructure

Question 3

Reconstruction (1865-1877): Political reconstruction of the Union

Answer 3

1. Union needed to rebuild emotionally, physically, and spiritually
2. Lincoln needed to find a way for the south to once again be a part of the Union (assassinated before he could do so)
   a. Still no change in racial attitudes
   b. Would need to be somewhat sympathetic to southern attitudes

Question 4

Reconstruction (1865-1877): Republican government and military rule

Answer 4

1. Republican party was the dominant party
2. Establish policy with regards to reconstruction
3. Federal troops in the South to maintain order
   a. Didn’t help because now the south believed they are occupied by federal troops
   i. Northerners regarded the troops as an occupying force
   b. Federal troops were there to protect the new amendments

Question 5

Reconstruction (1865-1877): Resistance by white south

Answer 5

1. Clear white leaders in the south were resistant to “republican rule” and a surpassing of their own rights because of the freedom of the slaves
2. Wanted to gain their former power back
3. KKK was born
4. Resistance was unrelenting
   a. North got tired of trying to enforce equal rights for blacks
   b. It was taking up a lot of effort

Question 6

Reconstruction (1865-1877): End of Reconstruction in 1877

Answer 6

1. President Hayes was elected in ‘76
2. South gave support to Hayes in a quid pro quo
   a. Take federal troops from the south
   i. Pulled out in ‘77
   ii. South left to solve “the great problem” of the color line

Question 7

Post-Reconstruction: “Decades of Despair” for Southern black people (1877-1895): Land

Answer 7

1. Was not redistributed post-civil war
2. Blacks never got land, never had land before the war
3. After the revolutionary war, the land from the those against independence was redistributed to the white men
4. Economic power remained with rich white former slave/plantation owners
   a. Former slaves were left in an economic ruin especially when the federal troops left.
5. Sharecropping emerged
   a. White land owners would rent out land out huge interest rates and black farmers would end up in huge debt and have to pledge their work to the land for the next year  indebted servitude

Question 8

Post-Reconstruction: “Decades of Despair” for Southern black people (1877-1995): Education

Answer 8

1. White south was not interested in establishing equal institution of education
2. There were some schools, largely outnumbered by white schools
   a. Woefully underfunded
   b. Not in session as long as white schools were

Question 9

Post-Reconstruction: “Decades of Despair” for Southern black people (1877-1995): Politics

Answer 9

1. During Reconstruction
   a. Two African American senators in Mississippi
   b. 14 African Americans in the House of Representatives
   c. Some lieutenant governors
2. After reconstruction ended blacks were systematically denied the right to vote
   a. Removed from government
   b. Physically assaulted in efforts to scare them away
   c. Systematically removed and denied progress

Question 10

A note on Booker T. Washington: Southern Roots

Answer 10

i. Born into slavery
ii. Rose from slavery to become most powerful and prominent African American in the U.S.
iii. Shaped his view of racial relations in the U.S. and the way to approach and solve them

Question 11

A note on Booker T. Washington: Race Leader

Answer 11

i. Most important leader

ii. Rose to it in 1895
1. Because of death of Fredrick Douglass  He was the preemptive leader before him
2. Atlantic Exposition Speech

iii. People tended to turn to him for as he spook for African Americans
iv. Created business for the economic progress of African Americans

v. Iconic figure of international status
1. Met with President Roosevelt
2. Met with English Royalty

Question 12

A note on Booker T. Washington: Orator

Answer 12

i. Thousands of speeches
ii. Could speak to both white and black audiences

iii. On the road all time to fund his programs and the Tuskegee Institute
1. It was white people that made him the general spokesman for African Americans
2. Generally white opinion that did so

Question 13

A note on Booker T. Washington: Educator

Answer 13

i. Teacher

ii. Received president of the Tuskegee Institute
1. Started as nothing, with 40 students
2. 14 years later, had multiple hundred thousands of dollars in budget, 2000 acres of land
3. Hundreds of faculty and staff
4. Most prominent African American school in the states