Reconstruction in the South Flashcards
Impeachment
The process of formal charges of wrongdoing against the president or other federal official
- HR votes and if impeachment is agreed upon,
- Senate holds a trial
Tenure of Office Act
President must ask Senate for approval to dismiss cabinet members if they were appointed by the Senate
- Violated by Andrew Johnson and he was charged with Impeachment
- One vote shy of conviction
- AJ promises not to interfere in further congressional acts
Fifteenth Amendment (1869)
Extended suffrage to African Americans
-“Race, color, or previous condition of servitude” not basis from exclusion from voting
Republican Reaction to Fifteenth Amendment
Believed southerners would use non-racial qualifications to exclude African Americans such as literacy tests or property ownership
-Wanted a provision that guaranteed all eligible men suffrage regardless of any other characteristic
Southern Republicans
A mixture of races, classes, and regions representing the first time whites and blacks joined together in a political party to pursue political change
- Black southerners
- Northern whites who moved to the South post Civil War
- Southern whites
Goals of Constitutional Conventions in Reconstruction
- Reduction of privilege of the planter class
- Expansion of general welfare
- First time we see provisions for social services such as orphanages as well as protection of debtors against creditors
Problems faced by Republicans in the Reconstruction Era
- Education: Slaves deliberately kept illiterate
- Racial discrimination: especially in public transportation
- Economic development: focus on growth but not on social services or education programs
Sharecropping
Characteristics:
-Planters divided plantations into smaller farms that ex-slaves rented
-Landlords provided seed, mules, tools, but not clothes or food
Merchants offered goods for credit (part of return on future crop), but blacks didn’t make enough to pay back and became in debt
-Gave blacks more freedom to farm their own land and build their own farms but they were still dependent on ex-masters
Counter Reconstruction Movement
Southern whites who were fearful and angry attempted to change the dynamics of race and labor in the south
Ku Klux Klan
Started out as a social club for confederate veterans but became a paramilitary organization supporting democrats
○ Determined to destroy congressional reconstruction
○ Felt a need for self-preservation: their identities were being attacked
○ Necessary for protection of lives from the political power held by blacks and radical whites
○ Attacked people associated with the Republican party
○ Hated Negro Militia Units: US military units staffed by blacks
○ US military might in the South at this time was weak, KKK was able to wreak its violence on the South without punishment
Black Friday
- Sept. 1869- Grant’s brother in-law wanted to buy as much gold as possible to drive the price up and then sell the gold to make lots of money
- One of the brother-in-law’s friends named Assistant Secretary of the Treasury
- Gave secret tips about when the gov’t was going to sell gold and at what price
- Grant found out, flooded the US economy with gold to foil the plan
- Forced Grant’s attn away from Reconstruction
KKK Act (1871)
Made interference with voting rights a felony, but not enough federal marshals to enforce this law in the south. A final congressional attempt at Reconstruction that failed
Civil Rights Act (1875)
Outlawed racial discrimination in transportation, public accommodations, and juries. It could not be put into practice due to lack of enforcement. A final congressional attempt at Reconstruction that failed
De-facto prejudice in the North
Prejudice in practice, not in the law
-People worked around laws to deny African Americans equality in employment and housing decisions
