T1 Social-Cultural Flashcards
1
Q
Reconstruction & African Americans (1865 – 1877)
A
- The Civil War had led to the emancipation of around 4 million slaves.
- Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, and the subsequent Constitutional Amendments, showed
how important African Americans were in the new society. - In reality, there remained a massive gulf between the theory and reality of equality before the
law.
2
Q
African Americans & The Right to Vote (1865 – 1877)
A
- Initially African Americans wielded some political power in the South.
- In South Carolina and Mississippi they were a majority of the electorate.
- As a result, two black Senators and 20 black Representatives were elected to Congress and large
numbers of African Americans were elected to state legislatures. - Nevertheless, African Americans wielded very little influence in Southern states during and after
Reconstruction. - African Americans were a minority in many states and, assured of African American support, the
Republican Party often put forward white candidates for office hoping to attract more white
voters.
3
Q
African Americans & Employment (1865 - 1877)
A
- A major criticism of Reconstruction is that little or no land was given to the ex-slaves.
- Indeed, in the summer of 1865, Johnson had ordered that all land that had been confiscated by
the Union must be returned to those Southerners who had been ‘pardoned’. - However, major land redistribution was never a realistic option as property in the USA was
sacrosanct. - Any confiscation and redistribution of land could well have permanently alienated white
Southerners. African Americans did have more control over their lives than under slavery. - During the 1870s most became sharecroppers – white landowners provided the land, seeds and
tools and black tenants provided the labour. - It did give African-American farmers the freedom from day-to-day supervision.
- However, the fall in cotton prices of the early 1870s resulted in economic hardship for many
sharecroppers.
4
Q
African Americans Social Position (1865 - 1877)
A
- Reconstruction also failed to guarantee African Americans civil rights.
- African Americans were treated as second-class citizens by most white Americans in the South.
- In the late nineteenth century, every state introduced segregation including the ‘Jim Crow’ laws.
- Black and white Americans had separate schools, drinking fountains and public toilets, were
allocated different areas of restaurants and public transport vehicles. - In theory this meant ‘separate but equal’.
- In reality the laws discriminated against African Americans whose facilities, schools, etc., were
invariably inferior to those of their white counterparts. - However, there was some progress. The fact that there were black institutions, similar to those
of the white Americans, meant that there were opportunities for African Americans to lead and
manage. - A small but increasing number of African American men became doctors, lawyers, and teachers.
Separate schools were inferior, but they were better than no schools at all. - Moreover, a number of African Americans favoured segregation. They had no wish to mix socially
with whites.
5
Q
The Creation of the Ku Klux Klan (1866)
A
- Many African Americans faced intimidation and violence from white racists in the South,
especially the Ku Klux Klan (KKK). - The Klan was set up in 1866 and became active in several states, intimidating African Americans
into not voting through beatings and lynchings. Its terrorist activities reached a peak in the years
1869–71. - Blacks who held public office, black schools and churches were particular targets.
- Even when Klan suspects were arrested, witnesses were frightened to testify against them and, if
there was a Klansman on the jury, it proved impossible to convict them. - The White League, another white supremacist organisation, was set up in 1873 after the Colfax
Massacre.
6
Q
The Colfax Massacre (1873)
A
- The massacre took place at Colfax, Louisiana, against the backdrop of racial tensions following the
hotly contested Louisiana governor’s race of 1872, which was narrowly won by the Republicans. - Democrats, angry over the defeat, called for armed supporters to help them take the Colfax Parish
Courthouse from the black and white officeholders. - The Republicans responded by urging their mostly black supporters to defend them.
- At Colfax, white men, including members of white supremacist organisations such as the Knights
of the White Camellia and the Ku Klux Klan, armed with rifles and a cannon, opened fire on a
crowd of black and white Americans, killing between 60 and 100 men, the vast majority of whom
were African Americans. - The leaders of the massacre were arrested and charged, but were later released as the Supreme
Court ruled that the law, they had broken was unconstitutional.
7
Q
Reasons for Westward Expansion (1865 - 1877)
A
- Why was there large-scale Westward expansion in the 1860s and 1870s? As always with such a
major issue, there is a serious debate among historians as to exactly what were the motives for
Westward expansion. - (1) One school of thought has suggested that there was no overriding motive and that it just
happened. - (2) Another suggests that it was the result of simple demography. Once the first settlers arrived,
millions more immigrants followed and reproduced at a high rate. - (3) Other historians believe it was a deliberate policy by the federal government during and after
the Civil War and was very much following the ruthless and aggressive imperialism practised by
the Spanish, French and British in North America in earlier centuries. - (4) Others argue that Westward expansion was part of a special mission to bring the benefits of
the American way of life as well as democracy and freedom.
8
Q
Westward expansion before the Civil War
A
- Many settlers had begun to move to the West in the 1840s. This was partly due with regard to the
Mormons, to escape persecution in the East, as well as high taxes and over-population. - The West seemed to offer the possibility of starting a new and better life together with cheap and
fertile land. - The government encouraged settlers to move west, for the more Americans living in an area, the
better the government’s opportunity to take it over. - Furthermore, the discovery of gold in California in 1848 brought some 300,000 people to the area.
9
Q
The Mormons
A
- The word ‘Mormons’ most often refers to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints (LDS Church) because of their belief in the ‘Book of Mormon’ and they were set up by
Joseph Smith in 1830. - By 1831 they had settled in Kirtland, Ohio, where they built their first temple. However, their
beliefs were unacceptable to most Americans at the time and they experienced severe
persecution. - They moved in 1837 but each time they tried to settle somewhere they were hounded out by
local people. - Smith and his brother were murdered by a mob in Illinois in 1844 and their new leader, Brigham
Young, decided that they would move in 1847 to a remote new site where they would be free
from persecution. - He eventually chose the Salt Lake City area as it was barren but had mountain streams nearby
that could be used for irrigation.
10
Q
The Manifest Destiny
A
- ‘Manifest Destiny’ was a belief held by many Americans that God had chosen them to populate
the lands from the Atlantic seaboard to the Pacific Ocean. - It was first used by a journalist, John L. O’Sullivan, who had long been a supporter of the expansion
of the USA. - He first used the phrase in 1845 in an essay entitled ‘Annexation’ in the Democratic Review.
- In this article he urged the US to annex the Republic of Texas, not only because Texas desired this,
but because it was ‘our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for
the free development of our yearly multiplying millions’. - It seemed to give white Americans a divine right to populate the whole North American continent
and to spread its Christian and republican values. - Incorporation into the USA would bring liberty and freedom to other American territories. If the
USA did not acquire these territories, they could well be seized by a rival colonial power. - This article inspired the belief in the idea of the Manifest Destiny.
- The Manifest Destiny was also clearly a racial doctrine of white supremacy that granted no Native
American or non-white claims to any permanent possession of the lands on the North American
continent and justified white American expropriation of Native American lands. - It was also a key slogan used to justify the expansion of the USA in the 1840s and 1850s especially
into Texas and California, as well as being deployed in the United States’ imperial ventures in the
1890s. - Westward expansion was greatly facilitated by the development of railways with significant
developments in farming and ranching during the Gilded Age.
11
Q
The impact of Westward Expansion on Native Americans (1865 - 1877)
A
- Initially, the US government was content to leave the Native Americans to live freely on the areas
of the country that white Americans did not want. - Before the Civil War, this was the vast area in the centre of the USA known as the Great Plains.
- However, from the 1860s it became government policy to attract settlers to populate these vast
open spaces in the West. - As white settlers pushed westwards beyond the natural frontier of the Appalachian Mountains,
the Native Americans were gradually removed from their traditional lands. - By the early 1860s several tribes, but most notably the Sioux and Cheyenne, were hostile to the
increasing encroachments of white settlers on the Plains and also the presence of the army on
their lands. - The army was stationed in the Plains to offer protection to wagon trains and settlers in areas
where the Native Americans were known to be hostile.
12
Q
The Sand Creek Massacre (1864)
A
- As there was no fighting during the Civil War west of the Mississippi, regular soldiers were
withdrawn from the Plains to fight in the East. They were replaced by volunteers who were
untrained and ill-disciplined. - This led to a number of brutal atrocities, the most notorious of which was at Sand Creek in 1864.
- A force of 700 troops of cavalry attacked an undefended camp of the Cheyenne tribe, killing and
mutilating elderly men, women and children.
13
Q
The Great Sioux War (1876)
A
- In 1876, the Great Sioux War broke out after the discovery of gold in the Black Hills of Dakota and
gold prospectors and settlers poured into Native American territory. - At first, the US government had tried to keep the prospectors out, but there were too many of
them. - The government then tried to do a deal with the Native Americans, offering $6 million, but this
also failed. - The government believed that the Native Americans were being unreasonable and hardened their
attitude, demanding that all Native Americans should go to their reservations. - Any who did not respond by 31 January 1876 would be treated as hostile.
- Many either did not hear about this threat or chose to ignore it.
- Ultimately, due to popular and political pressure by the white American majority, the decision
was taken to remove the Native Americans from the Black Hills. - After some setbacks, including the Battle of the Little Bighorn, a large and well-equipped US army
wiped out the Native Americans.
14
Q
The Battle of the Little Bighorn (25th June 1876)
A
- George Custer and his men were part of an expeditionary force sent to round up Sioux and
Cheyenne tribes who had left the Great Sioux Reservation lands and were defying the authorities
by refusing orders to return. - Without waiting for the rest of the force to arrive, Custer divided his men into three units and
attempted to encircle the encampment of the Native Americans. - His unit of 200 came under attack and was quickly overwhelmed by superior numbers.
- All were killed.
