The Era of Reconstruction and the Gilded Age 1865-90 Flashcards
what were the main costs of the civil war?
- 618,000 deaths - bloodiest conflict in its history (360,000 were Confederate troops).
- union spent $2.3 billion, Confederacy $1 billion. North prospered (wealth increased 50% in 1860s) but south become more poor. Suffered $1.1 billion in war damage (40% pre war wealth)
- exacerbated deep divisions between north and south (especially politically).
- 3.5 million slaves emancipated in 1863 Emancipation Proclamation.
what three problems did lincoln face in 1861?
- how to treat the southern states. radicals wanted to be harsher than Lincoln.
- what to do with all the freed slaves, radicals wanted them to have the same rights as white people. Lincoln supported colonising freedmen but failed due to lack of support.
- who would decide the reconstruction policy - Congress or Lincoln?
what reform did lincoln introduce?
how did lincoln die?
- April 1864 10% plan said rebel states would be admitted if 10% agreed oath of future allegiance to US, supported all Congress acts regarding slavery and give freedmen the vote. Louisiana joined. Radicals were unhappy: the Wade-Davis Bill 1865 required 50% and oath stating it had never voluntarily given help to Confederacy. Anyone involved in Confederacy could never hold gov positions.
- 13th Amendment 1865 - formally freed all slaves in US.
- Freedmen’s Bureau set up March 1865 as an agency for 1 year to help freedmen with finance, employment, education etc.
14th April 1865 assassinated by radical John Wilkes Booth.
what were Johnson’s opinions and what reform did johnson introduce?
- said to share radical views of southerners, some say he introduced the right policies by lacked the ability to carry them out.
- wanted to restore the southern states asap before 1865 due to reconvene of congress where he would face opposition.
- favoured leniency on the south and no wish to promote ex-slave positions.
- accepted wade-davis bill but agreed each former Confederate state held a convention to revise its own constitution
who opposed johnson and what legislation was involved?
- Civil Rights Bill 1866 - Sided with democrats and vetoed extension of Bureau, Republicans and radicals joined to overturned presidential veto (2/3rd majority in both Houses).
- 14th Amendment - to ensure CRB could not be changed. Gave citizenship to freedmen and federal authorities right to intervene if states refused. ex confederate states rejected and failed to get 75% to pass. Passed 1868 2 years later.
- Military Reconstruction Bill 1876 - placed southern state under military rule, to get into union would have to elect conventions that would accept black suffrage and 14th Amendment.
- Command of the Army Act - reduced Johnson’s military powers.
- Tenure of Office Act - prevented Johnson from removing host of office-holders. Protected Stanton (secretary of state) who was a radical.
- Impeachment - dismissed Stanton and ignored act. 11 articles of impeachment and 3 speeches given by Congress. 2 month trial. 1 short (35/19) of 2/3rds majority. credibility and effectiveness gone.
How did Grant win the election and what where his views on the south?
- 52% vote with AA support as opponant (seymor) opposed equality.
- favoured firm treatment of the south
what did grant do to reform relations in the south?
new state governments established but were corrupt. ‘carpet baggers’ supported by army sent in. helped by scalawags
15th amendment - right to vote
what scandals was grant involved in?
- speculators attempted to influence government/gold market causing financial panic 24 Sept 1869. Grant associated with spectators.
- Whiskey ring scandal - 1875 distillers, distributers and officials conspired to defraud gov millions in liquor tax. Private secretary involved.
what was the hayes compromise of 1877?
Tilden and democrats won popular vote but Hayes won electoral. Results contested. commission set up and allocated Hayes as long as troops and carpet baggers were removed from the south - ‘end of reconstruction’ as end of attempts to modernise south.
what were the political effects of reconstruction?
north not very harsh (only 1 man executed and no major loss of property, influence exaggerated). corruption was common at the time and north did not constitute even 2% population or economically exploit the south. did not last long (1876 only 3 states under republican control). white southerners did lose control of states for a short time so less influence (50 year presidency and supreme court domination to 1 president and 7 court members). Culturally and politically distant from north.
what was the effect of reconstruction for AAs?
institutionalised racism. 4 million slaves freed but massive gulf between theory and reality of their lives. some political power initially (2 black senators and 20 republicans elected to state legislaters. after little power, minority and white candidates put forwards for white voters. little/no land given to freedmen, returned to ‘pardoned’ southerners under Johnson. no land redistribution as land was sacrosant. most became sharecroppers (fall in prices = economic hardship). failed to give civil rights (treated as 2nd class citizens). Jim Crow Laws legalised segregation ‘separate but equal’ not true. some oppotunities in black institutions (doctors etc). some black schools.
what were the economic effects of reconstruction?
US became industrial power. 67-73 south benefitted from high cotton prices. railroads rebuilt and textile maufacturing expanded. south did not keep pace with north (south remained depressed with poverty) 1870 income 2/5 of northener. remained agricultural and was dependent on cotton (fall in prices 1870s).
how did reconstruction cause the KKK to grow?
violence. set up 1866, tried to stop them voting with beatings and lynchings. peaked 69-71. people in office greater targets, people scared to testify and white juries able to overturn reports.
what were the 8 reasons for economic growth after the civil war?
- civil war - stimulated demand for manufactured goods, army needed guns, clothes, transport. mass production and distribution methods developed. provided financial infrastructure to stimulate growth. gov had to raise for war - sophisticated capital system, paper currency introduced. tariffs introduced ensured protection for goods from competition.
- Land availability - westward expansion - created market for goods and railroad development. fertile land meant wheat mass produced causing expansion of farming. increased food demand in cities encouraged modernisation in agriculture.
- Pop. growth - cheap labour, 1860 31.5 million to 50 by 1880. more income causing better food/housing = lower death rates. 2.8 million immigrants headed to cities for jobs and stimulated demand for goods.
- corporations - new method, could own a number of businesses and hire management to run it, could buy, sell and own properties. trusts - avoid laws stopping people from not being able to own shares in more than one state/company. ‘trustee’ appointed.
- Technological innovation - Carnegie grew steel industry with Bassener Converter, kept prices low and reinvested in new equipment, refused any union activity and had armed guards.
- government role - no interference, freedom to run businesses for profit (no taxes/labour restrictions). congress and states dominated by business interests, commercial policy helped expansion - tariffs raised to 50%. no trade unions.
- transport - 1869 transcontinental railroad opened, reduced travel time and raw materials could move. employed 1000s. needed steel and coal - prompted expansion. encouraged competition and pushed down prices, rail centres needed roads - growth.
- Capital availability - stock markets developed for borrowing money. 1865 annual turnover of NY exchange $6 billion. 1890 second largest market in world.
what happened during the 1873 depression?
poor banking system - anyone could set up/operate banks. kept deposits in larger privately owned banks which would invest in other companies so if they went bust many others would. NY stock exchange shut for 10 days and no credit, 1000s laid off, 1 in 4 labourers unemployed 1873 winter and 1 million nationally. many railroads filed and new ones declined from 7500 miles 1972 to 1600 1874.
how did industrialisation cause urbanisation?
more big cities (Chicago 1 million 1890 compared to 30,000 1850, shipping hub to steel producer). cities were commercial centres for rural hinterlands and located near water, this changed.
how did industrialisation cause a change in living conditions?
slums spread, corrupt running of cities. rapid immigration led to hasty construction of poor quality housing that was overcrowded and polluted. wealthy moved away. run by ‘boss system’ with boss being local mayor. corrupt and sell rights to highest bidder for housing, transport etc. provide employment for AA/immigrants for votes.
how did industrialisation cause a change in the agricultural industry?
did not prosper, life of subsistence farming and debt. Homestead Act 1862 began westward settlement. debt due to borrowing for the purchase of land/machinery as well as over-dependent on unreliable and overseas market. could not compete with ‘agribusiness’. dependent on cash crop. prices fell - loans could not be repaid.
what were the 3 main reasons for westward expansion?
- growing pop. needed more space.
- deliberate federal policy following imperialism?
- settlers began to move 1840s, Mormons escaped persecution in east, high taxes, overpopulation. possibility of new and better life with cheap and fertile land, encouraged by gov. 1848 gold discovery 300,000 people moved.
what was manifest destiny?
belief held by white americans that God had chosen them to populate the lands across the west. first ised by O’Sullivan. ‘Annexation’- article urging US to annex Texas. give WASPS divine right to spread christian and republic views. other rival colonies could get involved if they did not expand. racial doctrine of white supremacy so no NA could possess land. lead to control of Hawaii and Philippine islands.
how did policies of westward expansion cause changes in federal territories?
populated land in west with settlers, became subject to US laws, 60,000 inhabitants could become a state.
what legislation encouraged westward expansion?
homestead act 1862 - released 160 acre plots for free in return for 5 years of farming. $10 fee to claim land temporarily and $2 commission to land agent. 1865 20,000 homesteads settled on plains to expense of NA. Timber and culture act 1873 - +160 acres in 40 were tree planted. Desert and Land 1877 - +640 at $1.25 if some was irrigated. ‘Bonanza farms’ 3000 by 1880.
how did railroads encourage westward expansion?
1862 Lincoln signed Pacific Railroad Act allowing companies to build a transcontinental land (finished in 1869), wanted west land. NA not consulted. ‘buy now, pay later’ schemes which allocated land from gov given away. trains disturbed buffalo herds and more settlers arrived. 1870 15000 passengers taken - 12 years later 1 million. 1870s second gold rush in Dakota (1000s moved) Black Hills belonged to NA).
how did westward expansion initially affect native americans?
left free to live on land (great plains), from 1860s gov policy to attract settlers here, NA removed, lead to hostility and army enforcement.
what happened in the Great Sioux war of 1876?
after Black Hills gold discovery gov tried to do $6 million deal but failed, said they were being unrealistic and demanded all go to reservations. anyone else would be treated as hostile. popular and political pressure NA removed from hills after few set backs (battle of little bighorn - US wiped out).
what was the reservation policy towards native americans?
intended to end self determined nomadic lifestyle, wanted to ‘Americanise’ the ‘savages’. tribes separated from their buffalo, educated, converted to Christianity and trained to become farmers under harsh treatment. land was infertile - dependent on gov for food, clothing and shelter - humiliating. agents were corrupt.
how do we define the gilded age?
the name given to the period in American history which followed Reconstruction. Derives from title of novel 1973 by Twain and Warner. Satired greed in business and shameful corruption in politics.
what political stagnation occured in this period?
portrayed a era with corruption for private gain. spoils system - after winning an election the gov gave jobs to voters due to merits. Common (federal patronage and bosses). NY Custom House Conkling used it to dominate politics. employed 1000 workers. undervalued imports than officially discovered them - under law half the value of the import when to the head of the house. $50,000 to Conkling 1874 metal importers. no real difference between Rp and D.
was political stagnation in this period true?
exaggerated? always been corruption. some civil service reform. parties differed - Rp wanted gov. activism and traiffs and assimilation of immigrants. D traditional, little federal work and no tariffs.
what reform did Hayes attempt, 1877-81?
- civil service reform - officeholders selected by party loyalty rather than administrative competence. Hayes opposed by Rp party faction of ‘Stalwarts’ led by Conkling. Hayes wanted appoitments by exam conflict. Schlurz appointed as Interior secretary (reformer). could not convince Congress to outlaw spoils system but issued order than forbade federal officeholders from being required to make campaign contributions or be in politics. catalyst.
how did Hayes react to the 1877 railroad strike?
to make up for financial losses during 1873 panic companies cut wages causing strikes. Hayes prepared to send troops and was praised for establishing principle of federal gov support for industry.
