Now That We Are Free:Reconstruction and the New

South, 1863-1890

Chapter 14

Implementing ReconstructionChapter 14.4

Competing Interests• The Republican Party – made up of Northerners who settled the South, poor

white back-country Southerners, and former slaves – took up the task of implementing congressional reconstruction policies.• Northerners who moved south after the war were often middle-class former Union

soldiers, merchants, artisans, professionals, or ministers who sought opportunities or came as idealistic relief workers. They were labeled carpetbaggers (insinuating they were poor opportunists and charlatans taking advantage).

• White southern republicans tended to be from the poorer classes and from the backcountry, while most didn’t support Republican visions of racial equality, many believed reconstruction offered opportunities for economic development and advancement. They were labeled scalawags (traitors to their region and race).

• Former slaves made up the largest percentage of southern Republicans. Empowered by the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the Reconstruction Acts of 1867 they turned out in huge numbers to cast their ballots in state elections.

• These three factions created an uneasy alliance; yet their combined votes swept Republicans into office in large numbers throughout the South.

Criticism of Republican Government in the South

• By the end of 1868, seven former Confederate states had been readmitted to the union according to the guidelines established by the radical Republicans.• During this brief period 22 African Americans were elected to Congress and 600 would

win seats in their state government offices.

• Many white southerners fiercely resisted Republican control of southern governments.• Mainly these opponents resisted control because of what it represented – African

American equality and empowerment.

• Democratic opponents accused Republican-controlled state governments of corruption and frivolous spending.

• The charges of corruption diminished support for the southern Republican governments in the south and created an unfavorable impression in the North.

The Election of 1868 and the Fifteenth Amendment

• In the election of 1868 the Republicans nominated General Ulysses S. Grant• Grant ran on a platform of political moderation, fiscal responsibility, and an even-

handed approach to reconstruction.

• New York Governor Horatio Seymour ran as the Democratic candidate • Seymour stoked white fears of black suffrage and racial equality.

• The close race reflected three important developments:• Racism was still prevalent in both the north and south; African American voters were

vital to Republican success; violent terrorist tactics could keep black voters away from the polls.

• Republicans in congress sought to protect black male voters through passage of the Fifteenth Amendment.

The Rise of White Resistance• Secret white terrorist organizations had emerged throughout the south by

1866.• They wrought havoc throughout the south in the elections of 1866 and 1868.

• Between 1870 and 1871 they became bolder and more violent.

• The Ku Klux Klan targeted blacks, carpetbaggers, and scalawags for “punishment” by beating or killing them, destroying crops, burning homes, and killing beasts of burden and livestock. Favorite targets of the Klan included black churches, schools, and businesses.• Poor white Klansmen sought to stay out of the bottom of the new social order; wealthy

white Klansmen sought to prevent cooperation between poor whites and blacks.

• Grant and Congress passed the Enforcement Acts in 1870 and 1871 to attack the growth in mob violence, greatly curtailing the surge by 1872.• The Enforcement acts showed that federal power could do a great deal to curb mob

violence, but also demonstrated the vulnerability of the situation in the south should federal support dissipate.

Questions:

• Why did many Northerners move south after the Civil War?

• Why did Southerners charge that Reconstruction governments were corrupt?

• Why did groups like the Ku Klux Klan indulge in anti-black violence?