Holt African American History Chapter 6. Holt African American History Chapter 6 Section 1 Section 1 Life after SlaveryLife after Slavery Section 2 Section.

Holt African American HistoryHolt African American History Chapter 6Chapter 6


Section 1Section 1 Life after Slavery

Section 2Section 2 The Politics of Reconstruction

Section 3Section 3 The Emergence of Black Political Leaders

Section 4Section 4 Reconstruction Comes to an End

Blacks in the Reconstruction EraBlacks in the Reconstruction Era


Reading Focus

• How did the end of slavery affect the lives of African Americans?

• In what ways did the Freedmen’s Bureau help freedpeople and white southerners after the war?

• What steps did the U.S. government take to help freedpeople become landowners?

Main Idea

Near the end of the Civil War, the U.S. government took action to end slavery and to help southerners, including newly freed African Americans.

Section 1:Section 1: Life after Slavery


Building Background

On April 9, 1865, Confederate forces surrendered. The Union had won the Civil War. Although the war’s end was a time of great rejoicing, it was also a time of great sadness. More than 500,000 military personnel had been killed—almost as many as in all other U.S. wars combined. In the South, the land lay in ruins. Countless homes and buildings were destroyed, and many farms and plantations had been abandoned. Confederate money had become worthless, and many southerners faced starvation and economic ruin. The U.S. government stepped in to help southerners—both black and white.


Slavery Comes to an End

Freedom at Last• Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 freed only limited number of

enslaved African Americans – Slavery still existed in the rest of the South, including border states

– January 1865 Congress proposed the Thirteenth Amendment making slavery illegal throughout the entire United States; took effect on December 18, 1865

– More than 3.5 million African Americans who had endured bitter lives under slavery were free

• African Americans still without U.S. citizenship or the right to vote• Frederick Douglass, a black abolitionist leader, insisted “slavery is

not abolished until the black man has the ballot [vote]”

After the Civil War ended, the U.S. government faced Reconstruction, the challenge of reuniting the nation and rebuilding the defeated South.


• Slavery’s end opened up a world of new opportunities for freedpeople

– Black couples held ceremonies to legalize their marriages

• Free to travel without a pass, former slaves searched for family or traveled to test their new freedom

• Woman explained, “I must go, if I stay here I’ll never know I’m free”

Freedom—A New Way of Life

• Freedpeople took steps to gain respect and equality• Under slavery most black adults were given slaveholders’ last

names, and were addressed by first names• After slavery took new last names, addressed as “Mister” or “Missus” • Some freedpeople worked to gain the same rights as white citizens • One freedman argued, “If I cannot do like a white man I am not free”


Seeking Economic OpportunityFinding New Jobs• Former slaves could look for

better jobs; many of these blacks no longer wanted to work on the farms or slave plantations

• Some former slaveholders were shocked when freedpeople left

• Freedpeople moved to cities to seek work; between 1865 and 1870 the black population of the South’s 10 largest cities doubled

• Some freedpeople moved to cities in the North

• Others went west to start businesses or work as miners, soldiers, or cowboys

Remaining in the South• Majority of former slaves

remained in the rural South

• Willing to work hard, freedpeople faced numerous obstacles; most freedpeople had little or no money and few belongings

• Few were educated; this limited job prospects

• South’s economy badly crippled by war; southerners needed a new labor system to replace slavery

• Job prospects were bleak for all southerners—both black and white



Summarize

How did the Thirteenth Amendment affect the lives of African Americans?

Reading Check

Answer(s):

The Thirteenth Amendment freed all African Americans, who gained many new opportunities—such as the ability to travel, look for loved ones, legalize marriages, and find paying jobs—but also many new challenges because they had little or no money, property, or education.


The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands (Freedmen’s Bureau) was created in March 1865.

The Freedmen’s Bureau

Relief for Southerners• Main goal of the Bureau to

provide relief to southerners— both black and white

• Nation’s first large-scale relief organization, the Bureau provided food, clothing, fuel, and medical services to hundreds of thousands

• By 1867 the Bureau had set up 46 hospitals in the South and provided medical treatment to more than 450,000 people

Education for Freedpeople• Providing help finding work and

locating loved ones, the Freedmen’s Bureau also assisted with education.

• Denied schooling under slavery, few freedpeople could read or write

• Northern groups such as the American Missionary Association had started black schools in Union-held areas of the South

• Former slaves had founded their own black schools as well


Problems with Opposition• Many freedpeople were eager to learn; many white southerners did

not want former slaves to be educated• Worried about competition for jobs and power; some southerners

burned down schools and attacked teachers and students• By 1877 more than 600,000 African Americans in schools in the

South

Schools and Teachers• The Bureau built upon early education efforts; founding more than

4,000 black schools

• Thousands of teachers, mainly from the North, volunteered

• Charlotte Forten and Susie King Taylor wrote about their experiences



Find the Main Idea

What was the purpose of the Freedmen’s Bureau?

Reading Check

Answer(s):

to provide relief to needy black and white southerners and assistance such as education to freedpeople


• Freedpeople dreamed of owning land as a means to economic independence; meant true freedom from white control

• U.S. government helped by offering abandoned Confederate land; former slaves could save money and one day buy the land

– Example off Georgia and South Carolina coasts—Sea Islands captured by Union forces early in the war; most of white population fled

– U.S. government seized the abandoned land and hired freedpeople to work some of it

– Early 1865 Union general William T. Sherman divided the lands into 40-acre plots; offered freed families the plots along with army mules for plowing

• At war’s end, more than 40,000 freedpeople were farming land on the Sea Islands

• “Forty acres and a mule” a slogan for freedpeople, who hoped U.S. leaders would continue to give them land

Landownership


Hope for Land

• Former slaves thought it only fair they receive free Confederate land

• Payment for all the years that slaves worked without pay

• Federal government had given free land to white settlers in the past

Working the Land

• In some parts of the South, African Americans took over abandoned lands on their own

• In 1866 more than 800 freedpeople established a village called Slabtown in Hampton, Virginia

Radical Republicans

• Some more-radical Republicans proposed bills for giving away Confederate land; none passed

• Freedpeople did obtain some abandoned Confederate land through the Freedmen’s Bureau

Temporary Ownership

• Freedpeople did not get to keep all Confederate land

• U.S. leaders returned most of the land to the original white owners.

• Former slaves had to leave or work for the white landowners

Free Land



Challenges and Successes

• Freedpeople faced discrimination in obtaining land

• If could afford to buy land no guarantee white landowners would sell to them

• White southerners hoped to maintain control over blacks and a supply of cheap labor

• “Freedom and independence are different things,” a Mississippi planter wrote in his diary; “A man may be free and yet not independent”

Public Land• In 1866 Congress passed the Southern Homestead Act; law set aside 45

million acres of public land in five southern states

• Black and white southern families could obtain free 80-acre homesteads

• Few freedpeople could afford the supplies needed to work a farm; those who did, few were able to support themselves long enough to achieve success

• Law later repealed in 1872


• Despite challenges, some freedpeople were able to buy land• In Mississippi, for example, 1 out of every 12 black families owned

land by 1870• In 1865 Isaiah T. Montgomery and some of his relatives leased the

Mississippi plantation where they had been slaves• They prospered and by 1868 had saved enough to buy the land• Became the state’s third-largest cotton producers• Tragedy struck; heirs of the plantation’s original white owners

demanded the land back• Fearing violence, Montgomery signed over his property for a

quarter of the price it was worth • But Montgomery did not give up; family bought swampland in

Bolivar County and labored for years to clear the land• Founded the village of Mound Bayou there

Success and Tragedy


Analyze

How successful was the U.S. government at helping freedpeople own land?

Reading Check

Answer(s):

The government was not very successful. Only a few freedpeople were able to own land and be successful at farming it.


Reading Focus• What were the main points of presidential Reconstruction

under Lincoln?

• What were the main points of presidential Reconstruction under Johnson, and what conflicts arose between Johnson and Congress?

• What were the major policies and achievements of Congressional Reconstruction?

Main Idea U.S. leaders had differing views about how to reconstruct the United States and about what rights to extend to African Americans.

Section 2:Section 2: The Politics of Reconstruction


Building Background

After the Civil War, the U.S. government began Reconstruction, the process of rebuilding the South and reuniting the nation. While the government helped former slaves begin the difficult task of building new lives, northern leaders debated how to treat the defeated Confederate states. Deep-seated animosity remained between the North and the South, and many northerners supported stiff penalties for the rebel southern states. President Abraham Lincoln, however, stated in 1865 that he hoped northerners would treat the South “with malice toward none, with charity for all.”


Reconstruction under Lincoln

• Developed a plan for restoring rebel states in 1863• Plan known as the Ten Percent Plan

– Southerners (except high-ranking Confederate officials) who swore loyalty to the U.S. and agreed that slavery was illegal would receive amnesty and regain citizenship

– New state governments could be formed after 10 percent of the state’s 1860 voters swore loyalty

– The state’s constitution had to be amended to ban slavery for the state to be recognized as part of the Union

• War’s end, AR, LA, and TN rejoined Union under plan; elected new members to Congress


Wade-Davis Bill• Proposed by Congress; with two conditions• Loyalty oath taken by majority of state’s adult white males• State constitution amended to abolish slavery and prohibit secession • Voluntary supporters of the Confederacy could not vote or hold office• Pocket-vetoed by Lincoln who felt tough conditions make

Southerners more willing to fight on

Opposition to Lincoln’s plan• Many Republicans thought it too lenient• President’s power to allow states to rejoin Union questioned • Congress refused to seat new members from Lincoln’s Ten Percent

states• Proposed stricter Reconstruction plan


Abraham Lincoln was shot fatally on April 14, 1865 by a southerner named John Wilkes Booth at Ford’s Theater in Washington.

The Assassination of Lincoln

Consequences• Huge crowds gathered to

show respect• Lincoln’s final Reconstruction

plans unknown• New plan left to Andrew

Johnson, Lincoln’s vice president

• White southerners concerned; Johnson a Union supporting southerner


Find the Main Idea

What was the Ten Percent Plan, and why did many Republicans in Congress oppose it?

Reading Check

Answer(s):

Ten Percent Plan—Lincoln’s Reconstruction plan; Why opposed—thought it was too lenient and that Congress, not the president, had the power to admit states.


Congress hoped that Johnson would support a tough stand against the Confederacy, as he had done during the Civil War, but conflict soon erupted.

Reconstruction under Johnson

Johnson’s Reconstruction Plan

• White southerners swore loyalty for amnesty, getting back citizenship and property

• High-ranking Confederates and owners of property over $20,000 needed presidential pardon for amnesty (most were pardoned)

• State delegates had to abolish slavery, repeal secession, and nullify all Confederate debts

• Could then form new state government


Plan Moves Forward• Johnson’s Reconstruction

plan moved forward during the summer of 1865—with surprising results

• Had strong words against treason; but pardoned nearly every planter and former Confederate official who applied

• Pardons enabled many prewar leaders and former Confederates to gain political office

• Southern voters elected to the U.S. Congress 10 former Confederate generals, two former Confederate cabinet members, and the former vice president of the Confederacy

• Many Republicans were not satisfied

• When Congress met for its session in December 1865, members refused to seat the newly elected southern representatives


Discriminatory laws• With Johnson’s approval of most

new southern state governments, states’ legislatures quickly started passing discriminatory laws against African Americans

• Called Black Codes, the laws resembled the slave codes that had controlled African Americans under slavery

• Deep-rooted prejudice continued in the South; white southerners hoped to restore white power structure

• Black Codes were laws meant to ensure white planters of a dependent black labor force

Rights given, rights denied• Black Codes varied by state

• Some rights—in most states blacks could marry and testify in court against other blacks

Denied rights (differ by state)• Enforced segregation, or racial

separation, in public areas

• Guns forbidden to blacks

• Interracial marriage banned

• African Americans prohibited from testifying in court against white citizens

Black Codes


Discriminatory laws• All states’ Black Codes limited former slaves’ economic

opportunities• Some states taxed freedpeople who did not work on plantations or

as servants• Some states banned former slaves from buying land or renting

property in certain areas

Labor contracts• Most states required freedpeople to sign labor contracts• Workers who left before their labor period ended could be arrested

or lose their wages• In many states, freedpeople without labor contracts or jobs could be

arrested, fined, and then forced to work to pay off the fines



• Local law officers invaded African Americans’ homes and seized their property

• Unable to obtain land or better jobs, former slaves went back to plantations under labor contracts

• The Black Codes denied African Americans many rights and restored the South’s white power structure

• Southern blacks were subjected to curfews, arrest, and humiliating treatment

• The Freedmen’s Bureau and the U.S. military were able to prevent some Black Codes from being enforced

• The Bureau tried to help freedpeople obtain fair labor contracts

• Black Codes angered African Americans; black Civil War veteran asked, “If you call this Freedom, what do you call Slavery?”

• Some black leaders in the South held conventions


In South Carolina a black convention sent a petition to state officials

History’s Voices“We simply ask . . . that the same laws which govern white men shall govern black men . . . that, in short, we be dealt with as others are—in equity [equality] and justice.”

—Convention of the Colored People of South Carolina, 1865

•A few took more direct action to oppose the Black Codes

•Louisville, Kentucky, horse-drawn streetcars restricted to whites only

•Young black men would board streetcars and refuse to leave until arrested; the streetcar company changed its policy to allow black riders

•Gutsy stands foreshadowed the struggles of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s


Identify Cause and Effect

How did Johnson’s Reconstruction plan affect African Americans in the South?

Reading Check

Answer(s):

led to the return of many prewar leaders, who helped pass Black Codes that greatly limited the freedoms of African Americans


Congressional Reconstruction

Congress Opposes Johnson• Radical Republicans fiercely

opposed to Johnson’s Reconstruction plan; group was led by Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts and Representative Thaddeus Stevens of Pennsylvania

• Wanted to impose harsh terms and force dramatic changes before states could rejoin the Union

Enfranchise Enemies• Radicals criticized Johnson for not

providing African Americans with the right to vote or with any role in the new state governments

• Johnson thought that each state should decide what black civil rights to provide, such as the right to vote

• Johnson declared, “It is the people of the states that must for themselves determine this thing”

Opposition to Johnson’s Reconstruction plan increased as the months passed. Many northerners thought that the nation’s enormous wartime sacrifices would be wasted if the South returned to its prewar ways. A growing number of members in Congress agreed and soon moved to take control of Reconstruction.


Moderate Republicans

• Frederick Douglass responded, “You enfranchise [give the vote to] your enemies and disenfranchise your friends”

• Moderate Republicans formed the largest group in Congress

• Mainly disliked Johnson’s Reconstruction plan, but they hoped to work with him

• Opposed the Black Codes and saw the need to protect freedpeople’s rights

Congressional Bills

• Two bills in early 1866; first was the Freedmen’s Bureau Bill; extended bureau’s life and enabled it to try some cases

• Civil Rights Act of 1866 next provided African Americans same legal rights as whites

• Both bills vetoed by Johnson; but Congress passed both bills over the vetoes

• Battle for control of Reconstruction had begun



• Republicans in Congress worried that the U.S. Supreme Court might later overturn the Civil Rights Act of 1866

• To ensure the rights it protected, Congress passed the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

– Ratified in 1868, granted U.S. citizenship to all people born or naturalized in the United States; overturned the Dred Scott decision of 1857, now African Americans would be U.S. citizens

– Guaranteed all U.S. citizens equal protection under the law and prohibited any state from depriving a citizen’s rights without due process of law; barred states from depriving a person of their rights without due process of law

• Prohibited all prewar officials who had supported the Confederacy from holding state or national political office

• Fourteenth Amendment infuriated many white southerners

The Fourteenth Amendment


• Every seceded state but Tennessee refused to ratify the Fourteenth amendment

• President Johnson and many northern Democrats strongly opposed the amendment; and the 1866 congressional elections had civil rights for African Americans as a key issue

• Johnson began a tour of the nation to promote his policies and the candidates who supported them

– Often argued with his audiences and lost some people’s support

– Race riots broke out in Louisiana and Tennessee when white mobs attacked and killed African Americans

• Events helped increase support for the Republicans, and northern voters elected them in large numbers

Ratification at Risk


Radical Reconstruction• Strong Reconstruction Acts passed by Congress in 1867 and 1868

– Invalidated southern state governments approved by Johnson

– Divided the South into five military districts under U.S. Army control

• Requirements for seceded states– Ratify the Fourteenth Amendment

– Give adult black male citizens the vote

– Let voters, including black men, elect new state government officials

• Fought against by Johnson – Johnson vetoed the acts; Congress overrode every veto

– Congress passed a law requiring Senate approval for the president to remove Cabinet members; Johnson refused to obey it

– The House of Representatives impeached Johnson in 1868

– The Senate was one vote short of removing him from office


• Reconstruction Acts gave the vote to black men—but only in the South

• To give all black men the vote, in 1869 Congress passed the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

• Ratified in 1870, stated that no U.S. citizen could be denied the right to vote because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude

The Fifteenth Amendment


Identify

What did the Reconstruction Acts do?

Reading Check

Answer(s):

divided seceded states (with the exception of Tennessee) into military districts; states had to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment, give adult black men the vote, and hold new state elections


Reading Focus

• What key political offices did black state and local leaders hold?

• Who were some of the significant black congressional leaders?

• What changes did Republican control bring to the South?

Main Idea

During Congressional Reconstruction, African Americans held political offices and worked to improve their lives.

Section 3:Section 3: The Emergence of Black Political Leaders


Building Background

During 1867 and 1868 Congress and the U.S. Army took charge of Reconstruction. The southern state governments created under President Johnson were dismantled, and many white southerners lost political power. These changes enabled the Republicans to gain control in many southern states. Republican officials included loyal white southerners as well as northerners who had come south. However, by far the largest group of Republicans in the South was a newly empowered political group—black men. With the vote, African Americans would emerge as political leaders for the first time.


Under Congressional Reconstruction, political power in the South shifted. Black voters outnumbered white voters in five southern states.

Black State and Local Leaders

African Americans Participate• Reconstruction Acts required

seceded states hold state conventions to write new state constitutions

• Large numbers of black men turned out to vote; black delegates were elected to every convention

• In Louisiana equal number of black and white delegates

• South Carolina black delegates formed the majority


The First Colored Senator and Representatives by Currier & Ives


State Constitutions • New state constitutions• Black delegates helped write• Expanded democracy and

improved life for African Americans in several ways

Requirements • Followed Reconstruction Acts

requirements• All of the constitutions abolished

slavery• Gave black men the right to vote

Removed Barriers • Many state constitutions also

did away with property qualifications for voting

• Property requirements not required for holding political office

Fewer Appointments • Several of the constitutions

changed civil structure • Made more state offices

elected rather than appointed• Increased voters’ power


African Americans Gain Political Office• Republican Party supported by black male voters in the South

• Republicans gained control of almost all of the new southern state governments; black men won a number of government offices

• 600+ African Americans were elected to southern state legislatures

• Other black leaders won important state offices and more were elected to local political offices

• During Reconstruction more than 1,500 African Americans served state and local offices in the South; came from variety of backgrounds

• Southerners and northerners; formerly enslaved and those free from birth

• Black leaders in political office tended to be better educated and wealthier than most African Americans in the South

– Often community or church leaders; gained political experience by participating in black conventions

– At the state level, black officeholders were more likely to have been free before the war than enslaved


Other Southern States • Black leaders held several

offices but had less influence on state politics

• African Americans were underrepresented in the state governments in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, North Carolina, and Tennessee

• In Virginia• Democrats kept control of

the state government• Few African Americans

gained political office

Problems Taking Office • In some states, black

officeholders met with fierce resistance from white southerners

• In Georgia, the state legislature initially refused to let the elected black members take their seats

• A year later the Georgia Supreme Court approved the black legislators

• Finally African Americans were able to take office in that state


Identify Cause and Effect

How did black men gaining the right to vote affect southern state governments?

Reading Check

Answer(s):

Black voters helped the Republicans gain control of most southern state governments and also helped black leaders win political offices at the national, state, and local levels.


Hiram Revels• Senator from Mississippi• Freeborn minister and educator• First black U.S. senator• Fought against racial

segregation

Blanche K. Bruce• First black senator to serve a

full six-year term; briefly presided over Senate in 1879

• Attacked election fraud• Supported increased civil rights

Joseph Rainey• First black Representative;

served three terms• Escaped slavery during the Civil

War• Fought for civil rights

Robert B. Elliott• Highly educated lawyer • Held several state offices• Tried to have the vote taken

away from all southern white men

Black Congressional Leaders



Identify

Which four prominent black men served in the U.S. Congress during Reconstruction?

Reading Check

Answer(s):

U.S. senators—Hiram Revels and Blanche K. Bruce; U.S. representatives—Joseph H. Rainey and Robert B. Elliott.


Republican Control in the South

• New state governments repealed the Black Codes• Some states also made discrimination against African

Americans illegal in public facilities• Some expanded rights for married women• Improved state services and facilities

– Established public school system– Built hospitals, orphanages, and mental institutions– Built bridges, roads, and railroads

• Raising the money – Governments issued bonds and raised taxes, particularly for

large landowners– Decreased taxes for poor southern farmers– Angered many white southern leaders


Black Institutions

• Blacks raised funds to build soup kitchens, orphanages, schools, employment agencies, and churches

– Churches served as important community centers– Black religious leaders became important community leaders– Many black southerners joined northern black religious groups

• Many southern black colleges were founded during this time– Morehouse College in Georgia was founded by Springfield

Baptist Church to educate ministers and teachers– Howard University was founded in Washington in 1867 and

named for the head of the Freedmen’s Bureau– Hampton Institute in Virginia was founded by a Union general

who had led black troops; focused on job training– Fisk University, along with six other black colleges, was founded

by the American Missionary Association



Summarize

What did the Republican-dominated state governments accomplish under Congressional Reconstruction?

Reading Check

Answer(s):

They repealed the Black Codes; prohibited some discrimination against African Americans; improved rights for married women; created public school systems; and built new bridges, roads, and railroads.


Reading Focus• What problems did Reconstruction lead to, and how did they

affect black and white southerners?

• Why and when did Reconstruction come to an end?

Main Idea In time, various forces led to the end of Reconstruction, and African Americans lost many of the rights and freedoms they had gained.

Section 4:Section 4: Reconstruction Comes to an End


Building Background

By 1870 five years of Reconstruction had produced some major achievements. Congress had readmitted all of the former Confederate states to the Union. The United States was whole once again. At the same time, Reconstruction amendments and laws had greatly expanded democracy. After some 200 years of slavery, African Americans had gained not only freedom but also citizenship and political power. But in 1870 the Democrats began to regain power in the South, and blacks soon lost many of the gains they had made.


Problems with Reconstruction• Majority of white southerners strongly opposed Congressional

Reconstruction– Disliked federal soldiers stationed in their states; objected to black men

holding political office

– Accused the Republican governments of spending too much and claimed that they were corrupt

• White southerners’ rage and fear erupted into violence– White mobs attacked African Americans

– Race riots broke out

– Black churches and schools were burned

• Terrorist groups formed – Best-known is the Ku Klux Klan (KKK); kept identities hidden

– Used burnings, beatings, and murder to subdue blacks and their supporters


Ku Klux Klan• White southerners joined,

from poor farmers to influential and respectable citizens

• Other groups existed, like the White League and Knights of the White Camelia

• Small minority actually joined terrorist groups

• Many people supported their goals

• White citizens who committed terror or violence against blacks rarely prosecuted by local officials


Enforcement Acts

• Congress passed three Enforcement Acts in 1870 and 1871

– Banned the use of disguises to deprive any person of his or her rights

– Set heavy penalties for anyone attempting to prevent a citizen from voting

– New laws empowered the U.S. Army and federal courts to arrest and punish members of the KKK

• Thousands of Klansmen were arrested and the Klan’s power was broken within few years

• Other white terrorist groups continued to operate throughout the South


New Labor Systems and Economic Hardship

Other problems with Reconstruction • Government failed to provide support for African

Americans to gain economic independence– Some achieved success and wealth, but the majority

remained trapped in poverty; with no options returned to working on plantations

• Most African Americans unhappy with the low wages and supervised work groups of plantations

• A new agricultural labor system gradually developed in the South


Tenant farming• Sharecroppers who saved enough money could move up to tenant

farming• Tenant farmers rented their land and could choose which crops to

grow (sharecroppers often had to grow cotton)• Many preferred growing food crops to supply food as well as an

income

Sharecropping• Few African Americans could afford to buy or rent land• With sharecropping, landowner provided land, seed (often cotton),

tools, a mule, and a cabin in exchange for labor and most of the crop • Landowners didn’t have to pay constant wages• Sharecroppers got a specific plot of land to farm


• Most farmers were trapped in a cycle of debt– Farmers had little cash and bought food and supplies

on credit– They planned to pay off their debts when they sold

their crops– Poor harvests, bad weather, or low crop prices often

made it impossible to pay off debt• Sharecropping kept the South tied to one-crop

agriculture– Most sharecroppers grew cotton– If the supply became too great, the price dropped– Farmers grew more cotton to increase their profits,

but the surpluses only drove prices even lower


Find the Main Idea

How did terrorist groups and the rise of sharecropping affect African Americans in Reconstruction?

Reading Check

Answer(s):

Terrorist groups terrorized and brutalized African Americans, and sharecropping trapped them in poverty.


As southern violence continued and other issues became important, support for Reconstruction at the state and national levels declined.

The End of Reconstruction

• Northerners thought southern governments should be able to control violence without federal troops

• Poor southern economy continued to cause dissension• Southern states were plunged into debt by the

Republicans’ costly programs• Southern Democrats accused Republicans of corruption• General Amnesty Act of 1872 pardoned many

Confederates and many were elected to offices• White southern Democrats used violence to control vote


• Congressional support declined– Most Radical Republicans had retired or died– Republican scandals caused the loss of many votes– Panic of 1873 caused Congress to focus on economic issues

• Presidential Election of 1876– Democrat Samuel J. Tilden beat Republican Rutherford B.

Hayes by a very narrow margin– Republicans challenged election results– With Compromise of 1877 Hayes became president in

exchange for removing all remaining federal troops from the South and ending Reconstruction

• White control once again reigned over black destiny in the South


Summarize

What factors and events contributed to the end of Reconstruction?

Reading Check

Answer(s):

declining support for Reconstruction; Democratic resurgence in the South; scandals in Grant’s administration; Panic of 1873; rising violence in the South; Compromise of 1877

Holt African American History Chapter 6. Holt African American History Chapter 6 Section 1 Section 1 Life after SlaveryLife after Slavery Section 2 Section.

Documents

slavery section

slavery slide

end of slavery

free african americans

lives of african americans

freed african americans

slavery illegal

insisted slavery