Who Freed the Slaves? The Civil War and Reconstruction Patrick Rael Associate Professor Bowdoin College.

Who Freed the Slaves?Who Freed the Slaves?The Civil War and The Civil War and

ReconstructionReconstruction

Patrick RaelAssociate Professor

Bowdoin College

Introduction

From a war for union To a war to end slavery The key: the agency of African

Americans themselves

Emancipation from the bottom up

day-to-day resistance during the war

the significance of flight proximity of Union lines

Eastman Johnson, “Ride for Liberty: The Fugitive Slaves” (1862-63)

Emancipation from the bottom up

General Benjamin F. Butler, Fortress Monroe, Va., 1861

Slaves are “contraband of war” Every slave removed from the

Confederacy = one Union worker

Slaves behind Union lines lived in “contraband” camps. Life was difficult, but many former slaves received their first formal schooling in such camps.

Slave contrabands often worked the most odious details

Emancipation from the top down: in the field

What to do with enslaved African Americans behind Union lines?

General John C. Frémont, Missouri, 1861

General David Hunter, South Carolina and Georgia, 1862

General John C. Fremont

General David

Hunter

Emancipation from the top down: in Congress

The war stalemates First Confiscation Act (1861):

masters cannot reclaim slaves Second Confiscation Act (1862):

slaves of disloyal citizens “forever free”

Abolition of slavery in District of Columbia and U.S. territories

Rejoicing over abolition of slavery in District of Columbia, 1862

Emancipation from the top down: Lincoln

Transformation of war aims• Risks losing border states• Military necessity of emancipation

Emancipation Proclamation• Preliminary draft, September 1862

“President Lincoln, writing the Proclamation of Freedom,” Currier and Ives

Emancipation from the top down: Lincoln

Transformation of war aims• Risks losing border states• Military necessity of emancipation

Emancipation Proclamation• Preliminary draft, September 1862• Goes into effect January 1, 1863• Declares slaves in Confederate lands

free

Lincoln, presenting the Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet

“Emancipation,” idealized vision of life before and after

Emancipation Proclamation: effects

Transforms war from war for union to war against slavery

• Keeps Great Britain from allying with Confederacy

• Sets precedent for freedom• Enlists the enslaved in the Union war

effort

Recruitment of black soldiers

54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry (the “Glory” regiment)

54th Massachusetts, assaulting Fort Wagner, South Carolina

Recruitment of black soldiers

54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry (the “Glory” regiment)

1st South Carolina Volunteers 189,000 African Americans serve

in Union army and navy

Recruiting posters for African-American troops

Many former slaves served as Union soldiers

The reconstruction of black labor

War aims transformed by necessity, not a change in attitudes

First priority after the war: sectional reconciliation

Lincoln’s plan for reconstruction

Under what conditions can former Confederate states re-enter the Union?

“10% plan” (December 1863)• “Proclamation of Amnesty and

Reconstruction”• 10% of population must swear oath of

loyalty to Union• Must ratify 13th Amendment abolishing

slavery• Freedpeople: ??

The “Port Royal Experiment”

South Carolina Sea Islands, 1861 Experiment in “free labor” Abolitionists, missionaries and

philanthropists “Gideon’s Band”: James Miller

McKim, Edward S. Phillsbrick

What they wanted

The freedpeople: Subsistence

crops Production for

local exchange networks

Work in families on own land

The planters: Cotton Production for

international capitalist economy

Work in gangs for share of crop

The labor negotiation

Freedpeople vs. planters Bureau of Freedmen, Refugees,

and Abandoned Lands (“Freedmen’s Bureau”)

Idealized image of a Freedman’s Bureau officer at work

The labor negotiation

Freedpeople vs. planters Bureau of Freedmen, Refugees,

and Abandoned Lands (“Freedmen’s Bureau”)

The result = sharecropping• local credit monopolies• collusion with local white officials

Sharecropping in the post-Civil War South

Presidential Reconstruction (1865-67)

Andrew Johnson succeeds Lincoln (April 1865)

Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States

Presidential Reconstruction (1865-67)

Andrew Johnson succeeds Lincoln (April 1865)

Lenient terms for Confederate re-entry into Union

Many former Confederates admitted to office

Black Codes

Black Codes

Strict controls over terms of labor Vagrancy laws kept freedpeople a

docile, immobile labor force Denial of basic civil rights Violation of free market principles Race riots during Presidential

Reconstruction:• Memphis, TN (1866)• New Orleans, LA (1866)

Memphis riot, 1866

New Orleans riot, 1866

Radical Republicans respond

“Radical” Republicans: pre-war abolitionists and antislavers now in Congress

Rep. Thaddeus Stevens; Sen. Charles Sumner

Thaddeus Stevens, Pennsylvania Congressman and Radical Republican

Radical Republicans respond

“Radical” Republicans: pre-war abolitionists and antislavers now in Congress

Rep. Thaddeus Stevens; Sen. Charles Sumner

Impeachment of Andrew Johnson, 1868

Congressional Reconstruction (1867-77)

a.k.a. “Radical” or “Military” Reconstruction

Reconstruction Act of 1867 All former Confederate states removed

from Union (except Tennessee) Former Confederacy placed under

military rule

The former Confederacy was divided into military districts during Congressional Reconstruction

Congressional Reconstruction (1867-77)

a.k.a. “Radical” or “Military” Reconstruction Reconstruction Act of 1867 All former Confederate states removed from

Union (except Tennessee) Former Confederacy placed under military

rule New conditions for re-entry of states into

Union:• New state constitutions• Enfranchisement of African-American men• Ratification of 14th Amendment (guarantees blacks

citizenship)

Why black enfranchisement?

Conservative constitutional foundations States’ rights federalism: highly

proscribed role for federal government in local matters

Protection of black rights required federal intervention

Enfranchisement = blacks can use the vote to protect themselves

Distasteful federal intervention minimized

Blacks played an important role in the state constitutional conventions mandated by Congress

Harper’s Weekly’s stereotyped view of black campaigning in the Reconstruction South

The Radical state governments

Blacks hold office in most states

African-Americans in Congress during Reconstruction

Robert Smalls, former slave, war hero, Congressman from South Carolina

J.R. Rainey of South Carolina,

an antebellum

free African

American

Hiram Revels occupied the Mississippi Senate seat once held by Jefferson

Jonathan Jasper Wright, 1st black state supreme court justice (South Carolina)

The Radical state governments

Blacks hold office in most states Free schools, social institutions,

internal improvements All southern states fall out of

Republican hands by 1877

The re-establishment of conservative state governments

The failure of Radical Reconstruction

Internal divisions within local Republican machines

• “Carpetbaggers” vs. “scalawags”• Among African Americans themselves

Loss of crucial “swing” vote of southern whites

• New social costs borne by all

The key: racial violence

The failure of Radical Reconstruction

White supremacist paramilitary organizations

• Knights of the White Camilla• White League• Invisible Knights of the Ku Klux Klan

The White League served as the paramilitary wing of the Democratic Party

The Ku Klux Klan enforced labor control and racial hierarchy

The failure of Radical Reconstruction

White supremacist paramilitary organizations

• Knights of the White Camilla• White League• Invisible Knights of the Ku Klux Klan

Function as• Military wing of Democratic Party• Agents of labor and racial control

The tactics of white supremacy

The failure of Radical Reconstruction

White supremacist paramilitary organizations• Knights of the White Camilla• White League• Invisible Knights of the Ku Klux Klan

Function as• Military wing of Democratic Party• Agents of labor and racial control

Consequences:• Force necessity of distasteful federal intervention in

local affairs• Northern support for Reconstruction wanes• Crucial southern white “swing” vote turns against

Republicans

Alternatives to federal intervention

Give freedmen role in local self-government

14th Amendment (1868): guarantees black citizenship

15th Amendment (1870): secures suffrage for black men

Civil Rights Act of 1875: prohibits discrimination in public places (later declared unconstitutional)

The Fifteenth Amendment: an idealized view

The end of Reconstruction

Republican state governments fall to the Democrats

1876 Presidential Election:• Contested electoral vote in Louisiana

and Florida• Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican) vs.

Samuel J. Tilden (Democrat)

Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican)

Samuel J. Tilden (Democrat)

The contenders in the 1876 Presidential Election

The 1876 Presidential election electoral dispute

The end of Reconstruction

Republican state governments fall to the Democrats

1876 Presidential Election:• Contested electoral vote in Louisiana and Florida• Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican) vs. Samuel J.

Tilden (Democrat)

– “Compromise of 1877"• In exchange for White House, Republicans leave

South to its own devices• Republican Party ceases to advocate for black

rights

“Shall we call home our troops?” (liberal political cartoon, 1876)

Conclusion: Who freed the slaves?

What was the sine qua non of black freedom?

African Americans struggled to create their own lives in freedom

The letter of the law insufficient to guarantee black freedom

Emancipation and enfranchisement the products of expedience, not enlightenment

An important precedent for biracial democracy

The EndThe End