Chapter 17 Reconstruction and the New South (1865-1896) Section 4 Change in the South

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Chapter 17 Reconstruction and the New South (1865-1896) Section 4 Change in the South

Grant’s Administration

•  During Grant’ administration, Northerners began losing interest in Reconstruction

•  It was time for the South to solve its own problems

•  Radical leaders began to disappear from politics (Thaddeus Stevens died)

•  Southerners felt they knew how to deal with African Americans

•  Southerners protested what they called the “bayonet rule”

•  The use of federal troops to support Reconstruction governments

Republican Revolt

•  1870s- Rumors of corruption in Grant’s administration and in Reconstruction governments spread

•  Some Republicans split the party over the issue of corruption

•  Another broke away over Reconstruction

•  Called themselves the Liberal Republicans

•  Nominated Horace Greeley to run against Grant in 1872

•  Grant was reelected

Amnesty Act

•  Pardoned most former Confederates

•  Full rights were granted including voting

•  Most were in the Democratic party

•  Democrats soon gained control of state governments in the South

•  The KKK helped the Democrats take power by terrorizing Republican voters

Republican Problems

•  1873- A series of political scandals came to light

•  One scandal was with the vice president

•  These scandals damaged the Grant administration and the Republicans

•  Grant and the nation also endured a severe economic depression

•  Started with the Panic of 1873 when a series of bad railroad investments forced the powerful banking firm of Jay Cooke and Company to declare bankruptcy

Panic of 1873

•  Forced small banks to close and the stock market to plummet

•  1000s of businesses shut down

•  Tens of 1000s of Americans were out of work

•  Blame for the hard times fell on the Republicans

•  Congressional election of 1874- Democrats gained seats in the Senate and House of Representatives

•  This weakened Congress’ commitment to Reconstruction

•  And on protecting African American Rights

Election of 1876

•  The Republicans wanted someone besides Grant

•  Republicans wanted to win back Liberal Republicans and unite the party

•  The Republicans nominated Rutherford B. Hayes, governor of Ohio

•  Hayes was honest and had moderate views of Reconstruction

•  Democrats nominated Samuel Tilden, governor of New York

•  Tilden gained fame by fighting corruption in New York City

Election of 1876 Continued

•  Tilden looked like the winner (250,000 more votes)

•  4 states had disputed results and kept the outcome in doubt

•  Tilden had 184 electoral votes.

•  1 short of winning

•  Hayes needed all 20 of the disputed votes to win

•  A commission was set up to decide and they voted 8 to 7 to award all 20 votes to Hayes

Compromise of 1877

•  Democrats in Congress threatened to fight the decision

•  Republicans and Southern Democrats reportedly met in secret to work out an agreement

•  March 2, 1877- Hayes was declared the winner

•  The Compromise of 1877- The new government would give more aid to the South

•  Republicans would withdraw all remaining troops from Southern states

•  The Democrats promised to maintain African American rights

A New Policy

•  In his Inaugural Address, Hayes declared that what the South needed most was…

•  The restoration of “wise, honest, and peaceful local self-government”

•  Hayes decided to let the Southerners handle racial issues

•  The federal government would no longer attempt to reshape Southern society

•  Reconstruction was over

Democrats in Control

•  Large landowning Democrats took power

•  But also merchants, bankers and other business leaders who supported economic development

•  They called themselves “Redeemers”

•  They redeemed the South from Republican rule

•  They adopted conservative policies (lower taxes and reduced government spending)

•  They cut services from Reconstruction (Including public education)

•  These policies dominated Southern politics into the 1900s

Rise of the New South

•  Southerners looked to develop a strong industrial economy

•  This “New South” would have industries based on the region’s abundant coal, iron, tobacco, cotton, and lumber

•  Textile and iron mills sprang up across the South

•  Industry grew because there was a cheap and reliable workforce

•  Factory workers put in long hours for low wages

•  The railroad system was rebuilt and doubled in 10 years (1880 to 1890)

•  Agriculture remained the South’s main economic activity

Rural Economy

•  Supporter of the New South wanted to have the small farms raise a variety of crops rather than cotton

•  But most went to unprofitable sharecropping

•  Debt caused problems for poor farmer

•  To repay debts, farmers grew cash crops

•  Main crop was cotton

•  Too much cotton was produced and prices fell

A Divided Society

•  Dreams of justice faded for African Americans when Reconstruction faded

•  The 15th Amendment prohibited states from denying the right to vote because of race

•  Southerners found a way to get around this Amendment

•  Southerners required a poll tax (many African Americans and poor whites couldn’t vote)

•  Another approach was to make prospective voters take a literacy test (Had to read difficult parts of the Constitution)

•  Literacy tests also kept some whites from voting so some states passed grandfather clauses

•  If your father or grandfather voted it gave you the right to vote

•  These laws and threat of violence caused African American voting to decline drastically

Jim Crow Laws

•  By 1890s segregation was a common feature of the South

•  The South passed Jim Crow laws that required African Americans and whites to be separated in almost every public place

•  1896- Plessy v. Ferguson- Segregation was legal as long as it was equal

•  “Separate but equal”

•  The facilities were in no way equal

•  White violence rose including lynching

Reconstruction’s Impact

•  Reconstruction was a success and a failure

•  It helped the South rebuild its economy

•  But most of the South remained agricultural and poor

•  African Americans gained greater equality, created their own institutions, and shared in governments with whites

•  Their advancements did not last

•  Civil rights leader W.E.B. Du Bois said “The slave went free, stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery”

Essential Question

How did the South change politically, economically, and socially when Reconstruction ended?

-Politically: power shifted to Democrats, who instituted conservative policies

-Economically- developed more industries, agriculture included sharecropping and tenant farming as well as large plantations

-Socially- laws created segregation and limited African American voting rights, white violence against African Americans increased