HIST 1312 1st Edition Lecture 10Outline of Last Lecture I. The Meaning of Freedoma. Families in Freedomb. Church and Schoolc. Political Freedomd. Land, Labor, and Freedome. Masters without Slaveryf. The Free Labor Visiong. The Freedman’s Bureauh. The Failure of the Land Reformi. The White FarmerII. The Making of Radical Reconstructiona. Andrew Johnsonb. The Failure of Presidential Reconstructionc. The Black Codesd. The Radical Republicanse. The Origins of Civil Rightsf. The Fourteenth Amendmentg. The Reconstruction ActThese notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used asa supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.h. Impeachment and the Election of Granti. The Fifteenth Amendmentj. The “Great Constitutional Revolution”k. The Rights of WomenIII. Radical Reconstruction in the South a. “The Tocsin of Freedom”b. The Black Officeholderc. Carpetbaggers and ScalawagsOutline of Current Lecture IV. The Overthrow of Reconstructiona. Reconstruction’s Opponentsb. “A Reign of Terror”c. The Liberal Republicansd. The North’s Retreat e. The Triumph of Redeemersf. The Disputed Election and Bargain of 1877g. The End of ReconstructionCurrent LectureThe Overthrow of Reconstruction- Reconstruction’s Opponentso South’s traditional leaders – planters, merchants, and Democratic politicians – bitterly opposed the new governmentso Corruption did exist during Reconstruction, but it was confined to no race, region, or partyo The rapid growth of state budgets and the benefits to be gained from public aid led to some states to a scramble for influence that produced bribery, insider dealing, and a get rich-quick atmosphereo The rising taxes needed to pay for schools and other new public facilities and to assist railroad development were another cause of opposition to Reconstructiono Many poor whites who initially supported the Republican Party turned against t when it became clear that their economic situation was not improvingo The most basic reason for opposition to Reconstruction, however, was that most white southerners could not accept the idea of former slaves voting, holding office, and enjoying equality before the lawo Opponents launched a campaign of violence in an effort to end Republican rule- “A Reign of Terror”o Violence remained widespread in large parts of postwar Southo Blacks were assaulted and murdered for refusing to give away to white on city sidewalks,using “insolent” language, challenging end-of-year contract settlements, and attempting to buy lando After 1867, in wide areas of the South, secret societies sprang up with the aim of preventing blacks from voting and destroying the organization of the Republican Party byassassinating local leaders and public officialso Ku Klux Klan (KKK) – most notorious secret society Served as a military arm of the Democratic Party in the South Founded in 1866 in Tennessee It was a terrorist organization It committed some of the most brutal criminal acts in American history Klan’s victims included white Republicans, among them wartime Unionists and local officeholders, teachers, and party organizers  But African-Americans – local political leaders, those who managed to acquire land, and others who in one way or another defied the norms of white supremacy – bore the brunt of the violence The bloodiest act of violence during Reconstruction took place in Colfax, Louisiana, in 1873, where armed whites assaulted the town with a small cannon- Hundreds of former slaves were murdered, including fifty members of a black militia unit after they had surrenderedo In 1870 and 1871, Congress adopted three Enforcement Acts, outlawing terrorist societies and allowing the president to use the army against them These laws continued the expansion of the national authority during Reconstruction In 1871, President Grant dispatched federal marshals, backed up by troops in some areas, to arrest hundreds of accused Klansmen After a series of well-publicized trials, the Klan went out existenceo In 1872, for the first time since the Civil War, peace reigned in most of the former Confederacy- The Liberal Republicanso North’s commitment to Reconstruction waned during the 1870so Northerners increasingly felt that the South should be able to solve its own problems without constant interference from Washingtono The federal government had feed the slaves, made them citizens, and given them the right to vote – now blacks should rely on their own resources, not demand further assistanceo In 1872, an influential group of Republicans, alienated by corruption within the Grant administration and believing that the growth of the federal power during and after the war needed to be curtailed, formed their own party- The North’s Retreato Liberal attack on Reconstruction, which continued after 1872, contributed to aa resurgence of racism in the Northo In 1873, the country plunged into a severe economic depressiono Distracted by economic problems, Republicans were in no mood to devote further attention the Southo The depression dealt the South a severe blow and further weakened the prospect that Republicans could revitalize the region’s economyo For the first time since the Civil War, the Democratic Party took control of the House of Representativeso Old Congress enacted a final piece of Reconstruction legislation – the Civil Rights Act of 1875: outlawed racial discrimination in places of public accommodation like hotels and theaters o The Supreme Court whittled away at the guarantees of black rights Congress had adopted Slaughterhouse Cases (1873) – justices ruled that the Fourteenth Amendment had not altered traditional federalism It declared that most rights of citizens remained under state control US vs. Cruikshank (1876) – the Court gutted the Enforcement Acts by throwing out the convictions of some of those responsible for the Colfax Massacre of 1873- The Triumph of the Redeemerso Democrats (mid-1870s) had already regained control of states with substantial white voting majorities o The victorious Democrats called themselves Redeemers, since they claimed to have “redeemed” the white South from corruption, misgovernment, and northern and black controlo In Mississippi (1875) – armed Democrats destroyed ballot boxes and drove former slavesfrom the polls The result was a Democratic landslide and the end of Reconstruction in