HIST 2112 1st Edition Lecture 3 Outline of Last Lecture I Reconstructing the South Outline of Current Lecture II The Grant Years Racial and Class Discrimination Current Lecture 1875 Early Civil Rights Act Forbade discrimination in any public accommodation or setting Last gasp of reconstruction Last radical idea 1867 Election Democrats have a chance for the first time in twenty years Samuel J Tilden 184 Democrat One short of winning majority Rutherford B Hayes 165 Republican 20 Electoral votes in dispute Tilden needs 1 Hayes needs 20 Congress creates an Electoral Commission to decide 15 members o 5 Senate o 5 House of Representatives o 5 Supreme Court David Davis o The only independent out of 7 democrats and 7 republicans on Electoral Commission o Resigned from Supreme Court to run for Senate o Democrats infuriated Now Electoral Commission is 8 Republicans 7 Democrats All 20 disputed votes go to Haynes in an 8 7 vote Created phrase Old 8 7 meaning corrupt election Compromise of 1877 Democrats would accept Hayes as president with incentives from north Republicans Troops to be removed from South Southern Republicans Carpetbaggers were free to be persecuted Support federal building of bridges and railroads Cabinet appointed made to return southern democrats to public End of Reconstruction Credit Mobilier Scandal 100 million scammed Republicans crashed and burned Sham construction company Supposed to build 2nd continental railroad Bought stock sold it as for a huge profit instead Nation retreats from Reconstruction Protection of slaves disappear Congress and Supreme Court undue or neutralize accomplishments of Reconstruction Narrows interpretation of Constitution Jim Crow Laws Southern state laws Named after black face ministerial character and the dance of jumping Jim Crow Dispute shows up on railroads first when whites do not want blacks to sit in same cars Prevented blacks and whites from sharing spaces and interacting Jim Crow Laws spur Civil Rights Cases of 1883 Discriminated African Americans bring suit under 15th Amendment Declared Jim Crow Laws unconstitutional Against 14th Amendment No state may However Congress had no power in ruling on private discrimination 1869 Plessy v Ferguson Plessy was a light skinned African American Denied access on Louisiana railroad Filed suit for violation of rights Law stigmatizes black people Decision of Plessy v Ferguson spurs SEPARATE BUT EQUAL o Separate bibles for blacks and whites in court rooms o Separate restrooms and drinking foundations o Controls interracial contact o Court rules separate facilities were constitutional as long as they were equal facilities o However they were never equal Disenfranchisement States can set standards but not based on race Found ways to avoid 15th Amendment Different requirements were implemented in states to prevent black voting POLL TAX Voting rights of Black males were protected but voting was dangerous for them So to make sure they away they instated a poll tax Prevented black people from voting due to the poorness of blacks Was a tax on right to vote paid prior to election Had to show receipt to vote cost 1 2 cumulative payment Sharecropping prevents blacks attainment of cash Single most effective way that prevented black voting However also prevented poor whites from voting Cut out bottom 3RD of electoral vote SECRET BALLOT Secret Ballot made ballots have a Literacy Test Had to prove literacy Read and interpret section of Constitution Selective test made harder for blacks PROPERTY REQUIRMENTS Had to show taxable property to vote GRANDFATHER CLAUSE If you re grandfather would have been eligible to vote in January 1867 then you gained automatic opportunity to vote For poors who couldn t read But to register under this clause was embarrassing ALL OF THESE REQUIREMENTS TOOK AWAY PEOPLE IN THE SOUTH S RIGHT TO VOTE POOR WHITES AND BLACKS WHO WERE MOST LIKELY TO VOTE AGAINST DEMOCRATIC Crop Lien Tough Economy cotton growth began declining Lien claim on piece of property Soil was bad so main economic crop in south was cotton Value of slave holdings served as collateral Until North reorganized National banking systems for stricter requirements Southerners were not able to use land as collateral No labor to work land Mortgage future crop to get funds to grow crop was RISKY High interest rates usually 20 Lots of land but no labor Results in partnership Cyclic debt for southerners Only way to make money was to overproduce in declining cotton prices Farms in GA go from 1 3 of sharecropping to 2 3 1880 1920 Sharecropping Poor without land would work for a share of crop High interest rates Had to grow cash crop Cash v credit prices no choice Crop reliable sold for cash Control of marketing Laid in hands of creditor Creditor controlled when and for how much crop was sold Lack of Urban Markets No demand in South for commercial food market No economic alternative Not enough industry to drawl labor away Labor surplus no pressure to mechanize like Midwest development of machines for wheat and corn crops