CH. 12-4 RECONSTRUCTION

COLLAPSESAMERICAN HISTORY

PROBLEMS WITH RECONSTRUCTION

Violent opposition plagued the South

TERRORIST GROUPS IN THE SOUTH KKK most active terrorist group Members included planters, merchants,

and poor white farmers and laborers KKK wanted to restore old political and

social order to the south

Main target was African Americans Both blacks and whites were terrorized by

threats, house burnings, and more KKK beat Freedmen’s Bureau teachers,

men and women A member of Congress from AK, and 3 GA

legislators were murdered KKK also attacked African Americans they

thought were too economically successful

State governments were unable to control the violence

Congress passed three ENFORCEMENT ACTS in 1870 & 1871

Laws set a heavy penalty, including jail, for anyone attempting to prevent a qualified person from voting.

They banned the use of disguise to deprive any person of rights

The laws allowed the US Army and federal courts to capture and punish KKK members

This effort soon broke the power of the KKK but other groups would continue to operate.

SUPPORT FOR RECONSTRUCTION DECLINES

White southerners claim the Enforcement Acts threatened individual freedoms

Northerners were dismayed that the army was still required to keep peace in the south

Conditions in the south strengthened the LIBERAL REPUBLICANS

This group split from the party over the Enforcement Acts and scandals that plagued the Grant Administration

Grant was re-elected in 1872 Radical Republicans helped Democrats

regain control of the House in 1874 The Republican majority in the Senate

was cut in half A 5-year depression began in 1873

THE END OF RECONSTRUCTION

By mid-1870s reconstruction was on the decline

The main leaders of reconstruction, Rep. Thaddeus Stevens and Sen. Charles Sumner, had died

Supreme Court decisions weakened key part of the reconstruction program

1873—Supreme Court ruled in the SLAUGHTERHOUSE CASES that most civil rights/freedoms remained under state control

In US vs. Cruikshank (1873), the Supreme Court said XIVth Amendment didn’t empower the federal government to punish whites for suppressing African Americans

In US vs. Reese (1876), XVth Amendment didn’t protect voting rights that were denied for reasons other than race

“REDEEMING” THE SOUTH As support for reconstruction declined,

southern democrats became stronger and bolder

Terrorists publicly threatened, beat, and murdered Republican candidates

On election days armed democrats stole ballot boxes and drove African Americans from polling places

MS governor asked for federal help but President Grant refused because he said the north was tired the south’s problems

1876—only SC, LA, FL under Republican control. Democrats controlled the others

THE ELECTION OF 1876 Southern democrats had a direct

impact on the presidential election of 1876

Ohio Gov. Rutherford B. Hayes (R) vs. NY Gov. Samuel J. Tilden (D)

Tilden narrowly won the popular vote and finished ahead in the electoral college 184-165.

Tilden was 1 electoral vote short 20 electoral votes disputed from OR, SC,

FL, LA People claimed voter fraud in these

states

OR’s disputed vote went to Hayes Democrats threatened to put Tilden in

the White House by force—”Tilden or War”

January 1877—Congress created the Electoral Commission to solve the crisis

COMPROMISE OF 1877—Hayes would become President and the federal troops were withdrawn from the south

RECONSTRUCTION’S LEGACY

14th & 15th amendments began permanent change in the South and North

NEW SOUTH—late 1800s & early 1900s—a time of industrialization and economic change

Supreme Court weakened protections of the 14th and 15 amendments

If the Civil War was fought to settle states’ rights, reconstruction showed that it failed to do so.

Reconstruction intensified the hostility many white southerners had toward the Republican party

1870s-1970s—South was so strongly Democratic—SOLID SOUTH

1970s—Republican Party started to regain the level of support is has today

THE END