The social and political atmosphere of the postwar South would endure long into the 20th century. Reconstruction Myth: The Reconstruction Myth is the false belief that during Reconstruction, Radical Republicans intended to exploit the South by forcing it into economic and political submission.
Once they gained control, the Democrats cut back expenses, wiped out social programs, lowered taxes, and limited the rights of tenants and sharecroppers. These white southerners remained a major force in national politics well into the 20th century.
Landlords provided land, seed, and credit. This along with the crop lien system held back African Americans economically. Black economic rights were eroded away with this crop lien system and along with sharecropping. Though federal legislation passed during the administration of President Ulysses S. Grant in took aim at the Klan and others who attempted to interfere with Black suffrage and other political rights, white supremacy gradually reasserted its hold on the South after the early s as support for Reconstruction waned.
Racism was still a potent force in both South and North, and Republicans became more conservative and less egalitarian as the decade continued. In —after an economic depression plunged much of the South into poverty—the Democratic Party won control of the House of Representatives for the first time since the Civil War. When Democrats waged a campaign of violence to take control of Mississippi in , Grant refused to send federal troops, marking the end of federal support for Reconstruction-era state governments in the South.
In the contested presidential election that year, Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes reached a compromise with Democrats in Congress: In exchange for certification of his election, he acknowledged Democratic control of the entire South. A century later, the legacy of Reconstruction would be revived during the civil rights movement of the s, as African Americans fought for the political, economic and social equality that had long been denied them.
But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. One of the most important aspects of Reconstruction was the active participation of African Americans including thousands of formerly enslaved people in the political, economic and social life of the South. The era was to a great extent defined by their quest for autonomy and Between and , the U. A white slaveholding south that had built its economy and culture on And without a Union victory, the federal government never would have embarked upon the post-conflict rebuilding of southern states through the Reconstruction Acts and military occupation.
In a new working paper by myself and Karin E. Kitchens , we find that Reconstruction and Union occupation may have been more effective than previously understood.
Yet these very successes may have been met with violent hostility, provoked by racial resentment. To be re-admitted to the Union after the Civil War, the southern territories in rebellion passed the Thirteenth Amendment abolishing slavery, but white southern societies created new sociopolitical institutions that re-established slavery in all but name.
Southern governments passed Black Codes restricting the freedoms of former slaves: freed persons were unable to bargain for a fair wage, but unemployment meant incarceration where black labor could once again be harnessed for free.
White supremacist terrorist groups like the Ku Klux Klan attacked or murdered former slaves who became economically successful or exercised their newfound freedom.
Though slavery legally ended, prior to Reconstruction, institutions remained that coerced blacks into providing cheap or free labor while circumscribing their social and economic rights.
Reconstruction was a direct response to the terrorist violence, Confederate rise, and Black Codes endemic throughout the South. Congress re-deployed 20, soldiers throughout the south, and invested in socio-economic programming meant to rebuild southern society. In our paper, we utilize historical, geo-spatial county-level data to evaluate the effect of occupation and Reconstruction. We argue that the reason for the success of Reconstruction and occupation is largely due to the federal government channeling resources to communities of freed slaves.
Occupied territories provided a safe space for black communities to grow and establish institutions, such as the Union League or churches, that provided educational, employment and political opportunities. Among the most important legacies of the Civil War was addition of three amendments to the U. Constitution, promising freedom and full rights of citizenship to African Americans.
But racism delayed full implementation of the amendments and ultimately brought a new struggle for civil rights. Amendment XV to the Constitution, The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
Shaping remembrance of the war would be the last act of the conflict. By the s, however, old soldiers on both sides were looking back at their service with nostalgia and pride. Encampments, ceremonies, and veterans in parades became commonplace.
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