Heimler's History: Reconstruction Failure in Post-Civil War America

Overview

Focus on how the Reconstruction process failed post-Civil War in Southern society and economics.
Two main topics:
1. Minimal change in Southern society and economy post-Civil War.
2. Causes for the official end of Reconstruction.

Emancipation brought challenges in adjusting to new freedoms.
Education Initiatives:
- Established black schools and colleges (e.g., Morehouse, Howard).
- Some elected to representative offices.
Freedmen’s Bureau:
- Helped reunite families and provided education and social welfare.

Sharecropping System:
- Replaced slavery but resembled it closely.
- Black workers signed exploitative contracts, binding them to plantations.
- Sharecropping emerged but often led to a cycle of debt and coerced servitude.
White Supremacy:
- Constitution recognized black citizens, but social acceptance lagged.
- Formation of Ku Klux Klan in 1867:
  - Terrorized black communities, promoting racial superiority.
  - Activities included burning buildings, controlling politics, and public lynchings.
Black Codes:
- Codified white supremacy into law.
- Examples of restrictions:
  1. Prohibited borrowing money for land.
  2. Barred black testimony against whites in court, protecting white violence.
  3. Enforced racial segregation.

Election of 1876:
- Contested between Samuel Tilden and Rutherford B. Hayes.
- Tilden won popular vote; electoral vote contention in SC, LA, FL.
Compromise of 1877:
- Electoral commission favored Hayes; Democrats demanded troop removal.
- Agreement led to the end of Reconstruction.

Federal troop withdrawal led to Democrat-dominated South.
Resulted in harsher conditions for black populations without federal protection.