hi everybody today we'll be talking about the period we know is reconstruction the years immediately following the close of the american civil war which officially ended the legal practice of slavery in the country once the shock of events like robert e lee's surrender at appomattox and abraham lincoln's assassination in april 1865 began to subside the biggest question facing the nation was the status of the millions of people in the south who used to be slaves but now we're freed people like those we see in the first image here to say that slavery was ended forever was one thing but what exactly did freedom for black people mean would they enjoy the same civil and political status as whites would black men possess the right to vote just how would their freedom be defined by the broader society it was an enormous question that was far from resolved and one that would faithfully shape the nation's future in many ways the most important question to ask is what vision of the future did the freed people of the south hold for themselves in 1865 the immediate priority for most was a desperate attempt to find loved ones they'd been separated from by slavery countless diaries and memoirs of white union soldiers stationed in the confederate states after the war described the scene along seemingly innumerable red clay dirt roads black men women and children walking by the hundreds and even thousands stirring up clouds of dust that stretched as far as eyes could see traveling mile after mile in search of husbands and wives mothers and fathers brothers and sisters and best friends former slaves also believed that the absolute best way to give meaning and security to their new status as freed people was to own their own land land ownership protected under law offered real independence in the sense that blacks could be their own bosses and control their own destinies largely free from white interference a further understanding of what they interpreted as freedom came from the virtual disappearance of black women and children from the cotton fields where they were easy targets of white abuse and oppression and in the cases where black families did secure access to land the disappearance of cotton itself from the soil replaced by a variety of food crops that could feed families you can't eat cotton of course but there was another reason that freed people showed little interest in returning to the cotton fields after the war and slavery were over just a couple of images like the ones we see here should be enough to emphasize the point which one of us would want to labor on a gigantic cotton plantation much less under the supervision of people who used to own you cotton was a universal symbol of their enslavement that freed people left to their own devices clearly wanted to leave behind for a brief moment it appeared that their dreams of land ownership might become a reality when the union general that we see in this image here william tecumseh's sherman passed through georgia and south carolina on his infamous march to the sea he took notice of all the abandoned plantations up and down the coastal region we know as the sea islands before the war this was rice country home to some of the wealthiest slave owners in the country now it was occupied by federal troops sherman issued what became known as field order number 15 which stated that the lands in the sea islands should be broken up into 40 acre plots any black family that wanted to settle down on them could and sherman added that if anybody wanted a mule to help start up a small farm the army had plenty to spare this is the origin of the famous phrase in american history 40 acres and a mule all along the coast of the sea islands freed people began to take sherman up on his offer here we have a couple of images of the sea islands region along the atlantic coast that shows you know just how rich the area is and here's a mansion that dates back to the period maybe even a little bit before but extremely wealthy people that live there along with putting families back together and seeking to own land former slaves also incorporated into their visions of the future two things they'd been deprived of under slavery access to education and the ability to practice their own religious beliefs free from white control one of these areas lack of schooling was addressed by the federal government in washington dc when congress moved to create what became known as the freedmen's bureau in 1865 under its auspices hundreds of public schools like the one we see in the image here were set up across the south effectively bringing public schooling to the region for the first time many of the northern largely white female volunteer teachers who ran the schools were shocked to find that poor white children were often as illiterate as the freed people themselves and so from an early point the freedmen's bureau of schools catered to both black and white students adolescent and adult the south had its first public school system free black churches became the central hub of the communities freed people began to form after the war serving not just as places of worship but is the meeting place for all sorts of activities from recreation like dances and dinners to political meetings anytime the community needed to gather together to discuss issues of mutual concern independent black methodist and baptist churches also provided critical services such as insurance and covering funeral costs they also often functioned as the site of friedman's bureau schools together the schools and the churches breathed life into the idea of freedom former slaves had for themselves in 1865. they had to because the dream of land ownership for most blacks did not last andrew johnson of tennessee who we see in the image here one distinction for himself as the only southerner in the united states senate who did not resign his seat and joined the confederacy when the civil war broke out he remained loyal to the union and kept his seat through all four years of the conflict when abraham lincoln looked to secure reelection in 1864 he chose johnson to be his running mate on the vice presidential ticket choosing a southerner like johnson was a sign that lincoln was looking to heal the country's wounds after the war to bring the nation back together it was a symbol of goodwill towards the south no one dreamed in a million years that andrew johnson would ever actually become president but lincoln's assassination in april 1865 accomplished exactly that congress suddenly had a new president to treat with and no one knew exactly how he would approach the momentous issues of reconstruction of attempting to heal the nation after four years of brutal war johnson owned a few slaves in his lifetime but he was not a member of the slaveocracy of the south the large planter class that dominated the region's politics much like his hero andrew jackson johnson fancied himself a defender of the average white man in american society also like his idol and most americans of the time for that matter he did not believe that black americans free or enslaved were racially equal with whites he believed in the so-called inferiority of all non-white races of peoples especially those of african descent he could not imagine a world where for example blacks owned their own lands and refused to pick cotton for a living with congress out of session until december 1865 johnson was able to take the lead in shaping the federal government's initial attempts at reconstruction policies in the south the months from may 1865 to near the end of 1866 are often referred to by scholars as the period of presidential reconstruction if most white americans had been polled at the time a majority would have likely supported an end to slavery in secession along with some protection of black civil rights but most would not have supported the idea of political enfranchisement giving black men the right to vote most members of the ruling republican party reflected this state of public sentiment and were more moderate than radical in their political position on issues of black freedom it was andrew johnson's policies toward the freed people of the south that created a sea change in white northern public opinion johnson's plan for reconstruction was twofold first the former confederate states had to admit that they had lost the war and that the idea of secession from the union was dead forever second they had to honor the terms of lincoln's emancipation proclamation and accept that slavery also was permanently vanquished and that was it former rebels simply had to accept these terms and take a loyalty oath and they would be able to form their own state governments and constitutions again able to apply for readmission to the union the only exceptions were former confederate politicians and prominent military figures in the rebel army like jefferson davis and robert e lee such individuals had to petition president johnson personally for pardons without a pardon they could not get their citizenship rights or their lands returned still even this provision began to be waived when johnson became alarmed at the progress of black land ownership in places like the sea islands and the assertiveness of former slaves generally and trying to define freedom for themselves for the president blacks had to remain in an inferior position to whites as at best second class citizens of the united states they should be returned to the cotton fields under white supervision because he believed that only their former owners really understood how to control large populations of blacks johnson began to pardon the large former slaveholders of the south restoring their lands and permanently revoking general sherman's field order number fifteen the freed people who had claimed their own small farms on the sea islands were subsequently kicked off the land to make room for the so-called master class to return to their plantations the freed people were told that they could remain on the land but only if they signed labor contracts with whites often the very same people who used to own them the relief among anxious white southerners at president johnson's lenient terms for reunion was palpable and authorities across the region quickly moved to take advantage of the situation they formed new local and state governments held state constitutional conventions that affirmed johnson's terms for readmission to the union and finally began to pass a series of laws subsequently known as black codes that sought to restore slavery to the south and all but name the most infamous of these measures were the vagrancy laws which permitted whites to stop any black individual on the street and sometimes even to invade their homes and demand that persons papers proof of contract showing that they were currently in the employee of a white land or business owner if such an individual could not show their contract they would be arrested and held in jail until they could be auctioned off at sales to the highest white bidder who would enjoy their service for the length of their sentence which could stretch from months to years depending on the state in addition to their loss of the dream of owning their own land and being forced to work for whites again freed people now lived under the threat of the black codes and the shadow of racial violence those few black individuals who managed to stand up for themselves and their communities became the targets of vigilantes and sometimes white mobs in may 1866 in memphis and again later that august in new orleans anti-black race riots broke out as we see in a couple of print images here from the period that set both cities aflame even before the race riots many northerners and not a few of their representatives in washington dc were becoming alarmed at johnson's handling of the country's affairs for many the tipping point came at the end of 1865 when congress reconvened for its first legislative session after the end of the civil war republicans were shocked to see former confederates military and political figures in washington elected to their old seats under president johnson's reconstruction terms expecting to participate in governing the country they'd been trying to destroy only months before even alexander stevens of georgia the vice president of the confederacy and a number of rebel generals in their uniforms were there waiting to be sworn in outraged republicans refused to seat the southerners the battle lines between president and congress over control of reconstruction policy began in earnest moderates within the republican party who at this point still made up the majority within its ranks still hope to work with the president to bring the country back together and to this end they met with johnson to discuss their upcoming proposal for a civil rights bill the first in the country's history they told the president that if he expected any cooperation from congress moving forward he could not veto the measure the civil rights bill was designed to protect blacks from many of the abuses they were suffering under the black codes in the south but johnson who frequently boasted that the united states was a white man's country stubbornly refused to listen to moderate republicans who tried to warn him and vetoed the civil rights bill slowly but surely public opinion in the north reacting to johnson's policies started to become more radical and less moderate many began to ask themselves if all the rebel states had to do was admit they'd lost the war and effectively reinvent slavery without the name even being allowed to send traitors back to washington had the war not been fought in vain increasingly northern voters and their representatives were not willing to let this happen the 1866 midterm elections turned into a referendum on presidential reconstruction and the more radical elements within the republican party began to take over leadership of the fight against the president and his democratic party allies in congress as we see in a couple of images here the most prominent radical republicans were senator charles sumner of massachusetts and in the house of representatives thaddeus stevens of pennsylvania both men had supported black civil and political equality long before there was any conceivable gain to be had from taking such a position even before the voters went to the polls in november the radicals engineered a majority that allowed them to pass the civil rights bill over johnson's veto and they also sent what became the 14th amendment of the constitution out to the states for ratification the 14th amendment completely redefined american citizenship to say that anyone born in the united states regardless of race was an american citizen with rights that could not be denied on the basis of racial origin for the first time black americans were included in the definition of american citizenship johnson completely misreading the public mood in the north decided to take his message directly to the people in places like new york city philadelphia boston in chicago becoming the first president to actively campaign in public on his own behalf the president frequently drunk went before northern audiences and compared himself to christ claiming that the radical republicans were persecuting him on the cross of reconstruction he was booed jeered at and often engaged in verbal combat with listeners the democratic party tried to support johnson with an openly white supremacist propaganda blitz which we can get an idea from the couple of images we have here attacking the freedmen's bureau and the republican party for its advocacy of black civil and political rights many of the ads suggested that what the radicals really wanted was a blending an amalgamation of the white and black races to try and scare off potential white republican voters it didn't work when the votes were counted the nation had dealt a stunning rebuke to democrats and the president sending republicans back to washington with veto proof majorities in both houses of congress the era of presidential reconstruction was over and the period scholars defined as radical reconstruction was about to begin in the south andrew johnson's presidency effectively ended with the vote in november 1866 after that he was what we call a lame duck president still technically in office but irrelevant otherwise congress actually moved to impeach him he survived by just a single vote in the united states senate republicans quickly acted to implement their own plan of reconstruction in the south placing the former confederate states under military occupation by federal armies and separating them into five separate districts the first as we see on the map illustration here included virginia the second included north and south carolina the third florida georgia and alabama the fourth arkansas and mississippi and the fifth louisiana and texas all would be under the direct leadership of a union army general who would have complete control even to the point of declaring martial law but this was not the most significant aspect of what became known as the reconstruction acts of 1867. the measures that ushered in radical reconstruction also provided that henceforth black men in the south would have the right to vote and not just the right to vote but to hold office to enjoy the same rights and privileges as white male citizens for white southerners the entire world had suddenly been turned upside down and needless to say the revolution this created in the lives of black southerners was almost immeasurable offering them for the first time some real influence in determining the course of their lives but crucially radical reconstruction in the south as revolutionary as it was in many ways is just as notable for what it consciously failed to achieve that one thing that former slaves understood provided the greatest security to their new status as freed people the ownership of land so-called radical republicans never seriously took up the question of securing land for the freed people and for a very specific reason cotton white's north and south agreed that cotton production which remained the number one most profitable export of the united states had to be restarted in earnest what they also agreed on apparently was that white people didn't pick cotton black people did the dream of land ownership would remain exactly that for the overwhelming majority of former slaves an unrealized dream white authorities north and south effectively forced black americans back into the cotton fields whether they liked it or not this led to a mixed legacy for the freedmen's bureau which the federal government had initially set up to ease the transition from slavery to freedom despite the good work of the agency in terms of bringing public school education to the region the bureau effectively became just the overseer of labor contracts signed between white planners and black workers engaged in the production of cotton for profit wealth that went not just to planters but the owners of northern textile factories in cities like new york and boston black americans nevertheless embraced the changes that radical reconstruction did bring and all looked forward to the upcoming national election in 1868 not just because they would have the chance to select a new president of the united states but for the first time in american history a host of black men into local state and even national offices the democrats chose as their nominee for president in 1868 the former governor of new york horatio seymour who we see in the image here and they ran once again as in the 1866 midterms one of the most openly white supremacist campaigns in the nation's history the republicans chose as their nominee for president the greatest northern hero of the war who we see in this image general ulysses s grant the conqueror of vicksburg in the western theater and the man who finally secured robert e lee's surrender in the east grant promised to support radical reconstruction and congress and in november the voters elected him once again largely rejecting the democrats and returning republicans to washington in large numbers it really is impossible to gauge just how significant black voting and office holding was for people who used to be slaves under the laws of the united states here's a sketch of the first group of black congressmen elected in 1868 the most famous of which was hiram rebels on the far left a u.s senator from mississippi the revolution in black life created by radical reconstruction as perhaps best illustrated in the case of john r lynch who we see in a photo here when he was an old man but when the civil war came to a close lynch was a 17 year old house servant on a plantation in mississippi being able to read and write after the war he managed to teach himself the technological skills necessary to set up a career in a new field that was taking off in the second half of the 19th century photography his trade brought him into contact with a wide range of wealthy and influential people the kind of people who could afford to get their pictures taken he heard a lot of political talk among his customers both black and white he got the idea of going into politics himself which he did getting elected to the us house of representatives while still in his early twenties when u.s grant won a re-election to a second term as president in 1872 lynch became the first african-american to be invited to an inaugural ball in the nation's capital to go from being a slave at 17 to a congressman and confidant of the president in less than a decade was remarkable a representation in microcosm of just what a revolution radical reconstruction created in black people's lives in the south if only for a relatively brief moment in time for their part white southerners struggled to find language that could capture adequately the way they felt about the changing world around them it's easy to forget just how economically devastated the south was after the war one of the most hated figures of radical reconstruction was the white northerner or yankee who saw opportunity in the south's misfortune and decided to relocate to advance their own fortunes at the expense of a conquered people as the image of this political cartoon shows they were called carpet baggers while such individuals were widely reviled they were not as offensive as local homegrown white southerners who cooperated with the yankee carpetbaggers advancing their own interests at the expense of their neighbors these people were called scalawags the reality of former slaves holding actual political power in southern society even being able to run for and hold political office took longer to characterize eventually the phrase the white south settled on to describe its new reality was negro rule we can get some idea of it from this political cartoon at the time negro rule was meant to denote not simply the fact that blacks could now vote and hold office but the whole range of emotions white southerners felt as a result of the dramatically changed circumstances of their lives imagine a couple of little old southern belles white women who were prolific slave owners before the war and now returned to their plantations before the war they walked together every day to the local post office to collect their mail socialize and be seen flaunting their status in a society that recognized them as sitting atop the social order whenever they entered the post office because of who they were they always went straight to the front of the line and no one questioned it then one day they entered the post office to find that the person behind the desk has changed after the election of 1868 their new past postmaster is a black man maybe even someone they used to own as a slave when they attempt to cut to the front of the line this time they're told to take their place at the back of the line like everyone else has to do in an instant they're made to understand how their position in the social order has been undermined and the power they've lost this is an example of what southerners meant by the phrase negro rule it was a form of public humiliation in a sense that they found unendurable they saw it as a rupture in what they called the natural order of things and a majority determined to resist radical reconstruction republicans carpetbaggers scalawags and negro rule in every way they could what became known as white leagues began to form all across the south and a whole host of domestic white terrorist organizations led by the ku klux klan as we see depicted in this political cartoon at the time were set up and established there were also other groups like the knights of the white camellia in louisiana their weapon of resistance was violence targeted assassinations of black leaders public lynchings see the black body hanging from a tree in the illustration and the rape of black women in response congress in 1868 passed the 15th amendment to the constitution which covered voting rights the same way that the 14th spoke to the issue of citizenship declaring that any citizens voting rights could not be discriminated against on the basis of race it was an attempt to protect the black vote in the south without which the republican party could hardly exist in the region despite ratification of the 15th amendment in 1870 anti-black racial violence continued virtually unabated presenting a challenge that the federal government would have to address president grant understood that white americans north and south had no stomach to fight the civil war over again he could not simply send hundreds of thousands of federal troops into the south to enforce black civil and political equality at the end of a gun barrel but he could set an example in one place that might send a message everywhere as the leading promoter of the violence against blacks the kkk became grant's target and nowhere was the organization more prolific than in the birthplace of secession south carolina the president determined to crush the clan there hoping that if he could do so it might temper the activities of the group and others like it in other parts of the south in 1871 in what became known as the ku klux klan trials hundreds of members were arrested testified against by countless victims and convicted to prison terms the clan was crushed in the palmetto state but only for a while and the violence against freed people and white republicans in other parts of the south hardly subsided although grant's action against the clan was popular in the north at the time helping to secure his re-election in 1872 it did not solve the pandemic of racial violence assassinations lynchings and rapes escalated in number throughout the decade of the 1870s still radical reconstruction could never have come to an end as it ultimately did unfinished without the tacit consent not just of northern politicians republicans as well as democrats but also with the approval of the northern public so just how did the public's support for the freed people begin to wane and fade away to make a long story short it was when the trials of blacks lives in the south were overshadowed by white northerners own misfortunes the event that many scholars point to as triggering the beginning of the end of white support for reconstruction is what became known as the panic of 1873 a major economic depression that led to millions of job losses corporate bankruptcies and widespread misery generally the cause of the panic was a string of bank failures that were linked to over speculation and railroad construction it began when one of the largest banking institutions jay cook and company filed for bankruptcy near the end of september in the illustration here we see wall streeters rushing out of the exchange building in new york city as the news began to spread soon after other banks caught up in the railroad market one under causing a general collapse of the economy and the subsequent mass unemployment suddenly especially for white northern working-class types the problems of black americans didn't seem so big and important in fact they started to weary of hearing about them as most became more concerned with finding a job putting a roof over their family's heads and feeding them the civil war was becoming a distant memory for many white americans nearly a decade removed from it not a few started to buy into the arguments of democratic politicians that the best way to resolve the questions of reconstruction was to let black and white people in the south work it out for themselves free of federal interference the country meaning white america was ready to move on get the economy buzzing again and put the war and black people's problems behind them of course for black americans especially those of the former slave states this was more than an ominous sign it was in this climate that the clan and groups like them effectively became the paramilitary arm of the democratic party in the south assassinations not just of black but white republican politicians grew dramatically blacks still determined to exercise their voting rights were increasingly met with violence or the threat of violence as we can see in this illustration of the time quite naturally as the act of voting came to mean the literal risk of one's life fewer did so which was the idea the democrats were determined to drive the republicans completely out of the south to make it a one-party region dominated by white men they called the idea redemption the return of the south to all white control and domination it was with the presidential election of 1876 that the redeemers as white southern politicians called themselves finally managed to secure an end to radical reconstruction once and for all the democrats placed the sitting governor of new york samuel j tilden who we see here at the top of their presidential ticket the republicans settled on the current governor of ohio rutherford b hayes here in a photograph from the time the contest was extremely close so close that the votes in south carolina florida and louisiana would determine the outcome controversy erupted when officials of both parties the democrats and republicans declared their candidate the winner in all three states tilden had won a majority of the popular vote 50.9 percent and held an electoral lead of 184 to 165 with the 20 electoral votes of the three states and dispute left to be resolved a congressional committee was set up to negotiate the outcome and it was here that the democratic redeemers of the south saw their chance they offered to give the election to hayes the republican all 20 remaining electoral votes in exchange for the end of federal enforcement of reconstruction in the south the republicans on the committee agreed and what became known infamously as the compromise or bargain of 1877 was struck taking office hayes did not remove all the federal troops from the south as is often suggested he did however give the order for those troops to return to their regular installations and military bases and to no longer enforce the laws the experiment in interracial democracy the first of its kind really in human history had ended unfinished what lay ahead for black americans in the south was the long dark knight of jim crow segregation disenfranchisement and the ever-present threat of white terrorism the modern civil rights movement lay far out on the horizon nearly a hundred years away