ANswNATIONta k in gadvantageo f t h is."Theyhaven o tbeen
punishedastheydeserve,"said o neR adic al
Republican.
In J u ly1866,despi teoppos ition fro mthePresident,
Congress passeda C ivilRightsAct.Italsosetup all
o rganizat io ncalled t heFreedmen'sBurea u.B o th
t hesemeasureswereintendedtoensurethatb lack sin
th e Southwerenotcheatedoft heirrights.Congress
thenintrod ucedth el-t t hAmendmenttoth e
Constitution.T he l-lth Amendmentgaveblacksfull
fightsofcitizens hip,meludingth efight t ovote.
Alltheforme rConfederatest atesexceptTennessee
r e fu sedtoacceptthel -lr h Amendment. InMarch
186 7,Cong ressre plie dbypassingt he
Reco ns t ruct io nAct.This d ismissedt hewhite
go v ernmen tsofthesout he rnsta tesand placedthem
.undermilita ryrule.The yweretold thatth ey could
againha veelecte dgovernm eIHswhent he yacce pted
the14t hAmen dmentandgan'allblackmen th e
vo te.
13y1870 allthesouthernstateshadnew
"Reconstruction"govemmcnrs.Mostwerem ad eup
ofblacks,a fewwhitesouthernerswhowerewillin g
to wo rkwiththemandwhitemenfro mtheNorth.Thene w lyar rivednorthernerswerereferredto by
southernerswhoo pposed the m as"carpetbaggers."
T henamecamefromthelarge.cheapbagsmadeof
carpet in gmate rial in whichsomeo fthenorthern er s
carriedtheirbelongings.Anywhitesouthernerswho
coopera te dwiththecarpetbaggerswerereferredto
withco n te m ptas"scalawags."T heword
"scalaw ag "s tillmeansscoun d rel.orrogue.IIIthe
En glis hlang uageto day.Most whit esouthernerss upportedt heDemocratic
poli tica l part y .T hesesouthernDemocratsclaimed
thatth e Reco n stru ctiongovermllelltswere
in co m pet en t and dishonest.T he rewassom etruthin
t hisclai m .Man yofthen e wblackm e m be rso f t he
s tateasse mb lieswereinexperienceda ndpoorly
ed u cated. So m e carpetbaggersweret hie ves.In
Loui sian a.torexample,onecar pe t bagge rofficialw as
accusedofstealingIOU,OnOdollarsfromstatefund s in
hisfirstyearofoffice.
Bu tRecon st ru cti ongover nmentsalsocontaine d
honestmenwhotriedtoImpro vetheSouth. T hey
passed!;l\VStoprovideca refo rorphansandt he
blind. to e nco ur agenewin d usmcs andthebuilding
ofrailro ad s.andtobuildschoolsforboth w h iteand
blackchild ren.
None o f t hes eImprovementsstoppedsouthern
w h ite s fromhatingReconstr uction.This was n ot
bec auseofth e incom petenceordi sh on es t yofits
govcmmcms.ItwasbecauseReco nst r ucti on aim ed
togiveb lacksth esameri g h ts thatw hiteshad.
Southernwhitesweredeterminedto preventthis.
T he yo rg an izedterroristgroupstomakew hi tem en
themasters on ce mo re.T hem ainaimoftheseg rou ps
wasto thre atena ndfrightenblackpeopleandPtv vvut
t hemfromclaimingt heirnghts.
Thelarges tandm o stfearedte rr o ristgroupwas a
secretsOCIety calledtheKuKlu x K lan .Itsmemb er s
d ressedthemselvesinwhitesheetsandworehoo d sto
hi d etheir faces.The yro debynight through the
southerncount rysi de.beatingand k illinganyblacks
whotr iedtoimprovetheirposition. T hei rsignwasa
burningwoodencross. w hic hth e yplacedo ut sidet he
homesoftheirintendedvictims.
Thisuscofviolenceandfearhelpedwhitera cists to
winbackcontrolofstategovernmentsalloverthe
South. B y 1876Re pu b lica nsupponersof
Reconstruc ti o nheldpower in onlythreesouthern