DK - The American Civil War

“Redeeming” the South

For many white Southerners, Reconstruction was a period of political uncertainty, poverty, and

momentous social change. Although they had lost the war, they attempted to maintain traditions of

white control, using desperate means to “redeem” the South from Northern domination.

LEGACIES OF THE WAR

labor contracts, restricted freedoms of

travel and speech, or outlawed such

practices as the purchase of non-

agricultural land and the ownership of

guns. Heavy penalties were instituted

for people deemed “vagrants,”

including the sale of their labor at

public auction to repay fines. Such

laws were designed to bind workers

to Southern farms.

The flourishing of black codes was

a major cause of anger among even

moderate Northerners and it

contributed to the passage of the

Reconstruction Amendments that

granted African-Americans citizenship

and the right to vote.

The Ku Klux Klan

In 1866 the goal of white supremacy

and the limiting of black political rights

led to the foundation of the Klu Klux

Klan in Tennessee by Confederate

veterans. By 1868 it had spread

throughout the South. The Klan was

composed of white Southerners of all

classes who wanted to limit the changes

introduced by Reconstruction and the

power of the Republicans controlling it.

L

ife for many whites in the South

was difficult during Reconstruction

because the region was plagued by

crop failures and poor market conditions.

Even wealthy planters faced ruin and

had trouble finding enough workers.

Many Southerners also resented the

meddling of Northern capitalists,

occupying soldiers, and “carpetbaggers”

—men who migrated South looking for

economic opportunity or in support of

social reform. In addition, many white

Southerners regarded the imposition

of Federal control under the rule of

Radical Republicans as corruption, and

vowed to “redeem,” or recover, the

governments of their states.

The black codes

Southern governments were required

by the Federal government to grant

rights to former slaves, but they wanted

to direct the extent of change. Between

1865 and 1867 both state and local

governments enacted laws, known as

black codes, to keep African-Americans

in a subordinate position. The laws,

which were not uniform throughout

the South, came in many guises.

On the one hand, these statutes

granted African-Americans the rights

to own property, marry, and use the

courts, but the majority of the black

codes were discriminatory laws that

denied rights. For example, there were

codes that required blacks to sign yearly

BEFORE

At the height of their power in the South,
Republicans politically dominated the
former Confederate states.

REPUBLICAN VOTERS
The First Reconstruction Act of 1867
❮❮ 338–39 authorized the military to enroll
eligible black voters in the South. They registered
735,000 African-Americans, giving them a
majority over white voters in five Southern
states. The Republican Party was also supported
by a minority of Southern whites who were
“Unionist” in perspective, and was strongest
in up-country areas where there were few
large plantations.

REPUBLICAN ACHIEVEMENTS
Beyond granting black suffrage, Republicans
used their power to create new progressive state
constitutions ❮❮ 338–39. These documents
legislated universal voting rights for men,
expanded social services, and established public
schools for whites and blacks, at the cost of
higher property taxes. In 1868 seven former
Confederate states were restored to the
Union, with the remainder brought back by 1870.

THE DEFEATED SOUTH
Southerners were devastated by defeat
and unwilling to have further changes to their
traditions imposed on them by the victorious
North. They did not want to see former slaves,
whom they considered socially inferior, as
political equals. They also needed blacks to
remain a dependent workforce in order
to grow the cash crops on which the South
depended: cotton, tobacco, sugar, and rice.

To accomplish their aims, Klan members

used violence, intimidation, and murder,

and were noted for their all-covering

white robe and hood, although their

identities were often known. Their main

targets were politically active blacks,

white people who helped them, and

institutions whose aim was to aid blacks,

including schools and churches.

Some Southern states tried to curb

Klan activities, but the laws were often

weak or not enforced. Republicans

appealed to Congress, which passed the

Ku Klux Act in 1871. This act was

enforced by Federal troops, not state

militia, and cases were tried in Federal

court where juries had many black

members. Hundreds of Klan members

were convicted and by 1872 the Klan

had been suppressed. However, much

damage had already been done. Klan

terrorism had stopped blacks from

voting and severely weakened the

leadership and organization of the

Republican Party in the South.

Politics and the White League

Following the suppression of the Klan,

white Southerners turned to the

Democratic Party to achieve “home

rule.” In 1867, Democratic leaders

encouraged voters to shun elections for

the state constitutional conventions,

where new constitutions enshrining

universal manhood suffrage, or the

The new rules

Under the black codes, a freedman who has been

charged with a crime is sold at public auction in

payment of his fine.

“In the North I was a nobody”

A songsheet of around 1869 mocks the carpetbagger,

showing him in front of a Southern plantation house,

his bag brimming with booty from Reconstruction.

Carpetbagger was a belittling term used by

Southerners to describe Northerners who

came South, carrying their belongings in

just one bag made of carpet material,

implying their thrifty opportunism.