Until reading Ron Chernow’s biography of Ulysses Grant, I had a totally different perspective of Reconstruction (1867-1877). In brief, I learned at my Southern Institutions, that the North always wanted to inflict military rule on the South, and that Southerners were innocent victims of Northern intolerance.

 

Chernow’s book paints a very different picture. That is, Reconstruction was a belated action in recognition of Southern widespread killings of blacks and Northern Whites residing in the South. Freedman were in a much more precarious position following the Civil War than previously because they were “no longer property.”

 

In addition, Southerners attempted to reduce Blacks to slave status using Black Codes. Black Codes, passed by every Confederate State, tried to deny Blacks the right to buy property or enter into contracts. Moreover, Southerners tried to tie Blacks to the land through one-way contracts.

 

Why did Reconstruction not begin until 1867?

 

From 1865-1867, effectively Presidential edict rather than Congress ruled the South. Unfortunately, President Johnson, who succeeded Lincoln, was a vicious racist who viewed Blacks with contempt. In fact, he believed that immigrants should have greater rights than Blacks. Johnson approved of the Black Codes, disapproved of Blacks having voting rights, and approved of policies intending to make Blacks serfs.

 

In recognition of Johnson’s racial prejudices, the legislature in 1867 stripped Johnson of authority and took measures into their own hands. Specifically, 10 confederate states were put under military rule. While Confederate States ultimately rejoined the union, it took place over a decade period. The last Southern States to be returned to Home Rule occurred in 1877 through a Compromise.

 

In the election of 1866, Radical Republicans won substantial majorities and were able to wrest control over the South from the President.

 

What issues delayed the Confederate States from returning to the Union?

 

Throughout the South, the populace wanted to empower former Confederate leaders. This was an anathema to the North that had sacrificed money and blood to reunify the country. In addition, even moderate Northerners were appalled by Southern terrorism against Blacks. Lastly, a pre condition to rejoining the Union was accepting the 14th Amendment that  gave equal protection. Only Tennessee voters approved the 14th Amendment and was therefore spared military occupation. Thus, 10 former Confederate States had military rule.

 

The Fourteenth Amendment put the principle of birthright citizenship into the Constitution. And forbade states to deprive any citizen of the “equal protection” of the laws. The Fourteenth Amendment is as important as the Bill of Rights because it led to a profound change in federal-state relations. Henceforth, the states had to protect a person’s rights with the same intensity as the Federal Government.

 

What were the benefits of Reconstruction?

 

I was taught that Reconstruction was a time when vindictive Radical Republicans fastened black supremacy upon the defeated Confederacy (Think of the image of Gone with the Wind).

Today Reconstruction is viewed more positively as a laudable experiment in interracial democracy. Reconstruction governments established the South’s first state-funded public schools, sought to strengthen the bargaining powers of plantation workers, made taxes more equitable, and outlawed discrimination in public transportation and accommodation. Unfortunately, not only in the South but also throughout the United States, state governments were corrupt. Thus, citizen backlash against these corrupt governments led to a desire to bring back “Home Rule” to the South

 

Redeemer Governments

 

 

I was taught that Whites in the South got justice only when Redeemer Governments replaced Reconstructionist Rule. Between 1870-1877, all 10 Confederate States were able to eliminate Reconstruction Governments and replace them with “Redeemer Governments.”

 

The term Redeemer is a euphemism. That is, White supremacist organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan beat and assassinated Republican leaders. In time, even in the North rather than focusing on assuring egalitarian rule, Reconstruction was viewed as misguided social experiment. Ultimately, the federal government no longer took responsibility for protecting the rights of former slaves.