Britta+Ritter-Armour

Because the north had won the war it seemed as though northern politicians would determine the fate of the south; however, by the end of reconstruction, the south had taken control of its own politics and reverted back to economic and social systems similar to those of the antebellum south, effectively ‘winning’ reconstruction. Throughout reconstruction, northern republicans and southern democrats competed for political power over the south. In the end, the south politically ‘won’ reconstruction by undermining northern republican power and by restoring Democratic political power. Having won the Civil War, the north needed to decide how, and under what terms, to readmit the southern states of the former Confederacy into the Union. The north settled on the Johnson Plan in early 1865, which required each state write a new constitution abolishing slavery by ratifying the 13th Amendment. Though all southern states reformed their governments under the Johnson Plan by the end of 1865, the south managed to undermine northern political power by electing former Confederate leaders as congressional representatives. For example, Georgia elected ex-Confederate vice president, Alexander Stephens, as its senator. Simultaneously, southern states were passing a series of laws known as the Black Codes, which were “designed to give whites substantial control over the former slaves” (406). __These ‘codes’ essentially restored blacks to their former position as slaves by allowing officials to arrest and hire out unemployed blacks to work on plantations.__ As a response to southern resistance, republican congress extended the Freedmen’s Bureau’s powers and charter and created the 14th Amendment, which defined American citizenship as all people born in the country, regardless of race. The north added the ratification of the 14th Amendment as a requirement under Johnson’s Plan, and again southern states showed their resistance to northern political power by refusing to rejoin the Union. In addition, riots targeting blacks broke out in major southern cities as a response to the 14th Amendment. By 1866, in attempt to maintain political control over the south, the north divided the region into five districts, implementing military rule and enfranchisement of blacks until the southern states formed new constitutions ratifying the 13th, 14th, and soon to be 15th amendments. Although the north had political control over the south during this time of military rule, after having suffered political corruption, endured the Panic of 1873, and introduced to the idea of Social Darwinism, the north retreated from the south. This surrendering of political power over the south allowed for the “redemption” stage of reconstruction in which the white, democratic southerners were able to ‘redeem’ political control over the south. During redemption, the white democrats worked to reverse the changes made by northern, republican political control. They succeeded in disenfranchising blacks through terror, violence, poll taxes, literacy and understanding tests, and the Grandfather Clause. In addition to disenfranchising blacks, white democrats in southern passed a series of state laws called the Jim Crow Laws, which promoted racial segregation. By the end of reconstruction, the northern retirement of political power over the south not only resulted in white, southern democrats regaining control over southern politics, but also in the south regaining control over its economy and society. /// reverting back, as closely as it could, to its antebellum economy and society. Perhaps the one victory the Northern politicians won and maintained throughout the Reconstruction period was the abolition of slavery. However, to an extent, even that the South managed to evade. Though the Freedmen made an effort to redistribute land to blacks and poor whites, their success was transient. By the end of the year during which they were given permission to work in the south, “Southern plantation owners were returning and demand the restoration of their property, and President Johnson was supporting their demands,” (411 Brinkley). With the president on their side and the parting of the Freedmen, the south had virtually no political obstacles in reverting back to an economic system similar to that of the antebellum period, and they did not hesitate to do so. Though few southerners owned land, those who did quickly begun crop lien, tenant and sharecropping that mirrored slavery: “Most [blacks] became tenants of white landowners— working their own plots of land and paying their landlords either fixed rent or a share of their crop. The new system represented a repudiation by blacks of the gang-labor system of the antebellum plantation,” (412 Brinkley). These similarities were demonstrated physically by the high percentage of slaves who remained working on the same farm at which they were previously slaves. After the immense devastation of land and farms during the war, as well as the abolition of slavery, the south was forced to alter their economic structures to a degree. Industrialization in the south increased, particularly textile manufacturing, and authors such as Henry Grady, editor of the //Atlanta Constitution//, advocated the development of a “vigorous industrial economy,” (421 Brinkley). New credit systems, centered around local country stores owned by farmers and merchants, emerged as well. However, these systems of credit often only furthered the distinction between whites and blacks: “blacks who had acquired land during the early years of Reconstruction gradually lost it as they fell into debt,” (Brinkley 413). Even with these changes, the south remained a primarily agrarian-based economy dependent on cash crops, (Brinkley 414), and much of the class system in the antebellum period remained the same. Those who owned farms maintained power, (though now shared with factory owners), those in the backcountry had virtually no power, and the blacks were still viewed as inferior and refused the rights promised to them in the recent amendments. Throughout reconstruction the white southerners' aim was the eventual “redemption” of the old south and despite strong pressures from the federal government, successfully created a social system similar to that of the antebellum south. The core issue of the social reconstruction of the south was the end of slavery that, in one fell swoop, threatened the basic values of the antebellum south for which so many southerners had fought and died. Therefore, the priority of most southern whites was the reestablishment of white supremacy after the thirteenth amendment guaranteed the end of slavery. After being forced to ratify the 13th Amendment, the southern states maintained white superiority by creating the Black Codes: laws that essentially restored freedmen to their former position as slaves by condemning unemployed blacks to plantation labor, setting curfews, and denying them many constitutional rights. Racial violence began as many southern whites lashed out against blacks to prove the superior position. For example, the riots in New Orleans, La were unorganized results of the hate that was so deeply rooted in many southern whites. The first wave of local legislation and rioting effectively rebuilt similar social doctrine to the old south. The political disenfranchisement of blacks increased the social gap between black and white southerners. The Southern whites further enhanced the separation of the two races by passing segregation laws such as the Jim Crow Laws. ****** talk about Jim Crow Laws ***** The segregation created a divided society where all power was in the hands of the wealthy white democrats, a system that was based on terror and racial superiority, and a system that reflected the Old Southern system. *** add literature/art work somewhere in there ***blacks creating own communities ie. churches schools