Notes CH 23 part 1 500-
Note: US Grant, former Civil War Hero General for the Union, is elected President in both 1868 and 1872—largely with help of the votes of Southern Black Men--- and is President as the “Military Reconstruction Act, 1867” is enforced----This time could be an “Oasis of Freedom” for former slaves wherever the UNION ARMY would protect their new rights---or could be a “Living HELL” wherever the Union Army was not present or would leave—due to the violence against them due to the KKK/Red Shirts –White Democratic Party leaders---determination to REDEEM—or regain political control of the South.
Intro to New Unit 500 -501
After the Civil War the South remained the ONE region largely untouched by the 2nd Industrial Revolution sweeping the rest of America.
NOTE: [the South WILL attempt to get involved…’THE NEW SOUTH,” will bring textile mills into many southern towns during the latter part of the 19th century and other industrial businesses (including railroads), create “right to work states” that ban Union involvement (still does) in an attempt to lure northern factories to move South…and the same combination of NI and SP that work together to end reconstruction also work together to begin to exploit the poor whites and some blacks in this “NEW more industrial minded SOUTH”]
For the most part the “NEW SOUTH” was still many years away, a dream to some, THE RURAL WAY OF LIFE LINGERS…Sharecropping and Tenant Farming…subsistence agriculture DOMINATES THE SOUTH. The South’s peculiar system of racial relations…”JIM CROW,” was largely undisturbed after 1877, by the changes happening elsewhere until the dawn of he 20th century.
FOR African-Americans, the vast majority who live in the OLD SOUTH, the POST-EMANCIPATION ERA OF HE LATE 19TH CENTURY….inflicted new forms of racial injustice, LEGALIZED LYNCHING- LEGALIZED SEGREGATION – LEGALIZED HORROR. State Legislatures systematically deprived Black Americans of their political rights, including their right to vote. Segregation of schools, housing, and all kinds of public facilities [ all made possible by the Supreme Court’s limiting the scope of the 14th and 15th amendments in key decisions, later overturned late in the 20th century] MADE A MOCKERY of Black Americans Reconstruction Era hopes for EQUALITY BEFORE THE LAW.
As America begins to look overseas….to EXPANSION… RACISM….”White Man’s Burden” takes center stage at HOME AND ABROAD… SCIENCE- DARWIN APPLIED TO HUMAN’S…”survival of the fittest,” seemed to influence how we saw ourselves and also how we saw the world…. THIS IDEA WOULD BE CRITICAL, and some say still is, IN HOW WE CREATE THE NEW POWERFUL INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY THAT STILL DOMINATES TODAY….
Just as there was a backlash to the 1st Industrial Revolution in the early 1800’s with the 2nd Great Awakening bring scores of reform movements in an attempt to make sense of this new CAPITALISTIC WORLD….So the advent of the 2nd Industrial Revolution will also bring various movements of reform, paternalistic in nature, in an attempt to make sense of the MASSIVE CHANGES THAT ARE TO COME.
CH. 23 BEGINSPOLTICAL PARALYSIS IN THE “GILDED AGE” 1869 – 1896 Part 1
Note: There are a ton of events happening simultaneously during this period… We will address most of them after the Christmas Break….BUT … know that each of these events and topics all happen at the same time which means the decisions that are made in one area are influenced certainly by the other actions which occur at the same time…. Such as Reconstruction in the South was part of a Reconstruction of the West as well…with ideas that affected one region impacting the other and visa versa…. We will address this as we begin the next Unit.
Read Opening Quote p. 502 about President Grant from the Book, “The Education of Henry Adams,” 1907
Intro
The Population of the US increased by 30% in the Decade of the 1860’s despite a CIVIL WAR. People from around the WORLD continued to flood into the USA….(many our relatives ) The US was, by population the 3rd Largest Nation in the Western World, after Russia and France.
The pace of our CIVIC HEALTH…does not keep pace with our Industrial or Physical growth. The Civil War and its aftermath spawned waste, extravagance, speculation, and GRAFT (CORRUPTION) ON MASSIVE SCALES NEVER SEEN BEFORE.
Disillusionment ran DEEP among idealistic Americans in the post-war era…They spilled their BLOOD for the UNION, emancipation, and Abraham Lincoln (who had the gall to die)… AL had promised a ‘NEW BIRTH OF FREEDOM,” instead they got a bitter dose of CORRUPTION AND POLITICAL STALEMATE… When U.S. Grant is elected in 1868 to succeed AJ as President of the United States.
The “Bloody Shirt” Elects Grant
Gen. Grant was the most popular Northern hero to emerge from the Civil War. 3 Cities give him houses… NY gave him a check for 105,000$ (what would that be worth today XC)
Grant was not a politician…and suffered immeasurably from his inexperience, he was a damned good soldier, maybe the best ever in US History, BUT HE WAS A LOUSY PRESIDENT.
The Republican Party ran US Grant for President in 1868…his famous slogan was “Let us have Peace.” (on his tombstone in NYC)
Republicans “WAVED THE BLOODY SHIRT” see asterisk p.503***huge for many years
Vote as you shot…
His opponent was Horatio Seymour, Democrat from NY.
The Democratic Platform called for: an END TO RECONSTRUCTION
: War bonds redeemed in Gold
: “Ohio Idea” – more greenbacks issued ( a major issue later…inflation v. deflation that lasts through the end of the century)
US Grant wins by 300, 000 votes….and over 500,000 blacks voted for him….so…it is said that without Military Reconstruction that protected Black voting for the 1st time in history was the difference in the race and allowed the Republican…US Grant to win ….TO REMAIN IN POWER THE REPUBLICANS HAD TO CONTINUE TO CONTROL THE SOUTH POLITICALLY…AND KEEP BLACKS VOTING…****
THE ERA OF GOOD STEALINGS & A CARNIVAL OF CORRUPTION
The majority of politicians and businesspeople continued to conduct their affairs with decency and honor.
However, “a few skunks can pollute a large area.”
Railroads, Stock Markets, and judges/politicians sold their honor.
Know these SCANDALS
Fisk and Gould
1869
Attempted to corner the Gold market in the USA in 1869. If they could convince the Federal Treasury not to release any gold to the market …they could be successful… to make sure that this happened paid Grant’s brother in law 25,000 to help…HOWEVER…when Black Friday came….The treasury released Gold and solved the crises… a congressional inquiry proved Grant himself did nothing wrong…though he was not very smart choosing his acquaintances.
The Tweed Ring
1871
NYC Politics was controlled by “Tammany Hall” the political machine originally created by Aaron Burr around 1800…it had developed into a machine that preyed on immigrants to control the city and its $$$$ for the Democratic Party. It is said the Boss Tweed…made over 200 million dollars in illegal $$$ by controlling the city government. Tweed is eventually caught by Samuel J. Tilden, DA of NYC, and future candidate for Pres. in 1876 (he wins a majority of pop. votes but loses, a rarity) AND THOMAS NAST, the political cartoonist, whose cartoons vilified Tweed (Tweed even offered a bribe to Nast to stop the cartoons, illiterate immigrants could understand the pictures...)
Credit Mobilier
1872
The Union Pacific Railroad Company formed the Credit Mobilier Construction Company… and then hired themselves to build the TCRR…at INFLATED PRICES… Dividends were paid at 348%... a scam…that lessened the value of the stock in UP and the private and limited stock shares of the CMco. Became worth a fortune…Fearing Congress would investigate the rumors… they BRIBE CONGRESSMEN WITH SHARES OF CMco. STOCK…A newspaper expose… and later congressional investigation…revealed that several congressmen and even the VP – Schuyler Colfax.
Whiskey Ring
1874-75
The treasury department was robbed of millions in excise tax revenues. Grant said “let no guilty man escape.” However, his own private secretary was involved…for whom he helped avoid punishment…The Revenue agents pocketed tens of thousands in bribes.
Indian Bureau
1876
Secretary of War – William Belknap – was forced to resign after it was found out he was taking bribes from suppliers to the Indian Reservations…
The Liberal Republican Revolt of 1872
The Liberal Republican Party was those upset with scandal and who wanted “reform” and it is this group that becomes disillusioned by reconstruction in the South and eventually teams up with the White Planters to lessen the effects of Military Reconstruction and finally end Reconstruction.
Horace Greeley, NY newspaper editor, was nominated by both the Liberal Republicans and the Democratic Party in the Presidential election of 1872….a rarity in American political history…He represented such a weird combination of intellectual and monopolistic elites and Elite white planters.
Greeley famously asks,” for clasping hands across the bloody chasm.”
Grant wins again. But in many Southern States violence begins to mar elections and the rise of the White Redeemers begins in Earnest…
But the Republicans began to lose their fight… and will…to protect the blacks in the South. Passing the General Amnesty Act, 1872 – that removed all remaining political disabilities from former Confederate Leaders…all but 500.
Depression, Deflation, and Inflation part of part 2
Pallid Politics in the Gilded Age…part of part 2
The Hayes-Tilden Standoff [The Election of 1876]
The Republicans nominate Rutherford B. Hayes from Ohio, a turning point state in elections.
“Some are great, Some achieve greatness, And some are born in Ohio.”
The Democrats nominate NYC DA Samuel J. Tilden, the man who put Boss Tweed away,
The campaign was amazing…and without counting LA/FL/SC/ORE electoral votes [still reconstructed…and AMAZINGLY THEY HAD TWO SETS OF RESULTS ????] TILDEN WAS 1 ELECTORAL VOTE FROM VICTORY, HE HAD 184 AND NEEDED 185….HAYES WOULD HAVE TO RECEIVE ALL OF THE REMAINING, LA/FL/SC/ORE ELECTORAL VOTES TO WIN….
TILDEN HAD AN UNQUESTIONED 250,000 MORE POPULAR VOTES…
WHAT WOULD THE NATION DO? CHAOS ENSUED….
All three states in the South submitted two sets of returns one by the White Supremacist Redeemers and one by the Radical Republicans…. Which was real, accurate, and would be counted???? Who would decide this key question that would determine who would be President…
******The Constitution merely states that the electoral returns from the states shall be sent to Congress, and in the presence of the House and Senate, they shall be opened by the President of the Senate (VP).
Who should count them?
If counted by the President of the Senate (VP a Republican) the Rep. returns would be chosen.
If counted by the Speaker of the House (a Democrat) the Dem. Returns would be chosen.
How would the impasse be resolved?
The Compromise of 1877 and the End of Reconstruction************huge************
The threat loomed that there would not be a President chosen on inauguration.
Democrats cried, “Tilden or Blood,” Jefferson was cringing in his grave….
A Compromise was made. The Compromise of 1877.HUGE***********
Congress passes the Electoral Count Act in early 1877 which set up an ELECTORAL COMMISSION, consisting of 15 men selected from the Senate, House of Representatives, and the Supreme Court. This commission would resolve the conflict.
The Senate and House met together in Feb. 1877 and the Roll call was made of States…in which each state alphabetically is called and announces its results…. In Florida, South Carolina, and Louisiana…each of these returns were sent to the COMMISSION TO RESOLVE….AND IN EACH CASE THE REPUBLICAN RETURNS WERE ACCEPTED. ..THE COMMISSION HAD 8 REPUBLICANS AND 7 DEMOCRATS… IN RESPONSE THE DEM’S THREATENED TO “FILIBUSTER” UNTIL HELL FROZE OVER….at this point the compromise is made….THAT TRADED THE BUILDING OF A FUTURE TCRR AND THE REMOVAL OF THE REMAINING TROOPS IN THE 3 STATES IN RETURN FOR THE REPUBLICAN HAYES RECEIVING ALL OF THE VOTES AND BECOMING PRESIDENT. THE ISSUE WAS FINALLY COMPLETELY RESOLVED TO BOTH SIDES SATISFACTION – 3 DAYS BEFORE THE SCHEDULED INAUGURATION.
THUS ENDS RECONSTRUCTION. BUT PEACE WAS BOUGHT AT A COST.
The Compromise of 1877 ended the Republican commitment to a Bi-Racial Democracy. The commitment was surely weakening already….The Civil Rights Act of 1875 was the last gasp of Radical Republicans- The Act guaranteed equal accommodations in public places and prohibited racial discrimination in jury selection.
However, this law was not enforced, ever…The Supreme Court ruled much of the Act unconstitutional…in the CIVIL RIGHTS CASES, 1883AT THIS POINT IN HISTORY THE SC WAS NOT A FRIEND OF EQUALITY…
****The Court declared that the 14th amendment only prohibited government [De jure Segregation]violations of Civil Rights, not the denial of Civil Rights by individuals [De facto segregation]*******
Grandfather Clauses, Poll Taxes, and Literacy tests were used to ensure full scale disenfranchisement in the South. Creating the Jim Crow Segregated South. (We will cover this more in the next unit)