eee eae ee RECONSTRUCTION haa— 1 the evening of January 12,186, less than a month after Union forces captured Savanah, Georga, twenty leaders ofthe ct’ black comm pity gathered fora discussion with General William. Sherman and searetary of War Edwin M. Stanton. Mostly Beptist and Methodist ministers, the roup inched several men who within afew years would assume prominent rations during the era of Reconstruction that followed the Civil War. Ulysses ofthe city’ Third African Baptist Church, and James Porte 5. Houston, paso an Episcopal religious leader who hal operated a secret school fr black chien before the wae ina few years would win elcton tothe Georgia legislature James D. Lynch, who had been bora fre in Baltimore and educated in New Hampshire ‘went on to serve as secretary of state of Mississippi. ‘he conversation revealed that the black ea ebsition of freedom. Asked what he understood by slavery, Garrison Frazies, brought out of slavery a clear & Baptist minister chosen asthe groups spokesman, responded that it meant one persons “receiving by irresistible power the work of another man, and not by his rnvent." Freedom he defined as “pacing us where we could reap the fruit of oar ow labor, and take care ‘urseves” The way to accomplish this was “to have fund, and turn it and tll by our own Tabor” Frazier insisted that blacks pos sessed “sufficient intelligence” to maintain themselves in freedom and enjoy the ‘ual protection ofthe laws. ‘Sherman's meeting withthe black leaders foreshadowed some of the radical changes that would take place during the eraknown as Reconstruction (meaning Iiterally, the rebuilding ofthe shattered nation. Inthe years ftlowing the Civ ‘Wat: former slaves and their white alles, Northand South, would seek to redefine the meaning and boundaries of American freedom and citizenship. Previous ‘an entitlement of whites, these would be expanded to include black Americans, The laws and Constitution would be rewritten to guarantee African-American, for the first time in the nations history, recognition as citizens and equality before the lw Black men would be granted the right to vot, ushering a period aghout the South. Black schools, churches, and ‘ther institutions would flourish, laying the foundation for the modern African ‘American community. Many of the advances of Reconstruction would prove temporary, smept away during a campaign of violence in the South and the North's rerea fom the ideal of equality. But Reconstruction lad the foundation foe future struggles to extend freedom tall Americans. All this, however, lay a the future in Janay 18 ing, Sherman esponded to the black dele Four days afte the meet mn by issuing Special Field Order 15. Thisset aside the Sea Islands anda large area along the South Carona and Georgia ofered them broken-down mules tha the army could no longer use. n Sherman's order coasts forthe settlement ofblack families on forty-acre plots of land. Heat ay the origins ofthe phrase Tort acres and a mule” which would reverberate eros the South inthe next few years. By June, some 40,000 freed slaves had been settled on “Sherman land.” Among the emancipated slaves, Shermans order raised hopes that the end of slavery woul be accompanied by the economic nde endence that they like other Americans, believed essential to genuine freedom eo. TTS ee What visions of freedom cents slaveholders pursue inthe et Pees or eee Pee en cre Re eo in both the North and eon ead cena1805- 086 1987 1007- 1a 1970 wen 1872 era 1876 1877 Special ld Order 15 Freed’ Burst setabietod “inci asaesinstes ‘Anew Jonson becomes resident Proidnta Reconstruction rights Ba ‘Ko KiaxKlanexabisded Reoontuction Act of 1867 ‘Tenure of Offce Act acical Reconstruction Inpoachmont and aot Fourteenth Amendment eumuation of Uses (rant owen’ igs Hiram Revel, est se ‘Libera Ropicane ablated Colter Mastsre ‘Slavgtarbouse Cases Naina economic depression borne Unted Sata Grukenenk Bargain of 1877 THE MEANING OF FREEDOM ‘With the end of the Civil War, delared an Iino congrestman i 186S, the United States was “new nation fr the fst time wholly fee” The destruction of slavery, however, made th definition of freedom the central question om the nation’s agenda, "What is freedom?” asked Congressman James A. Garfeld in 1865. "Ist the hare privilege of not being chained? If his is al, then freedom ie bitter mockery, eruel delusion." Did Freedom mean simply the absence of sav ry oF dit imply other rights forthe former slaves, and if so, which ones equal cull rights, the vote, ownership of property? During Reconstruction, freedom became a terrain of confit, it substance open to diferent, often contradictory {interpretations Out of the confit over the meaning of freedom arose new kinds of relations between black and white southerners, and a new definition of the ights ofall Americans, Blacks and the Meaning of Freedom African-Amerians' understanding of recom was shaped by theirexperiences as slavesand ther observation ofthe free saciety aroundthem. Tobin wth freedom meant escaping the numerous injustices of slavery—punishient bythe lash the separation of families, denial of access to education, the sexual exploitation of black women by thei owners~and sharing the rights and opportunities of American itizens. “I cannot do lke white man” Henry Adams, an emancipated slave in ‘Louisiana, told his former master in 1865, “lam not fee Blacks relished the opportunity to demonstrate their iberation from the regulations, sigaiicant and trivia, associated with slavery. They openty held ‘mass meetings and religious services free of white supervision, and they acquired dogs, guns, and liquor, all barred to thea under slavery. No longer fequired to obtain a pass from their owners to travel, former slaves throughout the South eft the plantations in search of beter obs, family members, o simply 2 taste of personal liberty. Many moved to southern towns and cities, where it seemed, “freedom was free-er” Families in Freedom (With slavery dead, institutions that ad existed before the war, lke the black family fee blacks’ churches and schools, an the secret slave church, were strengthened, expanded, and freed from white supervision. The family was cen teal tothe postemaneipaton black comnnity. Former slaves male remarkable efforts to locate loved ones from whom they had been separated under slavery (One northern reporter in 1865 encountered a freedman who had walked more than 600 miles from Georgia to North Carolina, searching for the wife and children from whom be had been sold away before the war. Meanwhile, widows of black soldiers successfully claimed survivors’ pensions, forcing the federal sovernment to acknowledge the validity of prewar relationships tha slavery had tempted to deny ‘But while Reconstruction witnessed the stabilization of family life freedom subtly altered relationships within the family. Emancipation inereased the power Chapter 16 + "What Is Freedom?” Reconstructionof black men and brought to many black Fries the ninetenthreentury notion that fhen and women should inhabit separate Miperes” Immediately after the Civil War, pagers complained that freedwomen bad Feiadrawn” from field labor and work as ase servants Many back women prefered fodevote more time to their families than had heen possible under slavery, and men con tere ita badge of Bonor to see their wives ferain at home, Eventually the die poverty Grite black community would compet s far hhgher proportion of blac women than white women ta go to work for wages. Church and School [At the same time, blacks abandoned whitecontolled religious institutions t0 treat chusches oftheir own, On the eve of the Civil War, 42,000 black Method: {i worshiped in bieacial South Carolina churches: y the end of Reconstruction, ‘only 600 remained. The rise ofthe independent black church, with Methodists snd Bonits commanding the largest followings, edrew the religious map of the South, As the major institution independent of white contol, the church played Stata role inthe black comity. A place of worship, it ako housed chooks, {[Siatevents, and politcal gatherings. Black sinisters came to play 2 major olin polities, Some 250 held public ofie during Reconstruction. ‘Another striking example of the freedpeople’s quest for individal and community improvement was thei desire for education, Education declared a Desiesipp freeman, was the next best thing to liberty." The thiest for learn- fg sprang from many sources~a desire (read the Bible the need to prepare for the economic marketplace andthe opportunity, which arose i 1867 take part in polities. Blacks fall ages Nocked tothe schools established by northern Inissionary societies, the Freedmen's Bureau, and groupsof ex slaves, Norhers Journalist Sidney Andrews, who toured the South in 1865, was impressed by thon much education aso took place outside of the classroom: “Thad occasion ‘very Frequently to notice that prter n stores and laboring men in warehouse nd cart driverson the sitet, had spelling books with ther, and were studying them during the time they were not cccupied with their work" Reconstruction sls witnessed the creation of the nation's frst back colleges including Fisk ‘University in ‘Tennessee, Hampton Institute in Virgina, and Howard University in the nation's capita, Political Freedom Ima society that had made political participation a core element of freedom. the Fight to wot inevitably became central tothe former slaves’ deste for empower- tment an equality, As Fredrick Douglass put it soon aftr the Souths surrender rage of Cat Sober! Vea, (steht wading canon ots aur aang, Mt Mes ‘sta 1850 eto Sos ees ome ove otis 2 ap date er ean sean ook pce ti na wa at,re Genet ck Fay on 1382 ptoagh ht sugpeta he oer tte ox among enacted len Tre Fiat ean Coe, Rtn 38 peta a Harpers Week, cine 27, 1874 Th eter Chapter 16 « “what 1s in 1865, “Slavery isnot abolished until the black man Jus the ballot” Ina"monarchal government” Douglass explained, no “speci” disrace applied to those denied the right to vote But in a democracy, “where universal suffrage isthe rue excluding any group meant brand ing them with “the stigma of inferiority.” As soon asthe Civil War ended, andin some partsf the South evenear- ler, fee blacks and emancipated slaves claimed place inthe public sphere. They carpe together in conventions, parades, and petition drives to demand the right to ole and, on occasion t organize their own freedom ballots” Anvthing less than full citizenship, black spokesmen insisted, would betray the nation’s democratic promise ann the war's meaning Land, Labor, and Freedom Former slaves ideas of freedom, like those of rural people throughout the word, ‘were directly related to landownership, Only land, wrote Merriman Howard, a froedman from Mississipi, would enable “the poor elass to enjoy the sweet boon of freedom” On the land they would develop independent communities free of white control Many former slaves insisted that through theie unpaid labor, they had acquired a right tothe land, ~The property which they hold ‘declared an Alabama black convention, “was nesry all earned by the sweat of ‘ur brows.” In some partsaf the South blacks in 186S seized property. insisting that it belonged to them. On one Tennesse plantation, former slaves claimed 10 ’be “Joint heirs" to the estate and, the owner complained, took up residence in the toms of my house."{nits individual elements and mach of ts language, former slaves’ definition of feedom resembled that of white Americans—self-ownership family stabil fy, religious liberty, political participation, and economic autonomy: But these clements combined to form a vision very much ther own. For whites feedom, too matter how define, was a given a birthright to be defended. For African ‘Americans, it was an operended process, a transformation of every aspect of| their lives and ofthe society and culture that had sustained slavery inthe frst place. Although the freedpeople failed to achieve ful feedomas they understood ‘their definition did much to shape national debate during the turbulent era of Reconstruction. ‘Masters without Slaves Most white southerners reacted to military defeat and emancipation with dismay, rot only beeause ofthe widespread devastation but also because they must now submit to northern demands “The demoralization is complete” wrote a Georgia irl "We are whipped, there is no doubt about i” The palling loss of li.» tlisaster without parallel in the American experience, affected all classes of south teers, Neatly 260,000 men dle for the Confederacy-—more than one-fifth of the South's adult mate white population. The wholesale destruction of work animals, ust the aes orarcbaion oF ear eos pation eed ho tue rane or assnow_ | $83form tuldings sod machinery ensured that ex some revival Would be slo and pail In 87, thevalue of property inthe South ot counting hat represented y slaves was 30 percent wer than tebe he war Ptr fais fae prof changes he wars aftermath, Many let nt only ther slaves bu ao tei savings, which they had ptt «aly invested in now worthless Confederate bom Some, whose slaves departed the plantation, othe frat tine fn hemsclves compelled odoin! labor. General Braxton Brag eure os once brosperaus” Alabama met ind", a wa et, txcepe my debts" Bragg and his wife, 9 woman “alk in aflunce vd fora tne nase cabin Southern planers sought to implement an undertmling of fecdom qe diferent from hat iron Ha 7 png ofthe former saves. As they strug oaerep the reality of emancipation, most A at font Oeics on planters defined Hack fecdom inthe nartowest manner. As urna Sdoey careetaeinsene ieee Andrews discovered late in 1865, “The whites seem wholly unable to comprehend sate waren nitrated forthe negro mean the same hing feed forte, They rea Eee ee gq ly enough adm thatthe government has made him fee, but appear fo believe Donte carcuesafereeay, that they have the right to exercise the same old contro.” To southern leaders, gonodby tet doting Horr gece freedom aillncant rary and tery it wasa pelos nota ight acaeully Sijessonaneqtttngyreaara dined legal statu rater than an open-ended entero. eral, plied ‘igen fmpanten mateo. elter economic atonomy nor vila politi equality. A Kentucky newsvaer ented parties st summed up the stance of much of the white South. the former slave was ‘fer, but Pris eral Epetion 1878 eer caay ice ‘The Free Labor Vision ‘Along with former slaves and former masters, the victorious Republican North ‘ried to implement its own vision of freedom. Central to its definition was the antebellum principle of re labor, now further strengthened 98 definition of the 00d society by the Union's triumph. In the free Inbor vision of a reconstructed South, emaneipated blacks, enjoying the same opportunities for advancement a5 northern workers, would labor more productively than they had as slaves. At the ‘same tine, northern capital and migrants woul energize the economy. The Sot would eventually come to resemble the “fee society” of the North, complete with public schools, small owns, and independent farmers. Unified on the basis of fee Tabor prosimesd Cas Schur, efuge fom the filed German revolution of 148 Who rose to become a laderof the Republican Party, Ameria would become “a republic, eater, more populous, eer, more prosperous, and more powerful than ny in istry ‘With planters seeking to establish a abor system a close to slavery a pos sible, and former slaves demanding economic attonomy and acces to land, long period af conflict ver the organization an control of labor followed on plantations 554 | Chapter 16 + “What Is Freedom?" Reconstructionhvoughowt the South. 1 fll tthe Preedmen's Buren, an agency establised by Congress i Praeh 1868 to atemot to establish a working free fabor system. ‘he Freedmen's Bureau ‘Wade the direction of ©, O, Howard. a graduate ff Bowdoin College in Maine and a veteran ofthe (Gril Wa the Bureau tok on responsibilities that fan only be described as daunting. The Bureau {ous an experiment in government social poiey {hat seems to belong mare comfortably to the New ‘eat ofthe 1930s or the Great Society ofthe 19608 (eee Chapters 21 and 25. respectively) than to Pineleenthcentury America, Bureau agents were Supposed to establish schools, provide a tothe perpen aged sete disputes between whites and blacks and among the feed- Ti Get aber Gston rams San People and secure for fermer slaves and white Unionists equal treatment before Prt Yow ecto by a Fhecourts Tt is not... in your power to full one-tenth ofthe expectations of Wom Hom pason ones se at 1) 28, 16, Homer hss thous who framed the Duseans General Wiis T. Sherman woe to Howard Mfr you have Hercule task” ‘senna ta eaters RNR ee eve tve ct poe ae eres tan, ce ae ESTER 11000 useasin the ene South, Nonetheless the Bureaus achievements Some vet wae ao Yur ree Mab education sind health care were sriking. Wile the Bureau dia Sow-nen vr for ensblish schools elt coordinated and helped wo nance the activities of farther sceties commited to Back cveaton. By 1, nearly 3000 schools roar Wty al 25,188 eps re Bureau te prance of{tte tet 29 eonmon inte prrane cong dexppomnant st capers eure 185 serving more than 150,000 pupils inthe South, reported to the Bureau. Bureau gents also assumed cote of hospitals established by the army ducing the war, tnd expanded the system into new communities. They provided medica care to both black and white southerners In economic relations, however, the Bureau's tivities proved fe more problematic ‘The Failure of Land Reform ‘The idea of free labor, wrote one Bureau agent, was “the noblest principle on arth.” All that was requined to harmonize race relations inthe Sout was fair ‘wages, good working conditions, and the opportunity to improve the Iaborer’s ‘stmation in life. But lacks wanted and of their own, not Jobson plantations. One provision ofthe law establishing the Buren gave it the authority to divide abanidoned and confiseate land int forty-acre pol for renal and eventual sale to the former slaves. Tn the summer of 1868, however, President Andrew Johnson, who had suc! ceeded! Linton, ordered nearly all land in feral hands returned ois former ‘owners. A series of eonfrontatinsfllowed, notably in South Carolina and Georgi ‘where the army foribly evicted blacks who had seted on “Sherman land” When (0.0, Howard, hea ofthe Freedimens Bureau, traveled tothe Sea flands inform blacks of the new aliy. he was greeted with disbelief and protest. A committee of former slaves drew up petitions to Howard and President Johnson. "We want Homestead” they declared "Wwe were promised Homestead by the government Land the reedmen insisted, was easel tothe meaning of freedom. Without it they declared, we have not bettered our condition” from the days of skvery "you wile, this no the condition of ell free men” Because no land distribution tok place, the vast majority of rural freedpeople remained poor and without property during Reconstruction. They had no alterna ‘ive butto work on white-owaed plantation. often for ther former owners. Far from Chapter 16 * "What Ie Freedom?” Reconstructionon PPT on eats eee eT) ‘being able to risen the social scale through had work, black men were lage com fined to farm work, unskilled Ibor, sn service jobs, a black women to positions in private horses as cooks an maids. The wages remained toolow toallow forany accumulation. By the turmof the century, significant numberof southern African Americans had managed to acquire small parels of land. But the failure of land reform produced a deep senze of betrayal that survived among the former slaves tn their descendants lng afte the end of Reconstruction. “No st” Mary Gaffney, tselderly xslave ealled inthe 1308, “we were not given thing but eeedom: ‘Toward a New South (ut f the cont on the plantations ew systems flor emerged inthe diferent regions of the South, Tae task system, under which workers were assigned daly {ass completion of which ended thee responsibilities that day survive in thee Ingo of South Carvin ane Georgia, Chey supervised wage labor predominated on the sugar plantations of southern Louisiana. Sareeropping came to dominate the CCeeton Bet and much ofthe TobaceoBetof Virginia nd North Carolina by 1960, earecepprghad become he ‘are tout torn pe ‘rae weave ov epost | 887‘pmax Col Wa mot ee ‘re hit ares aan ing ten ‘Sopot ae, prety ‘Sharecroppingintaly arose asa compromise between blocks desire for land and planters! demand for labor discipline. The system allowed each blak faily (o rent part ofa plantation, withthe crop divided between worker and owner atthe end of the year. Sharecopping guaranteed the planters a stable resident labor free. Former slaves prefered it to gang labor because it ofted them the prospect of working without day-to-day white supervision. Buta the years went on, sharecropping became more and nore oppressive. Shareeroppers’ economic ‘epportunities were severely limited by a world market in which the price of farm products sufered a prolonged decline ‘The White Farmer ‘Ta plight of the small farmer was not confined to blacks inthe postwar South ‘Wartime devastation set in motion a train of events tat permanent altered the independent way ofife of white yeomen, kading a what the considered a loss of freedom. Before the war, most small farmers had concentrate on raising fod for {her fies and grew tle cotton. With much a ther property destroyed, many yeomen saw their economic condition worsened by successive crop failures after the war. To obtain supplies from merchants farmers were forced ta take up the rowing of ton and pledge apart of the crop as collateral (property the ereitor fan seize if debt is not pail. This system beeame known as the erop Hen. Since Interest rates were extremely high and the pice of eoton fl steal. many farm ers found themselves sill in debt afte marketing their portion ofthe crop al year's ‘end. They had no choice but to continue to plat cotton to obtain new las By the i-1870s, white farmers, who cultivated only 10 perce ofthe Suttscoton crop in 1860, were growing 40 percentand many who had owned thelr Ind had fal into dependency a5 sharecroppers, who now rented land owned by others. Both black and white farmers found themselves caught inthe sharecropping and crop-lien systems, Afar higher percentage of black than white farmers in {he South rented lad rather than owned i, But every census from 1880 to 1940, ‘counted more white than black shareeroppers. The workings of sharecropping and 858 | Chapter 15 + “What Ie Freedom?": Reconstructionhecroplen system are illustrated by the case of Matt Brown,» Mississipi farmer iio Borrowed money each yea rn foes! merchant. He began 1892 with a debt Mp ga26 held over from the previous year By 1853, although he produced cotton orth $17, Beowa's debt had increased to $402. becuse he hal borrowed $3 for Toad, $29 freeing. $173 for supplies, and SIL2 for other items. Brown never suc ‘Rect in geting out of debt. He ded in 1905; the lst entry under his name i the merchants acount book sa cofn ‘The Urban South ven as the rural South stagnated economically, southern cites experienced Femurkable growth after the Civil War. As railroads penetrated the interior, they Teubled merchants in market centers ike Atlanta to trade directly with the North, Bypassing coastal cites that had traditionally monopolized southern commerce Phew urban middle clas of merchants alread promoters. and bankers reaped the beneits ofthe spread ofcotton production i the postwar South hus, Reconstruction ought about profound changes in the lives of south ermers black and white ich and poor In place ofthe prewar work of master hve, and self sufficient yeoman, the postwar South was peopled by new social Chases landowning employers, black and white sharecroppers coton producing soit farmers, wage-caring black laborers and urban enteeprencurs: Each of these groups turned to Reconstruction politics ian attempt to shape to is own vlvanage the aftermath of emancipation. Aftermath of Slavery The United Stats, ofcourse, wat aot the only society to confront the transition fom slavery to fecedom, Indeed, many parallels exis between the debates during Reconstruction and struggles that followed slavery in other parts ofthe Wester Hemlopere oer the same isues of land, contol of labor, and poitial power. In trereae former planters (or. in Halt where the planter class ha been destroyed, the government itself tried to encourage or require former slaves to gobackto work “onplantatons to grow the sae cropsasunder slavery, Pantesclsewere held the ame steeotypieal views of black laborers as were voiced by their counterparts the United Sates former slaves were supposedly lary, were lacking in ambition, find thought that recom meant an absence of abor or ther part former slaves throughout the hemisphere tied fo carve out a8 mich independence as possible, both in ther daily lives and in their lor. They attempted to reconstruct fay ie by withdrawing women and children from field fabor Ga the West Indies, women turned to marketing ther families’ erops tocar income) Wherever possible, former slaves acquired land of their own and devoted nore time to growing fod for thei fis than to growing erops forthe interna tonal market In many places, the plantations ether fell o pieces, a Hit ot Continued operating witha new labor force composed of indentured servants from {dia and China, aan Jamaica, Trinidad, and British Guiana, Southern planters it the United States brought in afew Chinese laborers in an attempt o replace freed ten, but since the federal government opposed such eorts, the Chinese remained tly tiny proportion ofthe southern workforceVOICES OF FREEDOM From PETITION OF COMMITTEE IN BEHALF OF THE FREEDMEN 70 ANDREW JOHNSON (1865) sso In the summer of 1865, President Andrew Johnson ordered land that had been distributed to fed slaves in South Carolina and Georgia returned to its former owners. A commit of freedmen drafted a petition asking fr the right to obtain land. Johnson dd not however, change is poi \Werthefesdmen of East Inland, South Caroling, Irae learned from you through Major General (0, 0, Howard...with deep sorow and painful arts ofthe posit of the] government restr Jing these lands to the Former owners. We are well atwareofthemanyperplesingsnd tryinganestions that burden your mind, and therefore pray to god (he preserve fal. and who has throu ou late and beloved President [Lncae's) proclamation and the war made us a fee people) that he may side you in making your decisions and give you that wai that cometh rom above to sete these set and important questions forthe best ntrests ofthe country and the colored ace Here i where secession was born and au tured. Here is where we have toil nearly all cur lives a slaves and tested ike dumb driven cattle This our home, we have mae thes nds ‘bat they were, we are the only tre and loyal people that were found in posscesion of these lands. We lave boon always ready t strike for Nberty and humanity, yea to fight if med be to preserve this glorious Union Shall aot we whoare freedmenand havealways been true to this Union have the same rights as ae enjoyed by others? Arenotourrightsasa free peopleand god citizens ofthese United Sates tobe considered bene those who were found in rebelion against this good and [are] we who have been abused and ‘oppressed for many long years not to be allowed ‘he privilege of purchasing land but be sujet to the wil ofthese large land owners? God forbid Land monopoly sinuous to the advancement of he couree of freedom, and f government does not make some provision by which wea freed ‘men can obtains homestead, we have notbettened ur condition, We look to you. for protection and ‘equal rights withthe privilege of purchasing a ‘homestead—a homestead right here in the heart of South Carlin, (Chapter 15 + “What Is Freedom?" Reconstruction