Governmental Grasp for control
Andrew Johnson Intervention
Although the northern government had unintentional consequences on the southern economy, President Andrew Johnson attempted to reconstruct as well, but instead he worsened the progression.
Congress proposed to help the Reconstruction efforts. After Johnson vetoed many of Republican-backed measures, he delayed progress such as the first Civil Rights Bill ("Presidential"). He did not want to remove defiant southern officers; “many Republicans regarded the president’s actions as a systematic effort to thwart the will of Congress and lend aid and comfort to the enemies of the union” (digital history).
Because he agreed with Confederates views on blacks, Johnson took extreme measures to help the white population acquire land that they lost. Due to a series of racial confrontations, Johnson “ordered nearly all land in federal hands returned to its former owners,” (Foner 555). With the promise of the freedmen homestead, he “forcibly evicted blacks who had settled on ‘Sherman Land’” (Foner 555). As a result of Johnson's incomplete promise,the freedmen “had no alternative but to work on white-owned plantations, often for their former owners” (Foner 555).
In order to prevent the president from obstructing the reconstruction program, Congress passed several laws restricting presidential powers. Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act, preventing the president from removing certain officeholders without the Senate's office (Foner 566). Johnson “considered this an unconstitutional restriction on his authority” and challenged the Act by removing Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton (Foner 566).The Senate placed Johnson on trail for high crimes and misdemeanors , and most Republicans considered him a failure as a president (Foner 567). When congress stated, “Johnson was impeached for violating the Tenure of Office Act and for denouncing congress as unfit to legislate” (digital history) it masked the fact that “Johnson had vetoed 20 Reconstruction bills and had urged southern legislatures to reject the 14th Amendment, guaranteeing equal protection of the laws” (digital history). He ordered African American families evicted from Sherman’s Land (Foner 555).
Despite the efforts by congress to help the Union, Johnson unintentionally caused negative effects on the south, by vetoing important legislation, forcing removal of the African Americans out of Sherman’s land, challenging congress, and supporting the Black codes all lead to his removal of office and stopped the progression of African Americans achieving equality. President Andrew Johnson was an obstacle during the Reconstruction Era for his lack of helping the progress of African American equality.
Sources:
Eric Foner. Give me Liberty! 546-584.
Photos:
Nast, Thomas. Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction And How It Works. 1866. Political Cartoon. Library of CongressWeb. 3 Oct 2013.
Although the northern government had unintentional consequences on the southern economy, President Andrew Johnson attempted to reconstruct as well, but instead he worsened the progression.
Congress proposed to help the Reconstruction efforts. After Johnson vetoed many of Republican-backed measures, he delayed progress such as the first Civil Rights Bill ("Presidential"). He did not want to remove defiant southern officers; “many Republicans regarded the president’s actions as a systematic effort to thwart the will of Congress and lend aid and comfort to the enemies of the union” (digital history).
Because he agreed with Confederates views on blacks, Johnson took extreme measures to help the white population acquire land that they lost. Due to a series of racial confrontations, Johnson “ordered nearly all land in federal hands returned to its former owners,” (Foner 555). With the promise of the freedmen homestead, he “forcibly evicted blacks who had settled on ‘Sherman Land’” (Foner 555). As a result of Johnson's incomplete promise,the freedmen “had no alternative but to work on white-owned plantations, often for their former owners” (Foner 555).
In order to prevent the president from obstructing the reconstruction program, Congress passed several laws restricting presidential powers. Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act, preventing the president from removing certain officeholders without the Senate's office (Foner 566). Johnson “considered this an unconstitutional restriction on his authority” and challenged the Act by removing Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton (Foner 566).The Senate placed Johnson on trail for high crimes and misdemeanors , and most Republicans considered him a failure as a president (Foner 567). When congress stated, “Johnson was impeached for violating the Tenure of Office Act and for denouncing congress as unfit to legislate” (digital history) it masked the fact that “Johnson had vetoed 20 Reconstruction bills and had urged southern legislatures to reject the 14th Amendment, guaranteeing equal protection of the laws” (digital history). He ordered African American families evicted from Sherman’s Land (Foner 555).
Despite the efforts by congress to help the Union, Johnson unintentionally caused negative effects on the south, by vetoing important legislation, forcing removal of the African Americans out of Sherman’s land, challenging congress, and supporting the Black codes all lead to his removal of office and stopped the progression of African Americans achieving equality. President Andrew Johnson was an obstacle during the Reconstruction Era for his lack of helping the progress of African American equality.
Sources:
Eric Foner. Give me Liberty! 546-584.
Photos:
Nast, Thomas. Andrew Johnson's Reconstruction And How It Works. 1866. Political Cartoon. Library of CongressWeb. 3 Oct 2013.
13th, 14th, 15th Amendments
During the Reconstruction Era, states ratified the 13th Amendment in 1865. The 13th Amendment declared that “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall subject to their jurisdiction” (Library of Congress). Despite the abolishment of slavery, the newly freed African Americans were not free from the southern society’s acts of racism. The 13th Amendment officiated African American as freed men, but there was not any correlation to their citizenships. “The Reconstruction Republicans believed that once blacks became free, they enjoyed all the rights of citizens” (Balkin). Most southern groups and President Andrew Johnson disagreed. African American’s slavery still existed under a new disguise, the oppression of their civil rights.
As freed slaves exploited their new found freedoms, most southern men began to find loop-holes in laws in order to reduce them as slaves once more. The majority of African Americans begin their independent labor through “self-sufficient farms” (“Emancipation”). In rebuttal, southern whites imposed a “case system of relations and a system of involuntary labor” (“Emancipation”). These involuntary labors ranged from “debt bondage” to “sharecropping”. (“Emancipation”). Most labor contracts went without fair treatment. The Freedmen’s Bureau, a government agency, aggravated the situation by “ordering freed slaves to sign labor contracts with former masters and other white landowners” (“The Politics”). If African Americans decline to find work or walk around without any purpose, the Freedmen’s Bureau “helped enforced laws against vagrancy and loitering and refused to allow ex-slaves to keep land that they occupied during the war” (“The Politics”). African American’s freedom of choice was stripped away without any questions.
The Radical Republicans did not intended for African American slaves to be ignored of their civil rights. They assumed that the newly freedmen would be associated with the Citizenship Clause; “all persons born or naturalized in the United States…are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside” (Balkin). After witnessing the oppression and violations against these freedmen’s right, the Radical Republicans decided to officiate their declarations; the 14th Amendment is passed in 1868 (Library of Congress). Before adding it to the constitution, the struggle to pass was not easy. “…the opinion of Chief Justice Roger Taney of the Supreme Court…in Scott v Stanford…that African-Americans were not citizens of the United States” (Library of Congress). The decision remained in effect and in the mind of southern society. In order to ensure the rights of African Americans, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866. (Balkin) .The Civil Rights Act failed as Justice Bradley argues “that Congress did not assume [in the Civil Rights Act of 1866] to adjust what may be called the social rights of men and races in the community; but only to declare and vindicate those fundamental rights which appertain to the essence of citizenship, and the enjoyment or deprivation of which constitutes the essential distinction between freedom and slavery.” In response to the Supreme Court decision in Dredd Scott case’s, “Congress proposes the 14th Amendment, which guarantees the citizenship of African Americans” in 1866 (Mintz&McNeil). African Americans received citizenship rights and equal protection, the 14th Amendment also provided a “broad definition” of citizenship; “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside” (Library of Congress). It enabled all African American born as slaves previously and those descendants of them as citizens of the United States.
However the 14th Amendment granting civil rights and equal protection of the law, southern group continued to find ways to oppress them. “The old Southern rulers knew slavery was dead forever, but how much the freed slaves could become equal was tied to the right to vote and to be elected to office” (Miah). With racial violence through groups “such as the Ku Klux Klan, founded in Tennessee in 1866, and the Knights of the White Camelia…preventing blacks from voting”, African Americans were restricted from practicing their rights (“Redemption”). In 1867, the Reconstruction Act gave African Americans the right to vote, but it did not provide protection from racial violence (“Congressional Reconstruction”). Three years later, the 15th Amendment will be ratified on February 3rd declaring the “rights of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” (Library of Congress). In the following years of 1970 and 1971,under the administration of Ulysses ,“Congress passed the Force Act and the Ku Klux Klan Act which gave the president the power to use federal troops to prevent the denial of voting rights” (“Redemption”). Since then, the Reconstruction Amendments continue to be powerful influence in the United States and protection of given liberties.
Sources:
Balkin, Jack M. "The Reconstruction Power." New York University Law Review, 85.6 (2010): 1801-3601.
Miah, Malik. "Rolling Back Reconstruction: Attacking the 14th & 15th Amendments." Against the Current, 27.3 (2012): 2.
Mintz, S., & McNeil, S. (2013). Birth of a Nation. Digital History. Retrieved (19 September 2013) from http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtid=2&psid=3097
Mintz, S., & McNeil, S. (2013). Reuniting the Union: A Chronology. Digital History. Retrieved (19 September 2013) from http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&psid=3096
Mintz, S., & McNeil, S. (2013). Emancipation in Comparative Perspective. Digital History. Retrieved (19 September 2013) from http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtid=2&psid=3099
Mintz, S., & McNeil, S. (2013). Redemption. Digital History. Retrieved (19 September 2013) from http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtid=2&psid=3107
Mintz, S., & McNeil, S. (2013). The Politics of Reconstruction. Digital History. Retrieved (19 September 2013) from http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtid=2&psid=3101
"Primary Documents in American History." 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Primary Documents of American History (Virtual Programs & Services, Library of Congress). Library Organization, 23 Aug. 2013. Web. 29 Sept. 2013. <http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/13thamendment.html>.
"Primary Documents in American History." 15th Amendment to the Constitution: Primary Documents of American History (Virtual Programs & Services, Library of Congress). Library Organization, 24 Aug. 2012. Web. 29 Sept. 2013. <http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/15thamendment.html>.
"Fourteenth Amendment and Citizenship." Library of Congress Home. Library Organization, 26 July 2012. Web. 29 Sept. 2013. <http://www.loc.gov/law/help/citizenship/fourteenth_amendment_citizenship.php>.
Photo:
Leslie's, Frank, and . Mending the family kettle. 1866. Wood Engraving. Library of CongressPrint.
During the Reconstruction Era, states ratified the 13th Amendment in 1865. The 13th Amendment declared that “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall subject to their jurisdiction” (Library of Congress). Despite the abolishment of slavery, the newly freed African Americans were not free from the southern society’s acts of racism. The 13th Amendment officiated African American as freed men, but there was not any correlation to their citizenships. “The Reconstruction Republicans believed that once blacks became free, they enjoyed all the rights of citizens” (Balkin). Most southern groups and President Andrew Johnson disagreed. African American’s slavery still existed under a new disguise, the oppression of their civil rights.
As freed slaves exploited their new found freedoms, most southern men began to find loop-holes in laws in order to reduce them as slaves once more. The majority of African Americans begin their independent labor through “self-sufficient farms” (“Emancipation”). In rebuttal, southern whites imposed a “case system of relations and a system of involuntary labor” (“Emancipation”). These involuntary labors ranged from “debt bondage” to “sharecropping”. (“Emancipation”). Most labor contracts went without fair treatment. The Freedmen’s Bureau, a government agency, aggravated the situation by “ordering freed slaves to sign labor contracts with former masters and other white landowners” (“The Politics”). If African Americans decline to find work or walk around without any purpose, the Freedmen’s Bureau “helped enforced laws against vagrancy and loitering and refused to allow ex-slaves to keep land that they occupied during the war” (“The Politics”). African American’s freedom of choice was stripped away without any questions.
The Radical Republicans did not intended for African American slaves to be ignored of their civil rights. They assumed that the newly freedmen would be associated with the Citizenship Clause; “all persons born or naturalized in the United States…are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside” (Balkin). After witnessing the oppression and violations against these freedmen’s right, the Radical Republicans decided to officiate their declarations; the 14th Amendment is passed in 1868 (Library of Congress). Before adding it to the constitution, the struggle to pass was not easy. “…the opinion of Chief Justice Roger Taney of the Supreme Court…in Scott v Stanford…that African-Americans were not citizens of the United States” (Library of Congress). The decision remained in effect and in the mind of southern society. In order to ensure the rights of African Americans, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866. (Balkin) .The Civil Rights Act failed as Justice Bradley argues “that Congress did not assume [in the Civil Rights Act of 1866] to adjust what may be called the social rights of men and races in the community; but only to declare and vindicate those fundamental rights which appertain to the essence of citizenship, and the enjoyment or deprivation of which constitutes the essential distinction between freedom and slavery.” In response to the Supreme Court decision in Dredd Scott case’s, “Congress proposes the 14th Amendment, which guarantees the citizenship of African Americans” in 1866 (Mintz&McNeil). African Americans received citizenship rights and equal protection, the 14th Amendment also provided a “broad definition” of citizenship; “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside” (Library of Congress). It enabled all African American born as slaves previously and those descendants of them as citizens of the United States.
However the 14th Amendment granting civil rights and equal protection of the law, southern group continued to find ways to oppress them. “The old Southern rulers knew slavery was dead forever, but how much the freed slaves could become equal was tied to the right to vote and to be elected to office” (Miah). With racial violence through groups “such as the Ku Klux Klan, founded in Tennessee in 1866, and the Knights of the White Camelia…preventing blacks from voting”, African Americans were restricted from practicing their rights (“Redemption”). In 1867, the Reconstruction Act gave African Americans the right to vote, but it did not provide protection from racial violence (“Congressional Reconstruction”). Three years later, the 15th Amendment will be ratified on February 3rd declaring the “rights of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” (Library of Congress). In the following years of 1970 and 1971,under the administration of Ulysses ,“Congress passed the Force Act and the Ku Klux Klan Act which gave the president the power to use federal troops to prevent the denial of voting rights” (“Redemption”). Since then, the Reconstruction Amendments continue to be powerful influence in the United States and protection of given liberties.
Sources:
Balkin, Jack M. "The Reconstruction Power." New York University Law Review, 85.6 (2010): 1801-3601.
Miah, Malik. "Rolling Back Reconstruction: Attacking the 14th & 15th Amendments." Against the Current, 27.3 (2012): 2.
Mintz, S., & McNeil, S. (2013). Birth of a Nation. Digital History. Retrieved (19 September 2013) from http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtid=2&psid=3097
Mintz, S., & McNeil, S. (2013). Reuniting the Union: A Chronology. Digital History. Retrieved (19 September 2013) from http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&psid=3096
Mintz, S., & McNeil, S. (2013). Emancipation in Comparative Perspective. Digital History. Retrieved (19 September 2013) from http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtid=2&psid=3099
Mintz, S., & McNeil, S. (2013). Redemption. Digital History. Retrieved (19 September 2013) from http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtid=2&psid=3107
Mintz, S., & McNeil, S. (2013). The Politics of Reconstruction. Digital History. Retrieved (19 September 2013) from http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtid=2&psid=3101
"Primary Documents in American History." 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Primary Documents of American History (Virtual Programs & Services, Library of Congress). Library Organization, 23 Aug. 2013. Web. 29 Sept. 2013. <http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/13thamendment.html>.
"Primary Documents in American History." 15th Amendment to the Constitution: Primary Documents of American History (Virtual Programs & Services, Library of Congress). Library Organization, 24 Aug. 2012. Web. 29 Sept. 2013. <http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/15thamendment.html>.
"Fourteenth Amendment and Citizenship." Library of Congress Home. Library Organization, 26 July 2012. Web. 29 Sept. 2013. <http://www.loc.gov/law/help/citizenship/fourteenth_amendment_citizenship.php>.
Photo:
Leslie's, Frank, and . Mending the family kettle. 1866. Wood Engraving. Library of CongressPrint.
Civil Rights Cases
During the Reconstruction Era, many African Americans were not given the civil rights that they hoped to attain after the Civil War. Although the amendments guaranteed their right to vote and their freedom, many African Americans still struggled for their freedom to be recognized by the Whites of the southern states. Many people in the South were still hostile towards African Americans and did not want to conjoin with their culture and ways of living. Whites in the South “preferred a society where people of color were kept separate and unequal” (Menchaca). The hostility towards African Americans was so immense that people were not considered White unless they had less than one-eighth Negro ancestry (Menchaca). Many cases dealing with the issue of African American civil rights were brought up throughout and after the Reconstruction Era.
One of the many cases brought up to the Supreme Court was the Slaughterhouse Case of 1873. This case took place in New Orleans when butchers were ordered to slaughter their animals in one slaughterhouse in order to decrease the level of unsanitary conditions that New Orleans was living in. This law permitted African Americans who had previously been rejected, due to lack of money, to be involved and become butchers (Ross). Angered by the law and the fact that African Americans were now becoming involved in the trade, White butchers decided to get together and sue what was called the Crescent City Slaughterhouse (Ross). The lead attorney of most of the Slaughterhouse Cases was John A. Campbell. Most of his legal practice was devoted to opposing the Reconstruction and making sure there was White supremacy (Ross). The animosity that Campbell and Whites felt for African Americans largely affected their reason of wanting to oppose Reconstruction and the Slaughterhouse law.
In addition to the Slaughterhouse Case, another one that is essential when it comes to investigating the civil rights cases dealing with African Americans is Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). This case took place after Reconstruction, proving that African Americans continued to struggle with their rights and freedom. Homer Adolph Plessy was a light-skinned Afro Creole (meaning of mixed African and European decent) resident of New Orleans (Konkoly). On June 7, 1892, he decided to board a “whites-only” train headed to Louisiana. After boarding the train he informed the conductor that he was a colored man and minutes later a detective escorted Plessy off of the train and took him to the local police station (Konkoly). Plessy was being accused of violating Louisiana’s Separate Car Act of 1890. This arrest was what began the legal battle in the Supreme Court called Plessy v. Ferguson.
This act by Homer Plessy was part of a strategy created by a group of Black professionals hoping to diminish Louisiana’s Separate Car Act. Plessy was seventh-eighths Caucasian and only one-eighth African, but this, by law, was enough for him to be considered Black. Plessy’s lawyer argued that Louisiana’s Separate Car Act violated the Fourteenth Amendment that guaranteed equal protection for all people (Konkoly). The Supreme Court’s ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson stated that separate facilities for African Americans and Whites were considered constitutional as long as the facilities were equal (Konkoly). This ruling later led to segregation of other forms of public services such as restaurants, theatres, restroom, and drinking fountains.
As shown by these two previous cases, African American freedom and equality was something that African Americans struggled to attain. Although under the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments they were considered “free” and “equal”, Whites in the South continued to be hostile towards them and believe in themselves as superior to any other race of color.
Sources:
"Plessy V. Ferguson: Race and Inequality in Jim Crow America." Choice Reviews Online, 50.3 (2012): 50-50-1662.
Maidment, Richard A. "Plessy V. Ferguson Re-examined." Journal of American Studies, 7.2 (1973): 125-132.
Rivers, Larry O. "Plessy V. Ferguson: Race and Inequality in Jim Crow America." The Journal of Southern History, 79.3 (2013): 748.
Ross, Michael A. "Justice Miller's Reconstruction: The Slaughter-house Cases, Health Codes, and Civil Rights in New Orleans." The Journal of Southern History, 64.4 (1998): 649-676.
Menchaca, Martha. "The Anti-Miscegenation History of the American Southwest, 1837 to 1970: Transforming Racial Ideology into Law." Cultural Dynamics, 20.3 (2008): 279-318.
Photo:
E. Sachse & Co., . The shackle broken - by the genius of freedom. 1874. Lithograph. Library of Congress. Print.
During the Reconstruction Era, many African Americans were not given the civil rights that they hoped to attain after the Civil War. Although the amendments guaranteed their right to vote and their freedom, many African Americans still struggled for their freedom to be recognized by the Whites of the southern states. Many people in the South were still hostile towards African Americans and did not want to conjoin with their culture and ways of living. Whites in the South “preferred a society where people of color were kept separate and unequal” (Menchaca). The hostility towards African Americans was so immense that people were not considered White unless they had less than one-eighth Negro ancestry (Menchaca). Many cases dealing with the issue of African American civil rights were brought up throughout and after the Reconstruction Era.
One of the many cases brought up to the Supreme Court was the Slaughterhouse Case of 1873. This case took place in New Orleans when butchers were ordered to slaughter their animals in one slaughterhouse in order to decrease the level of unsanitary conditions that New Orleans was living in. This law permitted African Americans who had previously been rejected, due to lack of money, to be involved and become butchers (Ross). Angered by the law and the fact that African Americans were now becoming involved in the trade, White butchers decided to get together and sue what was called the Crescent City Slaughterhouse (Ross). The lead attorney of most of the Slaughterhouse Cases was John A. Campbell. Most of his legal practice was devoted to opposing the Reconstruction and making sure there was White supremacy (Ross). The animosity that Campbell and Whites felt for African Americans largely affected their reason of wanting to oppose Reconstruction and the Slaughterhouse law.
In addition to the Slaughterhouse Case, another one that is essential when it comes to investigating the civil rights cases dealing with African Americans is Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). This case took place after Reconstruction, proving that African Americans continued to struggle with their rights and freedom. Homer Adolph Plessy was a light-skinned Afro Creole (meaning of mixed African and European decent) resident of New Orleans (Konkoly). On June 7, 1892, he decided to board a “whites-only” train headed to Louisiana. After boarding the train he informed the conductor that he was a colored man and minutes later a detective escorted Plessy off of the train and took him to the local police station (Konkoly). Plessy was being accused of violating Louisiana’s Separate Car Act of 1890. This arrest was what began the legal battle in the Supreme Court called Plessy v. Ferguson.
This act by Homer Plessy was part of a strategy created by a group of Black professionals hoping to diminish Louisiana’s Separate Car Act. Plessy was seventh-eighths Caucasian and only one-eighth African, but this, by law, was enough for him to be considered Black. Plessy’s lawyer argued that Louisiana’s Separate Car Act violated the Fourteenth Amendment that guaranteed equal protection for all people (Konkoly). The Supreme Court’s ruling in Plessy v. Ferguson stated that separate facilities for African Americans and Whites were considered constitutional as long as the facilities were equal (Konkoly). This ruling later led to segregation of other forms of public services such as restaurants, theatres, restroom, and drinking fountains.
As shown by these two previous cases, African American freedom and equality was something that African Americans struggled to attain. Although under the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments they were considered “free” and “equal”, Whites in the South continued to be hostile towards them and believe in themselves as superior to any other race of color.
Sources:
"Plessy V. Ferguson: Race and Inequality in Jim Crow America." Choice Reviews Online, 50.3 (2012): 50-50-1662.
Maidment, Richard A. "Plessy V. Ferguson Re-examined." Journal of American Studies, 7.2 (1973): 125-132.
Rivers, Larry O. "Plessy V. Ferguson: Race and Inequality in Jim Crow America." The Journal of Southern History, 79.3 (2013): 748.
Ross, Michael A. "Justice Miller's Reconstruction: The Slaughter-house Cases, Health Codes, and Civil Rights in New Orleans." The Journal of Southern History, 64.4 (1998): 649-676.
Menchaca, Martha. "The Anti-Miscegenation History of the American Southwest, 1837 to 1970: Transforming Racial Ideology into Law." Cultural Dynamics, 20.3 (2008): 279-318.
Photo:
E. Sachse & Co., . The shackle broken - by the genius of freedom. 1874. Lithograph. Library of Congress. Print.
Freedmen’s Bureau
As the Civil War was coming to an end in 1865, “Congress created in the War Department the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands”, also known as the Freedmen’s Bureau (Parker). The purpose of the Freedmen’s Bureau was to help the freedmen and white refugees with a range of resources like food, land, and medical care (Harrison). Congress created the Bureau to be responsible for freedmen’s transition from slaves to citizens during the Reconstruction (Bean). The idea of the Freedmen’s Bureau was one of the most ambitious social revolutions in American history, and because of it, the Bureau lacked the manpower and resources to continue on (Bean). Despite the Freedmen’s Bureau’s efforts to transition slaves into being freedmen, the Bureau caused more problems than it solved.
The Lack of Manpower
Even at its high point, the Freedmen’s Bureau lacked manpower and never had enough agents to accomplish their goals. When the Bureau was at its peak, there were fewer than 1,000 agents for the entire South (Foner 554). Because there were so few agents, the Bureau wasn’t able to carry out all the duties that it should have. Officers of the Bureau were assigned to specific regions and acted as that regions' agent for the collection of pensions, bounties, other government claims, and a judge for differences between a white man and a freedman.
At this time, President Andrew Johnson did not back the Bureau. President Johnson believed that giving African Americans rights was unconstitutional. One condition of the law that established the Bureau, gave it power to divide abandoned land and distribute forty-acre plots for rental and sale to Freedmen; however, President Johnson ordered all the land in federal hands to be returned to its former owners. Because there was no land distribution, many of the Freedmen stayed poor and without property during the Reconstruction. Freedmen didn’t consider themselves free unless they owned property (Foner 554,555). President Johnson set back the efforts for the transition of the freed slaves into citizenship.
The Social Affect
The social aspect of the Freedmen’s Bureau effected how the Bureau progressed forward. Many white southerners did not like the fact that African Americans would be receiving rights and might be able to own land just like them. But the fact that President Johnson took away the land, meant that African Americans weren’t able to own property. They had no alternative but to work on white-owned plantations. Men usually stayed outdoors in the fields while the women took positions in the house as maids and cooks. Their wages were too low to accumulate anything so it was nearly impossible for them to save up to buy property (Foner 555).
Towards the end of the Freedmen’s Bureau, Oliver Otis Howard pushed for more schools and for more freedmen to become educated. Howard pushed this because he knew that the Bureau was only temporary. The government didn’t want the African Americans dependent on the federal government. Rations where only given when and where freedmen worked, otherwise they were cut off (Booker).
Many white southerners harbored deep hatred toward the Union army, white Unionists, and black freedmen; they were willing to employ intimidation to maintain the established racial order. “Under these circumstances, the Freedmen's Bureau became a focal point of opposition to Reconstruction” (Bean). The Freedmen’s Bureau had good intentions but in the end African Americans were still unable to exercise their rights.
Sources:
Bean, Christopher. ""A Most Singular and Interesting Attempt": The Freedmen's Bureau at Marshall, Texas." The Southwestern Historical Quarterly 110.4 (1 April 2007): 464. Print.
Booker, Jackie R. "The Freedmen's Bureau: Reconstructing the American South After the Civil War." The South Carolina Historical Magazine 109.1 (1 January 2008): 72. Print.
Foner, Eric. Give me liberty!: an American history. Seagull third ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. Print.
Harrison, Robert. "New Representations of a ‘Misrepresented Bureau’: Reflections on Recent Scholarship on the Freedmen's Bureau." American Nineteenth Century History 8.2 (31 May 2007): 205. Print.
Parker, Marjorie H. "Some Educational Activities of the Freedmen's Bureau." The Journal of Negro Education 23.1 (1 January 1954): 9. Print.
Photo:
Waud, Alfred R. (Alfred Rudolph), 1828-1891. Freedmen's Bureau. n.p.: .
Photo (Main Photo)
Nast, Thomas. This Is A White Man's Government. 1868. Political Cartoon. Library of Congress Web. 2 Oct 2013.
As the Civil War was coming to an end in 1865, “Congress created in the War Department the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands”, also known as the Freedmen’s Bureau (Parker). The purpose of the Freedmen’s Bureau was to help the freedmen and white refugees with a range of resources like food, land, and medical care (Harrison). Congress created the Bureau to be responsible for freedmen’s transition from slaves to citizens during the Reconstruction (Bean). The idea of the Freedmen’s Bureau was one of the most ambitious social revolutions in American history, and because of it, the Bureau lacked the manpower and resources to continue on (Bean). Despite the Freedmen’s Bureau’s efforts to transition slaves into being freedmen, the Bureau caused more problems than it solved.
The Lack of Manpower
Even at its high point, the Freedmen’s Bureau lacked manpower and never had enough agents to accomplish their goals. When the Bureau was at its peak, there were fewer than 1,000 agents for the entire South (Foner 554). Because there were so few agents, the Bureau wasn’t able to carry out all the duties that it should have. Officers of the Bureau were assigned to specific regions and acted as that regions' agent for the collection of pensions, bounties, other government claims, and a judge for differences between a white man and a freedman.
At this time, President Andrew Johnson did not back the Bureau. President Johnson believed that giving African Americans rights was unconstitutional. One condition of the law that established the Bureau, gave it power to divide abandoned land and distribute forty-acre plots for rental and sale to Freedmen; however, President Johnson ordered all the land in federal hands to be returned to its former owners. Because there was no land distribution, many of the Freedmen stayed poor and without property during the Reconstruction. Freedmen didn’t consider themselves free unless they owned property (Foner 554,555). President Johnson set back the efforts for the transition of the freed slaves into citizenship.
The Social Affect
The social aspect of the Freedmen’s Bureau effected how the Bureau progressed forward. Many white southerners did not like the fact that African Americans would be receiving rights and might be able to own land just like them. But the fact that President Johnson took away the land, meant that African Americans weren’t able to own property. They had no alternative but to work on white-owned plantations. Men usually stayed outdoors in the fields while the women took positions in the house as maids and cooks. Their wages were too low to accumulate anything so it was nearly impossible for them to save up to buy property (Foner 555).
Towards the end of the Freedmen’s Bureau, Oliver Otis Howard pushed for more schools and for more freedmen to become educated. Howard pushed this because he knew that the Bureau was only temporary. The government didn’t want the African Americans dependent on the federal government. Rations where only given when and where freedmen worked, otherwise they were cut off (Booker).
Many white southerners harbored deep hatred toward the Union army, white Unionists, and black freedmen; they were willing to employ intimidation to maintain the established racial order. “Under these circumstances, the Freedmen's Bureau became a focal point of opposition to Reconstruction” (Bean). The Freedmen’s Bureau had good intentions but in the end African Americans were still unable to exercise their rights.
Sources:
Bean, Christopher. ""A Most Singular and Interesting Attempt": The Freedmen's Bureau at Marshall, Texas." The Southwestern Historical Quarterly 110.4 (1 April 2007): 464. Print.
Booker, Jackie R. "The Freedmen's Bureau: Reconstructing the American South After the Civil War." The South Carolina Historical Magazine 109.1 (1 January 2008): 72. Print.
Foner, Eric. Give me liberty!: an American history. Seagull third ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. Print.
Harrison, Robert. "New Representations of a ‘Misrepresented Bureau’: Reflections on Recent Scholarship on the Freedmen's Bureau." American Nineteenth Century History 8.2 (31 May 2007): 205. Print.
Parker, Marjorie H. "Some Educational Activities of the Freedmen's Bureau." The Journal of Negro Education 23.1 (1 January 1954): 9. Print.
Photo:
Waud, Alfred R. (Alfred Rudolph), 1828-1891. Freedmen's Bureau. n.p.: .
Photo (Main Photo)
Nast, Thomas. This Is A White Man's Government. 1868. Political Cartoon. Library of Congress Web. 2 Oct 2013.