Free at last. 1865-77- To What Extent Did the Thirteenth Amendment change the Position of slaves
Reasons for Thirteenth amendment
Lincoln wanted to abolish slavery as he believed that the USA had to end slavery if the opportunity arose to as he believed that USA had to resolve the issue of slavery if it wanted to survive as United nation.
under President Lincoln's leadership the North had won the war and reunited the country and freed over 4 million black American slaves.
Civil War= most Traumatic event in the history of USA- 620,000 Americans dead, confederate economy destroyed.
23rd September 1862- Lincoln issued his emancipation Proclamation: stated that from the 1st of January 1863 any slave in territory under Direct control of the confederacy would be forever free.
Sharecropping
Importance of 13th Amendment
13th Amendment wiped out $2 billion worth of property as slaves were owned by white slave-owners. also created 4 million freemen in the USA and ended forever the divisions of the US pop between freeman and slaves
Black Americans now allowed to attend in public gallery, previously barred in 1864. Congress and Many Northern states began to pass legislation which began to break down the second class position of black Americans.
Black Witnesses now allowed in federal court cases. Allowed to be postmen and ride street cars in the capital. Allowed to be senators and congressmen and gain jobs for which they were paid
annual meeting of American Anti-Slavery Society. William Lloyd Garrison, one of its leaders members, declared that his vocation as an abolitionist had ended.
There was lots of controversy around the emancipation Proclamation. some believed that Lincoln was using it to weaken the confederacy in order to win the war as the proclamation made no direct mention of slaves who resided in areas controlled by the northern side of the Civil War. by 1st January 1863 this compromised approximately of 1/3 of the confederacy and also included loyal border States such as Missouri Kentucky Maryland and Delaware.
the proclamation was not supported by the main northern opposition party the democratic party which made several gains in the November 1862 congressional elections.
from 1863 the abolition of slavery became and northern war aim. Lincoln was aware that he had to ensure that slavery was abolished permanently before the war was officially over. when Lincoln was re-elected as president in November 1864 he took it as a mandate to end slavery forever.
Lincoln new that he needed to support of both his own Republican party and his opposition the Democrats. Didn't want to wait around for a Republican dominated Congress which was converted in March 1865, Lincoln submitted a proposal to Congress to amend the US Constitution to make slavery illegal forever. Lincoln was able to persuade sufficient Democrat congressman to support his Republican party members to agree to the passage of the 13th amendment to formally abolish slavery.
31 January 1865- amendment passed by 2 votes to ensure a 2/3 majority(116 to 56) . the amendment also needed to gain support of three quarters of the States to become part of the US Constitution, by December 1865 sufficient States supported the amendment. In April 1865 the Civil War came to an end when Confederate General Robert E Lee surrendered his army at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia.
textSocial Tensions
Crucial source of social tension was the creation of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands known as the Freemen's Bureau. it was established in 1865 by congress to aid former black slaves and poor white people in the South after the Civil War. The Freedmen's Bureau provided food,housing and medical aid, established schools and offered legal assistance. Attempted to settle former slaves on Confederate Lands confiscated or abandoned during the war. However the bureau was prevented from fully carrying out it's programme due to a shortage of funds and personnel, along with the politics of race and Reconstruction. 1872- Congress under pressure form white southerners who disliked the aid given to ex-slaves, shut the bureau.
Another Major cause of social tensions occurred when ex-slaves attempted to leave plantations and set up their own farms. Black people were assaulted and Murdered. A Nashville newspaper reported that former white slave masters continued to whip,maim and kill black Americans as if slavery still existed.
End of Civil War and Emancipation of the slaves brought considerable social tensions to the former Confederacy. 4 years of Civil War had severely damaged to the southern economy. In Sherman's March to the Sea in 1864 from Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia a large strip of territory was pillaged and destroyed by marauding bands of soldiers,deserters and runaway slaves. When 4 million slaves were emancipated, social tensions reached new levels.
White southerners, many former confederate soldiers, engaged in violence against freed black Americans.Henry Adams, an ex-slave, claimed that over 2,000 black people were murdered in 1865 in Texas. The sudden and dramatic dislocation of a former slave-owning society was a clear factor for the violence. employee of federal government agency, the Freemen's Bureau, believed that white southerners opposed any change in social arrangements that existed in the slavery period, when black slaves showed defence to what white people believed were their social superiors. an example of this is when one North Carolina white landowner told a northern army officer that a black soldier in the northern army had said good morning to him, claiming that black people should never address white people unless spoken to first.
The Economic Position of ex-slaves and the development of sharecropping
Move to sharecropping accelerated after the national economic depression of 1873. As the Economy went into a economic downturn, sharecropping seemed to be a more economic use of land.
By 1880, 80% of land in cotton producing areas of USA was farmed by Sharecroppers, both ex-slaves and poor white people. White farmers outnumbered black people as sharecroppers.
Ex-Slaves received a farm and half a crop-better than under the arrangement under slavery. White landowners benefited as it gave them power and influence over tenants.
To raise money to buy equipment and seed, sharecroppers had to use the local credit system where they borrowed money at very interest rates. As sharecroppers possessed little or no property as capital against against a loan, they were forced to offer part of their future crop if they failed to pay back their loans. This system, known as crop lien system, forced many sharecroppers into a cycle of almost permanent debt. As most sharecroppers were illiterate, they found it difficult to operate outside such a system.
A new scheme of land rental was created called sharecropping. Under this system Landowners subdivided large plantations into small farms of 30-50 acres under a rental agreement which usually involved payment in half the crop produced on land
1865- New England- based white American visited the former slave state of South Carolina. He commented that the sole ambition of ex-slaves appeared to be the new owner of a little land where a humble home could be erected and they could live in peace and security
on 16 January 1865, union general, William T. Sherman issued Special Field Order No.15, which confiscated as federal property a strip of coastal land extending about 30 miles inland from the Atlantic and stretched from Charleston, South Carolina 245 miles south to Jacksonville,Florida. The order gave 400,000 acres to newly emancipated slaves in 40- acre sections. Those lands became the basis for the slogan '40 acres and a mule'. Northern abolitionists and General Sherman believed that ex-slaves throughout the old Confederacy would be given the confiscated land of former plantain owners.
Initial response to freedom was considerable internal migration across the former slave-owning states. Many moved to towns in search for job opportunities. Urban population of black Americans almost tripled after emancipation. Also ex-slaves began organising their own black churches and their own schools.
However, large-scale land distribution did not take place in the former confederacy even though in 1866 the US congress passed a law which set aside 44 million acres in five southern states for ex-slaves . By 1877, at the end of the Reconstruction period, only a small fraction of ex-slaves had created their own farms.
although ex-slaves were now free in law, long way to go before receiving anything near equality. the 4 million free slaves lacked education and most were illiterate. They also didn't own property or land. Many were simple field labourers with limited skills to earn a living. They need lots of help and assistance to help turn them into truly free citizens equal to white Americans. Frederick Douglas, a leading black American civil rights advocate ,declared that in May 1865 slavery would not be abolished until the black man had the right to vote.
a number of obstacles stood in the way of ex-slaves becoming independent farmers. they often lacked the experience and education as well as the economic means to buy the necessary equipment and tools to work land, and also the money to buy the land. southern white Americans also were reluctant to sell land to ex-slaves. with the loss of their property in slaves. Plantain owners wanted to replace the slave system with cheap black labour. this led to ex-slaves worked on plantations for low wages with a lifestyle not that different from before emancipation.
The need for a political settlement
President Johnson's response to Reconstruction
black codes made matters worse when they were introduced in several former confederate States. they undermined Johnson's program for reconstruction than anything else. Attempted to define the ex-slaves new rights and responsibilities, Covered issues such as black rights to own property, to marry, to make contracts and to appear as Witnesses in courts. main purpose of black codes with an attempt to regulate the labour market. explain to refuse to engage in work on the white man's terms will be punished. Radical Republican Benjamin Flanders the black codes were designed to return the situation as need to slavery as possible
black codes caused uproar across northern states. seemed nothing much has changed since the days of the confederacy. when the US Congress reassembled in December 1865 after congressional elections it refused to allow representatives from the former confederacy, who were not in state governments to take their seats. Also set up a joint Committee on reconstruction which decided whether or not a former confederate state was fit to return to the Union.
Johnson's statement that he wanted to publish traitors went down well with more radical members of the Republican Party in US congress. Republican's argued he was a 'better man' than Lincoln and that God replaced him with Johnson when Lincoln became useless. Johnson's relationship with the Radical Republican's deteriorated after the Reconstruction was announced. 29th May 1865, President Johnson extended a general pardon to former confederates who were willing to take the oath of allegiance to the USA. men who had held high office in the confederacy or whose taxable property was above $20,000 were excluded from this pardon but could obtain special pardons if they applied directly to President Johnson.
At the first stage of Reconstruction, the Radical Republican's were a minority within the Republican Party. due to President Johnson's actions their the ranks swelled and increased the influence of the leaders Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner. in early 1866 Johnson attacked Radical Republican critics as traitor. Johnson then vetoed two congressional proposals which end to help black Americans the freedmen's Bureau Bill and the Civil Rights Bill
newly elected government of Mississippi had been a brigadier general in the Confederate army. Georgia appointed US senator Alexander Stephens= Vice President of the Confederate States of America. Some State Governments questioned legality of the Thirteenth Amendment. Mississippi rejected it entirely what other state government ratified the 13th amendment with the understanding at the US Congress match the power to determine the future of ex-slaves. Johnson did nothing in response
great resentment of the US congress ,that supporters of the bill to ban the black codes and introduce radical Republican Reconstruction were able to get the two-thirds majority to override a presidential veto and both proposals became law. the joint committee also proposed a further Amendment of the US Constitution to provide excellence with equal protection of the law. Congress passed the fourteenth amendment overriding Johnson's attempt to veto it.
Johnson= president from April 1685 to March 1869. He was a war democrat and was made Lincoln's running mate as vice president in 1864 to show unity between Republicans and Democrats at the height of civil war. he was soft educated and in his political career even a major a congressman and military governor of Tennessee during the civil world but most of the state of being conquered by the North. he was auntie confederate and had an abiding dislike of the plantation owning class and they claim to be fighting against the slave masters during the civil war. as a southerner he possessed the view that black Americans were inferior to white American and had been a slave owner himself. before the Outbreak of the Civil War he stated that he wished every family in the USA could have one Slave to do the drudgery and menial tasks. after he became president Andrew Johnson's view towards reconstruction intended to reflect his racist views.
congressional elections of 1866 led to a strong rise in support for Radical Republicans and they went ahead to introduce their own programme for Reconstruction. High point of Radical Republican opposition to President Johnson came on 24th Feb 1868 when the House of Representatives voted 126 to 47 votes to impeach him for 'high crimes and misdemeanours in office' and to replace him with Radical Republican Benjamin Wade. Johnson= first president to be impeached. Tried for impeachment by US Senate and only survived by one vote.7878
Andrew Johnson's attempts at a moderate Reconstruction programme which aim was to restore a state government to the former Confederacy as soon as possible had failed. clearly abandoned fate of ex-slaves into the hands of white southerners most supported the Confederacy in the civil war. Johnson's Reconstruction attempts led to a programme supported by Radical Republicans.
several state legislatures in the former Confederacy past what became known as black codes discriminated against ex-slaves. Mississippi= black Americans with a billion from owning land. South Carolina= they could not own property in towns. Black people had to show passes when on the road and wasn't bidden from caring Arms or liquor. Vagrant former slaves who had left plantations to look for work and land or punish went court and they faced severe fines. When these cannot be paid they were sold into private service until they worked of their fine, a position not dissimilar to the formal condition of slavery
President Lincoln hope to restore pro-union state governments in the former confederate as soon as possible.However on the 14th of April 1865 he was assassinated attending at Ford's Theatre Washington DC. He was succeeded by his vice President Andrew Johnson a southerner from the
former Confederate state of Tennessee although he remained loyal to the USA in the civil war.
as early as 1863 President Lincoln began the process of reuniting the country by beginning a reconstruction program. December 1863 who issued the proclamation of amnesty and reconstruction under which any former confederate state performance state government whether whenever a number of voters is equivalent to 10% voters who voted in the 1860 elections took an Oath of allegiance to the USA. Under the plan, state governments that accept a reconstruction and the authority of the Federal Government performed in the former confederate States of Tennessee Arkansas and Louisiana by 1865
Johnson decided to recognise full pro Union provisional state governments in the former confederacy Virginia Louisiana Arkansas and Tennessee which accepted the late President Lincoln's 10% plan. the president then requested other form former confederate States to hold constitutional conventions to reestablish elected governments. Johnson left up to the States to decide who should be qualified to vote and none accepted the idea that black Americans should Be enfranchised. Even worse several date chose former senior confederates for high office.