Discussion Topic

The reactions and effects of Reconstruction on Southern whites and the responses of both white and black southerners

Summary:

Reconstruction elicited varied reactions from Southern whites, who largely resisted the changes and sought to maintain pre-Civil War social structures through methods like Black Codes and violence. White southerners often responded with hostility, whereas black southerners sought to exercise newfound freedoms and rights, leading to significant social tensions and conflicts as they navigated the challenges of Reconstruction.

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How did white and black southerners react to Reconstruction?

Initially, the Republican Party intended a "Radical Reconstruction" in which black people would be given lands that had been appropriated by the Union armies. African Americans had fought in large numbers on the Union side and initially were elected to state offices and took advantage of the emancipation that was guaranteed by the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution. Unfortunately, Lincoln's successor, Andrew Johnson, was a firm believer in states' rights, and rather than pursuing the aims of radical reconstruction, he let state governments make their own choices about how to implement new codes.

The initial enthusiasm for emancipation was met by disappointment as southern states began to enact "black codes" or "Jim Crow" laws that enforced segregation and denied African Americans many fundamental rights. This eventually led to the Great Migration, in which southern African Americans moved out of the South, seeking the freedom and equality that had been promised by emancipation but taken away in the Reconstruction.

Several northerners moved south after the Civil War, sometimes to help blacks and the Reconstruction efforts but sometimes to take advantage of sales of distressed property. These northerners were termed “carpetbaggers” by white southerners who saw Reconstruction as a form of northern profiteering.

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How did white and black southerners react to Reconstruction?

The answer to this question is quite complex, since of course there was not a simply singular and unified response to Reconstruction on the part of either white or black Southerners.

For many African Americans, Reconstruction created extraordinary and unprecedented opportunities, and they sought to take advantage of them. This was especially true in political access and education. Black men were allowed to vote with the Fifteenth Amendment, and they voted in numbers approaching ninety percent in many states in the early days of Congressional Reconstruction. As a result, a few African American politicians were elected to Congress, and many joined state legislatures. Some counties elected black sheriffs, an huge development so soon after the end of slavery.

Additionally, African American adults and young people took advantage of educational opportunities, attending schools sponsored by black churches or the Freedmen's Bureau. Economically, they responded to the end of slavery by seeking new opportunities, moving to cities and even to lands in the west, By far, most African-American families ended up farming on lands belonging to white men, however, entering into sharecropping and tenant farming arrangements that kept them indebted and in poverty.

Many poor whites found themselves in similar circumstances, though white politicians took great pains to ensure that they did not find common cause with African-Americans. While many Southern whites embraced the economic and political opportunities of Reconstruction (becoming known as "scalawags" as a result) many also sought to roll back the gains made by African Americans. They resorted to terror in the form of organizations like the Ku Klux Klan, voter fraud, and other means. White "Bourbon" politicians regained control of southern politics at different times in different Southern states, but the process was complete in 1877, when a political compromise ended federal enforcement of Reconstruction laws.

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How did white and black southerners react to Reconstruction?

Reconstruction resulted in a point of conflict between black Southerners and white Southerners over what freedom itself means and entails. 

In the Reconstruction-era South, black Southerners immediately took the opportunity to make their newfound freedom meaningful by demanding civil and political rights, seeking economic independence, establishing schools and churches of their own, and reuniting families who had previously been separated when slavery reigned. 

White Southerners, however, were dismayed by the changes brought about by the emancipation of slaves and were smarting from the loss of loved ones in the Civil War; the ravaging of personal property during the fighting had only added insult to injury. A new pride and nostalgia for the "Old South" and the "Lost Cause of the Confederacy" was born, with white Southerners choosing to erect monuments and build cemeteries dedicated to the Confederate forces. Some Southerners left the South altogether, while less passive individuals began to incite violence out of their bitterness; they also built factions which would further promote racism (such as the Ku Klux Klan). Otherwise, any Southerners who approved of the Reconstruction policies were belittled as "scalawags." 

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What were the effects of Reconstruction on Southern whites?

Reconstruction brought public education to many poor whites in the South; this was one of the greatest lasting legacies of the time period. Reconstruction also brought aid to many poor whites who lacked basic food and housing immediately after the war. The federal government also helped settle whites displaced by the lawlessness that was prevalent in much of the occupied South.

Whites had to get used to free blacks in the South. Poor whites often did not like the newly freed slaves, as they were competition for scarce jobs. Many poor whites and blacks alike turned to sharecropping. Some whites also joined the Ku Klux Klan. Whites who were part of the Confederate government were temporarily barred from holding political office, but this would change by the end of the period. Whites also struggled to memorialize the fallen Confederate dead, as the Union did not want to venerate fallen Confederates. This would ultimately lead to the "Lost Cause" myth that continues to hang on in some parts of the South today.

When the Redeemers took over in the South and helped end Reconstruction, whites had greater access to the polls than blacks. Whites were grandfathered into voting rolls, and their literacy tests were not rigorous when compared to the tests required of blacks. Poor whites often found their poll taxes prepaid—provided that they voted for the pro-Southern choice.

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What were the effects of Reconstruction on Southern whites?

Reconstruction had a significant effect on southern whites. There were many changes in the South as a result of Reconstruction. African-Americans got more freedoms. White southerners would no longer have total control over the African-Americans. With the passage of the 15th amendment, African-American males got the right to vote. This was difficult for many white southerners to accept. The Radical Republican plan also denied voting rights to ex-Confederate leaders.

The Republican Party got power in the South. Some white southerners refused to take part in the writing of the new state constitutions. As a result, the Republicans got control of many state governments, and some African-Americans got elected to office. Because the reconstruction process was directed by the Republicans, many white southerners voted for candidates from the  Democratic Party for years to come. Some white southerners also turned to a group like the Ku Klux Klan that tried to intimidate African-Americans into not exercising their rights. The Ku Klux Klan used scare tactics and threats against the African-Americans. This group was very active in the South for many years.

Reconstruction impacted white southerners because it imposed ideas and concepts that many white southerners had rejected for generations. They had to accept freedom for the former slaves. They had to accept African-American males voting in elections. They had to accept African-Americans becoming citizens. Creating, at least for a period of time, a more equal society in the South was very difficult for many white southerners to accept.

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How did southern whites react to Reconstruction changes?

Many white southerners were unhappy with the changes brought about by the plans for Reconstruction. When President Johnson put forth his plan, the Southerners elected many of the same people who were in Congress before the Civil War began. The Republicans in Congress were concerned by this and wouldn’t seat these representatives.

White southerners weren’t in favor of the Radical Republican Reconstruction plan, and they resented the changes that came with this plan. During Reconstruction, many white southerners refused to take part in the writing of the new state constitutions. They also refused to take part in elections for state offices. The white southerners referred to southerners who supported Reconstruction as scalawags. They referred to northerners who came to the South as carpetbaggers. Both names carried negative connotations.

Once Reconstruction ended, many white southerners worked to undo the gains African-Americans made during Reconstruction. The literacy tests, poll taxes, and grandfather clauses were ways to deny African-Americans voting rights. Jim Crow laws were passed that allowed segregation to exist. The Ku Klux Klan formed to terrorize the African-Americans and other groups. Many white southerners were opposed to the changes brought about by Reconstruction.

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How did white citizens feel about Reconstruction?

There was no one attitude that whites in the US had towards Reconstruction.

In the South, opinion was split.  There were some, mainly Republicans, who were in favor of the Reconstruction governments.  These people came to be called "scalawags" by those whites who hated Reconstruction.  This means that opinion was split even in the South.

In the North, opinion varied over time.  At first, there was a great deal of desire to punish the South for the Civil War.  Later on, though, support for Reconstruction waned because Northerners did not generally care much about the rights of black people.  

White attitudes, then, were not monolithic.  Different people had different attitudes and these attitudes changed to some degree over time.

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