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6. Aim: What was life like in the south
during Reconstruction?
Many northerners, known as Carpetbaggers,
traveled to the south after the war to try to help rebuild southern
governments, educate the Freedmen, and help poor whites. Many others went south
to try to rip off the newly created southern govts.
Most southern whites resented the fact
that blacks were given rights and could now vote. Blacks could now compete with
whites for jobs & political power. A secret society called the Ku Klux Klan was created to frighten
blacks, chase carpetbaggers out of the south, & prevent blacks and their
white supporters from voting. Congress did little to control the KKK until
martial law was declared in the south. Whites turned to the Democratic Party,
which became the most powerful political party in the south.
While the south was under the control of
the US army the KKK was not very active – but after Reconstruction ended and
the army left, the KKK became a powerful force in southern politics and in
surpressing the rights of blacks.
Many former plantation owners, whose land
had been devastated by the war, did not have the capital to rebuild their
plantations. In addition most southern banks had been destroyed so money was in
very tight supply. These landowners divided up their property into small farms
of 6 – 12 acres and rented this land to
poor whites & blacks. These renters, also called tenant farmers or Sharecroppers paid their rent to the
landlord by giving or sharing their crops with the landlord as rental payment.
Many landlords sold seed, food, clothing, farm equipment, livestock, etc. to
their sharecroppers at highly inflated prices. The sharecroppers therefore were
constantly in debt to the landlord, and most were tied to their rental farm as
if they were slaves. Sharecroppers who could not afford to buy their own land
or equipment were tied to their land and could not leave their rental property.
Sharecroppers were the poorest of the poor
in the south. Sharecropping lasted well into the 20th century.
HOMEWORK: Read pgs.429 –431. Do Vocab. pg 429 and do
ques. 4 & 5