Free at last Pt.4

Question 1

Who were the White League?

Answer 1

• Another white supremacist group formed in March 1874 in Louisiana
• Seen as the military arm of the Democrat party during military occupation

Question 2

What were some of the notorious events brought about by the White League?

Answer 2

• Coushatta Massacre of August 1874 when 6 republican party members were forced to resign, then murdered alongside 5 black Americans
• Battle of Liberty place on the 14th of September 1874 where the Republican governor of New Orleans was ousted, city government was overthrown for 3 days before military intervention and the routing of 3,500 metropolitan police

Question 3

What were other activities of various white supremacist groups?

Answer 3

• Knights of the white Camelia in 1873 on Easter Sunday massacred 280 Black Americans despite their attempts to surrender
• 1875 Mississippi elections lead to White displays of power and following riots in which hundreds of Black people were killed which undermined republican authority

Question 4

How did the government react to the Colfax massacre and other violence caused by supremacist groups?

Answer 4

• 1870 enforcement act placed penalties upon anyone who interfered with any citizen, Black or White
• 1870 2nd Enforcement act placed the election of congressmen under the surveillance of federal election officials
• 1871 3rd Enforcement act (also known as the KKK Act) gave federal troops the power to arrest suspected KKK members without warrants and outlawed behaviour closely related to KKK activities
• Helped to cripple these organisations

Question 5

When officially did reconstruction end?

Answer 5

• March 1877 with the inauguration of Rutherford B Hayes

Question 6

What was Ulysses Grant’s role in the end of reconstruction?

Answer 6

• His congress refused to grant the Freedman’s bureau additional funding
• Amnesty Act of 1872 where all former confederates (excluding the most senior) were pardoned
• Didn’t provide federal troops when riots broke out in 1875

Question 7

What were some of the factors that brought about the end of reconstruction?

Answer 7

• 1873 Major economic depression which put pressure on the government to try and stabilise the South through less harsh treatment
• Violence associated with the KKK and other white supremacist groups, along with their quietening during the redeemer governments
• Election of Hayes over Tilden, a policy of Hayes’ being lenient with the South which got a lot of support
• Last Republican governor in the south left office in April 1877

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