African American (everything) Flashcards
(101 cards)
emancipation proclamation
- 1863
- slaves who could escape their slave-masters, either by fleeing to Union lines or through the advance of federal troops, were permanently fr
black codes
1865
when was Johnson president
1865-9
13th amendement
Date: 1865
Event:
- abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime.
- State assemblies were required to agree to the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution. In practice, Johnson failed to enforce this in the South
Impact:
The freedmans bureua
- established 1865 by an Act of Congress
- a federal government body that supported freed slaves in the short-term, providing the basis for their long-term security
- provided housing, employment, medical care, land, and education (4000 schools built by 1866)
- set up military courts: courts to deal with labour disputes between former slaves and their employers, and to protect AAs from aspects of the Black Codes that forced labour contracts
- Johnson unsuccessfully attempted to veto the Act
- it ended in 1872
Presidential reconstruction
Date: 1865
Event:
The Johnson plan
- previouse confedorates swear an oath of alleginace to the union
- once oath taken could stand for election
- had to agree to illeglity of slavery
- militay leader exempt from pardon
Impact:
- the end of an era
- no more free man burea ect.
significance of the Black Codes
- exposed the weakness of the federal government and power of the state government.
- prevented freed slaves from receiving their full rights as citizens of the USA.
- Johnson supported voting qualifications, including literacy tests and the imposition of a property qualification
Black codes
Date: 1865/66
- withheld the right to vote
- justified as guaranteeing protection for freed slaves and economic security for the plantation economy. They included:
- heavier penalties for AAs who broke the law than for whites
- in many states, AAs banned from competing for jobs with white men and in some, restricted to specific jobs, e.g. sharecropping
- Former slaves who were caught begging were charged with vagrancy and fined. Since most could not pay the fine, they could be hired out to plantation owners or other employers, essentially becoming a slave again
Civil Rights Act ‘66
- 1866
- a response to the black codes, it intended to more clearly establish the equality of AAs with other Americans, by asserting their rights to equality before the law
- Johnson attempted to veto the bill but Congress overrode his veto
- would be difficult to secure the Act’s ratification and enforcement as it was not an amendment to the Constitution
KKK established
Date: 1866
Event:
Impact:
14th amendment
Date: 1866
Event:- passed by the Senate in 1866, ratified in 1868
- anyone born or naturalised in the USA were citizens. All citizens were entitled to the protection of the law without discrimination
- If any state denied the vote to any male citizen, its representation in Congress would be proportionately reduced.
- this was more significant than the Civil Rights Act as being a constitutional amendment, Congress had more power to enforce it
- it began to change the balance of power between state and federal govs, particularly with civil and political rights.
reaction to the 14th amendment
- Southern politicians were outraged and Johnson refused to compromise.
- Only one of the 11 Southern states ratified the amendment.
- The Republican Party won the elections for Congress in 1866 and started a programme of Reconstruction that made ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment by state governments a condition to the readmission of each former rebel state to the Union.
Reconstruction acts: ratification of 14th amendment, military rule
Date: 1867/68
Event:- 1867
- required southern states to ratify the 14th Amendment and enact universal male suffrage before they could rejoin the Union.
- placed the south under military rule
- Invalidated the pardons that Johnson had given Confederates who had supported secession, depriving them of their right to vote
situation after the abolition of slavery - strengths
- Freedom was guaranteed by presidential proclamation, law and Constitutional Amendments
- ex-slaves acquired legal rights as equal citizens
- Freedmen’s Bureau provided support
- Military rule in the rebel Southern states kept the Confederates in check
- strong desire of Radical Republicans in Congress to ensure the rights of freedmen
- political power resulted in a number of black voters in some Southern states being willing to elect black Congressmen or Senators
- the right to the benefits of work - being paid and using that money freely
situation after the abolition of slavery - weaknesses
- slaves were uneducated so were very disadvantaged in finding work
- no redistribution of confiscated Southern lands so most freedmen had no economic autonomy, so many could only work as paid labourers and sharecroppers
- the implementation of new laws was difficult for the small federal bureaucracy
- attitudes about white supremacy and stereotypes of African Americans remained
- violence and intimidation through groups like KKK
- social structure in the South still valued land ownership above the artisan, entrepreneur and the industrialist
- due to recession after 1873, many people in the North more focused on their immediate problems than the racial problems of the South
- competition for work between freedmen and white labourers
key problems in the period of Reconstruction
- there were no precedents and the Constitution provided little guidance for the politicians
- disagreements about bringing the 11 Confederate states back into the Union. Whilst the ex-Confederate states claimed they had never legally been out of it, Republicans thought the opposite
- loyalty to the Union would have to be restored among white Southerners
- worn torn economy of the South had to be rebuilt
- newly freed slaves had to be given the opportunity to enjoy their freedom, meaning states would have to implement the federal changes made
Johnson’s attitude to plantation owners
wealthy plantation owners (owing taxable property of $20,000 or more) were exempted from the offer of pardon. In practice, Johnson failed to implement this. They could petition for pardon and if successful, hold positions in state assemblies
Campbell established black power in McIntosh County
Date: 1868
Event:
- Hoping to assist in educating the freed people and promoting a biracial democracy
- he leased a 1,250 acre plantation and divided it among black families
Impact:
- provided black labourers new leverage in thier relationship with white employers
- started to establish black power in McIntosh County in 1868
- he leased a 1250 acre plantation from a Union sympathiser and divided it among black families
- he was also vice president of the Republican party in Georgia
- he provided black labourers with new leverage in their relations with white employers due to his and other black men’s power in the justice court
- local planters were angered at his lack of patience for racial abuse
- He headed a 300-strong AA militia that guarded him from the KKK
- he did this despite his home being burned down, being poisoned and living in constant fear of white violence
- local planters and Democrats used corruption to arrest him in 1876, and sent to a convict labour camp
Democrats come to power, start of redemption
Date: 1869
Event:
Impact:
15th amendment
Date: 1870
Event:
- 1870
- prohibited the ‘denial of suffrage because of race, colour or previous condition of servitude’. So essentially gave black men the vote
- was intended to secure the black vote for the Republican party and so to keep it in power in both the north and south
- There was opposition from the Democrats, but they were not powerful enough to prevent its ratification
Problems with the 15th amendment
- there were loopholes in the amendment that were particularly evident to the southern states - they accepted the amendment because it still allowed voting qualifications, which would limit the number of AA voters
- it did not guarantee that former slaves or their offspring could hold office
Ku Klux Klan act
Date: 1871
Event:
Impact:
Civil Rights Act ‘75
- 1875
- aimed to prohibit racial segregation in public places, except in schools
- passed by Grant
- By the time it was passed, the Senate was no longer preoccupied with punishing the south for their rebellion. Grant was abandoning the repressive policies towards the South
- A disputed presidential election in 1876 depended on the votes of states in the south, therefore the Act was never enforced.
- In 1883 it was thrown out on the basis that it contravened the rights of individual states to decide on issues of segregation.
Collaps of the free mans bureau, repression of the KKK
Date: 1872
Event:
- orignally set up by congress march 1865
- help transition slaver to freedom
supplementary freedmen bureau act extended it for another three years and suggested that the Burea set m
Johunson tried to veto the act but failed
Impact:
