southern resistance to reconstruction?

Question

in waht ways did southerners resist recontruction besides the black codes, the ku klux klan, and jim crow laws?

Answer 1

If you want to get a sense of what was going on in the South-- how it was resisting Reconstruction in the late 1860s, early 1870s, there are a number of fine works on Reconstruction which examine how this worked.

KEY: 1875 and the "MISSISIPPI PLAN"

One you might find very helpful (and which I'll wager/I hope your local public library has) is Nicholas Lemann's recent book *Redemption: The Last Battle of the Civil War*. Lemann focuses on the events leading up to the effort of white "redeemers" in Mississippi in 1875 to 'take back' the state government for whites (that is, white Democrats, NOT pro-Northern 'scalawags' or 'carpetbaggers'). It was, essentially, a TERRORIST campaign, of murder, lychings and intimidation that succeeded in driving black Republicans away from the polls that year. In fact, they had been doing some of this for several years, but never to this degree.

Though it was difficult to pin everything down, the evidence is quite strong that these were co-ordinated by political leaders, who managed to cover their tracks. (The official story they gave was that these were just a series of disconnected events, all of them spontaneous reactions of local whites to threatening actions by blacks.)

When this effort, thereafter dubbed the "Mississippi Plan", proved successful, it was quickly exported to other states that had not yet been "redeemed", for use in 1876. This, and various other devious means -- such as BALLOT stuffing-- enabled the Democrats to claim that they had won several of these states in the Presidential election of that year.

Unfortunately, in the midst of all this President Grant, who had supported the southern Reconstruction governments with federal troops, "blinked"... deciding to trust assurances of no violence. But it turns out he was acting in part at the urging of Ohio Republicans who believed they would lose THEIR elections (including the gubernatorial race of R.B. Hayes) if Grant sent in more troops. (Northern support for Reconstruction had been weakening for some time, as people tired of the costs, the violence, etc.)

By this time, there was widespread pressure to remove the few remaining troops from the South (where they were guarding state houses in Louisiana, S.Carolina and Florida).

As a result, it was this campaing of 1875, carried further in 1876


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ELECTION OF 1876 ?

A few more notes about that election -- since it is popularly credited with the end of Reconstruction ... but actually WIDELY misunderstood.

First, note that Hayes had promised before the election that he would be removing the last of federal troops.

The dispute:
When several Southern states ending up presenting TWO sets of electors ballots --one for Republican Hayes, the other for Democrat Tilden-- the matter of which ballots to accept fell to Congress. (Contra SteveG, who is a bit confused about this whole election, it was NOT 'thrown into the House' --the procedure for when no one gets a majority [as happened with JQ Adams].) A commission appointed by Congress settled the disputed ballots in Hayes's favor.

Now there WAS anger on the Southern side, and some threats of not supporting the report, but the efforts of several Northern and Southern leaders working together quelled this (mainly because of common interests unrelated to Reconstruction issues). One of their get-togethers has given rise to the story of a "Compromise" (the so-called "Wormley House Bargain") to gain Hayes the election. But there is NO evidence of a 'corrupt bargain'. Note again, the ONLY supposed promises of this "Compromise" the Hayes administration carried out were actions planned and promised long before.

This is all sorted out nicely in John Hope Franklin's *Reconstruction after the Civil War (2nd ed., University of Chicago Press, 1994) - see chapter 11, pp.206-210.

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The incredible thing is that this whole story was for many years MIS-told, in both popular lore and then even in histories. This despite the fact that the U.S. Senate, investigating the matter collected many materials and much testimony that support the more recent view (which Lemann is presenting).


For a quick overview of the story of Lemann's book check out these reviews:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/07/AR2006090701152.html
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2006/0609.meacham.html
http://www.americanheritage.com/events/articles/web/20060919-reconstruction-white-line-adelbert-ames-civil-war-ulysses-s-grant-nicholas-lemann.shtml

Answer 2

Southern Resistance To Reconstruction

Answer 3

In one of the Presidential elections of the 1870's the election was thrown into the House of Representatives. Southern Congressmen agreed to vote for one of the candidates (Rutherford B. Hayes?) so long as Federal troops were withdrawn from the South. Deal done. Reconstruction over.