History Unit 1K by specification point
Specification point Key notes
Section one - The Era of Reconstruction and the Gilded Age, 1865–1890
The weaknesses of Federal Overall key Reconstruction points
Government: Johnson, Grant ● 13th Amendment 1865 abolished slavery
and the failure of Radical ● 14th Amendment 1866 granted citizenship to all born/naturalised in US
Reconstruction ● 15th Amendment 1870 right to vote not denied on account of race
● Lincoln’s 10% plan (10% electorate taken oath to abolish led to formation of state gov)
● Southern states suffered military occupation ($30m ziezed by treasury)
● Johnson wanted to end slavery and put Union together again
● Congress committed to expansion and protection of AA rights
● Emancipation Proclamation 1863 granted freedom to slaves
● Establishment of Freedmen's Bureau 1865 to help former slaves
● Johnson issued 13,000 pardons to rebels (Amnesty Proclamation)
● Black codes 1865 limited AA freedom and made them cheap labour force
● Establishment of KKK 1865 and enabled more attacks on AAs
● Johnson vetoed Freedmen’s Bureau increasing tensions with Congress
● Civil Rights Act 1866 vetoed by Johnson, Congress overturned, bestowed citizenship
● Reconstruction Act 1867 passed over Johnson veto led to military districts
● Tenure of Office Act 1867 forbid removal of civil office holders without Senate consent
● Johnson impeached 1868 due to Stanton dismissal
● With Grant election power shifts back to Congress - 700,000 AA votes to Grant key
● Three enforcement acts 1870/71 limited discrimination
● Extreme opposition to radical reconstruction from ground and southern state legislatures
● Colfax massacre saw 150 freedmen killed 1873
● Reps only kept control in South due to federal troop intervention after White League
rebellion
● Removal of 1872 Amnesty Act allowed ex-Confederates to return to political life
● Revolt of Liberal Republicans and the split in the party
● Democrats began to introduce redemption and restored vagrancy laws and a black labour
force
● Hayes was elected following contested election on basis that Reconstruction ended which
gratified both parties
Southern state occupation
● $30m seized by treasury agents
● No political/military leaders brought to trial, no mass confistication of property
● Lincoln believed reconstruction was executive not legislative and a plan for general
reconstruction was set out in December 1863
Black codes
● Introduced in 1865; built upon the legislation of old pre-war slave codes
● Mississippi begins the process
● Northern public opinion enrages; boost to radical republicans, sets them against Johnson
and the South
● Seen as attack on the 13th Amendment; not what the war had been fought for
● Radicals need to take bolder action
● Johnson vetoed Freedmen's Bureau; Congress overturned veto for first time in history
Election of 1868
● Reconstruction Election; focused on Radical Reconstruction and African American voting
rights (republicans)
● Fought on emotive legacy of civil war
● Republicans presented themselves as principle and patriotic
● Grant was elected (carried ¾ of the states); popular vote only 300,000 more than Seymour;
depended on African American votes, which made them more determined to strengthen
the provisions for black voting rights
Policies of radical reconstruction
● Quickly proposed 15th Amendment; passed Feb 1869 and ratified 1870
● Implemented by federal.state governments and organisations eg Freedmen's Bureau;
depended on US army presence
● Intense, violent resistance in South against policies by groups such as Ku Klux Klan
● In response, federal government passed three enforcement acts between 1870 and 1871
● Strengthened 14th and 15th Amendment provisions
, ● Limited discrimination
● Often referred to as ‘Ku Klux Klan laws’ as banned intimidation/bribery of black voters
● Ku Klux Klan best known racist extremists; also White League and Red Shirts
● Violence often involved lynching
● Civil Rights Act passed by Congress (Feb 1875) intended to guarantee equality in
travel/juries; Grant supported and signed it but there was mounting opposition to such
policies and Radical Reconstruction was losing momentum
Opposition to radical reconstruction
● Extreme opposition; on the ground from white terrorists
● Political opposition; from southern state legislatures; gathered strength as ex-Confederate
states rejoined the union
● Powerful reaction from Democrat party in south; called themselves the Redeemers
● Effective on many levels
● Extensive electoral fraud
● 1873 three whites and 150 pro-Republican freedmen killed in Colfax Massacre
● September 1874 5000 members of White League carried out a rebellion; Republicans only
able to keep power due to intervention of federal troops
● Redemption of South helped with similar violent acts; also helped by quieter, outwardly
legal forms of discrimination such as literacy tests and vagrancy laws
● By 1876 Redeemers won back Democratic control of most ex-Confederate states
Failure of radical reconstruction
● Civil Rights Act was last major initiative of Radical Reconstruction as support was waning
in Congress; Liberal Republicans reluctant to keep using federal troops to suppress
Southern discontent and Redeemers had gained confidence
● Grant’s decision to remove 1872 Amnesty Act helped as it allowed ex-Confederates to
return to political life
● Supreme court rulings in March 1876 went in favour of Southern conservatives
● Even radical Republicans were weary of political battle and the context of politics was
changing
● Grant’s position was weakened by economic depression following 1873 Stock Market
Panic
● Also had a tide of accusations of corruption; he had had a strong record of fighting against
corruption but this didn’t stop criticism; he was tainted by political/financial corruption
connected to his friend and associates
● Scandals included:
○ Black Friday Scandal (1869)
○ Star Routes Ring (postal service)
○ New York Custom House Ring (drew attention to Tweed Ring)
Revolt of liberal republicans
● Wanted to move away from South
● Split off in 1872 to form own party
● Wanted government to focus on building Northern economy
● Split of Republican party; many go into Democrat party and divisions create distractions
Supreme Court decisions
● Court undercut and invalidated amendments
● Supplementary Freedmen's Bureau Act not enforced due to supreme court
● Final say on constitutional rights
● Politicians test amendments in supreme court; much of what is passed is actually
unenforceable in the south
● Govt actions in North can’t be forced in South
Social, regional and ethnic Immigration patterns
divisions: divisions within and ● 1820-1900 = 20m people arrived as immigrants; most in final decades
between North, South and ● 1900-1910 = 9m, 6m the decade after
West; the position of African- ● 1900-1910 41% increase in urban population was directly due to immigration
Americans ● In 1890 80% of New Yorkers had been born abroad
● NY had 2x Irish that Dublin had
● Immigration increased between 1880-1920 but also came from more different parts of the
world
● Before 1880 immigrants came from north & west Europe; Germany, Britain, Ireland, French
& Scandinavia (made up 80% immigrants)
● After 1880 majority from southern/eastern Europe and left again after prolonged stay
● Difficult to say where they were from but possibly Jews, Poles and Slavic groups that were
incorrectly labelled or not registered
● Major shift in immigration patterns during the period
, ● Mass immigration was part of significant demographic change
● Population increased sharply → death rates declined, immigration increased and
more people lived longer
● Shift in population through urbanisation
● Improvements in transport drew people to expanding cities
● Population patterns of towns and cities reflected influx of immigrants
● Districts of big cities became ‘Irish’ or ‘German’
Pull factors for immigrants
● Social and economic forces
● Empty land to be filled, expanding industries needed labour force and most Americans had
a willingness to welcome new arrivals to ‘the land of the free’
● The Statue of Liberty dominated NY from 1886 was a clear symbol of this
● Many immigrants were actively recruited by shipping companies and systems put in place
to facilitate entry to America, inc a reception centre for arriving immigrants at Castle
Garden
Consequences of immigration and urbanisation for American society
● The speed and intensity of immigration created tension and social divisions
● New immigrant communities regarded with suspicion and hostility
● Seen as a threat to jobs
● Seen as threat to existing social and cultural norms
● Nativism grew, as groups attempted to preserve established American values
● Tensions between ‘new’ immigrants and those who had settled in previous generations
● Contradictory feelings between communities and families
● Tensions often reflected class prejudices and racial/religious prejudices
● Strong reaction against Chinese Americans, described as ‘Yellow Peril’ of Chinese
immigration
Attitudes towards Chinese Immigrants
● Chinese immigrants had begun to come into California at beginning of 1849 Gold Rush and
had established communities in West Coast cities, esp San Francisco
● 1860s saw thousands of Chinese labourers brought in to work on construction of railroads
● Afterwards, many moved to swell the existing Chinese American communities in California
● Chinese workers provided ½ the labour force in San Fran’s key industries
● Boots and shoes
● Wool textiles
● Tobacco and cigar-making
● Sewing
● Many also worked on farms
● Chinese workers were cheap, hard-working and caused few social disturbances
● Many employers admired their disciplined work ethic
● Southern plantation owners thought they would make better workers than black freedmen
● However in many parts of white society, Chinese, AA and Native Americans were lumped
together as ‘coloured’ and ‘alien’
● The economic depression following 1873 stock market panic accentuated fears the cheap
Chinese labour would undermine white workers
● By 1879, President Hayes was warning Americans about ‘present Chinese invasion’ and 3
years later the Chinese Exclusion act was passed
● Chinese Exclusion Act 1882
Population trends
● Population nearly trebled 1860-1910 although rate of growth was declining
● Up to 1860 population had increased by ⅓ every decade
● By 1901-10 it was down to 21%
● From about 1870 the birth rate progressively declined
● This was due to increasing resort to contraception, especially by the urban middle class
● Effects of falling birth rate were masked by a greater fall in death rate
● Advances in medical knowledge, spread of medicines, improved diets and standards of
public health
● Sharp drop in death related to disease
● Population growth not uniform throughout the nation; Western states such as Washington,
Oregon, Texas, Oklahoma and California
● Bulk of population continued to be concentrated north of Ohio and east of the Mississippi
● In 1860 had 55% of population
● In 1910 had 47% of population
● Contained most of the nation’s growing cities
Urban growth
, ● By 1860 ⅙ Americans was a city-dweller
● NY was already the 3rd largest city in the world
● After the Civil War city can into its own
● Railroads, heavy industry and technological advances helped to build cities and were in
turn stimulated by them
● By 1900 ⅓ of American population were city dwellers and 40 cities has >100,000
inhabitants
● NY population grew from 1860 1 million to 1900 3.5 million
● Chicago went from 100,000 to 1.7 million
● Older coastal cities suffered from relative decline
● Majority of Americans didn’t live in urban area until 1920 but from 1870 onwards the city
became the controlling influence in national life
● Job prospects in the cities attracted rural and small-town folk from both the US and Europe
● Provided a forum for machine politics and civic reform
● Produced new sectionalism aligning town against country is way reflected in both national
and state politics
● Rural depopulation complemented urban growth
● New England was worst hit
● Out of 1502 rural townships, 932 had lost inhabitants in 1880
● The appeals of cities was not purely economic
New immigration
● In the 50 years post Civil War immigration exceeded 26m
● Up to 1880 immigrants came predominantly from northern and western Europe
● By 1914 85% originated in southern and eastern Europe, particularly Austria, Italy and
Russia
● ‘New immigration’ bought new countries; Poles, Czechs, Ukranians, east European Jews,
Portuguese, Italians, Greeks, Syrians
● Another stream arrived from across the Pacific such as Chinese, Japanese and Filipinos
● Sizeable movements from Mexico and Canada
● Resulted from economic changes that had affected the north and west of the continent
● Massive population growth
● Collapse of old agricultural order
● Industrial revolution
● Many emigrated to avoid compulsory military service
● Others fled religious persecution; notably Russian Jews
● New immigrant groups congregated in America’s industrial cities
● Agriculture held little appeal and they were attracted by high wags obtainable in factories,
mines and mills
● By 1910 ⅓ population of 12 largest cities was foreign born and another ⅓ made up of the
children of immigrants
● Groups of immigrants tended to concentrate in different industries
● Poles, Slovaks and hungarians = mining and heavy industry
● Russian/Polish Jews = garment trade
● Italians = construction work
● Portuguese and French-Canadians = textiles
● Immigrants did the heavy and dirty jobs
● Endured long hours, exploitation and dangerous and insanitary conditions of work
● Although wages higher than in Europe, the accident rate was as well
● Triangle Fire of 1911 drew attention to evils of steam-filled, ill-lit sweatshops and prompted
legislation
● Inadequate supervision and disregard of safety precautions was evident
● Poverty compelled most immigrants to live in slums
● NY Lower East Side had huge concentrations of Irish, Germans, Jews and Italians
● In Pennsylvania had Poles living in hovels not fit for human habitation
● Immigrants generally found physical surroundings easier to adjust to than psychological
trials they faced
● Explains why groups tended to occupy residential areas and then move when strangers
appeared
● Desired to preserve their identity explained why each group established its own social
institutions; churches, schools, newspapers, theatres
● Immigrants rarely accounted for >⅓ population of any state
● 1860 13.2% were froegin born; only rose to 14.7% in 1910
● Even when immigrants + children = <35% population
● Americans became uneasy about immigration
● Americans felt their society was being radically changed
● Most immigrants were less educated and strangers to democracy and representative
government
● Prejudice and fear intensified nativist hostility
