Reforms in the South

"Reforms in the South 1864-1877"

After the Civil War, it was obvious that there needed to be serious changes in the South. Because of this, social, economic, and political reforms were introduced to the South and even after the Compromise of 1877, many of these reforms didn't change. This period was also the period of Reconstruction. What did these reforms look like?

In 1865 the Freedmen's Bureau, which was put into place to help freed slaves, was introduced. This was set in motion to aid blacks in need of employment, health care, and it gave children the right to an education, and even pushed whites and blacks to work side by side instead of acting as masters and slaves. The Bureau spent approximately five million dollars on setting up schools for blacks and by the end of 1865, around 100,000 blacks were enrolled in public schools.

In 1866 the Civil Rights Act was enacted by Congress, but vetoed by President Andrew Johnson. Later again that year, Congress passed the bill, and even though Johnson vetoed it, a two-thirds majority voted for it and overcame Johnson's veto. This Act guaranteed African Americans full citizenship. The Fourteenth Amendment was also passed so that the Supreme Court couldn't declare the Civil Rights Act as unconstitutional. This amendment gave blacks citizenship to the United States and to the states in which they lived.

Reconstruction was also a huge role in the reforms of the South. Before this took place however, under President Johnson the southern state legislatures passed "black codes" so that while blacks were not technically slaves, they were by no means treated as equally as whites. Northerners were outraged over these codes and this led to Radical Reconstruction. This began in 1867 and pushed blacks to have a voice in American government for the first time in history. It also bettered public education and gave blacks better employment.

During the period of Reconstruction, three amendments were added to the Constitution. The 13th amendment which legally freed the black slaves, the 14th amendment which gave them citizenship rights, and the 15th amendment which gave black citizens the right to vote. The 15th amendment was the tipping point for some of the southerners. Later on, some extremists groups were formed like the Klu- Klux- Klan which went around terrorizing blacks because of their new freedom.

The Compromise of the 1877 was the final major historical event that had to do with the reform movements of the time period of 1864-1877. The cause of this compromise was that fact that during the 1876 presidential election, the Democrats believed that Samuel Tilden had been cheated out of becoming president, as the winner of the election was Rutherford Hayes. The terms of this compromise were: the removal of all federal troops from the former Confederate States, the admittance of