Why did Radical Republicans force southern states to hold new constitutional convention?
Louisiana was the only region deep within the Confederacy where Union authorities implemented experimental Reconstruction policies during the Civil War. The Crescent City served as a prime testing ground for race relations under the new order. Show Within occupied south Louisiana citizens were torn in their loyalties, goals, and visions for the future. When parts of Louisiana returned to Union control, some residents championed conciliation and cooperation with Union authorities, while other whites just as strongly resisted any show of reconciliation and sought vindication for southern deaths and wounded honor. They advocated white supremacy and the need for social control within a changed racial order. New Orleanians were especially stubborn in refusing to accept defeat and occupation. Because the city fell early and did not suffer from battle, most citizens were not driven by desperation to want an end to the war. They refused to give up hope for a southern victory and thus were reluctant to cooperate with Union forces. Constitution of 1864 Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 did not apply to Union-held territory. Thus, slavery continued in the thirteen Louisiana parishes under Union control. After much debate, delegates to the constitutional convention agreed to abolish slavery without compensation for masters but not to give the vote to black men. The new constitution, however, authorized the state legislature to extend voting rights to black men who fought for the Union, owned property, or were literate. The constitution also enabled the legislature to establish a free public school system for all children aged six to eighteen, with no mention of race. Legislators elected under the Constitution of 1864 established schools for whites but not for blacks. A New Racial Order Not convinced that former slaves were ready to enter society, the United States Congress created the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands--commonly called the Freedmen's Bureau--in 1865. Agents of the bureau tried to solve many of the problems associated with the ending of slavery. Bureau agents worked to solve labor disputes, prevent reenslavement of former slaves, protect freedpersons from violence, operate schools for blacks, keep former slaves on plantations, and distribute food, clothing, and fuel. Agents served mainly as moderators rather than reformers and could do little to affect postwar social and economic relations. Restricted resources, especially manpower, and lack of initiative kept the Freedmen's Bureau from having much beneficial impact in Louisiana.
The Black Press
The New Orleans Tribune was the successor to L'Union when it folded, with Louis Charles Roudanez and Paul Trévigne again at the helm. The Tribune served as a voice for both free and freed African Americans in Louisiana, reflecting the changing attitudes of civil rights leaders. The Tribune printed the first page in the French of many free blacks and the reverse in the English mainly read and spoken by freedpersons. Jean-Charles Houzeau, a white journalist from Belgium whom many believed to be of African-American ancestry because of his long association with the civil rights movement, replaced Trévigne as managing editor in November 1864. In 1867 the federal government designated the Tribune an official paper of the United States, one of only two in the state given the responsibility of publishing the authentic texts of laws, administrative announcements, and judicial decisions. The paper was published weekly by 1869 and folded the following year. Getting Out the Vote When a petition taken to President Lincoln resulted in no change in the situation, freeborn and newly freed blacks came together at the Convention of Colored Men in January 1865, calling for the organization and unity of all persons of African descent. The convention's 107 delegates voted to petition commanding military authorities to integrate streetcars and rejected the idea of extending voting rights to only a small group of black men. Louisiana Black Code of 1865 The Louisiana Black Code did grant certain rights to freedpersons--to acquire and own property, marry, make contracts, and testify in court--but its primary purpose was to restore the plantation economy by using blacks as poorly paid laborers instead of outright slaves. The severity of Louisiana's and other states' Black Codes convinced many northerners that only with more radical forms of Reconstruction would southern society change to accommodate ex-slaves as citizens and free workers. Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which defined the rights that all citizens were to enjoy equally without regard to race: to protect person and property, make contracts, and bring lawsuits. This federal legislation prevailed over all state laws and revealed the Republican Party's acceptance of what it had once considered Radical policy. Riot of 1866 On that same afternoon a group of white citizens, aided by the New Orleans police and firemen, attacked the delegates and their supporters. These white assailants, many of them Confederate veterans, opposed the convention's goals and were enraged at the prospects of the new Reconstruction order. Federal troops were called in to stop the violence but by the time they arrived the mayhem had run its course. Official reports from the massacre, one of the bloodiest riots of the Reconstruction era in the United States, listed 37 persons (34 black and 3 white Radicals) killed and 146 wounded. Contemporary witnesses believed the numbers to be much higher.
Radical Reconstruction in Louisiana Civil rights legislation, as passed and applied in Louisiana, placed the burden of proof on the injured parties, and with little national, state, and local protection, African Americans and their white allies found that they had very little power to enforce laws that attempted to erase the color line.
"Carpetbaggers"--black and white northerners who moved to the South after the Civil War--were never in the majority in the 1867-68 Louisiana consitutitional convention or subsequent Reconstruction legislatures. White supremacist opponents of Radical Reconstruction developed and perpetuated the tale of the greedy, corrupt northern "stranger" who stripped Louisiana of its resources. Most carpetbaggers were former soldiers from middle-class families who went south seeking a livelihood, not political office. Carpetbaggers who did participate in politics usually did not seize power, as the myth claims, but rather were elected by black and white voters or appointed by Radical Reconstruction officeholders.
Constitution of 1868 In real terms the new constitution did little to end racial discrimination. Although blacks tested antidiscrimination legislation in the courts and authorities occasionally enforced its provisions, the color line was rarely challenged in Louisiana. Most African Americans could not afford to ride trains and steamboats, attend the opera, or eat and drink at exclusive clubs, nor could they pay the costs of bringing the offending institutions to court. Primary Black Leaders
John Willis Ménard was the first African American in the United States to speak from the floor of Congress. Although voters in Louisiana elected Ménard to the United States House of Representatives in 1868, Congress contested the election and refused to seat him.
Charles E. Nash was the only African American actually to represent Louisiana in the United States Congress during the Reconstruction period. A native of New Orleans, Nash was a bricklayer and a former sergeant in the Union army. Oscar J. Dunn was the first black lieutenant governor of Louisiana, elected in 1868 and serving until his death in 1871. Dunn was born in New Orleans, learned the plasterer's trade, and rose from private to captain in the Union's First Louisiana Regiment of black troops. P. B. S. Pinchback finished Dunn's term as lieutenant governor and served as acting governor of the state during the thirty-five day period after the state legislature impeached Governor Henry Clay Warmoth. Voters elected Pinchback to the United States Congress twice, but he lost his seat both times when challenged by his opponents. Born in Georgia, Pinchback worked as a ship's steward prior to the Civil War and commanded a Union Native Guard company during the war. Following Reconstruction, he earned a law degree at Straight University, a black university in New Orleans, and accepted a presidential appointment as surveyor of customs in New Orleans.
Antoine Dubuclet served Louisiana as state treasurer from 1868 to 1878, the only African American in the reconstructed South to hold that office for more than one term. A sugar planter born free in Iberville Parish, Dubuclet was the wealthiest free black in Louisiana prior to the Civil War. C. C. Antoine was the third black lieutenant governor of Louisiana, serving from 1872 to 1876. Antoine had served previously as a state senator from Caddo Parish and was a planter, barber, and grocery store owner. Thomy Lafon was active in the Republican party and contributed financially to the civil rights movement. A New Orleans native, Lafon built a fortune as a merchant and real estate investor and left much of his estate to charitable, educational, and cultural institutions that served African Americans. Primary White Leaders
In the 1872 election both Democrats and Republicans claimed victory, but a federal board decided in favor of the Republicans, who immediately moved to impeach Warmoth, leaving lieutenant governor Pinchback as acting governor during the last days of Warmoth's term. Thomas Jefferson Durant was one of the few Louisianians who supported Lincoln's presidency in 1860. During federal occupation Durant emerged as the leading spokesperson for the Radical faction, actively campaigning for black voting rights. William Pitt Kellogg was the state's leading Radical Republican and served as its second Reconstruction governor, 1873-77, a period of intense political turmoil. During his administration Kellogg and the Republican legislature enacted additional civil rights legislation and tried to eradicate corruption and bribery. Kellogg served as a United States senator twice and once as a United States representative. James Madison Wells was elected lieutenant governor in 1864, taking over for Governor Michael Hahn when Hahn was chosen by the state legislature as Louisiana representative to the United States Congress. He was reelected as governor in 1865. Wells was known as a "scalawag," a southern-born white who supported the Republican Party. Opponents of Reconstruction The main instruments of white terror in Louisiana were the Knights of the White Camellia, formed in 1868, and their successor group, the White League, which had spread across the state by 1874. The earliest of white supremacy groups was the Ku Klux Klan, formed in Tennessee in 1866, but evidence of the Klan's activity in Louisiana is scanty.
Whites, many of them Democrats, joined these terrorist organizations when they began losing power to Radical Republicans, both white and black. The immediate goal of these groups was to keep white and black Republicans away from polling places. Their violent tactics, targeted at black leaders, escalated during Reconstruction. White mobs killed three state legislators during these turbulent times. Colfax Riot Coushatta Massacre
First Battle of the Cabildo
Battle of Liberty Place
President Ulysses S. Grant called in federal troops from Mississippi to restore Governor Kellogg to office. They helped maintain Kellogg in power until the end of Reconstruction. Second Battle of the Cabildo Louisiana "Redeemed" Once the federal government agreed to pull its troops out of Louisiana, the Nicholls administration took over. Packard's Republican supporters maintained a shadow government until the end of April 1877. A mostly Democratic convention wrote a new constitution that voters ratified in 1879, returning Louisiana to "home rule," with white supremacist Democrats controlling most of the state, parish, and municipal institutions. Conclusion Why did the Radical Republicans force Southern states to?The Radicals felt strongly that the Confederates needed to be punished for their pro-slavery views and should only be readmitted to the Union after they had abolished slavery among other conditions. They believed that government intervention in states was necessary to ensure abolition and civil rights for Blacks.
What did the Radical Republicans do to the South?The Radical Republicans' most important measures were contained in the Reconstruction Acts of 1867 and 1868, which placed the Southern states under military government and required universal manhood suffrage. Despite the Radical program, however, white control over Southern state governments was gradually restored.
What did Radical Republicans want from the southern states before they could rejoin the Union?These members of Congress, known as Radical Republicans, wanted to remake the South and punish the rebels. Radical Republicans insisted on harsh terms for the defeated Confederacy and protection for former slaves, going far beyond what the president proposed.
Did Radical Republicans support the South?The Radical Republicans led the Reconstruction of the South. All Republican factions supported Ulysses Grant for president in 1868. Once in office, Grant forced Sumner out of the party and used Federal power to try to break up the Ku Klux Klan organization.
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