Smaller trade centers also boomed. A combination of personal stubbornness, fervent belief in states’ rights, and racist convictions led Johnson to reject these bills, causing a permanent rupture between himself and Congress. 6. Wrong. Voter participation in the state’s elections steadily declined thereafter. Transcendental Graphics/Getty Images History & Culture. In American history, post-Reconstruction refers to something that happened after the Reconstruction (1863 - 1877). Encyclopedia of Arkansas The moral idealism of the radicals has been recognized and their sincere concern for the rights of the freedmen applauded. The legislature provided minimal funds for education and left support for schools primarily to local school districts. The Reconstruction era was the period after the American Civil War from 1865 to 1877, during which the United States grappled with the challenges of reintegrating into the Union the states that had seceded and determining the legal status of African Americans. They also wanted to know how the economy should be rebuilt based on free labor. In 1880, the state produced only 14,778 tons hard coal. Abolishing slavery, what should be demanded of the Southern states, restoring political rights to the South, and what should be the responsibility of the newly freed slaves were the concerns doing the Reconstruction period. The national debate over Reconstruction began during the Civil War. He was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1836 and began to practice law in Cadiz. New Lebanon, N.Y. The war marked a final reconciliation of not only Arkansas but all of the former Confederate states with their northern neighbors as Southern and Northern boys fought together again. Particularly it may refer to: A windows (pop-into) of information (full-content of Sensagent) triggered by double-clicking any word on your webpage. What were the goals of Radical Reconstruction and how did it lead to changes in ideas of American citizenship? 3. These groups emerged primarily from among the increasingly dissatisfied farmers of this period who wanted government to redress their growing problems. The state’s debt and state finances were a central issue in much of post-Reconstruction politics. By 1900, northwestern Arkansas had become a center for strawberry and apple production in the state, but farmers experimented with growing fruit almost everywhere the railroads went. Eco, Cookies help us deliver our services. From the beginning of Reconstruction, Black conventions and newspapers throughout the South had called for the extension of full civil and political rights to African Americans. By the end of the civil war, nobody knew what was to be done. In the years that followed, other railroads such as the St. Louis and Southwestern (or Cotton Belt), the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway (or Frisco), and the Kansas City Southern tied most of the state’s major towns and agricultural regions into the national rail network. Average prices of about twelve cents per pound in the mid-1870s fell as low as six cents per pound by 1898. Reconstruction, Political and Economic (1907, repr. He was admitted to the Ohio bar in 1836 and began to practi… 72201. 100 Rock Street A Republican who came from the north was called a carpetbagger...... Click the link for more information. Conditions for these prisoners became so bad that the state considered ending the lease system, although plans for its replacement would have put the prisoners to work for the state rather than for outside contractors. The laws and constitutional amendments that laid the foundation for the most radical phase of Reconstruction were adopted from 1866 to 1871. The state’s economy improved as Arkansas became more closely linked to the national market, but economic change also led to demographic change. Moneyhon, Carl H. Arkansas and the New South, 1874–1929. Led by so-called carpetbaggerscarpetbaggers,epithet used in the South after the Civil War to describe Northerners who went to the South during Reconstruction. , promised to alleviate conditions in the South, but the feeling there had already led to the formation of the "solid South" in support of his Democratic opponent, Samuel J. TildenTilden, Samuel Jones,1814–86, American political figure, Democratic presidential candidate in 1876, b. Johnson’s reconstruction plan was different from Lincoln’s because Lincoln went easy on the South and wanted to make it as fast and painless as possible to reinstate the South into the Union. 1870s-ca. Critics contended that it was designed to intimidate poor white and black voters who could not read and write into not voting. Coal mining never became a major part of the state’s overall economy, but the industry became a major economic activity in counties with significant deposits, such as Pope, Crawford, Franklin, Johnson, Logan, Sebastian, and Scott counties. Economic problems encouraged considerable unrest among those who believed they had been dealt with unfairly, and the problems led to a variety of protest movements. Changes disrupted traditional economies and society, and many, particularly farmers and workers, failed to share in the bounty of the new world. Some worked for wages, others as sharecroppers, who divided the crop with the owner at the end of the year. Depiction of the secret societies that terrorized African Americans during Reconstruction. Andrew Johnson pardoning Confederate soldiers at the White House, Washington, D.C.; Get exclusive access to content from our 1768 First Edition with your subscription. Expanding economic activities produced new employment opportunities and began shifting the basic character of work in the state. Agriculture clearly dominated the labor market. It created a state railroad commission in 1883, for example, but gave it virtually no power to impose any of the desired regulations or to enforce those that existed. Explore our complete time lines of major events in American history as well as World History. This was only the first of numerous measures that formally segregated the races in all public spaces. Graves, John William. Once freed, the struggles the slaves faced were unemployment, poverty, discrimination, a justice system that was not in their favor, and an education system that deliberately made it difficult for blacks to obtain an education. In his last speech, on April 11, 1865, Lincoln, referring to Reconstruction in Louisiana, expressed the view that some Blacks—the “very intelligent” and those who had served in the Union army—ought to enjoy the right to vote. In the South, a politically mobilized Black community joined with white allies to bring the Republican Party to power, and with it a redefinition of the responsibilities of government. He taught in an academy at York, Pa., studied law, and was admitted to the bar in Maryland...... Click the link for more information. 1962); and E. M. Coulter, The South during Reconstruction (1947). Add new content to your site from Sensagent by XML. The implementation of the amendments and laws to attempt equality were the right thing to do. The Civil Rights Act (Apr. See also E. L. McKitrick, Andrew Johnson and Reconstruction (1960, repr. ), were both passed over Johnson's veto. Congress refused to seat the representatives and senators elected from the Southern states and in early 1866 passed the Freedmen’s Bureau and Civil Rights Bills. Get XML access to fix the meaning of your metadata. Reconstruction was “important for reunifying the country and establishing the first constitutional steps towards equality” (Bowles, 2011). Elkins, F. Clark. Choose the design that fits your site. Established by an act of Mar. Lacking land, most former slaves had little economic alternative other than resuming work on plantations owned by whites. Find out more, an offensive content(racist, pornographic, injurious, etc.). Lincoln offered pardon to those in the South that pledged allegiance to the United States. It helped former slaves by providing medical supplies, health care and establishing schools. The state’s debt might be eased, but that would also create problems by ruining the state government’s credit. Reconstruction’s focus on the rationalization of cotton production through the development and standardization of new techniques o make that industry more efficient and profitable, the spread of wage labor, and industrialization formed the basis for the South’s post-Reconstruction economy.Furthermore, many of the changes initiated during Reconstruction set important social precedents that would be … They confronted religious, ethnic, and occupational diversity. The interpretation of Reconstruction has been a topic of controversy. Dating back to the very first settlers, our nation has always been at odds with how to tackle this highly disputed matter.