Section1 The Freeing of the Slaves As you read, look for: life of freedmen, presidential and congressional Reconstruction plans, and vocabulary terms: Thirteenth Amendment, freedmen, Freedmen s Bureau, Radical Republicans, and pocket veto. PFigure 22 Timeline 1865-1880 The end of the war brought freedom to the slaves, or so it seemed. Actually, freedom for the slaves was not official until the states ratified the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Although the slaves were free, freedom alone would not provide for their needs. Most of the freedmen, former slaves, could not read or write, and there were no jobs available for them. Some former owners, like Francis W. Pickens, announced to their slaves that they were free, but that those who stayed would be paid for their work. Many of those who left the plantations huddled in the towns and lived in 1865 Freedmen s Bureau created; Andrew Johnson became president; Civil War ended; SC wrote new constitution; Ku Klux Klan organized 1867 Radical Reconstruction plan adopted 1868 State constitution rewritten; President Johnson impeached but acquitted 1876 Hamburg massacre 1877 Radical Reconstruction ended 1871 Allen University and Benedict College established 1865 1870 1875 1880 1865 Lewis Carroll published Alice s Adventures in Wonderland 1867 United States bought Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million 1869 Transcontinental railroad completed 1871 Most of Chicago destroyed in Great Fire 1873 The first penny postcard issued 1876 General George Custer and 264 troopers killed at Little Big Horn River 382 Chapter 15 The Rebuilding Years
deserted houses or shacks built of scrap materials. Thousands of South Carolina slaves moved to Charleston, and many more moved to other states like Florida and Louisiana. Many died from hunger or disease. Some of the planters were shocked when their most trusted slaves the drivers and house servants left them. To the slaveholders, the desertion of their most trusted servants was a sign of ingratitude, unfaithfulness, and disloyalty. The loss of the slaves also Figure 23 The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution signaled the end of their power over these individuals. The slaves left because they could, and it proved they were free. One former house slave from the Laurens area said: I must go; if I stay here I ll never know I am free. There were slaves who stayed. In her diary, Mary Boykin Chesnut told of an old black man who comforted his master at the end of the war: When you all had de power, you was good to me, and I ll protect you now. The Freedmen s Bureau Because of the plight of the freed slaves, they received national attention. In an effort to help them, the federal government created the Freedmen s Bureau in 1865 and put it under the control of the army. The Bureau provided food, clothing, and medical supplies to needy blacks. It helped the freedmen find jobs and supervised work contracts so that illiterate blacks Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Below: Congress created the Freedmen s Bureau to help feed, clothe, and educate destitute freedmen. They lined up at Bureau offices all over the state to get help. Section 1 The Freeing of the Slaves 383
Above: In 1864, this building served as the office of the Freedmen s Bureau in Beaufort. The sea islands fell to the Union Navy early in the war, and thousands of slaves fled there for freedom and protection. would not be treated unfairly. The Freedmen s Bureau also established schools and had the power to establish military courts. Views on the success of the Freedman s Bureau vary. The agency had a difficult task. There were 3.5 million freedmen in the South and several hundred thousand in South Carolina alone. The agency was the first time the federal government had provided for the livelihood of destitute individuals. The bureau had little in the way of cash or resources to use, and working with the planters was difficult. Southern planters had no money with which to pay for work. They used what little cash and gold they had during the war, and most of their wealth had been in the form of land and slaves before the war. In addition, the planters resented the presence of the Bureau because it represented the victorious foe. And, the Bureau was trying to help change the Southern lifestyle. In 1901, one advocate of education for blacks looked back on the days of the Freedmen s Bureau. He believed that the Bureau had actually hampered the progress of the freedmen. This institution [speaking of the Freedmen s Bureau] was in every respect most unfortunate. The Negro ran away from his old master s cornfield and his appeals to work in order to enjoy the free bounty of the federal government. I knew a Negro to walk one hundred miles in order to obtain half a bushel of corn meal from the Bureau. In the time required he might have earned by labor four and half bushels, or nine times what he got by begging. But the evils of idleness, although great, would soon have passed away, if the two races had been left alone. 384 Chapter 15 The Rebuilding Years Dr. William Wells Brown was also critical of the influence of the Freedmen s Bureau, particularly the Freedman s Saving Bank. The hope of every one... seemed to centre in the Freedman s Saving Bank. This is our bank, said they; and to their institution the intelligent and the ignorant, the soldier fresh from the field of battle, the farmer, the day laborer, and the poor washerwoman, all alike brought their earnings and deposited them in the Freedman s Bank. This place of safety for their scanty store seemed to be the hope of the race for the future.... These deposits
were the first installments toward purchasing homes or getting ready to begin some mercantile or mechanical business. The first announcement, therefore, of the closing of the Freedman s Saving Bank had a paralyzing effect upon the blacks everywhere.... Large numbers quit work; the greater portion sold their bank books for a trifle, and general distrust prevailed throughout the community. Many who had purchased small farms, or cheap dwellings in cities and towns, and had paid part of the purchase money, now became discouraged, surrendered their claims, gave up the lands, and went about as if every hope was lost.... The Freedmen s Bureau disappointed many of the freed slaves. Federal promises of forty acres and a mule did not materialize. The freedmen did not receive an education or money to get started in new professions. In short, the Bureau promised more than it could ever deliver. And while the Freedman s Bureau was not successful in getting the freedmen land, one of the few successes of the South Carolina government during Reconstruction was the South Carolina Land Commission. The commission bought land and then sold it to small farmers. Most of these small farmers were black. Before the end of Reconstruction, over 2,000 small farmers had bought land from the commission. The Promised Land Community in Greenwood County today is on land purchased from the commission. While the Freedman s Bureau was unsuccessful in getting land to very many people in South Carolina, the state of South Carolina was more successful than any other state in getting land to freedmen. Presidential Reconstruction Long before the Civil War was over, President Lincoln began to think of how the Union and the Confederate states would be reunited. The reunification of the country after the Civil War is known as Reconstruction. Reconstruction would also involve rebuilding the South its farms, homes, bridges, railroads, and the many other things that had been destroyed. And there was a need to reconstruct southern society in a way to provide for the freed slaves. Above: This was the last photograph taken of President Lincoln before he was killed. Alexander Gardener took the photograph on April 9, 1865. Lincoln s Plan In December 1863, President Lincoln announced his plan to politically reconstruct the Union. He wanted Reconstruction to be simple, mainly because he believed the southern states had never left the Union; they had only rebelled. Lincoln thought Reconstruction should involve two steps: (1) Remove those government officials of the Confederate States of America and (2) replace them with officials who were loyal to the Union. Lincoln s plan included three provisions. First, as punishment for their disloyalty, all high-level Confederate officials both civilian and military were prohibited from voting. Second, Confederates would be pardoned and Section 1 The Freeing of the Slaves 385
Above: John Wilkes Booth s decision to shoot President Lincoln had a dramatic impact on Reconstruction and, perhaps, on the future history of our nation. given back their property if they agreed to take an oath to obey the U.S. Constitution and the laws of the Union. Third, when ten percent of the men in a particular state who could vote in 1860 had taken the oath of allegiance to the Union, that state would be allowed to write a new constitution, elect new state officials, and reassume its place in the Union. South Carolinians probably paid little attention to Lincoln s plan. Lincoln s plan, however, met opposition in the North. Radical Republicans, those who wanted to make the South pay dearly for the war, believed the president s plan was too easy. In the early summer of 1864, they pushed the Wade- Davis Bill through Congress. It greatly increased the conditions for reinstatement. Lincoln recognized the Wade-Davis Bill for what it was an attempt to punish all southerners for the actions of the secessionists. Lincoln quietly decided to do nothing about the bill. This is known as a pocket veto, an indirect veto by a president who holds the bill unsigned until after Congress adjourns. Lincoln s actions, however, signaled that there was going to be a fight over Reconstruction. Unfortunately, Lincoln was not part of that fight. On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth shot and wounded the president, who was attending a play at Ford s Theatre in Washington. Lincoln died the next day. Booth, a southern sympathizer, blamed Lincoln for the war and felt he was helping the South when he shot the president. As it turned out, Booth probably did the South more harm than good. Lincoln was no longer around to keep the Radical Republicans in check. Did You Know? wooden altar of St. Helena s Episcopal Church in Beaufort was carved by crew of the USS New Johnson s Plan Hampshire, which was When Lincoln died, Andrew stationed nearby during Johnson became president. A Tennessean, Johnson had decided to churchyard are tombstones Reconstruction. In the stay in the U.S. Senate when Tennessee seceded. In 1864, he was re- during the Civil War. used as operating tables warded for his allegiance to the?the 386 Chapter 15 The Rebuilding Years
Union with the vice presidency. Now he was president and in charge of Reconstruction. Johnson supported Lincoln s plan, but he did add several more provisions. First, planters whose property was worth $20,000 or more had to appear before him personally to ask for pardon. This was Johnson s way of getting even with the planter class for what he perceived as their poor treatment of him in the past. Second, Johnson required all the southern states to approve the Thirteenth Amendment. Third, he required the southern states to nullify their ordinances of secession. Fourth, the southern states had to promise not to repay the individuals and institutions that had helped finance the Confederacy. South Carolina s Constitution of 1865 In September 1865, a convention met in Columbia to adopt a new constitution for the state. The document that emerged from those meetings differed little from the constitution the state had written when it joined the Confederacy. Voting was still restricted to white men, but now the people instead of the legislature elected the governor. Article IX, Section 11 did recognize the freedom of the slaves and forbade the reinstatement of slavery in the state except as a punishment for a crime. This article, however, did not prevent the state from passing laws that essentially made the freedmen free in name only. And, many of the same people who had led South Carolina out of the Union remained in power under the new constitution. It s Your Turn Above: Vice President Andrew Johnson, the former governor of Tennessee, was as stunned as the rest of the nation over the assassination of President Lincoln. He quickly decided to carry out Lincoln s moderate plan of Reconstruction, but the Radical Republicans in Congress had other ideas. 1. What was the Freedmen s Bureau established to provide? 2. Why did the Radical Republicans disagree with Lincoln s Reconstruction plan? 3. Who became president after Abraham Lincoln died? Section 1 The Freeing of the Slaves 387
Cultural Connections African American Denominations One goal most slave owners had was to convert their slaves to Christianity. Though most slaves could not read and write, some slaves were taught to read by their owners so they could read the Bible. In addition, the slaves were not usually expected to work on Sundays. Instead, the slaves were expected to attend church if there was a church nearby. Prior to the Civil War, slaves that went to church for the most part went to the same churches as their owners. Most of the churches had a section reserved for slaves; most of the time the section was the balcony. Owners and slaves would attend the same church, though they did not sit together. There were two denominations that were primarily black, the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the African Methodist Episcopal Church (Zion). Neither denomination, however, had significant membership prior to the Civil War. As the Civil War approached, many church denominations in the United States split over the issue of slavery into a Northern branch and a Southern branch. When the war was over, the two branches did Right: The First African Baptist Church in Beaufort was built by freed slaves in 1865 and was given to other freed slaves. 388 Chapter 15 The Rebuilding Years
Above: One of the first colleges founded for the freedmen was Allen University in Columbia. not immediately reunite; in fact, the two main branches of the Presbyterian Church did not merge until the mid 1980s. However, the greatest changes that occurred regarding churches after the Civil War were the growth of the Christian denominations specifically for blacks and the significant decline in black membership in the white churches. What caused the growth of the black denominations? Freedom for the slaves allowed them to attend church without oversight by their former owners was one reason. More significantly was the attitude of both blacks and whites that they should not associate with each other socially. In the Episcopal Church, blacks were officially made unwelcome and in some cases blacks were forced out of the congregations in which they were members. Data indicate that there were 46,640 black Methodists in 1860, but the number dwindled to 421 by 1876. Episcopalians saw black membership drop from 2,973 in 1860 to 262 in 1876. While several black congregations remained part of the Southern part of the Presbyterian Church, more blacks joined the Northern branch, and by the end of Reconstruction one of the largest churches in the state was Zion Presbyterian Church in Charleston, a black congregation. Other large churches in Charleston were Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church and Centenary Methodist Church, part of the Northern branch of the Methodist Church. While the predominately white churches lost membership during Reconstruction, black denominations grew significantly. Before the Civil War there were only 85,000 blacks on denominational rolls; by 1877 there were over 218,000. Several denominations grew more than others. The Colored Baptist Educational, Missionary and Sunday School Convention had 100,000 members by 1877, while the African Methodist Episcopal Church had 44,000 members. The South Carolina Conference of the Northern Methodist Episcopal Church had 26,000 members and the African Methodist Episcopal Church (Zion) had 46,000 members. It is obvious that blacks wanted to worship without interference from their former owners. Many of the black denominations established schools for their members, including colleges. Allen University in Columbia was founded in 1870 by members of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and the school remains affiliated with the church today. Benedict College also was founded in 1870 by the American Baptist Home Mission Society. Morris College in Sumter was founded by the Baptist Educational and Missionary Convention of South Carolina. Claflin University was founded by the Methodist Church and Voorhees College was established by the Episcopal Church. The growth of black denominations after the Civil War shows that blacks wanted to have a social life free from control by their former owners. Over the last 140 years those denominations have worked to provide education for their members and improve the life of blacks. The denominations remain strong in the life of the state today. Section 1 The Freeing of the Slaves 389