post-civil war south
- southern economy in ruin
- political future unclear
early reconstruction plans
- effort to restore southern states to union
- lincoln began reunification plans in 1863
- lincoln governments emerged where union support existed
- louisiana, tennessee, arkansas
- ended with assasination in 1865
freedmen
- development of freedom
- owning property
- marrying
- making contracts
”freedom”
-
reconstruction acts dissolved southern state governments
-
slaves required to ratify 14th amendment
- guarantees birthright citizenship
-
black voters became backbone of republican party
-
vagrancy laws: black people without jobs forced into sharecropping
-
black codes: forced labor based on debts, i.e. slavery again
-
compromise of 1877: hayes and tildon
achievements
- 2000+ african american men held public office
- major reforms to public school systems, hospitals etc
however…
- white democratic “redemption” regained power
- reconstruction ended
- black political participation suppressed for another 100 years
discrimination
- diverse race mapping turned into white v colored
native americans
- pocahontas exception → native ancestry turning into white
- pursuit of gold pushing native american people off land:
chinese immigrants
- 10k arrived in 1850s-1860s drawn by gold rush
- intended to earn money and return to china
- post-civil war economic anxiety (1870s)
- end of the gold rush, economic downturn increased job competition
- workers scapegoated for unemployment, low wages
- chinese exclusion act (1882), banned chinese labor immigration
- cable act (1922), american woman lose citizenship if they marry chinese men (???)
- avery island - prevented immigration through delays etc
latin immigrants
- immigrants from chile and peru for gold rush
- 1849 anti-chilean riots in san francisco, chili gulch