Post-Reconstruction America
US History
Spiconardi
White Control in the South• Black Codes
– Old slave codes aimed at keeping blacks at conditions close to slavery
• Poll Tax Tax imposed on every voter
• Literacy Tests Had to prove you could read & write before you voted.– Had to interpret the
Constitution• Grandfather Clause If your
father or grandfather was eligible to vote in 1866/1867, then you could vote even if you were illiterate or poor.
• Jim Crow– Laws that separate blacks
and whites
Sharecropping/Tenant Farming
Plessy v. Ferguson
• Separate railroad cars for blacks and whites was constitutional – “Separate but equal”
• Segregation was legal as long as the separate facilities were equal
Booker T. & Du Bois
Booker T. Washington’s Views
• Concentrate on Vocational Education– Learn a trade or skill– Tuskegee Institute Created
• Accept “second class citizenship”– DO NOT fight against segregation– DO NOT fight for suffrage
• Concentrate on economics– Work hard– Your rights will come later
W.E.B. DuBois’ Views
• You deserve your rights now– Political, social and economic equality
• You need to send people to college
• Fight for you rights!– Use the law to guarantee your rights
• NAACP Established• Court Cases
Treatment of Native Americans
• Reservations
• Dawes Act Any Indian who gave up tribal ways would be granted deeds to their land and citizenship after 25 years
– ATTEMPT TO ASSIMILATE INDIANS
Industrialism
• Business develops and is booing during and after the Civil War
• Businesses begin to form monopolies and dominate– Rockefeller and Standard Oil Co.
• Americans feel big business hurts them
Industrialists
• Robber Barons– Businessmen who
made their riches at the expense of the poor and working class
• Captains of Industry– Business leaders
serving the country in a positive way
– Philanthropy • (Carnegie building
libraries)
Government Response
• Sherman Anti Trust Act– Prohibited monopolies
because “it restrained trade or commerce”
• Interstate Commerce Act of 1887– Allowed Congress to
regulate commerce between states and railroads