US.2 Summarize the major developments in Tennessee during the Reconstruction era, including the Constitutional Convention of 1870, the yellow fever epidemic of 1878, and the election of African Americans to the General Assembly. (C, E, H, TN)
US.3 Explain the impact of the Hayes-Tilden Presidential election of 1876 and the end of Reconstruction on African Americans, including Jim Crow laws, lynching, disenfranchisement methods, efforts of Pap Singleton and the Exodusters. (C, H, P, TN)
Lesson 02. (US.2,3) Reconstruction in Tennessee
a. Major Developments of Reconstruction
b. 1870 Constitutional Convention
c. Election of African Americans to the General Assembly
d. The Presidential Election of 1876 & Compromise of 1877
e. Jim Crow Laws, Disenfranchisement, Lynchings, & the KKK
f. Pap Singleton and the Exodusters
g. Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878
The bullet that killed Abraham Lincoln at the end of the Civil War may also have killed any chance of coming up with a practical solution toward putting the country back together and figuring out what to do with 3.5 million former slaves who had won their freedom, and not much else.
Reconstruction lasted from 1865-1877, it began with the end of the Civil War and ended with the Compromise of 1877. It was the period of time where the south was being reconstructed or rebuilt politically, socially, structurally and economically.
The 11 Southern states that had decided to leave the Union in 1860 and 1861 were literally destroyed by 1865. Only Texas, where there hadn't been that much fighting, was in relatively decent shape. Southern cities such as Atlanta, Nashville, Charleston, and Richmond were in ruins. The south was also in economic ruins. There were few businesses of any kind still operating, little capital to start new businesses, and few outsiders willing to risk investing in the area.
For millions of African Americans, life had become pretty darned confusing. They had their freedom, but it wasn't clear what to do with it. Few had any education or training. Some thought freedom meant freedom from work. Many more were fearful that to continue working for white people would put them in danger of being enslaved again. And many believed a widespread rumor that the Federal government would be giving each slave "40 acres and a mule" to start their own farms.However, there never was such a plan.
The first Constitution of the state of Tennessee was written in Knoxville during the winter of 1796, the year the state was created from the geographic area known as the Southwest Territory. The first constitution was not put to a vote of the citizens of the new state for ratification, but was approved by Congress. It gave almost complete control of state government to the legislative branch, thus it lacked the fundamental “balance of power” principle. This fact, among others, led to the calling of a new constitutional convention.
The second convention met in Nashville during the Spring of 1834. A new constitution was approved by the people in March, 1835. The 1835 document stood until 1870, five years after the end of the Civil War.
Another convention was held in 1870, to write a new, 3rd Constitution for the State. To be readmitted to the Union, states who had joined the Confederacy agreed to write new constitutions that outlawed slavery and gave African Americans full rights. Delegates met in Nashville on January 10, 1870 to write a new, third state constitution. They adjourned on February 23, 1870. The new constitution was ratified by the people on the fourth Saturday in March, 1870. This Constitution remains in place today.
The election of 1876 turned out to be perhaps the most corrupt in U.S. history. When the results came in, Tilden the Democrat seemed to have 203 electoral votes and Hayes, the Republican, presumably had 166. But the Republican Party leaders, who controlled the people who oversaw the elections, arranged to invalidate thousands of Democratic votes in Florida, South Carolina, and Louisiana, which changed the electoral vote count to 185–184 for Hayes.
The Democrats, who were upset, naturally challenged the new results, and a special commission was created to look into it. The commission consisted of ten members of Congress, five from each party, and five members of the Supreme Court (three Republicans and two Democrats). Northern Democrats were outraged, but Southern Democrats saw an opportunity and offered a deal: They would drop any challenge to the commission's vote if Hayes would remove the last of the federal troops from Southern states and let the states run their own affairs.
The commission voted 8-7, along party lines, to give the election to Hayes. Hayes became president and it was the end of Reconstruction. African Americans were largely abandoned by the federal government, and white Americans outside the South turned their attentions elsewhere.
After Federal troops left the south due to the Compromise of 1877, African Americans had little protection from Jim Crow Laws, Disenfranchisement practices, and Lynchings. Some racist southerners formed the Ku Klux Klan after the Civil War which was created to take away the rights of African Americans and terrorize them through violent demonstrations.
Jim Crow laws were passed in the south after the end of Reconstruction. These were state and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States. These laws were enacted by white ex confederates who dominated state legislatures after the Reconstruction period. In fact, these laws continued to be enforced until the 1960's, when the Civil Rights Movement got all of these laws overturned. Public places such as restrooms, lunch counters, buses, schools, and water fountains were segregated.
“Disenfranchisement” was the prevention of black people voting. Disenfranchisement was based on a series of laws and practices in the south that prevented black citizens from registering to vote. Disenfranchisement refers to the prevention of a person’s right to vote through either voter laws, intimidation, or financial requirements to vote.
Lynching refers to the murder of someone by hanging them. Lynching was something that happened to some African Americans after the Civil War. “Lynch Mobs” occurred when a large group of people attacked and lynched someone. Lynchings are not common today but were more common in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.
The KKK or Ku Klux Klan was a white supremacist terror organization that developed one year after the Civil War. The KKK's goal was to scare, intimidate, and terrorize African Americans in an attempt to suppress their newly given rights. Most KKK members were racist former Confederates who had lost the Civil War.
Many African Americans who were living in the south after the Civil War were afraid of the Ku Klux Klan and considered leaving the south to go somewhere else.
At this time a man named Benjamin Singleton emerged as a leader in the black community. Many former slave looked to him for leadership and some called him “Pap.” Pap grew up as a slave in Nashville, TN but gained his freedom and moved up north. After the Civil War ended, Pap returned to Tennessee to help former slaves adjust to a new life of freedom.
After a while, Pap became convinced that the best move for African Americans was to leave the south and move west to Kansas. The government had just passed the Homestead Act and land was available to anyone who wanted to go and claim it. In 1878, Pap Singleton and 6,000 African Americans left Tennessee and moved to Kansas. Pap’s followers were known as Exodusters.
The term Exodusters comes from the terms “Exodus” and “Dusters." Dusters was a common term for settlers who moved to Kansas and the Exodus was a term used in the Bible to describe a long journey to freedom. Once in Kansas, they established the town of Nicodemus. Today, Nicodemus is a National Historic Site.
The last great American yellow fever epidemic occurred in 1878 primarily along the Mississippi river and mainly in Memphis, TN.
Yellow Fever is spread by mosquitoes. However, in 1878 no one knew that yet. Yellow Fever spreads quick and lasts for 3-6 days. Victims experience many symptoms including “black vomit” which was actually bleeding from the stomach and also bleeding from the eyes. In addition to seizures, a yellow fever victim can also go into a coma and in the worst cases a person died. Yellow Fever has virtually been eliminated today thanks to modern medicine, but in 1878 it was almost impossible to stop an outbreak, since knowledge about diseases and medicine was very limited at the time.
The outbreak started in early May of 1878 in New Orleans, Louisiana when a sailor was taken off a ship when he suddenly became ill. He was mistakenly diagnosed by a local doctor with Malaria, but he didn’t really have Malaria, he actually had Yellow Fever. Since the sailor was misdiagnosed, he accidentally spread the disease around New Orleans. Over the next few months, the disease spread and about 400 people were diagnosed with Yellow Fever in New Orleans and over 100 of them died.
No one knows who, but someone who unknowingly contracted Yellow Fever in August of 1878, they left New Orleans and traveled up the Mississippi River to Memphis. That person ate at a diner in Memphis and the owner of the diner, named Kate, died a few days later from Yellow Fever on August 13, 1878.
In 1878, Memphis was a large city with about 50,000 residents. Newspaper reports from New Orleans had already warned the people of Memphis about the potential of a Yellow Fever outbreak and within a week of Kate’s death, about half of Memphis’s residents left town.
Some communities outside of Memphis had armed men at the city limits who threatened the yellow fever refugees in order to keep them out. A lot of smaller communities and some larger cities refused to let people from Memphis in their towns out of fear that they might spread the disease. Of the 25,000 people who stayed in Memphis, about 17,000 of them caught yellow fever and 5,000 people died.
Yellow fever devastated the Memphis community and the disease spread throughout the southeast. The south was especially vulnerable to the disease due to the typical hot weather in the summer. Other cities in the south were affected but none to the extent of Memphis.
The outbreak finally ended in October when the cooler weather emerged and the mosquitoes left. At least 20,000 people died and 80,000 people were infected but survived the disease. In all, over 100,000 people across the southeast were affected by the yellow fever epidemic.
Laws that separated black and white people were known as…
African Americans who moved from the post reconstruction south to Kansas were known as…
This person led the Exodusters in the years following the Civil War…
The denying of the right to vote is known as…
What was the purpose of the Ku Klux Klan?
In the election of 1876 who was the Democratic candidate for president? Which region of the country mostly supported this candidate?
In the election of 1876 who was the Republican candidate for president? Which region of the country mostly supported this candidate?
What city was affected the most by yellow fever?
What are some of the symptoms of yellow fever?
What insect spreads yellow fever?
In what year was the Yellow Fever Epidemic?