Arkansas Hisotry Reconstruction period in Arkansas

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2. Background & Introduction
• Reconstruction refers to the period following the
Civil War of rebuilding the United States.
• It was a time of great pain and endless questions.
• On what terms would the Confederacy be allowed
back into the Union?
• Who would establish the terms, Congress or the
President?
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3. • (1863-1865) Moderates, like Presidents Abraham
Lincoln (16th pres.) and Andrew Johnson (17th
pres.), wanted to bring the South back to normal
as quickly as possible.
• Moderates- a person who holds moderate (less
extreme) views, especially in politics
• However, Radical Republicans used Congress to
block any moderate approaches, impose harsh
terms, and upgrade the rights of the freedmen.
• Radical Republicans- demanded harsh policies
for punishing the former rebels, and
emphasizing equality, civil rights, and voting
rights for the "freedmen" (recently freed slaves)
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4. • The end of Reconstruction was a staggered
process, and the period of Republican control
ended at different times in different states. With the
Compromise of 1877.
• This was followed by a period that white
Southerners labeled Redemption, during which
white-dominated state legislatures enacted Jim
Crow laws and, beginning in 1890, disenfranchised
most blacks and many poor whites through a
combination of constitutional amendments and
electoral laws.
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5. Purpose of Reconstruction
• Reconstruction addressed how the eleven
seceding states would:
• regain what the Constitution calls a
"republican form of government" and be
reseated in Congress
• address the civil status of the former leaders
of the Confederacy, and the Constitutional
and legal status of freedmen, especially their
civil rights and whether they should be given
the right to vote. Intense controversy erupted
throughout the South over these issues
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6. Ending Reconstruction
Compromise of 1877
• Republican Rutherford B.
Hayes was running for
president against Democrat
Samuel J. Tilden.
• When the election was over,
it was unclear who had won.
• In some states, both
parties declared that their
candidate had received the
most votes in their state.
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7. Compromise of 1877 (continued)
• So, in a back room in Washington DC, leaders of
both parties met and settled on a compromise.
• The Democrats proposed that they would
concede the election to Hayes, but that he had
to end Reconstruction and pull soldiers out of
the South.
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8. • President Ulysses S. Grant (18th pres.) supported
Radical Reconstruction and enforced the protection
of African Americans in the South through the use of
the Enforcement Acts passed by Congress.
• Reconstruction was a significant chapter in the
history of civil rights in the United States, but most
historians consider it a failure.
• After Reconstruction ended, the South was left a
poverty-stricken and dependent on agriculture, while
white Southerners soon succeeded in re-establishing
legal and political dominance over blacks through
violence, intimidation and discrimination.
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9. Arkansas &
Ending of Civil War
• (1865) The Sultana, a steamboat, blows up and
sinks on Mississippi River near Memphis.
• Carrying about 2,000 Confederate soldiers trying
to get home after war- most were released
POWs.
• A boiler exploded
• About 1600 died
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10. Ending of Civil War
• Governor Harris Flanagin
wanted to formally
surrender to Union in
Washington, AR
• The Union wouldn't
recognize him as
governor
• Isaac Murphy was also
governor
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Harris Flanagin

11. Aftermath
• Land, construction and economy were
devastated after War ended.
• Many freed blacks left; many stayed as
sharecroppers
• Sharecropping- A tenant farmer who gives
part of each crop as rent.
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12. • (1864) Isaac Murphy elected
Ark’s Union governor
• State legislature still controlled
by former Confederates after
war.
• This prevented many civil
rights for blacks.
• Only former Confederate
soldiers could receive artificial
limbs from federal government
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Isaac Murphy

13. Reconstruction
• (1865-1866) Freedman’s Bureau
• Founded to improve working conditions for blacks
• (1867) US Congress passes the first Reconstruction Act
• Ark. and Mississippi put under martial law
• State legislatures could not meet
• Military oversaw voter registration
• Former confederates not allowed to vote or hold office
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14. New order in Arkansas
• (Summer & Fall of 1867) Arkansans debated over
writing a new state Constitution to get back in the Union
• Republican party was running things; 3 groups of
Republicans
1. Scalawags- Southern Union supporters
2. Carpet baggers- People who moved from the North
in hopes of economic advantages
3. Blacks
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15. • (1868) Arkansas writes a new state
Constitution
• 4 year term for governor (lots of
power)
• Protected blacks’ and women’s
rights
• Made new Amendments hard to
pass
• Promoted education, railroads, and
immigration
• Very small percentage of population
voted for it b/c ex-Confederates were
not allowed to vote
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16. Education in Ark
• By 1870, education in Ark
was advancing.
• 88,000 white students;
19,000 black students
• However, there was not
enough financial support to
keep up the schools.
• Schools falling apart by
1876
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Joseph Brooks
Elisha Baxter
• (1868) Powell Clayton
(Republican) elected
governor with Joseph
Brooks’ help
• Clayton doesn't give
Brooks a position
• (1872) Brooks runs against
Elisha Baxter
• Clayton wanted Baxter to
be his replacement
• Leads to Brooks-Baxter
War
Brooks-Baxter War

18. • Baxter has more supporters so Brooks gets help
from ex-Confederates by telling them he will let
them vote again.
• Baxter wins the election and appoints both
Republicans and Democrats to office.
• Republicans want to keep control of the
governorship so some of Baxter’s supporters leave
and join Brooks.
• Now, Brooks has a lot of supporters and thinks he
can get Baxter’s win overturned.
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Brooks-Baxter War (continued)

19. Brooks-Baxter War (continued)
• An armed conflict breaks out in Little
Rock when Brooks tried to physically
remove Baxter from the capitol.
• More than 100 people die
• Baxter remains in office
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20. Another Constitutional Convention
for Arkansas
• (1874) Arkansas delegates called for a
Constitutional Convention to determine whether or
not ex-Confederates would be allowed to vote.
• Arkansas’ 5th and final Constitution
• Made it easier for Congress to override a
governor’s veto
• Reconstruction led to resentment of Republicans in
Arkansas for a long time.
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