what were the major economic issues between 1868 and 1876.course

What happened in the election of 1876 in the US?

The campaigns and elections of 1876 were marked by additional murders and attacks on Republicans in Louisiana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida. In South Carolina the campaign season of 1876 was marked by murderous outbreaks and fraud against freedmen.

What were the effects of the election of 1868 in America?

From 1868 on, campaigns and elections were surrounded by violence as White insurgents and paramilitaries tried to suppress the Black vote, and fraud was rampant. Many congressional elections in the South were contested. Even states with majority-African-American populations often elected only one or two African American representatives to Congress.

What challenges did American farmers face in the late 19th century?

The challenges that many American farmers faced in the last quarter of the nineteenth century were significant. They contended with economic hardships born out of rapidly declining farm prices, prohibitively high tariffs on items they needed to purchase, and foreign competition.

What was inflation like in 1868 during Reconstruction?

By 1868 inflation was minimal. On April 20, 1871, prior to the passage of the Ku Klux Klan Act ( Last of three Enforcement Acts ), on the same day, the U.S. Congress launched a 21-member investigation committee on the status of the Southern Reconstruction states North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.

What were the economic problems during reconstruction?

During Reconstruction, many small white farmers, thrown into poverty by the war, entered into cotton production, a major change from prewar days when they concentrated on growing food for their own families. Out of the conflicts on the plantations, new systems of labor slowly emerged to take the place of slavery.

What is the period between 1865 and 1877?

ReconstructionReconstruction (1865-1877), the turbulent era following the Civil War, was the effort to reintegrate Southern states from the Confederacy and 4 million newly-freed people into the United States.

What was the major cause of the decline of reconstruction?

What was a major cause of the decline of Reconstruction? During the 1872 elections, the Liberal Republicans argued that Reconstruction was a failure. The Ku Klux Klan sought to uphold the American ideal of equality and justice for all.

What were the main factors that brought an end to reconstruction by 1877?

The Compromise of 1876 effectively ended the Reconstruction era. Southern Democrats' promises to protect the civil and political rights of Black people were not kept, and the end of federal interference in southern affairs led to widespread disenfranchisement of Black voters.

What were the three major issues of Reconstruction?

Reconstruction encompassed three major initiatives: restoration of the Union, transformation of southern society, and enactment of progressive legislation favoring the rights of freed slaves.

Why did federal Reconstruction policies evolve between 1865 and 1870?

How and why did federal Reconstruction policies evolve between 1865 and 1870? Reconstruction policies between 1865 and 1870 slowly became more radical as Radical Republicans, holding a 2/3 majority in both Houses of Congress, passed bills and amendments.

Which of the following was a major failure of Reconstruction?

Why was reconstruction a failure? The economy in the South was not rebuilt, and the rights of African Americans were not protected. (For the next 100 years, through Jim Crow Laws, the rights of AA were systematically denied.)

What was the major cause of the end of Reconstruction quizlet?

Reconstruction came to an end due to the Compromise of 1877 , which was set because of political disagreements ( between Radical Republicans and President Johnson ) not yielding results in the South .

How did the election of 1876 lead to the end of Reconstruction?

In backroom negotiations, Democrats conceded the disputed election returns to Hayes in return for his agreement to withdraw the reamaining 3000 federal troops, thereby putting a formal end to Reconstruction and assuring Democratic control, based on a platform of white supremacy and black disenfranchisement, throughout ...

What was the main issue relating to Reconstruction that divided Republicans at the end of the Civil War?

The main issue relating to Reconstruction that divided Republicans at the end of the Civil War was two opposing opinions. The Radical Republicans, members of Congress during the time of the Civil war and the Reconstruction period, wanted to end slavery forever and pass laws granting equal rights to all blacks.

What four factors contributed to the end of Reconstruction?

The four things are corruption, the economy, violence, and the democrats return to power. What four factors contributed to the end of the reconstruction? The solid south was when the republicans combined other white southerners to form a new bloc of democratic voters. What was the solid south?

What were the main elements of the Compromise of 1877?

The main elements of the Compromise of 1877 were that Rutherford B. Hayes would become the President, the last remaining troops from the south would be removed, and legislation would be passed to assist in the industrialization of the south.

What was the economic crisis of the 1780s?

The Economic Crisis of the 1780s. The slave trade followed a triangular route between Europe, Africa and the Americas. European goods such as cloth and guns were traded for slaves in Africa, who were then taken to the Americas to work on plantations.

What were the problems faced by the Congress in the 1780s?

The economic problems faced by the Congress deeply touched the lives of most Americans in the 1780s. The war had disrupted much of the American economy. On the high seas the British navy had great superiority and destroyed most American ships, crippling the flow of trade.

What was the struggle between the class with and class without property?

As James Madison of Virginia noted, the political struggles were primarily between "the class with, and [the] class without, property.". Just as the republican governments had come into being and rethought the meaning of popular government, economic crisis threatened their future.

How did the flood of cheap British imports affect the post-war economy?

Finally, the high level of debt taken on by the states to fund the war effort added to the economic crisis by helping to fuel rapid inflation.

What was the political controversy in the 1780s?

Political controversy about what represented the proper economic policy mounted and approached the boiling point.

What was the recession of 1981?

The recession of the early 1980s lasted from July 1981 to November of the following year, and was marked by high interest rates, high unemployment and rising prices. Unlike market-crash-caused crises, it’s impossible to pin this one to a particular date.

What happened in 1929?

1929: The Crash of '29. Nobody knew, as the stock market imploded in October 1929, that years of depression lay ahead and that the market would stay seized up for years. In its regular summation of the president’s week after Black Tuesday (Oct. 29), TIME put the market crash in the No. 2 position, after devastating storms in the Great Lakes region.

What was the biggest drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average?

The 508-point drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average on October 19 was, and remains, the biggest one-day percentage loss in the Dow’s history. But the reverberations weren’t all that severe by historical standards. “Almost an entire nation become paralyzed with curiosity and concern,” TIME reported.

Is the oil embargo every seven years?

Here’s proof that the every-seven-years formulation hasn’t always held true: The OPEC oil embargo is widely viewed as the first major, discrete event after the Crash of ’29 to have deep, wide-ranging economic effects that lasted for years.

How did reconstruction affect the South?

Reconstruction changed the means of taxation in the South. In the U.S. from the earliest days until today, a major source of state revenue was the property tax. In the South, wealthy landowners were allowed to self-assess the value of their own land. These fraudulent assessments were almost valueless, and pre-war property tax collections were lacking due to property value misrepresentation. State revenues came from fees and from sales taxes on slave auctions. Some states assessed property owners by a combination of land value and a capitation tax, a tax on each worker employed. This tax was often assessed in a way to discourage a free labor market, where a slave was assessed at 75 cents, while a free White was assessed at a dollar or more, and a free African American at $3 or more. Some revenue also came from poll taxes. These taxes were more than poor people could pay, with the designed and inevitable consequence that they did not vote.

What was the reconstruction period?

The Reconstruction era, was a period in American history following the American Civil War (1861–1865); it lasted from 1865 to 1877 and marked a significant chapter in the history of civil rights in the United States.

What did Lincoln say about the Confederacy?

The Southern delegation included Confederate Vice President Alexander H. Stephens, John Archibald Campbell, and Robert M. T. Hunter. The Southerners proposed the Union recognition of the Confederacy, a joint Union–Confederate attack on Mexico to oust Emperor Maximilian I, and an alternative subordinate status of servitude for Blacks rather than slavery. Lincoln flatly rejected recognition of the Confederacy, and said that the slaves covered by his Emancipation Proclamation would not be re-enslaved. He said that the Union states were about to pass the Thirteenth Amendment, outlawing slavery. Lincoln urged the governor of Georgia to remove Confederate troops and "ratify this constitutional amendment prospectively, so as to take effect—say in five years.... Slavery is doomed." Lincoln also urged compensated emancipation for the slaves as he thought the North should be willing to share the costs of freedom. Although the meeting was cordial, the parties did not settle on agreements.

What was Lincoln's plan for reconstruction?

In 1863, President Lincoln proposed a moderate plan for the Reconstruction of the captured Confederate state of Louisiana. The plan granted amnesty to rebels who took an oath of loyalty to the Union. Black freedmen workers were tied to labor on plantations for one year at a pay rate of $10 a month. Only 10% of the state's electorate had to take the loyalty oath in order for the state to be readmitted into the U.S. Congress. The state was required to abolish slavery in its new state constitution. Identical Reconstruction plans would be adopted in Arkansas and Tennessee. By December 1864, the Lincoln plan of Reconstruction had been enacted in Louisiana and the legislature sent two senators and five representatives to take their seats in Washington. However, Congress refused to count any of the votes from Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee, in essence rejecting Lincoln's moderate Reconstruction plan. Congress, at this time controlled by the Radicals, proposed the Wade–Davis Bill that required a majority of the state electorates to take the oath of loyalty to be admitted to Congress. Lincoln pocket-vetoed the bill and the rift widened between the moderates, who wanted to save the Union and win the war, and the Radicals, who wanted to effect a more complete change within Southern society. Frederick Douglass denounced Lincoln's 10% electorate plan as undemocratic since state admission and loyalty only depended on a minority vote.

What did Lincoln do to the military?

Starting in March 1862, in an effort to forestall Reconstruction by the Radicals in Congress, President Lincoln installed military governors in certain rebellious states under Union military control. Although the states would not be recognized by the Radicals until an undetermined time, installation of military governors kept the administration of Reconstruction under presidential control, rather than that of the increasingly unsympathetic Radical Congress. On March 3, 1862, Lincoln installed a loyalist Democrat, Senator Andrew Johnson, as military governor with the rank of brigadier general in his home state of Tennessee. In May 1862, Lincoln appointed Edward Stanly military governor of the coastal region of North Carolina with the rank of brigadier general. Stanly resigned almost a year later when he angered Lincoln by closing two schools for Black children in New Bern. After Lincoln installed Brigadier General George Foster Shepley as military governor of Louisiana in May 1862, Shepley sent two anti-slavery representatives, Benjamin Flanders and Michael Hahn, elected in December 1862, to the House, which capitulated and voted to seat them. In July 1862, Lincoln installed Colonel John S. Phelps as military governor of Arkansas, though he resigned soon after due to poor health.

How was the Civil War financed?

The Civil War had been financed primarily by issuing short-term and long-term bonds and loans, plus inflation caused by printing paper money, plus new taxes. Wholesale prices had more than doubled, and reduction of inflation was a priority for Secretary McCulloch. A high priority, and by far the most controversial, was the currency question. The old paper currency issued by state banks had been withdrawn, and Confederate currency was worthless. The national banks had issued $207 million in currency, which was backed by gold and silver. The federal treasury had issued $428 million in greenbacks, which was legal tender but not backed by gold or silver. In addition about $275 million of coin was in circulation. The new administration policy announced in October would be to make all the paper convertible into specie, if Congress so voted. The House of Representatives passed the Alley Resolution on December 18, 1865, by a vote of 144 to 6. In the Senate it was a different matter, for the key player was Senator John Sherman, who said that inflation contraction was not nearly as important as refunding the short-term and long-term national debt. The war had been largely financed by national debt, in addition to taxation and inflation. The national debt stood at $2.8 billion. By October 1865, most of it in short-term and temporary loans. Wall Street bankers typified by Jay Cooke believe that the economy was about to grow rapidly, thanks to the development of agriculture through the Homestead Act, the expansion of railroads, especially rebuilding the devastated Southern railroads and opening the transcontinental railroad line to the West Coast, and especially the flourishing of manufacturing during the war. The goal premium over greenbacks was $145 in greenbacks to $100 in gold, and the optimists thought that the heavy demand for currency in an era of prosperity would return the ratio to 100. A compromise was reached in April 1866, that limited the treasury to a currency contraction of only $10 million over six months. Meanwhile, the Senate refunded the entire national debt, but the House failed to act. By early 1867, postbellum prosperity was a reality, and the optimists wanted an end to contraction, which Congress ordered in January 1868. Meanwhile, the Treasury issued new bonds at a lower interest rate to refinance the redemption of short-term debt. While the old state bank notes were disappearing from circulation, new national bank notes, backed by species, were expanding. By 1868 inflation was minimal.

What was the purpose of reconstruction?

Reconstruction addressed how the 11 seceding rebel states in the South would regain what the Constitution calls a " republican form of government " and be re-seated in Congress, 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.

Why was the election of 1868 not allowed?

The Election of 1868 is the only election in which some states were not allowed to vote due to their unreconstructed status within the United States. Overall, the Election of 1868 was the proving grounds for America to determine if the country would remain ...

Why did the United States suffer an economic downturn during his presidency?

The nation suffered an economic downturn during his Presidency due to the occupation of the South and ongoing reconstruction which negatively impacted his popularity. Grant also oversaw the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad; and was also credited with improving relations with Great Britain.

What was the first election in 1868?

The Election of 1868 was the first Presidential Election to take place after the American Civil War and was held on November 3, 1868. The Election of 1868 was a landmark in African American history, as it was the first presidential election in which the newly freed slaves could vote. The Election of 1868 saw the rise of Presidential nominee Ulysses S. Grant, the former General of the United States Army, claim victory over the Democratic nominee former Governor of New York Horatio Seymour—while marking the continued dominance of the Republican Party in presidential elections. This dominance would continue unbroken until the election of President Grover Cleveland. The Election of 1868 is the only election in which some states were not allowed to vote due to their unreconstructed status within the United States. Overall, the Election of 1868 was the proving grounds for America to determine if the country would remain a nation divided or if it would reunify and move forward from their Civil War that ended just merely three years ago.

What was Horatio Seymour's political party?

Horatio Seymour’s run for presidency began with maintaining the status quo of the Democratic party to its antebellum state. Seymour opposed President Abraham Lincoln’s Civil War-era policies of emancipation and the use of a military draft.

How did Grant help the United States?

Grant helped in the unification and reconstruction of the United States by ascending to the highest seat in the country. He helped in preserving the rights of all citizens through the 15th Amendment, and he goes down in history as an important president who helped shape the country by promoting peace and order.

Why did Grant want to act on his own accord?

Grant often disagreed with Johnson’s decisions, as did many in the Republican Party, the general began to realize that he needed to act on his own accord in order to complete the reconstruction of the South and defend the civil rights of former slaves.

What was the political outcome of the 1876 presidential election?

In many ways, the presidential election of 1876 foreshadowed the politics of the era, in that it resulted in one of the most controversial results in all of presidential history . The country was in the middle of the economic downturn caused by the Panic of 1873, a downturn that would ultimately last until 1879, all but assuring that Republican incumbent Ulysses S. Grant would not be reelected. Instead, the Republican Party nominated a three-time governor from Ohio, Rutherford B. Hayes. Hayes was a popular candidate who advocated for both “hard money”—an economy based upon gold currency transactions—to protect against inflationary pressures and civil service reform, that is, recruitment based upon merit and qualifications, which was to replace the practice of handing out government jobs as “spoils.” Most importantly, he had no significant political scandals in his past, unlike his predecessor Grant, who suffered through the Crédit Mobilier of America scandal. In this most notorious example of Gilded Age corruption, several congressmen accepted cash and stock bribes in return for appropriating inflated federal funds for the construction of the transcontinental railroad.

What were the challenges that farmers faced in the nineteenth century?

They contended with economic hardships born out of rapidly declining farm prices, prohibitively high tariffs on items they needed to purchase, and foreign competition . One of the largest challenges they faced was overproduction, where the glut of their products in the marketplace drove the price lower and lower.

What was the last election of the nineteenth century?

Not only had the ongoing economic depression convinced many Americans—farmers and factory workers alike—of the inability of either major political party to address the situation, but also the Populist Party , since the last election, benefited from four more years of experience and numerous local victories. As they prepared for their convention in St. Louis that summer, the Populists watched with keen interest as the Republicans and Democrats hosted their own conventions.

What did President Arthur do to help the American people?

In addition to civil service, President Arthur also carried the reformist spirit into the realm of tariffs, or taxes on international imports to the United States. Tariffs had long been a controversial topic in the United States, especially as the nineteenth century came to a close. Legislators appeared to be bending to the will of big businessmen who desired higher tariffs in order to force Americans to buy their domestically produced goods rather than higher-priced imports. Lower tariffs, on the other hand, would reduce prices and lower the average American’s cost of living, and were therefore favored by many working-class families and farmers, to the extent that any of them fully understood such economic forces beyond the prices they paid at stores. Out of growing concern for the latter group, Arthur created the U.S. Tariff Commission in 1882 to investigate the propriety of increasingly high tariffs. Despite his concern, along with the commission’s recommendation for a 25 percent rollback in most tariffs, the most Arthur could accomplish was the “Mongrel Tariff” of 1883, which lowered tariff rates by barely 5 percent.

What happened in the late 1880s?

As mentioned above, farmers were already struggling with economic woes, and the rest of the country followed quickly. Following a brief rebound from the speculation-induced Panic of 1873, in which bank investments in railroad bonds spread the nation’s financial resources too thin—a rebound due in large part to the protective tariffs of the 1880s—a greater economic catastrophe hit the nation, as the decade of the 1890s began to unfold.

What was the Gilded Age?

Mark Twain coined the phrase “Gilded Age” in a book he co-authored with Charles Dudley Warner in 1873, The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today. The book satirized the corruption of post-Civil War society and politics. Indeed, popular excitement over national growth and industrialization only thinly glossed over the stark economic inequalities and various degrees of corruption of the era (Figure 20.3). Politicians of the time largely catered to business interests in exchange for political support and wealth. Many participated in graft and bribery, often justifying their actions with the excuse that corruption was too widespread for a successful politician to resist. The machine politics of the cities, specifically Tammany Hall in New York, illustrate the kind of corrupt, but effective, local and national politics that dominated the era.

What were the challenges of the post-Civil War era?

The challenges Americans faced in the post-Civil War era extended far beyond the issue of Reconstruction and the challenge of an economy without slavery. Political and social repair of the nation was paramount, as was the correlative question of race relations in the wake of slavery. In addition, farmers faced the task of cultivating arid western soils and selling crops in an increasingly global commodities market, while workers in urban industries suffered long hours and hazardous conditions at stagnant wages.