Georgia during Reconstruction facts for kids
After the American Civil War ended, the state of Georgia faced huge challenges. The war had caused a lot of damage. Also, without slavery, it was hard to find enough workers for farms. Bad weather made things even worse for crops.
Georgia's main crop, cotton, dropped from over 700,000 bales in 1860 to less than 50,000 in 1865. Other crops like corn and wheat also had very small harvests. The state government helped build many new railroad lines. White farmers started growing cotton again, often using special fertilizers for poor soil. But the rice farms along the coast never fully recovered from the war.
Places like Bartow County showed how tough things were. Many buildings were destroyed, and about a third of the soldiers from there had died. This caused big money and social problems. Repeated crop failures made it even harder for the area to get back on its feet. The Freedmen's Bureau tried to help Black people, but it wasn't enough.
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What Was Reconstruction?
After the Civil War, the United States began a period called Reconstruction. This was a time when the country tried to rebuild the Southern states and bring them back into the Union. It also aimed to help the millions of formerly enslaved people, known as freedmen, start new lives.
In January 1865, General William Tecumseh Sherman made a special order in Savannah. It allowed the government to take abandoned plantation lands on the Sea Islands. These lands belonged to owners who had run away from his army. Sherman wanted to give this land to former slaves. About 400,000 acres (1,600 km²) in coastal Georgia and South Carolina were set aside. The plan was to give 40,000 freed slaves plots of about 40 acres each. This was meant to help the thousands of escaped slaves who had followed his army during his March to the Sea.
Soon after, Congress created the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands in March 1865. This group, called the Freedmen's Bureau, could give legal ownership of 40-acre plots to freedmen and white Southerners who had supported the Union. Rev. Tunis Campbell, a Black missionary from the North, was put in charge of land claims in Georgia. However, President Andrew Johnson canceled Sherman's order in late 1865, after the war ended. He gave the lands back to the original plantation owners, forcing the new Black farmers off the land.
Presidential Reconstruction in Georgia
After the war, farms in Georgia struggled. Without slavery, it was hard to find workers. Bad weather also hurt crops. Cotton production dropped sharply. New railroads and fertilizers later helped cotton farming in Georgia's upcountry. But coastal rice farms never recovered.
Many freed slaves moved to towns. But these towns became very crowded, and there wasn't enough food. Many people got sick and died from diseases. The Freedmen's Bureau helped many Black workers return to farming. They created a system where white landowners hired Black workers, often their former slaves, under contracts.
For the first time, educational opportunities opened up for Black people. Within a year, at least 8,000 former slaves were going to schools in Georgia. These schools were set up with money from people in the North.
In June 1865, President Andrew Johnson chose his friend, James Johnson, to be Georgia's temporary governor. James Johnson was a lawyer from Columbus who had not fought in the war. In October, a meeting was held in Milledgeville to write a new state constitution. The delegates at this meeting ended slavery, canceled Georgia's decision to leave the Union, and refused to pay the Confederacy's debts.
Georgia's state legislature was the only one among former Confederate states that did not pass harsh "Black Codes" to limit the freedom of Black people. However, they believed that newly freed slaves should only have limited rights, similar to free Black people before the war. They also passed a law making marriage between different races illegal.
In November 1865, Georgia elected a new governor, congressmen, and state lawmakers. Many voters chose former Confederates, even though some, like the new governor Charles J. Jenkins, had first opposed leaving the Union. The new state legislature caused problems in Washington. They elected Alexander Stephens and Herschel Vespasian Johnson to the U.S. Senate. Stephens had been the Vice-President of the Confederacy, and Johnson had been a Confederate Senator.
Neither Stephens nor Johnson, nor any of Georgia's new U.S. House members, were allowed to take their seats. The federal government did not want people who were so involved with the Confederacy to have power in Washington.
Congressional Reconstruction in Georgia
In August 1866, President Andrew Johnson wanted to bring the former Confederate states back into the Union. But Radical Republicans in Congress disagreed. In March 1867, they passed the First Reconstruction Act. This law put the South under military control. Georgia, along with Alabama and Florida, became part of the Third Military District. General John Pope was in charge of this district.
Radical Republicans also passed a strict oath called the Ironclad Oath. This oath stopped former Confederates from voting or holding office. Instead, a group of freedmen, carpetbaggers (Northerners who moved South), and scalawags (Southerners who supported Reconstruction) took their places. Most scalawags were former Whigs who had been against leaving the Union.
General John Pope registered eligible voters in Georgia. There were 95,214 white voters and 93,457 Black voters. From October to November 1867, elections were held for delegates to a new constitutional convention. This meeting was held in Atlanta, not the state capital of Milledgeville. This was done to prevent former Confederates from interfering.
In January 1868, Georgia's first elected governor after the war, Charles J. Jenkins, refused to give state money for the new state constitutional convention, which included both Black and white members. General George Meade, who replaced Pope, then removed Jenkins's government. A military governor took over. This action made many white Georgians resist Reconstruction even more. It also helped the Ku Klux Klan grow.
Nathan Bedford Forrest, a leader of the Klan, visited Atlanta in early 1868 to help set up the group. In Georgia, the Klan was led by John Brown Gordon, a well-known general from Robert E. Lee's army. Agents from the Freedmen's Bureau reported many cases of violence against freedmen across the state in 1868.
In July 1868, Georgia was allowed back into the Union. The newly elected General Assembly approved the Fourteenth Amendment. A Republican governor, Rufus Bullock, who was from New York, was sworn in. Georgia's Democrats, including former Confederate leaders, spoke out against Reconstruction policies at a huge meeting in Atlanta.
Joseph E. Brown, who had been Georgia's Governor during the Confederacy, became a Republican. He said that even though the state had reluctantly given Black people the right to vote, the state constitution did not allow them to hold office because they were not citizens. In September, white Republicans joined with Democrats to remove Black senators and representatives from the General Assembly. A monument in Atlanta, called Expelled Because of Their Color, lists 33 Black lawmakers who were removed.
A week later, in Camilla, white residents attacked a Black Republican meeting. Twelve people were killed in what became known as the Camilla massacre.
These events led to calls for Georgia to return to military rule. This increased after Georgia was one of only two former Confederate states to vote against Ulysses S. Grant in the 1868 presidential election. The removed Black lawmakers, led by Rev. Tunis Campbell and Henry McNeill Turner, asked the federal government in Washington to step in.
In March 1869, Governor Bullock tried to make Reconstruction last longer. He arranged for Georgia to refuse to approve the Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which gave Black people the right to vote. That same month, the U.S. Congress again stopped Georgia's representatives from taking their seats. Military rule returned in December 1869.
In January 1870, General Alfred Terry, the last commanding general of the Third District, removed former Confederates from the General Assembly. He replaced them with Republican candidates and brought back the Black lawmakers who had been expelled. This created a large Republican majority in the legislature. On February 2, 1870, Georgia finally approved the Fifteenth Amendment.
Amos T. Akerman and the Fight Against the Klan
Amos T. Akerman was the U.S. Attorney General from 1870 to 1871. He was born in the North but moved to Georgia after college and owned slaves. He fought for the Confederacy. But during Reconstruction, he became a scalawag and spoke out for civil rights for Black people. He was the first former Confederate to join the President's cabinet.
Akerman was not afraid of the Klan and was determined to protect the lives and rights of Black people. To help Akerman's investigation, President Grant sent Secret Service agents to join the Klan. These agents gathered evidence for legal action. The investigations showed that many white people were actively involved in Klan activities.
With this evidence, President Grant ordered the Klan to disarm and remove their white robes and hoods. When the Klan ignored him, Grant sent federal troops to nine counties in South Carolina to stop the Klan's violent actions. Akerman worked with Benjamin Bristow, the first Solicitor General. Together, they took legal action against thousands of Klan members. This brought a short period of peace from 1870 to 1872 during the difficult Reconstruction era.
The End of Reconstruction in Georgia
Democrats in Georgia disliked Governor Rufus Bullock's government, calling it a "Carpetbagger" administration. They accused two of his friends of stealing state money. Bullock's efforts to keep military rule going caused problems within his own party. Black politicians also complained that they didn't get enough political appointments.
In February 1870, the new legislature approved the Fifteenth Amendment. They also chose new Senators to send to Washington. On July 15, Georgia became the last former Confederate state to be officially readmitted into the Union.
After this, Democrats won most of the seats in both parts of the General Assembly. Governor Rufus Bullock left the state to avoid being removed from office. With voting rules against former Confederates lifted, Democrat and former Confederate Colonel James Milton Smith was elected to finish Bullock's term. By January 1872, Georgia was fully controlled by the "Redeemers". These were white conservative Democrats who wanted to bring back the old ways.
The Redeemers used violence to strengthen their power. The African American lawmakers who had been expelled were often targets of this violence.
