Mississippi Plan facts for kids

The Mississippi Plan of 1875 was a strategy created by white Southern Democrats. It was part of a movement by white groups during the Reconstruction Era in the Southern United States. The plan was designed by the Democratic Party in Mississippi. Its goal was to remove the Republican Party from power. They did this by using threats of violence and by stopping or buying black votes. Democrats wanted to take back control of the state government and the governor's office. Their success led to similar plans being used by white Democrats in South Carolina and other states with many black residents.

To stop election violence and keep freedmen (formerly enslaved people) out of politics, the Democrat-controlled state government passed a new constitution in 1890. This new law made it very hard for most black people to vote or own firearms. They set up rules like barriers to voter registration and limits on gun ownership. This was enforced with violence and cheating. Most black people then stopped trying to register or vote. They did not get their voting rights back until the late 1960s. This happened when the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed. This law allowed the federal government to watch over state practices and protect citizens' right to vote.

Reconstruction and New Rights

During Reconstruction, formerly enslaved people became citizens. African-American men were given the right to vote by the 14th and 15th Amendments. These changes had a big and fast impact. Freedmen quickly registered to vote and went to the polls. Most freedmen registered as Republicans. They joined the party that had helped them gain their freedom. They voted for both white and black Republican candidates.

For example, in Mississippi, a state with a black majority, only 16 of the 100 delegates at the state meeting that wrote the Reconstruction constitution were black.

Political Changes in Mississippi

In Mississippi's 1874 election, the Republican Party won by 30,000 votes. This was a big change because the state had been a Democratic stronghold when only white people voted. Republicans won the governor's office and some seats in the state legislature. However, black people never held most of the seats in any state legislature, even though they were the majority of the population. Freedmen and other black people (some free black people had moved from the North) were elected to many local offices. They held 10 of 36 seats in the state legislature that year. They made up a large part of the population and voted for both white and black Republicans.

Vicksburg Riots and Violence

In 1874, white people in Vicksburg wanted to stop black people from voting in that year's election. White armed groups stopped black people from voting. Democrats managed to defeat all Republican city officials in the August election. By December, the confident Democratic Party forced the black county sheriff, Crosby, to run away to the state capital. Black people who came to Vicksburg to help the sheriff also had to flee. They faced many armed white forces who had flooded the city. Over the next few days, armed white gangs may have killed up to 300 black people in and around the city. This event became known as the Vicksburg riots.

U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant sent soldiers to Vicksburg in January 1875. They were there to stop the violence and allow the sheriff to return safely. However, the sheriff was killed by his white deputy, A. Gilmer, on June 7, 1875.

The Mississippi Plan in Action

In 1875, Democrats used their Mississippi Plan to fight Republican power in the state. White paramilitary organizations (groups that act like an army) like the Red Shirts appeared. They acted as "the military arm of the Democratic Party." Unlike the Ku Klux Klan (which was not active then), the Red Shirts operated openly. Their members were known in their local areas. They sometimes invited newspapers to cover their parades and activities. Their main goal was political: to remove the Republicans from power. They were well-armed, buying new weapons with private money as they gained more power.

The first step was to convince white Republicans, called "Scalawags," to vote with the Democratic party. There were about 10 to 15 percent of these white Republicans. Direct attacks and economic and political pressure convinced many "carpetbaggers" (Northerners who moved South) to switch parties or leave the state.

The second step of the Mississippi Plan was to scare freedmen and their families. Landowners and merchants used economic pressure against black sharecroppers and farmers. This had limited success. The Red Shirts more often used violence and threats at the polls. Other white paramilitary groups called "rifle clubs" joined in the violence. They often started riots at Republican rallies.

Impact and Spread

Even though the governor asked for federal troops to stop the violence, President Ulysses S. Grant was slow to act. He worried about being accused of "bayonet rule" (using military force to control elections). He believed Democrats would use this accusation to win elections in Ohio that year. The violence continued without being stopped. The plan worked as they intended. During Mississippi's 1875 statewide election, five counties with many black voters had very few Republican votes: 12, 7, 4, 2, and 0 votes, respectively. The Republican lead of 30,000 votes from the 1874 elections was reversed in 1875. Polls showed a Democratic lead of 30,000 votes in statewide elections.

The success of the white Democrats in Mississippi led to the growth of Red Shirt groups in North and South Carolina. Thousands of white men joined rifle clubs there too. The Red Shirts were especially active in stopping black votes in counties with black majorities in South Carolina. Historians believe they committed 150 murders in the weeks before the 1876 election in South Carolina. Louisiana also had white groups, known as the White League. Along with rifle clubs, they also stopped black people from voting in the state through violence starting in 1874.

Lasting Effects

In 1877, U.S. federal troops were removed from the Southern states. This was due to the national Compromise of 1877. White Democrats gained control of all Southern state governments. Black people continued to be elected to local offices through the 1880s. Some were even elected to Congress in the late 1800s, often by forming alliances with Populist groups in some states.

In 1890, the Democratic-controlled government of Mississippi wrote and passed a new constitution. This new law made it very hard for most black people to vote or own firearms. It created barriers to gun ownership and voter registration. These barriers included poll taxes (fees to vote), subjective literacy tests (reading and writing tests), and stricter rules about how long someone had to live in a place. These laws used language that seemed fair to all races. However, they were used in a way that discriminated against black people. When these laws were challenged, the United States Supreme Court allowed them to stand. Other Southern U.S. states, like South Carolina and Oklahoma, then adopted similar rules in their new constitutions or laws.

From the late 1800s to 1908, Southern Democrats stopped most black people and many poor white people (especially in Alabama) from voting. They did this by passing these new state constitutions. Black people were largely kept out of the formal political system in the American South. This continued until the late 1960s, when new federal laws were passed to support and protect their constitutional right to vote.

See also

In Spanish: Plan Mississippi para niños