14*7 THE DISRUPTION OF THE SOCIAL ORDER IN THE SOUTH DURING THE RECOISTJRUCTIOT ERA THESIS Presented to the Graduate Council of the North Texas State Teachers College in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements For the Degree of MASTeR OF SCIEJOE By Leo Bennett, B. S. Denton, Texas Aut,, 1937 P2EFACE Perhaps no other period in American history has been so permeated with political corruption, economic upheaval, and social disorganization, as was the Reconstruction Era follow- ing the American Civil Tar. It is the purpose of this thesis to define wherein the social order of the South was disrupted, --- the conditions that brought about such a sweeping trans- formation of social structures --- and to show the growth of new social attitudes and practices evolving from the chaotic dismemberment of the old. Although primary significance is placed upon changes in the social order, it is necessary to consider certain poli- tical and economic trends that were interwoven into the fab- ric of social life during Reconstruction --- factors influen- cing, determining, or evolving from, social changes. In the first chapter is sketched briefly the ante-bellum society of the South, and in following chapters is shown the evolution of social culture during the first twelve years following the Civil War. The writer gratefully acknowledges invaluable assist- ance rendered by two members of the History Faculty of North Texas State T eachers College: Dr. L. W. Newton, who so will- ingly devoted much of his time to the careful examination of -ii- the manuscript and to the giving o constructive advice as the work progressed toward completion; and Dr. J. L. Kings- bury, iho gave the writer free access to the manuscript ar- chives of the State Historical Collection and extended numer- ous courtesies that lent much to the pleasure of the task at hand L B. Denton, Texas August 6, 1937 -iii- TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PTEFACE-- -- -- - - . -................. **e** as.... ... ... .. ii Chapter I. DUAL SOCIETY: THE SOCIAL BACKGROUT OF 2CON- The Plantation. * ....."*a*"*"*"*. .". *. *... * .. ... 1 The Southern Aristocracy............,..,..... 11 The Slaves-. --. --.. -** - -* -. e. * . "... ".*. .".".... .. 22 . r... *.. 32 The Poor Jhites--*-.- ... *....... * *"... II. THE DESOIATED S0UTH.............."...... a.. ...... 38 DevastationinfRural Areas................. 38 Desolation of the cjtjitesj!.."0 a........."..47 Yen, Defeated But Militant-. ......... ....... 53 III. SOCIALDISRUPTIONQADCHAS.........,,.........70 The Blacks' Philosophy of Freedon........,. 71 The Freedman's Attitude Toward Labor...,..... 83 Southern Whites inConfusion".... .... 94 "Black Codes"..,-...-.---........... 9 .. ,... 108 IV. SOCIAL IIJPLICATIOTS OF POLITICAL FBCOTSTRUCTIO T... 120 The Role of the Federal Jovernment....,....... 122 Radical Policies in the South................. 132 Legal Status of the Negro Under Reconstruction. 140 Southern Psychology During Reconstruction...... 150 V. POLITICALAITSOCIAL STRIFE........ 159 Carpetbaggers and Scalawags ................... 160 The Freedmen's IF reau......a ..... ....e. ... 165 Union The Leagues.---. -...... *.. ......... ... 176 Southern Education During Reconstruction....... 180 VI. "T INVISIBLE ir EjTIRE#"-- -. ---.. .. .... .. 190 Anarchy.---..- --- 9 ------....-.............. 190 Origin of the Ku Klux iMovement........ ..... 194 Ku Klux AimsandI'ethods...................205 Accomplishments of the Ku Klux.....,......... 223 VII. THE ROAD TO ADJUSTmE T-......-...... o..*........*. 228 The Disfranchisement of the Freedmen........... 229 1hite Supremacy Regained...,99999... 238 BIBLIOGRAPrY. * ... 9,-.--------99 .. * 9 9 ,9.9 f * 9 9 -9 -- "9"9a . 99 . ............. 6 "9. 250 -iv- CHAPTER I DUAL SOCIETY: THE SOCIAL BACKGROUND OF RECONSTRUCTION THE PIATATION Southern culture prior to the Civil War was character- ized by the institution of slavery which, in turn, was fos- tered by the stately plantation to the extent that after the seventeenth century the plantation problem became the Negro problem. The South was singularly enigmatic in that two distinct cultures and civilizations centered about the plantation; one was subjected, dominated, and exploited by the other, whose social status, literacy, and refinement gave it the prestige of power and the asset of accomplish- ment. The fact that one element of the population was ser- vile to the other created a dual society of class and caste. Open hostility between the two groups was relatively uncom- mon, yet each struggled continuously against the other for ascendancy, for some elusive plane of social relationships that would be just to both, for some equitable basis of uni- fying the duality. The juxtaposition of two races on the plantation constitutes the distinctive feature of the system, alike in tradition and fact. It is primarily in this respect that the ante-bellum Southern estate is unique, unique as a resource for imaginative effort, unique as an eco- nomic and social unit. The importance of this racial duality cannot be overstated. 1 1 Francis P. Gaines, The Southern Plantation, p. 209. -4- And yet, strictly speaking, there were more than two classes in Southern society: the social system of the Old South may be likened to a three-story white structure erected on a mudcsill of black. The social order was composed of plant- ers, farmers, "poor whites," and slaves, of which only the last named were permanent and incapable of rising. The three white classes were not sharply differentiated, and people were con- stantly shifting from one class to another. "There was little friction among them for the superiority of the planter was conceded as freely as it was claimed. "2 At the outbreak of the Civil 'ar there were about 350,000 slaveholding families, representing over 1,750,000 indivi- duals; nearly 4,000,000 Negro slaves; something over 260,000 free Negroes in the South; and over 5,250,000 "poor whites" --- small farmers, artisans, laborers, and tradesmen.3 But for all practical purposes the planter and the slave were the basic personalities in the social structure; the other two --- free Negroes and "poor whites" --- were mere appendages of little significance to the dual nature of so- ciety. "For a man to be property may seem barbaric and out- rageorus." If this be true, then Southern society was based upon barbarism and outrage, for here over four million men were the property of fewer than tpro million. 2R. S. Cotterill, The Old South, pp. 278-279. 33. D. Spero and A. L. Harris, The Black tforker, p. 3. 4Ulrich B. Phillips, Life and Labor in the Old South, p. 160. -3- The money returns for the "degradation of humankind" came mainly from a crop that was peculiarly suited to the plantation system --- cotton. Of 3,177,000 slaves in 1850, it was estimated that 1,800,000 were engaged in cotton cul- ture exclusively. The value of this crop was far above that of sugar, rice, and tobacco combined, the other three crops for which slave labor was widely utilized. 5 Wealth could be rapidly acquired by planters who began with limited means, whose success was due to industry, econo- my, and self-denial. Most of the profits were at first de- voted to the increase of the capital, and in a few years, as if by magic, large estates --- plantations --- accumulated. "The fortunate proprietors then build fine houses, and sur- round themselves with comforts and luxuries to which they were strangers in their eariler years of care and toil." 6 The actual plantation devoted to cotton was based on a rigorous and dull routine, with strict diversifi- cation of labor: house servants, field hands, cooks, blacksmiths, carpenters, the midwife "for white and black of the neighborhood, as well as doctors of the plantation," overseers, and, when they could be afford- ed, drivers to maintain discipline and order on the place, and be responsible for the quiet of the Negro houses and for the proper performance of tasks. In January there was ginning, sorting, and moting of cot- ton; in February more ginning and noting, ground-clean- ing, fence-mending, and ditching. In March there was bedding of cotton ground; in April planting, fencing, ditching, picking joint grass, working cotton --- the eternal hoe industry. In Nay, June, July, and August more hoeing and working and some picking; in September, October, and November more picking, clearing new ground; in December moting and ginning. There were tasks and 5 James F. Rhodes, History of the United States, I, p. 311. 6 Ibid., I, p. 312. -4- punishments for falling short. Every detail of life was regulated not by any internal compulsions but by a system of physical punishments and rewards. Once established, custom and routine gave permanence to the structure of relations. Life, on the whole, was a grim business. Such were the imperatives of the eco- nomic system.7 The population of the ante-bellum South was essentially rural; in 1860 only three Southern cities had a population above 100,000, and Baltimore, the largest city in the sec- tion, had a population of only 212,418 persons. Altogether, there were twenty-seven cities having over 4,000 inhabitants each. Agriculture was predominant not only because the South- ern colonies had long been accustomed to producing export crops for British markets, but primarily because of the natural environment: there were few minerals and little water power. Hence, "it was natural for men to devote themselves to agri- culture in those physiographic regions of the South where land was available and minerals and power scarce." 8 In this rural area, whose dominant symbol was the planta- tion, "the negroes furnished inertly obeying minds and mus- cles; slavery provided a police; and the plantation system contributed the machinery of direction." 9 But, The plantation was profitable because slave labor was profitable. Slave labor was slow, clumsy, and in- efficient, but all these defects were more than offset by its steadiness. It was not subject to strikes or la- bor disturbances; it was not interrupted by drunkenness 7C. S. Johnson, The Shadow of the Plantation, pp. 2-3. 8 Emory Q. Hawk, Economic History of the South, p. 229. 9 Ulrich B. Phillips, American Negro SlaverZ, p.