AN20220608-275_unit 3

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Student’s Last Name 1 Student’s Name Professor’s Name HIST-2301-33640 28 th June 2022 Unit 3 Exam: Part 1 1. When the Civil War ended, the freed slaves required jobs to make a living but since they were not educated therefore would not get any standard job. The only option with them was to work as laborers and planters needed these laborers, thus gave rise to sharecropping. In the system of sharecropping, planters allowed these former slaves to work on their lands and in exchange gave them a small portion of the profits and rent. This arrangement provided the owners with larger control on their lands and by 1880, almost 38% of all the farmers were occupants (Harper & Odom, 1995). Although the idea seemed great, but it didn’t benefit the former slaves working as farmers because these sharecroppers had to borrow money from others in order to buy medicines, clothing, food, and farm supplies which costed them more money than they would make from the crops. Due to this deficit, many former slaves were in debt as the crops or the cotton they would sell would not make enough money for them. 2. After the end of Civil War, Texas’ economy saw many changes, the dramatic increase in cotton production attracted many investments and technological developments. Cotton was the king of Texas economy but there were many other items that were also responsible for the economic development such as corn, timber, and ranching. The extension of railroads across the state gave more influence to the region and as a result more market power to the people of Texas (Miller & Ulbig, 2008). But there were some agrarian reformers who called for political and economic legislation that resulted in the populist movement (Barnes, 1952). Some other reasons that contributed to the emergence
Student’s Last Name 2 of populist movement in Texas were fall in prices, increase in business cost, indebted farmers, less fees to the farmers by railroads, high interest rates, and farmers’ belief that they were ignored (Barnes, 1952). In the Midwest and South region, farmers revolted against the Republican and Democratic as they both ignore their problems and concerns and thus gave rise to a populist movement (Barnes, 1952). A struggle started between the railroads and their consumers which eventually resulted in the victory of James Stephen in the 1890 elections (Miller & Ulbig, 2008). James Stephen promised to regulate these railroads and thus ran and won from a populist platform. In 1892, the People’s Party was created through the coalition of Jeffersonian Democrats and the populist leaders (Barnes, 1952). As economy was growing rapidly, these populist leaders promised regulation of railroads, preservation of land from foreign owners, and increase in the circulation of money in the region. 3. The primary positions of the Populist Party in Texas was the regulation and reformation of the laws to provide more benefit to the workers and farmers (Britannica, 2019). Their political position was left wing and they focused on farmers and workers and demanded an ordered income tax, regulation of railroads, preservation of land from foreign owners, increase in the circulation of money in the region, and some other demands that would strengthen the democracy and provide farmers with equality in industry (Barnes, 1952). They thought that the reforms and regulations they are proposing would greatly benefit the farmers and workers. Like a socialist government, they were hoping that they would revolutionized the working class and protect them from the corrupt political and capitalist system. Looking at their demands in the Platform (1891), they believed that these ideas would work as these farmers and workers are the basis of the economy, strengthening them would prove beneficial for them and for all the states. Unit 3 Exam: Part 2
Student’s Last Name 3 1. During the reconstruction and Jim Crow eras, the black community faced violence against them due to Jim Crow laws that allowed and legalized segregation based on race. These laws marginalized African Americans by not allowing them their right to have jobs, to vote, and to get education. These laws presented the African Americans as inferior and villainous to the order of society leading to violence and even lynching of the thousands of African Americans (Alderman et al, 2018). Those who dared to not follow these laws faced fines, arrests, violence, jail sentences, and death. 2. The most amazing thing about Reconstruction era was that despite the constant violence and atrocities committed against the black Texans, they still actively participated in the political struggle to achieve equal rights both as individuals and for the African American community as a whole. The lives of black Texans were affected due to the frustration of the whites on the policies that gave the formerly enslaved black people the right to hold offices and the right to vote. This frustration ultimately turned into violence and intimidation as an effort to reinstall white supremacy (Moneyhon, 1952). The KKK targeted local black leaders and citizens and murdered many black officials during and after the reconstruction era (Moneyhon, 1952). The behavior of the white supremacists prompted the blacks even more to demand equal rights and freedom. 3. Violence was used as a principal method to impose Jim Crow laws and disenfranchisement in the 1880s to 1920s. Over a hundred African Americans, who were gathered to defend Republican officeholders, were murdered by white supremacists in Colfax, Louisiana (Kousser, 1974). Direct disenfranchisement explicitly prevented black people from voting or counting of their votes, whereas the indirect disenfranchisement prevented blacks’ votes from having an effect on political outcomes (Kousser, 1974). Techniques like ballot box stuffing, gerrymandering, and stripping elected members of their powers were used to impose indirect disenfranchisement.
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Student’s Last Name 4 4. Black Texans were not the only one who experienced violence against them through the hands of white supremacists. After the Texas Revolution, there were immediate concerns of racist actions against Mexican Americans. In the late nineteenth century, Tejanos were expulsed from their homes in Central Texas due to the accusation that they had helped slaves in escaping to Mexico (Leon & Calvert, 1976). During the Cart War, some became the victims of Anglo oppression and wrath in the Goliad area (Leon & Calvert, 1976). After the Civil War, both the Tejanos and the former slaves faced further violence and atrocities against them. Unit 3 Exam: Part 3 2. To reestablish democratic and civilian rule in Texas, the black Texans went through a lot of political struggle from 1865 to 1870. After the Civil War, for nine years, Texas was in a turbulent state as its people were in constant struggle to solve social, political, and economic problems that were created by the war (Moneyhon, 1952). Emancipation and the end of slavery changed the relationship between whites and blacks. The post war situation including the change of labor threatened the economic power of the white elites and the weakening of their status not only threatened their economic power but also their political power (Moneyhon, 1952). This period of redemption or reconstruction between 1865 and 1870, posed serious challenges to the old social and political order. The Unionists party’s active and strong participation in formation of Texas’ Republican Party connected them with Black voters, who were allowed, for the first time, to take part in the politics of the state (Moneyhon, 1952). Black’s support of the Union League and the Republican Party reflected that parties are serious about the concerns and hopes of the black Texans. The coming together of Black and White voters guaranteed an electoral victory and a potential revolution in Texas’ politics, and those who opposed the convention had no idea how to respond to the situation.
Student’s Last Name 5 Black Texans supported and voted for the Republican Party because it was the party of Abraham Lincoln, their emancipator. The Democrats in Texas, who were in majority before, had to tolerate not only the voting of former slaves but also their voting in huge numbers. This guaranteed the loss of political power of the White Texans in South and across the state. When Blacks demanded full freedom, they saw a full scale oppression from the Whites who saw their efforts as a threat to diminish their control over their social position and their labor force. To maintain control over black Texans, Whites tried many techniques of frauds, economic intimidation, and ultimately violence. It was due to this violence that the African American realized that they need freedom and legal protection even more. In 1869 Edmund Davis became state’s governor, who had rejected the Confederacy and fought valiantly in the civil war for the Union Army. He started a state level police force and constructed many schools, but was still disliked by the Democrats due to his commitment to the Union during the Civil War. In 1873, Richard Coke, a former Captain, became the governor of Texas. During his governorship, the slave labor system was abolished and a new system, the sharecropping system, was introduced. Unit 3 Exam: Part 4 8. The Ku Klux Klan was founded in Tennessee in 1866 by 6 veteran confederates and its history in Texas ranges from the era of Reconstruction to the present. Initially the existence of the organization was solely for amusement purposes, but after its spread in the Southern states, it started associating itself with opposition to the Republican Party rule and vigilantism (Long, 1952). In the late 1860s, it became one of the most opposing organizations to Reconstruction, and its members pledged to oppose the blending of the races, to support the supremacy of the White race, to resist the political and social advance of carpetbaggers, and to reestablish the White control of the government (Long, 1952). The Klan members sometimes used terrorist acts such as burning crops or stealing horses to have an economic
Student’s Last Name 6 advantage, but many of their victims were Republicans as their violence closely followed politics. In the early 1920s, they had a membership of about a hundred thousand which the Klan used to elect state sheriffs, legislators, judges, and other local state officials. In 1923, they established strong hold of city governments in Fort Worth, Dallas, and Wichita Falls, and they had a majority in the Representatives House of the 38 th Texas Legislature (Long, 1952). Their paid membership even grew to one hundred and fifty thousand achieving even greater successes. The year 1923 was the last success for the Klan in that period as in 1924 their governor candidate, D. Robertson was defeated by Ma Ferguson, and disagreements within the Klan and the growing anti-Klan views greatly weakened its influence (Long, 1952). In 1928, their paid membership was as low as 2500 and their most significant supporters had already left the Klan (Long, 1952). In the era of Great Depression, the Klan strength and support declined even further. Following World War II, it started disintegrating but during the period of 1950 to 1960, its activity in Texas increased but due to FBI pressure and anti-Klan laws, it could not gain support and remained practically impotent in the politics. And ultimately, it fractured and disintegrated into small and tiny groups.
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Student’s Last Name 7 Works Cited Cecil Harper, Jr. and E. Dale Odom, “Farm Tenancy,” Handbook of Texas Online, 1 Sept. 1995, accessed June 28, 2022, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/farm- tenancy . Miller, W. R., & Ulbig, S. G. (2008). Building a populist coalition in Texas, 1892-1896. The Journal of Southern History, 74(2), 255-296. Barnes A. Donna, “People's Party,” Handbook of Texas Online, 1952, accessed June 28, 2022, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/peoples-party . Britannica, the Editors of Encyclopedia. "Populist Movement". Encyclopedia Britannica, 12 Sep. 2019, https://www.britannica.com/event/Populist-Movement . ALDERMAN, D. H., INWOOD, J., & TYNER, J. A. (2018). Jack Johnson versus Jim Crow: Race, Reputation, and the Politics of Black Villainy: The Fight of the Century. Southeastern Geographer, 58(3), 227–249. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26510077 Carl H. Moneyhon, “Reconstruction,” Handbook of Texas Online, 1952, accessed July 05, 2022, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/reconstruction . Kousser, J. M. (1974). The shaping of southern politics: Suffrage restriction and the establishment of the one-party south, 1880-1910 (Vol. 102). Yale University Press. Arnoldo de León and Robert A. Calvert, “Civil Rights,” Handbook of Texas Online, 1976, accessed July 05, 2022, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/civil-rights . Long, Christopher “Ku Klux Klan,” Handbook of Texas Online, 1952, accessed July 05, 2022, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/ku-klux-klan .
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