Early Reconstruction: Shifting Power, New Laws, and Racial Tensions
1866–1870
After the Civil War, formerly enslaved Americans and their allies kept fighting for laws that would protect basic rights for all men, no matter their race. Many former Confederates feared those changes. They believed growing Black political power threatened white men’s social standing and control of the government. Across the South, groups of white citizens tried to stop newly freed Black people from gaining political influence and economic independence. In Louisiana, local laws were passed in 1865 and 1866 known as the Louisiana Black Codes[1]. These laws limited where Black Americans could travel, where they could work, and whether they could own guns. New federal acts and constitutional amendments tried to address these discriminatory laws, and so did newly elected state governments that included Black representatives. As the political and legal landscape changed, racially motivated anger among white residents erupted into violence.
Mechanics’ Institute Massacre
Unease and anger grew among white former Confederates as Black residents worked toward obtaining equal treatment under the law. The newly freed Black population moving from rural plantations into urban areas created more competition for housing and employment in Southern cities, placing more stress on low-income white households. In Memphis, a fight between three Black men and four white police officers on April 30, 1866, stoked existing racial tensions and set off three days of riots led by white residents and police officers. The Memphis riots[2] killed forty-eight Black residents and two white men and destroyed more than sixty homes, schools, and churches in Black communities. Just twelve weeks later, a similar outburst of violence shook New Orleans, known as the Mechanics Institute Massacre.
Alfred R. Waud, “Scenes in Memphis, Tennessee, during the riot,”
Harper’s Weekly, illustration, (1866 May 26), from Library of Congress
Prints and Photographs Online Catalog
Black activists in Louisiana advocated for the right to vote, particularly through the Black-owned newspapers L’Union[3] and the New Orleans Tribune[4]. At this time, Louisiana was controlled by a federally backed Republican state government. In response to their activism—and to ensure more voter support for the Republican government—the Governor of Louisiana reopened the 1864 Louisiana constitutional convention. The purpose was so that the newly racially integrated convention could change the State Constitution to give Black men the right to vote.
Lilienthal’s Photographic Establishment, “Mechanic’s Institute,
New Orleans, Louisiana,” stereograph, between 1860 and 1870,
from Library of Congress Pints and Photograph Division
Black and Creole activists in New Orleans organized a rally on July 27, 1866 to support the convention. Three days later, delegates of the convention met at the Mechanics’ Institute[5] in the downtown New Orleans business district, just off Canal Street. Outside the building, white bystanders harassed a parade of Black Civil War veterans. The confrontation became violent. The mob of white citizens grew and was joined by police officers. Together, they murdered Black people in the streets[6] and then attacked the convention[7] itself. After six hours of chaos, the military declared martial law. The mob killed approximately 48 Black Americans and three white Republicans.
Theodore R. Davis, “The Freedmen’s procession marching to the institute – the
struggle for the flag,” Harper’s Weekly, illustration, (1866 August 25), from
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Online Catalog
Theodore R. Davis, “The riot in New Orleans,” Harper’s Weekly,
illustration, August 25, 1866, from Library of Congress Prints
and Photographs Online Catalog
Black-owned[8]and white-owned newspapers[9] in New Orleans disputed who caused and led the riot. White reporters insisted that the Black-led rally on July 27 was aggressive and threatening, which provoked violence at the convention on July 30. Black reporters and witnesses maintained that white people started the violence the day of the convention. A congressional inquiry[10] investigated the event, which included several eyewitness testimonies. The investigation provided evidence that white instigators planned the attack in advance, and it was not a random riot. Conflicting perceptions revealed that the nation continued to be deeply divided by racism.
The 1868 Louisiana Constitution
These violent events encouraged the US Congress to adopt stricter laws to govern the former Confederate states. In 1867, Congress passed the Federal Reconstruction Acts[11]. These laws placed ten Southern states under military rule and denied the right to vote to anyone who had helped the Confederacy. The states were required to ratify the 14th Amendment[12], which granted US citizenship to all people born or naturalized in the United States, regardless of race, and “equal protection of the laws” to all—though it excluded Native Americans. In addition, the former Confederate states were required to create new state constitutions that granted the right to vote to men of all races. States could be readmitted to the Union after meeting these conditions.
The Reconstruction Acts ordered that new state constitutions had to be created by a group of representatives elected by all male citizens over the age of 21. Because of these laws, Black residents in some states were able to vote and run for office for the first time[13].
Alfred R. Waud, “The first vote,” Harper’s Weekly, illustration,
(1867 November 16), from Library of Congress Prints
and Photographs Online Catalog
The Louisiana Constitutional Convention of 1868[14] included 49 Black men and 49 white men. They created the progressive Louisiana Constitution of 1868[15]. The constitution granted voting rights for freed men, racially integrated public schools, and permitted people to hold public office without owning property. Additionally, it strengthened the property rights of married women, provided for state care of the mentally and physically impaired, and ended imprisonment for debt.
Louisiana citizens voted to approve the constitution in April 1868. However, half of the men in Louisiana could not vote because of their participation in the Confederacy. Some feared that former Confederates would overturn the constitution as soon as they could vote again.
After creating their new constitution and ratifying the 14th Amendment in July 1868, Louisiana was readmitted to the Union. The 15th Amendment[16], ratified in 1870, made universal male suffrage a national law, declaring that the right to vote could not be denied “on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” Women of any race were still banned from voting. Black men in Louisiana were elected to positions in local, state and national government in the 1870s.
New laws and constitutional amendments created in the early years of Reconstruction had the potential to shift American society closer to racial equality. Black Americans pursued education, voted in elections, and ran for political office—rights they had previously been denied. But would these changes be enough to end racial inequality?
Late Reconstruction: Tested Amendments, Disputed Elections, and Continued Violence, 1870–1877
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