American History Tellers - Reconstruction Era | The Bloody Chasm | 4

Episode Date: June 21, 2023

In 1870, the ratification of the 15th Amendment enshrined Black men’s right to vote in the Constitution. Senator Hiram Revels became the first Black man to serve in Congress. Across the South, Black men were elected to office in unprecedented numbers.But soon, the Ku Klux Klan moved to undermine Black political rights with a violent campaign of fear and intimidation. Black militias formed, and took up arms to defend their communities from Klan terrorism. But in Washington, a split in the Republican party would soon jeopardize the fate of Reconstruction.Listen ad free with Wondery+. Join Wondery+ for exclusives, binges, early access, and ad free listening. Available in the Wondery App. https://wondery.app.link/historytellersSupport us by supporting our sponsors!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge new seasons of American History Tellers early and ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. A listener note, this episode contains graphic descriptions of schoolhouse in Abbeville, South Carolina. You're a member of the Republican Party and a local constable, and you've been tasked with raising a regiment for a brand-new state militia the governor has organized to protect the citizens from Ku Klux Klan violence. The schoolhouse is filled with two dozen black men of all ages, militia the governor has organized to protect the citizens from Ku Klux Klan violence. The schoolhouse is filled with two dozen black men of all ages here to enlist in the fight against the Klan. You're standing behind a table at the back of the room, and the men have formed a neat

line ready to put their names down. You write down the name of a young bricklayer and then shake his hand. Make sure you tell everyone you know. We need all able-bodied men to join us. The bricklayer gives you a short nod. I served in the war, and I won't back down from a fight. I know other men feel the same. A white man bursts into the room. You recognize him as a planter who owns a large plantation down the road. He walks towards you, his face burning with anger. What's the meaning of all this? These men are joining the militia. You can't seriously be considering arming all these black men. The planter gives the bricklayer in front of you a look of disdain. The young man stands a little straighter and lifts his chin. We need to protect ourselves and our families from violence,

especially with the election coming up later this year. We have just as much right to defend our communities as anyone else. Defend your communities? You mean terrorize white people and take what doesn't belong to you. Some of the men in line look ready to start a fight. You hold up a hand in acknowledgement and then turn back to the planter. With all due respect, these men are not the ones terrorizing people. They are the ones being terrorized. The governor ordered us to raise this militia regiment. If you have a problem, you can take it up with him. The planter clenches his

jaw in frustration. If my workers are spending all their time with militia drills, they'll neglect the planting. You needn't worry about that. The militia is going to drill at night. The planter appears to be growing desperate. He shakes his head and starts to fidget with the ring on his finger. You realize that underneath all his bluster, he's frightened. Well, maybe you could hold off on arming them? Give us time to get the Klan under control. Let the Democrats worry about law and order.

You've had plenty of time, and these attacks on the freed people have only gotten worse. The only law that the Democrats seem to understand is the kind that comes from the barrel of a Winchester rifle, so the state is responding in kind. I'm warning you, this is madness. No, madness would be letting this chaos go on without doing anything about it. The planter stalks off, muttering under his breath. You know that raising a black militia is probably the best thing to do to stop the bloodshed. But now, after seeing how the mere threat of armed black men has scared this planter,

you get the gnawing feeling that this might only inflame further violence. Now streaming. Welcome to Buy It Now, where aspiring entrepreneurs get 90 seconds to pitch to an audience of potential customers. If the audience liked the product, it gets them in front of our panel of experts, Gwyneth Paltrow, Anthony Anderson, Tabitha Brown,

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Follow Scamfluencers on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. From Wondery, I'm Lindsey Graham, and this is American History Tellers. Our history, your story. In the late 1860s and early 1870s, Southern black men enlisted in local militias in an attempt to protect their communities from violence carried out by white supremacist groups like the Ku Klux Klan. The Klan were the most visible manifestation of a violent backlash against expanded black civil rights and political activism. With the ratification of the 15th Amendment, Black men in all states now had the right to vote. And in Southern states, with their large populations of freed people, Black elected officials came to power at all

levels of government. In response to these dramatic changes, groups like the Klan waged a campaign of violence and terror against Black communities and their white allies in the Republican Party. And in state governments across the South, white Democrats calling themselves Redeemers fought to seize power and undo the reforms of Reconstruction. As communities fought for their very survival, disagreements and conflicts began to fracture the coalition of Northern Republicans, jeopardizing the fate of Reconstruction and the future prospects of millions of Black Southerners. This is Episode 4, The Bloody Chasm. On February 26, 1869, Congress approved the 15th Amendment,

extending the right to vote to Black men across the nation. The Reconstruction Acts of 1867 had already brought black suffrage to the South, but the Republican majority in Congress feared that if given the chance, Southern states would later revoke black voting rights from their constitutions. At the same time, most Northern states still withheld the ballot from their small black minorities, so Republicans knew that the only way to guarantee Black suffrage was to enshrine it in the U.S. Constitution. So Congress added ratification of the 15th Amendment as a condition for states to be readmitted to the Union. Now, the remaining Southern states that had not yet been reconstructed—Mississippi,

Virginia, and Texas—would have to ratify the 15th Amendment, as well as the 14th, which gave black people equal protection under federal law. Congressional Democrats denounced the 15th Amendment, fearing that extending the vote to black men would threaten their political power. On the other hand, many radical Republicans worried that it did not go far enough. The amendment did not establish the right to hold office, nor did it forbid literacy tests, property qualifications, or other methods used to block black voters from the polls. It also ignored half the population. It would take another 50 years before women of any race won the right to vote. Soon after Congress passed the 15th Amendment, President Ulysses S. Grant took the oath of office.

Unlike his predecessor, Andrew Johnson, Grant embraced Congress's program for reconstruction, as well as Black suffrage. On March 30, 1869, 26 days after Grant's inauguration, 100 guns boomed a celebratory salute in honor of the passage of the 15th Amendment. That night, thousands of people marched down Pennsylvania Avenue in a torchlight procession. Grant came out to address the crowds, calling the amendment the realization of the Declaration of Independence. Grant had once doubted whether black Southerners were ready to join the electorate. He observed that many formerly enslaved people were still illiterate,

having been denied basic education by their owners. But the ferocity with which the Ku Klux Klan terrorized Black communities during the 1868 elections convinced Grant that freed people needed the ballot to protect their rights. Grant also urged Congress to reimpose military rule in Georgia, where white state legislators had expelled their recently elected black colleagues from office. Military Governor General Alfred Terry took control of the state, and when the legislature met on January 10, 1870, General Terry reinstated the expelled black legislators. Among the black lawmakers who retook their seats was Georgia State Senator Tunis Campbell. Campbell was furious to see so

many Confederate senators serving in the chamber after falsely swearing oaths that they had not aided the Confederacy during the Civil War. At Campbell's urging, General Terry investigated and then purged six Democrats from the Georgia Senate, leaving the Republicans with a healthy majority. With Georgia's support, the 15th Amendment was finally ratified on February 3, 1870, and black suffrage became the law of the land. Northern reformers saw the granting of the right to vote as the crowning achievement of their decades-long struggle. Believing their work was done, the American Anti-Slavery Society disbanded ten days later. A jubilant Frederick Douglass summarized the extraordinary impact of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments when he declared, The black man is free. The black man is a citizen. The black man is enfranchised.

Never was revolution more complete. Shortly after, on February 23rd, Mississippi was readmitted to the Union after its legislature ratified the 15th Amendment. Now the state would be allowed representations in the halls of Congress. But in the 19th century, U.S. senators were selected by state legislatures, not elected by popular vote. So as Mississippi prepared for its readmission to the Union, its 30 black state legislators demanded that one of the Senate seats go to a black man. For their candidate,

they selected 42-year-old state senator Hiram Revels. Revels was born free in North Carolina and trained as a minister in the North. He served as a chaplain in Maryland's first black regiment, then returned to the South after the war to work for the Freedmen's Bureau. Many of his Republican colleagues believed that his moderate political beliefs and skill as a speaker made him the ideal candidate to become the first Black U.S. Senator. The Republican-majority legislature elected him by a vote of 81 to 15. On February 25, Revels arrived in the U.S. Senate to represent his state. But as spectators crowded the galleries, Democrats made a last-ditch effort to prevent Revels from taking his state. But as spectators crowded the galleries, Democrats made a last-ditch effort to prevent Revels from taking his seat. They argued that according to the 1856 Dred Scott

decision, Revels had not been a citizen for the nine years required to serve in the Senate. Republican Senator Charles Sumner fired back with an angry retort, calling the Dred Scott decision a putrid corpse, a stench in the nostrils, and a scandal to the court itself. After some debate, when the Senate took a vote, Revels was confirmed by a healthy margin that fell along party lines. Wearing a long black coat and white gloves, Revels was sworn into office and took up his seat, which was last held by Confederate President Jefferson Davis. It had been vacant since Mississippi seceded from the Union in 1861. But now, for the first time in American history,

a black man was serving in Congress. By July 1870, every former Confederate state had been readmitted to the Union. Congress had completed its mission of reintegrating the Southern states while expanding Black political power. And thanks to the 15th Amendment in the early 1870s, the number of Black elected officials rose significantly. Ultimately, more than 1,500 Black men held office in the South during Reconstruction. This included roughly 600 Black men serving in state legislatures,

the majority of whom had been formerly enslaved. Many more served in their local governments as mayors, constables, sheriffs, tax collectors, and justices of the peace. At the height of Reconstruction, roughly 15% of officeholders in the South were black. Though still a minority, the officials worked to transform the lives of ordinary freed people who had never before felt themselves represented in government. Imagine it's February 1870 in Natchez, Mississippi. You're a cook, and you've just walked into a small brick building that houses the local courthouse. You've never been here before, and you hesitate

a moment. But the sting on your cheek reminds you of why you've taken the risk to come here today. Seeing a door labeled Justice of the Peace to your right, you take a deep breath and knock. You push the door open and step inside. The cramped room is lined with shelves overflowing with books. As you look toward the desk, you're relieved to find a young black man sitting behind it. He stands and greets you with a warm smile. Good afternoon, miss. Please take a seat. He gestures to a chair across from his desk. You sit down, brushing a smudge of flour from your skirt. Good afternoon. What brings you here today? You take a deep breath. Well, sir, I work as a cook for the Clarksons.

I was making a pot roast last night, and I must have lost track of time because I burnt it. I've never seen Mr. Clarkson in such a rage. He, well, he hit me. Hard. Worse than the time I spilled tea on Mrs. Clarkson's sleeve. I see. The justice nods sympathetically. You blink back tears.

I don't know what to do. I'm at the end of my rope. I don't want to lose my job, but... I can't keep letting him treat me like this. Especially with a baby on the way. The justice's eyes glanced down to your growing belly and then back up again. Do you have a witness? A witness?

No. No one else was there besides Mr. and Mrs. Clarkson. Isn't this bruise on my face proof enough? I'm sick of being treated like a slave. The justice looks at your cheek and frowns. He then takes a piece of paper out of his desk drawer and begins to write. I'm going to seek a warrant for your employer's arrest. He'll be brought before a court to answer to these charges.

In the meantime, please know that you have my support. You breathe a sigh of relief. Thank you, sir. Just to warn you, because it's his first offense, at most Mr. Clarkson will have to pay a five dollar fine. Is that all? You can't lock him up for a little while? I'm afraid not. But five dollars is no trouble to him. If he does something like this again, he won't get off that easy. I'll make sure of it. And I'll make sure he knows it, too. Well, thank you, sir. You stand and shake the justice's hand, then walk toward the door, feeling a surge of gratitude for the knowledge that there's a black man in government fighting for you and your child. For the first time in your life, you feel like justice is actually on your side.

The presence of Black men in Southern government and law enforcement changed the daily lives of freed people. One such official was John Roy Lynch, who was born into slavery but served as Justice of the Peace in Natchez, Mississippi when he was just 22 years old. He wrote about how his presence in the local government was something that was entirely new for the black people he served and that they were anxious to avail themselves of such a glorious privilege. And it wasn't just elected officials changing the face of local governance across the South. Black people now had a direct voice in local justice systems, too. Integrated juries treated Black defendants with fairness

and respect and held white perpetrators of racial violence accountable. But despite these changes, the new Republican governments in the South still faced enormous challenges. They had to grapple with the devastation wrought by the war and help to manage the transition from slavery to freedom. Before the Civil War, plantation owners held an outside share of power. Now, social and economic responsibilities fell to the new state governments. Lawmakers modernized their states by establishing the South's first public school systems, as well as public hospitals, penitentiaries, and asylums. Republican majorities took the remaining discriminatory black codes off the books and repealed other

laws restricting black economic opportunities. But party members didn't always agree with each other. Black Republicans hoped to create policies to help freed people acquire their own land, but their white colleagues were less enthusiastic about supporting property redistribution. One Southern Republican newspaper editor declared that Reconstruction meant protection and fair play, not free gifts of land or money. Sparking even more controversy were efforts to rebuild infrastructure damaged by the war, especially railroads. Reconstruction governments invested enormous amounts of money in ambitious railroad building projects, which led to a rise in corruption, as corporations vying for contracts offered bribes to state officials, both black and white. Opponents of the new Reconstruction

governments emphasized these abuses of black officials. Such complaints were part of a white Southern backlash against what they called Negro Rule. The idea that black politicians were ruling the South was a myth. With the exception of South Carolina, black officials never held a majority in any Southern state legislature. But white Southerners used the slogan Negro Rule to convey their anger toward black politicians and their white allies. Just a short time after Republicans gained power and reconstructed their states, Democrats went on the attack to take back control and restore white supremacy. They euphemistically called themselves Redeemers, equating the restoration of Democratic rule with

the Christian idea of redemption, or saving the soul from damnation. Democratic redemption came early to the Upper South, where black voting populations were smaller and Republicans were divided. In the fall of 1869, Democrats won back control of the state governments of Virginia and Tennessee. And in fighting to restore white supremacy to the South, these Democratic redeemers increasingly benefited from the actions of the Ku Klux Klan. During the 1868 election, the Klan stalked rallies and polling places in an effort to suppress the Republican vote. But over the next two years, the Klan became deeply entrenched in nearly every southern state, and soon they would go to war

against Black communities and the Republican Party, unleashing an unprecedented wave of terror and violence. Permanently living in your fridge. Did you know that the Air Jordans were initially banned by the NBA? We'll explore all that and more in The Best Idea Yet, a brand new podcast from Wondery and T-Boy. This is Nick. This is Jack. And we've covered over a thousand episodes of pop business news stories on our daily podcast. We've identified the most viral products of all time. And they're wild origin stories that you had no idea about. From the Levi's 501 jeans to Legos.

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Richard Bandler revolutionized the world of self-help all thanks to an approach he developed called neurolinguistic programming. Even though NLP worked for some, its methods have been criticized for being dangerous in the wrong hands. Throw in Richard's dark past as a cocaine addict and murder suspect, and you can't help but wonder what his true intentions were. I'm Sachi Cole. And I'm Sarah Hagee. And we're the hosts of Scamfluencers, a weekly podcast from Wondery that takes you along the twists and turns of the most infamous scams of all time,, Richard Bandler, whose methods inspired some of the most toxic and criminal self-help movements of the last two decades. Follow Scamfluencers on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can listen to Scamfluencers and more Exhibit C true crime shows like Morbid and Kill List early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery+. Check out Exhibit C in the Wondery app for all your true crime listening. In 1870, the Ku Klux Klan launched a full-blown reign of terror. Riding up and down the southern countryside, white-sheeted Klansmen threatened, whipped, murdered, and mutilated local Republican leaders and supporters, most of them Black. As a former Confederate officer explained, the Klan's purpose was to defy the reconstructed state governments, to treat them with contempt, and show them that they have no real existence. In Chattanooga, Tennessee, Klansmen whipped a Black man who

had defeated a white candidate in a local election. In Greene County, Alabama, a band of Klansmen abducted a black delegate to a state convention, beat him to death, and threw his corpse into a well. In Monroe County, Mississippi, 60 Klansmen brutally attacked the black president of a local Republican club, slitting his throat and disemboweling him in front of his wife before dumping his body in a creek. The Klan did not limit their targets to Republican leaders and voters trying to assert their rights. Black churches, schools, and other symbols of Black autonomy went up in flames. Klansmen drove Black farmers off their land. They attacked male and female teachers of both races and singled out black people who had managed to gain an education. In Georgia, one freedman was murdered by the Klan because,

according to his brother, he was too big a man who could write and read. Anyone the Klan saw as challenging the racial hierarchy was at risk of violence. Though most Klansmen were ordinary farmers, the group also attracted elite planters, lawyers, doctors, businessmen, and even ministers. And because much of the violence was concentrated in Democratic counties where officials protected the Klan or were members themselves, most Klansmen attacked with impunity. Democrats minimized the scale of the violence, diminishing reports of Klan activity as Republican propaganda or denying the existence of the Klan altogether.

In the face of these attacks, Republican governments took steps to stem the violence. In Texas, the Republican governor organized an interracial state police that successfully fended off the Klan, making over 6,000 arrests between 1870 and 1872. Other state legislatures outlawed disguises like the Klan's hooded white robes and raised penalties for violent crimes. But enforcement proved difficult.

Witnesses to violence were reluctant to testify, and Klansmen often lied to authorities to provide each other with alibis. Still, the fight against white supremacy continued. In one Alabama county, violence subsided after 100 white Union Army veterans formed a group called the Anti-Ku Klux and threatened Klansmen with reprisals. In areas with black majorities, some black men formed militias, taking up arms to patrol their communities and prevent Klan violence as best they could, even though in most cases, the Klan was better armed.

In Alamance County, North Carolina, a Black Union League president named Wyatt Outlaw organized a small Black police patrol. When Klansmen rode through in February 1869, Outlaw's force drove them off before they could launch their attack. But just one year later, the Klan retaliated. On a February night in 1870, Klansmen broke into Outlaw's home, abducted him from his bedroom, dragged him to the center of town, and hanged him from a tree. He was found with a piece of paper pinned to his coat reading, Beware You Guilty, both black and white.

In the wake of Outlaw's lynching, Republicans fled the county and the local Union League dissolved. But the incident spurred Republican Governor William Holden into action. He dispatched a state militia unit to Alamance County to combat white violence. Roughly 100 men were arrested. Holden suspended the local courts, which were controlled by Klansmen, and ordered the prisoners tried by a military commission. Holden defeated the Klan militarily, but he paid a heavy political price. In statewide elections in the fall of 1870, Democrats won control of the state legislature.

Soon after, the Democrats impeached Holden. He became the first U.S. governor to be removed from office. And with his departure, for Klan supporters and Southern Democrats, North Carolina was officially redeemed. But North Carolina was not the only state where Democratic redeemers defeated the Republican Party. The Georgia legislature also fell to the Democrats in 1870 during a period of extreme Klan violence. Still, the Klan did not invade every pocket of the South. Areas that were overwhelmingly Black,

such as coastal South Carolina and Georgia, were mostly left unscathed. The Klan was primarily concentrated where Black populations were smaller, especially in the Piedmont region, a crescent of rolling hills in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Alabama. And nowhere was the violence worse than in the Piedmont region of South Carolina.

In 1869, Republican Governor Robert Scott formed a state militia to protect Black residents in the area and ensure his own re-election in 1870. Most white men refused to join, but within a year, 20,000 Black men had signed up. Under the protection of this new militia, in October 1870, large numbers of black voters marched to the polls in the Piedmont counties, despite Klan intimidation. When the votes were counted, Republicans managed to retain their control of the region. But the Klan swiftly retaliated. The day after Republican victories in Lawrence County, South Carolina,

Klansmen drove 150 Black residents from their homes and murdered 13 people, including a newly re-elected Black legislator and a white probate judge. In the wake of the rampage in Lawrence County, Governor Scott wavered and began to debate whether to disarm Black militias in the hopes of placating whites. One of those militias was led by Jim Williams, a man who escaped slavery during the Civil War, crossing into the North to fight for the Union Army. Now, as Confederate veterans rallied to the Klan to wage war on his friends and neighbors,

Williams became an outspoken captain of an all-black militia in York County, South Carolina. He declared that Governor Scott had authorized him to carry on the war. But at the urging of his minister in early 1871, Williams met with Klan members to try to de-escalate tensions. Imagine it's February 11, 1871, and you're at a crossroads in the small black community of Clay Hill in York County, South Carolina. You're a Union Army veteran and a captain of the local all-black militia. You've just walked into a small, dimly lit store with one of your black neighbors. For months, the Ku Klux Klan have been terrorizing your community, but tonight you're hoping to negotiate a peace agreement. With a nod to the man at the register, you examine a selection of seeds,

trying to take your mind off the impending meeting. You doubt a truce is possible, but you're willing to try anything to bring peace to your town. A middle-aged white man dressed in a fine three-piece suit walks into the store, with two younger men following behind. You immediately recognize the older man as J. Rufus Bratton, the most respected doctor in the county and the brother of the man who once enslaved you. Dr. Bratton, thank you for coming.

So I hear you boys want to cease fire. You take a deep breath, fighting an urge to call him out on his role in the violence. Yes. It's time we find a way forward. Bratton points at the rifle slung over your shoulder. You know we can't have armed blacks roam in the town. How about we start with you and your men relinquishing your weapons? You hesitate. You know that putting down your guns will make your community vulnerable. And what do we get in exchange?

If we give up our weapons, will you and your men stop attacking us? A small smile plays on his lips. Sure, sure. But we'll need one more thing from you. No more nighttime meetings of the Union League. Who knows what you all are plotting. Makes people nervous. Fine. I'll gather up the weapons and store them in a safe place. And no more league meetings at night. And in return, you'll stop the violence? Bratton gives you a brief, almost imperceptible nod.

We all want an end to the chaos. Now do we have an agreement? You narrow your gaze at Bratton, weighing your options. You know that you're playing a dangerous game by negotiating with the clan, but you also know this might be your only chance of stopping the rampant bloodshed. All right. We'll agree to your terms. But if you break this agreement, we won't hesitate to defend ourselves. Bratton extends a gloved hand, and you shake it firmly.

But just before you turn to leave, a glint in his eyes betrays his mask of polite sincerity. As you walk away, you can't escape the feeling that you've just made a deal with the devil. On February 11, 1871, Black Militia Captain Jim Williams brokered a shaky truth with Dr. J. Rufus Bratton, the leader of the Ku Klux Klan in York County, South Carolina. But almost immediately, there were ominous signs that the peace would not last. Less than 24 hours later, more than 500 masked Klansmen rode into neighboring Union County, blocking off the roads and murdering eight black men. Soon after, Williams learned that Governor Scott planned to disarm the state's black militias, fearing that their existence was provoking white violence rather than preventing it. Williams was furious with the governor, and he felt increasingly defenseless in the face of white attacks. Nearly every white man in York County had joined the

Klan, and every night, black families took to the woods to escape the Klan's notorious nightriders, and after Williams refused Governor Scott's order to return his malicious weapons to the state government, the Klan vowed to murder Williams. On the night of March 6, 1871, Bratton led dozens of Klansmen to Williams' cabin, where they found him hiding under the floorboards. They pulled up the wooden planks and marched Williams out of his home, despite the desperate pleas of his wife. Outside, Bratton placed a noose around Williams' neck. The man tied the other end of the rope to a tree branch, 12 feet off the ground, and forced him to climb up. He dangled from the tree branch, using all of his strength to hold on with his hands. One of the attackers then used a knife

to hack at his fingers until finally he released his grip and dropped to his death. Later that night, one of the Klansmen boasted, We have killed Jim Williams, and we intend to rule this country or die. As the carnage in South Carolina intensified, Governor Scott appealed to the federal government for help. Republican lawmakers held hearings to investigate Klan activities across the South, and at President Grant's urging, they passed a series of laws called the Enforcement Acts to curb vigilante violence. The most important measure was the Ku Klux Klan Act of April 1871. This law made violence infringing on civil and political rights a federal crime, and also authorized the President to deploy

federal troops to suppress resistance to enforcement. In this way, the Ku Klux Klan Act was a forerunner of modern federal hate crimes and the first time that crimes committed by individuals could be prosecuted under federal law. The Justice Department vigorously enforced these new laws, and over the next several months, federal prosecutors indicted hundreds of Klansmen across the South. Thousands more fled before authorities could find them. In October, Grant declared nine South Carolina counties to be in a condition of lawlessness. Though he feared being accused of despotism, Grant sent in federal troops to fight the Klan.

Hundreds were arrested, though only a few dozen served jail time. Still, violence declined dramatically. The Grant administration broke the back of the Klan and brought a fragile peace to the South. At last, Black Southerners had a chance to safely exercise their rights as American citizens. But Reconstruction was about to face a new set of challenges, not from racist Southerners, but from bitter political tensions in the north. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn and it harboured a deep, dark scandal.

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by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. By 1872, Reconstruction had transformed the South. President Ulysses S. Grant had cracked down on Klan violence. Interracial governments were in power, and black men cast votes and sat on juries. The new state governments had created public school systems and modernized tax codes. A white South Carolina lawyer summarized the impact of Reconstruction, declaring, We have gone through one of the most remarkable changes in our relations to each other that has been known, perhaps, in the history of the world. But the changes in the South fell short of the total

revolution freed people dreamed of at the end of the Civil War. Both federal and state officials had failed to help black families acquire land. And without it, black farmers struggled with crippling poverty, and a growing number of them had no choice but to enter into sharecropping agreements. Both white and black sharecroppers rented land from wealthy landowners, agreeing to provide them with a share of the harvest instead of paying cash rent. By the early 1870s, sharecropping became the dominant form of black labor in the South, especially in the Cotton Belt. For many black farmers, sharecropping initially offered a measure of independence unheard of during slavery. But over time, that promise of autonomy faded. Landowners increasingly took advantage of their tenants by charging exorbitant

fees and interest rates for seed, supplies, and even basic necessities like clothing and food. Many sharecroppers found themselves trapped in a nearly inescapable cycle of debt to their former owners, who were now their landlords and creditors. It was clear to many Northern Republicans that more work was needed to ensure greater economic opportunities for freed people. But a growing segment of the Northern public was becoming disillusioned with Reconstruction and impatient to see its programs and policies discontinued. In 1872, Democratic attacks on Southern Republican governments found an audience among Northern liberal reformers who increasingly saw Reconstruction as a distraction from more important issues such as tariff reduction, civil service reform, and fighting corruption.

These reformers had also grown wary of Reconstruction's national standard-bearer, President Grant. With the presidential election looming, Grant's administration had become mired in corruption and controversy. The politically inexperienced former general had appointed friends and relatives to office with little regard for their qualifications. Patronage was nothing new to American politics, but many critics saw Grant as one of the worst abusers, especially in a time when corruption was flourishing at all levels of American society. Sensing Grant's vulnerability, that spring, Republican critics of Reconstruction split off into a new party to challenge him. On May 1, 1872, they gathered in

Cincinnati and formed the Liberal Republican Party. Under the slogan, Turn the Rascals Out, the Liberal Republicans urged civil service reform in Washington and the end of Reconstruction in the South. They were disgusted by stories of corrupt officials, especially Northern transplants branded as carpetbaggers who they believed only remained in power because of Grant's support. And with the cry of bayonet rule, they painted federal intervention in the South as overly heavy-handed. They blamed violence, instability, and corruption in the South on the fact that educated elite white planters, whom they deemed the best men, were excluded from power. For liberal Republicans, Reconstruction had become a

misguided effort to uplift the ignorant lower classes. To challenge Grant in the election, the new party picked an unlikely candidate for president, Horace Greeley, the famous editor of the New York Tribune. Emphasizing national reconciliation over black civil rights, Greeley urged Americans to put Reconstruction behind them and clasp hands across the bloody chasm that he said had too long divided the North and South. Greeley's candidacy surprised many Americans. Though he was a brilliant and passionate journalist, he was also temperamental and eccentric. He sported a wispy white beard and carried a colorful umbrella everywhere he went. He enthusiastically embraced various fringe causes,

including spiritualism, socialism, vegetarianism, and the virtues of eating brown bread. Greeley had also spent his career savagely attacking Democrats in print. He once called them murderers, adulterers, drunkards, cowards, liars, and thieves. But in 1872, his calls for an end to Reconstruction appealed to his longtime adversaries, spurring them to make a shocking decision. Imagine it's May 1872, and you're at the Democratic Party headquarters in New York. You're the chair of the party, working late in your office. A brass lamp casts a warm glow over a letter you're furiously trying to finish so you can finally get home to your wife and children. You jump in your seat as your friend

Arthur suddenly bursts into the room. He's a writer at the New York World, the leading Democratic newspaper in America. What, no knock? Arthur shrugs and plops himself into a high-backed leather chair across from your desk. I came in as soon as I got the telegram from Cincinnati. I can't believe it. The liberal Republicans have actually gone and done it. Done what? They've chosen Horace Greeley as their candidate for president. Arthur hands you the slip of paper with the news. You read Greeley's name and breathe a heavy sigh. That crackpot? What a bunch of fools. Arthur nods, conceding the point.

Be that as it may, we have an opportunity here. What do you mean? Our own convention is just two months away. The Democrats should also nominate Greeley. It will prove to the country that our party has accepted the results of the Civil War and is ready to move on. Why does it have to be Greeley of all people? He's built his career authoring vicious attacks on our party and not just our party. I don't blame you for hating the man. He's been absolutely vindictive. He said that I used my Jew gold to buy votes in the election back in 52.

Arthur grimaces. I know this won't be easy. But if you can put your hatred aside, this is our best chance to change our party's image. I'm sure there are other ways we'll find another candidate. If we choose our own candidate and make this a three-way race, it will only split the anti-Grant votes. We must support Greeley if we're going to have any hope of defeating Grant. You lean back in your chair, staring up at the ceiling. It sickens you to consider throwing your party's support behind your old enemy, but you'll do anything to see Grant removed from power.

Democratic Party Chair August Belmont called the Liberal Republicans' nomination of Horace Greeley a stupendous mistake, difficult to even comprehend. But he also believed there was no worse scenario than another four years of Grant, writing, I would willingly vote for my deadliest enemy in order to avoid such a catastrophe. Many members of Belmont's party felt the same way. So when the Democratic National Convention gathered in Baltimore in July 1872, instead of advancing their own candidate and platform, the Democrats threw their support behind the liberal Republicans and endorsed Greeley for president. They believed avoiding a split ticket would be their best chance of defeating Grant. As the campaign got underway, Republicans denounced the eccentric Greeley as an

atheist, a communist, a free lover, and a vegetarian. Republicans also used a tactic known as waving the bloody shirt, portraying Greeley's calls for unity as a betrayal of the sacrifices of the Civil War. Political cartoons depicted Greeley shaking a Klansman's hand as it dripped with the blood of a murdered black woman and her children. A Massachusetts congressman declared, Go vote to burn schoolhouses, desecrate churches, and violate women. Or, go vote for Horace Greeley, which means the same thing.

Finally, in November, voters went to the polls. Because of the anti-vigilante enforcement acts and the federal crackdown on Klan violence, Black Southern men met little resistance as they cast their votes, making the 1872 election the most peaceful of the Reconstruction era. Grant won it, in a landslide, with an electoral college majority of 286 to 66. He carried every northern state and all but six southern and border states. So in March 1873, Grant was sworn in for his second term. And for the first time, black people were invited to the inaugural ball,

and seven black congressmen took their seats in the Capitol. But Grant's victory came at a price. The bitterly contested election had put Reconstruction on the defensive. The liberal Republican criticisms of bayonet rule and carpetbag corruption had found a widespread audience, which would now threaten the North's commitment to defending black rights. And in one southern state, a disputed election outcome would soon spark one of the era's bloodiest acts of racial terror. From Wondery, this is episode four of our six-part series, Reconstruction, from American History Tellers. On the next episode, in Colfax, Louisiana,

armed white supremacists attack a courthouse guarded by an all-black militia, triggering yet another deadly massacre. And as the nation sinks into a devastating economic depression, the Democrats resolve to overthrow the South's remaining Republican governments. If you like American History Tellers, you can binge all episodes early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. And before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. Edited and produced by me, Lindsey Graham for Airship. Audio editing by Christian Paraga. Sound design by Molly Bach.

Music by Lindsey Graham. Voice acting by Cat Peoples and Ace Anderson. This episode is written by Ellie Stanton. Edited by Dorian Marina. Our series consultant is Ashley Lawrence Sanders. Produced by Alita Rozanski. Coordinating producers are Desi Vlalock and Christian Banas. Managing producer is Matt Gant.

Senior producer, Andy Herman. Executive producers, Jenny Lauer-Beckman and Marshall Louis for Wondery. In a quiet suburb, a community is shattered by the death of a beloved wife and mother. But this tragic loss of life quickly turns into something even darker. Her husband had tried to hire a hitman on the dark web to kill her. And she wasn't the only target. Because buried in the depths of the internet is The Kill List, a cache of chilling documents containing names, photos, addresses, and specific instructions for people's murders. Thank you. Follow Kill List on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Kill List and more Exhibit C True Crime shows like Morbid

early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery+. Check out Exhibit C in the Wondery app for all your true crime listening.