Chapter 15 Worksheet 

Who is the author of this chapter and what information can you find about the author elsewhere in the text?                                  

Jerell H. Shofner. The contributors section says that he is a “retired professor of history at the University of Central Florida” as well as “the author of numerous books, including Nor Is It Over Yet: Florida in the Era of Reconstruction, 1863-1877, he became editor of the Florida Historical Quarterly in 1995” (Gannon 2018).

 

According to this chapter, list 2 things that were in desperate need of “reconstruction” 

2 things that were in desperate need of reconstruction were the economy and transportation.

 

Florida stands apart from other areas of the South in the way that General Newton handled two main areas: politics & freedmen.  Discuss both

In politics, seeing the “existing political vacuum” caused General Newton to seize the reins and start making decisions until the federal government could fully establish itself politically in Florida (Gannon, 2018, p. 260).

In the handling of freedmen, Newton “instructed Florida Planters to assemble their former slaves, explain that they were now free, and ask them to remain on the plantations and work for wages.  Compensation was to be paid in shares of the harvest” (Gannon, 2018, p. 260).  

Demand for cotton was increasing or (decreasing) during the early years of reconstruction.

White And black farmers alike were given a new structure in which to run their land (called by 3 different terms in the text).  What is one of the names of this new agricultural system used by the author?

One of the names used by the author is sharecropping.

What 2 issues engulfed Florida as well as the entire nation, just as Lincoln feared it would?

“Florida’s readmission to the Union and the status of freedmen as citizens” (Gannon, 2018, p. 261).

 

Shofner describes a very sticky situation in regard to President Johnson restoring land ownership to former confederates.  Reflect on how this affects the statewide condition at the time.

The problem was that the former confederates would create great tension with both members of the federal government as well as the newly freed African Americans. Shofner uses an example of Confederate General Joseph Finegan getting his land back and finding it as an orphanage for African Americans. With there being “little black children playing in his veranda and the U.S Army guarding them, the tenuous peace of Fernandina was sorely tested” (Gannon, 2018, p. 261).

 

What does the text mean about Lincoln’s “non-punitive ideas”?

Lincoln was not wishing to increase tensions between the Union and the newly reacquired southern states. As such, he was not to listen to his contemporaries and would seek to allow them to rebuild themselves and let people have forgiveness rather than excessive punishment. Due to this, “Johnson permitted most former Confederates to participate in forming a new government” (Gannon, 2018, p. 261).

 

We know that “Black Codes” took shape despite the efforts of the Freedman’s Bureau.  Discuss the ways that Florida fell into the practices.

The ways Florida fell into the practices was that freedmen were “not permitted to give testimony in cases involving white people” as well as the fact that they created “a lengthy series of laws” that “clearly discriminated between white and black citizens, even to the extent of substituting corporeal punishment for fines and imprisonment for blacks convicted of crimes” (Gannon, 2018, p. 262).

Why was the Civil Rights Act of 1865 so ineffective?

The reason it was so ineffective was that “the continuing controversy between the president and Congress gradually eroded the effectiveness of both the army and the bureau in protecting freedmen and Unionists in Florida” (Gannon, 2018, p. 263).

 

 

What legislative measures marked the end of martial law in Florida?

“A suitable constitution was ratified by Florida voters and the legislature ratified the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution” (Gannon, 2018, p. 264).

 

 

 

Describe the internal divisions that developed in Florida during the reconstruction years.

Divisions occurred between whites during the reconstruction years. This division had led to a growth in power of the Republican Party as well as a pro-union sentiment as well as a pocket of Confederate sympathizers clinging to times past. Additionally, Florida had divisions in the military between Grant and his followers against those who agree with Johnson’s views of reconstruction.

 

 

 

What 2 measures were taken by conservative whites to prevent Freedmen from exercising their rights to suffrage?

One of the measures was that “conservative planters and merchants denied credit and land rentals to freedmen who continued to vote the Republican ticket” (Gannon, 2018, p.266). The other was that they used violence, specifically “vigilantes such as the Ku Klux Klan and the Young Men’s Democratic Clubs used violence and intimidation to discourage or prevent newly enfranchised blacks from exercising their voting privileges” (Gannon, 2018, p.266).

 

 

 

What is the contrasting difference between reconstruction effects in middle and peninsular Florida?

In middle Florida, it caused great strife because it was those who’ve been living in Florida fighting against change. However, in peninsular Florida, there was less strife because it was primarily just settled land by Northerners or those looking to escape the chaos of reconstruction from their middle Floridian brethren. 

When Shofner turns from reconstruction to renewal, list industries and individuals who played a role:
Magazines, Newspapers, Railroads, wine, housing, tourism, and hospitality.
Hubbard Hart, Frederick DeBary, Henry S. Sanford, Milton Littlefield, and George W. Swepson.

 

The late entry of what industry had a negative impact on Florida’s renewal?
Railroads

 

The political temperature in Florida changed dramatically in the renewal years.  Expound on that and include the one negative piece of legislature that added to already active Black Codes:
    In the renewal years, one can see a good political climate in areas such as Jacksonville which leads to electing leaders with better relations with black leaders. However, after Ossian Hart died Marcellus Stearns took over and “did little to nurture harmony” among the Republican party (Gannon, 2018, p. 271). However, things were not much more peaceful among the Democrats, even then they managed to gather a strong political base in Florida where they were able to change the constitution and strengthen the anti-black sentiment among Floridians. The one piece of legislature added to the already active Black Codes was a poll tax in 1889 which “effectively kept most black voters away from the polls” (Gannon, 2018, p. 273).