As the smoke of the Civil War continued to clear, the year 1870 arrived as a critical, and deeply contradictory, turning point. If you want to understand what happened in 1870 in American history, you must look at the monumental collision of progress and resistance. It was a year that codified Black male suffrage in the Constitution while also necessitating federal laws to fight a growing wave of domestic terrorism aimed at suppressing that very right. The promise of Reconstruction was put to its most severe test, creating a legacy that would echo for a century.
This wasn’t just a year of political maneuvering; it was the year the abstract goals of the war became tangible realities. A Black man sat in the U.S. Senate, the last Confederate state was readmitted to the Union, and the federal government declared, for the first time, that it would use its power to protect the rights of its newest citizens.
At a Glance: Key Developments of 1870
- The 15th Amendment is Ratified: The Constitution is amended to prohibit the denial of the right to vote based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
- A Historic First in Congress: Hiram Rhodes Revels of Mississippi becomes the first African American to serve in the U.S. Congress, taking a seat in the Senate.
- Federal Power to Protect Civil Rights: The first of the Enforcement Acts is passed, specifically targeting the Ku Klux Klan and making it a federal crime to interfere with voting rights.
- The Union is Officially Restored: Georgia is readmitted to the Union on July 15, formally ending the existence of the Confederacy.
- A Gilded Age Titan Rises: John D. Rockefeller incorporates the Standard Oil Company, signaling the massive industrial and economic shifts occurring alongside political reconstruction.
The Constitutional Promise: Ratifying the 15th Amendment
The central event of 1870 was the ratification of the 15th Amendment on March 30. This was the third and final of the “Reconstruction Amendments,” designed to remake the nation after the seismic schism of the war. While the 13th Amendment abolished slavery and the 14th granted citizenship and equal protection, the 15th aimed to secure the political power of Black men.
Its text is deceptively simple:
“The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
This amendment was a radical step. It directly addressed the attempts by Southern states to disenfranchise the roughly 700,000 Black men who had registered to vote under the Reconstruction Acts of 1867. The passage of the 15th Amendment was the culmination of a fierce political battle, representing a high-water mark for the Radical Republican vision of a biracial democracy that began after The 1860s American Civil War.
Limitations and Loopholes: What the Amendment Didn’t Do
For all its importance, the amendment’s language left significant gaps that opponents would ruthlessly exploit.
- It did not grant an affirmative right to vote. It only stated on what grounds the vote could not be denied.
- It left the door open for non-racial restrictions. States could still implement poll taxes, literacy tests, and property requirements, which disproportionately affected poor and formerly enslaved people, both Black and white.
- It excluded women. The omission of sex from the amendment fractured the abolitionist and suffragist movements, which had often worked in tandem. Activists like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, once allies, felt betrayed and opposed the amendment.
This framework is crucial for understanding the rest of the decade. The 15th Amendment provided the legal foundation for Black suffrage, but the fight had just begun to make that foundation a reality against a backdrop of organized violence and political obstruction.
From Theory to Reality: Hiram Revels Takes a Seat in the Senate
Nothing symbolized the promise of 1870 more than the sight of Hiram Rhodes Revels, a freeborn Black man and minister from Mississippi, being sworn into the U.S. Senate on February 25. The historical weight of the moment was immense: Revels took the very seat once held by Jefferson Davis, the former president of the Confederacy.
The debate over seating Revels was intense. Opponents argued that he was not a citizen until the 14th Amendment’s passage in 1868 and therefore did not meet the nine-year citizenship requirement for senators. Proponents, led by Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, successfully countered that Revels had been a citizen his whole life and that the Dred Scott decision, which denied Black citizenship, had been overturned.
Revels’s election by the Mississippi legislature and his subsequent seating was a direct outcome of the federal Reconstruction policies that had temporarily enfranchised African Americans in the South. His presence in the halls of Congress was a powerful, tangible victory—proof that the war had indeed brought about a new order.
Case Snippet: The Impact of Revels’s Term
During his year-long term, Revels was a moderate voice, advocating for the restoration of civil rights to former Confederates while also fighting for the integration of Washington, D.C.’s schools. He demonstrated a desire for reconciliation, not retribution, which earned him respect from some of his white colleagues. His dignified presence challenged the racist caricatures used to argue against Black political participation.
The Violent Backlash and the Federal Response
While Hiram Revels’s arrival in Washington was a moment of triumph, the situation on the ground in the South was deteriorating. White supremacist organizations, most notably the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), were using terror, intimidation, and murder to prevent Black Americans from voting, holding office, and exercising their basic rights.
State and local governments in the South were either unwilling or unable to stop the violence. This forced the federal government under President Ulysses S. Grant to take unprecedented action.
The Enforcement Act of 1870
Passed on May 31, 1870, this law was a direct response to the KKK’s campaign of terror. Also known as the Civil Rights Act of 1870, it made it a federal crime to obstruct a citizen’s right to vote.
Key Provisions of the Act:
| Provision | Purpose | Practical Impact |
|---|---|---|
| Outlawed Disguises | Targeted the KKK’s use of hoods and robes. | Made it illegal to “go in disguise upon the public highway” to violate others’ constitutional rights. |
| Federal Jurisdiction | Moved enforcement from local to federal courts. | Allowed U.S. Marshals and the army to pursue and prosecute Klansmen. |
| Felony Charges | Made interference with voting a federal felony. | Put teeth into the 15th Amendment, creating severe penalties for those who tried to subvert it. |
| This act was a monumental shift in American governance. It asserted the federal government’s authority to protect individual rights, even against the actions of private citizens and organized groups within states. It was the beginning of a federal war on the Klan, a necessary step to defend the constitutional promise made just months earlier. |
A Nation Still in Flux: Other Defining Events of 1870
The struggle over Reconstruction didn’t happen in a vacuum. The year 1870 was a hive of activity, revealing a nation rapidly modernizing, expanding, and centralizing its power in both government and industry.
- Georgia’s Readmission (July 15): As the last former Confederate state to be readmitted to the Union, Georgia’s return marked the official, political end of the Confederacy. However, the state had only been readmitted after its legislature was forced to seat its Black members and ratify the 15th Amendment, underscoring the ongoing federal oversight.
- The Rise of Standard Oil (January 10): John D. Rockefeller’s incorporation of Standard Oil in Ohio heralded the dawn of the Gilded Age. This new form of corporate power would soon rival the power of government, creating immense wealth and deep economic inequality that would define the coming decades.
- The 1870 Census: The census recorded a national population of 38.5 million, a 22.6% increase from 1860. This data captured a nation in motion, with westward expansion and immigration continuing to reshape its demographics.
- The National Weather Service (November 1): The U.S. Army Signal Corps issued its first official weather forecast. This move toward scientific data collection and centralization reflected a broader trend of a modernizing federal government taking on new roles.
Quick Answers to Common Questions About 1870
Did the 15th Amendment mean all Black men could suddenly vote?
No. While it provided the constitutional basis for Black male suffrage, its ratification did not lead to universal, unimpeded voting. Southern states immediately began devising methods like poll taxes and literacy tests to disenfranchise voters. Furthermore, the amendment did nothing to stop the extralegal violence and intimidation used by groups like the KKK, which is why the Enforcement Act was necessary.
Was Hiram Revels the only Black man elected to Congress in 1870?
He was the first African American to serve in Congress, taking his Senate seat in February. Later that year, in December 1870, Joseph Rainey of South Carolina was sworn into the House of Representatives, becoming the first directly-elected Black congressman. Together, they were the vanguard of more than a dozen Black men who would serve in Congress during Reconstruction.
Was the Enforcement Act successful?
It was partially successful in the short term. President Grant’s administration used the act and subsequent enforcement laws to prosecute thousands of Klansmen, effectively breaking the back of the first iteration of the KKK by 1872. However, its long-term success was limited. Once federal troops were withdrawn from the South in 1877, enforcement evaporated, and new methods of disenfranchisement and terror emerged.
The Legacy of 1870: A Foundation Laid, A Battle Begun
Looking back at what happened in 1870 in American history, we see a year of profound legal and symbolic victories for civil rights. The Constitution was fundamentally altered to enshrine the principle of non-racial suffrage, and for the first time, the federal government took on the explicit role of protecting that right from organized terror.
Yet, this progress was fragile and fiercely contested. The events of 1870 set the stage for the central conflict of the next century: the struggle between the promise of constitutional equality and the reality of systemic resistance. The legal tools created in 1870—the 15th Amendment and the Enforcement Acts—would lie dormant for decades after Reconstruction ended, but they would be revived and serve as the legal bedrock for the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
The year 1870 was not an end point but a starting line. It established the rules for a new kind of American democracy, even as it revealed just how difficult the fight to live by those rules would be.
